HOLMES, SUPRICK, CHRISTIAN, DENTON, & MANNISE TAKE MEMORIAL WEEKEND WINS AT
UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY ON STADIUM INTERNATIONAL NIGHT
VERNON, NY – Oneida’s Ron Holmes used the pole starting position to his advantage and won in convincing style his first DIRT 358 Modified feature of the 2000 season at the New Utica-Rome Speedway on Stadium International Night. Other winners were Clarks Summit, PA’s George Suprick in the ELS Super Sprints, West Winfield’s Jamie Christian in the DIRT Sportsman, Bridgewater’s Tom Denton in the DIRT Pro Stocks, and Fulton’s Dave Mannise in the Pure Stocks.
Ron Holmes and Mitch Gibbs lead the DIRT 358 Modifieds down to the flags of Starter Chip Burdick, and Gibbs took the lead. However, the action was immediately slowed when Billy Wilcox made contact with the turn three wall. He was able to continue after a quick pit stop.
On the restart, Gibbs resumed his lead, as J.J. Michaels and Ron Holmes battled it out for the second spot. Todd Burley was on the move, from deep in the top ten, as he moved into fifth on lap 7. On lap 8, the yellow came out for a double spin, involving Mike Fusco and Rich Price in turn one.
The green came out on the restart, and immediately Burley put his foot to the firewall, moving from fifth to third in one lap. Holmes began challenging Gibbs for the lead, but a yellow on lap 10 for a spin by Rich Price slowed his progress.
On the restart, Michaels took fifth from Ryan Baye, while Holmes took the lead from Gibbs on lap 12. Burley was on the move once again, as he moved in on Gibbs. Burley seemed to be on a mission, as he got past Gibbs on lap 14 and set his sights on the leader, Ron Holmes.
At the halfway point, the top five was Holmes, followed by Burley, Gibbs, Michaels, and Jason Barney.
Lap 17 was wild to say the least, as Burley caught Holmes and the Utica-Rome race fans were cheering loudly. Going into turn three, Burley drove it in deep, and took the lead in a bonsai move over Holmes. However, Holmes did a slingshot slidejob off turn four and retook the lead with a spectacular move.
The race was slowed for the final time on lap 20, when Roger Phelps slowed. On the restart, Holmes continued his lead. Gibbs, with a few laps to go, found some extra bite on the high side, and took third from J.J. Michaels, and tried to reel in Burley. Holmes opened up a lead over Burley on the final few circuits, and he went on to his first DIRT 358 Modified victory of the 2000 season at Utica-Rome. Following Holmes across the finish line, it was Burley, Gibbs, Michaels, and Pete Bicknell.
After the feature, the popular local driver Ron Holmes commented, "This Bicknell chassis was awesome tonight. Burley had me really worried there when he got by me, but I passed him again in the next corner. We really ran good tonight, and it has been a good weekend for us, after finishing fifth at Fonda and now the win here at Utica-Rome."
358 Modified heat wins went to Holmes, Gibbs, Baye, and Michaels, while the Modified Consis went to Alton Palmer and Jeremy Smith.
The ELS Super Sprint feature was led out of turn four by Dave Wickham and Warren Alexson. Right away, a serious red flag situation occurred when several of the top ten starters came together, causing a terrifying flip by popular local driver and 1999 ELS Champion, Gordy Button. Button’s car flew high into the air, coming down hard onto the track surface. The Button No. 714 was heavily damaged, with the front wheels torn off and the wing mangled. Also involved in the accident were Russ Bennett and Buzz Wilson, and none of the cars were able to continue.
Unfortunately, Button was transported to the Oneida Healthcare Center, where he was found to have a serious knee injury that will require major surgery on Monday morning. Button could be out of ELS competition for quite some time as a long healing process is expected. Please keep Gordy Button and family in your thoughts and prayers as he recovers from his horrifying flip
On the restart, Dave Wickham jumped out to the early lead, while John Lieto put the pressure on him from behind. The yellow came out on lap 4 for Bill Bailey, who spun in turn four. On the restart, Lieto stole the lead from Wickham, as Rich Wood, who was riding the cushion, moved onto the top five on lap 6.
The next yellow came out on lap 7, for early leader Wickham, who spun in turn one. On the restart, George Suprick hit the hammer and attempted to pass Lieto for the lead. However, a quick yellow flag situation occurred, as John Karklin, Mike Miller, and Bill Bailey came together in turn one.
On the restart, Suprick went side by side with Lieto for the lead, but on lap 10, Lieto made a mistake, when he jumped the dirt berm on the inside of turn one, causing him to spin. He collected Rich Wood, but both cars were able to continue. This left Suprick the leader of the event.
On the restart, Suprick opened up a huge lead. On lap 12, Rick Hart took second from Alexson, who then lost third from Brian Dumigan. Suprick blistered the Utica-Rome Speedway with some quick lap times over the final few laps, but he was slowed on the white flag lap for a yellow in turn four involving Bill Bailey and Carmen Carnibucci Jr.
On the restart, Suprick had the race all under control as he went on to his first win of the 2000 season in ELS action. Following Suprick across the finish line, it was Hart, Dumigan, Alexson, and Jeff Thomas.
ELS Sprint Car heats were won by Button, Suprick, and Lieto.
Jim Smith took the early lead in the DIRT Sportsman feature, but defending Track Champion, Jamie Christian, stole the lead from him on the second circuit. The yellow flag came out on lap 3, when Paul Carey hit the turn four wall, collecting Steve Anderson, Scott MacCue, Tim Mayne and Ron Richardson. Mayne and Richardson were done for the night.
On the restart, Willy Decker took over the second spot and set his sights on Christian. Several other cautions slowed the race, and Decker caught Christian with a few laps to go. However, Christian proved to be the best car, as he took home his first win of the 2000 season at Utica-Rome over Decker, John Christian, Craig Pritchard, and Kevin Crave.
Smith, Decker, and Jamie Christian won the Sportsman heat races.
Scott Moyer took the lead on lap one of the DIRT Pro Stock feature, but on lap 2, defending Track Champion, Tom Denton took over the top spot. Several yellows slowed the action, as a fierce battle for position in the top five raged on between Mike Fritz and Bret Belden. Denton had a tremendous lead over the rest of the pack as he took home his second win of the 2000 season at Utica-Rome. After Denton, it was Scott Moyer, John Roese, Bret Belden, and Mike Fritz.
Scott Moyer and Denton won pro Stock heat races.
Chuck Cushman was the early leader of the Pure Stock feature, but Dave Mannise took the top spot over on lap 2. Racing was hot and heavy, as several of the top drivers raced for position in the top five. Mannise was too strong on this night, as he won his second feature of the 2000 season at Utica-Rome. He was followed by Cushman, Chad Ray, Jay Finch, and Waylan Wilczek.
Pure Stock heat wins went to Cushman, Mannise, and Staats.
Coming up this Sunday June 4 at the New Utica-Rome Speedway will be the debut of the all-new Slingshot division in the New York State Slingshot Series Championship. Also in competition will be the DIRT 358 Modifieds, DIRT Sportsman, DIRT Pro Stocks, and Pure Stocks. After the races, a $500 to win Demolition Derby will be held on the frontstretch. The gates will open at 4pm and racing will 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: 141 cars, including 34 Modifieds, 30 ELS Super Sprints, 28 Sportsman, 22 Pro Stocks, 25 Pure Stocks, and 2 Slingshots were in attendance for the Memorial Weekend Celebration. A spectacular crowd packed the grandstands and saw some excellent DIRT Motorsports action on a special holiday weekend. Defending DIRT 358 Modified Track Champion, Dale Planck, was forced to sit the evening out, after his No. 77x developed problems. Two Slingshot drivers, Brian Howland and Kory Gurney had some seat time in their Slingshots on the half-mile track.
NEW UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY
STADIUM INTERNATIONAL NIGHT
RACE DATE: SUNDAY MAY 28, 2000
DIRT 358 Modifieds (30 Laps) – 1)RON HOLMES, 2)Todd Burley, 3)Mitch Gibbs, 4)J.J. Michaels, 5)Pete Bicknell, 6)Gus Schmidt, 7)Jason Barney, 8)Ryan Baye, 9)Andy Romano, 10)Billy Wilcox, 11)John Barker Jr., 12)Tim Clemons, 13)Mike Fusco, 14)John Ramsey, 15)Pete Taylor, 16)Mike Hulsizer, 17)Alton Palmer, 18)Jeremy Smith, 19)Joe Slawiak, 20)Joel Thomas, 21)Steve Hulsizer, 22)Roger Phelps, 23)Mark Schoonover, 24)Rich Price.
Did Not Qualify – Tim Murphy Jr., Jeff Kotary, Dale Planck, Jim Rothwell, Mike Jacobs, Lansing Petzholdt, Bill Shantel Sr., Steve Eldred, Mike Gillette, Ken Hanson.
Lap Leaders – Gibbs (1-11), Holmes (12-30).
ELS Super Sprints (20 Laps) – 1)GEORGE SUPRICK, 2)Rick Hart, 3)Brian Dumigan, 4)Warren Alexson,
5)Jeff Thomas, 6)Eric Robinson, 7)John Karklin, 8)Brian Grisel, 9)Dave Wickham, 10)John Lieto, 11)John Wrobleski, 12)Mike Barlow, 13)Bill Guertin, 14)Bob Wade, 15)Steve Rutkowski, 16)Mike Miller, 17)Aaron Thayer, 18)Carmen Carnibucci Jr., 19)Bill Bailey, 20)Rich Wood, 21)Frank Longo, 22)Gordy Button, 23)Russ Bennett, 24)Buzz Wilson.
Did Not Qualify – Curtis Bradshaw, Darrell Bragman, Thomas Fletcher, Mike Young, Dale Planck, Jeff Reis.
Lap Leaders – Wickham (1-4), Lieto (5-10), Suprick (11-20).
DIRT Sportsman (20 Laps) – 1)JAMIE CHRISTIAN, 2)Willy Decker, 3)John Christian, 4)Craig Pritchard, 5)Kevin Crave, 6)Dan Yankowski, 7)Bill Shantel Jr., 8)Paul Carey, 9)Paul Kinney, 10)Dave Bargabos, 11)Steve Anderson, 12)Jim Smith, 13)Steve Way, 14)Scott Macue, 15)Geoff VanRiper, 16)Anthony Fiorentino, 17)Skip French, 18)Pete Nowicki Jr., 19)John Kinsella, 20)Jim Roberts, 21)Shawn Donath, 22)Butch Reiter, 23)Arnie Slade, 24)Tim Mayne, 25)Jeff Witt, 26)Tim Ross, 27)Ron Richardson. DNS – Brian Murphy.
Lap Leaders – Smith (1), Ja. Christian (2-20).
DIRT Pro Stocks (15 Laps) – 1)TOM DENTON, 2)Scott Moyer, 3)John Roese, 4)Bret Belden, 5)Mike Fritz, 6)Dave Moyer, 7)Jason Rood, 8)Jerry Holmes, 9)Wayne Archer, 10)Gerry Newman, 11)Stan Clark, 12)John Kiskiel, 13)Brett Haman, 14)Richard Stevenson, 15)Doug Grimaldi, 16)Eric Vanderhoof, 17)Gus Gould, 18)Ed Kotary, 19)Bill Knapp, 20)Aaron Jacobs, 21)Chuck Mathews, 22)Chuck Jones.
Lap Leaders – S. Moyer (1), Denton (2-15).
Pure Stocks (15 Laps) – 1)DAVE MANNISE, 2)Chuck Cushman, 3)Chad Ray, 4)Jay Finch, 5)Waylan Wilczek, 6)Jim Thomas, 7)Jeff Pastorella, 8)Mark Effner, 9)Art Newman Jr., 10)Rob Seavy, 11)George Schulze, 12)Bobby Newman, 13)Dave Pope, 14)Walt Koperda, 15)Jeremy Bargabos, 16)Cali Hall, 17)Ray Fancher, 18)Bob Gloska, 19)Scott Simzer, 20)Matt Spisak, 21)Herm Staats, 22)Dan Congden, 23)David Kirk, 24)Bill Lashen. DNS – Dave Arbes.
Lap Leaders – Cushman (1), Mannise (2-15).