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TOMKINS SAILS TO LAND OF LEGENDS VICTORY, ORTIZ REMAINS HOT! CANANDAIGUA, NY...Gary Tomkins, from Phelps, NY, seems to have turned the corner with the Elaine James-Honeoye Auto Parts Modified program at Canandaigua. Saturday he picked up his second feature win of the year and his third top three finish in a row at the track. He joins Steve Paine and Vic Coffey as the only DIRT Modified feature winners this year at the speedway. In Sportsman action Gus Hurlburt took the 25-lap Sportsman feature. Hurlburt had earlier won a Canandaigua points race when the sportsman teams went to Black Rock Speedway in a speedway exchange program. In full-fender action Jipp Ortiz remains hot picking up his fourth Pro-Stock main in the last five outings. Mike Welch worked his way through the wreckage and won the Street Stock feature. A special appearance by the Central new York Mini-Sprints found Rick Hench, from Newport, PA, in victory lane. Shannon Whaley took the lead at the drop of the green in the DIRT Modified 35-lap feature. Whaley was drawing away from the competition when the yellow flew for Steve Paine, who performed a rare spin-out in the second turn. On the restart Randy Chrysler slide along the front stretch wall to bring out another yellow. Chrysler had been running in seventh when he was punted into the concrete. Also Whaley and Gary Tomkins touched resulting in Whaley making contact with the outside second turn wall, ending his great run. Tomkins was now the leader and began to stretch out what eventually resulted in a nine second lead over second place Justin Haers. A tight battle for third between Coffey, Paine, Chuck Bower and Chad Brachmann took the attention of the fans. At the finish wire it was Tomkins averaging 83.911 mph to take the victory. Haers, Paine, Coffey and Bower rounded out the top five. "I am sorry that the 44 (Whaley) and I got together on the restart," lamented Tomkins. "He never saw me on the outside and we touched." The 25-lap Sportsman feature seemed like it would never get over as caution-after-caution slowed the race. Five long caution periods slowed the event. Hurlburt took over the lead on lap four from Loren Lincoln and never had to look back. The most interesting on track incident involved Mike John, who's car was seen to be on fire. Starter Dave Farney tried to get Johnson to stop or go to the pit area, but he said he never saw the flag signals to do so. Finally Ricky VanNeil came to a stop in front of the Johnson car forcing Johnson to stop and have officials put the fire out. In the closing laps invader Scott George tried numerous times to try and get around for the lead. Hurlburt held steady and took the win. George finished second followed by Paul Guererri, John Plumb and Todd Henderson. Hurlburt's win was tainted in post race inspection when he was fined his winnings and earned only last place points for a cylinder head infraction. The Pro-Stock feature saw Chad Homan led all but the final four circuits. For most of the race Homan held off the advances of Daryl Hilkert and Roger Chrysler. On lap 12 the yellow flew when James Henry came to a stop in the second turn with a flat tire. During this yellow Chrysler too had to pit for a new tire giving third place over to Frank Guererri Jr.. Jipp Ortiz, who started last in the 11 car starting field, now took to the outside grove and picked off cars one-b-one. It was as if he had waited until the last few laps before he started to move up. By lap 15 he was second and on lap 17 he swung high around Homan for the lead. Ortiz came home the winner followed by Homan, Guererri Jr., Bill Hallett and Hilkert. The 15-lap Street Stock feature started off on the wrong foot when the red flag had to be flown for a multi-car accident on the front stretch. Darren Phippen's car was completely destroyed, with the fuel cell ripped from the car. Also involved were Phil LaVare, Jim Cronin and Corey Hunt. The accident was triggered when Steve Faulkner made contact with the concrete wall and sent the field scrambling. By lap four, with three cautions and a red flag under their belts, it was Mike Murphy in the lead over Adam Depuy and Blane Smith. On lap 11 Depuy dropped from the race with a flat tire. One lap later it was Smith suffering the same fate. This moved Mike Welch into second. On the final lap Murphy seemed to slow going down the backstretch and Welch made his move to take the win. Murphy finished second followed by newcomer Kevin Pangrazio. Nat Peckham and Rocco Conte rounded out the top five. Dale Beach, from Franklin, NY, took the lead in the 15-lap Mini-Sprint feature at the drop of the green. Unfortunately his car slowed to a stop exiting the fourth turn on lap four to cause the first caution of the race. Rick Hench was now leading and started to pull away from the field. Cory Sparks, from Scotia, NY, was running a strong second followed by Jared Fink, from Germantown, NY, in third. A caution on lap 11 for the stopped sprinter of Jerry Sehn on the back stretch did bunch up the front runners. Hench was able to break free and score a ten car length victory over Sparks and Fink. James Tomlinson, from Westport, CT, and Garry Moore, from Oneonta, NY, rounded out the top five finishers. Sixteen mini-sprints were on hand for the feature event. CANANDAIGUA BRIEFS: At intermission a parade of Canandaigua Chryslers was present including many of the newest Chrysler models...Vic Coffey took his WoO Late Model out for a spin at the end of the night. Coffey planned to race the car on Monday, June 21, at Fulton Speedway. This Saturday will be Canandaigua Window Cleaning Plus, The Comfort Zone and the Ontario County Fairboard night, honoring all deceased board members. On track the DIRT Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro-Stocks and Street Stocks will be ready for action. Race time starts at 7 p.m. sharp. AUTOGENESIS/CANANDAIGUA CHRYSLER-DODGE NIGHT SUMMARY CNY MINI-SPRINTS HEAT 1: R. Hench, P. Kuerner, D. Beach, G. Moore, C. VanBuren. FEATURE (15-laps): RICK HENCH, Cory Sparks, Jared Fink, James Tomlinson, Garry Moore, Pat Kuerner, Dale Beach Jr., Aric Copeland, Car 2, Marshall Gogg, Al Screbo, Jamie Kiser, Jeremy Quick, Jerry Sehn, Chris VanBuren, Dale Beach, DNS: Don Harvey. STREET STOCKS HEAT 1: M. Minutolo, N. Dandino, K. Pangrazio, D. Barrett, N. Rizzo. FEATURE (15-laps): MIKE WELCH, Mike Murphy, Kevin Pangrazio, Nat Peckham, Rocco Conte, Nick Rizzo, Mike Minutolo, Daryl Barrett, Nick Dandino, Mike Rasbeck, Randy Peters, Kevin Collins, Leroy Lewis, Steve Faulkner, Don Jones, Rod Comfort Jr., George LaVare, Joe Woodruff, Charles Vohs, Blane Smith, Mike Ventra, Adam Depuy, Dave Buscemi, Corey Hunt, Jason Whipple, Jerry Condren, Darren Phippen, Kyle LaVare. PRO-STOCK HEAT 1: J. Henry, F. Guererri Jr., J. Ortiz, B. Brown, K. Smith, M. Grubbe. FEATURE (20-LAPS): JIPP ORTIZ, Chad Homan, Frank Guererri jr., Bill Hallett, Daryl Hilkert, Brian Thompson, James henry, Roger Chrysler, Billy Brown, Kevin Smith, Spike Smith, DNS: Matt Grubbe. SPORTSMAN HEAT 1: J. Henderson, R. Bussey, S. George, P. Guererri, D. Park Jr., M. Johnson. FEATURE (25-laps): GUS HURLBURT, Scott George, Paul Guererri, John Plumb, Todd Henderson, Eldon Payne Jr., Ricky VanNeil, Dick park Jr., Justin Henderson, David Allen, Rob Bussey, Lance Dusett, Scott Schrader, Jon Miller, Phil LaVare, Amy Pfeffer, Steve Cheeseman, Loren Lincoln, Rick Miller, Mike Johnson, Frank Wadsworth, Steve Doell, Chris Mangiarelli, Dan Weisner, DNS: Dale Kissel. DIRT MODIFIED HEAT 1: S. paine, D. Podsiadlo, K. Comfort, D. Ruggles, G. Tomkins, R. Chrysler. FEATURE (35-laps): GARY TOMKINS, Justin haers, Steve Paine, Vic Coffey, Chuck Bower, Chad Brachmann, Ron Smoker, Karl Comfort, Darryl Ruggles, Charlie Donk, Bobby Parrow, Randy Chrysler, Ray Bliss, Steve Gray, Jeff Brownell Jr., Chuck Graham, John Pfeffer, Mike Ward, Derrick Podsiadlo, Ron Cartwright Jr., Ron White, Brian Michels, Mike Bliss, Dale Darling, Shannon Whaley, Scott Boudinot. |