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HEARN BLASTS TO SECOND STRAIGHT ADVANCE AUTO PARTS CHAMPIONS' CANANDAIGUA, NY...Day time racing on a dirt track takes a lot of patients. Brett Hearn proved himself in that category last Sunday taking the $7,000 win in the Finger Lakes Legends Advance Auto Parts Champions' Challenge 100. A slickened track and dusty conditions always make for an interesting race. In B.O.S.S. Street Stock action Adam DePuy won his fifth feature of the year at Canandaigua Speedway. The 100-lap DIRT Modified main saw Kenny Tremont Jr. and Hearn bring the field of thirty starters down to the green. What many thought would be a "cash-fest" turned into an interesting race. Hearn blasted into the lead and began to draw out a three, plus, second lead over Tremont Jr.. Billy Decker, running in third, was closing the gap on Tremont, but could never get close enough to be a real threat. By lap 30, Hearn had negotiated lapped traffic, putting nearly a third of the starting field a lap down. He also had built up a six second lead over Tremont, when the yellow flew, on lap 34. Vic Coffey spun in the first turn to bring out this first yellow. Before he could get going he was lapped on the track and then lost another lap in the pits. The restart saw Hearn pull away again, only to have the yellow fly for a second time on lap 43. Tom Sears Jr. and Jeff Brownell jr. had come together at the exit of the second turn in a cloud of dust. All other drivers were able to make their way through the accident scene. The green was out again on lap 47 and began what ended up to be a 53 lap green flag run to the checkers. Up front Hearn began to build his lead again, but this time Tremont never let him get farther away then two seconds. Hearn seemed to have great difficulty getting around Chad Brachmann's machine. Hearn worked on lapping Brachmann for some fifteen laps before Brachmann finally drifted high and allowed Hearn the pass. This had place Tremont on Hearn's rear bumper. But Brachmann then proved difficult for Tremont also to pass. When the checkers flew only eleven cars remained on the lead lap. Hearn took the win followed by Tremont, Billy Decker, the 2004 Canandaigua Speedway track champion Steve Paine and Pat Ward. "We've had to work to win at this speedway," stated Hearn in victory lane. "Canandaigua has always been difficult for us. Today we just worked at it steady." The race averaged 70.870 mph and took 42 minutes under the green flag to complete. The 25-lap B.O.S.S. Street stock feature would prove to be an exercise in yellow flag etiquette. Ten times the yellow flew during the race. The first five laps alone saw three yellows. On lap one Mike Murphy made heavy contact with the front stretch concrete. One lap later Mike Welch was spun around in the fourth turn by Nick Rizzo, who admitted to his error and was also sent to the back of the field for the restart Unfortunately Welch was leading at the time of the contact. On lap four Dave Mannise and Mike Minutolo came together in the second turn. All this while Nat Peckham was leading. Peckham took the lead from Ron Hawker, who also spun out exiting the second turn on lap two. Hawker rebounded and quickly fell in at the back of the field, avoiding a yellow for his incident. Peckham was leading the race with Todd Koegel in tow. On lap eight the yellow flew when Daryl Barrett looped in the second turn and was t-boned by Dave Mannise. Koegel took this yellow flag opportunity to pit, out of the event. Peckham was now in a torrid battle with Blane Smith for the lead. However anytime one would make a move the yellow flew to slow the action. On lap 10, the yellow came out for Frank Burnell and Ron Hawker coming together on the front stretch. Lap 14 saw the yellow out for contact between the 00 of Mike Welch and Kevin Collins in the second turn. Welch slowed on the track to bring out the yellow and was disqualified by B.O.S.S. officials for intentionally drawing a yellow. Lap 16 saw a wheel fly off the Nick Rizzo machine at the exit of the second turn. He gathered in a number of others in the accident. Included in that number was a frustrated B.O.S.S. points leader, Kevin Pangrazio. Kevin had exited the speedway over the second turn wall twice during the qualifying heats and B-main. He also found himself placed to the rear, along with Frank Burnell, for not slowing on a yellow, passing cars through the third turn. Two more yellow slowed the race, but Smith had passed Peckham for the lead on lap 18. On lap 19 the yellow flew when Dave Pope came to a stop in the second turn. Two laps later, lap 21, Nick Dandino coasted to a stop in the second turn. On the restart Adam Depuy made his move into the lead. At the checkers it was DePuy followed by Smith. Finishing a distant third was Mark Loveland, beating Peckham to the finish line by mere inches. Rounding out the top five finishers was Bobby Boynton. LEGENDS LEDGER DAY TWO: Ron George Jr. did not find Canandaigua much to his liking. He had only taken a few laps during practice when he sailed over the second turn concrete and landed on his wheels. His car was done for the day. Also done after practice was Bob McCreadie, who needs just one more win at Canandaigua to reach the 100-win mark...There were 39 DIRT Modifieds on hand and 42 B.O.S.S. Street Stocks in the pits for the racing action. That ends the racing season at Canandaigua Speedway. The management would like to take the opportunity to thank all of the race teams, officials and fans for their support during the 2004 season, a season that many thought would produce horrible cars counts due to the number of Saturday night tracks that added big-block Modifieds to their weekly program. Canandaigua Speedway prospered. The gates will swing open for the 2005 racing season next April. FINGER LAKES LEGENDS WEEKEND, DAY #2 NIGHT SUMMARY B.O.S.S. STREET STOCKS HEAT 1: A. Depuy, M. Murphy, N. Rizzo, B. Smith, D. Pope. FEATURE (25-laps): ADAM DEPUY, Blane Smith, Mark Loveland, Nat Peckham, Bobby Boynton, Brad Whiteside, Dave Mannise, Jeremy Shaw, Darren Phippen, Dave Marcuccilli, Jason Quigley, Ron Hawker, Kevin Collins, Kevin pangrazio, Jason Whipple, Steve Faulkner, Justin Wright, Nick Dandino, Dave Pope, Nick Rizzo, Frank Burnell, Daryl Barrett, Todd Koegel, Mike Minutolo, Mike Murphy, Mike Welch (dq'ed). DIRT MODIFIEDS TIME TRIALS: Steve Paine 20.650 (87.167 mph), Billy Decker 20.832, Vic Coffey 20.921, Tim Fuller 20.985, Gary Tomkins 21.034, Matt Sheppard 21.056, Chuck Bower 21.067, Pat Ward 21.091, Kenny Tremont Jr. 21.231, Tim McCreadie 21.245, Charlie Donk 21.328, Alan Johnson 21.339, Brett Hearn 21.385, Danny O'Brien 21.460, Chuck Hebing 21.474, J.R. Heffner 21.512, Derrick Podsiadlo 21.515, Tom Sears Jr. 21.543, Chad Brachmann 21.547, Jeff Brownell Jr. 21.563, Justin Haers 21.568, Steve Gray 21.606, Chuck Graham 21.638, Darryl Ruggles 21.654, Pat O'Brien 21.745, Karl Comfort 21.788, Todd Milton 21.793, Randy Chrysler 22.012, Billy Dunn 22.038, Danny Johnson 22.073, Jeff Isabell 22.091, Dave Axton 22.157, Butch Tittle 22.322, Ron Cartwright Jr. 22.521, Wallace Stacey 22.592, Shannon Whaley 22.684, Shawn Beardsley 22.003, Bob McCreadie NT, Ron George Jr. NT. HEAT 1: V. Coffey, C. Donk, C. Bower, C. Hebing, C. Brachmann. ADVANCE AUTO PARTS 100: BRETT HEARN, Kenny Tremont Jr., Billy Decker, Steve Paine, Pat Ward, Gary Tomkins, Tim McCreadie, Justin Haers, Matt Sheppard, Alan Johnson, Tim Fuller, Pat O'Brien, Chad Brachmann, Dave Axton, Chuck Bower, Butch Tittle, Karl Comfort, Chuck hebing, J.R. Heffner, Danny Johnson, Derrick Podsiadlo, Vic Coffey, Darryl Ruggles, Randy Chrysler, Jeff Brownell Jr., Jeff Isabell, Tom Sears Jr., Steve Gray, Danny O'Brien, Charlie Donk. |