FULLER DOMINATES TO EARN FIFTH ALL-TIME MODIFIED FEATURE WIN AT CANANDAIGUA
Story By:GARY SPAID / CANANDAIGUA SPEEDWAY Photos By: ALEX & HELEN BRUCE / RACERSGUIDE.COM
CANANDAIGUA, NY. – June 20, 2016- ”We’ve finished second and third a lot this year. It feels good to win one,” stated Tim Fuller in victory lane last Saturday at Canandaigua Motorsports Park. “Sheppard always seems to have the edge here so winning is tough. We just keep plugging away.”
Karl Comfort also had a long wait to win again. He last won on August 23, 2014. His time came again as he recorded Canandaigua win number 22.
“This year has been a tough one,” stated Karl Comfort. “We blew up a couple of weeks ago. That put us behind right off. This is my track, but I consider myself an open motor guy. It’s real hard to get one of these crates wound up.”
Other feature winners on the night included Chad Homan in the Crate Late Model division, Erick Karlsen in the 305 Sprint cars and Rick Crego in the combined Pure Stock-Street Stock feature.
The 35-lap DIRTcar Modified feature saw Gil Tegg Jr. jump into the lead at the drop of the green. Mike Mahaney moved into second on lap three and began to challenge Tegg Jr. for the lead. Mahaney’s opportunity came on lap seven. Using the low side of the track, Mahaney charged up next to Tegg but could not complete the pass. Two laps later he tried the outside, but flying through the pack was Tim Fuller who moved to the middle making for a three wide charge for the lead. Fuller was able to take first and begin to draw away from the rest of the pack.
By lap 20 Fuller had pulled away to a full 3.45 second lead over Alan Johnson in lapped traffic. On lap 22, Sheppard drove hard to pass Mahaney for third. But even his charge would fall short as Fuller took the win followed by Johnson, Sheppard, Mahaney and Mat Williamson rounding out the top five finishers. The green-to-checkers finish saw the race average speed at 88.993 mph around the fast half mile oval.
The 25-lap Sportsman feature also looked as if it would go green-to-checkers, but Doug Rohr brought out a yellow on lap 21, when he looped around between turns three and four.
As for the race, Karl Comfort had grabbed the lead at the drop of the green and was solidly in command. At the checkers it was Comfort with the win followed by Kevin Root, Tyler Meeks, Ricky Newton and Rob Bussey. Root made a late race charge at Comfort but fell short by.073 seconds.
“I could hear him out there coming,” stated Comfort. “I was babying my car and hoping to beat him to the line.”
The Pure Stock-Street Stock 15-lapper got off to a hot start when points leader Marc Minutolo, showing signs of heavy smoke, was found to be on fire under the hood of his car. Minutolo quickly pulled his car into the infield and bailed out. Track crews were quick on the scene to take charge.
The restart saw Jason Doty take the lead. On lap four, Blane Smith saw an opening on the low side to drive through to take command of the race.
The yellow flew a second time, lap 11, when Scott Herman slowed on the back stretch. With just a few laps remaining it looked like Doty had the race in his pocket. Rick Crego thought different. He drove under the Doty 4J machine on lap 14 and secured the lead. Crego would go on to win followed by Doty, Mike Welch (SS), Charles Harvey (SS) and Blane Smith.
“I was lucky we found some moisture down low, “added Crego. “The car worked best down there.”
The short field of Crate Late Models shortened the feature run to just 12 laps. Chad Homan took the lead and never looked back. He won his fourth feature of the year at Canandaigua.
“It was pretty slippery out there tonight, stated Homan. “These late models handle much better on a slippery track. I guess that goes to show the quality of the modified field at Canandaigua.”
The 305 Sprint Cars also went 12-laps in their feature. Erik Karlsen jumped out into the lead and never looked back to claim his first feature win of the year.
“I’ve been trying really had this year and we finally got one,” stated an elated Karlsen in victory lane.
Next week should prove a busy one at Canandaigua Motorsports Park. On Saturday, June 25, you will see another regular night of racing at Canandaigua Motorsports Park. That race card will include the DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds, Sportsman, New Legends, 305 Sprint Cars and the combined Open Street Stocks/Pure Stocks. Race time begins at 7 p.m.
Then on the following Thursday the cars and stars from the DIRT Super DIRT Series will be in town for the annual Jan Corcoran Memorial 64. Joining the modifieds will be a special ESS Sprint car program plus sportsman. Race time starts at 7:30 p.m. that evening.
More information can be found at www.canandaiguamotorsportspark.com.
CANANDAIGUA MOTORSPORTS PARK NIGHT SUMMARY (6/18/16)
STREET STOCKS/ PURE STOCK
HEAT: J. Doty, P. Smith, R. Crego, M. Minutolo, B. Smith.
FEATURE (15-laps): RICK CREGO, Jason Doty, Mike Welch (SS), Charles Harvey (SS), Blane Smith, Parker Smith, Dakota Sharp, Adam Whipple, Scott Herman, Shawn Lloyd, Marc Minutolo.
305 SPRINT CARS
FEATURE (12 laps): ERIK KARLSEN, Lee Sanders, Tim Smith, Dan Craun.
CRATE LATE MODELS
HEAT: C. Homan, F. Guererri Jr., S. Pesarek.
FEATURE (12 laps): CHAD HOMAN, Steve Pesarek, Frank Guererri Jr. DNS: Ed Statton
SPORTSMAN
HEAT 1: K. Root, K. Comfort, N. Guererri, A.J. Lloyd, R. Newton.
HEAT 2: A. Kimball, R. Bussey, K. Ridley, T. Baker, J. Devoli.
HEAT 3: T. Meeks, J. Sweeting, M. Guererri, N. Peckham, A. Fugle.
FEATURE (25-laps): KARL Comfort, Kevin Root, Tyler Meeks, Ricky Newton, Rob Bussey, Anthony Kimball, James Sweeting, A.J. Lloyd, Paul Guererri, Dave Marcuccilli, Matt Guererri, Kane Bristol, Kevin Ridley, Jeff Devoli, Austyn Fugle, Tim Baker, Doug Smith, J.P. Sparring, Nathan Peckham, Doug Rohr, Troy Sparring, Brett Baldwin.
MODIFIED
HEAT 1: R. Scagliotta, T. Fuller, A. Johnson, M. Mahaney, B. Decker.
HEAT 2: D. Wiesner, S. Paine, G. Tomkins, G. Birosh, P. Britten.
HEAT 3: M. Williamson, J. Haers, B. Sage, M. Sheppard, G. Tegg Jr.
CONSI: K. Coffey, R. Arbuthnot, D. Podsiadlo, E. Payne Jr., D. Rauscher, K. Pashina.
FEATURE (35-laps): TIM FULLER, Alan Johnson, Matt Sheppard, Mike Mahaney, Mat Williamson, Justin Haers, Billy Decker, Dan Wiesner, Gary Tomkins, Peter Britten, Vic Coffey, Rich Scagliotta, Steve Paine, Gil Tegg Jr., Ryan Arbuthnot, Justin Wright, Eldon Payne Jr., Greg Birosh, Jamie Maier, Dave Rauscher, Kyle Coffey, Derrick Podsiadlo, Kaitlyn Pashina, Brian Sage DNS: Mike O’Brien, Dave Allen, Scott Kerwin
