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Tomkins, Henry and Welch Claim Feature Gold At Canandaigua Speedway; Guererri Breaks Sportsman Feature Win Record At 'Land Of Legends' CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. (June 25) – Gary Tomkins took home his third feature win of the season Saturday at Canandaigua Speedway. Tomkins, the 1989 Sportsman track champion, is still searching for his first Canandaigua title in the headline DIRT big-block Modified division. “We're trying to make this our year and win the title,” stated Tomkins. “I really want to win this championship.” Paul Guererri’s victory back on May 28th tied him with Mike Button as the all-time winningest Sportsman drivers. Guererri broke the tie one month later and now stands on top of the record list with 21 feature wins at Canandaigua. In full-fender action, James Henry saved all he had and made a last lap pass exiting the fourth turn to take the Big Mike's Auto Repair Pro Stock 15-lap feature victory while Mike Welch took top honors in the Parts Plus Auto Stores Street Stock feature. The Canandaigua Window Cleaning 35 lap DIRT Modified main opened with Karl Comfort shootting to the front and establishing a solid lead over Shannon Whaley, Darryl Ruggles and Eldon Payne Jr. Moving through the field was Chuck Bower, who caught Comfort on lap seven. Bower then charged to the outside of the second turn and out-dragged Comfort down the back stretch to take the lead. Bower quickly began to move away from the pack and pulled away to a full three-second advantage. High-flying Tomkins passed Comfort and also broke free and started to chase down the leader. Inch-by-inch, lap-by-lap Tomkins drew in on Bower. Vic Coffey, possibly the fastest car on the track, joined the battle up front soonafter as he took third from Comfort on lap 18. Coffey, however, was nearly a full four seconds behind Tomkins and had an insurmountable amount of real estate to make up. But that dilemma was solved when the yellow flag flew on lap 23 to bunch the leaders as Ruggles had come to a stop in the first turn to cause the caution period. Tomkins passed Bower for the lead on the ensuing restart, pulling Coffey along into second. Tomkins built up his own lead before the yellow lights were turned on one last time when Chad Brachmann slowed in the third turn on lap 26 with a blown engine. The final charge to the checkers would prove fatal for Coffey as a plume of smoke began to billow off the tail end of the Sweeteners Plus machine and Coffey immediately pulled into the pits. Tomkins took the win followed by points leader Steve Paine, Bower, Justin Haers and Stewart Friesen. The long green run at the start of the feature allowed for an average speed of 65.812 mph and before the final yellow this average was in the 90 mph range due to the torrid pace set earlier by Tomkins. The Comfort Zone 25 Sportsman feature began with Mike Johnson taking the lead with Mike Murphy on his tail. Things were about to change however as the caution flew on lap four when Steve Doell spun in the first turn off the track. Johnson was able to maintain his lead on the restart. As the field exited the fourth turn, Rob Bussey, who was running in third suddenly pulled high and slowed to a stop at the exit of the turn. His race was done due to mechanical woes. Dan Wiesner was now able to take the lead on this restart before Doell again looped his car to cause the yellow to appear one more time. Scott Schrader took advantage of this situation and passed Johnson for second on the restart. Wiesner seemed to establish a comfortable lead and looked for all purposes to have the win in the bag. With one lap remaining Paul Guererri was able to work his way by Schrader to take second. As Wiesner circled the second turn he spun out on his own causing the yellow to fly. This incident put Guererri in the lead and all he had to do was hold off Schrader for just one final lap. Guererri took the victory, his 21st Canandaigua Sportsman feature win. Schrader held on for second followed by Russ Hefti, who made an outside charge from sixth to third on the final lap. Johnson and Loren Lincoln rounded out the top-five. Guererri averaged 42.149 mph due to the number of yellows during the race. “I now have the record here at Canandaigua,” stated an elated Guererri. “Now we can work towards establishing our own record.” The Tappan 15 Pro Stock main proved to be one of the most exciting races of the night. For most of the race the top cars raced “under a blanket" sometimes three-wide around the half-mile circuit. Up front last week’s feature winner Chad Homan was ticking off laps at a record pace. The yellow flag would slow this as Matt Grubbe spun in the fourth turn on lap four. Homan, with James Henry and Jipp Ortiz hot on his tail, then led the next eight circuits. On lap 13, Henry was able to pull alongside of Homan and nose into the lead for just one lap. Homan then ducked low in the second turn to re-take first. On lap 14, Henry ducked low in the second turn and used Homan’s move to pull along side of the leader. Homan tried to cut off Henry as they roared through the third turn, but ended up drifting too high. Henry regained momentum and completed his pass as they exited the fourth turn to take the feature win. Ortiz was also able to inch out Homan at the line for second. Daryl Hilkert and John Rutkowski rounded out the top-five finishers. Twenty-one Street Stocks answered the call to take the green in their 15-lap feature race. As the field took Dave Farney’s initial green a huge ball of flames emerged from under Mike Minutolo’s car. It looked as if Minutolo had ignited an after-burner on a Saturn Rocket as the flame reached some ten feet behind. Safety crews chased him down and put out the flames. After a quick inspection and repair, Minutolo returned at the back of the field. The next attempt at a start proved just as trying. Brad Steinruck looped in the second turn causing the yellow to fly one more time, but not before officials could record the first lap in the record books. Frank Burnell lost the lead to Nick Rizzo while all of this action was taking place on the track. Moving up fast was Mike Welch, who earned second place by lap four. Welch was able to pass Rizzo for the lead on lap six after Rizzo had been run extremely high by a lapped car through the fourth turn. Minutolo's car showed signs of damage and suddenly stopped on the track with a blown left rear tire. Moving fast before this was newcomer Frank Pangrazio, who was able to gain third on the restart and by lap nine moved into second and begin to challenge the leader. All the time his car was showing signs of smoke. A caution on lap 13 came when fourth-place runner Burnell slowed with a flat tire. As the field circled the track under yellow the Pangrazio crew radioed the control tower to have their car brought to the pits. Pangrazio was pulled over and informed that he was smoking badly and was to go to the pits. He protested some but then followed his team’s orders. Vance Vanderwall caused the yellow flag to fly again once the race resume. But with only one lap remaining it was coming down to a shoot out between race leader Welch and second-place runner Blane Smith, who had inherited the position following Pangrazio’s exit to the pits. Welch held on for the victory followed by Smith, Nate Peckham, Rizzo and Steve Faulkner. A new month of racing begins in Canandaigua on Saturday, July 2 highlighted by the second appearance this year of the Patriot Sprint Group. They will be joined by a full program of DIRT Modified, Sportsman, Pro Stock and Street Stock action with the night topped off by a fireworks display. Qualifying races will begin a few minutes before 7 p.m. due to the length of the night’s program. For more information about Canandaigua Speedway go on the internet to www.canandaiguspeedway.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. CANANDAIGUA WINDOW CLEANING/COMFORT ZONE TAPPAN PARTS PLUS AUTO STORES STREET STOCK HEAT 1: B. Steinruck, N. Dandino, L. Lewis, N. Rizzo, N. Peckham. FEATURE (15-laps): MIKE WELCH, Blane Smith, Nat Peckham, Nick Rizzo, Steve Faulkner, Adam DePuy, Mike Rasbeck, Vance Vanderwall, Mike Minutolo, Kevin Collins, Daryl Barrett, Brad Steinruck, Kevin Pangrazio, Frank Burnell, Tony Pangrazio, Scott Smith, Chris Gingrich, Darren Phippen, Nick Dandino, Leroy Lewis, Mike Schultz, DNS: Jason Whipple, Dave Buscemi. BIG MIKE’S AUTO REPAIR PRO STOCK HEAT: D. Hilkert, J. Ortiz, C. Homan, M. Grubbe, J. Rutkowski, J. Henry. FEATURE (15-laps): JAMES HENRY, Jipp Ortiz, Chad Homan, Daryl Hilkert, John Rutkowski, Jim Hewitt, Matt Grubbe. PAINE MOTORSPORTS SPORTSMAN HEAT 1: S. Schrader, M. Murphy, M. Johnson, R. Miller, E. Giguere, DQ: S. Doell FEATURE (25-laps): PAUL GUERERRI, Scott Schrader, Russ Hefti, Mike Johnson, Loren Lincoln, Eric Giguere, Ricky VanNeil, Roger Chrysler, Rick Miller, Dan Wiesner, Kevin Ridley, Mike Murphy, Josh Hefti, Steve Doell, Justin Henderson, Tom Jansch, Rob Bussey. ADVANCE AUTO PARTS DIRT MODIFIED HEAT 1: J. Brownell Jr., S. Paine, T. Burley, R. Cartwright Jr., C. Brachmann. FEATURE (35-laps): GARY TOMKINS, Steve Paine, Charlie Donk, Chuck Bower, Justin Haers, Stewart Friesen, Todd Burley, Karl Comfort, Darryl Ruggles, Shannon Whaley, Eldon Payne Jr., Jeff Brownell Jr., Mike Bliss, Todd Henderson, Roger Chrysler, Vic Coffey, Ray Bliss, Ron Cartwright Jr., Chad Brachmann, Randy Chrysler, Don Slover, Steve Pesarek, DNS: Brian Michaels. |