Story By: CAN-AM SPEEDWAY – LAFARGEVILLE, NY – It was a night of celebration for Taylor Caprara of Watertown, New York, as he won his very first Whitesboro Plow Shop DIRTcar 358 Modified feature in his career.
Caprara started the feature in sixth position and steadily climbed up through the top of the field to arrive is second position by lap 16. Tyler Meeks of Evans Mills, New York, had moved into first position early in the race with a power move in lap four to pass up RJ Tresidder. Meeks looked like he had a victory all wrapped up with a nearly impossible-to-overcome lead when Caprara captured second position.
But by lap 22, Caprara had made up ground and was knocking on the door of Meeks, challenging for the lead. With just two laps remaining, Caprara made his move just as the leaders entered heavier lapped traffic. Caprara took the lead and threaded the needle through lapped traffic to leave Meeks behind.
For Caprara, who has grown up racing at Can-Am, with numerous victories in the Sportsman class, this was his first victory in the 358 class of his budding career.
“We’ve won a lot of big sportsman races,” Caprara said, from victory lane. “We’ve been trying to do this my whole life. To be up here – I just can’t believe it.”
Tim Fuller of Watertown, New York, the current points leader at Can-Am, finished 6th after starting 12th. The finish was enough to continue to add points to his lead, as the current holder of second place in the points chase, Ryan Bartlett also of Watertown, New York, finished 9th in the feature.
The battle in the Bob Johnson Auto Group DIRTcar Sportsman modified feature was spirited and competitive, as Tyler Stevenson managed to claw his way into first place and capture his third victory of the season at Can-Am. Stevenson started 6th in the race and after several cautions and restarts found himself battling for the lead with Dustin Hutton of Central Square, New York. It took until lap 14 in the 20-lap feature for Stevenson to get by Hutton and take over the lead position. When he did, he never looked back, extending his lead over the rest of the field and taking home the win.
“The car was a rocket ship,” Stevenson said, after the race. “I didn’t know how it was going to be in the feature. We didn’t have a lot of success the last couple of weeks. But I could get a good run through three and four and we were able to go out and race nice and clean and have a lot of fun doing it. Any win is unbelievable. It’s unreal to win three times this season.”
In the Panther Frame Worx 602 Crate Sprint Cars, Logan Crisafulli of Oswego, New York finished the night in victory lane once again, collecting his third win of the season. Crisafulli was able to outlast Josh Verne Jr. for the win. The points race becomes very interesting as Crisafulli trailed Verne Jr. in points by just 20. Crisafulli took the victory, but Verne Jr. took second. When racing returns to Can-Am in two weeks, the battle for track championship will be even tighter in the Panther Frame Worx 602 Crate Sprint Car class.
Other winners on the night included Bruno Richard of Gatineau, Quebec in the FABCO DIRTcar Pro Stock feature. It was his fourth victory for the season at Can-Am, making his run for the championship even stronger.
Owen Nier was the winner in the Donath Motorworx Limited Sportsman Modified feature, a race that started with a heart-stopping moment when Joe Trichilo of North Syracuse, New York got up and over the rear tire of Keegan Nier and launched into the air in turn one of lap one, nosing over and ending up on his roof. Trichilo was okay but his car needed to be towed to the pits, his racing done for the evening. Owen Nier of Carthage, New York, meanwhile, proceeded to get out in the front of the pack early and had to contend with Paul DeRuyter of Inlet, New York as the race came to a close in the final laps. Nier was able to keep DeRuyter out of first and drove to his third victory of the year.
Closing out the night, Jock Symonds of LaFargeville, New York took home his fourth victory of the season in the Marsha Gibbons TLC Real Estate Thundercar feature.
Can-Am Speedway will take a break from racing for a week, returning with a full slate of racing action on Friday August 26th, sponsored by North Star Real Estate.
FEATURE RESULTS:
WHITESBORO PLOW SHOP DIRTCAR 358 MODIFIED
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 21C-Taylor Caprara[6]; 2. 9-Tyler Meeks[3]; 3. 31-Lance Willix[7]; 4. 49-Billy Dunn[8]; 5. 29-Preston Forbes[2]; 6. 19-Tim Fuller[12]; 7. 23J-Jeff Sykes[4]; 8. 21R-RJ Tresidder[1]; 9. 39-Ryan Bartlett[10]; 10. 7S-Shaun Shaw[11]; 11. 28-Jordan McCreadie[9]; 12. 24-Jordan Kelly[15]; 13. 66W-Derek Webb[16]; 14. 18W-Scott Webb[5]; 15. 21-Andrew Howard[13]; 16. 36B-Dan Beachard[14]; 17. 74-Lucas Fuller[18]; 18. 73-Michael Cousins[17]; 19. 81-Bruce Makinson[21]; 20. 86-Justin Mason[20]; 21. 23-Cameron Black[19].
BOB JOHNSON DIRTCAR SPORTSMAN
Feature (20 Laps): 1. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson[6]; 2. 7D-Dustin Hutton[3]; 3. 410-Mike Fowler[10]; 4. 64-Tyler Corcoran[12]; 5. 52-Jessica Power[4]; 6. 18E-Gavin Eisele[11]; 7. 34-Eric Nier[9]; 8. 32RS-Ryan Shanahan[7]; 9. 44-David Rogers[5]; 10. 57H-Remington Hamm[8]; 11. 35B-Brennan Moore[15]; 12. 91-Josh Reome[13]; 13. 63M-Franklin Mackin[17]; 14. 6-Brian Hudson[14]; 15. 10B-Jamie Brown[18]; 16. 92-Frank Sibley[16]; 17. 18-Justin Gadbaw[22]; 18. 5R-Steve Roberts[21]; 19. 57-Justin Liechti[19]; 20. 621G-Trevor Gibbons[1]; 21. 62-Jonathan Murphy[2]; 22. (DNS) 2-Taylor Doxtater.
FABCO DIRTCAR PROSTOCK
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 72-Bruno Richard[4]; 2. 6-Steve Gilmore[5]; 3. X15-Tyler Bushey[2]; 4. 1X-Justin White[1] (-2 Rough Riding); 5. 75-Eli Gilbert[3]; 6. 00C-Michael Clark[6]; 7. 690-Sid Harmer Jr[7]; 8. (DNF) 9-Ian Bressette[8]
PANTHER FRAMEWORX 602 CRATE SPRINT CARS
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 88-Logan Crisafulli[1]; 2. 1V-Josh Verne Jr[3]; 3. 06-Jordan Bennett[2]; 4. Z28-Tucker Donath[4]; 5. 30-Ken Klinkowsky[5].
DONATH MOTOR WORX LIMITED SPORTSMAN
Feature (12 Laps): 1. 17-Owen Nier[1]; 2. 1D-Paul DeRuyter[5]; 3. 34-Keegan Nier[4]; 4. 23-Cole Perry[2]; 5. 16-Tim Bailey[7]; 6. 33-Alan McDonald[6]; 7. 2-Steven Tabor[8]; 8. (DNF) 32-Joe Trichilo[3].
MARSHA GIBBONS TLC REAL ESTATE THUNDERCAR
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 9MM-Jock Symonds[6]; 2. 60-Francis White[7]; 3. 11A-Joe Orvis[8]; 4. 22J-Jared Gilson[5]; 5. 31-Austin Smith[1]; 6. 94-OJ White[3]; 7. 52J-Justin McIntyre[2]; 8. 8D-Kevin Greenfield[10]; 9. 11J-Justin Burns[4]; 10. (DNF) 90-Charles Monica[9]; 11. (DNS) 111J-Anthony St Mary Jr; 12. (DNS) 25-Tyler Collette; 13. (DNS) 80J-Gary Sharlow.