Jeff Walton, Billy Trexler, Jr., Gerry Newman, Cory Fachini,

and Jeff Thorp Win at New Utica-Rome

Vernon, NY.....Jeff Walton took the early 1998 racing season off until a few weeks ago, when he

returned to the racing wars at the New Utica-Rome Speedway. His hard work the past few

weeks dialing in the new Kniesel chassis paid off this past Sunday night August 16th when

Walton won the Modified feature event. Billy Trexler, Jr. took home the Sportsman honors,

Geraldine Newman won the Street Stocks, Cory Fachini finished first in the IMCA Modifieds, and

Jeff Thorp won his second pure stock feature in a row.

Before the green flag even flew for the modified feature, Gus Schmidt, coming off a big

win at Fulton the previous night, had problems with his Schmidt Trucking #30 and went pitside.

However, Schmidt made it back in time for the start of the feature. Bobby Utter and Jerry

Northrup led the modified feature event out of the starting gates and down to Starter Chip

Burdick’s green flag. Northrup jumped out to the early lead, but on the move was the 2J of Jeff

Walton, who grabbed the second spot on lap 1. Walton took the top spot from Northrup by the

third lap and begun opening up a decent lead. Mitch Gibbs had his 2G wound up tight and

began moving towards the front along with Roger Phelps, who took over the third spot on lap 7.

Ron Holmes, Paul Jensen, and J.J. Michaels started moving themselves into the top 10 positions

around lap 8 when a small pileup occurred in turn three that included Randy Storms, Aaron

Jacobs, and Bob Sitterly. Walton spun to avoid the incident and was given his spot back by

track officials. The first restart on lap 8 was short lived because of a jam up in turn one that

included last week’s winner Ted Lamb and Randy Storms. On the second lap 8 restart, Roger

Phelps moved into the second position. The action was slowed for a final time on lap 11 when

Steve Hulsizer slowed on the backstretch. The final restart saw a duel between Holmes and

Phelps for the second position. Holmes won out, and then started reeling in Walton for a race

for the win. Holmes caught Walton on lap 17 but could not get by Walton’s 2J. It looked like

lapped traffic would play a role on the outcome in the feature, but Walton kept a cool head,

pulled away from Holmes, and pulled off the popular victory. It was Walton’s first win of 1998 at

New Utica-Rome, and an excited Walton stated, “It is nice to be here. This is a brand new

Kniesel and it has gotten faster each week.” Behind Holmes was Phelps, Dave House, and

Mitch Gibbs. Modified heats were won by Dave House, Mitch Gibbs, and Ron Holmes.

Billy Trexler, Jr., from Oneida, NY, took home his second Sportsman win of 1998 at NUR

in the Top’s Friendly Markets 1B. Paul Carey raced behind Trexler most of the race, but could

not catch him. Trexler and Carey pulled away from the rest of the field, and they were followed

across the line by Craig Pritchard, Jack Miller, and John Kinsella. Sportsman heats were won by

John Kinsella and John Christian.

Popular Street Stock lady racer “The Blonde Bomber” Gerry Newman, from Durhamville,

NY, made it two for two on the weekend, winning at Fulton on Saturday and NUR on Sunday.

The 1996 and 1997 Fulton Track Champion had her Team Hummer #7n running really strong

and she pulled away from the rest of the field, going on uncontested to the win. Rich “The

Lionheart” Keller finished second, “The Mover” Dave Moyer was third, young gun Billy Shantel,

Jr., was fourth, and John Roese finished fifth. Street Stock heats were taken by Rich Keller and

Gerry Newman.

The IMCA Modifieds once again put on a good show at NUR, Cory Fachini ended up

going home a first time IMCA feature winner. A late race caution helped shuffle the top five.

Steve Bidwell ended up second, last week’s winner Randy Hall was third, Sean Lias was fourth,

and George Cantazano was fifth. IMCA heats were won by Cory Fachini and Randy Hall.

Jeff Thorp in the Thorp Farms #22 took his second pure stock feature win in a row, which

was his fourth on the season. A late race charge by Thorp helped propel him to Victory Lane.

“Junkyard” Jim Thomas, running well and on the high side, took second, while “Mr. Pure Stock”

Dave Mannise was third. After Mannise, it was Lou Levea and Rick Dote. Pure stock heat wins

went to Jeff Thorp and Jim Thomas.

This coming Sunday night August 23rd at New Utica-Rome is another five star regular

show consisting of Modifieds (big block and small block), Sportsman, Street Stocks, IMCA

Modifieds, and Pure Stocks. IMCA Modifieds are now a weekly Sunday night attraction at NUR.

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 this Sunday at

4pm and racing begins at 6pm. Admission prices for this show and all remaining regular shows

are as follows: Adults = $9, Seniors (62+) = $6, Students (10-14) and Military with ID = $7, and

Kids (9 and under with a paid adult, or senior) = FREE. Admission to enter the pits is $15, and

no license is required.

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.....New modifieds in the pit area included veteran racer Randy Storms and Tony Pepicelli.

Pepicelli had a small block modified with sail panels. The second installment of the C. Weaver

Chevrolet Dash For Cash ($300 To Win) was won by Mitch Gibbs over Dave House and Ron

Holmes. The final event on the 1998 NUR Schedule will be on September 13th, and it will be the

ONE and ONLY 1998 Victoria 200 Qualifer. Two guaranteed spots for the Victoria 200 at Fulton

Speedway will be on the line that evening. One spot will go to the first NUR regular across the

line, and the other one will go to the first non NUR regular to finish the race. Do not forget to

check out Doug’s New Utica-Rome Webpage at www.dreamscape.com/zupans/uticarome.htm.

Modifieds- (25 laps) - 1)Jeff Walton, 2)Ron Holmes, 3)Roger Phelps, 4)Dave House, 5)Mitch

Gibbs, 6)J.J. Michaels, 7)Paul Jensen, 8)Ted Lamb, 9)Gus Schmidt, 10)John Barker, 11)Jerry

Northrup, 12)Rocky Rothwell, 13)Mike Hulsizer, 14)Tony Pepicelli, 15)Steve Hulsizer, 16)Rich

Price, 17)Bob Sitterly, 18)Steve Way, 19)Bob Utter, 20)Ed Richer, 21)Randy Storms, 22)Mike

Jacobs, 23)Doug Fuller, 24)Pete Nowicki, Jr. 25)Jeff Kotary, 26)Joel Thomas, 27)Pete Taylor.

Sportsman- (20 laps) - 1)Billy Trexler, Jr., 2)Paul Carey, 3)Craig Pritchard, 4)Jack Miller, 5)John

Kinsella, 6)Tony Buffa, 7)Jamie Christian, 8)Willy Decker, 9)Tim Mayne, 10)Steve Davis,

11)Steve Kotary, 12)Butch Reiter, 13)Paul Kinney, 14)Jim Smith, 15)Ron Richardson, 16)Brian

Johnson, 17)Billy Shantel, Sr.

Street Stocks- (15 laps) - 1)Gerry Newman, 2)Rich Keller, 3)Dave Moyer, 4)Billy Shantel, Jr.,

5)John Roese, 6)J.B. Dockstader, 7)Geoff VanRiper, 8)Billy Knapp, 9)Chad Ward, 10)Joe

Palmer, 11)Chris Palmer, 12)Ed Kotary, 13)Tom Denton, 14)Stan Clark, 15)Rob Mathews,

16)Wayne Archer, 17)George Kiskiel, 18)Jim Zajak.

IMCA Modifieds- (15 laps) - 1)Cory Fachini, 2)Steve Bidwell, 3)Randy Hall, 4)Sean Lias,

5)George Cantazano, 6)John Bell, 7)Ron O’Neil, 8)Don Alvord, 9)Brendt Matzel, 10)Neil Edgar,

11)Bruce McCloskey, 12)Aaron Jacobs, 13)Larry Bezner.

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

Dote, 6)Jason Rood, 7)Dave Arbes, 8)Rick Trexler, 9)Mike Howe, 10)Chad Ray, 11)Steve

Delano, 12)Mike Burke, 13)Waylon Wilczek, 14)Dan Beach, 15)Mark Effner, 16)Dave Meeks,

17)Alan Graham, 18)Steve Marshall, 19)Mike Archer, 20)Jeff Pastorella, 21)Billy Gibson, 22)Art

Newman, 23)Herm Staats.