COFFEY BRINGS HOME HIS FIRST OF THE YEAR AT CANANDAIGUA

CANANDAIGUA, NY...Vic Coffey, from Leicester, NY, won his first DIRT Modified feature of the season last Saturday at Canandaigua Speedway. Coffey, who won the night before in a small block at Ransomville, took the lead on lap nine of the 35-lap main event and never looked back. Steve Gray, won his fourth DIRT Sportsman feature of the year at Canandaigua. In full fender action Jipp Ortiz took his fifth feature of the year and Eric Giguere won his first Street Stock feature. Mary Ann Minutlo won the special Powder Puff race.

The drop of the green flag for the 35-lap DIRT Modified feature saw Dave Axton blast into the lead ahead of Darryl Ruggles, Jim Gabriel Jr. and Bob McCreadie. Gabriel Jr. was able to secure the lead from Axton on the second lap.

The first, and only yellow flew on lap four after Ed Monroe came to a stop on the back stretch. He was able to power up and return at the back of the field, one lap down.

The restart saw Gabriel Jr. maintain his lead, as Coffey took second and McCreadie moved to third. Coffey made a bold outside move going into turn three on lap nine to take the lead. Coffey was then able to power away from the rest of the pack to nearly a four second lead.

Bob McCreadie and Jim Gabriel found themselves in a battle for second, running side-by-side at times. First Gabriel secured second. Then on lap 18, McCreadie moved by and into the runner up position. On lap 23, it would be Gabriel moving back into second, where he stayed.

At the finish line it was Coffey, in his Sweetner's Plus Troyer/C.C Performance number 32c, followed by Gabriel Jr., McCreadie, Chuck Bower and Chuck Hebing. Coffey averaged 78.495 mph on his way to victory. The race took just 13:23 minutes to complete.

The 20-lap Sportsman feature saw Ricky VanNeil take the lead from his pole starting position. The second lap saw the yellow fall as Eldon Payne Jr. and Bill Englert came to a stop on the track. VanNeil held strong on the restart as Clay Parmelee was second followed by David Allen and John Pfeffer.

The yellow flew a second time on lap eight when Payne Jr. again stopped on the track, this time with a flat tire. He would return to the race one lap down to the field.

On restart Steve Gray was able to take second from Parmelee and take off after VanNeil. On lap 15, Gray took the lead for good.

Gray took the victory over VanNeil by over four seconds. VanNeil finished second followed by John Plumb, Justin Haers and Paul Guererri. The two yellows slowed the average speed of the race to 54.188 mph.

Only 17 Pro-stocks answered the call for their 20-lap main event. Daryl Hilkert took the lead at the drop of the green only to have the yellow wave, on lap four, following a fourth turn tangle involving Jason Boyle, Lee Burnett and Patrick Hobbs.

The restart saw Hilkert challenged by Jon Miller. Miller took the lead on lap six. One lap later the yellow was again flying as Lee Burnett again spun in the third turn.

Jipp Ortiz passed Hilkert for second on the restart and challenged Miller for the lead. Both Miller and Ortiz were able to draw away from the rest of the field. However Ortiz would never let Miller have more then a .4 second advantage. On lap 19, with the white flag in the air, Ortiz pulled along side of Miller as the pair ran side-by-side around the half mile oval. As they exited the fourth turn, Ortiz pulled the advantage, taking the win by .264 seconds at the line over Miller. Jason Boyle worked his way back up to third, followed by Chad Homan and Hilkert for his first top five finish of the year.

The 12-lap Street Stock feature saw nearly 30 cars take the green. Brandon Smith took the lead as the yellow flew at the end of the first circuit. The restart saw Adam Delong in the lead, but the yellow flew for second time for a head on accident in the third turn involving Charlie Mettler and Tim Burnell.

It looked as if accidents were going to shorten the race to a timed event. One more yellow, on lap six, followed as Brian Lloyd made heavy contact with the front stretch concrete. Eric Giguere took the lead on lap five and held off the advances of both James Henry and multi-time winner Frank Burnell.

At the line Burnell tried one last time, but Giguere won by inches. James Henry finished third followed by Jared LaBarge and Leroy Lewis.

Following the night's modified feature a special ladies Powder Puff was run with Mary Ann Minutlo easily picking up the victory. Eight ladies competed in street stocks during this race. This Saturday marks the end of the 2001 open wheel season at Canandaigua. Only the "Top One Gun Shoot-Out", September 15, remains on the schedule. Starting time for the Top One Gun Shoot- Out for Pro-Stocks, Street Stocks and Mid-State Vintage cars will be at 5 p.m..

This Saturday, September 1, will be Labatt/Owasco Beverage and Paine Motorsports night at the track. Featured will be Twin 25's for the DIRT Modifieds to determine the 2001 track champion. The DIRT Sportsman will run a 25-lap finale, as will the Pro- stocks. The Street Stocks will finish the night off with their 15-lap main event. Race time will be at 7 p.m. sharp.

FA PRODUCTS-FEDERAL MOGUL-HOSELTON CHEVROLET NIGHT SUMMARY

STREET STOCKS

HEAT 1: E. Giguere, J. Henry, A. Delong, C. Jacobs, B. Smith, M. Minutlo, J. LaBarge.
HEAT 2: J. Cologgi, F. Burnell, L. Lewis, D. Phippen, M. Shaw, A. Decay, C. Mettler.

FEATURE (12-laps): ERIC GIGUERE, Frank Burnell, James Henry, Jared LaBarge, Leroy Lewis, Darren Phippen, Jim Cologgi, Chris Jacobs, Richard Briggs, Mike Welch, Brandon Smith, Nick Rizzo, Robert Pierce, Mike Cuppernell, Kevin Collins, Shawn Lloyd, Mike Shaw, Doug Smith, Brad Steinruck, Ray Cooper, Brian Lloyd, Adam Delong, Adam Decay, Tim Burnell, Charlie Mettler, Jimmy Brown, Doug Quigley, Elder Schiefer.

PRO-STOCKS

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

FEATURE (20-laps): JIPP ORTIZ, Jon Miller, Jason Boyle, Chad Homan, Daryl Hilkert, Kevin Smith, Billy Brown, Mike Cooper, Zack Shove, John Rutkowski, Dave Conant, Patrick Hobbs, Scott Fremouw, Lee Burnett, Fred Davis, Wayne Ellison, Bobby Lutz.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: R. VanNeil, E. Payne Jr., S. Gray, K. Comfort, C. Parmelee.
HEAT 2: J. Beyea, J. Pfeffer, D. Allen, R. Bussey, B. Englert.
HEAT 3: P. Guererri, J. Haers, J. Plumb, R. Miller, D. Wiesner.

FEATURE (20-laps): STEVE GRAY, Ricky VanNeil, John Plumb, Justin Haers, Paul Guererri, Karl Comfort, Joe Beyea, David Allen, Clay Parmelee, Dan Wiesner, John Pfeffer, Phil LaVare, Todd Hanagan, Amy Pfeffer, Eldon Payne Jr., Bill Englert, Loren Lincoln, Wade Czymmek, DNS: Rob Bussey, Rick Miller, Adam VanPatten.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: T. McCreadie, C. Hebing, V. Coffey, V. Vitale, D. Johnson, D. Darling.
HEAT 2: B. McCreadie, D. Ruggles, P. Ward, R. Smoker, G. Tomkins, S. Ridley.
HEAT 3: B. Decker, C. Bower, S. Paine, C. Donk, J. Gabriel Jr., D. Axton.

CONSI: R. White, R. Bartlett, G. Tatich, F. Hilton, T. Cornell, M. Payne, E. Monroe.
ADDED: T. Fuller.

FEATURE (35-laps): VIC COFFEY, Jim Gabriel Jr., Bob McCreadie, Chuck Bower, Chuck Hebing, Tim McCreadie, Danny Johnson, Billy Decker, Ron Smoker, Steve Paine, Pat Ward, Darryl Ruggles, Gary Tomkins, Tim Fuller, Scott Ridley, Dave Axton, Ryan Bartlett, Greg Tatich, Dale Darling, Ron White, Tim Cornell, Charlie Donk, Fran Hilton, Vince Vitale, Ed Monroe, Mike Payne, DNQ: John Ventura, Aaron Blowers.