DIRT: Cayuga Speedway Opener

By Gary M. Spaid, DIRT MotorSports PR

WEEDSPORT, N.Y. (April 17) – Alan Johnson drove his small block to victory in the 51st season big-block opener at the Cayuga County Fair Speedway on Sunday. He pocketed $3,000 for the 50-lap victory, his 53rd career win at the historic Weedsport oval which celebrates its 'Golden Anniversary' in 2005.

In Sportsman action, Russ Hefti came home first, picking up his sixth career win at Cayuga County. Also in action were the Street Stocks with Adam DePuy earning $150 for his first place finish. The Street Stock division at Cayuga County offers a new purse structure in 2005, paying back to 15th place.

Track officials did everything in their power to run the races off and try to provide a quality racing surface early in the year. As this was a day race, dust was somewhat of an issue early in the Modified feature. The intense dust at the start of the 50-lapper caused a multi-car accident in the first turn. Thanks to the RACEceiver one-way radio the field was quickly realigned and drivers were told to watch their pace on the restart of the race. The ensuing second attempt to start the main event proved successful; so successful was it that the yellow did not fly again until lap 23 as the dust was blown off the speedway by lap 10.

Tim McCreadie jumped to the early lead of the DIRT Modified main with Derrick Podsiadlo in second followed by Tim's teammate Vic Coffey. McCreadie stretched out a four second lead over the duo in second and third, finally entering traffic by lap eight.

One lap later Coffey used an inside pass to grab second from Podsiadlo. Gary Tomkins and Alan Johnson were now closing in fourth and fifth respectively. But just as fast as these two were moving, "young gun" Justin Haers was moving faster. Haers passed both Johnson and Tomkins using an outside line to take fourth on lap 13. He then proceeded to take Podsiadlo and charge at Coffey again using the outside groove. Coffey held on to second as Hears fell into third.

On lap 23 Tom Sears Jr. coasted to a stop high in the second turn causing the yellow to fly for the first time since the original restart. This bunched the field behind McCreadie, allowing Coffey to make a run at McCreadie when the green flew.

Alan Johnson decided now was the time to make his move. He passed brother Danny Johnson for fourth following a side-by-side duel for the position before the yellow had flown. 'A.J. Slideways' then passed Haers and moved in on Coffey. By lap 36, he shot low around Coffey for second and set his sights on the lead.

Four laps later he drove high around McCreadie exiting the second turn to take the lead. Johnson then began to stretch his advantage over the closing laps, taking the checkers some 3.0-seconds ahead of runner-up McCreadie. Hears, Coffey and Danny Johnson rounded out the top-five finishers.

Pennsylvanian Kevin Bates looked to be invincible in the Sportsman feature, taking the lead at the drop of the green and opening up a comfortable advantage over Greg Doust and Hefti. As the field finished the first lap the yellow flew for Scott Schrader who spun in the first turn.

The restart saw Bates still in command with Doust a close second. With ten laps down Hefti made a run at Doust for the runner-up spot while both Shawn Donath and Rob Pratt settled into fourth and fifth places respectively.

The yellow flew again on lap 13 when Mike Conrow stopped on the high side of the fourth turn. This slowdown bunched the field together and allowed Hefti a chance to pass Bates for the lead.

On the restart Hefti went high exiting the second turn and was able to pull along side of Bates, completing his pass before reaching the start-finish line.

Hefti held on for a three car-length win followed by Bates, Doust, Donath and Jim Bowman. However Bowman did not make weight and was scored and paid for last place in the event, thus moving Tom Juhl into a top-five finish.

In the Street Stock finale, Mike Holford jumped into the early lead with Nate Peckham in second and last year's track divisional champion, Dave Marcuccilli in third. Peckham made a charge at the lead as the field powered through the second turn. Unfortunately Peckham looped his mount and fell to the last place in the field.

Early favorite Dave Mannise dropped out by the third lap, making Holford's chances of victory look even sweeter. One lap later, however, Holford dropped to second behind Adam DePuy. DePuy then pulled away from the field leaving a great battle for second through fifth for the fans to watch. Nick Dandino, Marcuccilli, Holford and Eric Chapman rounded out the top-five when the checkers flew on lap 15.

CAYUGA CHATTER: Jack Johnson must not have liked his encounter with tech following his heat race. After asking him to alter the rear window panels, he decided instead to load up and head back to Duanesburg, even though he was scheduled to start 13th in the feature...Chip Burdick had his first taste of Cayuga County behind the helm. Outside of the early dusty conditions, typical of day racing, he was able to complete the entire program in just over two and a half hours. Fans were on their way home as early as 4:30 p.m....Light Street Stock numbers (only 8 cars were on hand) are expected to grow once word of the new payoff gets around. Before only the top-five shared in the payoff, now the top-15 will earn money with $150 going to the winner....As for car counts, there were 33 DIRT Modifieds on hand and 17 Sportsman.

This weekend Cayuga County goes with another $3,000 to win, 50-lap DIRT Modified feature complete with a full Sportsman and Street Stock program. One difference is this Sunday the racing is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. with officials hoping to cut back on some of the dust problems.

The DIRT MotorSports™ Advance Auto Parts Modified Series is brought to fans across the Northeast by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors Dynomax Performance Exhaust, Hoosier Racing Tire, Sunoco Race Fuels and DART Machinery. Promotional Partners include Stacker 2, AMB i.t., RACEceiver and Zippo Lighters and the contingency sponsors are Bicknell Racing Products, Bilstein Shocks, MSD Ignitions and Wrisco Industries.

CAYUGA COUNTY FAIR SPEEDWAY OPENING DAY RESULTS 4-17-05
STREET STOCKS
HEAT: D. Marcuccilli, M. Holford, D. Mannise, N. Peckham.
FEATURE (15-laps): ADAM DePUY, Nick Dandino, Dave Marcuccilli, Mike Holford, Eric Chapman, Tim Shumaker, Dave Mannise, Nate Peckham.
SPORTSMAN
HEAT 1: K. Bates, S. Schrader, R. Pratt, T. Juhl.
HEAT 2: S. Donath, G. Doust, R. Hefti, M. Conrow.
FEATURE (20-laps): RUSS HEFTI, Kevin Bates, Greg Doust, Shawn Donath, Tom Juhl, Rob Pratt, Mike Bowman, Scott Schrader, Rob Hile, Kevin Ridley, Eric Giguere, Mike Conrow, Sean Carman, Jim Bowman, DNS: Steve Babicek.
DIRT MODIFIEDS
HEAT 1: T. McCreadie, G. Tomkins, R. Phelps, J. Johnson, B. Decker.
HEAT 2: D. Podsiadlo, A. Johnson, A.J. Romano, R. Cartwright Jr., T. Sears Jr.
HEAT 3: J. Isabell, D. Johnson, T. Fuller, M. Sheppard, S. Poirier.
HEAT 4: V. Coffey, J. Haers, P. Ward, S. Paine, C. Bower.
CONSI 1: J. Phelps, B. Dunn, E. Payne Jr., V. Vitale.
CONSI 2: S. Hulsizer, S. Beardsley, C. Brachmann, S. Friesen.
FEATURE (50-laps): ALAN JOHNSON, Tim McCreadie, Justin Haers, Vic Coffey, Danny Johnson, Gary Tomkins, Billy Decker, Tim Fuller, A.J. Romano, Matt Sheppard, Pat Ward, Jimmy Phelps, Chad Brachmann, Billy Dunn, Steve Poirier, Steve Paine, Derrick Podsiadlo, Sean Beardsley, Chuck Bower, Vince Vitale, Jeff Isabell, Ron Cartwright Jr., Stewart Friesen, Steve Hulsizer, Tom Sears Jr., Ryan Phelps, Eldon Payne Jr., Jeff Brownell Jr.