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WARD, ORTIZ AND GEORGE TOP CANANDAIGUA LEGENDS DAY ONE EVENTS CANANDAIGUA, NY...Pat Ward, from Geona, NY, powered his John Whyte owned, Gypsum Express, number 42p to a powerful victory in the 100-lap Turning Stone Casino Resorts 100 last Saturday evening at Canandaigua Speedway. Ward earned $4,000 for his win. In Pro-Stock action it was Jipp Ortiz bringing home his ninth Canandaigua Speedway win of the season. This win came in the prestigious Les Whyte Memorial Top Gun One Shoot-Out 50 lapper. It was the final Western Region Race of the Empire Sports Network Series. Ortiz's win locked up the West and earned him a cool 1000 bonus points toward the overall Mr. DIRT Pro-Stock Championship. Scott George cruised to an easy win in the 30-lap DIRT Sportsman Western Region feature. He picked up $1,500 and valuable points towards the regional title. The 100-lap DIRT Modified feature saw Chad Brachmann, the outside pole sitter, jump into the lead over Gary Tomkins, Pete Bicknell and Brett Hearn. Brachmann seemed to have his Pizza Logs number 3b hooked up as he was able to hold the rest of the field at bay. The first yellow flew on lap five when Todd Burley spun exiting the second turn. He fell back into line and the race returned to green. Hearn was able to grab second from Tomkins, going high through the third turn, on lap nine. Brachmann was pulling away and entered lap traffic on lap 14. Tomkins got back by Hearn in this lapped traffic to retake second. On lap 20 the yellow flew a second time when Danny Johnson, driving the 21s owned by Bruce Sawyer, slowed with a flat tire. The race restart saw yet another yellow when a three car tangle in the first turn slowed the race. Involved were Ron White, Dave Rauscher and Bicknell. With the green waving Tomkins powered by Brachmann and took over the lead of the race. One lap later the yellow was out again after one car stuffed Todd Henderson's machine into the outside second turn concrete. Henderson emerged uninjured, but his car was done for the race. Tomkins was able to maintain his lead on the restart, a restart that saw Hearn drop back to fifth. Brachmann took up the chase in second followed by Pat Ward and Steve Paine. On lap 28 Rauscher slowed going down the front stretch and the yellow had to be toss for the fifth time in the event. Tomkins was able to stretch out a half second lead over Ward, who passed Brachmann for the runner up spot on lap 42. A yellow on lap 55, for the Chuck Hebing machine, which had slowed to a stop in the fourth turn helped Ward close the gap even more. On the restart, lap 61, Ward charged high through the second turn to take the lead. From that point on the race remained green for nearly 31 laps, with ward pulling away from Tomkins, Hearn, Brachmann and Alan Johnson. On lap 91 Vic Coffey went high in the first turn to bring out the yellow. The restart saw mass confusion as Ray Bliss flipped high into the air in the third turn as other scrambled not to be gathered up in the accident. When the dust cleared seven cars had been involved and the red flag was waving. Bliss took the worse damage, but he emerged uninjured. Also involved was top points man Matt Sheppard, who was driving the Dave Camara number 26. This set up a five lap dash to the checkers with ward pulling away from the field. Alan Johnson, however, seemed to gain new life as he began to thread his way through the top runners. When the checkers fell Ward was first followed by Johnson, Tomkins, Hearn and Stewart Friesen. Ward averaged 75.448 mph on his way to taking home the gold. Roger Chrysler took the lead at the drop of the green in the 50-lap Top Gun One Shoot-Out for Pro-Stocks. As the field completed the first lap a four car crash took place on the inside of the fourth turn involving Jim McGuigan, John Panattoni, Daryl Hilkert and John Rutkowski. Chrysler maintained his lead on the restart. The move of the race came on lap five when the entire field of front runners ran high through the east end of the speedway. Only Jipp Ortiz took the low line and moved from fifth to second in one fell swoop. Three laps later, after dogging Chrysler, Ortiz powered into the lead, lap eight. The second yellow came on lap nine when Brian Thompson coasted to a stop in the fourth turn. The restart saw Chrysler retake the lead from Ortiz. Following a six lap run of side-by-side racing the yellow flew for the third time when James Henry was unable to make in pitside down the backstretch. Henry had been running in third when he fell from the race. During this yellow officials noticed the left front wheel on the Chrysler machine was bent in and he was sent to the pits for repairs. This left Ortiz with the lead. But not to be denied was Dave Schulz, who passed Ortiz and took over the lead on the lap 16 restart. Schulz had only been in the lead a short time, five laps, when the yellow flew as Derrick Excell looped hi car in the second turn. Ortiz powered back into the lead and never gave it up for the remainder of the race. Tow additional yellows flew, lap 21 when Dave Schulz shredded a right front fender, leaving debris all over the third turn, and on lap 26 for another spin by Excell in the second turn. As the checkers fell it was Ortiz taking the $800 win. Pete Stefanski worked his way up to second at the checkers. Rounding out the top five were Chad Homan, Mike Williams and Patrick Hobbs. Scott George waited until lap three and "yellow fever" to slow some before he took off in the lead. During the first five laps of the Sportsman feature the yellow flew some four times. Bob Henry Jr. had been the first leader of record. He turned his new car pitside and out of the lead on lap three. This left George as the leader. George made the most of his fate. He pulled out to an eight second lead over Paul Guererri as the race remained green for the rest of the event. That is until lap 29 when the yellow flew as a three car tangle in the first turn, involving Marcel Pecore as the only driver not able to return for the final dash to the checkers. As the checkers flew George was still 1.7 seconds ahead of Guererri. Don Spatorico, driving George's backup machine, finished third, followed by Dan Wiesner and Brian Sage. LEGENDS LEDGER: Debbie Whyte was present to help celebrate the memory of her late husband, Les. Les helped to build the Pro-Stock division and was killed in a non-racing related accident just as the division and he were peaking. Debbie posted a dash for cash to include the heat winners and the sixth place cars from each heat. This dash was won by Dave Williams, a regular runner at Ransomville Speedway. She also awarded a special clock for the hard charger of the Pro-Stock feature. Tim Hettis improved some eleven spots to claim the les Whyte Hard Charger Award...A brief rain shower interrupted the racing around five o'clock. "I think that shower actually helped the track a lot," stated general manager Jeff Farney...Some 92 cars were on hand for the three divisional championships. The Legends Championships continue on Sunday with Day 2. Taking the spot light will be the DIRT Modifieds in a 100-lap Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series and Champions' Challenge event. Also on hand will be the BOSS Street Stocks in a special event. Race time is set for 2 p.m. sharp. For more information about this event go to canandaiguaspeedway.com. CANANDAIGUA LEGENDS WEEKEND DAY 1 NIGHT SUMMARY PRO-STOCKS HEAT 1: J. Henry, D. Schulz, M. Williams, J. Panattoni, P. Hobbs, B. Thompson. LES WHYTE MEMORIAL DASH FOR CASH: Dave Williams, James Henry, Jipp Ortiz, Jim Bieber, Brian Thompson, Roger Chrysler. TOP GUN ONE SHOOT OUT FEATURE (50-laps): JIPP ORTIZ, Pete Stefanski, Chad Homan, Mike Williams, Patrick Hobbs, Daryl Hilkert, Beamer Guzzardi, Steve Miller, Jim Bieber, Dave Williams, Tim Hettis, Frank Guererri Jr., Bill Hallett, Derrick Excell, Kevin Devendorf, Roger Chrysler, Dave Schulz, Billy Brown, James Henry, Brian Thompson, John Panattoni, John Rutkowski, Jim McGuigan. SPORTSMAN HEAT 1: A. Ferri, P. Guererri, R. Ledingham, L. Lincoln, L. Dusett. FEATURE (30-laps): SCOTT GEORGE, Paul Guererri, Don Spatorico, Dan Wiesner, Brian Sage, Dave Just, Kyle Inman, Rob Bellinger, Kevin Wills, Eldon Payne Jr., Phil LaVare, Boyd MacTavish, Lance Dusett, Ricky VanNeil, Jon Miller, Loren Lincoln, Marcel Pecore, Rob Ledingham, Rob Pratt, Mike Johnson, Fran Hilton, John Juhl, Justin henderson, Scott Schrader, Adam Ferri, Gus Hurlburt, Steve Cheeseman, Russ hefti, Bob Henry Jr. DIRT MODIFIEDS TIME TRIALS: Brett Hearn 17.952 (100.267 MPH), Steve Paine 17.994, Billy Decker 18.016, Gary Tomkins 18.101, Randy Chrysler 18.177, Tim Fuller 18.186, Stewart Friesen 18.194, Pete Bicknell 18.275, Pat Ward 18.344, Todd Henderson 18.429, Matt Sheppard 18.456, Todd Burley 18.456, Chad Brachmann 18.470, Dale Planck 18.494, Chuck Bower 18.578, Charlie Donk 18.598, Dave Rauscher 18.615, Ray Bliss 18.628, Derrick Podsiadlo 18.664, Chuck Hebing 18.706, John Lazore 18.713, Vic Coffey 18.795, Wallace Stacey 18.810, Alan Johnson 18.943, Mike Bliss 18.997, Brian Swarthout 19.003, Mike Ward 19.078, Ron White 19.387, Danny Johnson 19.394 Daryl Ruggles 19.435, Scott Boudinot 19.487, Scott Kruetter 19.528, Tim Burnett 19.533, Brian Sage 19.705, Jim Burke 20.115, Don Slover 21.700. HEAT 1: S. Friesen, M. Sheppard, B. Decker, C. Bower, D. Podsiadlo. FEATURE (100-laps): PAT WARD, Alan Johnson, Gary Tomkins, Brett Hearn, Stewart Friesen, Billy Decker, Steve Paine, Chad Brachmann, Tim Fuller, Todd Burley, Chuck Bower, Pete Bicknell, Danny Johnson, Randy Chrysler, Derrick Podsiadlo, Scott Boudinot, Matt Sheppard, Ray Bliss, Vic Coffey, Dave Rauscher, Dale Planck, Charlie Donk, John Lazore, Chuck Hebing, Mike Ward, Mike Bliss, Todd Henderson, Wallace Stacey, Ron White, Tim Burnett. |