Lightnin’ Strikes At Land Of Legends; Wight Wins ESS Sprint Week Event At Canandaigua

Story By: ROBERT SYMONDS / RPW – CANANDAIGUA, NY – Night Two of the 2017 Empire Super Sprints Donath Motorworx Speedweeks took place at the Land of Legends, the Canandaigua Motorsports Park, Thursday night. With 27 cars signing into the pit area, it was sure to be another great race in Canandaigua.

Starting on the pole, Mike Mahaney would jump out to the early lead leaving the M1 of Mark Smith in tow. Side by side on lap 2 as Mark Smith found the top lane to take advantage of Mahaney. Although Mahaney was not letting Smith by so easily, he would muscle out the battle with Smith, as Smith had to try and find another way around for the lead early on. However Smith did not have much time as Jason Barney would make his way on the bottom side of the speedway to contend second spot with Mark Smith.

Barney claimed second place on lap 10 as Smith fell back to third. Mahaney held a 5 car length advantage over Barney until lap traffic consumed Barney and Smith. Smith would battle back on the top side to make his way around both the lap cars and Barney on lap 13 to take second place back over. Lap 15, Lightnin’ was coming. Lightnin’ Larry Wight rim rode around the top side to catch both Barney and Smith making it a three car battle for second. In a very short period, Wight was in a three car battle and would take over second. However Lightning was not finished yet. Wight rim rode once again around the top side of the Land of Legends to take over the lead on lap 16.

Lightnin’ Larry Wight would lead the charge until the yellow flag waved on lap 19 for a slowing Coleman Gulick in turn four. This was a pivotal moment for two of the top ten competitors. First Chuck Hebing would enter the pits with a red light showing on his dash board. Over heating issues would consume both Hebing and Racin’ Jason Barney as he pulled into the pit area as well during the lap 19 caution.

With the track cleared, the field was ready for the restart. Lightnin’ Larry Wight led Mike Mahaney, Mark Smith, Matt Tanner, and Jonathon Preston for the ensuing restart. Green flag waves. Side by side for the lead as Mahaney runs the bottom to take the lead over Wight on lap 20. Wight however readjusts his line to run the middle to bottom in turns one and two then back to the top in three and four to gain momentum on Mahaney. Side by side for the lead on lap 22, Wight would hold the top side momentum to take the lead back on lap 23. Lightnin’ Larry would then pull away and grab the victory over Mike Mahaney, Mark Smith, Matt Tanner, and Danny Varin.

“The car was a little iffy in the first five laps but I found the top in turns three and four. It seemed to be that no one was going up quite far enough to catch the bite and it left a lane open for me,” Larry Wight says as he celebrates in victory lane Thursday night at the Canandaigua Speedway. “It was a real close battle the last couple laps. A couple times I got a really good run through three and four and he’d shut the door on me coming down the front stretch. I was able to finally get a good run to shut the door on him in one and two.”

Mike Mahaney coming away second spoke in victory lane about the turn around from earlier in the season. “Really enthused with our team this week. Very big improvement. We were stuck there at the beginning. Lap cars decided to stick more to the bottom leaving Larry free range on the outside. If I’d known he was coming, I would’ve probably moved around a little more but thats how it goes when you’re leading.”

“I don’t know these tracks up here and didn’t expect the track to get that big,” Mark Smith said after a third place run. “I was out of gear when we hit the flag stand so we kind of messed up a little on that.”

Race Tidbits: Chuck Hebing set quick time in the timed hot laps with a 15.721 and would go on to win heat one from the sixth place starting spot. Paul Kinney would also power his way up through the field to take the win in heat two from the seventh starting spot. Mike Mahaney would capitalize in heat three with a win. Wednesday nights feature winner, Lucas Wolfe, would grab a dash win and Paulie Colagiovanni would win the BMain to finish out qualifying for the Empire Super Sprints.

Mark Smith leads the points heading into Night three for the 2017 Empire Super Sprints Donath Motorworx Speedweeks as they head to the 1/3 mile clay oval of the Brewerton Speedway.

CANANDAIGUA MOTORSPORTS PARK-JUNE 29, 2017

Lucas Oil ESS A-Main – Larry Wight ($3,025), Mike Mahaney ($2,175), Mark Smith ($1,025), Matt Tanner ($630), Danny Varin ($690), Jonathan Preston ($470), Lucas Wolfe ($530), Billy VanInwegen ($420), Matt Billings ($410), Kelly Hebing ($425), Paul Kinney ($385), Darryl Ruggles ($320), Coleman Gulick ($375), Steve Doell ($300), Brett Wright ($325), Jeff Cook ($300), Paulie Colagiovanni ($550), Sammy Reakes IV ($300), Scott Holcomb ($300), Yan Bilodeau ($325), Lee Sanders ($350), Mike Haggenbottom ($350), Jason Barney ($300), Chuck Hebing ($350)

Did Not Qualify – Emily VanInwegen, Erik Karlsen, Shawn Donath

Lap Leader – Mahaney 1-14, Wight 15-20, Mahaney 21-22, Wight 23-25.

ESS Bonuses:

Hoosier Tires Bridesmaid Bonus – Mahaney $100
E&V Energy Fast Time – C Hebing, Smith, Wight $25
Car Mate Trailers Heats – C Hebing, Kinney, Mahaney $25
Shuttleworth Asphalt Sealing/Cobra Coaches Dash – Wolfe $100, Varin $75, Sanders $50, K Hebing $25, Bilodeau $25, Wright $25
Engler Machine and Tool Halfway – Mahaney $50
Insinger Performance Hard Charger – ( pos), $50
Lacaillade Masonry B-Main – Colagiovanni $50
Ohsweken Speedway 22nd Anniversary – Haggenbottom $50
Scorpion Security Products Last Car Lead Lap – Gulick $50
Robert Symonds Photography Hard Luck – Donath $50
Scorpion Security Products 12 Redraw – Gulick $25
Fondations 55 Pick 5 – Varin $35
Hoosier Tire – Colagiovanni $200