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Local Hero Tomkins Holds On For Advance Auto Parts Super Series Win On Home Turf Canandaigua, NY — August 11, 2005 — Gary Tomkins reached the pinnacle of DIRT Modified racing last season when he captured the prestigious overall Hoosier Tire-Sunoco Race Fuels Mr. DIRT Championship. On Thursday night Tomkins added another career highlight after scoring his first Advance Auto Parts Modified Super DIRT Series victory on his home turf, Canandaigua Speedway. "I've wanted this race for so long but some kind of problems always seemed to set us back no matter how good the car was," said Tomkins, following his second tour triumph of the season in 13 Advance Auto Parts SDS events. His ninth career win on the trail was worth $6,000 and put him in sole possession of third-place in the tour point standings behind leader Tim Fuller and runner-up Brett Hearn. "We pretty much used my standard Saturday set-up out here tonight. Randy (Kisacky, crew chief) was on the phone all week trying to get it as close as possible to the #84 car. All the little things he did to the car worked out perfect and we finally made it to victory lane," beamed Tomkins, 39, after recording his track-best sixth big-block Modified win in '05 aboard the no. 1 Elaine James Motorsports,Inc.-Pillsbury Collectibles-Hilton/Bicknell/Finger Lakes entry. His first five were posted in his regular no. 84 Honeoye Auto Parts-Red Parker Excavating ride. With a capacity crowd in attendance to witness the annual 'Land of Legends' summer showdown, a stellar field of 31 big-block machines was greeted by superb track conditions as starter Dave Farney's initial green flag led off the mid-week special. Drawing the pole for the third-time this season, Fuller opened up a commanding lead from the outset as his closest challengers jockeyed for position dicing back and forth both high and low. While Chuck Bower held down second, five-time defending Canandaigua points champion Steve Paine charged from sixth to third in seven laps before Vic Coffey stole the spot back as the leaders began to close in on traffic. Starting eighth on the grid, Tomkins showed his hand early as he maneuvered into fourth by lap 11 while row four partner Tim McCreadie followed suit and cracked the top-five soonafter. Seven of the 'Elite 11' moved into top-10 slots with 15 laps complete as the leaders weaved in and out of lapped cars on the smooth Ontario County Fairgrounds oval. Action was slowed for the first time at the end of lap 21 when Justin Haers slowed up high in turn four. While under yellow, the Gypsum team cars of Billy Decker and Pat Ward sped into the pits with a pinging motor ending any hopes for a top finish. Ward did return to fall back three laps under the checkered while Decker wound up 11th after completing the entire 50-mile distance. Back under green flag conditions, second-generation standout Matt Sheppard quickly entered the picture, grabbing fourth on lap 28 away from current World of Outlaws Stacker 2® Late Model Series star Tim McCreadie, who was making an uncommon appearance inside his old no. 39 Sweeteners Plus/TEO car. USAC Triple Crown winner J.J. Yeley also made a special appearance aboard Dave Rauscher's no. 48too Magee Transportation Services mount but stopped in turn two to incur a second yellow on lap 30. Tomkins shadowed Fuller for a dozen circuits and forged the final lead change as he swept around Fuller's no. m1 MBF-B&F General Machine entry as the duo rounded to turn four to complete lap 41. Just two laps later the third caution flew as local favorite Paine's night came to a premature ending following contact with the front stretch wall. In a rare show of emotion beyond his normally calm and quite facade, the 'Hurricane' extricated himself from his disabled racer in turn one and marched backwards on the front straightaway before suddenly ricocheting his helmet off the no. 8j JIR Motorsports car of Tom Sears, Jr. and into the cockpit of the passing car of Stewart Friesen. A three-wide racing formation out of turn four precipitated the incident with Sears and Paine looking for room under the high-flying Friesen as the trio prepared to head down the front chute. Sears caught the inside Jersey barrier and slid up which eventually pinched Paine against the outside wall with a collapsed front end on the no. 7x Tallmadge Tire Special the end result. "It was just a racing incident but Steve tossing his helmet was intentional," said JIR Motorsports team owner Jeff Isabell. "Back when my drivers ---Sears and Danny Johnson--- were involved in the same kind of altercation they both got fined and suspended two weeks. I was in total agreement of the decision at the time. I'm just waiting for what the ruling will be on Paine, fair is fair. Danny lost his major sponsor and the ride after that happened, something that could have cost him the championship this year. I'm just hoping the situation is dealt with in the same consistent manner." With the field back under control as it reached the halfway mark, Tomkins paced the group of open-wheel all-stars that suddenly featured Hearn in second ahead of a fading Fuller, Sheppard and McCreadie. By the time Isabell stopped out of turn two on lap 56, McCreadie had charged into third with Fuller and Sheppard swapping top-five positions. With 30 laps remaining, Southern Tier invader Mitch Gibbs was the man on the move as he pulled the no. 22g Cossitt Concrete-Kenyon Press-Nice'N Easy Grocery Shoppe/Bicknell machine into sixth. The final yellow flag waved in response to Alan Johnson slowing the borrowed no. 48jr. Fox's Auto car of retiring regular Darryl Ruggles to a stop in turn two. Non-stop green light action during the final 15-mile stretch kept the outcome uncertain as two racing grooves, a host of lapped cars and ever-changing track conditions brought excitement in every turn. After Sheppard ducked low on Hearn in turns three and four to complete lap 71, Gibbs methodical move to the front offered the only other changes among the leaders. The threesome of McCreadie, Fuller and Gibbs remained intact until Gibbs cracked the top-five past Fuller on lap 80. Six more times around and Gibbs was able to slip under McCreadie for the final exchange up front. Under the checkered flag Tomkins scored a 10 car-length victory while 'Super Matt' edged the 'Corporate Jet' by inches as the pair crossed the line side by side in the bid for second. Gibbs held on for fourth while McCreadie staved off a last lap pass by SDS points leader Fuller to take home fifth-place money. Bert 'Hard Charger' Sears (started 18th), Todd Burley, Chad Brachmann, Bower, Decker and Vic Coffey were the last cars to be scored on the lead lap. "I can't thank the guys enough for getting me the win here," added Tomkins, who now owns 29 DIRT Modified wins at Canandaigua Speedway to rank him sixth all-time. "The car could run anywhere I put it and was able to stay in the black all night without a problem. We just need to be more consistent and have more nights like this. But its gonna take a lot more hard work and probably a little luck to come out on top again this year." Sheppard reluctantly settled for second-place for a second time this season behind Tomkins, who snatched the lead with just eight laps remaining in the century grind at Autodrome Drummond in July. "I really thought I had Gary tonight the way we were going early on," said Sheppard, following his sixth top-five tally of the 2005 Super DIRT Series in the potent no. 44s G-U Hardware-Advance Auto Parts-Adam Ross Cut Stone/Bicknell entry. "But we got tight again at the end and Gary stole another away from us. I worked with Steve (Paine) and watched run low and win here for years. I wanted to keep the tires cool running inside even if I had to give up some ground early. The car just tightened up, especially right at the end and I did all I could to hang onto second. I haven't been at Canandaigua too much lately but I miss running here, we always seem to do good and always look forward to coming back with a lot of positive notes to work from." Wheeling the no. 3 Page Trucking-Gable Auto Stores-Kruger-WLR Construction/TEO mount, Hearn finished third to continue his string of top-fives, with the first of six straight coming on the Fourth of July at Rolling Wheels Raceway. "We can't be too unhappy with another solid finish," said Hearn, a two-time SDS winner in 2005 to bring his career-high total to 86 on DIRT MotorSports NorthEast' premier Modified circuit. "When Fuller blew by early on I thought we were in big trouble, this is always one of my harder tracks to figure out and get any luck at. But the track really came to us at the end. I was able to keep Gary in sight all the way and almost got Matt at the end. You want to step on the gas really bad out here sometimes but you still have to wait and feel the throttle to go anywhere. A couple more laps and we could've gotten even one spot better, things were that good at the end." Fuller leads the big-block DIRT Modifieds back into New Jersey for the second stop of the year at New Egypt Speedway on Wednesday, August 24. He now stands ahead of Hearn by a 1037-1002 margin in the Advance Auto Parts standings with Tomkins riding third with 988 points through 13. Advance Auto Parts Modified Super DIRT Series – Canandaigua Speedway, August 11, 2005 Finger Lakes Championship Event Summary [*Official box score posted on www.dirtmotorsports.com by selecting DIRT NorthEast then choosing either the 358-Modified SDS, Sportsman SDS or Pro Stock SDS before clicking the 'Advance' logo top left on homepage] FEATURE DID NOT QUALIFY(7) 21k-Roger Chrysler/Lewiston,NY 28p-Eldon Payne,Jr./Hopewell,NY 44-Shannon Whaley/Pavilion,NY 45m-Mike Ward/Genoa,NY 48jr.-Darryl Ruggles/Hopewell,NY 50-Don Slover/Bath,NY 72-Mike Bliss/Warsaw,NY Lap leaders: Fuller (1-40), Tomkins (41-100). Hard Charger: Tom Sears, Jr.
Heat Races (8 laps, top 5 finishers transferred to feature, top 3 went to re-draw) ADVANCE AUTO PARTS MODIFIED SUPER DIRT SERIES POINT STANDINGS Driver Points Diff Money Wins Top 5Top 10Starts Skidmarks: * Once towing in weekly every Saturday from his North Norwich, N.Y. home, Mitch Gibbs was a Canandaigua Speedway regular in the early 1990s. Yet after scoring his only feature win at the 'Land of Legends' oval in 1992, the 42 year-old open-wheel veteran has only returned to the Ontario County Fairgrounds only a half-dozen times since. "I was really skeptical about running some series race after hearing stories about the new people in charge," admitted Gibbs, today a weekend runner at Can-Am Motorsports Park and Utica-Rome Speedway. "But I was really surprised how decent I was treated both here and at Albany-Saratoga (finished 5th) and the officials running the show are the same guys that have been around for years. Its really a professional group and they create a good atmosphere at the tracks. At first I thought there might be a problem since I follow the RoC tour but I've been treated just the same as everybody else. Canandaigua has always had good people but the racing really sets it apart and that's still what I like best about coming here. There's always two grooves to chase and the racing is clean, that's probably why a lot of the top teams make it their Saturday night stop during the season," said Gibbs, who plans to run 10-15 big-block races in '05 with his next tour stop expected at Brewerton Speedway on August 31. * Unlike Gibbs, Macedon, N.Y. native Charlie Donk has remained a Canandaigua die-hard since running in the Street Stock division in the early 1980s. The 1982 Expert S.S. track champion made his big-block debut at the Ontario County oval in 1986 and pulled into victory lane for the first time in the summer of '92. "Every win here is something very special," said Donk, 44, who scored his fifth career big-block win at Canandaigua last Saturday (Aug. 6). There have been a lot of guys that raced here for years with only a couple wins to show. That's a testament to both the competition and the track itself, I've been here for 25 years and it doesn't get any easier. I'm a working guy racing out of my own pocket so its a big accomplishment getting some wins against the full-time drivers with major sponsorship. If it wasn't for guys like Steve (Paine) and Gary (Tomkins) just think how many wins I might have now. I ran small-blocks at Black Rock and finished second to Steve over 20 times. But its still the fun and the people in racing that bring me back, without those its just too much money to be throwing away." Donk also noted that Canandaigua is easy on tires and that he only goes through about a dozen during an entire season; something that allowed him to save up for the recent purchase of a brand new HVH 18-degree big-block motor that powered him to his latest feature win. * While Donk savors every one of his brief moments in the winner's circle, five-time defending Canandaigua points champion Paine just cherishes the chance to get into a Modified and show he's among one of the best ever in wine country. "I look forward to every race, as long as I can stay out of trouble I have a chance to win and that's why I do it," said Paine, who has won three times in 2005 at Canandaigua and stands third all-time with 66 Modified wins. Ironically, Paine suffered his first crash of the season less than halfway into Thursday's SDS main event to finish 27th on the final scoresheet. "We've had things going good lately in the series, so we're looking forward to Canandaigua for obvious reasons. The track has been a little faster this year and the lap times have been quicker. In the series race I expect it should be among the fastest of the year." * Paine was right on with his prediction as 10 of 38 drivers taking in pre-race time trials shatttered the former single-lap standard of 17.852 seconds (100.829 mph) established by Billy Decker on Sept. 13, 2003. Decker was once again the fastest on Thursday evening as he toured the fast half-miler in a time of 17.540 sec. for an average speed of 102.623 mph). * Making his fourth-ever appearance in a DIRT Modified, former USAC champion and current Busch driver J.J. Yeley from Phoenix, Ariz, set 14th fastest time at Canandaigua before finishing 21st in Dave Rauscher's no. 48too Magee Transportation Services-Monadnock Disposal Service/Bicknell entry. The deal came together through a Waterloo, NY connection between local resident Stu Sheppard and former neighbor Mike McLaughlin, who serves as the 'Busch Series Coach" for Yeley on Joe Gibbs' no. 18 Home Depot Chevrolet. Before competing at Canandaigua, Yeley ran the Syracuse Mile on two occasions while running at Rolling Wheels Raceway just once. * No stranger to Canandaigua in his popular no. 9 Kinney Drugs-Syracuse Frame Service-F.X. Caprara Car Co. modified ---except over the past two seasons--- 'Barefoot' Bob McCreadie made his first trip of the season to a track he fondly called home for 21 consecutive seasons (1983-2003). "There's a reason for why we raced here for that long," said McCreadie who has stood on 99 career Modified feature wins in Canandaigua since 2002. Only Alan Johnson (113) has more wins at the 'Land of Legends' since the DIRT era. "We had a lot of fun there, some great times and wouldn't change it for anything. Hopefully, the circuit can get back to normal, there have been way too many changes around here lately." * Once a touring regular, Lansing, N.Y. driver Chuck Bower is hoping that change will come in the form of a new sponsor to supplement the financial backing supplied by Joe Beyea in the no. 99b Beyea Custom Headers-Ingles Performance Ski-Doo/Bicknell ride. "It's no secret you need a lot of money and full-time help to follow a tour like this," said Bower, who captured the overall Mr. DIRT Sportsman title in 1995. "We'd still like to follow it as much as possible but its hit or miss with Joe's business not letting him get too many days off. When its $500 to haul to a series event or $50 to run Canandaigua, its simple math where we're able to show up. It seems that the stronger seem to get stronger and the weak get weaker when it comes to sponsorship support," said Bower, a weekly runner at Brewerton and Canandaigua so far this season. * All 'Elite 11' drivers qualified in heat races staged at Canandaigua except for Alan Johnson, who blew a motor in the no. TEN CRC Community Rental-Tri-State Roofing/TEO on last lap of heat forcing him to pick up the 48jr. ride of local pilot Darryl Ruggles to fill out 31-car field. He completed 65 laps before mechanical failure relegated him to 25th on the final scoresheet. * Alan Johnson joins, Brett Hearn, Matt Sheppard and Stewart Friesen among a select group of drivers opting to run both the Advance Auto Parts Modified and 358-Modified SDS. Elite 11 members Hearn, Sheppard, Friesen and newcomer Johnson recently finished two straight nights of Super DIRT Series small-block competition at Brockville (Ont.) Speedway and Autodrome Edelweiss (Que.) before arriving in Canandaigua. Friesen, Johnson and Hearn finished 1-2-3 in the 50-lapper at Brockville on Monday while Sheppard settled for sixth-place. In Edelweiss' 75-lapper on Tuesday, Johnson scored his second tour win of the season outlasting Sheppard (2nd), Friesen (3rd) and Hearn (4th). Frogtown was rained out and cancelled on Wednesday. "I wish there races in the winter," said Johnson, the current 358-Modified SDS points leader. "This is what I live to do and it pays the bills. Once the season gets going I look forward to traveling around to the races at all the different tracks. It's sure a lot easier when there are different guys taking car of the cars and I can meet them at the track." "The schedule has been pretty light up until now so we're just starting to get going full throttle now," said Hearn, who trails only Johnson in the early season small-block series points chase. "After you do this for a while you pretty much know what to expect. Its more of a matter of preparing for it mentally, and you just get used to it. I found that racing back to back really helps sharpen my skills and you're able to finish better on a more consistent basis following a full schedule." "I watched these same guys do it for years so traveling the circuit has really been like a dream come true," said Friesen, a big-block rookie who led the DIRT 358-Modified circuit with 12 feature wins a year ago. "There's definitely a lot of work involved but its never tiring when you're running good. And its a lot easier when you're getting help. We planned to run the whole big-block series from day one but this small-block deal just came up the day before Merrittville's opener. Right now I only work on the Modified but we're doing better with the 358 car. We're still having a great time with both cars every time out." "I can't really say I'm tired, this racing is what I do," said Sheppard, ranked fourth in 358 SDS points directly behind Friesen. "We got a break at Frogtown with the rain, instead of getting home between 4-5am we arrived before 1 and 2. Right now we'll be running the small-block as much as possible but the big-block program still takes precedence. They're pretty much the same once you get racing both classes so much. The only difference is that the big-blocks are faster and you have to let off going into the turns while the 358s allow you to flat foot it all the way around. We like whatever car we can win in at the time." * The top-15 finishers in the 'Keystone Classic 100' (Aug. 3) at Lernerville Speedway were at the head of the line to share in the unique $3,000 Winner's Circle fund that has been set aside to be divided among the highest finishing drivers at each event. The distribution of this special $3,000 fund is be based on the feature race finishing order: drivers placing in positions 1-5 will each earn $100, 6th – 10th-place finishers will receive $200 and 11th – 15th will pocket $300. Competitors are required to attend and attempt to qualify for the next Advance Auto Parts SDS event to collect payment of the Winner's Circle bonus. By racing at Canandaigua, Tim Fuller, Brett Hearn, Billy Decker, Pat Ward and Steve Paine received $100 each, Tom Sears, Jr., Matt Sheppard, Vic Coffey, Jeff Brownell, Jr. and Justin Haers earned $200, while Todd Burley, Chuck Bower, Jimmy Helps, Jeff Isabell and Gary Tomkins pocketed $300. Upon attempting to qualify at the next event, New Egypt Speedway on Aug. 24, Tomkins, Sheppard, Hearn, Mitch Gibbs and Tim McCreadie will collect $100 each, Fuller, Sears, Burley, Chad Brachmann and Bower will receive $200, with Decker, Coffey, Phelps, Charlie Donk and Stewart Friesen in line for $300 bonuses. * With RACEceiver now recognized as the Official Driver Communicator of DIRT MotorSports™ in 2005, fans, as well as the competing drivers, were able to hear first hand everything that was happening throughout the entire Canandaigua show. A compact radio receiver that conveniently fits into a driver’s pocket, a RACEceiver allows each driver to hear directions from series officials, which greatly enhances the safety and timeliness of events. A similar version available to fans allows RACEceiver users to hear what information series officials are relaying to the drivers. For more information about RACEceiver, visit www.raceceiver.com, call 866/301-7223, or look for their sales trailers at various events. Over fifteen thousand registered Dirtvision.com members had the opportunity to view LIVE the Advance Auto Parts SDS action as it unfolded at the Canandaigua oval. Including Wednesday's LIVE webcast of the Keystone Klassic, Dirtvision's 2005 Cybercast schedule currently has over 60 DIRT MotorSports events shared between the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, World of Outlaw Stacker 2® Late Models, DIRT 358 and big-block Modifieds, UMP Late Models and MARS Late Model events. Users will need a CyberPass subscription to view the Dirtvision Cybercast broadcast, which can be purchased for as low as $9.99 on www.dirtvision.com. Windows Media Player 9 or higher is required to see the cybercast so please be sure to download and install the FREE player to get the full experience. For technical support or questions, e-mail [email protected] or click on the member's menu and select Help/FAQ for answers. 2005 ADVANCE AUTO PARTS MODIFIED SUPER DIRT SERIES SCHEDULE ADVANCE AUTO PARTS MODIFIED SERIES SPONSORS 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, Zippo Lighters and F.X. Caprara Car Companies and the contingency sponsors are DART Machinery, Bicknell Racing Products, Bilstein Shocks, MSD Ignitions and Wrisco Industries. |
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