‘Batman’ & Bay Soar To Speedway Wins In Canandaigua
Shawn Greene Photo
‘Batman’ & Bay Soar To Speedway Wins In Canandaigua
Bay tops stellar CRSA Series field as Guererri, Welch, Burnell & George add 1st-place trophies
Canandaigua, NY – June 18, 2022 – Steven Ovens, Land of Legends Raceway PR
The stars finally aligned on a clear night in Canandaigua as Australian ace Peter Britten scored his first win of the season Saturday at Land Of Legends Raceway in the Pepsi Big-Block Modified feature while second-generation standout Alysha Bay used homefield advantage to best a track record 29 entries in the SuperGen Products with Champion Power Equipment CRSA Sprint Car Series showdown to close out Regional International Corporation and Sherwin Williams Paint Night.
Frank Guererri Jr. (Speed Connection Sportsman) and Tyler Burnell (Lloyd’s Contracting Hobby Stock) also registered their first wins of the season while Mike Welch (Eldredge & Sons Scrap Recycling Street Stock) and Greenley George (MighTea Boba New Legends Sportsman) renewed acquaintances in victory lane.
James Sweeting and Robbie Johnston led the 24-car field to Scott Hixson’s initial green flag in the 30-lap Big-Block finale. Sweeting led the opening circuit over Johnston, who led 26 laps last weekend en route to a Top-10 finish.
The race’s first yellow flag flew on lap 3 when Alex Payne’s Castrol No. 70a slowed in turn 4. He eventually pulled off the track and did not return. On the ensuing restart, Britten went to work from his seventh starting position as he threaded the needle between Troy Sperring and Dylan Zacharias in a three-wide maneuver, then reached third on lap 4.
Top three broke away from the pack and Britten took over the second position from Johnston as lap 6 clicked off.
Just a lap and a half later Britten powered off the bottom of turn 2 to pull up alongside Sweeting to take over first and be scored as the race leader on lap 8, a lead position he would not relinquish. As Britten took the race lead, Justin Haers and Erick Rudolph began their march through the field.
Haers, who was carrying the Land of Legends TV onboard camera, found himself in fourth place and closing on the Johnston and Sweeting pairing by lap 10. Rudolph gained ten spots in the first ten laps to elevate himself into the Top 5.
Haers worked by Johnston on lap 12 to take over the third spot and on lap 13 sailed the car through the middle lane to sweep around Sweeting to capture the runner-up position officially on lap 14. Rudolph also made his was by Sweeting that same lap to make it a Britten, Haers, Rudolph podium at the halfway point.
Behind the top-three a spirited battle was put on by Troy Sperring, Alan Johnson, Zach Payne and Kevin Root. Out front Britten extended his lead to a full straightaway and worked traffic to perfection to capture his first win of 2022 at the Land of Legends, with the race running caution-free from lap 3 to lap 30.
“When this thing fired off I knew we were going to be in pretty good shape,” remarked Britten, following his ninth career checkered flag in Canandaigua. “At that point you’re praying for no cautions and just keep picking them off. It was fun. Racing hasn’t been fun sometimes recently. First time in a long time my daughter was here tonight and Michelle. Maybe that’s my good luck charm.”
The rescheduled CRSA Sprint event from the rained out racing program on May 21 was held and after 20 laps around the hallowed half-miler it was another familiar face gracing victory lane at the Ontario County Fairgrounds.
Home track contenders Randy Years and Jason Whipple paced the field to green and immediately taking advantage of the water laid down on the top of the track during intermission was Whipple. Whipple would lead the opening seven laps of the race but it was Gorham, NY pilot Alysha Bay who was the driver on the move.
Bay rolled off from the outside of row two and quickly advanced to second position on the opening lap. Just as quickly as Bay worked up the leaderboard, her father and the all-time leader in 305 wins at the Canandaigua, NY facility Darryl Ruggles moved from his seventh starting spot to a podium position on Lap 2.
The battle for the race lead really took shape as Whipple hit slower traffic to put Lap 6 in the books. Whipple getting challenged with dirty air on his top wing saw the gap to Bay shrink at a rapid pace. The green flag run was cut short at Lap 7 when Dan Craun got over the edge in Turn 2 and spun to a stop in the tall grass.
On the restart Bay went to her traditional line taking the short way around the racetrack and left Whipple to dance on the high side. Without his momentum built back up, Whipple surrendered the lead to Bay at the start of Lap 8. Bay held a three car length advantage but Ruggles picking up a battle with Whipple for second allowed her space to run steady, solid laps.
Trevor Years made short work of making it a four car battle to decide the winner of the 256th event in CRSA Sprints history. Years had an incredible run in the Arnold’s Tree Service No. 13T, advancing the most positions in his heat and running well with the leaders in the A-Main in his new Panther Frameworx chassis.
At the halfway point another driver was making a charge through the field as well. Kyle Pierce, 2021 CRSA Sprints Rookie of the Year, was well on his way to passing 10 cars to earn the series’ hard charger bonus.
The yellow was displayed the final time twice on Lap 12 as Greene, NY rookie Calvin Wheelock lost the handle on his No. 7w as Whipple and Ruggles were passing by. Ruggles had a close call, narrowly avoiding contact with Wheelock in the second turn. It quickly came out again as Sherbrooke, Que, Ca driver Tomy Moreau spun his My Race Pass No. 22 in Turn 4.
The restart brought more of the same for Bay as she proved to be the dominant car on this night. Bay raced to her fifth career CRSA Sprints victory with three of those now coming from Land of Legends Raceway. She also moved into second place on the all-time 305 Sprints wins list with sixteen, breaking a previous tie with David Ferguson.
Ruggles won the battle with Whipple for second, Years completed his strong run for fourth and CRSA winner just eight days prior, Jordan Hutton, raced from eleventh starting spot to the Top 5.
Bay exited her brand new X-1 Chassis to a thunderous cheer from the packed house.
“That one was much needed, didn’t think I would get one this year,” said a relieved Bay in Cazbah Victory Lane following the 15th CRSA Series event staged at LOLR.
“We had a crappy beginning of the season but we put together this X-1 car and its been good ever since. The track is just the way I like it tonight, the track crew is doing an awesome job and that’s all you can ask for.”
Ruggles gave a tip of the cap to not only his daughter Alysha but to Whipple as well.
“Alysha told me the bottom lane was going to be it tonight,” Ruggles noted. “Then Jason was running the line I wanted and he was running it perfect. We worked hard (on Alysha’s car) to get it right and my car is just awesome so I don’t care finishing second to my daughter.”
Whipple would have loved to win his second consecutive CRSA Sprints tour race in Canandaigua but was still happy with a podium run.
“I knew with where Alysha started it was going to be her night,” Whipple said. “You just can’t beat that, she runs so well on the bottom. I took one from her last year and this one was her turn. It always feels good to finish top-three when this crew comes to town and to be an all-Canandaigua Top 3 is awesome.”
Frank Guererri Jr. and Dalton Martin led the field to green in the 25-lap Sportsman feature. Guererri has had his ups and downs in 2022 but looked poised to take advantage of the pole position.
The race got off to a slow start as Nick Root met with an infield tire in the second turn at the completion of lap 1, collecting JT Sperring and Karl Comfort. On the ensuing restart Nick Guererri went for a spin in the first turn, with first time speedway starters in 2022 Dave Conant Jr. and Daryl Krebs joining the fray.
Racing just outside the top-five was entertaining as Guererri paced the field out front. A 10-lap green flag run was slowed on lap 11 as Tyler Murray had a rear-end let go and caught fire on the frontstretch. The fire extinguished itself and Murray was unharmed.
The final 14 laps of the event went all green and Guererri pulled away for a dominant win by 4.7 seconds over Martin who logged a solid runner-up finish. Matt Guererri and Paul Guererri in third and fourth made it three Guererri’s out of the Top 4 spots. Tyler Corcoran charged from twelfth starting spot to complete the Top 5.
“We were junk in the heat race and my confidence was low,” Guererri divulged. “So starting on the pole definitely helped. We just have to get a little better so we don’t have to start there to win. Slow is fast, I knew it was going to take someone really fast to go around the outside so I just kept it pinned on the tires.”
Welch did something Saturday night in the Street Stocks ranks that he hadn’t done since 2020 — capture the checkered flag to secure a multi-win season. Welch had the Rockstar Energy Drink No. 00 hooked up strong on the bottom lane and methodically worked his way to a battle for the lead from his seventh starting spot in the headline 20-lap full-fender affair.
Chris Beyea had a well-deserved great night winning his heat race and pacing the field for the opening five laps. 2022 winner Carl Johnson took the lead officially on lap 6 but would find himself mired in traffic late in the going.
Adam Depuy’s 99 ride was very much a player in this one as well but bad luck struck on lap 12, ending his night as he was closing the gap on Johnson. Parker Smith also had to take it to the infield on the same lap ending another strong run in his No. 55P.
With six laps remaining it was a three-car breakaway for the lead with Johnson, Welch and a great effort from Rick Crego’s #5C. Crego struggled in his heat race but made all the right adjustments to battle for the lead after starting eleventh.
With five laps to go, Johnson was struggling to keep the car pitched to the inside lane and was opening the door for Welch to take a peek. On lap 16, Welch knew it was going to take doing something different to win so he went to the middle lane in turns 1 and 2 and again in turns 3 and 4, feathering the accelerator just right to be scored in the top spot on lap 17.
Welch pulled away over the final three laps to score his 84th career victory at the Land of Legends. Crego snuck by Johnson on the final lap to log his best finish of 2022. Johnson held on for third, CJ Guererri without the benefit of a full three-week handicap raced from ninth to fourth and Nick Dandino completed the top five.
“That’s pretty odd for someone to say that I went to the outside to take the lead,” laughed Welch. “We struggled at the beginning of the season and overthought a lot of stuff. We just went back to the basics and it’s working for us so I’m happy.”
Burnell took the 15-Lap Hobby Stock feature going wire-to-wire to score his first win of 2022. He had to fight off battles from his father Frank “Bubba” Burnell Jr. to get the win but held a good line around the bottom lane on a track that has a lot of hard laps on it come night’s end.
Several of the top runners of the division faced their struggles on this night as two flat tires hampered defending track champion Justin Eldredge. Current point leader Wayne Ellison had struggles of his own, going for two spins during the course of the feature.
“Racing with my dad every week, you just can’t imagine,” said the younger Burnell about competing against his father who sits tenth on the all-time win list in Stock Car competition at Canandaigua.
George raced her way to her second straight 12-lap win in the New Legends Sportsman division, sporting new colors this week and forced to fend off fierce challenges from a newcomer in Jason Breezee.
Breezee gave George fits in both the heat race and the feature but George’s experience and smooth line around the Ontario County oval seemed to be the difference. Justin Liechty, Angel Sperring and Kennedy Payne completed the Top-5.
Land of Legends Raceway Event Summary – June 18, 2022Regional International Corporation & Sherwin Williams Paint present Saturday SpectacularPepsi Big-Block Modified
*Feature (30 laps): 1. 21a- Peter Britten ($2,000), 2. 3-Justin Haers, 3. 25- Erick Rudolph, 4. 11J- James Sweeting, 5. 34- Kevin Root, 6. 33J- Robbie Johnston, 7. 14J- Alan Johnson, 8. 7z- Zach Payne, 9. 84y- Alex Yankowski, 10. 7- Troy Sperring, 11. 42p- Pat Ward, 12. 27z- Dylan Zacharias, 13. 27J- Danny Johnson, 14. 21p- Derrick Podsiadlo, 15. 19w- Justin Wright, 16. 22g- Gil Tegg Jr., 17. 27jr- Daniel Johnson Jr., 18. 88- Dave Allen, 19. 11N- Ricky Newton, 20. 29NY- Greg Birosh, 21. 1L- Jeff Lawrence, 22. 70a- Alex Payne, 23. 19- Tim Fuller, DNS: 7s- Torrey Stoughtenger
Heats (8 laps)
#1: Sweeting, A. Johnson, Podsiadlo, Root, A. Payne, Newton, D.Johnson Jr., Jeff Lawrence
#2: Britten, Johnston, Haers, Fuller, Zacharias, Yankowski, Tegg Jr., D.Johnson
#3: Z. Payne, Rudolph, Sperring, Ward, Wright, Allen, Birosh, Stoughtenger
SuperGen Products with Champion Power Equipment CRSA Sprint Car Series
*Feature (20 laps): 1. 48a- Alysha Bay ($1,000), 2. 48jr- Darryl Ruggles, 3. 38- Jason Whipple, 4. 13t- Trevor Years, 5. 66- Jordan Hutton, 6. 53- Bobby Parrow, 7. 29- Dalton Herrick, 8. 9k- Kyle Pierce, 9. 25w- Dana Wagner, 10. 22t- Tanner Emmons, 11. 1q- Thomas Radivoy, 12. 121- Steve Glover, 13. J27- John Cunningham, 14. 18c Dan Craun, 15. 23- John Smith, 16. 2- Randy Years, 17. 28- Ronnie Greek, 18. 77- Matt Rotz, 19. 112- Mike VanPelt, 20. 10- Nathan Pierce, 21. 29t- Tori Kaplin, 22. 22- Tomy Moreau, 23. 7w- Calvin Wheelock, 24. 4t- Ray Preston
DNQ: Aaron Shelton, James Layton, Ethan Gray (motor), Brandyn Griffin (motor), Tyler Emmons (motor)
Heats (8 laps)
#1: Parrow, T. Years, VanPelt, Gray, Craun, Glover, K. Pierce, Smith, Kaplin, Shelton
#2: Radivoy, Hutton, Greek, Herrick, Tanner Emmons, Wagner, N. Pierce, Wheelock, Tyler Emmons, DNS: Brandyn Griffin
#3: Bay, Ruggles, Whipple, R. Years, Rotz, Preston, Cunningham, Moreau, Layton
B-Main: K. Pierce, Smith, Cunningham, Moreau, N. Pierce, Kaplin, Wheelock, Shelton, Layton, DNS: Tyler Emmons, Brandyn Griffin
Speed Connection Sportsman Modified
*Feature (25 laps): 1. 113jr- Frank Guererri Jr., 2. 132- Dalton Martin, 3. 12G- Matt Guererri, 4. 7- Paul Guererri, 5. 64- Tyler Corcoran, 6. 18H- Justin Henderson, 7. 38- Zach Sobotka, 8. 25G- Nick Guererri, 9. 31- Kane Bristol, 10. 35- Nick Cooper, 11. 44- Dave Conant Jr., 12. 10- Karl Comfort, 13. 63- Teddy Clayton, 14. 00- Sam Hoxie, 15. 51- Tim Lafler, 16. 30m- Michael Root, 17. 28- Mark Potter, 18. 23b- Tim Borden Jr., 19. 13K- Daryl Krebs, 20. 04- Eric Years, 21. 1M- Tyler Murray, 22. 30- Nicholas Root, 23. 7J- J.T. Sperring
Heats (8 laps)
#1: Martin, P. Guererri, M. Guererri, Sobotka, Bristol, Conant Jr., Potter, M. Root
#2: N. Root, Comfort, Corcoran, Murray, Borden, Henderson, Hoxie, Clayton
#3: Lafler, Sperring, F. Guererri Jr., N. Guererri, Cooper, Krebs, Years
Eldredge & Sons Scrap Recycling Street Stock
*Feature (20 laps): 1. 00- Mike Welch, 2. 5c- Rick Crego, 3. 87- Carl Johnson, 4. CJ1- CJ Guererri, 5. 57j- Nick Dandino, 6. 25b- Marc Minutolo, 7. 36- Jimmy Grant, 8. 510 Brad Steinruck Jr., 9. 77- Shane Wolf, 10. 122- Chris Beyea, 11. 3- Patrick Hobbs, 12. 2d- Trevor Dudley, 13. 9- Aksel Jensen, 14. 34q- Jason Quigley, 15. 24j- Marcus Springer, 16. 63- Mike Fellows, 17. 74- Ron Metcalf, 18. 99- Adam Depuy, 19. 55p- Parker Smith DNS: 27- Chris Force
Heats (6 laps)
#1: Beyea, Grant, Johnson, Welch, Guererri, Crego, Wolf, Steinruck Jr., Springer, Fellows
#2: Minutolo, Smith, Depuy, Dandino, Dudley, Hobbs, Jensen, Quigley, Metcalf, Force
Lloyd’s Contracting Hobby Stock
*Feature (15 laps): 1. 57jr- Tyler Burnell, 2. 57b- Frank “Bubba” Burnell, 3. 13b- Brian Lloyd, 4. 18- Wayne Ellison, 5. 90- Nate Peckham, 6. 17a- Jon Almekinder, 7. 61- Danny Kerrick, 8. 54m- Scott Mack, 9. 25j- Justin Eldredge, DNS: 88- Justin Jacoby
Heat (6 laps)
#1: T. Burnell, F. Burnell, Eldredge, Lloyd, Almekinder, Peckham, Ellison, Kerrick, Mack, Jacoby
MighTea Boba New Legends Sportsman
*Feature (12 laps): 1. 26-Greenley George, 2. 29b- Jason Breezee, 3. 57- Justin Liechti, 4. 56a- Angel Sperring, 5. 31k- Kennedy Payne
Heat (6 laps)
#1: Breezee, George, Liechti, Sperring, Payne
NEXT EVENT: Saturday Spectacular, June 25 @ 6:30pm; Seneca Meadows & Howell Properties present Mid-Season Championships Big-Block Modified/Sportsman/305 Sprint/Street Stock plus the Hobby Stock with Rochester Spinal Association Benefit.
Track Instant Info
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