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'Hurricane' And Rain Drops Visit Canandaigua Speedway Victory Lane CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. (June 11) – With rain drops falling ever so slightly track officials pushed to complete the Saturday program before the rains worsened. Steve “The Hurricane” Paine took the win in the 35-lap DIRT Modified Advance Auto Parts feature with Ricky VanNeil topping the Sportsman 25-lap Paine Motorsports feature. That made for two new winners in the open-wheel divisions for 2005. In full-fender action, Jipp Ortiz took claimed victory in the Big Mike's Auto Repair Pro Stock feature while Jack Ayers set Canandaigua history and won the Pro Truck portion of that feature to become the first winner in a truck at the “Land of Legends.” Mike Minutolo triumphed in the Parts Plus Auto Stores Street Stocks and Leslie LaVare closed out the show with a win in the special 8-lap ladies race. The start of the 35-lap DIRT Modified feature had to be red flagged when a multi-car tangle in the second turn resulted in Karl Comfort rolling his car up to the outside wall and landing on it’s roof. Also involved in the accident were Gary Tomkins, who would return a lap down, Vic Coffey, Chad Brachmann and Ray Bliss. Comfort emerged uninjured from his wrecked race car. On the restart Darryl Ruggles took the lead with Mike Ward, Steve Paine and Justin Haers in tow. A yellow flag flew when Scott Boudinot and Derrick Podsiadlo tangled in the fourth turn. Following the restart, Haers worked his way through the traffic and took command of the race on lap four. Haers proceeded to pull out to a five car-length advantage over Paine, who had passed Ruggles for second on lap six. Paine then chased down Haers, eventually racing side-by-side by lap 11, and took to the low side while Haers moved on top. Paine was able to make the inside line the faster of the two and took the lead for good on lap 17. Charlie Donk came into the picture and with the help of a lapped car was able to box Haers and pass into second. Donk then tried to pull away from Haers and attempt to chase down a high flying Paine. On lap 25 the yellow flew when opening lap casualty Bliss slowed with a flat tire in the second turn. This allowed Donk to pull up to Paine’s rear nerf bar, but on the ensuing restart Paine was able to maintain his lead. The final yellow flag unfurled on lap 30 when Ron Cartwright Jr. slowed going down the back stretch. Paine took his first win of the season at Canandaigua finishing ahead of Donk, Haers, Stewart Friesen and Coffey, who rebounded back from the initial green accident. Two yellows slowed the start of the Sportsman main, the first for Tom Jansch who flew off the fourth turn on the initial lap and the second when Eric Heffernan spun in turn four. When the race finally got going it seemed that no one wanted to maintain the lead for long. Kevin Ridley held off challenges by Scott Schrader early in the race. When Heffernan spun off the track on lap four it looked as if the yellow would fly again, however Heffernan gathered his car up and returned to the race. On lap seven the yellow reappeared when Dan Wiesner spun in the fourth turn. Schrader and Loren Lincoln made contact on the restart and spun together in the third turn. Once going it was Paul Guererri taking the lead, which lasted just four laps as he spun out in the second turn by himself. This put Russ Hefti into first although Hefti also suffered problems and slowed going down the back cute on lap 18. This put last-place starter Ricky VanNeil into the lead and he held on to record his first of the season. Lincoln came home in second followed by Eric Giguere, Ridley and Guererri, who had worked his way back up front after the lap 10 spin. The Pro Stock feature opened with Jipp Ortiz taking the lead at the drop of the first green. Again, the yellow flew right at the stat, this time when Corey Kolz looped his number 55b in the fourth turn. Outside pole-sitter Matt Grubbe seemed to bog down on the restart and dropped back to sixth enabling Chad Homan to move into second. From here out the race remained green with Homan attempting to pass Ortiz numerous times. He even inched out a lead in a side-by-side duel on lap eight, but every other time Ortiz was up to the challenge. Defending track champion Ortiz took the win followed by Homan, James Henry, Daryl Hilkert and Frank Guererri Jr. The first truck to finish the race was the Chevrolet number 88a driven by Jack Ayers. As he pulled up to victory lane his right rear tire went flat, and when the truck was lifted by a wrecker it revealed a broken rear end that came on the last lap. “It was fun out here tonight,” commented Ayers concerning the racing at Canandaigua. “There should be more trucks in the next two weeks or so.” In early Street Stock action, Mike Minutolo took the lead from Steve Faulkner on lap three before yellow flag fever set in during the initial laps. Two yellows flew when Mike Schultz looped his car on the track. The first time came as the field came down to complete the first lap with Schultz in the lead. He spun out in front of the entire field and all drivers were able to get by him without any contact. Minutolo survived one more caution period and took his first win of the year. A tight pack raced in second through sixth the entire distance and when the final lap was sorted out Nat Peckham crossed the line in second followed by top-five runners Faulkner, Mike Welch and Nick Rizzo. Leslie LaVare picked up at the back of the Ladies Race starting grid yet by lap three she had command of the race. She took the win followed by Vicky Martin and Kim Ralston, celebrating by dancing on the roof of her street stock racer. The Central New York State Mini-Sprints join the four-star action of Modified, Sportsman, Pro Stock/Truck and Street Stock racing Saturday, June 18. Qualifying heats will begin promptly at 7 p.m. Canandaigua Speedway is located at the Ontario County Fairgrounds, just east of the village of Canandaigua. Further information can be found on canandaiguaspeedway.com. 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. LAKEVIEW MENTAL HEALTH NIGHT SUMMARY PARTS PLUS STREET STOCKS LADIES FEATURE (8-laps): LESLIE LAVARE, Vicky Martin, Kim Ralston, Karen Schbmerich, Tammi Labbadia, Car 27, Julie Whipple, Mary Collins. BIG MIKE’S AUTO REPAIR PRO-STOCK/TRUCKS PAINE MOTORSPORTS SPORTSMAN ADVANCE AUTO PARTS MODIFIEDS |