DALE PLANCK, CHRIS SHULTZ, TOM DENTON AND JEFF PASTORELLA WIN AT NEW UTICA-ROME.

Vernon, NY.... Waste Systems International presented a special evening of DIRT Motorsports sanctioned racing at the New Utica-Rome Speedway this past Sunday. Feature winners on the night were Homer's Dale Planck in the DIRT 358 Modifieds, Holmes' Chris Schultz in the Mr. DIRT Sportsman Series event, Bridgewater's Tom Denton in the DIRT Pro Stocks, and Westmoreland's Jeff Pastorella in the Pure Stocks.

The DIRT 358 Modified feature event took the green flag from A.J. Kingsley, the son of Eric and Gisele Kingsley, and John Ramsey took the lead. However, the action was quickly slowed by a spin by Mike Hulsizer. On the restart, Ramsey kept his lead but second place points driver, Mitch Gibbs, slowed and pulled into the infield. John Barker, Jr. shot himself out of a cannon and was heading towards the front. After a quick yellow flag, Barker took the lead from Ramsey, while Dale Planck moved into second by lap 8. Then, a quick yellow came out when Rich Price hit the dirt berm in turn four. The action continued until John Ramsey slowed on the backstretch, necessitating another yellow. On the restart, Planck stole the lead from Barker, while Ron Holmes, Roger Phelps, and J.J. Michaels were going for the third spot.

Phelps got the spot, and at the halfway point, Planck was the leader, followed by Barker, Phelps, Holmes, and Michaels. Phelps then catapulted himself into second, but Barker did not give up. A crowd pleasing four-car battle for the second spot then began, as Barker, Holmes, and Michaels wanted the spot and Phelps wanted to keep it. Then, Billy Gray blew a motor on the frontstretch with a minor oil fire, forcing the final yellow flag of the night.

On the restart, J.J. Michaels shot himself out of a cannon and moved himself up into the 2nd position. Michaels closed in on Planck in the final handful of laps but he was unable to challenge Planck for the lead. On the final lap, Holmes grabbed the third spot from Roger Phelps. Planck was the winner at the checkered flag, followed by Michaels in second, Holmes in third, Phelps in fourth, and Barker in fifth.

Afterwards, Planck commented, "It's been a while since we have won here and we've been working hard lately. I've had a lot of seconds since I last won, and it is good to finally get another win." Planck's win was his second on the season, and he padded his points lead because of Mitch Gibbs' bad luck.

Pete Taylor, Ron Holmes, and Dale Planck won modified heat races. The Modified Dash for Cash, presented by Skip's Used Cars and Trailer Sales, was won by Ron Holmes in a close finish over J.J. Michaels.

The Hoosier Tire / Sunoco Race Fuels Mr. DIRT Sportsman Series visited the New Utica-Rome Speedway for the first time ever, and 46 cars attempted to qualify for the special 30 lap feature. The heads up start put Tim Clemons and Alton Palmer on the front row, and when the green flew, Palmer took the early lead. Multiple cautions slowed the race, but on a lap 4 restart, Tim Clemons stole the lead from Palmer. On the move was Jamie Christian, but a few laps later, he brought out a yellow flag after contact with Jim Spano. Clemons continued his lead, but Mr. DIRT Sportsman point leader Chris Schultz was on the move. On a late restart, Schultz grabbed second from Palmer and then began trying to reel in a very quick Tim Clemons. With 4 laps to go, Clemons slowed down the frontstretch and went into the pit area with an undisclosed problem on his car. Schultz inherited the lead and led the rest of the way. After Schultz, it was NUR regular Willy Decker, Mike Ballestero, Alton Palmer, and Steve Hall.

Afterwards, Schultz commented, "I came up here a few weeks ago and tried some things on my car which went well. We were running well tonight, but I was very surprised to see Clemons pull off the track." The win for Schultz was his first career win at NUR, and it helped him maintain his points lead in the Mr. DIRT Sportsman Series.

The Mr. DIRT Sportsman heats were won by Tim Clemons, Alton Palmer, Dave Bargabos, Jim Spano, and Chris Schultz. The Sportsman Consi races were won by Steve Hall, Justin Haers, and Rich Swarthout.

Joe Palmer took the early lead in the DIRT Pro Stock feature event, but on the move was Tom Denton. On lap 7, Denton took the lead and went on to his seventh win of the season at NUR. After Denton, it was Bill Shantel, Jr., Joe Palmer, Jerry Holmes, and Jason Rood.

Bill Knapp and Tom Denton took the Pro Stock heat wins.

Chad Ray and Lou Levea exchanged the early lead in the Pure Stock feature event, but a determined Jay Finch was looking for his first ever feature win. Finch took the lead from Levea, while Dave Mannise and Jeff Pastorella were on a march to the front. Pastorella, who was racing with a head of steam, flew into the second spot with a couple of laps to go, and dove underneath Finch on the final lap in turn three. Pastorella's move stuck and he went on to his fourth win of the season. Following Pastorella were Finch, Mannise, Levea, and Herm Staats. Pure Stock heats went to Chad Ray, Jeff Pastorella, and Jay Finch.

Next Sunday September 5th at the New Utica-Rome Speedway is a Labor Day Weekend Spectacular, featuring ELS Sprint Cars and Fireworks, along with the regular divisions of DIRT 358 Modifieds, DIRT Pro Stocks, and Pure Stocks. The gates will open at 4pm and racing will begin at 6pm. For more information, call the speedway at (315) 829-4557 or visit the speedway's internet website at www.newuticaromespeedway.com.

Notes.... The final points night is September 12th for all divisions. Sky Lungston thrilled the crowd during intermission with some spectacular jumps over half a dozen or so Pure Stocks. The show scheduled for September 19th at NUR, which includes the Mr. DIRT 358 Modified Championship 100 lap race, has been cancelled because of a scheduling conflict and RESCHEDULED for Friday September 24th. Gates that day will open at 5pm and racing will begin at 7pm. Also tentatively scheduled on that date is a daredevil motorcycle jump of the infield pond by Sky Lungston, who recently made a world's record jump at Fulton Speedway.

NEW UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY

WASTE SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL (WSI) NIGHT

RACE DATE: SUNDAY AUGUST 29TH, 1999

DIRT 358 Modifieds (30 Laps) - 1)DALE PLANCK, 2)J.J. Michaels, 3)Ron Holmes, 4)Roger Phelps, 5)John Barker, Jr., 6)Jim Rothwell, 7)Pete Bicknell, 8)Gus Schmidt, 9)Jason Barney, 10)Pete Taylor, 11)Jeff Walton, 12)Rich Price, 13)Lee Nutting, 14)Mike Hulsizer, 15)Steve Kotary, 16)Randy Storms, 17)Billy Gray, 18)Mitch Gibbs, 19)Gary Gates, 20)Mike Gillette, 21)John Ramsey, 22)Doug Fuller, 23)Bruce Sawyer, 24)Joel Thomas.

Mr. DIRT Sportsman Championship Series Tour Race (30 Laps) - 1)CHRIS SCHULTZ, 2)Willy Decker, 3)Mike Ballestero, 4)Alton Palmer, 5)Steve Hall, 6)Rich Swarthout, 7)Dave Bargabos, 8)John LaClair, 9)Chad Brachman, 10)Jay Mallory, 11)Gary Moreash, 12)Karl Comfort, 13)Matt DeLorenzo, 14)Tim Clemons, 15)Ron Richardson, 16)Paul Carey, 17)Randy Chrysler, 18)Paul Kinney, 19)Greg Doust, 20)Matt Sheppard, 21)Jack Miller, 22)Bill Shantel, Sr., 23)Butch Reiter, 24)Jamie Christian, 25)Jim Spano, 26)Steve Davis, 27)Justin Haers, 28)Dan Yankowski, 29)Chris Risdale, 30)Kevin Crave, 31)John Kinsella. DNQ Sportsman - Ryan Odasz, Adam Moore, Dean Ferry, Jim Roberts, Tim Mayne, Rob Coulman, Pete Nowicki, Jr., Mike Fusco, Anthony Fiorentino, Chad Phelps, Brian Whittredge, Frank Greco, Jim Smith, Don Rose, Ben Tucker.

DIRT Pro Stocks (15 Laps) - 1)TOM DENTON, 2)Bill Shantel, Jr., 3)Joe Palmer, 4)Jerry Holmes, 5)Jason Rood, 6)Gerry Newman, 7)Brian Michaels, 8)Wayne Archer, 9)Geoff VanRiper, 10)Bret Belden, 11)John Roese, 12)Jeff Jones, 13)Bill Knapp, 14)Scott Moyer, 15)Brett Haman, 16)Jim Potts, 17)Dave Fox, 18)Frank Early, 19)Chuck Jones, 20)Jim Normoyle, 21)George Kiskiel (DNS).

Pure Stocks (15 Laps) - 1)JEFF PASTORELLA, 2)Jay Finch, 3)Dave Mannise, 4)Lou Levea, 5)Herm Staats, 6)Jeff Thorp, 7)Chad Ray, 8)Bill Mason, 9)Jim Thomas, 10)Doug Grimaldi, 11)Alan Graham, 12)Ricky Trexler, 13)Mike Howe, 14)Rob Seavy, 15)Ken Hollenbeck, 16)Bob Gloska, 17)Dennis Kelly, 18)Les Lewis, 19)Rob VanArnem, 20)Art Newman, Jr., 21)Waylan Wilczek, 22)Mark Effner, 23)Mike Burke, 24)Carl Wright, 25)Brian Meadows, 26)Dan Hatch.