By Marty Czekala
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. – What began with losing the lead early ended in celebration for Zach Sobotka Saturday night at Land of Legends Raceway.
Sobotka took the lead from Darryl Ruggles on lap seven after losing first at the start. He stayed in front from there, winning round two of the DisBatch Brewing Company/Stirling Lubricants Challenge. This was his second A-Verdi Storage Containers CRSA Sprints win in Canandaigua.
“[Darryl] showed me the line for the rest of the race,” said Sobotka. “He was running the top and I was trying not to get any of his air and just diamond off and take the bottom.”
Sobotka started on pole. Paul Colagiovanni Sr. started outside as they came to Tyler Groescup’s green for 25 laps. Ruggles showed his legendary work throughout the night on starts and restarts. From fourth spot, “The Motorized Madman” went three-for-one to take the early lead.
Sobotka closely followed the No. 48JR at the start, staying behind Ruggles until lap seven. At that point, Ruggles drifted too high in turn two and went over the banking, which let Sobotka move into the lead.
10 laps in, as Sobotka entered lapped traffic, Dillon Paddock started to close in on his patented high side, aiming for the lead as he’d done in many races last season. Paddock looked to make a move in turns three and four but couldn’t slidejob Sobotka. As this happened, Spencer Burley quietly closed the gap, briefly taking second from Paddock before Paddock held him off.
A long run ended with just over 10 laps left as Mike Stelter slowed to bring the first yellow out.
On the restart, Paddock had the launch but got tight exiting turn two, which allowed both Sobotka and Ruggles to cross him over. The lap did not count, however, because Dave Axton and Dalton Herrick spun in turn three, bringing out a caution and leading to a single-file restart.
Lance Dusett benefited, moving to fourth before the final yellow with eight laps left for Bobby Parrow stopping on the front straight.
Dusett gained another spot up to third, but in the end, it was Sobotka scoring his sixth career CRSA victory at Land of Legends by 2.3 seconds over Paddock and Dusett.
“I stumbled real bad on one of those restarts and Dillon definitely could have taken it from me there very easily and the caution gave me a wicked break when Darryl got back by me and it was tough down through there,” said Sobotka. “I was really dreading all those cautions. Just wanted to get wound up and hold my momentum.”
Dillon Paddock scored his best finish of the year in the Jay Greenfield No. 27G. Paddock came close to challenging Sobotka for the win in the 10-lap shootout, but needed to be better on restarts.
“It wouldn’t take off very well on the straightaway, but Zach knows what to do on those restarts,” said Paddock. A lot of fun, but just happy to be racing. Shoutout to John McCoy. This motor has close to 60 shows on it, so to still be able to finish on the podium is a testament to itself. Wanted to get that win for Full Draw as they’re here tonight.”
Lance Dusett finished third and also won the Elab Smokers Boutique Scramble Dash. He recorded his second podium of his CRSA career, the first since his runner-up finish at Land of Legends on July 5, 2025. Dusett took a lot of positives from tonight.
“Track was really good tonight,” said Dusett. “We had a good race car and track position. If we would’ve been a little better, probably would have been a little different.”
Tyler Graves earned the Powdertech Powdercoating Hard Charger award by climbing 11 positions to finish sixth. With this run, Graves extended his points lead over Nick Webb to 23 points.
As for the DisBatch Brewing Company/Stirling Lubricants Challenge standings, Sobotka takes the lead over Spencer Burley by nine points.
A season-high 33 entries signed in at Canandaigua.
CRSA next races its first Sunday show of the year June 14 at Utica-Rome Speedway, for round two of the I-90 Pit Stop Challenge. Fans can watch live on FloRacing.
A Main (25 Laps): 1. 38-Zach Sobotka[1]; 2. 27G-Dillon Paddock[3]; 3. 14X-Lance Dusett[9]; 4. 15B-Spencer Burley[10]; 5. 3A-Jeff Trombley[8]; 6. 25G-Tyler Graves[17]; 7. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[4]; 8. 10SR-Paul Colagiovanni Sr[2]; 9. 45-David Ferguson[16]; 10. 27W-Nick Webb[21]; 11. 18C-Dan Craun[13]; 12. 77-Matt Rotz[7]; 13. 61-Johnny Scarborough[6]; 14. 23-John Smith[5]; 15. 29-Dalton Herrick[20]; 16. 22-Tomy Moreau[12]; 17. 81K-Dalton Martin[18]; 18. 17E-Ethan Gray[24]; 19. 18-Timmy Lotz[23]; 20. 121-Steve Glover[11]; 21. 80-Bobby Parrow[19]; 22. 2A-Dave Axton[22]; 23. 36-Mike Stelter[15]; 24. 31C-Maverick Coffey[14]
B Main (10 Laps): 1. 27W-Nick Webb[5]; 2. 2A-Dave Axton[2]; 3. 18-Timmy Lotz[7]; 4. 17E-Ethan Gray[3]; 5. 21-Scott Wagner[4]; 6. 10N-Nathan Pierce[6]; 7. 9Z-Zach Bobbett[10]; 8. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[11]; 9. 20K-Ed Kelley[8]; 10. 2-Randy Years[1]; 11. 48A-Alysha Bay[12]; 12. 21L-Eric Laurendeau[9]
Elab Smokers Boutique Dash (4 Laps): 1. 14X-Lance Dusett[1]; 2. 15B-Spencer Burley[4]; 3. 121-Steve Glover[3]; 4. 22-Tomy Moreau[2]; 5. 18C-Dan Craun[6]; 6. 31C-Maverick Coffey[5]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 27G-Dillon Paddock[4]; 2. 10SR-Paul Colagiovanni Sr[1]; 3. 31C-Maverick Coffey[3]; 4. 36-Mike Stelter[5]; 5. 121-Steve Glover[8]; 6. 17E-Ethan Gray[6]; 7. 20K-Ed Kelley[2]; 8. 21L-Eric Laurendeau[9]; 9. (DNS) 25-Cameron Moss
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 23-John Smith[6]; 2. 3A-Jeff Trombley[8]; 3. 18C-Dan Craun[2]; 4. 45-David Ferguson[4]; 5. 80-Bobby Parrow[5]; 6. 27W-Nick Webb[3]; 7. 10N-Nathan Pierce[7]; 8. 48A-Alysha Bay[1]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 61-Johnny Scarborough[2]; 2. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[6]; 3. 14X-Lance Dusett[4]; 4. 81K-Dalton Martin[1]; 5. 29-Dalton Herrick[5]; 6. 2-Randy Years[7]; 7. 21-Scott Wagner[8]; 8. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[3]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 38-Zach Sobotka[1]; 2. 77-Matt Rotz[2]; 3. 22-Tomy Moreau[4]; 4. 25G-Tyler Graves[3]; 5. 15B-Spencer Burley[8]; 6. 2A-Dave Axton[7]; 7. 18-Timmy Lotz[6]; 8. 9Z-Zach Bobbett[5]
The CRSA Sprints are brought to you by A-Verdi Storage Containers. Associate sponsors include Pit Stop Convenience Stores, DisBatch Brewing Company, Stirling Lubricants, Dandy, Joe’s Garage, Westward Painting Company, Elab Smokers Boutique, iFreeze Storage & Distribution Center, Maguire Automotive Group, Powdertech Powdercoating, Ruggles World of Auto Body, PJC Business Ventures, Magsarus Ignitions, Hoosier Racing Tire, Bicknell Racing Products, 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 and points, please visit our website at www.crsa.myracepass.com.
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