RUGGLES EARNS SECOND CAREER FEATURE WIN, LEGENDS HONORED

CANANDAIGUA, NY...Darryl Ruggles, from nearby Hopewell Center, picked up his second ever DIRT Modified career feature win last Saturday at Canandaigua Speedway on Honeoye Auto Parts Legends' Night. Top honors in the sportsman division 20-lapper went to Steve Gray. In the full fender divisions it was Jipp Ortiz with the 20-lap Pro-stock feature win, his fourth of the year. Frank Burnell topped the 12-lap Street Stock main event.

Also on hand were the Mid-States Vintage racers with Erin Doc Smith winning the 50's-60's feature and Joel Grimaldi winning the 70's main event. Dick Ackerman earned top 50's car in the 50's- 60's main.

Ruggles won the green-to checkers 35-lapper under a beautiful and bright full moon. He took the lead from Dave Axton on lap four using a high grove pass in the fourth turn. Ruggles then proceeded to build a ten car lead over Chuck Bower, Axton, Todd Henderson and Tim Fuller.

On lap 12 Fuller was able to pass Henderson for the third position and take off after Bower. Bower, who's motor sounded quit sick during deceleration into the corners, saw his advantage over Fuller evaporate.

Tim McCreadie moved into fourth on lap 28 and tried to catch the leaders, but to no avail. On the final lap Fuller, who had closed on the rear bumper of Bower, passed the Bower machine for second. Following Bower in third were McCreadie and Charlie Donk, to round out the top five.

Outside pole sitter Scott Joy took the early lead in the 20- lap DIRT Sportsman feature. However, Steve Gray ducked low exiting the fourth turn on lap three to take the lead. Once in the lead Gray seemed to power away from the competition.

The first of only four yellows flew on lap six when Eldon Payne made contact with the first turn wall. He refired and rejoined the field. The restart saw Larry Beardsley and Paul Guererri make contact in the first turn. Both returned to the race.

Two laps later Beardsley may have wished he hadn't returned as he made contact with the inside first turn concrete and went flipping through the inside of the first turn infield. He emerged unscathed, however his upside down race car was severely damaged.

The final yellow came on lap 11 when Guererri came to a stop on the front stretch and had to be towed back to the pit area. Gray led the closing laps as his main rivals, Karl Comfort and Justin Haers, moved into second and third respectively. Gray took the victory followed by Comfort and Haers. Joe Beyea and Ricky VanNeil rounded out the top five.

On the final lap John Pfeffer was sent sailing through the infield off the fourth turn with what seemed to be a stuck throttle. He was able to come to a stop before making contact with the infield concrete wall.

The 20-lap Pro-Stock feature saw 18 cars answer the call. Daryl Hilkert was able to hold of former feature winner Mike Cooper for five laps before the yellow flag flew as Steve Miller and Lee Burnett both spun in between turns three and four. On the restart Cooper was able to take the lead and last week's feature winner, Jason Boyle, grabbed second from Hilkert. On lap eight as the yellow was being displayed for a spin by newcomer Doug Grimaldi, the leader, Mike Copper, drove his number 715 into the pit area with mechanical woes leaving the lead to Boyle.

On the move now was Jipp Ortiz and Chad Homan. These two moved into second and third. Ortiz kept the pressure on Boyle. On laps 14 and 16 the yellow flew for minor spins, yet Boyle was able to hold off Ortiz on each restart.

On lap 19, going down the backstretch, Ortiz made his move for the lead to take the victory. Boyle finished second followed by Homan in third. Rounding out the top five were Billy Brown and Jon Miller.

The 12-lap Street Stock feature remained a crash filled event with Frank Burnell taking the victory, passing Eric Giguere on lap 10 for the top honors. Twenty-five cars started the feature.

The Mid-State Vintage Race Club was on hand to run heats and two features in the 50's-60's main event Erin "Doc" Smith passed Pat Sonnenberg on lap seven for the lead and the victory. The first 50's car across the finish line was Dick Ackerman in eighth.

The second feature for 70's vintage cars saw Joel Grimaldi led the entire 10-lap distance in a green-to-checkers run. The best battle in this event was for second between Clay McNamee and Ally Amell. McNamee took the second place finish at the line. LEGENDS LEDGER: Twenty some stock car legends from Canandaigua Speedway's past were on hand to celebrate the track's history. They were introduced during intermission and interviewed. Former track champion, Ed Ortiz was on hand and was summoned to victory lane to have his picture taken with his son Jipp following Jipp's victory in the Pro-Stock feature...Steve Pesarek was back on hand behind the wheel of last year's AARNY Rookie of the Year Jeff Brownell's number 29. The team had been working on this car all summer to put it back on the track...There were 117 race cars checked into the pit area, including 24 Mid-State cars.

Thursday, August 9, will find the Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series at the famed Canandaigua Speedway. Also on tap will be the Dig Safely DIRT Sportsman in a 30-lap Championship run. Time trials for the DIRT Modifieds begin at 6:30 p.m. followed by qualifying heats and features.

This Saturday will see the running of the Hoot Frarey Memorial. Mr. Frarey was a member of the Ontario County Fairboard and instrumental in obtaining stock car racing at the fairgrounds. It will also be Industrial Tire Night at the speedway. The Four Star program will consist of DIRT Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro-Stocks and Street Stocks. Race time will be at 7 p.m. sharp.

HONEOYE AUTO PARTS presents the SALUTE TO THE LEGENDS NIGHT SUMMARY

MID-STATE VINTAGE RACERS

50'S-60'S HEAT: E. Smith, P. Sonnenberg, D. Ackerman, B. Litzenburger, Leon Litzenburger.

50'S-60 FEATURE (10-laps): ERIN DOC SMITH, Pat Sonnenberg, Brad Litzenburger, James Hillmire, Leon Litzenburger, Tom Toomey, Harold Sonnenberg, Dick Ackerman, Gordie Wood, Howie Witter Jr., Rod Hadden, Don Larmon, Jeff Ackerman.

70'S HEAT: J. Grimaldi, A. Amell, Sa. Gates, S. Gates, B. Williams Sr.

70'S FEATURE (10-laps): JOEL GRIMALDI, Clay McNamee, Ally Amell, John McNamee, Bob Williams Sr., Scot Gates, John Smith, Richard Taggert, Erin Doc Smith.

STREET STOCKS

HEAT 1: M. Welch, E. Giguere, N. Rizzo, N. Peckham, A. Delong, T. Burnell.
HEAT 2: J. Henry, J. LaBarge, F. Burnell, D. Phippen, L. Lewis, R. Briggs.

FEATURE (12-laps): FRANK BURNELL, Nathan Peckham, Eric Giguere, Mike Welch, Richard Briggs, Jared LaBarge, Darren Phippen, Brad Steinruck, Ray Cooper, Jim Cologgi, Brandon Smith, Jerry Teeter, James Henry, Mike Cuppernell, Kevin Collins, Nick Rizzo, Leroy lewis, Tim Burnell, Mike Resbeck, Chris Jacobs, Doug Smith, Robert Pierce, Kent Fletcher, Adam Delong, Kevin Schrader, DNS: Shawn Lloyd, Brian Lloyd.

PRO-STOCKS

HEAT 1: M. Cooper, D. Hilkert, L. Burnett, J. Miller, J. Boyle, Z. Shove. 
HEAT 2: B. Brown, S. Fremouw, S. Miller, C. Homan, J. Ortiz, P. Hobbs.

FEATURE (20-laps): JIPP ORTIZ, Jason Boyle, Chad Homan, Billy Brown, Jon Miller, Zack Shove, Daryl Hilkert, Lee Burnett, Scott Fremouw, Patrick Hobbs, John Rutkowski, Doug Grimaldi, Wayne Ellison, Dave Conant, Steve Miller, Joe Mosher, Mike Cooper, Richard Kline.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: S. Joy, S. Gray, R. VanNeil, W. Decker, C. Parmelee, W. Czymmek.
HEAT 2: P. Guererri, K. Comfort, J. Haers, J. Plumb, J. Pfeffer, B. Englert.
HEAT 3: D. Allen, J. Beyea, L. Beardsley, E. Payne Jr., L. Lincoln, B. Henry Jr.

FEATURE (20-laps): STEVE GRAY, Karl Comfort, Justin Haers, Joe Beyea, Rick VanNeil, John Plumb, Bob Henry Jr., Clay Parmelee, Willy Decker, David Allen, Scott Joy, Bill Englert, Kevin Wills, Wade Czymmek, Dan Wiesner, Loren Lincoln, Rob Bussey, Rick Miller, John Pfeffer, Eldon Payne Jr., Amy Pfeffer, Paul Guererri, Larry Beardsley, Phil Lavare.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: C. Hebing, D. Axton, V. Coffey, S. Paine, C. Donk, T. Henderson.
HEAT 2: T. McCreadie, C. Bower, P. Ward, V. Vitale, G. Tomkins, D. Darling.
HEAT 3: T. Fuller, B. Decker, D. Johnson, D. Ruggles, F. Hilton, S. Pesarek.

FEATURE (35-laps): DARRYL RUGGLES, Tim Fuller, Chuck Bower, Tim McCreadie, Charlie Donk, Billy Decker, Danny Johnson, Pat Ward, Gary Tomkins, Vic Coffey, Steve Paine, Todd Henderson, Jim Gabriel Jr., Chuck Hebing, Ray Bliss Jr., Vince Vitale, Dave Axton, Randy Miller, Steve Pesarek, Fran Hilton, Dale Darling, Ed Monroe, DNS: Aaron Blowers, Ron Smoker.