PAINE DOMINATES ADVANCE AUTO PARTS SUPER DIRT SERIES RACE; BRACHMANN NIPS COMFORT AT LINE

CANANDAIGUA, NY...Waterloo's Steve Paine makes Canandaigua Speedway his Saturday night home. He took this weekly track knowledge and turned it to his own advantage as he completely dominated the Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series 100 last Thursday at Canandaigua. Paine held a winning margin of nearly three-quarters of a track in front of Brett Hearn.

In sportsman action Chad Brachmann nipped Karl Comfort at the finish line of the Dig Safely DIRT Sportsman Super DIRT Series by .011 seconds, as Brachmann sailed airborne between the outside wall and Comfort for the close win.

Brett Hearn drew the pole and led the 30 car starting field to the green. Hearn immediately jumped into the lead followed by Tim Fuller and outside pole sitter Steve Paine. Hearn tried to build a lead however Paine caught Fuller on lap 15 and two laps later passed Hearn for the lead.

Paine started to build a lead over Hearn as the front runners ran in lapped traffic. Fuller maintained his third place run followed by Tim McCreadie, Danny Johnson and Billy Decker. By lap 36, Paine held a four second lead over Hearn.

McCreadie closed in on Fuller and took third from him on lap 39. By now Hearn was some ten cars ahead of McCreadie and starting to pull away to a much stronger second place run.

As the laps continued to be knocked down it looked as if Paine would be able to lap the entire field, holding a half lap lead over Hearn at the halfway marker. The race for fifth was heating up behind Fuller. Charlie Donk and Darryl Ruggles were battling, with Ruggles able to close the gap significantly in the closing laps of the race.

The 100-lap race ran green-to-checkers, the second time this year a DIRT Modified Super DIRT Series has run without a yellow. At the finish line it was Paine with a 15.267 second victory over Hearn. McCreadie came home in third followed by Fuller and Donk. Donk's fifth place finish earned him the guaranteed Syracuse starting spot for Super DIRT Week.

Paine averaged 81.474 mph on his way to victory. TEO cars finished in the front six positions of the race.

In the 30-lap DIRT Sportsman Dig Safely Super DIRT Series race pole sitter Eldon Payne Jr. took the lead at the drop of the green. Payne was able to hold off Rob Ledingham as these two raced side-by-side for a number of laps. On lap six Payne was able to establish a two car advantage over Ledingham. The first yellow flew on lap eight when Bill Englert quickly looped and then continued on his way, but not before the yellow flag was unfurled.

Payne held his lead on the restart with Ledingham in second. A battle for third was developing between Karl Comfort and Justin Haers. Haers held the position as Comfort challenged him. On lap 12 Comfort passed Haers and then took second from Ledingham.  The yellow flew again when Loren Lincoln slowed in the third turn. Again Payne held his advantage over Comfort, as Brachmann was now running in third.

Brachmann challenged Comfort in a side-by-side battle with Brachmann finally coming out ahead. On lap 23 Brachmann passed Payne for the lead.

Comfort was not content to run second, yet saved his tires for a last lap challenge. On lap 30 he pulled ahead down the backstretch and looked to have the lead in hand. A lapped car slowed his progress and Brachmann chose the high line to pull up on Comfort, hitting the outside wall and being vaulted across the finish line .011 seconds ahead of Comfort for the victory. The finish was so close the electronic transponder system had to be called into effect to determine the winner.

Comfort finished second followed by Haers, Payne Jr. and Ledingham.

CANANDAIGUA LEGEND NOTES: Chuck Hebing started his first Exiss Dash and took the victory...It was only the second time all season that Brett Hearn missed an Exiss Dash...Jerry Nadeau was on hand to sign autographs and drive the special two seater Coca- Cola car for three lucky fans, who each got three laps in the back seat with Nadeau at the wheel...Seventy cars were on hand for the two Super DIRT Series races...Steve Gray participated in both the DIRT Modified and Sportsman events. He drove his regular 29g to a sixth place finish in the sportsman 30-lapper. He was eliminated from the Advance Auto Parts 100 following an accident in the consolation race. His big block car is the former Freightliner number 6 car driven by Danny Johnson at Orange County Fair Speedway.

The DIRT Modified Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series next stops at Grandview on Thursday, August 16. The Dig Safely DIRT Sportsman Super DIRT Series now takes a month off, resuming action on Saturday, September 9 at Genesee Speedway in nearby Batavia, NY.

Canandaigua Speedway resumes regular action each and every Saturday starting at 7:00 p.m.. The next Super DIRT Series race at Canandaigua will be for the DIRT pro-Stocks on Saturday, September 15 when the track hosts their Third Annual Wesley Construction Top Gun One Shoot-Out. Staring time for that special event will be 5 p.m. sharp.

NEW ENGLAND FINANCIAL presents THE ADVANCE AUTO PARTS and DIG SAFELY SUPER DIRT SERIES NIGHT SUMMARY

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: E. Payne Jr., G. Gallerie, K. Comfort, D. Allen, W. Decker.
HEAT 2: R. Ledingham, J. Haers, C. Phelps, J. Spano, J. Beyea.
HEAT 3: T. Clemons, B. Henry Jr., C. Brachmann, S. Gray, K. Wills.
HEAT 4: J. Plumb, R. Miller, D. Wiesner, L. Lincoln, R. Odasz.

CONSI: P. Guererri, D. Park Jr., R. Chrysler, W. Czymmek, B. Englert, T. Jones, D. VanHorn Jr., A. Ferri, J. Pfeffer, C. Parmelee.
ADDED: P. Carey (prov.)

FEATURE (30-laps): CHAD BRACHMANN, Karl Comfort, Justin Haers, Eldon Payne Jr., Rob Ledingham, Steve Gray, Bob Henry jr., Paul Guererri, John Plumb, David Allen, Willy Decker, Randy Chrysler, Joe Beyea, Gary Gallerie, Tim Clemons, Dan Wiesner, Dave VanHorn Jr., Ryan Odasz, Dick Park Jr., Clay Parmelee, Tim Jones, Adam Ferri, Bill Englert, Kevin Wills, Chad Phelps, John Pfeffer, Paul Carey, James Spano, Loren Lincoln, Rick Miller, Wade Czymmek.

MODIFIED

TIME TRIALS: Tim McCreadie 18.247 (98.646 mph), Chuck Hebing
18.423, Danny Johnson 18.504, Jimmy Phelps 18.505, Billy Decker
18.531, Tim Fuller 18.584, Brett Hearn 18.587, Steve Paine
18.625, Vic Coffey 18.628, Bobby Varin 18.674, Gary Tomkins
18.713, Chuck Bower 18.723, Butch Tittle 18.786, Darryl Ruggles
18.790, Todd Burley 18.799, Charlie Donk 18.817, Alan Johnson
18.857, A.J. Romano 18.863, Ron Smoker 18.864, Jim Gabriel Jr.
18.898, Frankie Caprara 18.941, Bob McCreadie 18.956, Pat Ward
18.998, Jack Johnson 19.052, Doug Hoffman 19.134, Mitch Gibbs
19.258, Matt Sheppard 19.265, Randy Miller 19.286, Dave Axton
19.377, Vince Vitale 19.409, Steve Gray 19.520, Ray Bliss Jr.
19.622, Dale Darling 19.859, Ed Monroe 20.489.

HEAT 1: B. Hearn, B. Varin, R. Smoker, C. Donk, B. Tittle, B. McCreadie.
HEAT 2: S. Paine, G. Tomkins, A. Johnson, D. Ruggles, J. Gabriel Jr., P. Ward.
HEAT 3: V. Coffey, A.J. Romano, J. Johnson, T. Burley, V. Vitale, F. Caprara.

EXISS DASH: Chuck Hebing, Tim McCreadie, Billy Decker, Tim Fuller, Jimmy Phelps, Danny Johnson.

CONSI: D. Hoffman, M. Sheppard, C. Bower, D. Axton, R. Bliss Jr., M. Gibbs.

FEATURE (100-laps): STEVE PAINE, Brett Hearn, Tim McCreadie, Tim Fuller, Charlie Donk, Darryl Ruggles, Gary Tomkins, A.J. Romano, Alan Johnson, Vic Coffey, Danny Johnson, Bobby Varin, Jimmy Phelps, Doug Hoffman, Pat Ward, Butch Tittle, Billy Decker, Todd Burley, Matt Sheppard, Chuck Bower, Vince Vitale, Ron Smoker, Frankie Caprara, Bob McCreadie, Jack Johnson, Jim Gabriel Jr., Chuck Hebing, Dave Axton, Ray Bliss Jr., Mitch Gibbs.