For more info, please visit DIRT and Canandaigua Speedway .
By Gary M. Spaid, DIRT MotorSports PR
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. (July 23) – Gary Tomkins took his fifth DIRT Modified feature win
in ten starts at Canandaigua Speedway to maintain a 50% win record at the 'Land of
Legends' in 2005.
Scott Schrader picked up his second Sportsman win of the season in a caution-filled
25-lap main that took nearly a half-hour to complete. In full-fender action, Blane
Smith won his fifth Street Stock main of the year and Jipp Ortiz returned to victory
lane in the 20-lap Pro Stock feature, upping his victory total this season to two at
Canandaigua.
Eldon Payne Jr. took the lead at the drop of the green with Stewart Friesen and
Shannon Whaley in tow. Jeff Brownell Jr. made a bold move dropping low off the back
stretch and sailing by the top three leaders to take over the lead of the race on
lap three.
Brownell then began to pull away from Friesen, trying to build up a solid advantage.
Justin Haers and Chad Brachmann passed Payne Jr. to take over third and fourth
respectively.
By lap 12, Brachmann was able to negotiate around Haers for third and take off after
Friesen. On lap 20 the yellow flew when Vic Coffey coasted to a stop in the third
turn, so he could dart into the pits and change a tire. This bunched the field
together eliminating Brownell’s advantage of one second.
On the restart Brownell, Friesen, Brachmann, Haers and Tomkins all got good starts
but it was Tomkins that made the best move passing Haers, Brachmann and Friesen to
take over second on lap 21. One lap later Tomkins took to the outside in turn three
to power past Brownell for the lead.
For the last 13 laps it was all Tomkins while Brachmann made a last lap pass to earn
second over Friesen. Brownell held on for a fourth place finish followed by Todd
Burley in fifth. Tomkins averaged 71.719 mph on his way to the 35-lap victory. The
race, with just one caution, took just over 14 minutes to complete.
For over a year and a half now only Gary Tomkins, Vic Coffey or Steve Paine, have
won DIRT Modified features. The only exception to this was when Brett Hearn picked
up the season ending Finger Lakes 100 victory last September.
The 25-lap Paine Motorsports DIRT Sportsman feature proved to be a crash-fest as
nine yellows flew, all for minor spinouts, caused the event to run 28 minutes,
plus. Truly the full moon was out tonight!
It seemed to take forever to complete the first three circuits as spin-after-spin
slowed the race. Interestingly enough those first three laps saw three different
leaders. Rob Bussey led the first one, while Loren Lincoln was recorded as the
leader of the second lap while Scott Schrader assumed the led on lap three and never
gave it up.
The real battle in this event was for the runner-up position between points leader
Paul Guererri and Lincoln. Guererri closed in on Schrader whenever more then two
laps were run together although on each restart Schrader had enough power to pull
out a slight lead.
At the finish line it was Schrader followed by Guererri, Lincoln, Kevin Ridley
driving a crate powered Sportsman car and Gus Hurlburt.
As all of the regulars attended this event instead of participating in the combined
Sunoco Super DIRT Series race at Merrittville Speedway, Canandaigua track points
were given instead of the planned 30 points for each participant.
In Big Mike's Auto Repair Pro Stock action a number of new cars were on hand as
Genesee Speedway was off in order to host the annual Genesee County Fair. It was
announced that if we had more then 12 Pro Stocks the feature distance for the rest
of the season would remain at 20 laps.
Daryl Hilkert led James Henry on the first lap as the field bunched together going
three wide for second, third and fourth. But on lap two all of this action came to a
close when Matt Grubbe spun in the first turn, collecting Beamer Guzzardi and Frank
Guererri Jr. All were able to continue and the race resumed with Henry battling
side-by-side with Hilkert down the front stretch.
After another yellow on lap five Jipp Ortiz was able to pull along side of Hilkert
and try to take second. Before his move could be completed, the yellow flew again
for Grubbe in the first turn. On the restart Ortiz made another attempt to power by
Hilkert and this time was successful. Ortiz then went after Henry, but again the
yellow flew to slow Ortiz’s challenge.
On lap 10, Ortiz, driving his new car, finally powered by Henry on the outside down
the back stretch to take over the lead. Ortiz then proceeded to pull out to a full
four and half second lead over Chad Homan and Henry by the finish. Homan had passed
Henry on the final lap to take second. Bill Hallett and Hilkert completed the top
five finishers. This was just Ortiz’s second win of the season at Canandaigua, a
track he formally dominated on a weekly basis.
Also on hand was Black Rock Speedway Super Stocker David Yehl, who came home in
ninth to lead the Super Stock points at Canandaigua.
Thirty Street Stocks were on hand for the 15-lap Parts Plus Auto Stores feature.
However, only 28 answered the call to the green. Despite the large field the race
remained safe for the first couple of laps. Only a spin out, on the opening lap, put
the field under yellow. The leader at the time, Adam DePuy, reported to the pits
moving Mike Schultz to the point.
The worst accident of the night took place on lap three when Don Whiteside sailed
off the track and made heavy contact with the outside third turn wall. His car was
then slammed into the rear end by Mike Shaw, whose car also sailed off the track.
The impact nearly folded the Whiteside car in two. Both drivers emerged uninjured
but both cars were severely damaged. This mishap caused the field to be red flagged.
On the restart Schultz remained in the lead but being challenged by Nate Peckham.
Peckham finally used a low side move on lap seven to take the lead from Schultz. A
double yellow on lap nine slowed the race. First Mike Minutolo slowed to a stop on
the front stretch. On the ensuing restart Wayne Ellison spun in the third turn,
causing the field to redo the restart.
Blane Smith now challenged Peckham for the lead and on lap 11 he completed the pass
before the yellow flew for the final time in the race. Unfortunately for Peckham he
pitted, only to return at the back of the field. This set up a four lap dash to the
checkers with Smith taking the victory. Mike Rasbeck came home in second followed by
a side-by-side photo finish that saw Mike Welch just inch out Nick Rizzo. Rounding
out the top five was Leroy Lewis.
The annual Ontario County Fair comes to town Saturday, July 30 along with the
Ontario County Fair Stock Car Championships, with the show featuring DIRT
Modifieds/358-Modified, Sportsman, Pro Stock, Street Stock and Vintage Car racing.
It will be a Syracuse qualifier for the first 358-Modified to cross the finish line.
Race time is set for 7 p.m. sharp.
The DIRT MotorSports™ Advance Auto Parts Modified Series is brought to fans across
the Northeast by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors Advance
Auto Parts, Dynomax Performance Exhaust, Hoosier Racing Tire and Sunoco Race Fuels.
Promotional Partners include Stacker 2®, AMB i.t., RACEceiver and Zippo Lighters and
the contingency sponsors are DART Machinery, Bicknell Racing Products, Bilstein
Shocks, MSD Ignitions and Wrisco Industries.
SWEETENERS PLUS AND FOX AUTOMOTIVE NIGHT SUMMARY
STREET STOCKS
HEAT 1: A. DePuy, N. Dandino, B. Smith, J. Burba, S. Smith.
HEAT 2: M. Schultz, K. Collins, D. Whiteside, M. Welch, D. Marcuccilli.
HEAT 3: W. Ellison, L. Lewis, M. Rasbeck, N. Peckham, J. Whipple.
FEATURE (15-laps): BLANE SMITH, Mike Rasbeck, Mike Welch, Nick Rizzo, Leroy Lewis,
Wayne Ellison, Mike Schultz, Dave Marcuccilli, Jim Burba, Kevin Collins, Nat
Peckham, Justin Wright, Chris Jacobs, Todd Blair, Corey Hunt, Ralph Priest, Jason
Whipple, Mike Minutolo, Nick Dandino, George LaVare Sr., Jesse Quitermous, Scott
Smith, Don Whiteside, Frank Burnell, Mike Shaw, Adam DePuy, Chris Sealy, Chris
Gingrich, DNS: Ted Sweeney, Darren Phippen.
PRO-STOCKS
HEAT 1: J. Rutkowski, J. Henry, C. Homan, M. Grubbe.
HEAT 2: D. Hilkert, F. Guererri Jr., D. Yehl, B. Guzzardi.
FEATURE (20-laps): JIPP ORTIZ, Chad Homan, James Henry, Bill Hallett, Daryl Hilkert,
Frank Guererri Jr., Tom Kemp, John Rutkowski, David Yehl (ss), Doug Smith, Beamer
Guzzardi, Matt Grubbe, DNS: Frank Burnell.
SPORTSMAN
HEAT 1: R. Bussey, M. Johnson, E. Giguere, J. Henderson, P. Guererri.
HEAT 2: S. Schrader, D. Wiesner, E. Heffernan, L. Lincoln, S. Doell.
FEATURE (25-laps): SCOTT SCHRADER, Paul Guererri, Loren Lincoln, Kevin Ridley, Gus
Hurlburt, Mike Johnson, Greg Mrzywka, Dan Wiesner, Justin Henderson, Frank
Wadsworth, Eric Giguere, Rob Bussey, Eric Heffernan, Steve Doell, DNS: Rick Miller.
DIRT MODIFIED
HEAT 1: J. Haers, K. Comfort, S. Whaley, J. Pfeffer, V. Coffey, S. Paine.
HEAT 2: S. Friesen, J. Brownell Jr., E. Payne Jr., B. Michaels, C. Donk, D. Slover.
HEAT 3: C. Bower, T. Burley, G. Tomkins, C. Brachmann, M. Ward, D. Podsiadlo.
FEATURE (35-laps): GARY TOMKINS, Chad Brachmann, Stewart Friesen, Jeff Brownell Jr.,
Todd Burley, Steve Paine, Chuck Bower, Charlie Donk, Justin Haers, Karl Comfort,
Eldon Payne Jr., Vic Coffey, Derrick Podsiadlo, Ray Bliss, Mike Ward, John Pfeffer,
Todd Henderson, Mike Bliss, Ron Cartwright Jr., Shannon Whaley, Fran Hilton, Steve
Pesarek, Brian Michaels, Don Slover, DNS: Allen Willoughby.