Mitch Gibbs Wins 3rd DIRT 358 Modified Feature of the Season at New Utica-Rome
Vernon, NY…. Some new names and familiar faces greeted Victory Lane at the New Utica-Rome Speedway this past Sunday evening June 27th. Mitch Gibbs won his second DIRT 358 Modified feature event in a row, while Kevin Crave became a first time winner in the DIRT Sportsman. Bill Shantel Jr. won the DIRT Pro Stocks, and Herm Staats became a new winner in the Pure Stocks.
Ryan Baye and Jeff Kotary were on the point and led the DIRT 358 Modified feature to the flags of Starter Chip Burdick. Ryan Baye jumped out to the early lead, only to be slowed on lap one for a spin by Bob Sitterly. On the restart, Steve Hulsizer shot out of a cannon and started moving well into the top five. By the seventh circuit, Hulsizer and Baye were battling for the lead, with Hulsizer winning out. However, on the ninth lap, Hulsizer slowed in turn one with a possible blown motor which handed the lead back to Baye. On the second restart, Todd Burley began pressuring Baye for the lead. Burley took the point one lap later just as Ron Holmes, John Barker and Dale Planck raced hard for position in the top five. Holmes, who had finished second the night before at Fonda Speedway, then took the second position from Rich Price. A yellow flag then flew for a mix-up on the frontstretch involving Jeff Kotary and Bob Sitterly.
The top five positions at the next restart on lap fifteen were Burley, Holmes, Gibbs, Planck, and Michaels. Burley led the next few laps and looked like he was going to pull away from the rest of the pack. However, a few laps later, bad luck struck Burley when he appeared to have blown the motor on his modified, giving the lead to Ron Holmes who was followed by Gibbs.
Mitch Gibbs then had a great restart and was able to steal the lead from Ron Holmes on the twentieth lap. On the move and racing hard for position were J.J. Michaels and Dale Planck. Michaels then took the second spot from Holmes with four laps to go. Gibbs, who started thirteenth, was then able to open up a nice lead on the final few circuits and bring home his second consecutive feature win, his third on the season. J.J. Michaels was second, Ron Holmes was third, Jeff Walton was fourth, and John Barker was fifth.
After the feature, Gibbs stated, “I’ve really got to thank my crew, they are the reason I am here tonight.”
Modified heat wins went to Mitch Gibbs, Todd Burley, and Dale Planck.
Kevin Crave has run well but had a lot of tough luck in the DIRT Sportsman division this season. This night, he took the lead from Tim Mayne in the early going and pulled away from the cavalry for his first ever DIRT Sportsman win. Following a happy Crave was Jamie Christian, Bill Shantel Sr., Tim Mayne, and Jack Miller. Sportsman heats were won by Tim Mayne, Butch Reiter, and John Christian.
The always-exciting DIRT Pro Stock division put on another great show at NUR. Bill Shantel Jr. grabbed the lead from Jerry Holmes when a lapped car spun in front of the leaders. Shantel hung on for the rest of the way to collect his first feature of the season at NUR which was his third career win. After Shantel, it was Dave Bruno, Wayne Archer, Jerry Holmes, and Gerry Newman. Pro Stock heat wins went to Jerry Holmes and Dave Bruno.
A new winner ended up in Victory Lane in the Pure Stock division. Herm Staats, who has run very well in recent weeks, finally picked up his first ever feature win at NUR. Following Staats across the finish line was Mark Effner, Rob Seavy, Bill Trexler Sr., and Bill Mason. Pure Stock heats were won by Mark Effner, Dave Mannise, and Jay Finch.
Next Sunday July 4th at the New Utica-Rome Speedway is an all-star Independence Day Spectacular with the ELS Sprint Cars and a gigantic Fireworks display on tap as well as the regular program of DIRT 358 Modifieds, DIRT Sportsman, DIRT Pro Stocks, and Pure Stocks. The gates will open at 4pm and racing will begin at 6pm. In addition, an enormous crowd is expected, and six pack sized coolers will only be allowed. Free camping and parking is allowed on speedway grounds. For more information, call the speedway at (315) 829-4557 or visit the speedway on the internet at www.newuticaromespeedway.com.
NOTES: After intermission, dark clouds began moving in on the horizon, and word came from the Cayuga County Fair Speedway that the races there got rained out. Rain was definitely in the area, and the end result was that all the feature events were run right off to make sure that the show got in. The speedway lap counter was out of service because lightning struck the light pole that it was attached to a couple of days ago. A new one will be installed shortly. Track announcer, Shane Andrews, passed out candy to the children during intermission. Kevin Crave will represent the NUR Sportsman division with a guaranteed spot at The Syracuse Mile “Firecracker” race next Sunday. Former NUR and Fulton driver, Rick Guernsey, injured several years ago in a work accident was in attendance and enjoying himself at the speedway.
NEW UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY
JUNE 27TH, 1999
DIRT 358 Modifieds – (30 Laps) – 1)MITCH GIBBS, 2)J.J. Michaels, 3)Ron Holmes, 4)Jeff Walton, 5)John Barker Jr., 6)Gus Schmidt, 7)Roger Phelps, 8)Dale Planck, 9)Mike Hulsizer, 10)Jim Rothwell, 11)Pete Taylor, 12)Rich Price, 13)Andy Romano, 14)Ed Richer, 15)Robert Sawyer, 16)Todd Burley, 17)Ryan Baye, 18)Jeff Kotary, 19)Mark Schoonover, 20)Bob Sitterly, 21)Steve Way, 22)Joel Thomas, 23)Steve Hulsizer, 24)Jerry Higbie Jr.
DIRT Sportsman – (20 Laps) – 1)KEVIN CRAVE, 2)Jamie Christian, 3)Bill Shantel Sr., 4)Tim Mayne, 5)Jack Miller, 6)John Kinsella, 7)Mike Fusco, 8)Paul Carey, 9)Pete Nowicki Jr., 10)Dave Bargabos, 11)Paul Kinney, 12)Bill Bourquin, 13)Steve Davis, 14)Jim Smith, 15)Willy Decker, 16)John Christian, 17)Butch Reiter, 18)Ron Richardson, 19)Dan Yankowski, 20)Brian Murphy, 21)Brian Johnson, 22)Daryl Hagen, 23)Todd Storace.
DIRT Pro Stocks – (15 Laps) – 1)BILL SHANTEL JR., 2)Dave Bruno, 3)Wayne Archer, 4)Jerry Holmes, 5)Gerry Newman, 6)Scott Moyer, 7)Bret Belden, 8)Jason Rood, 9)Tom Denton, 10)Bill Knapp, 11)Stan Clark, 12)Joe DeSieno, 13)Ed Kotary, 14)Chuck Jones, 15)Dave Moyer, 16)Geoff VanRiper, 17)Dave Rogers, 18)Bill Trexler Jr.
DIRT Pure Stocks – (15 Laps) – 1)HERM STAATS, 2)Mark Effner, 3)Rob Seavy, 4)Bill Trexler Sr., 5)Bill Mason, 6)Steve Delano, 7)Jeff Pastorella, 8)Les Lewis, 9)Dave Arbes, 10)Scott Simzer, 11)Bob Gentile, 12)Mike Archer, 13)Neil Dixon, 14)Dan Hatch, 15)Jim Thomas, 16)Chad Ray, 17)Doug Grimaldi, 18)Jay Finch, 19)Dave Mannise, 20)Bill Lashing, 21)Jeff Thorp, 22)Mike Burke, 23)George Schulze, 24)Art Newman, 25)Waylan Wilczek, 26)Bob Gloska.