Ted Lamb Back In Victory Lane at New Utica-Rome
Vernon, NY- Ted Lamb, driver of the Active Graphics #L82 modified, broke a long losing streak
since June of 1990 by taking his first feature win in eight years at New Utica-Rome this past
Sunday August 9th. Jamie Christian won the sportsman, George Kiskiel grabbed the street stock
feature win, Randy Hall took the IMCA Modifieds, and Jeff Thorp won the pure stocks. It was
New York Stock Car Association Night once again at NUR, and the first driver across the finish
line with a NYSSCA logo on their car in each feature took home an extra $50 courtesy of
NYSSCA.
Mike Hulsizer and Pete Taylor lead the modified feature to the flags of new starter Chip
Burdick, and Hulsizer grabbed the early lead. Ted Lamb, who started in the third row, was on
the move and he stole the lead from Hulsizer on the third circuit. However, Hulsizer did not want
to give up the top spot and neither did Lamb. Hulsizer ran in the low groove and as usual, Lamb
was on the high side. Lamb eventually won out, and had a sizable lead by lap 12. During this
period, John Barker raced to the second spot, which he took over from Hulsizer. J.J. Michaels,
who started the race somewhere in Syracuse, was quickly moving through the field, picking off
car after car. For the second week in a row, popular driver Ron Holmes had mechanical
problems, and he dropped out of the action on lap 19. On lap 23, Michaels had moved in on
Mike Hulsizer and took the third spot over. By this time, Lamb had a striaghtaway lead, and he
cruised on to the feature win, his first at NUR since 1990. It was the first green to checker
modified feature at NUR in recent memory. Behind Lamb was Barker, followed by Michaels,
Mike Hulsizer, and Mitch Gibbs. In victory lane, Lamb stated, “The car is running good, but I am
still having trouble getting it to turn left. Finally a victory though!” Modified heats were won by
Gus Schmidt, Ted Lamb, and Mike Hulsizer.
The sportsman modifieds once again put on a great show at NUR, and Jamie Christian
came home the winner. Ron Richardson, who has two wins in the last week at Fulton, was in
third place with a lap to go when he slowed with a serious engine problem, which knocked him
out of the top five. Billy Shantel, Sr., kept up his string of good runs with a strong second.
Shantel was followed by Jack Miller, Paul Carey, and Willy Decker.
Street stock racing fans saw yet another hotly contested street stock feature at NUR, and
George Kiskiel in the #11NY street stock, got the win by just inches over the popular Billy
Shantel, Jr. Kiskiel started up front and lead most of the race. Shantel, however, started mid
pack and moved up through the field each lap. He kept passing cars and started challenging
Kiskiel with two laps to go. The yellow came out and racing fans saw a trail of liquid behind
Shantel. It was deemed to be water, and it stopped leaking on the white flag lap. Shantel went
for the win on the final lap and was side by side the whole lap. Kiskiel got a better run out of the
fourth turn and beat Shantel to the flag by inches. Shantel’s overheating street stock was ahead
of Dave Moyer, Joe Palmer, and Tom Denton as they crossed the line.
The IMCA Modifieds were out in full force, and Randy Hall won his first NUR feature win.
Neil Edgar lead most of the race with a gigantic lead. Larry Bezner was on the move until
contact with another car sent him into the wall on the backstretch. A restart with one lap to go
allowed Randy Hall to go for the win over Edgar. Hall got a good start and beat Edgar to the win
over Don Alvord, Richard Michael, Jr., and Steve Bidwell.
Jeff Thorp won his third pure stock feature of the season. He was followed by “Mr. Pure
Stock” Dave Mannise, Rick Trexler, Jim Thomas, and Lou Levea.
This coming Sunday August 16th at the New Utica-Rome Speedway is another regular
show of Modifieds (big block and small block), Sportsman, Street Stocks, IMCA Modifieds, and
Pure Stocks. All big block modifieds are invited to race at NUR, and they must go by the DIRT
rulebook, weigh 2,000 lbs, and can run Hoosier Tires. 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 - Upcoming events on the NUR schedule....August 30th = Rollover Contest, September
6th = ELS Sprint Cars, September 13th = Demolition Derby. Fourteen year old racer Paul
Kinney, from Oneida, NY, made his debut in the sportsman division. Kinney races quarter
midgets on the 1/10th mile track at the NYS Fairgrounds. Dave House won the C. Weaver Dash
for Cash and the $300 top prize. Do not forget to check out Doug’s NUR Webpage at
www.dreamscape.com/zupans/uticarome.htm.
Modifieds - 1)Ted Lamb, 2)John Barker, Jr., 3)J.J. Michaels, 4)Mike Hulsizer, 5)Mitch Gibbs,
6)Dave House, 7)Steve Hulsizer, 8)Roger Phelps, 9)Gus Schmidt, 10)Doug Fuller, 11)Jeff
Walton, 12)Paul Jensen, 13)Pete Taylor, 14)Rocky Rothwell, 15)Jeremy Smith, 16)Steve Way,
17)Rich Price, 18)John Ramsey, 19)Jeff Kotary, 20)Joel Thomas, 21)Ron Holmes, 22)Ed Richer,
23)Bobby Utter, 24)Brian Murphy.
Sportsman - 1)Jamie Christian, 2)Billy Shantel, Sr., 3)Jack Miller, 4)Paul Carey, 5)Willy Decker,
6)Tony Buffa, 7)Jim Smith, 8)Steve Davis, 9)Ron Richardson, 10)Tim Mayne, 11)Billy Trexler,
Jr., 12)John Kinsella, 13)Craig Pritchard, 14)Butch Reiter, 15)Brian Johnson, 16)John Christian,
17)Kevin Therrien, 18)Paul Kinney.
Street Stocks - 1)George Kiskiel, 2)Billy Shantel, Jr., 3)Dave Moyer, 4)Joe Palmer, 5)Tom
Denton, 6)Wayne Archer, 7)Jim Normoyle, 8)Dave Bargabus, 9)J.B. Dockstader, 10)Brett
Haman, 11)Chris Palmer, 12)Jeff Witt, 13)Brett Belden, 14)Gerry Newman, 15)Ed Kotary,
16)Chad Ward, 17)Rich Keller, 18)Geoff VanRiper, 19)Billy Knapp.
IMCA Modifieds - 1)Randy Hall, 2)Neil Edgar, 3)Don Alvord 4)Richard Michael, Jr., 5)Steve
Bidwell, 6)George Cantazano, 7)Sean Lias, 8)Frank Caprara, 9)Brendt Matzel, 10)Doug
McKane, 11)Cory Fachini, 12)Larry Bezner, 13)Dane Keller, 14)Aaron Jacobs.
Pure Stocks - 1)Jeff Thorp, 2)Dave Mannise, 3)Rick Trexler, 4)Jim Thomas, 5)Lou Levea, 6)Jeff
Pastorella, 7)Alan Graham, 8)Chad Ray, 9)Herm Staats, 10)Dave Meeks, 11)Steve Delano,
12)Dave Rogers, 13)Mike Howe, 14)Rick Dote, 15)Art Newman, Jr., 16)Jason Rood, 17)Mike
Burke, 18)Mark Effner, 19)Dave Arbes, 20)Don Ray, 21)Billy Gibson, 22)Duane Arnold.