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Ridley, Marsden & Minutolo return to familiar form while Jacobson newest Legends winner
Canandaigua, NY – May 19, 2012 – Jimmy Phelps began the season at Canandaigua Motorsports Park in April looking for valuable track time before his 2012 campaign kicked into high gear closer to home. Six weeks later the Baldwinsville, N.Y. driver finds himself clearly in contention for the coveted points crown after scoring his first career Big-Block feature win in the headline Original Pizza Logs Modified division.
Also registering his first-ever victory at the Ontario County Fairgrounds on Saturday was local New Legends Sportsman racer Andrew Jacobson while Kevin Ridley (Safety Awareness Solutions Sportsman Modified), Russ Marsden (Parts Plus Street Stock) and Marc Minutolo (Pure Stock) grabbed their own checkered flags on Empire Becks Recycling-Ontario Co. Fairboard Nite. Tyler Haniszewski pocketed $1,000 in the winner-take-all Demolition Derby Championship to close out the summer-like show in front of a full-house.
In special pre-race ceremonies, 2011 CMP point champions Matt Sheppard (Modified), Dan Wiesner (Sportsman), Mike Welch (Street) and Minutolo (Pure) were recognized in front of the homestretch crowd and each titlist was presented with a commemorative billboard depicting their first-place car.
 Phelps charged early from his 15th starting position, cracking the Top-5 after just nine laps around the smooth half-miler before ducking under Gil Tegg Jr. for the final lead change with 19 in the books. Outside front row starter Ron Cartwright Jr. paced the 26 car-field until Tegg moved ahead with four down in the 35-lap finale.
“This really feels good,” remarked Phelps, 37, after reaching victory lane at the 'Land of Legends' and posing alongside his potent Finger Lakes-powered Andy Phelps Motorsports no. 99J J&B Installations-Industrial Tire-Town Mechanical/Troyer mount with family and friends. “Its no surprize, we intended to run Fulton (Speedway) but going after the DIRTcar points put us here.”
“I'll be honest with you, the fans have been great, drivers have been great and they've all welcomed us. We've had a lot of fun with a good car and have a whole new perspective on this place. We're excited to be here now,” noted Phelps, who finished fifth in the Super DIRTcar Series Corcoran Memorial back on April 7 steering a similar HBR Motorsports no. 98H Mohawk Northeast/Troyer machine and he has gained momentum at the popular Routes 5&20 oval ever since.
While Phelps carved his way through the competition with little restraint, fairgrounds favorite Danny Johnson was just as quick starting 18th alongside points leader Matt Sheppard, each owning two wins to date. Both second-generation standouts, Johnson rode the rim to reach sixth with 13 laps scored and Sheppard pulled right behind him after two more times around.
Sheppard suddenly slowed with a right front flat tire to bring out the first yellow flag on lap 18 and force the reigning CMP points king to the rear after a brief trip to the pits. The ensuing restart proved pivotal for Phelps as he out-dragged fellow Troyer pilot Tegg down the front chute to forge what would amount to the final lead change.
Johnson moved into third with 15 to go and sped past Tegg for second on lap 22. Daryl Hilkert looped his TEO entry in turn four to incur a second caution period and on the restart Australian Peter Britten suddenly slid off the track high in the third corner to force another slowdown. Sheppard was sent to the back of the pack for a second time after track officials deemed contact with Britten prompted the mishap.
Johnson closed in on the leader when green flag racing returned, yet a strategic lane switch to the outside on lap 27 provided Phelps some breathing room for the moment. Heavy traffic just ahead kept the final outcome in doubt until Phelps pulled off a three-wide maneuver with just two to go, ultimately opening up a 10-car advantage over Johnson who was mired in a five-car mix at the stripe.
Billy Dunn rallied to take third ahead of Vince Vitale and Justin Haers, while Sheppard regrouped to finish 10th and remain atop the points chart by a scant 311-309 margin over Johnson. Phelps climbed into third with 292 markers after posting his fifth Top-5 in six starts.
“All those restarts had me nervous at the end, who wouldn't be with Danny Johnson on your rear bumper,” said Phelps, after becoming the 95th different Big-Block winner in exactly 800 feature events chronicled at Canandaigua since 1953. His first CMP win was in a DIRTcar 358-Modified Series race held in September of 2008. “I knew he was right there, saw him on the outside when I tried the bottom. Figured if I could stay on top through the traffic I would be okay but in traffic its always a crapshoot. Once I cleared a couple of the lapped cars without slowing down I knew we were alright, but it still could've gone either way.”
Ridley left little doubt in the 25-lap Safety Awareness Solutions Sportsman main event, winning by nearly seven full seconds in the caution-free affair run off in less than nine minutes.
“It definitely helps starting toward the front, I'm not going to lie, but we took our lumps to get there,” said Ridley, Canandaigua's 2008 Sportsman points champ, after registering his 12th career triumph in dominating fashion. “Going green like that the whole way there's nothing to block your rhythm.”
Ridley began third and found his groove early, snatching the lead from pole-sitter John Wilber on lap three and stretching his lead to a dozen car-lengths over Stu Sheppard after five circuits. The margin was a full straightaway with 10 on the scoresheet as A.J. Lloyd, Steve Gray, Dave Marcuccilli and Eric Giguere jockeyed for position much further back.
When chief starter Scott Hixson waved the checkered flag 15 laps later, the distance had ballooned to nearly a half-track behind the no. 20x Fred's Fab'N Fold-Xtreme Lubricants-Gevos Rears & Gears/TEO ride. Runner-up Lloyd held off Marcuccilli for his best career finish while Gray and Giguere rounded out the final front-five. Points leader Dan Wiesner (11th) finished out of the Top-5 for just the second time in six shows.
“We really struggled so far this year, its been embarrassing to be honest,” divulged Ridley, after the Waterloo wheelman vaulted from eighth to fourth in track points. “Two weeks ago I was ready to quit. Been telling my girlfriend to maybe take some time off and refocus but my crew wanted to keep coming so here we are. I think we're on to something right now, we made a lot of changes Wednesday (at Rolling Wheels Raceway), applied them to the car and they seemed to make it a lot better.”
Weekends in wine country can't get much better for Marsden after the Mexico, N.Y. driver claimed his track-high fourth feature win in six Parts Plus Street Stock events.
“We have all the resources to get the job done this year and things are going well,” said Marsden, who parked the no. 28 Flack’s Hi-Rise Concrete Restoration-Coatings Plus/Chevrolet Impala in the winner's circle on four occasions all of last season and has already matched that total with three months still to go. “If something breaks we fix it, the oil always gets change and this car is spotlight from top to bottom. The car is very well maintained, we never even take the hood off except for tech.”
Jack Terrell emerged the leader after a thrilling four-wide start to begin the 15-lap full-fender feature. Welch nosed high across the line to lead lap two, yet an apparent broken camshaft in the engine suddenly forced him off the pace on lap five to give fifth-place starter Marsden a lead he would never relinquish.
A lap 11 skirmish sent Steve Faulkner looping his Chevy Monte Carlo between turns one and two in his '12 season debut, collecting Pat Hobbs in the aftermath and requiring five minutes for the track safety crew to pry their cars apart. Marsden only needed to fend off a handful of chasers on the ensuing restart, out-distancing Blane Smith by 20 car-lengths with Nate Peckham, Adam DePuy and Mike Cooper in tow.
For the second week in a row second-generation chauffeur Minutolo took top honors in the 12-lap Pure Stock, yet his 27th career triumph at the 'Land of Legends' wasn't decided until the final circuit.
“I hate running away with a feature, the whole point of racing is to go up against the competition and see who's best,” said Minutolo, a two-time and defending division points champion who scored seven wins last season aboard the no. 25B Butch's Body Shop-Big Mike's Auto/Chevrolet Camaro en route to the title. “I love that somebody's right there at the end and nothing is going to be handed to me.”
Fourth starting Minutolo moved past early leader Eric Chapman on lap four and the top two cars pulled away together in another non-stop shootout. Chapman ran bumper-to-bumper with the Newark pilot the second half of the race, with a last lap effort falling five car-lengths shy at the stripe.
“Eric was fast, saw saw him peeking down low a couple times. Then on that last lap saw him with a little glow right next to me and thought 'hope he's okay.' We started out the season a little slow but things are going good for us right now,” added Minutolo, whose father Mike Minutolo sr. finished fourth behind points leader Vance Vanderwall with Roger Bush rounding out the front-five.
Jacobson led flag-to-flag in the 10-lap Legends Sportsman main, dueling with Daryl Nutting every lap to hold on for a memorable three car-length victory. Billy Brown, Kaitlin Pashina and Heinrich Kirschner filled out the Top-5
“First time my dad's been back here in about 20 years since I was a little kid so winning here tonight is great,” beamed Jacobson, who grew up in Canandaigua and now resides in Rochester. “I used to come here every week and just stare at the cars, always a dream to race a Modified or Sportsman. Haven't been here for 15 years but saw the big car counts and just wanted to get back involved.”
His active participation peaked on Saturday as he took center stage in victory lane after becoming the fourth winner in five Legends races. The lone two-time winner in this entry-level open-wheel division, Josh Livingston, plans to graduate into the regular Sportsman ranks in time for the Memorial Day Weekend show at CMP.
“Used to hang around Billy Brown's house since I was 7, looking at his race car and always checking it out. Thought I was helping out but was probably in the way. Then I worked on Billy's car every week as a teenager. Now I'm involved because of the (GM) crate motor, to be out here for $3,000 is a heck of a deal,” added Jacobson, now more familiar in his no. 16J Gorham Market-Grassman Landscaping/TEO entry.
The longest event of the evening punctuated the warmest night of racing this season in Canandaigua, with Haniszewski outlasting his brother Tim Haniszewski to collect the $1,000 top prize. The registered line-up of 23 entries was bolstered by one as CMP public address announcer Shane Andrews buckled into a Ford Escort complete with helmet and microphone. The colorful commentator only lasted five minutes amidst the bumper-banging, paint-trading crash-fest conducted on the watered down front straightaway, yet 20 minutes later still made it to victory lane to interview the victorious Haniszewski from Lancaster, N.Y.
Canandaigua Motorsports Park returns to action on Saturday, May 26 when Corvettes by Turner and American Equipment present a high-speed holiday show of Original Pizza Logs Big-Block Modified, Safety Awareness Solutions Sportsman, Parts Plus Street Stock, Pure Stock and New Legends Sportsman racing on Family Autograph Nite. Pit gates unlock at 4pm, grandstands open at 5pm and the first qualifying heat goes green at 7pm.
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