100% BETTER, PER PAINE, HENDERSON, MILLER AND RIZZO

CANANDAIGUA, NY..."The track is 100 percent better then it has been all year," stated every winner last Saturday at Canandaigua Speedway. The track, which is built in a swampy area, with a high water table, has suffered rough track conditions since it opened in 2002. But thanks to a great effort by track prep specialist Jim Cummings and his crew the track improved greatly last Saturday.

Steve Paine picked up Canandaigua feature win number 55, claiming the 35-lap feature. Todd Henderson, who has not been in Canandaigua's victory lane since 1999, earned the Sportsman 20- lap feature win. In the Pro-Stocks it was Jon Miller win the victory and in the Street Stocks Nick Rizzo took the win.

The 35-lap feature started off with Charlie Donk in the lead, with Ray Bliss Jr., Steve Gray, Joe Beyea and Vince Vitale rounding out the front runners. On lap five, Gray ducked under Donk for the lead and then pulled away to a slight advantage. In the middle of the pack, Bob McCreadie discovered the high grove around the speedway was open and free, so he managed to put on a great charge to the front using that lane.

Steve Paine managed to take third by lap nine and took off after Gray and Vitale in second. On lap twelve McCreadie was able to take both Paine and Vitale. However as they came to the starting line, Paine was able to regain second by mere inches.

The first yellow flew on lap 20 when Vic Coffey came to a stop at the exit of the second turn. Coffey was running in sixth at the time.

The restart saw Gray have his hands full with Paine and McCreadie. But on lap 23, McCreadie drifted high in the second turn and dropped back to sixth, allowing Gary Tomkins, Billy Decker and Vitale to get by him. Two laps later Paine used the high grove through the fourth turn to take the lead from Gray. Gray would not relent, running side-by-side with Paine for a lap. Paine was then able to shake Gray and pull out to a 4.766 second lead at the finish. Decker was able to go high exiting the fourth turn and pass Gray by inches at the finish line for second. Tomkins ended up fourth with Vitale rounding out the top five.

In the 20-lap sportsman main Mike Majors was only able to hold the lead for one lap when Dan Wiesner powered by in another side-by-side duel for two laps for the lead. The yellow flew on lap three to break up this great duel at the front of the field. Scott Joy, Wade Czymmek and Amy Pfeffer all came together in the first turn. All were able to return to the race.

Two laps later, lap five, the yellow was out yet again when Richard Briggs looped in the first turn. The restart saw Todd Henderson blow by Wiesner for the lead. Henderson then drove out to a solid ten car lead with John Plumb taking second followed by Wiesner, Paul Guererri and Eldon Payne Jr..

Randy Chrysler broke free from the back of the pack and made the race exiting in the closing laps. He took fifth by lap 18 and then worked his way up to third at the finish line behind both Henderson and Plumb. Guererri finished fourth followed by Wiesner in fifth.

A surprisingly light field of Pro-Stocks were on hand, but the action was hot and heavy on the track. Phil Barone led the first circuit only to lose the lead to Dave Conant Jr., who found a fast line around the top of the speedway. The first yellow flew when Roger Chrysler made contact with the front stretch wall, bending his front suspension. On the restart Chad Homan took the lead as Conant Jr. spun at the front of the field all by himself in the fourth turn. Conant quickly rebounded and did not wait for another yellow but went on his way. Jon Miller took this time to grab second away from Barone.

The break Conant needed to catch the field came on lap seven when the yellow flew when newcomer Andrew Joy went around in the first turn. Miller took the lead on the restart as Homan fell back to second and Mike Cooper took third from Barone.

The yellow flew again on lap 10 when Homan looped his number 91, allowing Cooper into second. The restart saw Barone go around in the fourth turn, allowing Conant Jr. back into the top five.

One more spin by Joy on lap 14 broke up a long run to the checkers. Homan used this yellow to drive by Cooper and back into second. At the finish line it was Miller for his third win of the year at Canandaigua. Homan finished second followed by last week's winner James Henry, Conant Jr. and Cooper.

The 15-lap Street Stock main got off to a rocky start when a three car tangle in the first turn on the opening lap slowed the race. The restart saw the only flip on the night as Brandon Smith got sideways on the restart in the fourth turn and over corrected to the outside, sending his car over in a slow roll onto it's roof. Smith emerged upset with himself and uninjured. Mike Welch took the lead from Bill Ball on lap three. The race proceeded without any more yellows. On lap nine Nick Rizzo caught Welch and in a side-by-side battle he made his pass for the lead. Rizzo came home with the win followed by Welch, Joe Mosher, Jared LaBarge and Tim Burnell.

CANANDAIGUA CLAY: DIRT Television was on hand to do a special about the surface of the speedway. "We are pleased with tonight's results," commented general manager Jeff Farney. "We still have a ways to go especially in the first and second turns." Many fans may remember the artisan well that would pop up at times in the second turn, indicating just how high a water table exists in that area...On hand for the first time in the modifieds were Joel and Todd Thomas. Joel raced at Canandaigua for many years against Will Cagle and Merv Triechler. They expect to return again to Canandaigua...A salute was made by many race teams to honor Cody Bach, the young eight year old killed earlier this week while crossing the street to get his family's newspaper. Richard Briggs carried a 12 by 12 salute in Cody's remembrance.

This Saturday will be womens' night at Canandaigua complete with a Ladies Powder Puff Race. A complete program of DIRT Modified, Sportsman, Pro-Stock and Street Stock racing will be staged. Starting time is 7 p.m. sharp.

LOCAL 3298 UNITED STEEL WORKERS NIGH SUMMARY

STREET STOCKS

HEAT 1: B. Smith, T. Burnell, J. LaBarge, M. Murphy, J. Cologgi.
HEAT 2: M. Welch, J. Mosher, S. Deline, N. Rizzo, C. Jacobs.
HEAT 3: A. Depuy, L. Lewis, R. Cooper, M. Shaw, B. Ball.

FEATURE (15-laps): NICK RIZZO, Mike Welch, Joe Mosher, Jared LaBarge, Tim Burnell, Ray Cooper, Leroy Lewis, Jim Cologgi, Adam DePuy, Mike Murphy, Kevin Collins, Brian Hoisington, Brian Lloyd, Jeff Freeland, Robert Pierce, Bill Ball, Mike Shaw, Mike Minutolo, Kyle LaVare, Brandon Smith, Jimmy Brown, Scott Deline, Chris Jacobs, Chris Cooper, DNS: Bobby Lee, Shawn Lloyd, Doug Quigley, Daryl Barrett, Kent Fletcher, Mike Rasbeck.

PRO-STOCK

HEAT 1: J. Henry, D. Conant Jr., B. Brown, P. Barone.
HEAT 2: M. Cooper, R. Chrysler, C. Homan, J. Miller.

FEATURE (20-laps): JON MILLER, Chad Homan, James Henry, Dave Conant Jr., Mike Cooper, Billy Brown, Zack Shove, Bob Bruno, Andrew Joy, Phil Barone, Roger Chrysler.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: T. Henderson, S. Joy, P. Guererri, W. Czymmek, M. Majors, R. Briggs.
HEAT 2: E. Payne Jr., J. Plumb, R. Chrysler, R. Bussey, J. Pfeffer, D. Wiesner.

FEATURE (20-laps): TODD HENDERSON, John Plumb, Randy Chrysler, Paul Guererri, Dan Wiesner, Eldon Payne Jr., Rob Bussey, John Pfeffer, Scott Joy, Wade Czymmek, Richard Briggs, Phil LaVare, Keith Stell, Amy Pfeffer, Eric Giguere, Mike Majors, Frank Burnell, Gus Hurlburt, DNS: Rick Miller.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: V. Coffey, B. Decker, S. Gray, B. McCreadie, K. Comfort, R. Bliss Jr.
HEAT 2: V. Vitale, S. Paine, T. McCreadie, G. Tomkins, C. Donk, J. Beyea.

FEATURE (35-laps): STEVE PAINE, Billy Decker, Steve Gray, Gary Tomkins, Vince Vitale, Karl Comfort, Tim McCreadie, Bob McCreadie, Charlie Donk, Randy Miller, Gil Tegg Jr., Jeff Brownell, Greg Hixson, Joel Thomas, Vic Coffey, Ray Bliss Jr., Joe Beyea, Todd Thomas.