By Steven Ovens
(CANANDAIGUA, NY) – The rescheduled Super Gen Products CRSA Sprints event from the rained out racing program on May 21 was held Saturday night at Paul Cole’s Land of Legends Raceway. It was the fifteenth time the series had been contested at LOLR, with a familiar face gracing victory lane.
Home track contenders Randy Years and Jason Whipple paced the field to green and immediately taking advantage of the water laid down on the top of the track during intermission was Whipple. Whipple would lead the opening seven laps of the race, but it was Gorham, NY pilot Alysha Bay who was the driver on the move.
Bay rolled off from the outside of row two and quickly advanced to second position on the opening lap. Just as quickly as Bay worked up the leaderboard, her father and the all-time leader in 305 wins at the Canandaigua, NY facility Darryl Ruggles moved from his seventh starting spot to a podium position on Lap 2.
The battle for the race lead really took shape as Whipple hit slower traffic to put Lap 6 in the books. Whipple getting challenged with dirty air on his top wing saw the gap to Bay shrink at a rapid pace. The green flag run was cut short at Lap 7 when Dan Craun got over the edge in Turn 2 and spun to a stop in the tall grass.
On the restart Bay went to her traditional line taking the short way around the racetrack and left Whipple to dance on the high side. Without his momentum built back up, Whipple surrendered the lead to Bay at the start of Lap 8. Bay held a three-car length advantage but Ruggles picking up a battle with Whipple for second allowed her space to run steady, solid laps.
Trevor Years made short work of making it a four-car battle to decide the winner of the 256th event in CRSA Sprints history. Years had an incredible run in the Arnold’s Tree Service No. 13T, advancing the most positions in his heat and running well with the leaders in the A-Main in his new Panther Frameworx chassis.
At the halfway point another driver was making a charge through the field as well. Kyle Pierce, 2021 CRSA Sprints Rookie of the Year, was well on his way to passing 10 cars to earn the series’ hard charger bonus.
The yellow was displayed the final time twice on Lap 12 as Greene, NY rookie Calvin Wheelock lost the handle on his No. 7w as Whipple and Ruggles were passing by. Ruggles had a close call, narrowly avoiding contact with Wheelock in the second turn. It quickly came out again as Sherbrooke, Que, Ca driver Tomy Moreau spun his My Race Pass No. 22 in Turn 4.
The restart brought more of the same for Bay as she proved to be the dominant car on this night. Bay raced to her fifth career CRSA Sprints victory with three of those now coming from Land of Legends Raceway. She also moved into second place on the all-time 305 Sprints wins list with sixteen, breaking a previous tie with David Ferguson.
Ruggles won the battle with Whipple for second, Years completed his strong run for fourth and CRSA winner just eight days prior, Jordan Hutton, raced from eleventh starting spot to the Top 5.
Bay exited her brand new X-1 Chassis to a thunderous cheer from the packed house.
“That one was much needed- I didn’t think I would get one this year,” said a relieved Bay in Cazbah Victory Lane.
“We had a crappy beginning of the season but we put together this X-1 car and its been good ever since. The track is just the way I like it tonight, the track crew is doing an awesome job and that’s all you can ask for.”
Ruggles gave a tip of the cap to not only his daughter Alysha but to Whipple as well.
“Alysha told me the bottom lane was going to be it tonight. Then Jason was running the line I wanted and he was running it perfect. We worked hard (on Alysha’s car) to get it right and my car is just awesome, I don’t care finishing second to my daughter.”
Whipple would have loved to win his second CRSA Sprints tour race in Canandaigua in a row, but was happy with a podium run.
“I knew with where Alysha started I knew it was going to be her night. You just can’t beat that, she runs so well on the bottom. I took one from her last year and this one was her turn. It always feels good to finish top three when this crew comes to town and to be an all Canandaigua Top 3 is awesome.”
Eagle Enterprises heat winner bonuses of $25 went to Bobby Parrow, Thomas Radivoy and Bay. The night’s “Maguire Magnificent Move of the Race” went to Dalton Herrick. The award nobody looks forward to but get a little extra cash is the “Midstate Basement Out of the Basement” award which went to “Rapid Ray” Preston.
The CRSA Sprints will now head to the Brett Deyo-promoted Utica-Rome Speedway Friday night June 24 where Bay was an A-Main winner in 2021. It was also a special place for Kyle Pierce who took the other victory at “The Home of Heroes” last year.
The CRSA 305 Sprints are powered by Super Gen Products with their Champion Power Equipment located in Newark, NY. Associate sponsors for 2022 include A-Verdi Storage Containers, Midstate Basement Authorities, CNY Farm Supply, the Maguire Family of Dealerships, Powdertech Powdercoating, Pit Stop Convenience Stores, PJC Sprayfoam, Profab Enterprises, Eagle Enterprises, Bonnell’s Rod Shop, DisBatch Brewing Company, Magsarus Ignitions, Hoosier Racing Tire, Insinger Performance with their Stinger Race Fuel, My Race Pass and is owned and operated by Mike Emhof Motorsports.
For more information on the series, results, points and 2022 schedule please visit our website www.crsasprints.com
Please visit the Super Gen Products with Champion Power Equipment CRSA Sprints on Facebook (@CRSAsprints) and on Twitter (@CRSAsprints).
SUPER GEN PRODUCTS CRSA SPRINTS @ LAND OF LEGENDS RACEWAY OFFICIAL RESULTS- Saturday June 18th, 2022:
A-MAIN RESULTS (20 Laps): 1. 48A-[4] ($1,000); 2. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[7]; 3. 38-Jason Whipple[2]; 4. 13T-Trevor Years[3]; 5. 66-Jordan Hutton[11]; 6. 53-Bobby Parrow[8]; 7. 29-Dalton Herrick[5]; 8. 9K-Kyle Pierce[18]; 9. 25W-Dana Wagner[16]; 10. 22T-Tanner Emmons[13]; 11. 1Q-Thomas Radivoy[10]; 12. 121-Steve Glover[15]; 13. J27-John Cunningham[20]; 14. 18C-Dan Craun[12]; 15. 23-John Smith[19]; 16. 2-Randy Years[1]; 17. 28-Ron Greek[9]; 18. 77-Matt Rotz[14]; 19. 112-Mike VanPelt[6]; 20. 10-Nathan Pierce[22]; 21. 29T-Tori Kaplin[23]; 22. 22-Tomy Moreau[21]; 23. 7W-Calvin Wheelock[24]; 24. (DNF) 4T-Ray Preston[17]
Did Not Qualify: Aaron Shelton, James Layton, Tyler Emmons, Ethan Gray, Brandyn Griffin
Powdertech Powdercoating Hard Charger Bonus: 9k Kyle Pierce +10 Spots
Maguire Family of Dealerships “Magnificent Move of the Race”: 29 Dalton Herrick
Midstate Basement Authorities “Out of the Basement” Bonus: 4t Ray Preston
Eagle Enterprises $25 Heat Bonuses: 53 Bobby Parrow, 1q Thomas Radivoy, 48a Alysha Bay
Heats (8 laps)
#1: 1. 53-Bobby Parrow[4]; 2. 13T-Trevor Years[3]; 3. 112-Mike VanPelt[1]; 4. 17E-Ethan Gray[6]; 5. 18C-Dan Craun[7]; 6. 121-Steve Glover[8]; 7. 9K-Kyle Pierce[9]; 8. 23-John Smith[2]; 9. 29T-Tori Kaplin[10]; 10. 22M-Aaron Shelton[5]
#2: 1. 1Q-Thomas Radivoy[2]; 2. 66-Jordan Hutton[8]; 3. 28-Ron Greek[6]; 4. 29-Dalton Herrick[3]; 5. 22T-Tanner Emmons[5]; 6. 25W-Dana Wagner[7]; 7. 10-Nathan Pierce[10]; 8. 7W-Calvin Wheelock[1]; 9. (DNF) 25H-Tyler Emmons[4]; 10. (DNS) 75-Brandyn Griffin
#3: 1. 48A-Alysha Bay[2]; 2. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[7]; 3. 38-Jason Whipple[8]; 4. 2-Randy Years[1]; 5. 77-Matt Rotz[5]; 6. 4T-Ray Preston[3]; 7. J27-John Cunningham[6]; 8. 22-Tomy Moreau[9]; 9. 14-James Layton[4]
B-Main (10 Laps)
1. 9K-Kyle Pierce[1]; 2. 23-John Smith[4]; 3. J27-John Cunningham[3]; 4. 22-Tomy Moreau[6]; 5. 10-Nathan Pierce[2]; 6. 29T-Tori Kaplin[7]; 7. 7W-Calvin Wheelock[5]; 8. 22M-Aaron Shelton[8]; 9. (DNF) 14-James Layton[9]; 10. (DNS) 25H-Tyler Emmons; 11. (DNS) 75-Brandyn Griffin