DECKER WINS FAIR RACE AT CANANDAIGUA, HEARS TOPS ONTARIO COUNTY FAIR SPORTSMAN

CANANDAIGUA, NY...Billy Decker, from Unadilla, NY, hasn't visited the Canandaigua Speedway Victory Lane since July 17, 1999. Last Saturday he returned!

"I just can't tell you how much we have been wanting to be back here in victory lane," commented Decker after winning the 35-lap Ontario County Fair Championship. "My crew chief sets the car up so I can run the snot out of it and that's what I did tonight."

Justin Haers, from Phelps, NY, picked up his third Canandaigua DIRT Sportsman 20-lap feature win in an crash filled event that lasted nearly 36 minutes. Jason Boyle returned to victory lane in the Pro-stock division for the second time this year, while Frank Burnell captured his fourth Street Stock victory of the year.

The start of the 35-lap Castle Car Care Products Ontario County Fair Championship saw outside pole man Dave Axton sail into the lead over Charlie Donk, Greg Tatich and Bob McCreadie. Donk challenged for the lead as Axton and he raced side-by-side on lap three to the start-finish line. Donk completed his pass only to find that McCreadie was now in second as he too had passed Axton.

On lap seven the first of three yellow flags was unfurled when Todd Burley, driving the Jerry Nadeau Troyer number 2L modified looped in the fourth turn. On the restart Billy Decker, running his Adam Ross Cut Stone PMC chassis, who had been running sixth made a magical move through the middle of the second turn and then charged hard down the outside lane to take the lead exiting the third turn.

The second yellow flag flew on lap nine when the field scattered as Randy Miller made contact with the outside fourth turn concrete wall, but continued. Vince Vitale was the victim, as he was sent spinning. All cars were able to continue. This time on the restart Bob McCreadie charged into the lead, but could only hold off Decker for just one lap. Decker then build a full straight away lead over McCreadie during the last half of the race. This gap was closed only once, on lap 19, when the final yellow flag flew for debris in the fourth turn. Decker went on to beat McCreadie by a margin of 5.452 seconds, averaging 60.962 MPH, after being slowed by the three yellows.

McCreadie finished second followed by track points leader Steve Paine, Donk and Danny Johnson.

The 20-lap DIRT Sportsman race saw seven yellow flags and one red flag, as the field never seemed to get in sync. Larry Beardsley was the early leader as yellow flags on laps two and three kept the field bunched together. On lap five, Karl Comfort passed Beardsley for the lead, only to have the red flag fly on lap six for a five car pile up in the fourth turn involving Mike Majors, Phil LaVare, Bill Englert, Rick Miller and Rob Bussey. Comfort led through four yellow flags; laps eight, nine, 10 and 11. On lap 11, Comfort felt his right rear tire go flat, as he slowly circled the half mile speedway. He then darted into the pits leaving the lead of the race to second place Justin Haers. Haers led the remainder of the race, as only one more yellow flew, on lap 13.

Joe Beyea finished second to Haers by 3.803 seconds. He was followed by Paul Guererri in third. Clay Parmelee and Willy Decker rounded out the top five.

The 20-lap Pro-stock feature also got off to a shaky start when the yellow flew on lap one for a turn one spin by Zack Shove and a lap two accident that saw Scott Fremouw spin in the fourth turn and be hit head on by Billy Brown, who had no place to go. All the while Jason Boyle was leading the event. Mike Cooper, who was looking for his second feature win of the season, charged into second on lap three and began a ten lap battle for that position with Steve Miller and Chad Homan, who had taken third on lap five. On lap 11, Cooper had a rear tire go flat and he limped into the pit area. This left Homan in second followed by Miller and Dave Conant.

With just two laps remaining Homan drifted high in the second turn, almost losing control of his car. This allowed both Miller and Conant to move pat him for position.

At the finish line it was Boyle with his second win of the year followed by Miller, Homan and Jon Miller. Boyle margin of victory over Miller was 3.504 seconds.

One 12-lap Street Stock feature topped off the night of racing. Leroy Lewis took the lead from Jared LaBarge on lap on the second lap. Lewis was then passed by eventual winner Frank Burnell on a lap four restart. The worst accident of the race came on the first lap when a ten car accident took place exiting the fourth turn. Four of the ten cars were unable to continue. Burnell took the victory followed by Lewis and Tim Burnell. Three time feature winner, Richard Briggs came home in fourth followed by three time winner Mike Welch in fifth.

Racing continues at Canandaigua Speedway this Saturday when it will be Honeoye Auto Parts "Salute to the Legends" night. A regular Four Star program of action including the DIRT Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro-stocks and Street Stocks will be on hand, plus the addition of the Mid-State Vintage Stock Car Club. Race time on Saturday will begin at 7 p.m. sharp.

On Thursday, August 9, the Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series hits the half mile oval with a number of special guests and attractions. Time Trials for the Big Block Modifieds begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by a complete program, including a special 30-lap Dig-Safely Sportsman Championship Tour race.  Canandaigua Speedway is located at the Ontario County Fairgrounds just east of the village of Canandaigua, NY. The track can easily be accessed by either Exit 43 or 44 of the New York State Thruway.

CASTLE CAR CARE PRODUCTS-ONTARIO COUNTY FAIR CHAMPIONSHIPS NIGHT SUMMARY

STREET STOCKS

HEAT 1: J. Henry, D. Phippen, J. Cologgi, R. Briggs, F. Salzberg, A. Delong, C. Mettler, M. Welch, A. Depew.
HEAT 2: F. Burnell, L. Lewis, J. LaBarge, T. Burnell, R. Cooper, B. Smith, V. Vanderwall, C. Jacobs, K. Collins.

FEATURE (12-laps): FRANK BURNELL, Leroy Lewis, Tim Burnell, Richard Briggs, Mike Welch, Darren Phippen, Brandon Smith, Fred Salzberg, Adam Depew, Kent Fletcher, Eric Giguere, Jared LaBarge, Ray Cooper, Jim Cologgi, James henry, Kevin Collins, Chris Jacobs, Tom Fuller, Adam Delong, Vance Vanderwall, Charlie Mettler, Nick Rizzo.

PRO-STOCKS

HEAT 1: S. Fremouw, M. Cooper, J. Boyle, S. Miller, J. Ortiz.
HEAT 2: C. Homan, B. Brown, J. Rutkowski, M. Smith, Z. Shove.

FEATURE (20-laps): JASON BOYLE, Steve Miller, Dave Conant, Chad Homan, Jon Miller, John Rutkowski, Lee Burnett, Billy Brown, Patrick Hobbs, Daryl Hilkert, Zack Shove, Tom Jansch, Mike Cooper, Jipp Ortiz, Matt Smith, Robin Smith, Scott Fremouw.

SPORTSMAN

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

FEATURE (20-laps): JUSTIN HAERS, Joe Beyea, Paul Guererri, Clay Parmelee, Willy Decker, Rick VanNeil, John Plumb, Steve Gray, Karl Comfort, Bob Henry Jr., Eldon Payne Jr., Larry Beardsley, Bill Englert, John Pfeffer, Brian Somerville, Dan Wiesner, Jason Whipple, Amy Pfeffer, Scott Joy, Wade Czymmek, Adam VanPatten, Loren Lincoln, Mike Majors, Rob Bussey, Phil LaVare, Rick Miller, David Allen.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: D. Ruggles, T. Fuller, R. Smoker, T. Burley, R. Bliss Jr., D. Darling.
HEAT 2: D. Axton, B. McCreadie, D. Johnson, R. Miller, S. Paine, C. Donk.
HEAT 3: B. Decker, C. Bower, V. Vitale, V. Coffey, G. Tatich, T. McCreadie.

FEATURE (35-laps): BILLY DECKER, Bob McCreadie, Steve Paine, Charlie Donk, Danny Johnson, Vic Coffey, Chuck Bower, Tim Fuller, Ron Smoker, Gary Tomkins, Pat Ward, Darryl Ruggles, Randy Miller, Dave Axton, Dale Darling, Ed Monroe, Tim McCreadie, Chuck Hebing, Todd Burley, Ray Bliss Jr., Vince Vitale, Greg Tatich, AaronBlowers, Jim Gabriel Jr., Fran Hilton, DNS: Todd Henderson.