TOMKINS RETURNS TO VICTORY LANE AT CANANDAIGUA

     CANANDAIGUA, NY...Gary Tomkins drove an exciting 35-lap DIRT Modified feature to earn his third feature victory of the season last Saturday at Canandaigua Speedway. Randy Chrysler upped his victory total in the DIRT Sportsman division to six total with a win last Saturday. In the Pro-Stock division James Henry dedicated his victory to the ill wife of his boss. Mike Minutolo took his fourth Street Stock win of the year.

     The 35-lap DIRT Modified feature saw Vic Coffey jump to an early lead, however the yellow flew following one lap for a spin by Derrick Podsiadlo. Gary Tomkins took no time in getting to the front as he took second from Vince Viatle on lap two. Three laps later Tomkins dove low in the fourth turn to take the lead from Coffey. Coffey returned, in a side-by-side duel, to retake the front position on lap nine, using the lapped car of Joel Thomas as a pick. Coffey then built a two car advantage.

     On lap 16 Tomkins had closed the gap and dove low in the second turn to again race side-by-side with Coffey. Coffey maintained his lead until lap 21 when Tomkins was able to inch ahead. This time Tomkins began to build a two second lead, using lapped cars, on Coffey.

     Steve Paine, who had been running third, nearly four seconds back of the leaders, used the green flag laps to close the gap built by the leaders. On lap 30 he caught Coffey and passed him for second. Paine then started to close on Tomkins but ran out of time. Tomkins took the checkers some 1.767 seconds ahead of the teammates of Paine and Coffey. Billy Decker and Chuck Hebing rounded out the top five. The lack of cautions saw the feature completed in just 14 minutes at an average speed of 73.517 mph.

     Rob Bussey was the early leader of the DIRT Sportsman feature as the yellow flew for Wade Czymmek, who had come to a stop on the backstretch following contact with another car. John Pfeffer grabbed the lead on the restart from Bussey. Again the yellow flew when Eldon Payne broke a front end on his car and limped to a stop on the backstretch.

     Bussey and Pfeffer were now battling for the front position, with Bussey coming out ahead. On lap nine, in lapped traffic, Pfeffer was collected by a lapped car and went to the rear of the field. This placed multi-time feature winner Randy Chrysler in second. Chrysler took no time and took the lead on lap 11. Bussey fell back as Chrysler built an advantage. On lap 16, Paul Guererri took second and tried to chase down Chrysler.

     At the finish line it was Chrysler winning his sixth feature of the year. Guererri came home in second followed by Bussey, John Plumb and Todd Henderson, who seemed to suffer repeated mechanical woes throughout the main event.

     The full-fender action at Canandaigua became a crash-fest. The 20-lap Pro-Stock main saw five of the first seven laps completed under yellow. Two additional yellows late in the race also slowed the race, which took over 24 minutes to complete.

     James Henry took the lead from Chad Homan on a lap seven restart. He was challenged late in the race by last week's winner Tommy Barron. Barron was able to take the lead momentarily, on lap 19 as he was looking for the JoshComp $200 bonus offered for repeat winners. Henry fought back to retake the lead and take home the win on the last lap of the race. Barron finished second followed by Chad Homan, Mike Cooper and Daryl Hilkert. Henry is now eligible for a $300 bonus offered by JoshComp this Saturday if he can repeat in victory lane.

     The 15-lap saw Tim Burnell as the early leader. On lap three Gordon Withey's car last a rear wheel and axle to bring out the yellow. Two laps later the number 39 of Ray Cooper caught fire following a blown engine. DIRT Safety Crews were quick at the scene using their special "Cold Fire" extinguisher.

     On lap 12, Mike Minutolo used a pass on the high side of Burnell through turn two, to take the lead. Minutolo, who won last week, took the win again for his fourth win of the year at Canandaigua. Blaine Smith came home followed by Nick Rizzo, Burnell and Mike Welch.

     This Saturday will be Sweeteners Plus and Geneva Harley Davidson night at Canandaigua. A complete Four Star program featuring DIRT Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro-Stocks and Street Stocks will be on tap. Race time will start at 7 p.m. sharp.

ALL COUNTY CONSTRUCTION/LOZIER ANALYTICAL GROUP & EXPRESSLABS NIGHT SUMMARY

STREET STOCKS

HEAT 1: B. Smith, Bl. Smith, C. Jacobs, J. LaBarge, A. Depuy, M. Minutolo.
HEAT 2: L. Lewis, G. Withey, T. Burnell, S. Washburn, M. Welch, N. Rizzo.

FEATURE (15-laps): MIKE MINUTOLO, Blaine Smith, Nick Rizzo, Tim Burnell, Mike Welch, Leroy Lewis, Chris Jacobs, Jared LaBarge, Adam Depuy, Bill Ball, Mike Cuppernell, Scott Deline, Kevin Collins, Chris Cooper, Mike Rasbeck, Jimmy Brown, Kyle LaVare, Ray Cooper, Steve Washburn, Brandon Smith, Gordon Withey, DNS: Mike Murphy, Shawn Lloyd.

PRO-STOCK

HEAT 1: D. Hilkert, K. Michaels, J. Miller, B. Bruno, B. Lutz, P. Barone.
HEAT 2: R. Chrysler, M. Cooper, Z. Shove, J. Henry, C. Homan, C. Kolz.

FEATURE (20-laps): JAMES HENRY, Tommy Barron, Chad Homan, Mike Cooper, Daryl Hilkert, Billy Brown, Zack Shove, Roger Chrysler,
Jon Miller, Phil Barone, Bob Bruno, Ken Michaels, Bobby Lutz, Dave Conant Jr., Corey Kolz.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: J. Plumb, B. Henry Jr., P. LaVare, R. VanNeil, J. Pfeffer, P. Guererri.
HEAT 2: T. Henderson, R. Chrysler, W. Czymmek, W. Chyrywaty, J. Roberts, R. Bussey.
CONSI: E. Payne Jr., D. Wiesner, R. Briggs, G. Hurlburt, R. Miller, K. Stell, A. Pfeffer, T. Jansch.

FEATURE (20-laps): RANDY CHRYSLER, Paul Guererri, Rob Bussey, John Plumb, Todd Henderson, Dan Wiesner, Wade Czymmek, Bob Henry Jr., John Pfeffer, Rick Miller, Phil LaVare, Richard Briggs, Gus Hurlburt, Walt Chyrywaty, Keith Stell, Amy Pfeffer, Eldon Payne Jr., Tom Jansch, Jim Roberts, Rick VanNeil.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: V. Vitale, B. Decker, S. Paine, G. Tomkins, T. McCreadie, C. Bower.
HEAT 2: V. Coffey, C. Hebing, S. Ridley, C. Donk, K. Comfort, G. Tatich.
CONSI: S. Gray, R. Bliss Jr., D. Podsiadlo, M. Ward, J. Thomas.

FEATURE (35-laps): GARY TOMKINS, Steve Paine, Vic Coffey, Billy Decker, Chuck Hebing, Steve Gray, Tim McCreadie, Bob McCreadie, Charlie Donk, Vince Vitale, Scott Ridley, Karl Comfort, Greg Tatich, Chuck Bower, Joel Thomas, Derrick Podsiadlo, Joe Beyea, Mike Ward, Brian Thomas, Ray Bliss Jr.