Canandaigua Speedway Set For 43rd Season Opener On Saturday Evening

Canandaigua, NY – April 12, 2006 – By Gary M. Spaid, Canandaigua PR

Colorful cars and the roar of engines marked the customary day of practice on Wednesday, April 12, for Canandaigua Speedway. Some 34 cars signed in representing five different classes; DIRT Modified, Sportsman, Street Stock, Sprint Car and even a Vintage racer were on hand.

The first of four warm-up sessions for each division started promptly at 5 p.m. Many of the Modified and Sportsman cars had their transponders on board so some of the practice times could be recorded. Vic Coffey set fast time for the afternoon during the second session with a lap of 17.852 seconds. Derrick Podsiadlo posted the second best time with an 18.253 second lap.

Canandaigua fans were given their first views of a number of past Pro Stockers and their new open-wheel cars. Chad Homan and Billy Brown both showed up during Modified practice. Brown’s car is a former Lance Dusett machine housing a new 358 cubic inch powerplant. In Sportsman, Darryl Hilkert unveiled his new beautiful no. 4 machine complete with his popular “flames” graphics.

In the Sportsman ranks it was Kevin Ridley posting a 19.276 second lap that was the mark to beat. Dan Wiesner posted the second best Sportsman time with a lap of 19.799 seconds. Ten of the 15 Sportsman on hand had transponders on board.

A number of incidents marked the practice session. The worse coming in the DIRT Modified second session when 16 year-old rookie Danielle Coverwell made heavy contact with the front stretch wall as she exited the fourth turn, tearing the right front wheel off of her no. 17 Jr. mount. Further right side damage occurred as the car continued to bounce repeatedly off the cement wall.

Other incidents included Sportsman rookie Tim Currier, who made heavy contact with the second turn wall, and defending Sportsman points champion Scott Schrader, who slid off the track in the third turn and suffered rear-end damage to require a tow back to the pits.

At 6:15 p.m. a brief shower pelted the speedway area creating a beautiful full rainbow in the southern sky. It was commented that the end of the rainbow’s “pot of gold” rests at the speedway in 2006.

Racing will begin this Saturday starting at 5 p.m. (Two hours earlier then normal). This 5 p.m. start will be in effect throughout the remainder of April with Pit Gates opening by 3 p.m. “We might want to open just a little bit earlier to accommodate the opening night cars,” commented track General Manager Jeff Farney. “The track held up extremely well during these sessions,” stated Farney as he was referring to the great job done by the track preparations crew.

The adult general admission ticket price on Saturday is $10. Further schedule information is available throughout the season by logging into canandaiguaspeedway.com or by contacting the DIRT MotorSports NE office at 315/834-6606. Canandaigua’s race day phone is 585/394-0961.

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, Hoosier Racing Tire and Sunoco Race Fuels. Promotional partners include AMB i.t., F.X. Caprara Car Companies and the University of Northwestern Ohio and the contingency sponsors are Bert Transmission, Bicknell Racing Products, Bilstein Shocks, Brodix Cylinder Heads, DART Machinery, Holley HP Carburetors, Integra Shocks, MSD Ignitions, Miller Electric Manufacturing Company, Penske Shocks and Wrisco Industries.