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VERNON, NY- Mother nature finally cooperated this past Sunday evening at t he Utica-Rome Speedway, and the fans responded by coming out in droves to see incredible racing in all divisions. The jam packed grandstand was treated to last lap passes for the win, late race challenges for the win, and great racing in all divisions on Gates-Cole Associates Inc. night.
John Ramsey and Alan Barker led the 25 car Modified starting field to the green flag with Ramsey getting the early lead. Ramsey would lead the first four laps, with eighth place starter Ronnie Johnson charging through to gain the top spot on lap five. The only caution of the evening came out on the 11th circuit. This allowed the field to catch the leader Ronnie Johnson, with Mitch Gibbs, Barker, Danny Varin, and Brad Alger holding the remaining top five positions.
The restart saw Johnson and Gibbs20take off from the field, leaving Barker in the clutches of the rest of the field. Just past the halfway point, Bobby Varin and Stewart Friesen broke into the top five with Friesen coming from deep in the field after starting from the 15th spot. With the battle for the third, fourth, and fifth spot especially heated, Gibbs and Johnson were waging a battle for the lead.
The leaders ran nose to tail for several circuits until Gibbs pulled alongside Johnson on lap 19 and on the following circuit, Gibbs was in command of the talent laden field. Gibbs would race away for the popular 30 lap $2,000 victory, his first in four seasons while Johnson, a rapidly closing Friesen, Bobby Varin, and Willy Decker coming across the line in the top five spots. Rounding out the top ten was Pat Ward, Barker, Todd Burley, Jack Johnson, and Jamie Christian.
AJ Filbeck led the opening circuit of the 20 lap Sportsman feature event, taking the lead from his outside pole starting spot. Under the long green flag session to start the event, Filbeck looked strong as he began to power from the field, with the usual cast of drivers were making their charge to the front. When the first caution of the event flew on lap eight, Filbeck was the leader followed by 2009 feature event winners Steve Way and Bill Trexler Jr. Rounding out the top five at that point was Greg Doust and Jim Rothwell. On the restart, Way took command of the field with a pass of Filbeck.
The benefactor of the caution was 11th place starter Matt Janczuk as he powered from the sixth spot to second in the span of one lap to gain the runner up spot by lap nine. Another long green flag session had Janczuk trying to run down Way for the win, but it appeared that Way would get his second win of the season until the yellow flew again on lap 19, setting a one=2 0lap shootout for the win. Janczuk dove to the bottom of turns one and two when the green came out and just pulled ahead of Way down the backstretch. As the duo got into the third turn, Janczuk slammed the door shut and raced away for his first win of 2009. Way came across in second, followed by Jason Rood, Trexler, and Jeff Leslie.
In Pro Stock action, Jim Normoyle Jr. led the opening lap of the 20 lap event only to yield the top spot to his father and defending track champion Jim Normoyle taking over on the second circuit. While Normoyle was running away up front, current point leader and two time winner Tom Denton was charging from his 12th starting spot. Without the aid of cautions, Denton broke into the top five on lap five and into the top three by lap nine. Lap 11, Denton was into second and looking for more, by despite his best efforts, Normoyle would take his first win of the season. Denton crossed in second right on Normoyle’s bumper with Bret Belden in third, Shawn Frost in fourth, and Rob Seavy in the fifth spot.
Bill Mason and Ron Hawker each took turns leading the Pure Stock main event, but defending champion Chris Carr came from eighth to the lead by lap three. Hawker tried to keep it close but Carr would hang on to score the win in the 15 lap affair. Hawker came home in second with Mason, Frank Hyatt, and Jim Thomas chasing.
See Empire Super Sprint release for complete results.
Weekly racing continues this coming Sunday May 31 with a regular show of Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro Stocks, and Pure Stocks. Gates open at 3 p.m. with racing action beginning at 5:30 p.m. Check www.uticaromespeedway.com or call the speedway office at (315) 829-4557 for more information.
GATES-COLE ASSOCIATES INC RACE SUMMARY
MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (30 LAPS)- MITCH GIBBS, Ronnie Johnson, Stewart Friesen, Bobby Varin, Willy Decker, Pat Ward, Alan Barker, Todd Burley, Jack Johnson, Jamie Christian, Danny Varin, Bob Henry Jr., Casey Williams, Kyle Lewis, Brad Alger, Paul Jensen, Dave Rauscher, Ted Lamb, Billy Price, Paul Kinney, Ken McGuire, Tim Mayne, David Orr, Brian Weaver, and John Ramsey.
SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (20 LAPS)- MATT JANCZUK, Steve Way, Jason Rood, Bill Trexler Jr., Jeff Leslie, Greg Doust, Jim Rothwell, AJ Filbeck, Jeremy Vunk, Mike Button, John Scarborough, Michael Teachout, Jack Miller, John Deforest, Aaron Jacobs, Claude Hutchings Jr., Christine Martin, Craig Pope, and Shane Jablonka.
PRO STOCK FEATURE FINISH (20 LAPS)- JIM NORMOYLE, Tom Denton, Bret Belden, Shawn Frost, Rob Seavy, Rocky Warner, Ivan Joslin, Bill Knapp, Pete Broderson, Dan Peo, AJ Digsby, J im Normoyle Jr., Jeff Pastorella, Dave Meeks, Ryan Lund, Ed Ostrander, and Rich Dauenhauer. DNS- Chris Mackey and Mark Effner.
PURE STOCK FEATURE FINISH (15 LAPS)- CHRIS CARR, Ron Hawker, Bill Mason, Frank Hyatt, Jim Thomas, Cale Hoffman, Justin Knight, Chris Cunningham, Jim Richmond, Keith Stevenson, Rob Thieme, Mike Harrison, Andy Potter, and Phil Norman.
LUCAS OIL EMPIRE SUPER SPRINT FEATURE FINISH (25 LAPS)- JESSICA ZEMKEN, Tim Kelly, Lance Yonge, Steve Poirier, Tommy Wickham, Chuck Hebing, Cory Sparks, Doug Emery, Justin Barger, Bubby Kerrick, Brandon Warner, George Suprick, Michael Parent, Anthony Cain, Rick Wilson, Jeff VanDusen, Mike Stelter, Jeff Cook, Daniel Lampron, Brian McDonald, Warren Alexson, Jason Barney, Gordy Button, and Dan Kaszubinski. |
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