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GUS SCHMIDT TAKES GREEN TO CHECKERED 358-MODIFIED MAIN AT UTICA - ROME SPEEDWAY
VERNON, NY- A full night of racing thrilled the packed grandstands at the Utica-Rome Speedway this past Sunday September 2 as the Empire Super Sprints and CNY Mini Sprints joined the regular classes of 358-Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro Stocks, Pure Stocks, and IMCA Modifieds. Steve Poirier won the ESS event with Gus Schmidt taking the 358-Modified main. David Towns , Tom Denton, Waylon Wilczek, Jim Roberts, and Jimmy Broderick also graced victory lane on Gates-Cole Associates/Walton’s Farm & Auto Repair night.
Taking advantage of his pole starting spot, Gus Schmidt jumped to lead at the drop of the green in the 30 lap 358-Modified feature. Schmidt would pull away to a huge lead in the early portion of the green to checkered event while the battle field was swapping positions on every circuit.
John Ramsey, Pat Ward, Ted Lamb, Todd Burley, Bobby Varin, Stewart Friesen, Willy Decker, and AJ Romano were battling hard for positions second through nine with Ramsey holding of the field to hold on to the second spot with Ward and Lamb pressuring hard for the spot. Lamb was the first to get by Ramsey with Ward sneaking by on the next circuit. Friesen, charging from last after mechanical problems in his heat race, was slicing his way to the front as moved by Varin for the fourth spot on lap 13.
Ward got by Lamb for the runner-up spot as lap 19 was completed with Friesen gaining the third spot on lap 22. Friesen got by Ward for second on lap 26 and went after the leader Schmidt. Schmidt’s lead at this point was a full straightaway, but lapped traffic was slowing Schmidt’s efforts. Friesen ran out of laps as Schmidt was able to get the win ahead of Friesen with Ward, Varin, and Burley trailing.
Jeremy Vunk grabbed the lead from Tim Nye as lap two was being scored from his fourth starting spot to lead the 20 lap Sportsman feature as he looked to bag his third win of the season. While Vunk was running out front of the field, Fonda Speedway’s Sportsman champion David Towns was making a furious charge to the front, going from 14th to second by lap seven. Towns hounded Vunk for several circuits for the lead, and coming off turn four for lap 16, Towns made his move. Towns dove under Vunk and as he attempted to slide up in front of Vunk, the top two runners made contact. Towns was able to hang on and race away with the lead, dropping Vunk into second and into the clutches of third place driver Mike Button. Towns would hang on for the win with Vunk holding off Button for second with Brad Alger and Jack Miller chasing.
Tom Denton held off the late race challenges of point leader Jerry Holmes to score his second win of the season. Behind Denton and Holmes was Jim Normoyle, Ivan Joslin, and Chris Mackey. Denton , who started 11th, took the lead from Ed Ostrander on lap three.
In the Pure Stock 15 lap main, Waylan Wilczek celebrated the birth of his son by grabbing the win on the same day he brought him home from the hospital. Chasing Wilzcek to the finish was Phil Norman, Russ Marsden, Ron Hawker, and Tim Janczuk.
Aaron Jacobs dominated the first 13 laps of 15 lap IMCA Modified event, but a late caution gave Jim Roberts a chance to get by Jacobs for the win, a chance that Roberts wouldn’t waste. Roberts made the pass on the restart and took off for his fourth win. Chasing Roberts was Jacobs, Bob Banks, Ken Rogers, and Jojo Donato.
Steve Poirier made a late race pass of leader Jeff Cook to score the popular 25 lap Empire Super Sprint feature win, ahead of Chuck Hebing, Jeff Cook, Jeff VanDusen, and Jared Zimbardi. See ESS release for full details.
Jimmy Broderick took the lead from Jon Moore on lap nine of the 20 lap Central New York Mini Sprints event to score the win over Mike Kiser, Don Harvery Jr., Matt Norrie, and Jared Fink.
The point chasing part of the season comes to a close this Sunday September 9 at the Utica-Rome Speedway as it is Championship Night at the Vernon oval. Track champions will be crowned in the 358-Modified, Sportsman, Pro Stocks, Pure Stocks, and IMCA Modifieds. Gates open at 3 p.m. with racing at 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/WALTON’S FARM & AUTO REPAIR RACE SUMMARY
358-MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (30 LAPS)- GUS SCHMIDT, Stewart Friesen, Pat Ward, Bobby Varin, Todd Burley, Willy Decker, Ted Lamb, AJ Romano, Bill Shantel Jr., Ronnie Johnson, John Ramsey, Paul Kinney, Jeff Kotary, Paul Jensen, JR Hurlburt, Joel Thomas, Tim Mayne, and Brian Thomas.
SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (20 LAPS)- DAVID TOWNS, Jeremy Vunk, Mike Button, Brad Alger, Jack Miller, Jim Rothwell, Greg Doust, Jeff Leslie, Tom Collins, Michael Teachout, Mike Lartz, Mark Mortenson, Dan Yankowski, Bill Trexler Jr., Randy Shantel, Randy Meka, Jason Memrick, Matt Janczuk, Corey Wilder, Casey Williams, Jeremy Wilder, Alan Barker, Jason Rood, Larry Wight, Tim Nye, and Steve Way.
PRO STOCK FEATURE FINISH (20 LAPS)-.TOM DENTON, Jerry Holmes, Jim Normoyle, Ivan Joslin, Chris Mackey, Ron Marsden, Bill Knapp, Scott Conover, Bobby Newman, Bret Belden, Joe Palmer, Ed Ostrander, Ryan Lund, Jim Grippen, Dave Meeks, Dave Moyer, Todd Fey, Chad Ray, Chuck Wentrick, Rich Daunehauer, Shawn Frost, Rob Seavy, AJ Digsby, and Mark Effner.
PURE STOCK FEATURE FINISH (15 LAPS)- WAYLAN WILCZEK, Phil Norman, Russ Marsden, Ron Hawker, Tim Janczuk, Rocky Warner, Cale Hoffman, Glenn Forward, Jim Thomas, Chris Cunningham, Frank Hyatt, Chris Carr, Bill Mason, Keith Stevenson, John Wesolowski, Matt Ball, and Warren Jones.
IMCA MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (15 LAPS)- JIM ROBERTS, Aaron Jacobs, Bob Banks, Ken Rogers, Jojo Donato, John Rohacevich, Ron Santone, and Bill Trexler Sr. DNS- Mark Chrzanowski.
EMPIRE SUPER SPRINT FEATURE FINISH TOP 10 (25 LAPS)- STEVE POIRIER, Chuck Hebing, Jeff Cook, Jeff VanDusen, Jared Zimbardi, Jessica Zemken, Jason Barney, Tom Wickham, Alain Boisvert, and Lance Yonge.
CNY MINI SPRINTS FEATURE FINISH TOP 10 (20 LAPS)- JIMMY BRODERICK, Mike Kiser, Don Harvey Jr., Matt Norrie, Jared Fink, Jon Moore, Siera Lister, Doug Norrie, Brian Pomponio, and Ricky Donovan.
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