TED LAMB RETURNS TO VICTORY LANE AT UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY
ON J.M. UVANNI MOTORS NIGHT
VERNON, NY- Ted Lamb of Clay ended a four year victory drought at Utica-Rome Speedway last Sunday night by winning the DIRT 358 Modified feature event on J.M. Uvanni Motors Night. Lamb started on the pole position and held off Mitch Gibbs at the checkered for his sixth career win at the speedway.
Ted Lamb and John Ramsey led the field to the green flag with Ramsey getting the early advantage on the start. As the field completed lap 5, the top five were Ramsey, Lamb, Jim Rothwell, Paul Kinney, and Jason Barney, with Ramsey holding a very slim lead over Lamb.
Ramsey and Lamb ran side by side while swapping the lead on several occasions with neither driver able to get an advantage over the other. As lap 15 was being counted, Ramsey led over Lamb, Rothwell, Gibbs, and Barney. Lamb took the lead for good on a lap 18 restart over Ramsey, whose fine run ended on lap 23 when he lost power and brought out the final caution of the event.
Lamb raced to a small lead after the restart on lap 23 while Gibbs, Barney, Rothwell, and Gordy Button chased. "Rocky" Rothwell seemed to find new life near the end of the race but had to settle for third behind Lamb and Gibbs, while Barney came to the checkered fourth. Point leader Matt Sheppard drove a steady race from thirteenth starting position to finish fifth. 358 Modified heat wins went to Matt Sheppard, John Ramsey, and Gordy Button.
West Winfield's Kevin Crave charged from starting position number twelve to take the lead on lap 7. As the field took the green on a lap 6 restart, Crave used a daring three wide pass on the outside of turns 1 and 2 on fellow competitors Tim Clemons and Steve Kotary. Crave then raced to the win followed by Clemons, Kotary, Paul Carey, and point leader Jamie Christian. It was Crave's first win of the season and fourth of his career at the track. Heat wins went to Tim Clemons, Paul Carey, and Steve Davis.
Jim Normoyle of Salisbury Center won his third DIRT Pro Stock feature event of the year. Normoyle went from his third starting position and passed early leader AJ Digsby to open a commanding lead over Buddy Hencke, Mark Effner, Jason Rood, and Bill Knapp at the checkered. Mark Effner, Jim Normoyle, and Bret Belden were the heat winners.
Dave Pope, of Taberg, used his pole position in the starting lineup to lead the entire distance in the Pure Stock feature event. Pope was followed by Art Newman, Jim Thomas, George Schulze, and Rick Trexler. The victory was Pope's first career win at the speedway in the Pure Stock ranks. Heat winners were Dave Pope and Chuck Cushman.
Coming up this Thursday, August 22nd ,Tracey Road Equipment/Freightliner Selectrucks presents the Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series for the DIRT Big Block Modifieds plus Pro Stocks. Gates open at 4pm with time trials scheduled to start at 6:30pm. A Victoria 200 All-Star Race qualifying spot is also being awarded to the highest finishing DIRT 358 Modified across the line. Race time is at 7pm. Billy Decker is the defending champion of this event.
On Sunday night, August 25th, J&J Yamaha will sponsor the night activities which include the popular Family Autograph Night. DIRT 358 Modifieds, DIRT Sportsman, DIRT Pro Stocks, and Pure Stocks will participate in a regular event. This night will be the final night of points for DIRT 358 Modifieds. Gates will open at 4pm with racing at 6pm. For more information contact the track at (315) 829-4557 or visit the website at www.uticaromespeedway.com.
358 MODIFIED FEATURE(30 LAPS)- TED LAMB, Mitch Gibbs, Jim Rothwell, Jason Barney, Matt Sheppard, Gordy Button, Todd Burley, Ryan Baye, Jeff Kotary, Pete Taylor, Joe Slawiak, Dave Rauscher, Paul Kinney, Joel Thomas, Heath Carney, Kory Gurney, Aaron Jacobs, John Ramsey, Gil Tegg, Jr, Aaron Excell, Nick Vatalaro, Gus Schmidt, and Todd Thomas DNS- JJ Michaels
DIRT SPORTSMAN FEATURE(20 LAPS)- KEVIN CRAVE, Tim Clemons, Steve Kotary, Paul Carey, Jamie Christian, Jessica Zemken, Daryl Hagen, Bill Shantel, Jr, Steve Davis, John Christian, Dave Bargabos, Tim Mayne, Steve Way, Jeremy Vunk, Billy Price, Jason Potter, Ben Novak, Tim Nye, Jim Roberts, Darren Keyser, Butch Reiter, Brian Murphy, and Brian Johnson DNS- Tom Denton
DIRT PRO STOCK FEATURE(15 LAPS)- JIM NORMOYLE, Buddy Hencke, Mark Effner, Jason Rood, Bill Knapp, Mark Hoffman, Joe Palmer, Dave Meeks, Wayne Archer, Denny Smith, Eric Vanderhoof, Dave Moyer, Bret Belden, Brian Belden, Stan Clark, AJ Digsby, Zig Kellum, Gus Gould, Chris Palmer, Rick Dauenhauer, Chad Ray, Joe Gould, and Randy Cannell DNS- Gerry Newman
PURE STOCK FEATURE(15 LAPS)- DAVE POPE, Art Newman, Jim Thomas, Georege Schulze, Rick Trexler, Chuck Cushman, Rick Condes, Jeff Thorp, Ted Crawford, Don Oldick, Phil Norman, Shannon Shoen, Dave Mannise, Claude Hutchings, Mike Budka Jr, Dana Camenga, Les Lewis, Jerry Button, and Waylan Wilczek