6/30/2022
Can-Am Speedway
Erick Rudolph Claims 358-Mod Pabst Shootout Victory Wednesday Night; Matt Tanner Wins ESS CNY Speedweek Feature
LAFARGEVILLE, NY - It was lights-out racing at Can-Am Speedway in La Fargeville, New York Wednesday night for the Whitesboro Plow Shop DIRTcar 358 Modified Pabst Shootout and the first race in the Central New York Speedweek for the Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints. Literally, lights out. A storm passed through the region prior to feature racing, knocking out power throughout the entire North Country. Fortunately, generators were ready to keep the lights on the track and the mic hot in the announcers’ booth so preliminary racing could get underway. Power returned around 9:55pm just in time for feature racing.
Erick Rudolph of Ransomville, NY drove his number 25 from a fourth-place start into a battle for second place with Billy Dunn within just a few laps at the outset of the Whitesboro Plow Shop DIRTcar 358 Modified 30-lap Pabst Shootout feature. Rudolph would go on to pass up Dunn and drive on to victory in the feature even though David Marcuccilli of Cayuga, NY initially looked like he was going to walk away with the win, as Marcuccilli led the majority of the race by a sizeable margin. But with just a few laps remaining in the race, Rudolph found the fast line around the track and a few extra horsepower, just as the leaders encountered lapped traffic. Rudolph was able to maneuver his number 25 through the lapped cars, passing up Marcuccilli for the lead on lap 28. Rudolph never looked back, motoring his way to the win, collecting his second Pabst Shootout since 2020.
“We were tight in one and two to start out, but we got it figured out and finished well,� Rudolph said after the race. “We were closing in over the last ten laps or so and were able to get it done there at the end. We’ve been running consistently good for the last couple of months, so I’m pretty happy with it. We always love coming to Can-Am.�
Dave Marcucilli took home second place, with Billy Dunn finishing third. Derek Webb owned fourth place and Mike Maresca rounded out the top five for the 358 Modified portion of the Pabst Shootout.
Also on hand for the midweek melee was the Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints, kicking off Central New York Speedweek. The 360 winged sprint cars always bring the fireworks when they roll into town, and Wednesday night was no exception. The Lucas Oil ESS roared onto the track with Matt Tanner of Stephentown, NY powering his way to victory over a talented field of ESS drivers.
Tanner had his hands full throughout the race as Jordan Poirier of Saint-Mathieu-de-Beloeil, Quebec sparred for the lead. Poirier took the lead momentarily in lap four but gave it right back to Tanner one lap later. Poirier had two additional opportunities with mid-race cautions to try to wrest away the lead once again on a restart, but Tanner was quick on the pedal and powered away each time, relegating Poirier to second place for the rest of the race.
Poirier wasn’t the only challenger in the ESS feature. Paulie Colagiovanni of Cicero, NY found speed through the second half of the feature, blasting out of turn four on each lap, gaining ground with each completed circuit of the track. Colagiovanni looked to have the fastest car as the remaining laps began to dwindle, but a late caution proved to be the undoing for his charge to the front, as he fell back on the restart and had to battle his way back up to a third-place finish.
“I thought I gave it away early there,� Tanner said from victory lane, referencing Poirier’s early race pass for the lead. “We all know how good the Poiriers are. On the restart I thought Jordan [Poirier] had me again, but I was able to get up to speed and hang on. It’s a big victory, it sets the tone for the whole week. It gives us some confidence for the rest of Speedweek. We’ve been struggling really badly so far this year, so it gets the monkey off our backs.�
Second place finisher, Jordan Poirier came close to a victory at Can-Am but had to be satisfied with the first runner up position. “Can-Am was a new track for me, so it’s pretty good to get a second-place finish on our first night here. Tanner ran a good race so congratulations to him.�
Paulie Colagiovanni finished third with Dave Franek in fourth and Shawn Donath in fifth for the ESS 25-lap feature.
The Bob Johnson DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds also took to the track with a 30-lap feature as part of the Pabst Shootout festivities, with David Rogers of La Fargeville, NY finding his way to victory lane for the first time in 2022. Rogers started in first and finished in first, running the entire race under green, save for a first lap caution when an infield tire mishap on the drop of the green flag claimed Dylan Madsen and Jamie Brown, ending their nights early.
Rogers never really looked back after the race restarted and ran the full 30 laps with a comfortable lead. Josh Reome of Clayton, NY took home second place, while Ryan Shanahan finished third, Gavin Eisele claimed fourth and Jessica Power nabbed a fifth-place finish.
Eisele, also from La Fargeville, NY, won the Kevin Fleming Memorial Dash for Cash earlier in the evening for the Bob Johnson DIRTcar Sportsman class. Dalton Rombough of Lowville, NY won the 360 ESS dash for cash.
The evening of racing concluded with Dakota Bechler taking home the victory in the Marsha Gibbons TLC Real Estate Thundercar feature. Bechler of Sackets Harbor, NY claimed his first victory at Can-Am for the 2022 season, despite not having his car setup the way he wanted.
“We had the wrong transmission in the car, we’d had the transmission from Brewerton,� Bechler said in victory lane. “It was sputtering there, so I don’t know how we did this, but we did.�
It was a good night to win at Can-Am in the Thundercar feature, as Bechler took home a $1000 payday thanks to Tony Frezzo and T&T Property Services – Home Repair & Roofing Specialists.
Racing will pause at Can-Am for the weekend in observance of Independence Day, returning on July 8th with a full night of racing action, featuring five classes.
For more info, visit: racecanam.com
For full race results, visit: myracepass.com keyword search: Can-Am.
FEATURE RESULTS:
LUCAS OIL EMPIRE SUPER SPRINTS - 360 WINGED SPRINTS:
A Feature 1: 1. #90-Matt Tanner[2]; 2. #28-Jordan Poirier[4]; 3. #10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[8]; 4. #28F-Davie Franek[7]; 5. #53-Shawn Donath[6]; 6. #01-Danny Varin[3]; 7. #41R-Dalton Rombough[13]; 8. #3-Denny Peebles[5]; 9. 36-Matt Billings[12]; 10. #17-Sammy Reakes IV[17]; 11. #10K-Kelly Hebing[11]; 12. #10-Jeff Cook[15]; 13. #23-Tyler Cartier[18]; 14. #11J-Chris Jones[14]; 15. #88C-Chad Miller[1]; 16. #33-Lacey Hanson[19]; 17. #13-Keith Granholm[20]; 18. #7C-Dylan Swiernik[9]; 19. #87-Jason Barney[10]; 20. #14B-Brett Wright[21]; 21. #91-Scott Holcomb[16].
WHITESBORO PLOW SHOP DIRTCAR 358 MODIFIED PABST SHOOTOUT:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 25-Erick Rudolph[4]; 2. M1-David Marcuccilli[1]; 3. 49-Billy Dunn[2]; 4. 66W-Derek Webb[6]; 5. 7MM-Michael Maresca[16]; 6. 32R-Ronnie Davis[9]; 7. 19-Tim Fuller[7]; 8. 18W-Scott Webb[3]; 9. 60-Jackson Gill[11]; 10. 39-Ryan Bartlett[13]; 11. 66X-Carey Terrance[5]; 12. 31-Lance Willix[15]; 13. 9-Tyler Meeks[12]; 14. 28-Jordan McCreadie[24]; 15. 74-Lucas Fuller[17]; 16. 23J-Jeff Sykes[8]; 17. 21R-RJ Tresidder[23]; 18. 6W-Tyler Trump[19]; 19. 96-JF Corriveau[14]; 20. B2-Bob Henry Jr[21]; 21. 24-Jordan Kelly[18]; 22. 7S-Shaun Shaw[10]; 23. 1-Jack Meeks[22]; 24. 21C-Taylor Caprara[20].
BOB JOHNSON DIRTCAR SPORTSMAN
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 44-David Rogers[1]; 2. 91-Josh Reome[3]; 3. 32RS-Ryan Shanahan[5]; 4. 18E-Gavin Eisele[4]; 5. 52-Jessica Power[2]; 6. 410-Mike Fowler[9]; 7. 34-Eric Nier[12]; 8. 3-Chris Mackey[6]; 9. 57H-Remington Hamm[8]; 10. 64-Tyler Corcoran[17]; 11. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson[7]; 12. 38-Zach Sobotka[23]; 13. R19-Dale Caswell[10]; 14. 92-Andrew Buff[21]; 15. 5-Kyle Devendorf[11]; 16. 33-Richard Murtaugh[15]; 17. 6-Brian Hudson[25]; 18. 83D-Dustin Bradley[20]; 19. 88-Fire Swamp[24]; 20. 2X-Michael Amell[16]; 21. 35R-William Racine[14]; 22. 63-Teddy Clayton Jr[27]; 23. 28-Alan Fink[26]; 24. 10X-Cory Castell[30]; 25. 18-Justin Gadbaw[28]; 26. 92S-Frank Sibley[22]; 27. 271-Tiger Chapman[18]; 28. 10B-Jamie Brown[13]; 29. 89-Dylan Madsen[19]; 30. (DNS) 99R-Anthony Rasmussen.
MARSHA GIBBONS TLC REAL ESTATE THUNDERCAR
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 26-Dakota Bechler[2]; 2. 11A-Joe Orvis[6]; 3. 22-Tony Frezzo[3]; 4. 100-Charles Monica[4]; 5. 21-Corey Valade[23]; 6. 9MM-Jock Symonds[1]; 7. 20-Mike Durham[8]; 8. 111J-Anthony St Mary Jr[7]; 9. 11J-Justin Burns[13]; 10. 94-OJ White[11]; 11. 97-David Liscum[18]; 12. 22J-Jared Gilson[19]; 13. 60R-Ron White[20]; 14. 66W-Ryan Wurtz[17]; 15. 16-Steve Smith[15]; 16. 60-Francis White[5]; 17. 52J-Justin McIntyre[9]; 18. 90-Josh Verne Jr[14]; 19. 31-Austin Smith[12]; 20. 27-Justin Pope[21]; 21. 61-Gerald Rogers[22]; 22. 73T-Timothy Greenfield[10]; 23. 16B-Chris Bonoffski[16].
