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VERNON , NY- Another packed grandstand, another night of intense racing, and more late race heroics again thrilled the fans at Utica-Rome Speedway on Gates-Cole Associates and Nye Auto Group night. Chuck Hebing finished a miraculous charge to get by Steve Poirier for the Empire Super Sprint victory while Willy Decker held off the late race charge of Stewart Friesen to take the 358-Modified victory. Jim “Rocky” Rothwell would take home the Sportsman laurels while Jim Normoyle would snap Jerry Holmes’ win streak, and Curt Prevo won the Pure Stocks.
Pole sitter John Ramsey rocketed to the lead at the start of the 358-Modifieds 30 lapper, looking to collect his first Utica-Rome Speedway win of the 2007 season. While Ramsey ran out front sixth place starter Bobby Varin began to move to the front, with the aid of a lap four restart, Varin found himself leading the race. With Varin out front, defending champion Willy Decker and 15th place starter Stewart Friesen were marching their way to the front with Decker making his presence felt first. As lap 10 was scored, Varin was still out front with Decker slipping into second while Ramsey, Gus Schmidt, and Andy Bachetti gave chase.
When starter Matt Burdick showed the crossed flags at the halfway point, 12th place starter Decker made his move to gain the lead, slipping underneath the rim riding Varin for the top spot. Decker began to motor away as Friesen began to march through the top five on the way to the front as he got by Schmidt on lap 15 to crack the top five, then by Ramsey on lap 16 for fourth, them Bachetti on lap 17 for third, and then by Varin on lap 18 for the second spot. By the time Friesen broke into the runner up spot, Decker had opened up a five second advantage over the rest of the field.
The second and final caution of the event flew on lap 24 for a marker tire on track brought Decker back to the field, giving Friesen another shot a miracle victory like his previous week win. When the green dropped, Friesen made repeated attempts to get by Decker, even pulling alongside on several occasions, but Decker was too strong as he raced off with his second win of the season. Friesen would cross in second with Bachetti, Pat Ward, and Varin in the top five spots. Schmidt, Ted Lamb, Todd Burley, Ramsey, and Paul Kinney filled out the top ten.
Tim Nye jumped from the outside pole starting spot to lead the opening circuit until seventh place starter Jim Rothwell took over on the second circuit. Rothwell’s lead was short lived as Danny Varin charged by on the bottom. Varin looked strong throughout the middle portion of the 20 lap event with Rothwell still giving chase. Rothwell renewed his charge to the front, taking back the lead on lap 13 but Varin fought back to take the lead on the very next circuit. On lap 15, Rothwell charged back by to regain the lead, a lead that he would hang on to until the end. Rothwell would capture his first win in the Sportsman division in 10 years. Mike Button and Jeremy Vunk would get by Varin to net second and third at the end with Varin falling to fourth. Alan Barker rounded out the top five.
In Pro Stock action, 10th place starter Jim Normoyle passed Chad Ray as lap three was being scored to lead the 20 lap event, a lead he would not give up the rest of the way. Jerry Holmes and Chris Mackey applied pressure at different stages of the race, but Normoyle was too strong. Mackey would come home in second with Holmes was third with Ray falling to third at the end. Tom Denton recovered from an earlier off track excursion to fill out the top five.
Curt Prevo made a late race charge, going from third to first on lap 14 to take command of the event, passing race long leader Ron Hawker for the top spot. Prevo’s charge started in the 17th position. Hawker, Matt Ball, Russ Marsden, and Chris Carr rounded out the top five spots.
Dale Caswell jumped out to the lead at the drop of the green and would lead the entire distance of the 15 lap event to capture his second win of the season. Aaron Jacobs applied pressure late in the event but came up short to finish second with Kevan Cook, Jim Roberts, and Jeff Jones trailing.
In Empire Super Sprint 25 lap A Main , Chuck Hebing made a last lap pass of Steve Poirier to take the win. Poirier held on for second with Lance Yonge, Mike Stelter, and Bubba Kerrick rounded out the top five. See the ESS release for full story and results.
A huge fireworks display capped off the night’s activities.
Next week at “The Action Track of the East” it will be Autograph Night with a regular show of 358-Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro Stocks, Pure Stocks, and IMCA Modifieds. Gates will open at 3 p.m. with racing 5:30 p.m. For more information log on to www.uticaromespeedway.com, or call the speedway office at (315) 829-4557.
GATES-COLE ASSOCIATES AND NYE AUTO RACE SUMMARY
358-MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (30 LAPS)- WILLY DECKER, Stewart Friesen, Andy Bachetti, Pat Ward, Bobby Varin, Gus Schmidt, Ted Lamb, Todd Burley, John Ramsey, Paul Kinney, Bill Shantel Jr., Ryan Phelps, Jeff Kotary, Paul Jensen, Gordy Button, and AJ Romano.
SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (20 LAPS)- JIM ROTHWELL, Mike Button, Jeremy Vunk, Danny Varin, Alan Barker, Brad Alger, Matt janczuk, Steve Way, Larry Wight, Butch Reiter, Jack Miller, Jason Rood, John Cunningham, Tim Nye, Brandon Sweet, Bob Gray, Paul Carey, Casey Williams, and Dan Yankowski.
PRO STOCK FEATURE FINISH (20 LAPS)- JIM NORMOYLE, Chris Mackey, Jerry Holmes, Chad Ray, Tom Denton, Mark Effner, Shawn Frost, AJ Digsby, Bret Belden, Dave Moyer, Ed Ostrander, Jim Grippen, Ryan Lund , Dave Meeks, Rich Duanehauer, Chuck Wentrick, John Drake, Ivan Joslin, and Bill Knapp.
PURE STOCK FEATURE FINISH (15 LAPS)- CURT PREVO, Ron Hawker, Matt Ball, Russ Marsden, Chris Carr, Tim Janczuk, Dave Bruno, Jim Thomas, Rocky Warner, Chris Cunningham, Frank Hyatt, Keith Stevenson, Phil Norman, Warren Jones, Jim Richmond, Waylon Wilczek, Andy Potter, Cale Hoffman, John Wesolowski, Bill Mason, Kelly Pope, Glenn Weaver, and Herm Staats.
IMCA MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (15 LAPS)- DALE CASWELL, Aaron Jacobs, Kevan Cook, Jim Roberts, Jeff Jones, Lyle Smith, Bob Ridgeway, Ken Rogers, Chris Fleming, Mark Chrzanowski, and Mike Jacobs.
EMPIRE SUPER SPRINT FEATURE TOP 10 (25 LAPS)-CHUCK HEBING, Steve Poirier, Lance Yonge, Mike Stelter, Bubby Kerrick, Jeff VanDusen, Jeff Cook, Alain Bergeron, Doug Norrie, and Michael Parent.
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