J.J. MICHAELS, JOHN KINSELLA, JERRY HOLMES AND JEFF THORP
ALL SCORE VICTORIES ON BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY EVENING AT NEW UTICA-ROME
Vernon, NY.... Another great evening of DIRT Motorsports sanctioned racing action occurred Sunday August 15th at the New Utica-Rome Speedway. Winners on the evening were Baldwinsville's J.J. Michaels in the DIRT 358 Modifieds, Fayetteville's John Kinsella in the DIRT Sportsman, West Winfield's Jerry Holmes in the DIRT Pro Stocks, and Vernon's Jeff Thorp in the Pure Stocks.
Ted Lamb, Jr. and Mike Hulsizer led the DIRT 358 Modified down to Starter Steve Rickett's green flag, and Hulsizer jumped out to the early lead. Hulsizer led the next few circuits until Lamb caught him and began challenging for the lead. As the battle for the lead raged on, J.J. Michaels took over the third spot on lap 6. Three laps later, Hulsizer lost a couple spots when Lamb took the lead and Michaels took second. Lap 10 was the beginning of a major side by side contest for the lead, with Lamb running the top and Michaels down low.
At the halfway mark, it was Lamb the leader, followed by Michaels, Dale Planck, Mike Hulsizer, and John Ramsey. On the 17th lap, Michaels made a slingshot move and took the lead from Lamb. Two laps later, the yellow lights went on for the first time when John Ramsey spun in the fourth turn. The restart brought no change in position, but on lap 21, Gus Schmidt slowed and brought out another yellow. The next restarts saw Dale Planck hit the hammer and try to take second from Lamb, who eventually held him off. Ron Holmes was on the move a few alps later, but on lap 24, Mike Hulsizer and Jeff Walton came together in turn one, which brought out yet another yellow flag. On the final restart, Michaels pulled away from second place Lamb and held him off all the way to the checkered flag. After Michaels, it was Lamb, Dale Planck, Ron Holmes, and Mitch Gibbs.
For Michaels, who started around tenth, it was his third win of the season at NUR. Afterwards, a happy Michaels commented, "Finally! We've been having some bad luck lately, but tonight I am very happy to win. New Utica-Rome is a fun place to race, and you can run the highside, the middle, and the bottom."
John Ramsey, Ted Lamb, Jr., and J.J. Michaels claimed the Modified heat race wins.
John Kinsella won his first feature of the season in the DIRT Sportsman division. Kinsella grabbed the lead on a lap 16 restart and held off the rest of the cavalry, including a hard charging Tim Clemons. After Kinsella and Clemons, it was Jim Smith, Dan Yankowski, and Kevin Crave. Sportsman heats were won by Tim Clemons, Butch Reiter, and John Kinsella. Bill Shantel, Sr. won the Sportsman consi.
Jerry Holmes won his second DIRT Pro Stock feature event of the season, but it was not easy. After a violent flip two weeks ago, Holmes held of the charge of Tom Denton, who was side by side with him for a good portion of the race. Following Holmes and Denton across the finish line, it was Wayne Archer, Bill Shantel, Jr., and Dave Moyer. Pro Stock heat races were won by Tom Denton, Bill Shantel, Jr., and Bill Knapp.
The Pure Stock division was the last feature of the evening and it was another action-filled race. Jim Thomas was the early leader of the event, but contact with Jeff Pastorella caused him to be sent to the rear. Jeff Thorp took the lead halfway through the feature, and led the rest of the way. After Thorp, it was Herm Staats, Dave Mannise, Rob Seavy, and Doug Grimaldi. Pure Stock heat wins went to Jim Thomas, Dave Mannise, and Jeff Thorp.
During intermission, the first Family Autograph session in quite some time was held in the infield area over near the old dragstrip concrete starting pad. A great time was had by all, and this event proved to be very popular with all families in attendance. Many children were able to get autographs and photographs of their favorite drivers!
Next Sunday evening August 22nd at the New Utica-Rome Speedway, Big A Auto Parts in Rome, Richfield Springs, and Oneonta will present "Big A Race Day". On tap is a regular show of DIRT 358 Modifieds, DIRT Sportsman, DIRT Pro Stocks, and Pure Stocks. During intermission, the fine folks from Big A will give away special prizes! 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 homepage at www.newuticaromespeedway.com.
Notes.... It was a beautiful evening for racing. The DIRT Pro Stock division had their highest car count of the season with many newer faces joining the class. Saturday night at Fulton, Jim Thomas hit a light pole and flipped his Pure Stock several times. The car was severely bent, but Thomas pulled an all nighter and was rewarded with a heat win and an 8th place finish in the feature. Coming up Wednesday August 25th at the speedway is the Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series 99 lap feature for the DIRT 358 Modifieids. Also on the card for that night is the Mr. DIRT Pro Stock Series, a Pro Stock Dash for Cash, a Rollover Contest, and a special daredevil jump over the infield pond by Dane Keller. Rollover Contest rules will be posted on the track website this coming week.
NEW UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY
FAMILY AUTOGRAPH NIGHT - AUGUST 15TH, 1999
DIRT 358 Modifieds (30 Laps) - 1)J.J. MICHAELS, 2)Ted Lamb, Jr., 3)Dale Planck, 4)Ron Holmes, 5)Mitch Gibbs, 6)Roger Phelps, 7)Paul Jensen, 8)Mike Gillette, 9)Jim Rothwell, 10)Andy Romano, 11)Jeff Walton, 12)Pete Taylor, 13)Jeff Kotary, 14)Doug Fuller, 15)Rich Price, 16)Gus Schmidt, 17)Joel Thomas, 18)Russ Flint, 19)Mike Hulsizer, 20)Steve Hulsizer, 21)John Barker, Jr., 22)John Ramsey.
DIRT Sportsman (20 Laps) - 1)JOHN KINSELLA, 2)Tim Clemons, 3)Jim Smith, 4)Dan Yankowski, 5)Kevin Crave, 6)Pete Nowicki, Jr., 7)Paul Kinney, 8)Mike Fusco, 9)Ron Richardson, 10)Willy Decker, 11)Bill Shantel, Sr., 12)Tim Mayne, 13)Jamie Christian, 14)Jim Davis, 15)Jack Miller, 16)Dave Bargabos, 17)Paul Carey, 18)Matt DeLorenzo, 19)Steve Davis, 20)Jim Roberts, 21)Rich Keller, 22)Butch Reiter, 23)Brian Johnson, 24)Lance Willex, 25)Todd Storace. DNQ - Tony Ross, Brian Murphy, Chad Phelps.
DIRT Pro Stocks (15 Laps) - 1)JERRY HOLMES, 2)Tom Denton, 3)Wayne Archer, 4)Bill Shantel, Jr., 5)Dave Moyer, 6)Bill Knapp, 7)Scott Moyer, 8)Gerry Newman, 9)Joe Palmer, 10)Jason Rood, 11)T.J. Fitzgibbons, 12)John Kiskiel, 13)John Roese, 14)Jeff Jones, 15)Jim Normoyle, 16)Ed Kotary, 17)Dave Fox, 18)Chuck Jones, 19)Dave Bruno, 20)Brian Jordan, 21)Bret Belden, 22)Howie Koegal, 23)Jipp Ortiz. DNS - Stan Clark.
Pure Stocks (15 Laps) - 1)JEFF THORP, 2)Herm Staats, 3)Dave Mannise, 4)Rob Seavy, 5)Doug Grimaldi, 6)Art Newman, Jr., 7)Bill Trexler, Sr., 8)Bill Mason, 9)Jay Finch, 10)Jim Thomas, 11)Alan Graham, 12)George Schulze, 13)Mark Effner, 14)Bob Gloska, 15)Mike Burke, 16)George Wright, 17)Rocky Warner, 18)Jeff Carpenter, 19)Jeff Pastorella, 20)Lou Levea, 21)Tom Donahue, 22)Chuck Cushman, 23)Waylan Wilczek, 24)Les Lewis, 25)Bill Lashing, 26)Neil Dixon, 27)Dan Hatch. DNS - Chad Ray.