Lee Gill, Ben Tucker, Rich Keller and Dave Mannise win at Can Am

The weather was nice, the crowd was ready and the DIRT big block modifieds made a very successful debut Saturday night at the Can Am Motorsports Park in LaFargeville, NY on Eagle Beverage Labatt’s Beer night. One-hundred cars were set for an evening of racing at the Battleground of Speed in four classes, and the Hometown Hammer and new dad Lee Gill gave wife Peggy a Mother’s Day present with a win in the modified feature while Ben Tucker made it two in a row in Sportsman, Rich Keller won his first ever IMCA race at Can Am and track champ Dave Mannise won in Pure Stocks.

Fifteen big blocks and five small blocks took the green flag from Starter Steve Rickett for the 30-lap feature race. Racin Jason Barney and Gill brought the field to the green and Gill put his Bicknell with Mike Blok power out front and never looked back. There was only one caution early on, but the rest of the feature then went green the rest of the distance. The Pocket Rocket, Danny O’Brien, started sixth and quickly made his way into the top three as Gill, O’Brien, Barney, Steve Hulsizer and Pat O’Brien were jockeying for position. As the halfway flags were flown, the lead pack was Gill, O’Brien, Barney, Hulsizer, Frankie Caprara, Bill Gill, Kyle Wilson, Todd Stewart and Pat O’Brien. A couple of the front runners fell out of the race as Pat O’Brien had to take his Troyer to the pits on lap 22, while Bill Gill had to take his Dealmaker Auto Teo pitside a lap later on. As the double checkers were waved, it was Lee Gill winning over Danny O’Brien in his small block and also claiming a Syracuse qualifying spot with Barney third, Hulsizer fourth and Caprara 5th. Just missing a top five was teenager and big block rookie Kyle Wilson in with a fine sixth place finish.

The Sportsman division may be the toughest class at Can Am. Week in and week out, there are 25 cars or more in action. Their feature saw 27 cars take the green flag for their 20-lap main event. This was certainly not a pretty race as yellow after yellow slowed the field as either accidents or slowing cars brought out yellows. Andy Howard held down the early lead over a strong running Rick McCready with one of his best nights ever in Sportsman with Steve Roberts, Ben Tucker and Mark Webb trailing. Defending track champion Matt Butler saw his night come to an early end as he broke on lap five. Meanwhile, last week’s winner Ben Tucker was making his way to the front in between yellow flags, and on the 7th lap put his car out front and then had to survive the rest of the caution flags to claim his second win of the young season and establish himself as the won to beat right now. Having another strong run was Scott Webb who once again made his way to the front finishing a solid second with Lance Willix III coming home third, Shane Donath with another top five in fourth and Jim Vock fifth.

The IMCA modified feature saw 25 cars take the green flag. This class is seeing strong numbers this young season and is producing some great racing. Two guys caught up in the same accident last week paced the field for the start of the feature as Rob Keller and rookie Chris Thurston were the pole sitters. Once again in this feature, the yellow flag was flying more than usual as three cautions in the first four laps slowed racing. When racing finally settled in, it was Keller in the lead with brother Rich following with Larry Bezner, Erv Miller and Chris Taylor in hot pursuit. Rob Keller’s string of bad luck continued as he broke while leading with only three laps to go putting brother Rich into the lead. Rich was able to hold off Miller and Taylor for his first win in IMCA at Can Am and was one happy driver in his victory lane interview. Rich had a nasty crash a couple seasons back in his Sportsman car at Can Am and it’s good to see him back. Chris Taylor, who may be the most improved IMCA driver in this division from last season into this season was a solid third with Jon Dumas fourth and Brian Copp fifth.

The final feature was the Pure Stocks. Eighteen of them took the green flag and Dave Mannise put his car out front early with Dave Pope, Travis Andrews and Justin Mason in hot pursuit. Mark Barker was charging his way through the field but made contact with Mike Cousins in turn two on the 6th lap putting Barker out of the race. At the halfway point, it was Mannise, Dana Aikens, Brian Holder, Dave Pope and Scott Castor. The rest of the race went green and it was Mannise winning his first feature of the year with Aikens in with another strong second place finish, Pope in third, Holder fourth and Castor with another top five.

This coming Saturday night will be Real Rock 100.7 night at Can Am which will see all four classes in action along with the Dwarf cars making their second appearance of the season. Gates open at five with racing at seven p.m. sharp.

Modifieds: (30 laps) Lee Gill, Danny O’Brien, Jason Barney, Steve Hulsizer, Frankie Caprara, Kyle Wilson, Todd Stewart, Gus Schmidt, Mike Adderley, Ryan Bartlett, Ryan Phelps, Jeff Barber, Billy Dunn, Rob Galloway, Darren Forbes, Adam Moore, Allen Jacobs, Bill Gill, Pat O’Brien, Anthony Fiorentino

Sportsman: (20 laps) Ben Tucker, Scott Webb, Lance Willix III, Shane Donath, Jim Vock, Clayton Brewer III, Scott MacCue, Sammy Reakes IV, Mark Webb, Tim Van Brocklin, Jack Meeks, Jason Potter, Andy Howard, Steve Rookey, Terry Merchant, Tom Schroy, Bill Eisele, Mike Mandigo, Neil Bryden, Rick McCready, Jordan Bennett, Jeff Stevenson, Steve Roberts, Mike Teachout, Brian Donath, Matt Butler, Dave Wilgosh

IMCA: (15 laps) Rich Keller, Erv Miller, Chris Taylor, Jon Dumas, Brian Copp, Dale Caswell, Neal Edgar, Jeff Shannon, Dan Hilts, Jeff Bannister, John Mason, Tom Docteur, Terry Gardner, Todd Anderson, Richard Townsend, Larry Bezner, Lance LaLonde, John Carr, Rob Keller, Paul Calhoun, Hunter Grimes, Chris Thurston, Brian Rice DNS: Rick Reed, Rick Dusckas

Pure Stocks: (15 laps) Dave Mannise, Dana Aikens, Dave Pope, Brian Holder, Scott Castor, Justin Mason, Travis Andrews, Steve Gilmore, Jason Rarick, Lyle Murphy, Peter Cross, Zeke McKeown, Ken Hamm, Ed Rogers, Don Scales, Kenny Partridge, Mike Cousins, Mark Barker, George Sanford, Chuck Cushman