Mitch Gibbs Wins First Feature of 1999 at New Utica-Rome
Vernon, NY…. Mitch Gibbs completed a “hat trick” on the weekend this past Sunday evening at the New Utica-Rome Speedway after feature wins at the Afton and Fulton Speedways the previous two nights. Other winners on the night were Jim Smith in the DIRT Sportsman, Tom Denton in the DIRT Pro Stocks, and Jeff Thorp in the Pure Stocks.
John Barker Jr. and Dale Planck led the DIRT 358 Modified feature field down to the green flag from Starter Chip Burdick, and Barker took the early lead. Mitch Gibbs, who started fifth on the grid, advanced to second position on lap three and began challenging Barker for the lead. The first yellow of the race came out on lap seven for John Ramsey, who spun in turn four. On the restart, Gibbs wrestled the lead away from Barker. On lap thirteen, Ron Holmes brought out the second yellow for a spin in turn four. On the restart, Gibbs had the 2G running strong and raced all the way to victory lane. For Gibbs, it was his third win of the weekend, and afterwards in Victory Lane he commented, “This new Teo chassis is working great!” Behind Gibbs it was Dale Planck, J.J. Michaels, John Barker Jr, and Mike Romano. Modified heats were won by Dale Planck, Rich Price, Gus Schmidt, and J.J. Michaels. Consi wins went to A.J. Romano and Dave House.
“The Gentleman Farmer” Jim Smith took the early lead in the DIRT Sportsman feature and cruised to his first victory of 1999 at NUR. Following Smith was Ron Richardson, Jamie Christian, John Kinsella, and Aaron Excell. Sportsman heat wins went to Aaron Excell, Jim Smith, and Dan Yankowski.
“The Bridgewater Bullet” Tom Denton scored his second DIRT Pro Stock feature win of 1999 at NUR. It was a hard fought win, as both Denton and Wayne Archer waged a side by side battle for more than half of the race. After Denton and Archer, it was Jerry Holmes, Phlan Hart, and Jason Rood. Pro Stock heats went to Denton and Archer.
Jeff Thorp pulled away from the pack and won his second feature of the season in the Pure Stocks. A closing Jay Finch was second, Dave Arbes was third, Dave Mannise was fourth, and Chad Ray was fifth. Pure Stock heats were won by Mannise, Thorp, and Chad Ray.
This coming Sunday at the New Utica-Rome Speedway is another regular show with the DIRT 358 Modifieds, DIRT Sportsman, DIRT Pro Stocks, and Pure Stocks. The gates will open at 4pm, and racetime is at 6pm.
Notes: During intermission, Track Announcer Shane Andrews did a special interview with “The Monk” Lou Lazzaro, who was in attendance at NUR as a spectator. The 64 year old racing legend had just won his 113th career feature at Fonda Speedway, and NUR race fans gave Lazzaro a great applause. Lazzaro is one of the all-time winners at NUR, with 29 career feature wins. Lazzaro would like to race at NUR, but has no small block motor. Keep up to date on all the latest New Utica-Rome Speedway news on our official homepage on the internet, located at www.newuticaromespeedway.com. Photos from each race night will be posted by late Monday evening.
NEW UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY
SUNDAY MAY 16TH, 1999
DIRT 358 Modifieds (30 Laps) – 1)MITCH GIBBS, 2)Dale Planck, 3)J.J. Michaels, 4)John Barker, Jr. 5)Mike Romano, 6)Jim Rothwell, 7)Todd Burley, 8)Steve Hulsizer, 9)Jeff Walton, 10)Jack Johnson, 11)Jason Barney, 12)Roger Phelps, 13)Dave House, 14)Ron Holmes, 15)A.J. Romano, 16)Gus Schmidt, 17)John Ramsey, 18)Ryan Baye, 19)Doug Fuller, 20)Harry Schaffer, 21)Maynard Forrette, 22)Jeff Kotary, 23)Pete Taylor, 24)Mike Hulsizer, 25)Ted Lamb, 26)Rich Price. DNQ – Ed Richer, Tim Fuller, Jim Phelps, Mike Gillette, Steve Way, Joel Thomas, Steve Eldred.
DIRT Sportsman (20 Laps) – 1)JIM SMITH, 2)Ron Richardson, 3)Jamie Christian, 4)John Kinsella, 5)Aaron Excell, 6)Dan Yankowski, 7)Kevin Crave, 8)Greg Doust, 9)Jim Davis, 10)Paul Carey, 11)Bill Shantel Sr., 12)Tim Mayne, 13)John Christian, 14)Willy Decker, 15)Steve Davis, 16)Tony Ross, 17)Anthony Fiorentino, 18)Butch Reiter, 19)Dave Bargabos, 20)Paul Kinney, 21)Pete Nowicki Jr., 22)Todd Storace.
DIRT Pro Stocks (15 Laps) – 1)TOM DENTON, 2)Wayne Archer, 3)Jerry Holmes, 4)Phlan Hart, 5)Jason Rood, 6)Dave Moyer, 7)Bill Knapp, 8)Bill Shantel Jr., 9)Jip Ortiz, 10)Gerry Newman, 11)Mark Sullivan, 12)Dave Rogers, 13)Jeff Jones, 14)Bret Belden, 15)Joe Palmer, 16)Geoff VanRiper.
Pure Stocks (15 Laps) – 1)JEFF THORP, 2)Jay Finch, 3)Dave Arbes, 4)Dave Mannise, 5)Chad Ray, 6)Mark Effner, 7)Mike Archer, 8)Dennis Kelly, 9)Bob Gloska, 10)Herm Staats, 11)Art Newman, 12)Waylan Wilczek, 13)Bill Mason, 14)Rob Sealy, 15)Jim Thomas, 16)Dick Nichols, 17)Bill Trexler Sr., 18)Steve Delano, 19)George Schultz, 20)Neil Dixon, 21)Dan Hatch, 22)Jeff Pastorella, 23)Mike Burke.