Weedsport, NY – April 22, 2007 – By Gary M. Spaid, Cayuga County Fair Speedway PR
Danny Johnson was able to lead every lap in the 35-lap DIRTcar Big-Block Modified season-opener on Sunday at Cayuga County Fair Speedway. Via the luck of the draw, Johnson started on the outside of the front row and set a steady pace at the front to take the win.
“I was lucky there was no one behind me giving me a whole lot of pressure tonight,” stated a jubilant Johnson. It was Johnson’s sixth opening day victory at Cayuga County and the first for him since 2001.
Rob Pratt left a practice session at Genesee Speedway to race at Weedsport. He made the hour and half trek count as he picked up the 25-lap DIRTcar Sportsman feature victory.
“We hit the wall during the practice session and broke the front end of the car,” Pratt stated. “The crew did a fantastic job of getting the car ready for the heat race and then making it better for the feature.”
Dave Marcuccilli used his outside-pole starting position to his advantage, grabbing the early race lead and then holding off a charging Dave Mannise to win the first UMP/DIRTcar Street Stock feature of the year at Cayuga County. In the 25-lap Enduro, John Shumway took the win, his first career feature at the ‘Port.’
The ‘Doctor’, Danny Johnson grabbed the lead at the drop of the green and rocketed to a three-car advantage over rookie Modified driver Russ Hefti. Hefti was able to hold off Steve Paine for some seven laps before Jimmy Phelps was able to take third from Paine. Phelps started to move in on Johnson after passing Hefti on lap 14, using the standard slide job exiting the second turn.
The yellow flew for the first time on lap 20 when Ryan Bartlett spun in the second turn. Bartlett was towed to the pits and the field realigned to take the restart. Johnson was able to keep his lead over Phelps with Vic Coffey taking third. Coffey had come from 14th starting spot. These top-three remained the same through the end of the race while Hefti and Paine rounded out the top-five.
The 25-lap DIRTcar Sportsman main opened with Mike Entwistle taking his crate motored car into the lead at the drop of the green after two aborted starts. Right off Rob Pratt was running third and passed Joe Williams to take second on lap three. Pratt then charged after Entwistle, passing for the lead on lap seven.
Todd Town made the move to take second from Entwistle on lap 12. The first race yellow flew on lap 16 when Stewart Garrison made contact with the wall in the fourth turn and slowed on the main straight.
The race ended with Pratt taking the win followed by Town, Shawn Donath, Jeremy Pitcher and Williams. Eighth-place finisher Entwistle picked up the $100 bonus for being the first crate motor-powered car across the finish line.
The 15-lap UMP/DIRTcar Street Stock began with Dave Marcuccilli grabbing the lead only to see the yellow flag fly as Dan Hoffman Jr. hit the second turn wall and lost a rear wheel. Marcuccilli maintained his lead with last year’s track champion Dave Mannise running second some three car-lengths back.
The second yellow of the race came on lap eight when Dave Emmons looped his number 35 Chevrolet in the second turn. Marcuccilli and Mannise pulled away from the rest of the pack and at the checkers Ron Hawker finished third followed by Darryl Krebs and Jim Wallace among the front-five.
The 25-lap 4-Cylinder Enduro finale had to be red-flagged on lap four when James Werner flipped his number 67 in the fourth turn. His relative Nick Werner was also involved in the accident.
John Shumway led the entire 25-lap distance to take his first career win at the speedway. Bill Werner, Carl Werner, Tom Cook and ’06 points champion Craig Dingy rounded out the top-five finishers. The night’s racing was completed by 7:45 p.m.
The starting time remains 5 p.m. this coming Sunday with pit gates opening at 2:30 p.m. It will be Swim Suit Night presented by Finger Lakes Mall. Anyone wearing a swim suit will be admitted free of charge to the races that night.
The Cayuga County Fair Speedway is located just east of the village of Weedsport, just a couple of minutes off exit 40 of the NYS Thruway. For more information go to www.cayugacountyfairspeedway.com.
THANK YOU RACE CAR SPONSOR NIGHT presented by WENDALL MOBLEY/GREG BOSHERS/FINGERLAKES RADIO GROUP NIGHT SUMMARY
ENDURO
FEATURE (25-laps): JOHN SHUMWAY, Bill Werner, Carl Werner, Tom Cook, Craig Dingy, Donnie Mack, Kevin Alfred, Nick Werner, Les Baker, Matt Dawson, Kelly Smith, Barb Amadon, Andy Burtless, Dave Guererri, Dave Nagldinger, James Werner, Keith Keuer.
DIRTcar STREET STOCK
HEAT 1: D. Mannise, R. Hawker, D. Krebs, N. Rizzo, D. Ellis, D. Hoffman Sr.
HEAT 2: D. Marcuccilli, J. Wallace, D. Emmons, S. Woodworth, D. Hoffman Jr., V. Grant
FEATURE (15-laps): DAVE MARCUCCILLI, Dave Mannise, Ron Hawker, Darryl Krebs, Jim Wallace, Dan Hoffman Sr., Steve Woodworth, Dave Emmons, Van Grant, Nick Rizzo, Darl Ellis, Dan Hoffman Jr., Phil Marsden (DNS)
DIRTcar SPORTSMAN
HEAT 1: J. Pitcher, R. Pratt, J. Williams, B. Sweet, Mahaney, M. Hulsizer.
HEAT 2: Sw. Donath, T. Currier, J. Spano, C. Hile, S. Garrison, M. Mathews.
HEAT 3: T. Town, M. Entwistle, J. LaRock, A. Steiner, J. Juhl, J. Juhl II
FEATURE (25-laps): ROB PRATT, Todd Town, Shawn Donath, Jeremy Pitcher, Joe Williams, Tim Currier, Jim LaRock, Mike Entwistle, Kevin Ridley, John Juhl II, James Spano, Mike Mahaney, John Juhl, Ed Grant, Stewart Garrison, Bill Colman, Morris Mathews, Anthony Steiner, Brandon Sweet, Alan Fink, Darrin Austin, Chris Hile, Rob Hile, Doug Shattell, Matt Hulsizer (DNS), Steve Planck (DNS).
DIRTcar BIG-BLOCK MODIFIED/358-MODIFIED
HEAT 1: B. Tittle, C. Bower, D. Johnson, V. Vitale, B. Dunn, R. Chrysler.
HEAT 2: S. Hulsizer, R. Hefti, C. Homan, T. Juhl, V. Coffey, J. Haers.
HEAT 3: J. Phelps, S. Paine, C. Brachmann, R. Bartlett, R. Hoard, J. Beyea.
FEATURE (35-laps): DANNY JOHNSON, Jimmy Phelps, Vic Coffey, Russ Hefti, Steve Paine, Vince Vitale, Chad Brachmann, Justin Haers, Chuck Bower, Steve Hulsizer, Butch Tittle, Billy Dunn, Joe Beyea, Ray Hoard, Dave Rauscher, Chad Homan, Derrick Podsiadlo, Roger Chrysler, Tom Juhl, Ryan Bartlett, Rob Bellinger (DNS), Sean Beardsley (DNS
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