MITCH GIBBS RETURNS TO VICTORY LANE AT NEW UTICA-ROME;
OTHER WINNERS INCLUDE TIM CLEMONS, BRET BELDEN, AND DAVE MANNISE
Vernon, NY.... The fine folks from Big A Auto Parts presented a special evening of racing action on Sunday August 22nd at the New Utica-Rome Speedway. The feature winners on the exciting 1/2 mile were North Norwich's Mitch Gibbs in the DIRT 358 Modifieds, Gloversville's Tim Clemons in the DIRT Sportsman, Edmeston's Bret Belden in the DIRT Pro Stocks, and Fulton's Dave Mannise in the Pure Stocks.
A stellar field of DIRT 358 Modifieds took Starter Chip Burdick's green flag, and Mike Hulsizer jumped out to take the early lead. However, on the 2nd lap, Todd Burley hit the dirt pile in turn four and the first yellow flag of the race came out. Also in the mix-up were Russ Flint and Bob Sitterly. The leader when the caution came out was Mitch Gibbs, who started in sixth.
The next restart was short lived when Ron Holmes made contact with the same dirt pile that Burley tangled with very low in turn four. Another attempt at a restart did not work too well, when Mike Gillette spun in the second turn, heavily collecting Bob Sitterly. Both cars were done for the night.
When racing finally resumed, John Ramsey was on the move and he took the third spot from Jim Rothwell. A few laps later, Dale Planck moved into the top five, with Jeff Walton right behind. The race continued under the green with some serious racing going on deep in the pack, but the action was slowed briefly for a short yellow on lap 15.
Planck, who started in sixteenth and was running in second when the yellow came out, had gained much ground on Gibbs because of the yellow. The previous night at Fulton Speedway, both Planck and Gibbs were involved in a contact-filled thriller, and the question was who would prevail on this night at NUR.
On the lap 15 restart, Planck moved on the inside of Gibbs, who was running in the outside groove. However, Planck was not able to make the pass. Two laps later, J.J. Michaels shot himself out of a cannon and moved in to the fifth spot. Then, a lap later, he took 4th and tried to reel in third place driver Gus Schmidt. By lap 20, Michaels had caught Schmidt.
With 5 laps to go, Gibbs and Planck encountered serious lapped traffic, which brought Planck right to the rear bumper of Gibbs. However, Planck could not quite catch him on this night and Gibbs held him off for the feature win, his fifth on the season and second win on the weekend because he also won at Fulton Speedway the night before. Following Gibbs and Planck, it was Gus Schmidt in third, J.J. Michaels in fourth, and Jeff Walton in fifth.
Afterwards, Gibbs commented, "We were off in the heat race and we've been struggling a lot lately. We tried some things on the car this week and it worked well."
Modified heat wins went to Jeff Walton, John Ramsey, and Jim Rothwell, while the Modified consi went to Todd Burley.
Paul Kinney took the early lead in the DIRT Sportsman feature event, but Tim Mayne stole the top spot on a lap 5 restart. On the move was Dan Yankowski, who began challenging Mayne for the lead. However, a high flying Tim Clemons joined the battle for the lead with a handful of laps to go. Then, with three circuits remaining, Clemons made a fantastic move out of turn two and took the lead. Clemons opened up a small lead and led the final 2 laps to the checkered flag. Behind Clemons, it was Mayne, Yankowski, Jack Miller, and Paul Carey. Clemons' win was his second of the season at New Utica-Rome.
Willy Decker, Kevin Crave, and Tim Clemons won the Sportsman heat races.
The always-exciting DIRT Pro Stock division put on yet another great race with a popular winner at the finish. Bret Belden took the lead on the first lap and he was never seriously challenged. During the race, Joe Palmer, Scott Moyer, and Tom Denton had a very entertaining three-car battle for position in the top five. When it was all said and done, Belden was the winner over Scott Moyer, Tom Denton, Joe Palmer, and Jerry Holmes. The win for the happy Belden, a former NUR Pro Stock Track Champion, was his first since 1991 at the speedway.
Pro Stock heats went to Gerry Newman, Bret Belden, and John Roese.
Chad Ray took the early lead in the Pure Stock ranks, but Jim Thomas hit the afterburners and began a torrid battle for the lead. However, a few laps later, Ray had a flat tire and Dave Mannise took the lead from Thomas. Mannise led the rest of the way for his fourth win of the season. He was followed across the finish line by Jim Thomas, Mark Effner, Jeff Pastorella, and Jeff Thorp.
Pure Stock heat races were won by Doug Grimaldi, Jim Thomas, and Mark Effner.
This coming Wednesday August 25th at the New Utica-Rome Speedway is the Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT 358 Modified Series 99 lap feature along with the Mr. DIRT Pro Stock Series 25 lap shootout and a Rollover Contest. The gates will open at 5pm and racing will begin promptly at 7:30pm. For more information, contact the speedway office at (315) 829-4557 or visit the internet website at www.newuticaromespeedway.com.
Notes: "Junkyard" Jim Thomas gave the speedway a helping hand with his tow truck, to the cheers of the fans. Thanks to Jim. September 12th will be the final night of track points and track champions will be crowned in all divisions. In addition, September 5th will be a non-points race for the DIRT 358 Modifieds. Father and son, Jack and Ronnie Johnson, were back and racing together at NUR. During intermission, the folks from Big A Auto Parts threw frisbees into the grandstands, and the fans enjoyed trying to catch them. After the night's racing was over, Mike Fusco and Willy Decker among others converted their sportsman to modifieds and took them out for hot laps to prepare for Wednesday's big Super DIRT Series race.
BIG A AUTO PARTS NIGHT
DIRT 358 Modifieds (30 Laps) - 1)MITCH GIBBS, 2)Dale Planck, 3)Gus Schmidt, 4)J.J. Michaels, 5)Jeff Walton, 6)Ron Holmes, 7)Mike Hulsizer, 8)John Barker, Jr., 9)Jim Rothwell, 10)Todd Burley, 11)Roger Phelps, 12)Ted Lamb, Jr., 13)Jason Barney, 14)Ronnie Johnson, 15)Dave House, 16)Rich Price, 17)Jeff Kotary, 18)Joel Thomas, 19)Jack Johnson, 20)John Ramsey, 21)Barry Davis, 22)Jeremy Matthies, 23)Ryan Bartlett, 24)Mike Gillette, 25)Pete Taylor, 26)Bob Sitterly, 27)Russ Flint.
DIRT Sportsman (20 Laps) - 1)TIM CLEMONS, 2)Tim Mayne, 3)Dan Yankowski, 4)Jack Miller, 5)Paul Carey, 6)Jamie Christian, 7)Willy Decker, 8)Jim Smith, 9)John Kinsella, 10)Scott Flammer, 11)Ron Richardson, 12)Dave Bargabos, 13)Jim Roberts, 14)John LaClair, 15)Pete Nowicki, Jr., 16)Todd Storace, 17)Paul Kinney, 18)Kevin Crave, 19)Steve Davis, 20)Mike Fusco, 21)Tony Ross, 22)Don Rose. DNS - Bill Shantel, Sr.
DIRT Pro Stocks (15 Laps) - 1)BRET BELDEN, 2)Scott Moyer, 3)Tom Denton, 4)Joe Palmer, 5)Jerry Holmes, 6)John Roese, 7)Jason Rood, 8)George Kiskiel, 9)Dave Bruno, 10)Bill Shantel, Jr., 11)Gerry Newman, 12)Dave Moyer, 13)Wayne Archer, 14)Geoff VanRiper, 15)Bill Knapp, 16)Jim Potts, 17)Chuck Jones, 18)Dave Moyer, 19)Joe DeSieno, 20)Stan Clark, 21)Jeff Jones, 22)Brett Haman, 23)Jim Normoyle.
Pure Stocks (15 Laps ) - 1)DAVE MANNISE, 2)Jim Thomas, 3)Mark Effner, 4)Jeff Pastorella, 5)Jeff Thorp, 6)Jay Finch, 7)Herm Staats, 8)Art Newman, Jr., 9)Doug Grimaldi, 10)Waylan Wilczek, 11)Les Lewis, 12)Bill Mason, 13)Bob Gloska, 14)Dave Arbes, 15)Lou Levea, 16)Rob Seavy, 17)Dan Hatch, 18)Brian Meadows, 19)Chad Ray, 20)George Wright, 21)Chris Smeidy, 22)Tom Donahue, 23)Dennis Kelly, 24)Scott Simzer. DNS - Dan Congden.