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PAT WARD OUTRACES MOTHER NATURE AND REST OF 358-MODIFIED FIELD TO SCORE TWO WINS AT UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY
VERNON , NY- Whenever there are double features for the 358-Modifieds at the Utica-Rome Speedway, Pat Ward becomes the driver to watch. This past Sunday on Sno Fest Old Forge NY Night, Ward swept both events, like he did in the 2007 season on an evening with double features, as he continues his drive towards his first Utica-Rome Speedway championship. Ward's winnings totaled $3,200 for the night after grabbing both events.
Ted Lamb drove from his outside pole starting to the lead in the makeup feature from June 15, leading the first two laps until he relinquished it to Bill Shantel Jr. grabbed the lead on the third circuit. Lamb regained the top spot by lap five as 15th place starter Pat Ward was charging to the lead as he broke into the top five by lap nine. The lap 10 mark saw Lamb, Willy Decker, Ward, Jim Davis, and John Ramsey filling out the top five spots.
After a lap 10 restart, Ward made the winning pass by Lamb to score his third win of the season. Mitch Gibbs would finish in the second spot with Decker recovering from two mid race spins to finish third. Bobby Varin, Ramsey, Bob Henry Jr., Paul Kinney, Jamie Christian, Gus Schmidt, and Shantel filled out the top 10.
In the nightcap 358-Modified event, pole sitter David Orr led the initial nine laps of the 30 lap event while Gus Schmidt was pressuring hard for the lead. Ward, coming from the 14th starting spot, took over at the lap nine mark as he was looking to pull off the double. Ward look to be in control of the field at the halfway point as he continued to lead with Varin, Alan Barker, Stewart Friesen, and Gibbs chasing.
Gibbs turned it up with ten laps to go as he broke into the top three and then grabbed the second spot on lap 21. With five to go, Gibbs got underneath Ward for the lead but lapped traffic slowed Gibbs’ march. After seeing Gibbs sneak underneath him, Ward moved a groove lower to take the lane away, a move that worked as he swept the night’s 358-Modified features. Gibbs would again finish in second, with Varin, Friesen, and Barker rounding out the top five. Filling out the top ten were Paul Kinney, Decker, Christian, Henry, and Ramsey.
Point leader Brad Alger charged from 12th to the lead on lap four in the 20 lap Sportsman feature from Casey Williams to grab his third win of the season. Matt Janczuk, Williams, Jason Rood, and Jeremy Vunk filled out the top five spots.
In the Pro Stocks, Tom Denton took advantage of his pole starting spot to nail down his second win of the season. Chasing Denton at the finish was Rob Seavy, Bill Knapp, Jim Normoyle, and Mark Effner.
Ron Hawker led every lap of the 15 lap Pure Stock feature delayed from June 15 to score his second consecutive win, his third of the season, with Chris Carr, Russ Marsden, Phil Norman, and Bill Mason chasing.
In the regularly scheduled Pure Stock event, Marsden grabbed the lead on lap seven from Norman to score his fifth win of the season. Hawker came in second with Carr, Norman, and Waylan Wilczek rounding out the top five spots.
With severe weather bearing down on the region, the six feature program including a full slate of qualifying events was run off in just two and a half hours. As the final checkered flag flew on the night, the much anticipated rain began to fall.
The Empire Super Sprints make a return visit to the “Action Track of the East” this Sunday, July 6 on Gates-Cole Associates and Eppy Electric Night. Joining in the Independence Day celebration will be the 358-Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro Stocks, and Pure Stocks. Gates open at 2:30 p.m. with racing at 5 p.m. A huge fireworks display will cap off the nights activities. For more information, log on to www.uticaromespeedway.com or call (315) 829-4557.
SNO FEST 2009 OLD FORGE NY RACE SUMMARY
358-MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH FROM JUNE 15 (30 LAPS)- PAT WARD, Mitch Gibbs, Willy Decker, Bobby Varin, John Ramsey, Bob Henry Jr., Paul Kinney, Jamie Christian, Gus Schmidt, Billy Shantel Jr., Ted Lamb, AJ Romano, Brad Godshalk, Stewart Friesen, David Orr, Andy Bachetti, Paul Jensen, Jim Davis, Serenity Sutherland, Brian Murphy, and Trevor Sutherland.
358-MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (30 LAPS)- PAT WARD, Mitch Gibbs, Bobby Varin, Stewart Friesen, Alan Barker, Paul Kinney, Willy Decker, Jamie Christian, Bob Henry Jr., John Ramsey, Ted Lamb, Paul Jensen, Billy Shantel Jr., Brad Godshalk, Serenity Sutherland, Trevor Sutherland, Gus Schmidt, David Orr, and AJ Romano.
SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (20 LAPS)- BRAD ALGER, Matt Janczuk, Casey Williams, Jason Rood, Jeremy Vunk, Jeff Leslie, Steve Way, Mike Button, Jim Rothwell, AJ Filbeck, Tim Nye, Jack Miller, Craig Pope, Randy Shantel, Aaron Jacobs, Todd Fey, and Steve Yankowski.
PRO STOCK FEATURE FINISH (20 LAPS)- TOM DENTON, Rob Seavy, Bill Knapp, Jim Normoyle, Mark Effner, Bret Belden, Jack Terrell, Dave Moyer, Shawn Frost, Ed Ostrander, Dave Meeks, Rich Daunehuer, Eric Vanderhoof, Bob Johnson, and AJ Digsby.
PURE STOCK FEATURE FINISH FROM JUNE 15 (15 LAPS)- RON HAWKER, Chris Carr, Russ Marsden, Phil Norman, Bill Mason, Chris Cunningham, Frank Hyatt, Waylan Wilczek, Tim Janczuk, Andy Potter, Cale Hoffman, Mark Whooten, Scott Wheelock, Kelly Pope, and Keith Stevenson.
PURE STOCK FEATURE FINISH- RUSS MARSDEN, Ron Hawker, Chris Carr, Phil Norman, Waylan Wilczek, Tim Janczuk, Frank Hyatt, Bill Mason, Chris Cunningham, Jim Thomas, Mark Whooten, Keith Stevenson, Andy Potter, Ray Sefirn, Scott Wheelock, Rick Condes, Jim Richmond, Chuck Cushman, and Cale Hoffman |
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