TODD BURLEY WINS 358 MODIFIED THRILLER AT UTICA-ROME
VERNON, NY – Spencerport’s Todd Burley advanced from 15th starting position to take the lead from Dale Planck on lap 26 in an exciting DIRT 358 Modified feature at New Utica-Rome Speedway. Other feature winners were West Winfield’s Jamie Christian in the DIRT Sportsman, Bridgewater’s Tom Denton in the DIRT Pro Stocks, Fulton’s Dave Mannise in the Pure Stocks, Utica’s David Nimey in the Senior Slingshots, and Auburn’s Brian Howland in the Junior Slingshots.
Rich Price and Jeremy Smith lead the headline DIRT 358 Modified feature down to the flags of Starter Chip Burdick, and Smith took the top spot. Dale Planck, Ron Holmes, and Steve Hulsizer moved from mid pack into the top five as Rich Price took the lead on the fifth lap. Planck then took the lead from Price on lap 7. Holmes took over second from Price on lap 10, while J.J. Michaels made his presence known as he moved into the top five a lap later. Michaels was running fast, as he took fourth from Steve Hulsizer, and then third from Price a couple laps later.
At the halfway point, the top five was Planck, followed by Holmes, Michaels, Price, and Hulsizer. This set up a tremendous battle for the next half of the race, with many of the hot shoes still moving towards the front.
Holmes seemed to be faster than Planck, and he began reeling him in on lap on lap 17. Just as Planck encountered heavy lapped traffic on lap 19 with Holmes on his tail, the first yellow of the race came out for Tim Clemons, who slowed on the backstretch.
On the restart, Holmes took the lead. Then a heart stopping three-car battle for the top spot began between Holmes, Planck, and Michaels with Mitch Gibbs sneaking into the fray. The group of four raced side by side for the lead as if it were a pace lap, with Planck becoming the leader on lap 22 and Michaels in second, with Holmes falling back in third. The battle raged on, and Holmes moved back up to second with the top four still bunched together.
Holmes kept applying the pressure on Planck, but going into turn two, he got loose and spun, collecting Michaels, Gibbs, and Bachetti. Michaels continued with crunched right side sheet metal and some rear end damage without losing any spots, but Holmes went pitside and later returned. However, Gibbs was done for the night.
Would that ruin a great race? Not on this night at Utica-Rome. On the lap 24 restart, Michaels went for the lead, but coming from nowhere was Todd Burley, who benefited from the yellow and the loss of Holmes, Gibbs, and Bachetti. Burley made it a three-car battle for the lead, with Planck on the high side, Michaels down low, and Burley right behind. Going into turn one, Burley somehow split and squeezed his way between Michaels and Planck, and went from third to first in one corner. It was an excellent move by Burley, known as "The Tornado." Burley opened a big lead over the next few laps, but he was momentarily slowed for a yellow flag on lap 28 for Rich Price and Jeff Kotary, who spun in turn two.
On the restart, Burley took off, but the battle raged on for the second spot. Michaels took the spot, but Planck retook it a lap later. At the finish line, it was Burley for his first win of the season at Utica-Rome, followed by Planck, Michaels, Gus Schmidt, and Steve Hulsizer.
After his big win, Burley commented, "This Troyer 4-Link was working great tonight, and I’m really glad. We started in the back and kept moving up, with a little help from the yellows. We were really lucky to finish this one because we had a problem with the driveshaft. I don’t think we would have made it another lap! I’d like to thank Sweet Racing Promotions, New England Race Fuels, and my crew for helping me get here tonight."
The DIRT 358 Modified feature was one of the more memorable races in recent memory at Utica-Rome. It featured six lead changes, among five different drivers, and it definitely kept Utica-Rome race fans on the edge of their seats!
Planck, Smith, and Gibbs won the DIRT 358 Modified heat races, while Phelps and Barney won the consolation races.
Jim Smith grabbed the lead on lap 1 of the DIRT Sportsman feature, but Jamie Christian took it over on the third circuit. Willy Decker was on the move, as he took the second spot on lap 5 from Smith. Christian was never seriously challenged by Decker the rest of the way, and Christian hung on for his second consecutive feature win on the 2000 season at Utica-Rome. After Christian and Decker, it was Kevin Crave in third, Clayton Brewer in fourth in a fine run for the youngster and Tim French in fifth.
DIRT Sportsman heat races were won by Smith, Decker, Brewer, and Tim French, while the consolation races were won by Bill Deckelman, and Steve Davis.
Stan Clark took the early lead at the beginning of the DIRT Pro Stock feature. After a quick caution, Dave Moyer took the top spot over on lap 5, with Jerry Holmes right behind and Tom Denton on the move from deep in the pack. Heading into lapped traffic on lap 10, Denton saw an opportunity to take the lead. In a spectacular three wide move with Moyer and Holmes, Denton went through the middle to take the lead from Moyer. Denton opened a huge lead, and he led the final few circuits to take home his third feature of the season at Utica-Rome. After Denton, it was Jerry Holmes, Dave Moyer, Bill Knapp, and Wayne Archer.
DIRT Pro Stock heat wins went to Dave Moyer and Wayne Archer.
Jim Thomas became the first leader of the Pure Stock feature event, but he bobbled on lap 4, giving the lead to Dave Mannise. Jeff Pastorella pressured Mannise for the lead for the rest of the race, but Mannise held him off for his third win of the season at Utica-Rome. After Mannise and Pastorella, it was Herm Staats in third, Chad Ray in fourth, and Waylan Wilczek in fifth.
Thomas, Pastorella, and Mannise won pure Stock heat races.
An excellent turnout of 16 Slingshots was on hand for their first ever races at the speedway. Kyle Reuter was the early leader in the Junior event, but he slowed on the fifth circuit, handing the lead to Brian Howland. Howland led the rest of the way and took his first checkered flag over Reuter, A.J. Kingsley, and Kory Guerney. Jackie Botindari took off from her pole starting position to take the lead in the Senior division feature. However, David Nimey was on the move from deep in the pack. He caught Botindari on lap 6 and took the lead. Nimey held on to take home the win, followed by Botindari, Fred Helman, Dave Barrows, and Ryan Phelps.
Slingshot heat races went to Kyle Reuter in the Junior division, while Jackie Botindari and Fred Helmer won the Senior division heats.
After the races, a 12-car demolition derby was held, and Harold Kitchen survived to take home the $500 winner’s share.
Coming up this Sunday June 11 at the speedway will be the annual Family Autograph Night, where race fans may get autographs of their favorite driver. Also scheduled are regular races for all divisions, including the DIRT 358 Modifieds, DIRT Sportsman, DIRT Pro Stocks, Pure Stocks, and Slinghots. The gates will open at 4pm and Slingshot heat races will begin at 5:45pm. with the other division heats to begin at 6pm. For more information, contact the speedway office at (315) 829-4557 or visit the official internet website at www.newuticaromespeedway.com.
Notes: 32 DIRT 358 Modifieds, 33 DIRT Sportsman, 21 DIRT Pro Stocks, 24 Pure Stocks, and 16 Slingshots were on hand for the evening’s events.
NEW UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY
DIRT 358 Modifieds (30 Laps) – 1)TODD BURLEY, 2)Dale Planck, 3)J.J. Michaels, 4)Gus Schmidt, 5)Steve Hulsizer, 6)Roger Phelps, 7)Ryan Baye, 8)Ronnie Johnson, 9)Jack Johnson, 10)Andy Bachetti, 11)Billy Wilcox, 12)Ron Holmes, 13)Mike Fusco, 14)Jason Barney, 15)John Ramsey, 16)Jim Rothwell, 17)Mike Hulsizer, 18)Bob Sitterly, 19)Tim Murphy Jr., 20)Jeremy Smith, 21)Rich Price, 22)Pete Taylor, 23)Jeff Kotary, 24)Mitch Gibbs, 25)Tim Clemons. DNS – John Barker Jr.
Did Not Qualify – Andy Romano, Ken Hanson, Joe Slawiak, Mark Schoonover, Mike Gillette, Joel Thomas.
Lap Leaders – Smith (1-4), Price (5-6), Planck (7-20), Holmes (21), Planck (22-25), Burley (26-30).
DIRT Sportsman (20 Laps) – 1) JAMIE CHRISTIAN, 2)Willy Decker, 3)Kevin Crave, 4)Clayton Brewer, 5)Tim French, 6)Jim Smith, 7)John Kinsella, 8)Paul Carey, 9)Steve Anderson, 10)Craig Pritchard, 11)Ron Richardson, 12)Dave Bargabos, 13)Steve Kotary, 14)Bill Deckelman, 15)Bill Shantel Jr., 16)Butch Reiter, 17)John Christian, 18)Pete Nowicki Jr., 19)Steve Davis, 20)Geoff VanRiper, 21)Dan Yankowski, 22)Paul Kinney, 23)Jim Roberts, 24)Tim Mayne.
Did Not Qualify – Ed Ferris, Skip French, Jason Potter, Daryl Hagen, Rich Keller, Brian Murphy, Shawn Donath, Steve Way, Jeff Witt.
Lap Leaders – Smith (1-3), Ja. Christian (4-20).
DIRT Pro Stocks (15 Laps) – 1)TOM DENTON, 2)Jerry Holmes, 3)Dave Moyer, 4)Bill Knapp, 5)Wayne Archer, 6)Bret Belden, 7)Scott Moyer, 8)Jason Rood, 9)John Kiskiel, 10)Ed Kotary, 11)Stan Clark, 12)Doug Grimaldi, 13)Chuck Jones, 14)Aaron Jacobs, 15)Richard Stevenson, 16)Jason Doxtader, 17)John Roese, 18)Gus Gould, 19)Brett Haman, 20)Chuck Mathews, 21)Eric Vanderhoof.
Lap Leaders – Clark (1-5), D. Moyer (6-8), Denton (9-15).
Pure Stocks (15 Laps) – 1)DAVE MANNISE, 2)Jeff Pastorella, 3)Herm Staats, 4)Chad Ray, 5)Waylan Wilczek, 6)Mark Effner, 7)Jim Thomas, 8)Art Newman Jr., 9)George Schulze, 10)Bobby Newman, 11)Bill Mason, 12)Jeremy Bargabos, 13)Dennis Kelly, 14)Cali Hall, 15)Dave Arbes, 16)Scott Simzer, 17)Walt Koperda, 18)Ray Fancher, 19)Bill Lashen, 20)Chuck Cushman, 21)David Pope, 22)Matt Spisak. DNS – Rob Seavy, Dan Congden.
Lap Leaders – Thomas (1-2), Mannise (3-15).
Senior Slingshots (15 Laps) – 1)DAVID NIMEY, 2)Jackie Botindari, 3)Fred Helman, 4)Dave Barrows, 5)Ryan Phelps, 6)Tim Lotz, 7)Todd Land, 8)Bob Hoffman, 9)Denny Tilison, 10)Mike Waterman, 11)Jerry Zenzillo, 12)Pete Neff.
Lap Leaders – Botindari (1-5), Nimey (6-15).
Junior Slingshots (10 Laps) – 1)BRIAN HOWLAND, 2)Kyle Reuter, 3)A.J. Kingsley, 4)Kory Guerney.
Lap Leaders – Reuter (1-5), Howland (6-10).