Mitch Gibbs Wins First of 1998 at New Utica-Rome

Vernon, NY.....Yet another night of five star racing and entertainment occurred this past Sunday

August 30th at the New Utica-Rome Speedway. Feature winners on the evening included Mitch

Gibbs in the Modifieds, Ron Richardson in the Sportsman, Wayne Archer in the Street Stocks,

Don Alvord in the IMCA Modifieds, and Jeff Thorp in the Pure Stocks. After racing action was

completed, the always wild and popular Rollover Contest was held on the main straightaway,

and the fans certainly got their money’s worth. Even though a downpour made things a little wet,

Willy Hotaling made several passes on the ramp, rolled his four cylinder numerous times,

accumulated the most points, and took the win in the contest.

Mitch Gibbs, the 1996 Utica-Rome Modified Track Champion, has been on a real tear

recently at area tracks. A win at Fulton Speedway a week ago, and numerous wins at Afton have

made racing this year very rewarding for Gibbs. Gibbs, the driver of the Mirabito Fuel Group

#2G, added to his season win total this past Sunday and took home his first win of 1998 at NUR.

Following Gibbs across the finish line in the 25 lap modified feature was the popular Paul

Jensen in second, Dave House in third, J.J. Michaels in fourth, and “Hot Shoes” Ron Holmes in

fifth. Modified heat wins went to Gibbs, Rocky Rothwell, and Pete Taylor. Jensen won the hotly

contested C. Weaver Chevrolet Modified Dash For Cash and took home an extra $300 for his

efforts.

Ron Richardson is in the middle of one of his best seasons ever. The Chittenango, NY

driver of the Tacoma’s Restaurant #262, has already had one victory at NUR and several at

Fulton. Richardson did a double win on the weekend, winning at Fulton on Saturday and

Utica-Rome on Sunday. After Richardson it was Tim Mayne, Jamie Christian, John Christian,

and Jack Miller. Sportsman heat races went to “Gentleman Farmer” Jim Smith, Richardson, and

Miller.

The Street Stock division always puts on a great show at NUR, and this night was no

exception. Illion, NY resident, Wayne Archer in the #B52, took home his first victory of 1998 at

NUR. Behind Archer in the finishing order was Tom Denton, Jerry Holmes, Ed Kotary, and Dave

Bargabus. Street Stock heat wins went to Joe Palmer and Archer.

The IMCA Modifieds held their final race of the 1998 season at NUR this past Sunday,

and Don Alvord, of Locke, NY won his first ever NUR checkered flag in the 15 lap IMCA feature.

Behind Alvord, the top five was Sean Lias, Steve Bidwell, Cory Fachini, and Brendt Matzel. IMCA

heat wins went to Kevin Buff and Brendt Matzel. George Cantazano won the 1998 NUR IMCA

Modified Track Championship, the first ever of that type.

Jeff Thorp chalked up another win in the Pure Stock division at NUR this year. For the

record, it was his fifth win of the season. “Mr. Pure Stock” Dave Mannise was second, followed

by Lou Levea, Rick Dote, and “Junkyard” Jim Thomas. Pure stock heats were won by Rick Dote,

Jim Thomas, and Lou Levea.

This coming Sunday evening September 6th at the New Utica-Rome Speedway is a

Labor Day Spectacular that includes the ELS Sprint Cars along with a regular show of Modifieds

(big block and small block), Sportsman, Street Stocks, and Pure Stocks. Watch as the sprint

cars shake the ground and blister the race track with their lightning speeds. Big block mods

must go by the DIRT rulebook, weigh 2,600 lbs, and may run Hoosier Tires. The C. Weaver

Chevrolet Modified Dash For Cash will continue each week. It will pay $300 to win, and will

include the top two cars in each modified heat event. Gates open at 4pm and racing begins at

6pm.

The New Utica-Rome Speedway is located on Route 5 in Vernon, NY, right near Vernon

Downs. It is easily accessible off the New York State Thruway Exit #33. After you get off the

Thruway, turn right on Route 365 until you get to the intersection of Route 31. Turn right onto

Route 31 and continue until you get to Route 5 in Vernon. Turn left and the track is

approximately 1.5 miles on the left. Free parking and camping is allowed on the speedway

grounds. For more information, please call the track office at (315)-829-4557.

Notes: Racing legend and former Mult-Time Track Champion, “The Monk” Lou Lazzaro in the #4

was on hand and raced his Fonda big block modified. Many people were surprised to see him

there, and it was certainly a treat for older NUR race fans. The final event of 1998 at NUR will

be on September 13th. On that evening, there will be a demolition derby and two guaranteed

qualifying spots for the 1998 Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes Victoria 200 at the Fulton Speedway

will be up for grabs. Also, there will be one guaranteed spot given away for the Prolong 200 358

Modified race during Super DIRT Week at The Syracuse Mile.

Modified Feature - (25 laps) - 1)Mitch Gibbs, 2)Paul Jensen, 3)Dave House, 4)J.J. Michaels,

5)Ron Holmes, 6)Rocky Rothwell, 7)Gus Schmidt, 8)Roger Phelps, 9)Doug Fuller, 10)Ted Lamb,

11)Jeremy Smith, 12)Bob Sitterly, 13)Mike Hulsizer, 14)Rich Price, 15)Lou Lazzaro, 16)Bobby

Utter, 17)Joel Thomas, 18)Pete Nowicki, Jr., 19)Ken Hanson, 20)Pete Taylor, 21)Jeff Kotary,

22)Jeff Walton, 23)John Barker, 24)Steve Hulsizer, 25)Randy Storms.

C. Weaver Chevrolet Modified Dash - (4 laps) - 1)Paul Jensen, 2)Dave House, 3)Rocky

Rothwell, 4)Mitch Gibbs, 5)Pete Taylor, 6)John Barker.

Sportsman Feature - (20 laps) - 1)Ron Richardson, 2)Tim Mayne, 3)Jamie Christian, 4)John

Christian, 5)Jack Miller, 6)Billy Shantel, Sr., 7)Dan Yankowski, 8)Butch Reiter, 9)Mike Fusco,

10)Paul Carey, 11)Steve Kotary, 12)Craig Pritchard, 13)Billy Trexler, Jr., 14)Kevin Therrien,

15)Mike Dillenbeck, 16)Willy Decker, 17)Jim Smith, 18)Tim Falter, 19)Tony Ross, 20)Rich

Diamond, 21)Brian Johnson, 22)Paul Kinney.

Street Stock Feature - (15 laps) - 1)Wayne Archer, 2)Tom Denton, 3)Jerry Holmes, 4)Ed Kotary,

5)Dave Bargabus, 6)Jim Normoyle, 7)Bill Deerfield, 8)Chris Palmer, 9)J.B. Dockstader, 10)Geoff

VanRiper, 11)Joe Palmer, 12)Henry Kirk, 13)Billy Shantel, Jr., 14)Gerry Newman, 15)Billy

Knapp, 16)Dave Moyer, 17)Matt Spisak, 18)Jim Zajac.

IMCA Modified Feature - (15 laps) - 1)Don Alvord, 2)Sean Lias, 3)Steve Bidwell, 4)Cory Fachini,

5)Brendt Matzel, 6)Neil Edgar, 7)George Cantazano, 8)John Bell, 9)Aaron Jacobs, 10)Kevin

Buff, 11)Neil Bryon, 12)Doug McKane, 13)Bruce McCloskey.

Pure Stock Feature - (15 laps) - 1)Jeff Thorp, 2)Dave Mannise, 3)Lou Levea, 4)Rick Dote, 5)Jim

Thomas, 6)Alan Graham, 7)Chad Ray, 8)John Eiss, 9)Rick Trexler, 10)Tom Donahue, 11)Mike

Archer, 12)Steve Delano, 13)Mike Howe, 14)Billy Gibson, 15)Art Newman, Jr., 16)Jeff

Pastorella, 17)Mark Effner, 18)Jason Rood, 19)Dan Beach, 20)Bob Gloskia, 21)Waylon Wilczek.