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FRIESEN TAKES 5TH WIN




FRIESEN TAKES 5TH WIN OF THE SEASON AT UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY ON MIRABITO FUEL GROUP AND C-WEAVER CHEVY NIGHT

VERNON, NY- An action packed evening thrilled the large Utica-Rome Speedway as Stewart Friesen, Mike Button, Tom Denton, Russ Marsden, Dan Kaszubinski, and Cory Sparks took home the laurels in their respective division. The evening, which was sponsored by the Mirabito Fuel Group and C-Weaver Chevrolet, was capped off by a huge fireworks display.

Jim Rothwell jumped out to the early lead of the 30-lap 358-Modified main event from his pole starting position with Mitch Gibbs following in second. Gibbs would get by Rothwell at the completion of lap 2 and speed off in search of his first Utica-Rome Speedway of 2004. With the race still under green, Todd Burley and Stewart Friesen were blazing a path to the front. Burley would be the first to pressure the front running Gibbs with Friesen right behind. Bobby Varin would join the battle on lap 9 as he closed in on the front running trio. As lap 12 was being scored, Gibbs, Burley, and Friesen would go 3-wide for the top spot with Friesen winning the battle. Still under green at the halfway point, it was Friesen, Gibbs, Varin, Burley, and Dave Camara holding the top 5 positions.

With Friesen easily out front, the battle for second was still being waged between Gibbs, Varin, and Burley with the position changing hands lap after lap. Varin would take the runner-up spot on lap 19 with Burley also getting by Gibbs to take third. Still running caution free, was way out front lapping the field by the handful as Varin, Burley, and Gibbs still fighting the second spot. At the lap 29 mark, Varin got pushed out over the top of turn 3, bringing out the first caution of the night. On the restart, Gibbs and Burley both made a run at Friesen with Gibbs able to get along side the Madsen Motorsports racer, but Friesen would hang on to collect his 5th win of the 2004 campaign. Burley would get by Gibbs to finish second, with Gibbs third, Camara fourth, and Varin recovering for fifth. The heats went Friesen, Dave Rauscher, and Camara.

Rookie Sportsman driver Kyle Lewis led the field to the green flag and would hold the lead position for the opening 3 laps until he yielded the top spot to Mike Button. Button would lead the next two circuits and then Lewis would slide by again on lap 6 but on lap 7 Button would again get by, bringing Darryl Hagen with him. Hagen would get by Button to lead the halfway point with Button, Lewis, Paul Carey, and Jessica Zemken trailing. As lap 11 was being scored, Hagen would slide up and over the cushion letting Button regain the lead. Hagen would recover to hound the leader until Carey took over the runnerup position and set sail for the leader. Button would hold on until the end this week and score his first win of the season at the Utica-Rome Speedway. Carey crossed in the second position with Bill Price, Kenny Stafford, and Hagen following. Sportsman qualifying events went to Matt Janczuk and Hagen.

Bob Mills took early control of the Pro Stock feature event, leading the first 7 laps as Bret Belden, Jerry Holmes, Tom Denton, and Dave Moyer fighting for the top 5 positions. Holmes would slip by to lead lap 8 only to lose the lead to Denton on lap 10. Holmes would recover to retake the lead on lap 11, but Denton would again grab the lead on lap 12 and hold on to the end of the 15-lap event. Belden, Moyer, Mills, and Ryan Lund would fill out the top 5. Moyer and Roy Fifield would be the heat winners.

Next up was the Pure Stock main event with Dave Janczuk taking early control of the event. After following in second for several laps, Dave Pope would take the lead on lap 6. Russ Marsden would get the lead the following lap and never be headed from that point on. Pope, Janczuk, Chuck Cushman, and Dana Aikens would follow Marsden to the finish line.

In the companion open wheeled events, Cory Sparks was the victor in the Central New York Mini-Sprints while Dan Kaszubinski took home the top honors in the Empire Super Sprint 25-lap main event.

The next event on the schedule is on July 11 with the Midseason Spectacular with J&J Yamaha, JM Uvanni Motors, and John's Auto Restoration presenting the night's action. Double points will be on the line in the 358-Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro Stocks, Pure Stocks, and Four Cylinder Super Stocks. The IMCA Modifieds will make their weekly debut for a regular point show. Gates will open at 3 p.m. and racing at 5:30 p.m. The following Wednesday on July 14, Mirabito "The Energy Leader" and Wilber-Duck Chevy/Buick will present the rain delayed Turning Stone Casino Super DIRT Series for the 358-Modifieds (100 laps) and the Sunoco Race Fuels Sportsman Super DIRT Series (30 laps) that was originally scheduled for May 9. Gates will open at 4:30 p.m. with time trials at 7 p.m., and racing at 7:30 p.m.



MIRABITO FUEL GROUP AND C-WEAVER CHEVY/BUICK RACE SUMMARY



DIRT 358-MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (30 LAPS)- STEWART FRIESEN, Todd Burley, Mitch Gibbs, Dave Camara, Bobby Varin, Brian Weaver, Willy Decker, Gus Schmidt, Jamie Christian, Mark Flach, Paul Jensen, Tony Ross, Dave Rauscher, John Ramsey, Jim Rothwell, Ken McGuire, Keith Flach, Kory Gurney, Todd Thomas, Mark Tily, and Joel Thomas.

DIRT SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (20 LAPS)- MIKE BUTTON, Paul Carey, Bill Price, Kenny Stafford, Darryl Hagen, Bill Shantel, Jr., Kyle Lewis, Jessica Zemken, Jeremy Vunk, Steve Way, Jamie Yannone, Matt Janczuk, Pat O'Hanlan, Steve Way, Sam Reakes Jr.

DIRT PRO STOCK FEATURE FINISH (15 LAPS)- TOM DENTON, Bret Belden, Dave Moyer, Bob Mills, Ryan Lund, Jim Normoyle, Jason Rood, Craig Hale, Jerry Holmes, Bill Knapp, Roy Fifield, Scott Tifft, John Pietrowicz, Ed Ostrander, Brian Belden, Eric Vanderhoof, Todd Hurlburt, Mark Effner, AJ Digsy, and Pete Gullick.

PURE STOCK FEATURE FINISH (15 LAPS)- RUSS MARSDEN, Dave Pope, Dave Janczuk, Chuck Cushman, Dana Aikens, Zeke McKeown, Phil Norman, Bob Bird, Art Newman, Rick Condes, George Schulze, Jeff Thorp, Steve Delano, Ricky Marshall, Frank Hyatt, Ted Crawford, Dennis Wood, Shawn Dunn, Chris Cunningham, Andy Szewczyk, and Jim Thomas.

CNY MINI-SPRINT TOP 10 FEATURE FINISH (15 LAPS)- CORY SPARKS, Jared Fink, Brint Hockenberry, Pat Kurner, Gary Moore, Don Harvey, Robby Sergent, Dale Beach, Dennis Fink, and Al Serbo.

ESS TOP 10 FEATURE FINISH (25 LAPS)- DAN KASZUBINSKI, Justin Barger, Jeff VanDusen, Tim Kelly, Doug Emery, Lance Yonge, Bob Podolak, Mike Stelter, Don Sharp, and Matt Norrie.