BURLEY ENDS FRIESEN'S STREAK ON WILBER-DUCK CHEVY/BUICK AND GATES-COLE NIGHT

VERNON, NY- On a beautiful Sunday evening, fans were treated to a intense

night of racing on Wilber-Duck Chevy/Gates-Cole night. Todd Burley took home

his first win of the season at the speedway, with Steve Way, Roy Fifield,

Russ Marsden, and Chuck Powelczyk also victorious.

Paul Jensen and Paul Kinney brought the 358-Modified field down to starter

Matt Burdick's green flag with Kinney out front early. After an early

caution for a spun car on lap 1, Brian Weaver took off like a rocket from

his fourth postion and grabbed the lead by the end of lap 2. Weaver sped off

leaving a battle for second behind between Kinney, Jensen, and Bobby Varin.

Varin would win that battle on lap 5 with Jensen settling for third, and

Kinney falling to fourth. On lap 10, Weaver was out front with Varin,

Jensen, Todd Burley, and Kinney rounding out the top five.

Burley began to make his presence felt as he got by both Varin and Jensen as

lap 12 was scored. As lap 15 was clicked off, Weaver was still out front

with Burley trying to run him down, Varin holding on to third, Stewart

Friesen making his way to fourth, and Jensen still riding in fifth. On lap

19, Friesen slipped into third and made it a three-way battle for the top

spot.

Burley used a textbook slide job to get by the front running Weaver on lap

24, leaving Weaver to hold off Friesen. As Burley stretched his lead, Weaver

and Friesen fought back and forth for the runner-up spot. At the checkered,

it was Burley taking his first win of the season at Utica-Rome, with Friesen

using a last turn pass to take second, Weaver falling to third, and Varin

and Jensen in fourth and fifth respectively. Varin, Jensen, and Gus Schmidt

were the heat race winners.

Tim Nye took early command of the Sportsman main event from his outside pole

starting position and led the first 5 circuits. Coming from the 4th starting

position, Steve Way took advantage of a lap 5 restart to take over the top

spot and continued to lead at the halfway point of the 20-lap affair with

Mike Button, Bill Shantel, Jr., Tim Nye, and Butch Reiter chasing. Despite

several more cautions, the most serious when Nye slammed the turn 4 wall

hard, Way would lead the rest of the way. After a race long battle, Button

held on to second over Shantel, with Ken Stafford nipping Jessica Zemken for

4th at the line. The qualifying heats were taken by Nye and Paul Carey.

Searching for his first career Pro Stock victory, Mark Effner held on to the

early lead in the main event. Despite the challenges of Jason Rood and Tom

Denton early part of the 15-lap event, Effner would continue to hold on to

the lead. At lap 6, Roy Fifield broke into the top 5 and started to close in

on the top 3. By the halfway point, Fifield made his way into second behind

Effner, with Denton, Rood, and Jerry Holmes. On lap 9, Fifield nosed ahead

to lead the lap but Effner managed to regain the lead on lap 10. Fifield

then passed Effner for the final time on lap 11, with Effner falling to

second. Behind Fifield, the battle raged on again between Effner, Denton,

and Rood until the the checkered flag. Fifield crossed first, Effner held on

to second, Rood nipping Denton for third, and Holmes coming in fifth. Ed

Ostrander and Rood took the checkers in the heat events.

Ted Crawford used the pole starting spot to take command of the Pure Stock

main event. Crawford would spend most of the early part of the main holding

off the charges of defending champion Art Newman until lap 7 when the winner

of the two previous events, Russ Marsden, would slip into second. Crawford

was leading at the halfway point, with Marsden, Bob Bird, Chris Cunningham,

and Newman. Crawford would fend off the charge of Marsden until lap 12 when

Marsden got a good run off turn 2 to go around the leader Crawford. At the

checkered, Marsden would cross the line in first, with Cunningham sliding by

Crawford late for second, Crawford settled for third, Bird in fourth, and

Newman in fifth. Marsden and Dana Aikens were the victors in the qualifying

heats.

Chuck Powelczyk would charge from his third starting spot at the start of

the Four Cylinder Super Stock feature event and would never be seriously

challenged for the remainder of the 8-lap event. Jim Money, Jack Hill, Lee

Hartzog, and Lorraine Birmangham would follow Powelczyk across the line.

This week will be a busy one at the Utica-Rome Speedway as racing action

will return to the speedway this Wednesday June 23 with C-Weaver and Part

Plus presenting a 50-lap Sunoco/A-plus 358-Modified Championship Qualifier

that will pay $2500 to the winner. The DIRT Sportsman will also see action

with $1000 going to the winner along with the Empire State Series for

IMCA-Modifieds paying $500 to win. Gates will open 4:30 p.m. with racing

starting at 7 p.m. Admission will remain at the regular Sunday admission

prices at both the grandstand and pits. Then the following Sunday, June 27,

Royce International Eyewear will present the 5th annual "Night of Legends

Reunion" and NYSSCA Safety Awards night. On tap will be the Eastern Region

Sunoco Race Fuels Super DIRT Series for Sportsman plus a regular show of

DIRT 358-Modifieds, DIRT Pro Stocks, Pure Stocks, Four Cylinder Super

Stocks. The Midstate Vintage Stock Car Club will also take part in the

festivities. Pit gates open at 3 p.m., grandstands at 3:30 p.m., and racing

at 5:30 p.m. For more information, log on to the speedway website at

www.uticaromespeedway.com or call the speedway office at (315) 829-4557.

WILBER-DUCK CHEVROLET/BUICK RACE SUMMARY

DIRT 358-MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (30 LAPS)- TODD BURLEY, Stewart Friesen,

Brian Weaver, Bob Varin, Paul Jensen, Dave Camara, John Ramsey, Mark Flach,

Jamie Christian, Gus Schmidt, Willy Decker, Dave Rauscher, Paul Kinney, Kory

Gurney, Ken McGwire, Joel Thomas, Todd Thomas, Mitch Gibbs, Jeremy Smith,

Tony Ross, Cass Bennett, Jim Rothwell, and Mark Tily.

DIRT SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (20 LAPS)- STEVE WAY, Mike Button, Bill

Shantel, Jr., Kenny Stafford, Jessica Zemken, Bill Price, Matt Janczuk, Paul

Carey, Jeremy Vunk, Darryl Hagen, Joe Williams, Mike Zimmerman, Stewart

Garrison, John Cunningham, Tim Nye, Kyle Lewis, Butch Reiter, Tim Mayne, and

Sam Reakes, Jr.

DIRT PRO STOCK FEATURE FINISH (15 LAPS)- ROY FIFIELD, Mark Effner, Jason

Rood, Tom Denton, Jerry Holmes, Bret Belden, Todd Hurlburt, Dave Moyer, Ryan

Lund, Brian Belden, AJ Digsby, Jim Normoyle, Ed Ostrander, Eric Vanderhoof,

Craig Hile, and Bob Mills.

PURE STOCK FEATURE FINISH (15 LAPS)- RUSS MARSDEN, Chris Cunningham, Ted

Crawford, Bob Bird, Art Newman, Jim Thomas, Rick Condes, Dana Aikens, Chuck

Cushman, Frank Hyatt, Dave Janczuk, Shawn Dunn, Michael Barney, Dennis Wood,

Ray Fancher, Phil Norman, Dave Pope, and Neil Dixon. DNS-Dave Arbes and Rick

Marshall.

FOUR CYLINDER FEATURE FINISH (8 LAPS)- CHUCK POWELCZYK, Jim Money, Jack

Hill, Lee Hartzog, Lorraine Birmingham, and Joe Delacruz.