News Director 
Story By: TOM SKIBINSKI / LAND OF LEGENDS RACEWAY – CANANDAIGUA, NY – In the race against rain Saturday night at Land Of Legends Raceway, Australian ace Peter Britten did all he could by dominating the 30-lap Pepsi Big-Block Modified.
Yet so did Mat Williamson as his runner-up finish in the season points finale earned the St. Catharines, Ont. hotshoe the coveted 2024 track championship.
“We came here trying to win a couple series races, did that and got a track championship out of it,” stated Williamson, who joins Joe Plazek as the only other Canadian to earn the coveted track crown with 2023 LOLR Wall of Fame inductee ‘Canada Joe’ garnering back-to-back titles in 1996-97. “Pretty cool, very cool.”
“Coming into the year I definitely didn’t think we’d be sitting here on the last night with the championship, it really says a lot about my (crew) guys. It all started the first night when we wrote off that frame in turns three and four. Called my dad and he’s like ‘it’s already screwed up, you’re not gonna hurt it anymore so just run it.’ We got sixth that night, think that was our worst finish all year,” noted Williamson, who ended the points chase with three feature wins and 11 top-5 finishes in 12 starts.
Britten closed out his own regular season campaign in Canandaigua with a pair of checkered flags, his seventh front-five tally worth $2,000 and runner-up status on the final points chart.
“I guess we did what we had to do but Mat did what he had to do as well,” said a disappointed Britten, after chalking up his 14th career victory at the Ontario County Fairgrounds. “Had a really awesome car tonight, cool to get another win definitely. Unfortunately we didn’t get the championship.”
In easily the wildest finish of the summer in the Lloyd’s Contracting Hobby Stock feature, points leader Marc Minutolo went from fourth to first on the last lap to claim a division-high fifth feature win and extend his advantage heading into next weekend’s final points show for all classes.
Division point leaders Zach Sobotka (Stirling Lubricants Sportsman), Bobby Parrow (MighTea Boba 305 Sprint Car) and Jimmy Grant (Eldredge & Sons Scrap Recycling Street Stock) will have to wait seven more days as a sudden downpour soaked the hallowed half-miler creating double features in those three classes with double points distributed in the evening’s second round main events.
Double points were also on the line Saturday for Tradition Automotive Group & Ferris Commercial Mowers Big-Block Championship Night, with just 26 markers separating the top-four drivers … Williamson, Alex Payne, Britten and Matt Sheppard. Britten bolted from his ninth starting position, forging the lone lead change on lap eight yet halfway through the 15-mile main his row five partner Williamson grabbed second from early leader Kevin Root to settle the score.
“I saw (Kevin) slip up a little bit on top in (turn) two, was able to get a little bit of a run underneath him then kinda had position going into three and four,” figured Britten, aboard his popular #21A Pepsi-Agway of Ballston Spa-AMI Racing/Bicknell entry. “My car felt really attached to the race track from the moment we hit the green flag.”
“Some races work against you and some races work for you. Seems like the seas kinda parted a little and I was able to get to the front first. When you can do that you’ve got more of a chance of holding off guys like this,” added Brisbane, Queensland transplant Britten.
Britten built up a commanding 10 car-length advantage over Williamson with five to go before Kasey Coffey slid off turns one and two to require the third and final yellow flag on lap 27. With a clear track ahead, ‘Batman’ flew out fast, and under head flagman Scott Hixson’s double checkers secured a solid six-car victory at the stripe.
Steering his familiar family-owned no. 6 S&W Service Centre-Marin Drywall/Bicknell ride, ‘Money Mat’ settled for second ahead of 12th-place starter Sheppard, three-time and reigning Big-Block points king Justin Haers and Payne. Super DIRTcar Series stars Sheppard (1st), Williamson (2nd), Payne (6th) and Britten (13th) also rank among the best in the Northeast, further showcasing LOLR’s premier Big-Block race teams.
“This is probably one of the toughest (titles) to win with Peter and Matt here weekly, then you add in Alan and Danny (Johnson brothers) and the amount of track championships they’ve won,” figured Williamson, who won both SDS races staged in Canandaigua this season. “Such a deep field, this is probably one of the toughest to win weekly championships. I’d put this field up against anybody anywhere.”
In search of a fourth feature win at the fairgrounds this summer, Sheppard finished a distant third, which also carried him to third (615 pts) in the track standings behind Williamson (648) and Britten (633), followed by Payne (608), Danny Johnson (536) and Haers (529).
“Tried a few things, we weren’t where we needed to be that’s for sure,” said Sheppard, himself a nine-time LOLR points champ with 93 Big-Block wins (4th all-time). “Peter was really good and Matty’s been good here all season. Congratulations to him on the championship. Just a model of consistency all year long and that’s what it takes to win championships for sure. Definitely a tough grind all year long and to do it night in and night out takes a lot of sacrifice by my crew.”
The caution-marred 15-lap Hobby Stock feature took more than 23 minutes to complete yet only seconds for Minutolo to find a clear path to victory lane in the evening’s lead-off event.
“Super exciting finish, I was definitely a fourth-place car coming to the line but sometimes you step in crap and come out smelling like a rose,” smiled the second-generation standout from Newark following his 73rd career stock car win at the famed Finger Lakes region facility. “I’m just super fortunate to have a crew behind me.”
“Broke a motor in the heat race, started 18th with the Outlaw (Speedway) car and just kinda bided our time on the bottom (lane), that’s where we were good. Just can’t thank Nick (Dandino) and my dad (Mike, recent Wall of Fame inductee) enough for hustling back and getting (this car) here on time.”
On the brink of his third victory of the season, Daniel Kerrick was locked into battle with runner-up Justin Eldredge when pole-position starter Justin Jacoby spun in turn four to bring out the sixth and final caution on the last lap. Back under green, Eldredge pulled off a perfect slide-job through the first two corners yet Kerrick mirrored the move and ducked low exiting the second turn to regain the point.
Light contact between the leaders cut Kerrick’s tire putting Eldredge ahead briefly before a fast-charging Nate Peckham filled the hole left open low and drag-raced Eldredge down the back chute. Peckham suddenly had his own tire go soft rounding turn three and slid up into Eldredge as the pair reached turn four. The lead pair locked horns and seemingly out of nowhere stormed Minutolo through the low lane left open, quickly charging ahead for the stunning victory on his sponsor’s night.
“With Mother Nature working against us and crunching that clock, huge shout-out to my guys in the pits for getting this thing ready to rock and roll,” beamed Minutolo, after parking his ‘back-up’ #25B Tradition Auto Group-Honeoye Auto Parts-Big Mike’s Auto Repair & Sales Chevrolet in victory lane as the skies began to open up during post-race ceremonies. “All the credit is to them tonight. They bust their butts every single week, have to thank all my sponsors and everybody that helps out.”
Amidst the last lap drama and final turn chaos that ensued, runner-up Craig Dingy was credited with his first-ever top-5 finish at Canandaigua with Jack Terrell, Eldredge and Eddie Stevens rounding out the front-five.
Heading into the final double-points event next Saturday, Minutolo (582) leads Peckham (532), Kerrick (474), Eldredge (460) and Blane Smith (446), with ‘Mr. Smooth’ only needing a finish of 11th-place or better to claim his sixth season championship in full-fender competition at the fairgrounds.
Sobotka (454) leads Matt Guererri (428), Nick Root (415), Frank Guererri Jr. (379) and Tyler Corcoran (368) on the Sportsman points chart, Parrow (404) tops Dillon Paddock (353), Darryl Ruggles (352), Ethan Gary (344) and Timmy Lotz (333) in the 305 Sprint standings while Grant (548), Mike Welch (516), Minutolo (476), C.J. Guererri (470) and Pat Hobbs (432) rank highest in the Street Stock title chase.
LOLR WALL OF FAME TO WELCOME ORTIZ
The second selection to the Land Of Legends Wall of Fame this season will be made on Saturday, August 31 when Jipp Ortiz joins fellow full-fender flyer Mike Minutolo in Canandaigua’s Class of ’24. Previous selections are 2018 LOLR WoF charter members Donald ‘Dutch’ Hoag, the late great ‘Barefoot’ Bob McCreadie, DIRT Motorsports founder Glenn Donnelly and still active ace Alan Johnson, Class of ’19 inductees Steve Pesarek, Milt Johnson, Gary Montgomery and Gary & Donna Spaid, ’21 honorees Steve Paine, Paul Guererri, Mike Welch and Fred Taney, ‘22 denizens Danny Johnson, Gary Tomkins, Tom & Kim Ewing and Brad Ovens, along with last year’s recipients Charlie Rudolph, Vic Coffey, Joe Plazek and Darryl Ruggles, with each individual recognized in a timely tribute held behind the main grandstands following pre-race practice.
LEGEND LEDGER
Prouty’s Bar & Grill and Seneca Meadows present Season Championship Night for the Stirling Lubricants Sportsman, MighTea Boba 305 Sprint Car, Eldredge & Sons Scrap Recycling Street Stock and Lloyd’s Contracting Hobby Stock divisions with Pepsi Modifieds in the tributive ‘Scoppo Special’ and Maguire Ford of Canandaigua New Legends Sportsman completing the Aug. 31 show that recognizes the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention as the evening’s 50/50 drawing beneficiary.
While Williamson sewed up his first season championship in the final Big-Block points event, Sobotka is on the brink of a third successive Sportsman crown when the final Saturday of the month rolls around. At age 56, veteran wingman Parrow is looking for his first trophy while multi-time titlists Grant (Sts) and Minutolo (Hob) retain a stronghold atop their respective stock car standings heading into the double-points showdown.
NOTE: With rain forcing track officials to adjust the final points show agenda, Big-Block/Small-Block Modified, Sportsman, Hobby Stock and Legends Sportsman divisions will all be on the card. In addition, Sportsman, 305 Sprint and Street Stock make-up features will run off first. Details on the full order of events will be posted online Monday.
Hot lap sessions kick off the program at 5:30pm and heat race qualifiers go green at 6:30pm. Pit gates open at 3:30pm and spectators gain admittance into the Ontario Co. Fairgrounds main grandstands at 5 o’clock.
DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 21A-Peter Britten[9]; 2. 6-Mat Williamson[10]; 3. 9S-Matt Sheppard[12]; 4. 3-Justin Haers[7]; 5. 70A-Alex Payne[11]; 6. 27J-Danny Johnson[4]; 7. 34-Kevin Root[2]; 8. 25R-Erick Rudolph[14]; 9. 7Z-Zachary Payne[6]; 10. 3RS-Dalton Slack[15]; 11. 42P-Pat Ward[18]; 12. 19W-Justin Wright[3]; 13. 18K-Dalton Martin[17]; 14. 11J-James Sweeting[16]; 15. 39C-Kasey Coffey[13]; 16. 14J-Alan Johnson[8]; 17. 27D-Daniel Johnson[5]; 18. 17-Marcus Dinkins[1]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 19W-Justin Wright[2]; 2. 14J-Alan Johnson[4]; 3. 39C-Kasey Coffey[6]; 4. 17-Marcus Dinkins[1]; 5. 27D-Daniel Johnson[3]; 6. 11J-James Sweeting[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 27J-Danny Johnson[2]; 2. 21A-Peter Britten[4]; 3. 25R-Erick Rudolph[6]; 4. 70A-Alex Payne[5]; 5. 7Z-Zachary Payne[3]; 6. 18K-Dalton Martin[1]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 34-Kevin Root[1]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard[5]; 3. 6-Mat Williamson[4]; 4. 3-Justin Haers[3]; 5. 3RS-Dalton Slack[6]; 6. 42P-Pat Ward[2]
DIRTcar Sportsman
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18H-Justin Henderson[2]; 2. 7-Paul Guererri[3]; 3. 12G-Matt Guererri[4]; 4. 51-Tim Lafler[1]; 5. 10-Karl Comfort[5]; 6. 38-Zach Sobotka[7]; 7. 7S-Torrey Stoughtenger[6]; 8. 41S-Chase Spoor[9]; 9. 28J-Jordan Moden[8]; 10. (DNS) 11V-Olivia Vitale
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Nicholas Root[4]; 2. 9-Tim Baker[1]; 3. 31K-Kennedy Payne[2]; 4. 35-Nick Cooper[6]; 5. 113-Frank Guererri[3]; 6. 20X-Kevin Ridley[7]; 7. 44-Dave Conant[5]; 8. 55-Blake Parsons[8]; 9. 11-Dean Laughlin[9]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 711-Nick Ventura[2]; 2. 21-James Henry[4]; 3. 23B-Timmy Borden Jr[1]; 4. 32C-Kasey Coffey[6]; 5. 21J-Justin Liechti[3]; 6. 7T-Tyler Guzzardi[5]; 7. 87-Brad Sawyer[7]; 8. 181-Justin Mayo[9]; 9. 57-Sydney Wetherbee[8]
305 Sprints – Winged
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Randy Years[2]; 2. 80-Bobby Parrow[6]; 3. 18-Timmy Lotz[3]; 4. 8-Dillon Paddock[5]; 5. 25-Cameron Moss[1]; 6. 18C-Dan Craun[4]; 7. 17S-Trent Regan[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 121-Spencer Burley[1]; 2. 23-John Smith[2]; 3. 77-Matt Rotz[4]; 4. 17E-Ethan Gray[3]; 5. 9N-Alan Buchanan[6]; 6. 25G-Tyler Graves[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 48-Darryl Ruggles[1]; 2. 21B-Blake Warner[3]; 3. 48A-Alysha Bay[2]; 4. 14X-Lance Dusett[5]; 5. X-Dan Bennett[6]; 6. 30-Kirsten Dombroski[4]
Street Stocks
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 25B-Marc Minutolo[3]; 2. 00-Mike Welch[4]; 3. 5C-Rick Crego[6]; 4. 57J-Chris Woodard[1]; 5. 3-Pat Hobbs[2]; 6. 1X-Hanna Guererri[5]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 36-Jimmy Grant[6]; 2. CJ1-CJ Guererri[2]; 3. 93-Jared Hill[5]; 4. 12-John Burritt[1]; 5. 74-Ron Metcalf[3]; 6. 00R-Don Reeves[4]
Hobby Stocks
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 25B-Marc Minutolo[6]; 2. 22-Craig Dingy[16]; 3. 57B-Jack Terrell[10]; 4. 25J-Justin Eldredge[13]; 5. 56-Ed Stevens[4]; 6. 90-Nathan Peckham[5]; 7. 55B-Blane Smith[2]; 8. 8J-Jeff Rex[17]; 9. 61-Danny Kerrick[11]; 10. 22J-Randy Johnson[18]; 11. 69J-Heather Auble Gray[8]; 12. 88-Justin Jacoby[1]; 13. 57J-Tyler Burnell[12]; 14. 93-Tracy Dunn[15]; 15. 24K-Kevin Lloyd[14]; 16. 67-James Werner[19]; 17. 97-Kevin Schrader[7]; 18. 36X-Brighton Grant[3]; 19. 11-Dan Korpanty[9]; 20. (DNS) 09-Preston Hennigan
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 88-Justin Jacoby[1]; 2. 57J-Tyler Burnell[6]; 3. 11-Dan Korpanty[5]; 4. 25B-Marc Minutolo[4]; 5. 56-Ed Stevens[3]; 6. 22-Craig Dingy[7]; 7. 67-James Werner[2]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 25J-Justin Eldredge[6]; 2. 93-Tracy Dunn[7]; 3. 55B-Blane Smith[2]; 4. 57B-Jack Terrell[5]; 5. 97-Kevin Schrader[4]; 6. 8J-Jeff Rex[1]; 7. (DNS) 09-Preston Hennigan
Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 61-Danny Kerrick[5]; 2. 90-Nathan Peckham[3]; 3. 36X-Brighton Grant[2]; 4. 24K-Kevin Lloyd[6]; 5. 69J-Heather Auble Gray[4]; 6. 22J-Randy Johnson[1]
