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Dunn Takes Season Opener At Can-Am

LAFARGEVILLE, NY - The long off-season came to an end as racing returned to the North Country Saturday night at Chapman’s Can Am Motorsports Park. The promised rain stayed away as temperatures were in the lower sixties at race time. The grandstands were packed with race fans enjoying both the favorable weather and the excitement on the track. One hundred eleven cars from all classes were in the pits for racing on Saturday night ready to face off on the half-mile clay oval in Lafargeville, NY. The full feature schedule included Thunder Cars, Pro Street Stock, Vintage Modifieds, Mod Lites, Novice Sportsman Mods, Sportsman Mods and the return of 358 Small Block Modified class.

HEAT RACES

Heat races kicked off with Pro Street Stocks in two heats of eight cars each. Tiger Chapman leapt out to an early lead during heat one, and never relented, leading the pack by half the track by the checkered flag. The rounding out the top three were 19 Robert Scott in second and 3 Rick Dusckus in third. The second heat race saw 4x Roch Aubin start in the front of the pack but 13 Kenny Hamm jumped out for the lead for the first lap. Aubin and Hamm rubbed on turn two, sending Hamm up over the berm of the track. The spin out sent him to the pits. 1x Mike White took the lead in the second heat by lap four, while 4 Mike Durham spun out in turn two. By the time the heat race was completed only three cars remained, 4x Roch Aubin, 4 Mike Durham and 1x Mike White.

The Mod Lites took to the track next for the first of two heat races for the class. 72 Kevin Foster began in the lead, but spun on tricky turn two during lap two. Foster recovered after spinning completely around. On the ensuing restart, several vehicles came together on turn one and headed over the track edge towards Route 411. Foster was involved was again, but he was able to get the car back on the track and continue racing. 39 Sam Usborne spun out on the front straightaway, and had to head to the pits hitched to the back of the Can-Am wrecker. All the spin outs favored 8 Harley Brown who took the lead by the third lap and never gave it back. Rounding out the top three were 61b John Foster followed by 33 Dave Brown. The second heat had 1w Brad Reif and 48 Deric Ellsworth starting at the front of the pack. Ellsworth took the lead through turn one, but 03 Matt Rainville looked like he was shot out of a canon as he shot ahead to second place from sixth starting position by turn two of the first lap. Ellsworth was able to keep Rainville at bay long enough to take the checkered.

358 Small Block Modifieds roared onto the track for the first time with two heat races to determine the feature lineup. 93 Ryan Bartlett started in first, but was quickly supplanted by 25 Bobby Herrington. 51 Larry Welling Jr. moved up to second by lap five of the eight lap qualifying race. A spin out by 9j Jordan Ladouceur brought out the yellow and a restart. 25 Bobby Herrington and 51 Larry Welling Jr. raced door to door to the checkered with Herrington edging out for first. The second heat started with 16 Lance Willix II and 10 Josh VanBrocklin in first and second place. VanBrocklin took an early lead, with 57 Rylee Gill and 9 Billy Dunn dueling for second. A lap four caution brought a restart with Dunn restarting on the inside. Dunn stayed on the inside and captured the lead from VanBrocklin. Another caution reshuffled the pack with 57 Rylee Gill and 17D Danny O’Brien rounding out the top three to conclude the heat races for the 358 Small Block Mods.

Vintage Modifieds took to the track for the first of two five lap heat races. The heat races were clean and without incident, making for a great lineup of solid racing for the class feature later in the evening.

Sportman Modifieds were the next class on the track with three heat races. 71 Delbert Legrow and 18J Louis Jackson Jr. started in first, but within three laps 72 Mike Prentice took the lead. A caution brought the pack back together with 271 Tiger Chapman in second. 83 Dylan Evoy and Chapman sparred for second through the final laps, with Evoy gaining the advantage. Evoy used his momentum to slingshot past Prentice for the lead by the wave of the checkered. The second of three heats had 21 Taylor Caprara and 27A Gilles Godard starting in first and second positions. Caprara bolted ahead from the pack early and continued extending his lead all the way to the final lap. 27A Godard and 57 Anthony Stockman finished in second and third respectively. The final heat race for Sportsman class started with 1 Jack Meeks and 180 Aaron Pugh in first and second positions. Meeks and Pugh rubbed in turn two with Pugh gaining the advantage and the lead sending Meeks back to fourth. After a lap four caution, 44 David Rogers climbed up to second with Meeks regaining position in third. Another caution restart brought the pack back together but Pugh managed to hang on to the lead with Rogers and Meeks following in second and third positions.

Novice Sportsman rolled onto the packed clay next for two heat races. 54G Greg Snyder and 00 Billy Matteson started the race in first and second place. 30 Hunter Schwander shot to the front from sixth position almost immediately. Schwander increased his lead substantially as the laps clicked by. 24 Jordan Kelly and 54G Greg Snyder finished in second and third. Heat number two began with 99R Anthony Rasmussen and 1 Cole Davidson in the top two positions. Rasmussen took a commanding lead with 60 Jackson Gill climbing out of fourth to take command of second. 34 Eric Nier picked his way through the field moving from sixth to third by lap three. At the checkered, it was Rasmussen, Gill and Nier in the top three positions.

Thunder Cars finished up the heat races, with 17 Mike Greenfield and 26M Phil Desormeau III in the top two starting positions. Desormeau continued the dominance from 2015 to start the 2016. After a caution restart, 16 Matt Marcinko found himself in second position battling for first. 7z Zak Petrie got into the mix and edged out Marcinko for second at the checkered flag.

FEATURE RACES

Pro Street Stocks took to the track as the sun began to fade over the horizon. 272 Tiger Chapman and 4x Roch Aubin started in first and second with 19 Robert Scott and 4 Mike Durham in third and fourth. Chapman retained the lead through lap one with Aubin challenging hard from the second. Turn two continued to spin out the racers, brining out a caution in lap two. 272 Chapman rolled to the pits after a hard spin out, relinquishing the lead to 4x Roch Aubin. 3 Rick Dusckas moved up to second in time for the caution-restart. 1x Mike white continued his conquest for the front of the field moving up to third from a sixth place start. Dusckas made his move for the lead in lap six, sneaking by in treacherous turn two. 4 Mike White followed the high line around the track to take second place from Aubin. A caution restart resulted in yet another caution, this time claiming White and 3k Shawn Kirby, who both left the track on a hook. 3 Rick Dusckas and 4x Roch Aubin restarted in first and second positions. The Pro Street Stock class picked up where 2015 left off, proving to be aggressive with plenty of rubbing and bumping. During lap thirteen, 83 Milt Combs was moved to the back of the field after contact caused a spinout. 690 Sid Harmer Jr. moved up from fourteenth position to start to second by lap seventeen, despite a hood that was partially loose and had to be cutting down on his aerodynamics. Diving low on turn four, Harmer challenged for first. Dusckas desperately clung to first right to the checkered, but Harmer was too strong, edging Dusckas by a front bumper to steal the victory.

Mod Lites took the track for their fifteen-lap feature race. 33 Dave Brown and 48 Deric Ellsworth started the race in first and second, with 72 Kevin Foster and 03 Matt Rainville in third and fourth positions. Ellsworth charged to the lead by lap two, with Foster in second. Rainville continued to take the high line around the track, attempting a fight for third, but proved unable to make much progress. 61B John Foster fought his way from eleventh position to second by the time a caution flag came out during lap nine. Ellsworth retained the lead out of the restart with Foster in second and Rainville in third. Turn two continued to be a monster, gobbling up Matt Rainville during a pass attempt. 73 Rich Rainville tried to avoid his son’s spinout, but the cars collided, with the senior Rainville bearing the brunt of it, leaving the race hooked to the back of a truck. After the caution cleared and with just five laps remaining, six vehicles remained in the race: 48 Deric Ellsworth, 61B John Foster, 8 Harley Brown, 72 Kevin Foster, 03 Matt Rainville and 5 Jason Premo. Moments later, somehow, 73 Rich Rainville returned to the race at the back of the pack. 8 Harley Brown took the high line to power past Foster for second with one lap remaining. Ellsworth took the checkered in first with Brown and Foster in second and third.

The big guns came out next as the 358 Small Block Modifieds rolled onto the track with engines roaring returning to Chapman’s Can-Am Motorsports Park for the first time since the late 1990’s. 25 Bobby Herrington and 9 Billy Dunn started in first and second positions with 93 Ryan Bartlett and 57 Rylee Gill in third and fourth starting positions when 51 Larry Welling Jr. failed to start after the cars parked in front of the grandstands for the National Anthem. Dunn grabbed onto first place in lap one and immediately began to distance himself from Herrington. 9j Jordan McCreadie maneuvered into fourth position from a seventh place start by lap eight, while Dunn continued to drive away from the rest of the field in first. 93 Ryan Bartlett and 25 Bobby Herrington battled for multiple mid-race laps for second position. By lap fourteen, Dunn was lapping cars, half a track away from the second and third positions. McCreadie battled up to third, with several lapped cars between his number 9j and the second place 25 of Herrington. 17D Danny O’Brien moved up to third with several laps to go, pushing McCreadie to fourth. 9 Billy Dunn took the checkered flag with plenty of cushion as he dominated the field of the 358 Small Blocks for the first night of their return to Can-Am. 25 Bobby Herrington finished second, 17D Danny O’Brien owned third, with 9j Jordan McCreadie and 38 Luke Whitteker taking fourth and fifth places at the checkered flag.

Vintage Modifieds took to the track next for a twelve lap feature, bringing some old timey flavor to the racing night. 2 John Stanley took the checkered flag with the rest of the top five finishers in order: 98, 4, 17, 22.

Sportsman Modified class was next up with twenty-nine cars entering the feature. 83 Dylan Evoy and 21 Taylor Caprara started in first and second positions with 180 Aaron Pugh and 271 Tiger Chapman in third and fourth positions. A caution through turns one and two on the first lap triggered a starting position restart. Evoy took the first lap lead by a nose over Caprara, as an official lap was in the books. Moments later another caution brought the class back into a double-wide restart. Evoy restarted in first with Caprara right on his door in the high position on the track. After three cautions in two laps, racing heated up for several laps, with Evoy dominating. Another caution in lap five saw 7x Justin White get into the infield on turn two. After a friendly pull from the infield muck White headed to the back of the pack to continue. There were five cautions in five laps, but the racing finally got under way with the next ten laps breezing by without a yellow flag. Evoy dominated early, charging into lapped traffic by lap eleven. 44 David Rogers moved up from sixth position to third to challenge Taylor Caprara for second place by lap sixteen. 57 Anthony Stockman drove his way into the top five by lap eighteen. 180 Aaron Pugh, after starting third, settled into fourth by race’s end. At the checkered flag it was 83 Dylan Evoy in first place, 21 Taylor Caprara second, 44 David Rogers third, 180 Aaron Pugh fourth and 57 Anthony Stockman fifth.

Novice Sportsman were next on the half-mile oval with 30 Hunter Schwander and 99R Anthony Rasmussen in first and second positions to start. 54G Greg Snyder and 60 Jackson Gill started in third and fourth positions. At the drop of the green flag, Rasmussen shot out ahead, leading by several car lengths after the first lap. After five laps it was Rasmussen followed by Schwander, Gill, 34 Eric Nier, and 24 Jordan Kelly. For a class entitled Novice, the racing was fast and clean, with the first caution waiting until lap eleven to occur. And once again it was a turn-two spinout that brought out the yellow cloth. On the restart 60 Jackson Gill dove to the inside to take over first place, racing three-wide with Schwander and Rasmussen down the back-stretch. With one lap remaining, it was side by side racing between Schwander and Gill, with Schwander taking the advantage through turns three and four for the lead and the victory. Nothing looked novice at all in the well-raced feature. Final finish was 30 Hunter Schwander, 60 Jackson Gill with 99R Anthony Rasmussen in third.

The final feature race of the night was Thunder Cars with 26m Phil Desormeau III and 7z Zak Petrie in first and second positions to start. 16 Matt Marcinko and 2S Gary Sharlow started in third and fourth places. Petrie challenged Desormeau for the lead almost immediately, and took over sole possession of first by lap two. A lap two caution brought the field back together for a restart. 2s Gary Sharlow moved past Desormeau to take over second position. But that didn’t last long as Sharlow faded in lap four. Desormeau charged to the lead by lap eight, relegating Petrie to second place. 32 Chuck Monica moved up from eighth position to third, challenging for second by lap thirteen. At the checkered flag it was 2015 track champion 26m Phil Desormeau III in first place with 7z Zak Petrie in second and 32 Chuck Monica in third.

FEATURE RESULTS
05/07/16 Can-Am Feature Winner - Phil Desormeau III - Thunder Car

THUNDER CAR: 1) 26M Phil Desormeau III, 2) 7Z Zak Petrie, 3) 32 Chuck Monica, 4) 16 Matt Marinko, 5) 42 Lyle Robinson, 6) 11j Justin Burns, 7) 2s Gary Sharlow, 8) 17 Mike Greenfield, 9) 61Jerry Rogers, 10) 94, OJ White, 11) 5 Don Woodworth.

05/07/16 Can-Am Feature Winner - Hunter Schwander - Novice Sportsman

NOVICE SPORTSMAN: 1) 30 Hunter Schwander, 2) 60 Jackson Gill, 3) 99 Anthony Rasmussen, 4) 34 Eric Nier, 5) 24 Jordan Kelly, 6) 7x Burton Ward, 7) 54g Greg Snyder, 8) 4x Mike Gadbow, 9) 21c Jacob Clancy, 10) 1 Cole Davidson, 11) 00 Billy Matteson, 12) 15 Greg Henry, 13) 76g Skyler Greenfield, 14) 159 Suzi Roy.

05/07/16 Can-Am Feature Winner - Dylan Evoy - Sportsman Modified

SPORTSMAN MODIFIED: 1) 83 Dylan Evoy, 2) 21 Taylor Caprara, 3) 44 Dave Rogers, 4) 180 Aaron Pugh, 5) 57 Anthony Stockman, 6) 271 Tiger Chapman, 7) 18j Louis Jackson Jr., 8) 1 Jack Meeks, 9) 21h Andy Howard, 10) 621 Brian Hudson, 11) 38 Zach Sobotka, 12) 14r Sid Harmer Jr., 13) 22s Shane Stearns, 14) 91 Josh Reome, 15) 2 Chris Thurston, 16) 88c Connor Dawdy, 17) 27w Nick Webb, 18) 12 Troy Fleming, 19) 72 Mike Prentice, 20) 27a Giled Gedard, 21) 7x Justin White, 22) 81 Tyler Reynolds, 23) 71 Delbert Lagrow, 24) 71x Delbert Legrow Jr., 25) 15b Brianna Lodouceur, 26) 25 George Sanford, 27) 97 Mike Mandigo, 28) 31 Tom Roy, 29) 415 Andrew Wren.

05/07/16 Can-Am Feature Winner - Sid Harmer Jr. - Pro Street Stock

PRO STREET STOCK: 1) 690 Sid Harmer Jr., 2) 3 Rick Dusckas, 3) 4x Roch Aubin, 4) 00 Mike Welch, 5) 83 Milt Combs, 6) 13 Kenny Hamm, 7) 4 Mike Durham, 8) 45R Preston Forbes, 9) 19 Robert Scott, 10) 62 Jonathan Murphy, 11) 1x Mike White, 12) 3k Shawn Kirby, 13) 75 Kenny Hartshorn, 14) 272 Tiger Chapman, 15) 6 John Baxter, 16) 55 Kenny Clark (DNS)

05/07/16 Can-Am Feature Winner - Deric Ellsworth - Mod Lite

MOD LITE: 1) 48 Deric Ellsworth, 2) 8 Harley Brown, 3) 61B John Foster, 4) 72 Kevin Foster, 5) 73 Rich Rainville, 6) 5 Jason Premo, 7) 03 Matt Rainville, 8) 19k Kaylee Nortz, 9) 07 Mike Rainville, 10) 42 Jason Paige, 11) 33 Dave Brown (DNS), 12) 39 Sam Usborne (DNS), 13) 1W Brad Reif (DNS).

05/07/16 Can-Am Feature Winner - Billy Dunn - 358 Small Block Modified

358 SMALL BLOCK MODIFIED: 1) 9 Billy Dunn, 2) 25 Bobby Herrington, 3) 17d Danny O’Brien, 4) 9j Jordan McCreadie, 5) 38 Luke Witteker, 6) 10 Josh VanBrocklin, 7) 93 Ryan Bartlett, 8) 16 Lance Willix II, 9) 57 Rylee Gill, 10) 23 Joey Ladouceur, 11) 151 Brian McDonald, 12) 39 Tyler Bartlett, 13) 1 Craig Collier, 14) 12 Keith Weston, 15) 15d Kyle Dementro, 16) 20 Steve Bilow, 17) Roger Le Veque, 18) 51 Larry Welling Jr.

Saturday May 14 will feature the return of the Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints to Chapman’s Can Am Speedway. The rest of the full slate of racing includes 358 Small Block Modifieds, Sportsman Mods, TUSA Mod Lite Series, Pro Street Stocks, Thunder Stocks and Novice Sportsman. Pit gates open at 3pm, grandstands open at 4pm with hot laps at 4:45pm and racing beginning at 6pm. Tickets are $20 for adults, kids 12 and under free when accompanied by an adult. Military personnel receive a half price discount with ID.

Visit chapmanscanam.com for more information, or on Facebook, keyword search: “Chapman's Can Am Motorsports

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