COFFEY WINS SECOND OF SEASON, HEBING TOPS PATRIOT SPRINTS

CANANDAIGUA, NY...Vic Coffey, from Leicester, NY, inherited the lead of the 35-lap DIRT Modified feature with just five laps remaining when leader Gary Tomkins was side-lined with a broken torsion bar. It was Coffey's second win of the year at Canandaigua. DIRT Modified driver Chuck Hebing topped a full field of Patriot sprint cars, also securing a top five finish in the new Troyer Experimental number 5 modified in the modified feature. Dan Wiesner also earned his second win of the 2003 Sportsman campaign, while Jipp Ortiz (Pro-stock) and Mike Minutolo (Street Stock) won the full-fender features.

Darryl Ruggles was the early leader in the 35-lap DIRT Modified feature. Chuck Hebing passed Ruggles on lap two and started to stretch an advantage. Lap 10 saw Gary Tomkins, running in third, make an inside move on Ruggles down the backstretch to take the runner up position. Tomkins then began to close the gap on Hebing.

Using a lapped car, on lap 17, Tomkins was able to pass Hebing for the lead as he tucked low under the lapped car and Hebing went high. Once by Tomkins also set sail. Hebing tan second followed by Coffey, Matt Sheppard, Steve Paine and Ruggles.

The yellow appeared on lap 31 when Charlie Donk spun in the fourth turn. During this yellow a number of lapped cars went around the leader and became the last cars one lap down instead of the first cars a lapped down. During the yellow Tomkins slowed with the broken torsion bar and exited the track leaving Coffey with the lead.

Coffey led the last five laps for the victory followed by Sheppard, Paine, Hebing and Chad Brachmann.

The 20-lap Sportsman feature saw pole sitter Amy Pfeffer lead lap one. Jon Miller then used an outside pass through the third turn to pass Pfeffer for the lead on lap four after pressuring her for a number of laps. Also passing Amy were Paul Guererri and Dane Wiesner.

The yellow flew on lap five when Dale Kissel and Frank Wadsworth came together in the second turn. The restart saw the outside line advance with Wiesner able to grab the lead from Guererri before the lap could be completed.

Wiesner and Guererri then attempted to pull away from the rest of the field. Multi-time feature winner Todd Henderson passed Miller for third on lap nine. But the run away was all for naught when Kissel spun on the backstretch to bring out the yellow flag again on lap 12.

The final eight laps were a dash to the checkers with Wiesner taking the victory over Guererri and Henderson. Miller and Scott Joy rounded out the top five finishers.

The 20-lap Patriot Sprint car main got off to a rocky start when Dan Deming looped in front of the field exiting the fourth turn on the initial green. He collected the number 4 of Frank Senzio, who in turn was hit by Warren Alexson and R.C. Faigle. Both Alexson and Faigle flipped on the front chute causing the red flag to fly. Both Alexson and Faigle were uninjured but Senzio complained about a sore neck and was taken by medical crews for observation.

The second attempt at restarting saw Billy Krull blast into the lead with Rick Wilson hot on his heals. Wilson attempted an outside pass on Krull on laps four and five, each time falling short. At this same time Chuck Hebing found his "legs" and moved from fifth to third passing Kyle Drum and Bob Podolak. Three laps later Hebing, using lapped traffic, maneuvered, first low, then high around both Wilson and Krull for the lead.

Hebing started to pull away from Krull and Wilson as the leaders drove through lapped traffic. On lap 16 the yellow flew when fifth place runner Drum spun in the fourth turn. On the restart only one more lap was recorded when Podolak spun on the inside of the third turn. The two lap dash to the checkers saw Hebing with the win followed by Wilson, Krull, Mike Lauterborn and Mike Young.

The 20-lap Pro-Stock feature saw five lead changes in a highly competitive race. Fred Arden was passed by Daryl Hilkert on the first lap. On lap six James Henry took the lead from Hilkert. One lap later Hilkert spun out in the fourth turn to cause the only yellow of the race.

Jipp Ortiz attempted to pass Henry in a side-by-side duel that saw Ortiz recorded as the leader of lap nine, with Henry regaining the lead one lap later. Following five laps of attempting to pass on the outside of Henry down the back stretch, Ortiz finally got by on lap 15.

Ortiz took the win to extended his points lead going into the final points race next week. Following Ortiz across the finish line were Henry, Roger Chrysler, Chad Homan and Frank Guererri Jr..

The 15-lap Street Stock main was caution filled with Mike Minutolo leading all 15 circuits. Blane Smith, who had worked his way up to second dropped out of the race with just one lap remaining. At the wire it was Minutolo followed by Mike Welch, Adam Depuy and Fonda regular Wayne Close in fourth. Leroy Lewis rounded out the top five finishers.

This Saturday marks the end of the 2003 Canandaigua Speedway track points in all divisions. Extended laps is the name of the game this week when the DIRT Modified run a 50-lapper. The Sportsman go 25-laps as do the Pro Stocks. The Street Stocks will be running a 20-lapper.

Following this Saturday only one other race remains on the 2003 calendar at Canandaigua, Saturday, September 13 starting at 5 p.m. for the Finger Lakes 100 and Top Gun One Shoot-Out.

VICTOR EXCAVATING & LANDSCAPING/PARTS PLUS NIGHT SUMMARY

STREET STOCKS

HEAT 1: M. Minutolo, A. Depuy, M. Welch, W. Close, M. Shaw.
HEAT 2: B. Smith, K. Collins, D. Marcuccilli, D. Phippen, M. Rasbeck.
HEAT 3: T. Burnell, N. Peckham, D. Barrett, N. Rizzo, N. Dandino
DASH: B. Smith, M. Minutolo, N. Peckham, A. Depuy, K. Collins, T. Burnell.

FEATURE (15-laps): MIKE MINUTOLO, Mike Welch, Adam Depuy, Wayne Close, Leroy lewis, Tim Burnell, Nat Peckham, Dave Marcuccilli, Nick Rizzo, Darren Phippen, Jason Quigley, Beetle Peters, Eric Chapman, Don Jones, Jason Whipple,Charles Vohs, Corey Hunt, Blane Smith, Kyle LaVare, Nick Dandino, Chris Jacobs, Daryl Barrett, Scott Deline, Mike Shaw, Vance Vanderwall, DNS: Kevin Collins, Mike Rasbeck, Steve Washburn.

PRO STOCKS

HEAT 1: C. Homan, J. Ortiz, R. Chrysler, D. Hilkert.
HEAT 2: P. Hobbs, J. Henry, F. Arden, K. Smith.

FEATURE (20-laps): JIPP ORTIZ, James Henry, Roger Chrysler, Chad Homan, Frank Guererri Jr., Fred Arden, Patrick Hobbs, Daryl Hilkert, Jim McGuigan, Billy Brown, Kevin Smith, Rick Florack, Brian Thompson.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: P. Guererri, D. Park Jr., R. Briggs, P. Lavare, D. Kissel.
HEAT 2: D. Wiesner, J. Miller, T. Henderson, S. Joy, A. Pfeffer.
HEAT 3: R. VanNeil, E. Payne Jr., J. Pfeffer, T. Lovejoy, F. Burnell.

FEATURE (20-laps): DAN WIESNER, Paul Guererri, Todd Henderson, Jon Miller, Scott Joy, Ricky VanNeil, Gus Hurlburt, Dick Park Jr., Rob Bussey, Eldon Payne Jr., John Pfeffer, Richard Briggs, Phil LaVare, Amy Pfeffer, Taunya Lovejoy, Frank Burnell, Adam DeLong, Dale Kissel, Frank Wadsworth.

PATRIOT SPRINTS

HEAT 1: M. Lauterborn, R. Wilson, F. Senzio, B. Krull, M. Young, T. Barnard.
HEAT 2: K. Drum, B. Podolak, H. Singer, G. Ely, B. Knab, D. Bellen.
HEAT 3: C. Hebing, D. Deming, R. Prestort, R. Bennett, J. Senzio, B. Howland.

B-MAIN (10-laps): W. Alexson, G. Troutman, R.C. Faigle, J. Zimbardi, D. Wickham, B. Regina.

A-MAIN (20-laps): CHUCK HEBING, Rick Wilson, Billy Krull, Mike Lauterborn, Mike Young, Russ bennett, Kyle Drum, Dave Wickham, Brad Knab, Blaze Regina, Tim Barnard, Don Bellen, Bryan Howland, Gary Troutman, Jim Senzio, Howard Singer, Jared Zimbardi, Ray Prestort, Bob Podolak, Dan Deming, Frank Senzio, George Ely, Warren Alexson, R.C. Faigle.

DIRT MODIFIED

HEAT 1: V. Coffey, D. Ruggles, M. Sheppard, J. Plumb, S. Gray, S. Whaley.
HEAT 2: S. Paine, C. Hebing, T. McCreadie, G. Tomkins, C. Brachmann, R. Cartwright Jr.
HEAT 3: C. Bower, V. Vitale, B. Varin, R. Bliss, R. Miller, J. Hull.

FEATURE (35-laps): VIC COFFEY, Matt Sheppard, Steve Paine, Chuck Hebing, Chad Brachmann, Tim McCreadie, Bobby Varin, Chuck Bower, Darryl Ruggles, Vince Vitale, John Plumb, Shannon Whaley, Charlie Donk, Mike Ward, Ray Bliss, Steve Gray, Ron Cartwright Jr., Randy Miller, Jim Roberts, Jim Hull, Gary Tomkins, Allen Willoughby, Fran Hilton, Jeff Lovejoy.