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Paine Wins Big-Block Finale To Capture 6th Straight Canandaigua Crown; CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. (September 3) – Track point champions were determined Saturday evening at the famed Canandaigua Speedway. Steve Paine successfully defended his DIRT Modified track championship by winning the 50-lap regular season-ending championship feature. His closest competition was Gary Tomkins, who suffered a loss of oil pressure on lap 11, handing the championship over to Paine, who has now stretched his Canandaigua big-block Modified championships to seven total and the last six titles in a row. In the Sportsman division Scott Schrader won his second Canandaigua Sportsman title. He last earned the championship in 1992. Following a number of years off, he returned to the speedway last season. Paul Guererri made a charge at the title, winning the 30-lap main. However, Guererri fell 20 points short. Jipp Ortiz brought home his fourth Pro Stock track championship at Canandaigua the only way he could, by winning the 20-lap season-finale. “My father won many times at this track,” commented Ortiz in victory lane. “I'm just so proud to have won this championship.” Jipp also referred to the second and third place finishers on the evening. “And Chad (Homan) and James (Henry) are champions in their own right.” Mike Welch claimed the Canandaigua Street Stock title with Scott Smith winning the caution-plagued 20-lap season ending feature. Also earning a Canandaigua championship was Todd Henderson, who was named the Original Pizza Logs 358-Modified track champion. The 50-lap DIRT modified main got off to an extremely hot start as Jeff Brownell Jr.’s modified broke a fuel line and showed a huge plume of fire from under his car. The flames leaped from the under carriage of his car as he rounded the track. Brownell finally coasted to a stop on the back stretch and leaped from his car uninjured, however his car was still showing signs of the fire burning. Up front Eldon Payne Jr. gave up the race lead on the restart to Justin Haers, who stretched out a full three second advantage over Charlie Donk, Payne and Steve Paine. Paine was able to take second from Donk on lap 10 and had to wait just one lap for a yellow to close in on leader Haers. The yellow flew when Gary Tomkins slowed on the track with engine problems. This opened the door for Paine to race his own race as his only competition for the track championship was sidelined. Haers maintained his lead on the restart but now Donk was able to regain second with Paine falling back to fourth behind Chad Brachmann. A yellow on lap 20 when Ray Bliss slowed with a flat tire helped Paine once again move in on Haers. One of the fastest cars on the track was Chuck Bower, however, his race ended on lap 25 when he threw a drive shaft and pulled off the track. On lap 31, Paine pulled to the top of the speedway down the backstretch and completed his pass for the lead. Two more yellows slowed the action. On lap 34 Henderson performed a 360-degree spin in the third turn and the next lap Payne’s car looked extremely loose as he seemed to try and slow. As he exited the second turn Ron Cartwright Jr. slammed into the rear of the Payne machine sending both spinning down the back chute. Back under green, Paine brought the field home for his fourth win of the season followed by Haers, Vic Coffey, Brachmann and Donk. The 30-lap Sportsman feature was somewhat of an endurance event as it took over 31 minutes to complete. Seven yellows slowed the race pace to a mere 28.425 mph average. Scott Just held the early lead before losing it on a lap four restart to Justin Henderson. Henderson seemed more than able to hold off Paul Guererri, who had followed him by Just on that lap four restart. However, numerous yellows allowed Guererri to pull up onto Henderson’s rear nerf bar. On lap 14, Guererri ducked low entering the third turn to complete the pass for the lead. As Henderson entered the first turn in an attempt to regain the top spot he spun off the speedway and into the grass to cause yet another yellow. This moved Gus Hurlburt into second followed by Scott Schrader, Scott Just and Dave Just. Yellow after yellow continued to slow the race. Moving back towards the front was Rob Bussey, who had caused the second yellow flag on lap four after slowing in the second turn. Bussey challenged Hurlburt for second and completed his pass on lap 25 then took off after Guererri. A yellow on lap 26 closed the field together but in the end it was Guererri with the victory. Rounding out the top finishers were Bussey, Scott Just, Hurlburt and Jipp Ortiz, in his first start at the speedway aboard a Sportsman car. Ortiz took command of the Big Mike's Auto Repair Pro Stock feature on lap seven following a daring outside pass for the lead on Chad Homan. Ortiz had to win to claim the track title if Homan remained in second. In the closing laps of the race, Ortiz was able to stretch out his lead, taking the checkers a full two and a half seconds ahead of Homan, James Henry, Daryl Hilkert and Bill Hallett. The 20-lap Parts Plus Auto Stores Street Stock main also proved to be an endurance event with eight yellows slowing the pace. Steve Faulkner led the early laps before Mike Rasbeck took command of the front position on lap eight. Rasbeck held off teammate Mike Welch for just one lap losing the lead going down the back stretch on lap nine as a number of laps were being run one at a time due to the yellow flags. On lap 11, Scott Smith inherited the lead when Welch slowed with a flat tire. Smith then held on through five more yellow flag periods to take the win. Blane Smith, Dave Marcuccilli and Nick Rizzo came home in second through fourth. Welch rounded out the top-five finishers after a charge back through the field over the final 10 laps of the race. That run was enough to secure him a third straight track championship. Canandaigua Speedway will remain dark until Saturday, September 24, when the Finger Lakes Championships will be run with Super DIRT Series events filling the card for 358-Modified, Sportsman and Pro Stock divisions. Race time was originally scheduled for 3 p.m. and has since been upped to 5 p.m. to allow for better track conditions. A chicken barbeque will be held on the speedway property starting at 3 p.m. in the afternoon with gates opening at that time. The management of Canandaigua Speedway wants to thank all of the competitors and fans for their support at the speedway in 2005. 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. PAINE MOTORSPORTS/OWASCO BEVERAGE CHAMPIONSHIP NIGHT SUMMARY PARTS PLUS AUTO STORES STREET STOCK HEAT 1: S. Faulkner, K. Collins, M. Schultz, S. Smith, C. Sealy. FEATURE (20-laps): SCOTT SMITH, Blane Smith, Dave Marcuccilli, Nick Rizzo, Mike Welch, Steve Faulkner, Kevin Collins, Corey Hunt, Chris Jacobs, Chris Sealy, Adam DePuy, Nat Peckham, Jason Quigley, Mike Minutolo, Mike Rasbeck, Mike Schultz, Leroy Lewis, Charles Vohs. Canandaigua Speedway Top Five Final Street Stock Point Standings: Mike Welch 788, Blane Smith 775, Nick Rizzo 772, Nat Peckham 754, Mike Minutolo 670. BIG MIKE'S AUTO REPAIR PRO STOCK HEAT: J. Henry, C. Homan, J. Ortiz, D. Hilkert, B. Hallett, M. Grube. FEATURE (20-laps): JIPP ORTIZ, Chad Homan, James Henry, Daryl Hilkert, Bill Hallett, John Rutkowski, Frank Burnell, Matt Grube, John Kuleszo, Doug Smith. Canandaigua Speedway Top Five Final Pro-Stock Point Standings: Jipp Ortiz 948, Chad Homan 946, James Henry 908, Daryl Hilkert 852 , John Rutkowski 754. PAINE MOTORSPORTS SPORTSMAN HEAT 1: P. Guererri, D. Just, D. Wiesner, S. Schrader, R. Bussey, F. Wadsworth. FEATURE (30-laps): PAUL GUERERRI, Rob Bussey, Scott Just, Gus Hurlburt, Jipp Ortiz, Roger Chrysler, Mike Murphy, Ricky Newton, Dave Just, Scott Schrader, Eric Giguere, Justin Henderson, Dan Wiesner, Kevin Ridley, Eric Heffernan, Loren Lincoln, Tom Jansch, DNS: Frank Wadsworth, Rick Miller, Steve Doell. Canandaigua Speedway Top Five Final Sportsman Point Standings: Scott Schrader 860, Paul Guererri 840, Dan Wiesner 810, Loren Lincoln 801, Eric Giguere 776. ADVANCE AUTO PARTS MODIFIED HEAT 1: S. Whaley, S. Paine, M. Ward, K. Comfort, G. Tomkins. FEATURE (50-laps): STEVE PAINE, Justin Haers, Vic Coffey, Chad Brachmann, Charlie Donk, Stewart Friesen, Karl Comfort, John Pfeffer, Brian Michaels, Ron Cartwright Jr., Todd Henderson, Roger Chrysler, Mike Ward, Shannon Whaley, Eldon Payne Jr., Chuck Bower, Ray Bliss, Phil LaVare, Gary Tomkins, Fran Hilton, Jeff Brownell Jr., Steve Pesarek, Don Slover, Mike Bliss, DNS: Todd Burley. Canandaigua Speedway Top Five Final Modified Point Standings: Steve Paine 862, Gary Tomkins 835, Justin Haers 778, Chad Brachmann 763, Vic Coffey 754. |