"THE DOCTOR" DANNY JOHNSON MAKES A SUPER DIRT SERIES HOUSE CALL AT UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY; WILLY DECKER AND TOM DENTON ALSO VICTORIOUS
VERNON, NY – Rochester’s Danny Johnson opened the Sunoco Race Fuels 358 Modified Super DIRT Series on Sunday May 14 with a 100-lap feature win at the New Utica-Rome Speedway. Also winning features on the Nice N’ Easy Grocery Shoppes Mother’s Day Special were Vernon’s Willy Decker in the DIRT Sportsman and Bridgewater’s Tom Denton in the DIRT Pro Stocks.
Ron Holmes and Jerry Higbie Jr. led the 34 car starting field down to the flags of Starter Chip Burdick, and Holmes took the early lead. Andy Bachetti was flying, and he took the second spot on lap 2 and tried to catch Holmes. On lap 4, Bachetti was on the back bumper of Holmes, but Holmes shut the door. Bachetti then mounted a side by side challenge for the lead, but the first yellow of the race, brought out by a spin by Kevin Fetterly, stopped their early race battle. On the lap 8 restart, Bachetti bobbled, allowing Steve Paine to take second and Pete Bicknell to take fourth from Higbie. On lap 12, Mitch Gibbs slowed with a flat tire, and Tim McCreadie made contact with Gibbs in turn three, forcing him out off the action.
The race resumed, and Bicknell hit the hammer, taking third from Bachetti. However, Bachetti went right to the outside and retook the spot back from Bicknell. By the 15th circuit, Paine caught Holmes and began pressuring him for position. Tim Fuller was entering the fray in the top five, and he moved into fourth on lap 18. On lap 22, the yellow came out for the third time, when Dan Miller spun in turn one. The race resumed, but a red flag came out quickly for a pileup in turn one involving Roger Phelps, Gibbs, Mark Schoonover, and Mike Fusco. All cars were able to continue.
On the restart, Bachetti shot himself out of a cannon and took second from Paine. Fuller then ran into problems with clay in his right rear rim on lap 27, forcing another yellow flag. Bachetti got a good run on the lap 28 restart, and he took the lead from Holmes. Three laps later, Danny Johnson moved into third, and began challenging Holmes for second. Johnson took the spot on lap 32, and set his sights on Bachetti. The action was slowed on lap 36, when Mike Fusco spun in turn two. On the restart, Bachetti resumed his lead, but Johnson kept him in his sights. On lap 46, a quick yellow came out for a slowing Jeff Kotary. On the restart, Bachetti kept the lead once again, as Pat Ward moved into fifth.
At the halfway point, Bachetti was the leader, followed by Danny Johnson, Ron Holmes, Steve Paine, and Pat Ward.
On the move was Todd Burley, and he took fifth away from Pat Ward on lap 52. Burley then took fourth away from Paine on lap 59. Heavy lapped traffic was now the name of the game, as Bachetti tired to keep his lead. But his efforts were to no avail, as Danny Johnson squeezed out the lead from Bachetti in a pack of cars. On lap 63, Bachetti made a mistake when he hit the dirt berm on the inside of turn one. He spun, which brought out an unexpected yellow flag, and he corrected himself without losing a lap to the leader. On the lap 67 restart, Burley moved up one more spot when he took third from Steve Paine. Tim Hindley and Frankie Caprara then made contact on the front stretch, necessitating yet another quick yellow. The race resumed, and Burley put his foot down, racing with Holmes for second. On lap 75, Burley took the spot, and Paine broke, heading towards the infield.
The yellow came out again for Ryan Baye, who spun in turn one. Johnson pulled away on the restart, while Tim Clemons took fifth. The final caution of the race came out on lap 94, for Gibbs, who broke in turn four. On the restart, Holmes made a bonsai move on Burley for second, but Burley kept the spot. Johnson went unchallenged for the last two laps and went on to the opening win of the year 2000 358 Modified Super DIRT Series. Following Johnson, it was Burley, Holmes, Ward, and Clemons. Rounding out the top ten was Vic Coffey, Brett Hearn, Dale Planck, Andy Bachetti, and Pete Bicknell.
Danny Johnson’s win was his third career feature victory at Utica-Rome, and his second Super DIRT Series win in less than a year at the speedway. Johnson was awarded with a guaranteed starting position for Super DIRT Week’s 358 Modified Championship 150 on October 7 and a spot for Rolling Wheels Raceway’s World Series on September 23. Johnson, who started in 20th position, was also awarded the Bert Hard Charger for advancing the most positions.
Ron Holmes, Mitch Gibbs, Vic Coffey, Pete Bicknell, Andy Bachetti, and Tim Clemons won the DIRT 358 Modified heat races. The Consolation races were won by Pat Ward, Dale Planck, and Danny Johnson.
Steve Anderson jumped out to the early lead in the DIRT Sportsman feature, with Willy Decker on the move. Decker battled for second with Kevin Crave on lap 2, and Decker got the spot a lap later. The first yellow of the race came out on lap 5 for a slowing Paul Kinney. On the restart, Decker went up on the highside and took the lead from Anderson, and Jim Spano took over third on lap 6. The yellow came out on lap 8 for Butch Reiter, who had problems in turn two. The race restarted, but on lap 9, Spano got crossed up in turn three, causing a pileup of cars, including Jamie Christian, Jim Smith, Tim Mayne, and Ron Richardson. Smith, Mayne, and Richardson were done for the night.
The race resumed once again, and Kevin Crave took over third from Dave Bargabos. On lap 12, Jeff Hulsapple broke a torsion bar, causing yet another yellow. On the restart, Spano put his foot to the firewall and took over fourth from Bargabos. By lap 16, Spano caught Crave, and took over third. Crave was falling back, and on lap 17, Tony Ross took over fourth from Crave. Spano, who recovered from his bobble in turn three, then took second from Anderson with two to go.
At the checkers, it was Decker followed by Spano, Anderson, Ross, and Crave. Decker’s win was his first of the 2000 season at Utica-Rome. In addition, Decker won a guaranteed spot for the DIRT Sportsman "Firecracker" race on the Syracuse Mile on July 3rd, along with a guaranteed spot for the Rolling Wheels Raceway World Series on September 24.
DIRT Sportsman heats went to Steve Anderson, Kevin Crave, Dave Bargabos, and Jim Spano. Consolation races were won by Jeff Hulsapple and John Kinsella.
The DIRT Pro Stock feature event was led in the early going by Jason Rood, but on lap three, Tom Denton, the defending track champion caught Rood and took the lead. Denton led the rest of the way and took home his first checkered flag of the 2000 season at Utica-Rome. Following Denton, it was Jason Rood, Bret Belden, John Kiskiel, and Gerry Newman.
Jason Rood, John Kiskiel, and Tom Denton won DIRT Pro Stock heat races.
Next Sunday May 21, the Utica-Rome Speedway will hold a regular show of DIRT 358 Modifieds, DIRT Sportsman, DIRT Pro Stocks, and Pure Stocks along with the first Rollover Contest of the season. The gates will open at 4pm and racing will begin promptly at 6pm. For more information, contact the speedway at (315) 829-4557 or visit the official internet website at www.newuticaromespeedway.com.
Notes: 63 DIRT 358 Modifieds, 37 DIRT Sportsman, and 25 DIRT Pro Stocks were on hand for the Mother’s Day Special. The first 200 Mothers to pass through the gates enjoyed carnations in celebration of Mother’s Day. On Saturday afternoon, a dangerous thunderstorm with very heavy rains hit Utica-Rome Speedway, causing severe flash flooding of the infield and a portion of the pit area. On Saturday night, any racing at Utica-Rome on Sunday seemed impossible. A sincere thank you goes to everyone that helped pump water out of the infield through manpower and donations of equipment. Speedway management is very grateful and racing would have not been possible without it.
NEW UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY
NICE N EASY GROCERY SHOPPES MOTHER’S DAY SHOW
RACE DATE: MAY 14, 2000
DIRT 358 Modifieds (100 Laps) – 1)DANNY JOHNSON, 2)Todd Burley, 3)Ron Holmes, 4)Pat Ward, 5)Tim Clemons, 6)Vic Coffey, 7)Brett Hearn, 8)Dale Planck, 9)Andy Bachetti, 10)Pete Bicknell, 11)Jerry Higbie Jr., 12)Alan Johnson, 13)Ronnie Johnson, 14)Jack Johnson, 15)Billy Wilcox, 16)Gus Schmidt, 17)Jason Barney, 18)Billy Decker, 19)Tim Fuller, 20)Kevin Fetterly, 21)Ryan Baye, 22)Mitch Gibbs, 23)Steve Paine, 24)Rick Richner, 25)Frank Caprara, 26)Tim Hindley, 27)Tom Hindley, 28)Jeff Kotary, 29)Mike Fusco, 30)J.J. Michaels, 31)Roger Phelps, 32)Mark Schoonover, 33)Dan Miller, 34)Tim McCreadie.
DIRT 358 Modified Lap Leaders – Holmes (1-29), Bachetti (30-60), D. Johnson (61-100).
DIRT 358 Modified Did Not Qualify – Pete Taylor, Alex Hoag, Mike Ward, Ken Hanson, Roy Shields, John Ramsey, Mike Gillette, K.C. Goewey, Rich Price, Aaron Excell, Mike Jacobs, John Lutes, Bill Shantel Sr., John Barker Jr., Kyle Jacobs, Steve Hulsizer, Steve Roberts, Matt DeLorenzo, Andy Romano, Maynard Forrette, Joel Thomas, Jeremy Smith, Tim Murphy Jr., Mike Hulsizer, Ron White, Jim Rothwell, Larry Welling Jr., Tim Burnett, Rich Scagliotta.
DIRT Sportsman (20 Laps) – 1)WILLY DECKER, 2)Jim Spano, 3)Steve Anderson, 4)Tony Ross, 5)Kevin Crave, 6)Dave Bargabos, 7)Dan Yankowski, 8)Tom Juhl, 9)John Kinsella, 10)Greg Doust, 11)Craig Pritchard, 12)Rich Keller, 13)Pete Nowicki Jr., 14)John Christian, 15)Paul Kinney, 16)Jamie Christian, 17)Jeff Hulsapple, 18)Ron Richardson, 19)Jim Smith, 20)Tim Mayne, 21)Tom Collins Jr., 22)Butch Reiter, 23)Clayt Brewer, 24)Paul Carey.
DIRT Sportsman Lap Leaders – Anderson (1-4), Decker (5-20).
DIRT Sportsman Did Not Qualify – Tim French, Tim Ross, Skip French, Geoff VanRiper, Steve Davis, Steve Kotary, Robert Perry, Bill Bourquin, Steve Way, Mark Tily, Daryl Hagen, Bill Shantel Jr., Shane Donath.
DIRT Pro Stocks (15 Laps) – 1)TOM DENTON, 2)Jason Rood, 3)Bret Belden, 4)John Kiskiel, 5)Gerry Newman, 6)Jerry Holmes, 7)Stan Clark, 8)Wayne Archer, 9)John Roese, 10)Richard Stevenson, 11)Chuck Mathews, 12)Mark Effner, 13)Gus Gould, 14)Bill Knapp, 15)Jason Doxtader, 16)Dave Moyer, 17)Doug Grimaldi, 18)Brett Haman, 19)Scott Moyer, 20)Ed Kotary, 21)Jamie Reese, 22)Harold Humphrey, 23)Eric Vanderhoof, 24)Hondo Carpenter. DNS – Roger Olschewske.
DIRT Pro Stock Lap Leaders – Rood (1-2), Denton (3-15).