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Victory Lane Visits By Tomkins, Schrader, Welch & Hunt At Canandaigua Canandaigua, NY ... By Tom Skibinski, DIRT NorthEast PR Canandaigua Speedway got back on track Saturday night with four new winners finding their way into victory lane at the historic Ontario County Fairgrounds oval. In open-wheel action, Gary Tomkins charged from last to first to capture the 35-lap DIRT Modified main while Scott Schrader led flag-to-flag in the 25-lap DIRT Sportsman feature. Mike Welch (Expert) and Corey Hunt (Novice) forged the final lead changes as they triumphed in the full-fender Street Stock finales on Taylor Rental of Canandaigua/WACK Radio night staged April 29. After experiencing motor problems in his qualifying heat, Tomkins buckled into owner Doug Dulen’s back-up no. 1 Pillsbury-Honeoye Auto Parts/Bicknell big-block entry to fill out the 22-car starting field. The Clifton Springs pilot cracked the top-10 with 10 laps scored then needed 20 more times around the challenging half-miler to slip under Justin Haers and pull away for the $2,000 victory. “The car hooked up from the first green flag and after that it was just a matter of finding the right groove,” said Tomkins, 40, after registering his 30th career Modified feature win at Canandaigua in a car he hadn’t driven until feature time. “It was our (Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT) Series car with an engine for Canandaigua built by Mike Mastin. When you jump in a car at the last minute with no track time all you can do is hope for the best. A couple weeks back we kind of gave away the win so it’s a good to get one back early in the year.” Chuck Bower out-dragged pole-sitter Eldon Payne, Jr. to the initial green flag with Shannon Whaley and big-block rookie Chad Homan in close pursuit. With just one lap complete, chief starter Dave Farney threw the first yellow flag for the parked cars of Chad Brachmann and Dave Rauscher in the first and second turns. A clump of mud smashed through the radiator on Brachmann’s mount as he rounded turn four on his first circuit. Todd Burley initially grazed Brachmann’s limping machine just past the starter’s stand before Rauscher slammed in as the charging pack navigated turn one. Burley returned following a quick pit stop while Brachmann and Rauscher were done for the night. Payne’s car came to halt on lap seven to require a second slowdown. With 10 laps on the scoreboard Bower continued to hold his advantage over Sean Beardsley, a charging Haers, Charlie Donk, Matt Sheppard, Vic Coffey and Tomkins. Haers dove under Beardsley on lap 13 and needed two more circuits to make his way past Bower for the number one spot. At the halfway mark Haers reached traffic while his nearest challengers jockeyed for position in their attempt to close the gap. Tomkins was easily the quickest on the track yet after he pulled into the top-five Coffey brushed his left rear wheel to set up a chain-reaction on the front stretch that knocked out teammate Tim McCreadie, Sheppard and small-blocker Billy Brown as well as himself. With just 15 cars left for the lap 20 restart, Haers led Bower, Beardsley, Tomkins and Donk, with new sixth-place runner Burley rallying back from the lap one mishap. Tomkins disposed of the competition in rapid fashion and let Haers know he was in second on lap 27 by pulling underneath in turns one and two. Three laps later Tomkins ducked underneath exiting the second corner and the dash down the back chute gave him his first lead of the night. Payne once again slowed to incur the final caution period on lap 31 and on the ensuing restart Burley stole second in a daring turn four move that drop-kicked Haers to fifth. At the checkers it was Tomkins opening up a 10 car-length margin ahead of Burley with new track regular Beardsley, opening night winner Paine and Haers rounding out the front-five. Bower, Donk, Derrick Podsiadlo, Randy Chrysler, Jeff Brownell, Jr. and Greg Monica were the last cars to complete the entire distance. “Coming from so far back I could see where everybody was running and take whatever line was the best, Justin didn’t have that luxury up front at the end,” said Tomkins, who improved just one position from his season-opening second-place finish on April 15. Rain washed out last week’s show. “The track got a little slick down low but it was still pretty good racing. We’re obviously excited with our first win of the year but finishing every race is still our biggest concern. Be around at the end and everything usually takes care of itself after that.” After starting the season with rear-end damage during a practice session then crashing in the season-opener two weeks ago, Schrader looked anything like the reigning Sportsman points king at Canandaigua. The local Shortsville chauffeur gave a better review on Saturday night, leading the entire distance to post his 15th career open-wheel victory at the ‘Land of Legends’ speedplant. “The crew just keeps putting the car back together for me, this win is for everybody that continues to help out no matter how good or bad we do,” said Schrader, who captured his first Canandaigua points crown in 1992. “We ran good a couple weeks back, I guess the only difference is that we were able to avoid the accidents today.” On this night, three cautions on lap four alone plus two more slowdowns on lap 11 were enough to keep Schrader’s competition at bay for the duration. Mark Chiddy and Nick Guererri tangled in turn four to begin the yellow flag fever while early third-place runner Tim Currier went wide in the same spot before Rob Bussey spun sideways on the main straightaway exiting the fourth corner. Schrader paced the field with five laps down as Paul Guererri and Dan Wiesner diced for second ahead of Bob Richmond, Jr. and Gus Hurlburt. Jim Hull looped his mount on lap 11 with Wiesner making a sudden trip pitside to replace a flat rear tire. Second-generation driver Ricky Newton spun out in turn one as soon as the green lights reappeared to bring out the fifth and final caution period. Midway through, Schrader continued to lead yet with 10 laps still left 22nd-place starter Dave Just had taken over the runner-up position and set his sights on the leader. Schrader never flinched as he put his no. 58 Fox’s Auto-Dar’s Auto/Bicknell ride on cruise control and straddled the line for an eight car-length victory over Just. Guererri, Hurlburt and opening night winner Todd Henderson finished in the front-five while top-10 tallies went to hard-charger Wiesner, Eric Giguere, Roger Chrysler, Phil LaVare and Pro Stock graduate Daryl Hilkert. With 27 full-fender teams finally signing in, the first Novice feature of the season was run as seven cars filled out the starting grid. The remaining 20 Street Stocks were lined up immediately after for the Expert finale. Pole-sitter Rob Ingraham jumped out to an early lead in the 10-lap Novice main while Hunt and Charles Vohs duked it out for second-place right behind. Vohs drifted too high in turn one to fade from third to last and on lap five Hunt made his best move to the point stick. “Vohs probably would’ve won but he crashed in his heat, so today’s just my day,” said second-year pilot Hunt. “It took a couple laps to get going but my line finally came around and I had a lot of fun.” Front row partners Nick Dandino and Frank Burnell, Jr. swapped the early lead in the fast-paced Expert feature with 19 cars answering the call. The first of two yellow flags flew on lap six when Nick Rizzo and Mike Minutolo tangled in turn one with Chris Jacobs t-boning Robert Lloyd in the turn two aftermath. Seventh-place starter Welch took advantage of a second slowdown just three laps from the end to pressure Burnell and sprint by him for good on the lap 13 restart. At the wire it was three-time defending track champion Welch holding off Burnell by three car-lengths followed by a rallying Rizzo, Nathan Peckham and opening night winner Blane Smith. The second “Team of the Week” awards were shared by the no. T21 Roger Chrysler Team in the open-wheel Sportsman division and no. 84 Steve Faulkner Team in the full-fender Street Stocks. Each team will be awarded three (3) pit passes for the track’s next regular scheduled event. Canandaigua Speedway will go back to its traditional starting time of 7 p.m. next Saturday, May 6. Joining a full show of DIRT Modified and DIRT Sportsman racing, the wingless cars from the USAC Sprint Car division will invade the Ontario County Fairgrounds half-miler for the first time ever. Adult general admission tickets are $25 each with $27 reserved seats also available by contacting the DIRT MotorSports NorthEast office at 315/834-6606. Gates open at 5 o’clock and Sprint Car time trials start at 6:15 p.m. In addition, fans can join in a special Meet & Greet session with USAC drivers scheduled for 5:30 p.m. behind the main grandstand. Further schedule information is available by logging into canandaiguaspeedway.com or contacting track GM Jeff Farney (315/730-4345) during the week while the race day phone is 585/394-0961. LEGEND LEDGER Chuck Hebing went trackside in his wingless Sprint Car to give fans a brief glimpse of what they can expect to see this coming Saturday night with the USAC national tour in town ….. Former big-block Modified standout and current World of Outlaws Late Model Series star Tim McCreadie made a surprise appearance at Canandaigua on Saturday but crashed out in his Sweeteners Plus entry with 19 laps scored. “There was some dust out there but that wasn’t the real problem. Before the feature only the top side was watered. With the high line so much faster it forced a lot of slide jobs” ….. On his way to the front in the Modified race Justin Haers perfected a ‘slide job’ to overtake runner-up Sean Beardsley. Todd Burley was not as subtle pulling off his own ‘slide job’ against Haers for the second-place spot in the later stages. “(Haers) came over to the trailer and we wrestled a little bit,” said Burley, with a welt purpled up over his eye as he prepared to head home for the night. 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. TAYLOR RENTAL OF CANANDAIGUA WACK RADIO EVENT SUMMARY DIRT MODIFIED FEATURE (35-laps): GARY TOMKINS, Todd Burley, Sean Beardsley, Steve Paine, Justin Haers, Chuck Bower, Charlie Donk, Derrick Podsiadlo, Randy Chrysler, Jeff Brownell Jr., Greg Monica, Eldon Payne Jr., Mike Ward, Shannon Whaley, Vic Coffey, Matt Sheppard, Tim McCeadie, Chad Homan, Billy Brown, Dave Rauscher, Don Slover, Chad Brachmann. HEAT 1: Paine, Payne, Burley, Homan, Chrysler, Rauscher, Ward. DIRT SPORTSMAN FEATURE (25-laps): SCOTT SCHRADER, Dave Just, Paul Guererri, Gus Hulburt, Todd Henderson, Dan Wiesner, Eric Giguere, Roger Chrysler, Phil LaVare, Daryl Hilkert, Bruce DeWick, Ed Fisher, Ricky Newton, Danielle Culverwell, Nick Guererri, Bob Richmond Jr., Frank Wadsworth, Kevin Ridley, Loren Lincoln, Jim Hull, Mark Chiddy, Tim Currier, Scott Just, Rob Bussey, Rick Miller. HEAT 1: LaVare, Henderson, Giguere, Hull, Fisher, N.Guererri, Culverwell, Hilkert. EXPERT STREET STOCK FEATURE (15-laps): MIKE WELCH, Frank Burnell Jr., Nick Rizzo, Nathan Peckham, Blane Smith, Adam DePuy, Leroy Lewis, Steve Faulkner, Brian Lloyd, Chris Jacobs, Mike Rasbeck, Nick Dandino, Rod Comfort Jr., Mike Minutolo, Jerry Condren, Robert Lloyd, Scott Smith, Mike Schultz, Matt Grube, Daryl Barrett. NOVICE STREET STOCK FEATURE (10-laps): COREY HUNT, Mike Dandino, Casey Wagner, George LaVare Jr., Charles Vohs, Rob Ingraham, Dave Buscemi (DNS). HEAT 1: Dandino, Peckham, DePuy, Rasbeck, B.Smith, Condren, Barrett, R.Lloyd, Faulkner. |