TOMKINS WINS AT LAND OF LEGENDS, McCREADIE FALLS SHORT OF WIN 99

CANANDAIGUA, NY...For all practical purposes it looked as if Bob McCreadie would break his long victory lane drought and bring home Canandaigua Speedway win number 99 on Big Dog Country 103.5 FM Radio/HEP Sales Night. However his efforts fell short as Gary Tomkins zoomed by to claim the 35-lap, $2,000 feature win last Saturday at Canandaigua. John Plumb won the 20-lap DIRT Sportsman feature, while Jon Miller took top honors in the 20-lap Pro-Stock main event. Mike Minutlo won the time shortened Street Stock feature.

Bob McCreadie took the lead from his fourth starting position at the drop of the green in the modified feature. Pole sitter Joe Beyea ran second followed by Ron Smoker, Karl Comfort and Jeff Brownell. As the lap was going into the record book, the yellow flew as a number of cars made a mad scramble exiting the second turn, kicking up a large amount of infield dust. McCreadie maintained his lead and looked dominate on the restart, with Smoker taking over the second place.

On lap five Dave Farney laid out the second yellow flag of the race as Tim McCreadie slowed exiting the second turn. Fairly rough track conditions also caused a number of cars to come together on lap eight sending top star Billy Decker into the front stretch concrete wall for the third yellow.

Through all of this McCreadie was holding off Smoker. But now on the restart a new challenger appeared, Gary Tomkins. Tomkins blasted by Smoker and took off after McCreadie.

On lap 13 the yellow was out again as Gil Tegg Jr. slowed with a flat front tire in the second turn and Darryl Ruggles was helped around in turn four. Also slowing on the speedway was Smoker, the third place car. He exited to the pit area for the remainder of the race. McCreadie was up to the challenge and held back Tomkins. The yellow was out again on lap 16, when Chuck Bower, the fifth place car, slowed with a flat tire. Steve Paine also fell victim to the flat tire syndrome, exiting to the pit area for a right rear tire on lap 20. He quickly returned to the
back of the pack.

This time Tomkins sailed by McCreadie on the restart coming through turn four. Tomkins then tried to establish a lead on McCreadie. Vic Coffey was in third followed by Vince Vitale and Karl Comfort. Paine, with the aid of new rubber, was flying through the field and in just three laps was in fourth position. Paine then took third, as Bob McCreadie dropped out of the race on lap 25. This ten lap period of the race, between laps 20 and 30, was the longest green flag period of the event. On lap 30 the yellow was out again, as Paine suffered yet another flat tire situation.

On the restart Gil Tegg Jr. lost a rear wheel exiting the fourth turn and collected Darryl Ruggles for the final yellow of the race. Tomkins held off Coffey by .722 seconds for the win. Vince Vitale finished third followed by former sportsman stars Karl Comfort and Tom Juhl.

In the sportsman 20-lapper John Plumb passed Paul Guererri on lap three and built nearly a full straight away led to win his first DIRT Sportsman race of 2002.

Only two yellow flags flew during the race. On lap eight the cars of Richard Briggs and Gary Hotaling came together in the fourth turn and spun. The final yellow came with just two laps remaining when Mike Majors's front end collapsed on his number 00 on the front chute. Majors's car was able to drift high and out of the line of traffic to avoid contact.

This late caution bunched the field together and evaporated Plumb's huge lead. Plumb held on by 1.387 seconds for the win followed by Guererri, Eldon Payne Jr., Wade Czymmek and last week's winner Randy Chrysler.

The 20-lap Pro-stock event was also caution filled. The first three laps were all completed under the yellow flag.

On lap one, Tiger Chapman was helped around by Phil Barone. Chapman retaliated against Barone and was black flagged for the remainder of the race. The leader of the race was Dave Conant.

On lap two Billy Brown looped in between turns one and two. Top runner Mike Cooper had to be sent pitside to remove his right front fender, which was hanging off the car. His crew pulled off the shredded sheet metal and he returned at the back of the field. On the track, Jipp Ortiz had been able to pass Conant for the lead.

On lap three, Dave Conant, running second, sailed straight off the first turn, just missing the outside concrete wall. Ortiz found himself with a flat front tire and headed pitside. This left Steve Devos in the lead.

Devos held off Roger Chrysler for four laps, when the yellow flew for the fourth time on lap seven. Chad Homan and Wayne Ellison looped out in the third turn to cause the yellow. By now Ortiz found himself back in the top five and ready to make his move. The restart saw Barone pass Chrysler for second and Ortiz take fourth. Mike Cooper was also back up to fifth. The yellow flew for the final time on lap nine, when Patrick Hobbs spun into the infield in the third turn and drifted back across the track. Only Barone made slight contact with Hobbs. However it was enough to send Barone into the pits. Hobbs was able to return to the fray.

Ortiz took second from Chrysler and then passed Devos for the lead. Jon Miller was now on the move, taking fifth on lap 10. By lap 13, Miller moved into the runner up position and was closing the gap on the Ortiz. With just two laps remaining Miller caught Ortiz and tried for the lead through the third turn. Miller was in front with just one lap remaining. At the finish line it was Miller followed by Ortiz, Chrysler, Cooper and former Street Stocker James Henry in fifth.

The proposed 15-lap Street stock race had to be shortened to just 8 laps. Three flips, one red flag and a number of yellow incidents caused the race to go passed it's planned fifteen minute time limit. Last week's winner, Nick Rizzo was part of a dual flip on lap five. Also flipping at that time was Ray Cooper. One lap later Jim Cologgi flipped in the same spot, turn two.

Through all of this Brandon Smith was the leader. However he pitted on lap five leaving Jared LaBarge as the leader. A green-white-checkered finish, saw a battle royal for the lead. Mike Minutlo was able to inch ahead of Adam Dupuy, Tim Burnell and LaBarge at the finish line. Mike Welch rounded out the top five.

CANANDAIGUA CHATTER: Extremely soft track conditions have caused the track to break up and has even forced officials to change the radius of the first turn. "Our track crew is getting their hands on the problem better each week," stated general manager Jeff Farney. "This week the track held up better then last week. A week without rain would help a lot."

Eighty race cars were on hand for the night's racing. Last week's modified feature winner Alan Johnson did not return.

This Saturday will be Payne Building and Contracting, plus Payne Tilt Bed Service night at the track as the DIRT Sportsman teams will be vying for a guaranteed starting spot at Syracuse on July 3. A full program of DIRT Modified, Sportsman, Pro-Stock and Street Stock racing is on the schedule. Race time will begin at 7 p.m., with gates opening at 4:30 p.m..

Canandaigua Speedway is located just minutes east of the village of Canandaigua, NY, on County Road 10, at the Ontario County Fairgrounds.

BIG DOG COUNTRY 103.5 FM RADIO/HEP SALES NIGHT SUMMARY

STREET STOCKS

HEAT 1: J. LaBarge, M. Minutlo, M. Welch, R. Cooper, B. Hessleton.
HEAT 2: J. Cologgi, M. Rasbeck, N. Rizzo, K. Pierce, B. Ball.
HEAT 3: L. Lewis, B. Smith, S. Deline, A. Dupuy, B. Steinruck.

FEATURE (8-laps): MIKE MINUTLO, Adam Dupuy, Tim Burnell, Jared LaBarge, Mike Welch, Leroy Lewis, Jimmy Brown, Chris Jacobs, Bill Ball, Vance Vanderwall, Ken Pierce, Brandon Smith, Mike Cuppernell, Scott Deline, Joe Mosher, Jim Cologgi, Mike Rasbeck, Kent Fletcher, Brad Steinruck, Ray Cooper, Nick Rizzo, Darryl Barrett, Chris Cooper, Brian Hessleton, Kyle LaVare, DNS: Kevin Collins, Brian Lloyd, Richard Kline.

PRO-STOCKS

HEAT 1: T. Chapman, D. Conant, R. Chrysler, M. Cooper, P. Barone.
HEAT 2: J. Ortiz, S. Devos, J. Miller, B. Bruno, C. Kolz.

FEATURE (20-laps): JON MILLER, Jipp Ortiz, Roger Chrysler, Mike Cooper, James Henry, Phil Barone, Billy Brown, Patrick Hobbs, Chad Homan, Steve Devos, Bob Bruno, Corey Kolz, Wayne Ellison, Dave Conant, Zack Shove, Tiger Chapman, DNS: Daryl Hilkert.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: R. Chrysler, P. Guererri, J. Plumb, E. Payne Jr.
HEAT 2: R. Bussey, T. Henderson, K. Stell, G. Hurlburt.
HEAT 3: W. Czymmek, M. Majors, R. VanNeil, D. Wiesner.

FEATURE (20-laps): JOHN PLUMB, Paul Guererri, Eldon Payne Jr., Wade Czymmek, Randy Chrysler, Rick VanNeil, Dave Wiesner, Todd Henderson, Gary Hotaling, Phil LaVare, Frank Burnell, Mike Majors, John Pfeffer, Gus Hurlburt, Rob Bussey, Eric Giguere, Keith Stell, Richard Briggs, Rick Miller, DNS: Tim Burns.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: G. Tomkins, R. Smoker, G. Tegg Jr., V. Coffey, J. Beyea, E. Monroe.
HEAT 2: B. McCreadie, T. McCreadie, B. Decker, C. Hebing, K. Comfort, D. Ruggles.
HEAT 3: V. Vitale, C. Bower, S. Paine, Greg Hixson, J. Brownell, T. Juhl.

FEATURE (35-laps): GARY TOMKINS, Vic Coffey, Vince Vitale, Karl Comfort, Tom Juhl, Scott Ridley, Gil Tegg Jr., Steve Paine, Darryl Ruggles, Bob McCreadie, Dave Axton, Jeff Brownell, Chuck Bower, Ron Smoker, Chuck Hebing, Billy Decker, Joe Beyea, Greg Hixson, Tim McCreadie, Ray Bliss Jr., Charlie Donk, Steve Gray, Ed Monroe, DNS: Billy Whittaker.