Mike Romano Wins On Opening Night at New Utica-Rome

Vernon, NY…. The 1999 racing season and the new era under DIRT Motorsports were kicked off in grand style this past Sunday evening at the New Utica-Rome Speedway. Picking up feature wins to start off the season were Mike Romano in the DIRT Modifieds, Jamie Christian in the DIRT Sportsman, Tom Denton in the DIRT Pro Stocks, and Jeff Thorp in the Pure Stocks.

Maynard Forrette and Ron Holmes led the 30 Lap DIRT 358 Modified feature down the stretch to the flags of Starter Chip Burdick, and Holmes jumped out to the early lead. Two yellow flags slowed the action early on when Doug Fuller and Mitch Gibbs had flat tires. On lap five, a red flag occurred when Jack Johnson, A.J. Romano, and Ryan Baye collected each other in turn one. On the restart, Holmes continued his lead until the yellow came out on lap 14 because of a spin by Mike Gillette. When the green came out again, Rocky Rothwell stole the lead from Ron Holmes, and they battled side by side for two laps until Holmes spun in turn one, collecting Todd Burley and J.J. Michaels. The lap sixteen restart saw Mike Romano grab the 2nd spot from

Dale Planck. Romano then took the lead from Rothwell two laps later. With one lap to go, a yellow flag came out for a flat tire on the Alan Johnson car. Romano kept the lead on the restart and held the lead to the checkered flag. Following Romano was Planck, Rothwell, John Barker Jr., and A.J. Romano. Modified heats were won by Jeff Walton, Rocky Rothwell, and Mike Romano.

Jamie Christian took the lead early from Kevin Crave and went on to win the DIRT Sportsman feature by a good margin. After Christian, it was Greg Doust, Willy Decker, John Bellinger, and Ron Richardson. Sportsman heat wins went to Willy Decker, Kevin Crave, and John Kinsella.

The Pro Stock division at New Utica-Rome always puts on a great show, and this night was no exception. Tom Denton and Joe Palmer exchanged the lead numerous times, and Denton ended up in Victory Lane after it was all said and done. Palmer was second, followed by Dave Moyer, Jerry Holmes, and Jim Normoyle. Heat wins went to Denton and Palmer.

Jeff Thorp began the new season with a bang by winning the first Pure Stock feature event of the year. Behind Thorp was Dave Mannise, Jim Thomas, Herm Staats, and Jeff Pastorella. Pure Stock heats were won by Mannise and Thorp.

This coming Sunday night, the New Utica-Rome Speedway plays host to a Mother’s Day Special, including a DIRT 358 Modified 50 Lapper paying $2,000 to the winner. Also on the card are the DIRT Sportsman, DIRT Pro Stocks, and Pure Stocks. We are expecting many of the stars of DIRT Motorsports to converge on the ultra-fast NUR to try to steal the win away from the regulars. The gates will swing open at 4pm, and racetime is set for 6pm.

Notes: A large crowd was on hand, and everyone saw some great racing to begin the year. The ageless racing veteran, Maynard Forrette, was in attendance and racing at NUR. Forrette is one of the three drivers to have won on both the dirt and the asphalt at NUR. Check the NUR homepage out at www.newuticaromespeedway.com for photos and more information on the speedway.

NEW UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY

OPENING NIGHT ’99 – MAY 2ND, 1999

DIRT 358 Modifieds (30 Laps) – 1)Mike Romano, 2)Dale Planck, 3)Rocky Rothwell, 4)John Barker Jr., 5)A.J. Romano, 6)Maynard Forrette, 7)Mitch Gibbs, 8)Roger Phelps, 9)Jeff Walton, 10)Ryan Baye, 11)Jason Barney, 12)Todd Burley, 13) Doug Fuller, 14)Pete Taylor, 15)John Ramsey, 16)Mike Gillette, 17)Jeff Kotary, 18)Harry Shaffer, 19)Alan Johnson, 20)Mike Hulsizer, 21)J.J. Michaels, 22)Gus Schmidt, 23)Ron Holmes, 24)Dave House, 25)Jeremy Baye, 26)Jack Johnson.

DIRT Sportsman (20 Laps) – 1)Jamie Christian, 2)Greg Doust, 3)Willy Decker, 4)John Bellinger, 5)Ron Richardson, 6)Kevin Crave, 7)Paul Carey, 8)Tim Mayne, 9) John Kinsella, 10)John Christian, 11)Aaron Excell, 12)Jim Smith, 13)Steve Davis, 14)Dan Yankowski, 15)Paul Kinney, 16)Dave Bargabos, 17)John Cunningham, 18)Brian Johnson, 19)Pete Nowicki Jr., 20)Bill Shantel, Sr.

DIRT Pro Stocks (15 Laps) – 1)Tom Denton, 2)Joe Palmer, 3)Dave Moyer, 4)Jerry Holmes, 5)Jim Normoyle, 6)Bill Shantel Jr., 7)Jeff Jones, 8)Jason Rood, 9)Wayne Archer, 10)Bill Knapp, 11)Bret Belden.

Pure Stocks (15 Laps) – 1)Jeff Thorp, 2)Dave Mannise, 3)Jim Thomas, 4)Herm Staats, 5)Jeff Pastorella, 6)Bill Trexler, Sr., 7)Art Newman, 8)Mike Archer, 9)Dennis Kelly, 10)Steve Delano, 11)Bob Gloska, 12)John Juhl, 13)Mike Burke, 14)Rob Scavy, 15)Dave Arbes, 16)Neil Dixon, 17)Bill Mason, 18)Dan Hatch, 19)Chad Ray, 20)Paul Mercier, 21)Mark Effner.