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Canandaigua, NY - July 21, 2007 - By Gary M. Spaid, Canandaigua Speedway PR
Team Canandaigua was present on Saturday to take on all of the top guns from other
Five Star speedways including Brewerton, Fulton, Rolling Wheels, Cayuga County and
Can-Am, around whom the mini-series is centered. But it would be Danny Johnson,
representing Team Rolling Wheels who would take home the $2,000 win in the Five Star
race. Local star, and heavy pre-race favorite, Steve Paine, came home second to
represent Team Canandaigua.
"We had an exceptional car here tonight," quoted Johnson. "I could run anywhere on
this track using a car like that."
In DIRTcar Sportsman Modified action it would be Scott Schrader taking home his
second feature win of the season, powered by a brand new crate motor. Twenty-six
sportsman cars were on hand for the evening as Genesee Speedway was closed for the
annual Fair, providing many new cars.
The Mod Lite division made a special appearance at the half mile oval with Doug
Williams taking the 15-lap feature win. "I have to thank your track crew for such a
beautiful speedway," stated Williams in victory lane. "We had an electrical problem
a couple of weeks ago, but the crew got it fixed and ever since all I can say is
'Wow."
Can-Am Motorsports Park was hosting a DIRTcar Street Stock Super Series event, but
still a few of the local UMP Ferris Mowers Street Stocks turned out at Canandaigua.
It would be Mike Welch taking the feature win, his fourth of the season at
Canandaigua. Eric Chapman won his third PureStox 10-lap A-Main of the season and
second in a row.
The Five Star DIRTcar Modified main featured 24 cars in the starting line, with a Le
Mans style introduction kicking off the 35-lap affiar. By virtue of the inversion
process, the top-10 finishers from the heat races were inverted, putting Team
Canandaigua driver Derrick Podsiadlo on the pole and Ron Smoker on the outside-pole.
At the green it would be Podsiadlo grabbing the lead followed by Bob Henry Jr., some
three car-lengths back. The first of five yellow flags flew on lap four when John
Pfeffer slid off the first turn. He gathered his car up and returned to the rear of
the field.
Two laps later, lap six, Kevin Bates seemed to go just a bit too low in between the
first and second turns. He emerged from this move and slid high, pushing Ron Smoker,
who was outside of him, up into the second turn wall. Bates just showed sheet metal
damage and never lifted, but Smoker was done for the night.
On the ensuing restart Henry took the lead from Podsiadlo as Justin Haers slid to a
stop in the infield, off the front stretch. Starter Dave Farney threw the yellow to
make sure Haers was alright. Justin then limped back onto the track but had to be
towed to the pits.
Henry now held down the top spot with Gary Tomkins taking up second, just passing
Podsiadlo before the yellow. Henry maintained his lead over Tomkins and was able to
build a cushion of some three car lengths before the yellow flew on lap 11, when
Kevin Bates slowed on the front stretch. This caused a number of drivers to checkup
very quickly.
On this restart Podsiadlo and Danny Johnson scrambled by the two leaders and took
the front two positions. The new frontrunners crossed the line side-by-side on lap
12, but it would be Johnson's many years of experience at the speedway that paid
off, along with what Johnson referred to as "a really good car tonight," that pushed
the 27J into the lead.
Johnson then began to stretch his lead. On lap 15 Tomkins retook second, but could
not chase down the high-flying Johnson.
The final yellow came on lap 18 when Pete Taylor lost a left front wheel in the
third turn. The restart was all Johnson. A battle was developing for second between
Canandaigua points leader Steve Paine and Tomkins. Finally on lap 31, Paine was able
to take the runner-up position using lap traffic.
As they crossed the finish line it would be Johnson followed by Paine, Tomkins,
Jimmy Phelps and Frankie Caprara Jr. nipped Podsiadlo at the line for fifth. For
Johnson it was his 66th feature win at Canandaigua and his first since June of 2001.
At the drop of the green in the DIRTcar Sportsman feature, Jim Hull immediately
jumped into the lead and stretched out a five-car advantage. With 25 of the 26 cars
taking the green, no caution came until lap 17 when Loren Lincoln slowed and the
yellow came out for debris.
On the restart a massive crash in the first turn involving five cars, Darryl
Hilkert, Kevin Ridley, Anthony Rizzardo, Ricky Newton and Rob Richmond Jr. Only
Hilkert and Richmond jr. were able to return.
It would be Schrader who would take the lead from Hull on this final restart.
Schrader then too stretched out an advantage as the Guererris, Nick and Paul, both
got around Hull. Also flying through the field, on his first night back, was Todd
Henderson. At the finish line it was Schrader with his second victory of the season,
followed by Paul Guererri, Henderson, Nick Guererri and Dan Wiesner. "The Fox Auto
team needed this win after all of the bad luck we've had this season," stated
Schrader, who's first win came in a non-crate powered car and this win in a crate
powered number 58.
The Mod Lite feature was all Doug Williams, who started on the front row and
stretched out a 10-car lead over Todd Simons. Two yellows and a red flag would slow
this event.
On lap four the yellow flew when Tommy Felicia slowed on the track. The second
yellow followed two laps later when Mike Mullen slid high off the third turn. On the
restart Joe Gwilt took a wild flip in the first turn, which sent cars scattering all
over. Gwilt emerged uninjured from his car, but his car was pretty much stripped of
all running gear and wheels in the accident.
Williams remained in the lead for the remainder of the race with the battle for
second between Lowell Zehr and Todd Simons. Zehr made a run in the closing laps at
Simons and Rocco Leone and at the finish line it was Williams followed by Zehr,
Simons, Leone and Andrew Schartner.
Both the PureStox and UMP Street Stock races were run with limited cautions. In the
PureStox division, Eric Chapman took the lead from Corey Hunt and led the rest of
the 10-lap event to take the win. The only yellow in this race came on the first lap
when Brian Faulkner was forced out of his line and he spun in the third turn almost
collecting a number of other cars.
In the Street Stocks it would be a battle between Phil Marsden and Mike Welch that
excited the fans. These two went back and forth in the lead for a number of
circuits, until Welch was able to secure the lead for good on lap 11. "We had a
commitment in the area tonight and we were not able to go to the series race at
Can-Am," commented Welch. "We'll be at Rolling Wheels' Series race tomorrow."
LEGEND'S LEDGER: Central New York invader Bob Henry Jr. finished 9th to lock up an
automatic starting berth for the Mr. DIRTcar 358-Modified Championship on Oct. 6 of
Super DIRT Week XXXVI in Syracuse, NY...'Driver of the Week' winners were Vance
Vanderwall in the PureStox, Chris Fisher in the Street Stocks and Todd Henderson in
the Sportsman. Each winner will receive two passes to the races on August 4...Only
three fans were brave enough to enter the "Ugly Truck" Contest. The winner was
Dustin Lurcock, from Ovid, NY, driving a 1984 Chevy flat bed. Lurcock was awarded
two passes to the races on August 4...Thirty-three modifieds were on hand for the
Five Star show.
The Ontario County Fair will be in full swing on Saturday, July 28. The planned
annual stock car races will be somewhat different from years past. Topping the race
card will be a Mr. DIRTcar Street Stock Championship race. Also on the race card
will be the Pro Trucks from nearby Black Rock Speedway, a powder puff crazy Chicks
in Cars Catfight and the Utterly Unlimited Unfair Enduro. Race time is 7 p.m.
sharp. Come early and enjoy the annual Fair.
DIG SAFELY/BUDWEISER/AUTOGENESIS/WNYR RADIO FIVE STAR NIGHT SUMMARY
PURESTOX
HEAT: C. Hunt, E. Chapman, M. Minutolo, R. Lurcock, R. DePuy, B. Faulkner.
WNYR RADIO 10: ERIC CHAPMAN, Ryan DePuy, Ross Lurcock, Jim Cronin, Marc Minutolo,
Karl Wilkins, George LaVare Jr., Brian Faulkner, Vance Vanderwall, Corey Hunt, Chris
Guererri.
UMP FERRIS MOWERS STREET STOCK
HEAT: P. Marsden, M. Welch, S. Faulkner, C. Fisher, M. Rasbeck
WNYR RADIO 15: MIKE WELCH, Phil Marsden, Steve Faulkner, Chris Fisher, Mike Rasbeck,
Brian Lyons, Mike Dandino, Leroy Lewis (DNS).
MOD LITE
HEAT 1: D. Williams, L. Zehr, A. Schartner, M. Occhipinti, M. Mullen.
HEAT 2: T. Simons, M. Rainville, J. Hebert, B. Rice, L. Herbert.
HEAT 3: J. Barker, R. Leone, J. Gwilt, M. Rainville, J. King.
BUDWEISER 15: DOUG WILLIAMS, Lowell Zehr, Todd Simons, Rocco Leone, Andrew
Schartner, Rich Rainville, Jamie King, Matt Rainville, Mike Rainville, Mike
Virginia, Jeff Blackburn, Jeff Hebert, Lisa Thomas, Michael Occhipinti, Brenda Rice,
Lorrie Herbert, Matt Virginia, Jeff Barker, Joe Gwilt, Mike Mullen, Tom Felicia, Moe
Degrasse.
DIRTcar SPORTSMAN MODIFIED
HEAT 1: N. Guererri, J. Hull, R. Bussey, D. Wiesner, P. LaVare, K. Ridley.
HEAT 2: S. Schrader, M. Chiddy, L. Lincoln, T. Currier, R. Richmond Jr., J. Robinson.
HEAT 3: E. Giguere, P. Guererri, D. Hilkert, A. Rizzardo, R. Newton, G. Hixson.
AUTOGENESIS 25: SCOTT SCHRADER, Paul Guererri, Todd Henderson, Nick Guererri, Dan
Wiesner, Jim Hull, Mark Chiddy, Greg Hixson, Phil LaVare, Jesse Pontello, Justin
Wright, Tim Currier, Rob Richmond Jr., Rob Bussey, Darryl Hilkert, John Robinson,
Joe Cook Jr., Anthony Rizzardo, Kevin Ridley, Ricky Newton, Loren Lincoln, Daryl
Barrett, Marcus Dinkins, Larry Stell, Greg Mrzywka, Eric Giguere (DNS).
FIVE STAR DIRTcar BIG-BLOCK MODIFIED
HEAT 1: F. Caprara Jr., K. Bates, R. Smoker, M. Bowman, R. Cartwright Jr.
HEAT 2: J. Haers, J. Phelps, D. Podsiadlo, C. Homan, J. Pfeffer.
HEAT 3: G. Tomkins, B. Henry Jr., C. Donk, D. Rauscher, R. Phelps.
HEAT 4: S. Paine, R. Hefti, D. Johnson, A. Johnson, C. Bower.
CONSI: S. Hulsizer, S. Whaley, P. Taylor, F. Pereira.
DNQ: Mike Johnson, Fran Hilton, Ed Monroe, Phil Vigneri, Paul Habeck, Don Slover,
Eldon Payne Jr., Mike Payne, Randy Chrysler.
FIVE STAR-DIG SAFELY 35: DANNY JOHNSON, Steve Paine, Gary Tomkins, Jimmy Phelps,
Frankie Caprara Jr., Derrick Podsiadlo, Alan Johnson, Chuck Bower, Bob Henry Jr.,
Steve Hulsizer, Ryan Phelps, Charlie Donk, Dave Rauscher, John Pfeffer, Chad Homan,
Shannon Whaley, Mike Bowman, Francisco Pereira, Ron Cartwright Jr., Russ Hefti, Pete
Taylor, Kevin Bates, Justin Haers, Ron Smoker.
The Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series for Big-Block Modifieds is brought to
fans across the Northeast by several sponsors and partners, including series
sponsors Advance Auto Parts, Hoosier Racing Tire and Sunoco Race Fuels. Promotional
partners include AMB i.t., F.X. Caprara Car Companies, Rite Aid Corporation and the
University of Northwestern Ohio and the contingency sponsors are Bert Transmission,
Bicknell Racing Products, Bilstein Shocks, Brodix Cylinder Heads, Integra Shocks,
MSD Ignitions, Miller Electric Manufacturing Company and Wrisco Industries.