Rocky Rothwell Returns to Victory Lane at NUR

Vernon, NY-Professional racing action resumed once again this past Sunday night August 2nd at

the New Utica-Rome Speedway. Winners on the exciting evening of racing were Rocky Rothwell,

Jim Smith, Joe Palmer, Larry Bezner, and Dave Mannise.

Twenty-five modifieds, led by front row starters Joel Thomas and Rocky Rothwell, were let

out of the gates to race down to the green flags of Starter Kenny Marshall. John Barker, Jr. jumped

out to the early lead, and Ron Holmes dropped out with mechanical problems on lap two. The race

was slowed on lap 8 when Ted Lamb stopped in turn one after contact with another racer. After the

restart, Rocky Rothwell took the lead from Barker and opened up a nice lead. However, the lead

soon evaporated when J.J. Michaels started moving in on Rothwell. A battle for the win was set up

when Gus Schmidt broke on lap 22 and slowed. The restart and next three laps saw several lead

changes between Michaels and Rothwell. Rothwell used the high side to his advantage and

gained the lead back for good with a lap to go. It was Rothwell’s first feature win of 1998 in the

modified division. An excited Rothwell brought his Skip’s Used Cars #4 Modified to victory lane

and did a roof dance after exiting his racer. After his popular win, Rothwell stated, “It was a lot of

fun! I used the high side to my advantage and finally came out on top.” J.J. Michaels, who finished

second, shook Rothwell’s hand and congratulated him on a great run for the win. After Michaels it

was John Barker, Mitch Gibbs, and Jeremy Smith. Modified heats were won by Pete Taylor, Rocky

Rothwell, and Steve Hulsizer.

Local driver “Gentleman Farmer” Jim Smith in the Chenango Welding #16 took home his

first sportsman feature win in several years at New Utica-Rome. It was a popular win for the

veteran racer. Smith was followed by Willy Decker, John Christian, Billy Shantel, Sr., and Ron

Richardson.

Joe Palmer won his third street stock feature event of the 1998 season. The race was

halted due to a spectacular accident on the front straightaway. Involved were Billy Shantel, Jr.,

Dave Moyer, Geoff VanRiper, and Jon O’Herien. O’Herien’s #91 flipped violently end over end.

Luckily, no one was injured in the scary incident. Palmer was followed across the line by Chad

Ward in the race truck, Billy Shantel, Jr., Ed Kotary, and Wayne Archer.

Veteran racer Larry Bezner, in the 1B IMCA Modified, won the second ever IMCA race

held at NUR this past Sunday. Following Bezner was Don Alvord, George Cantazano, Steve

Bidwell, and Brendt Matzel.

“Mr. Pure Stock” Dave Mannise, driver of The Little Store #8, won yet another pure stock

feature event. It was his seventh win of the year. Behind Mannise was Jeff Thorpe, Jeff

Pastorella, Dave Arbes, and Jason Rood.

This coming Sunday night August 9th is another regular show of racing consisting of

Modifieds (big block and small block), Sportsman, Street Stocks, IMCA Modifieds, and Pure

Stocks. All big block modifieds are cordially invited to race at NUR, and they must go by the DIRT

rulebook, weigh 2,000 lbs, and can run Hoosier Tires. IMCA Modifieds now have a home track on

Sunday nights at NUR. A new weekly attraction at New Utica-Rome is the C. Weaver Chevrolet

Dash For Cash for the modifieds paying $300 to win. It 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 beautiful 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 spacious speedway grounds.

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

Notes - The races started later than normal because of a rock concert at Vernon Downs. Traffic

was tied up most of the night all around the track, and many fans and drivers were late in arriving.

Popular sixteen year old IMCA racer, Frank Caprara, was in attendance but had mechanical

problems in the heat, which forced him out of the night’s feature event. Don’t forget to check out

Doug’s New Utica-Rome Speedway Page on the web at

www.dreamscape.com/zupans/uticarome.htm.

Modifieds - 1)Rocky Rothwell 2)J.J. Michaels 3)John Barker, Jr. 4)Mitch Gibbs 5)Jeremy Smith

6)Paul Jensen 7)Steve Hulsizer 8)Doug Fuller 9)Jeff Walton 10)Mike Hulsizer 11)Pete Taylor

12)Lance Lauffenberger 13)Mike Jacobs 14)Joel Thomas 15)Jeff Kotary 16)Dave House 17)Gus

Schmidt 18)Bob Utter 19)Steve Way 20)Roger Phelps 21)Ted Lamb 22)Jerry Northrup 23)Russell

Flint 24)Ed Richer 25)Ron Holmes.

Sportsman - 1)Jim Smith 2)Willy Decker 3)John Christian 4)Billy Shantel, Sr. 5)Ron Richardson

6)Jack Miller 7)Billy Trexler, Jr. 8)Tim Mayne 9)Tony Buffa 10)John Kinsella 11)Craig Pritchard

12)Paul Carey 13)Jamie Christian 14)Steve Davis 15)Roger Cook 16)Dan Yankowski 17)Butch

Reiter.

Street Stocks - 1)Joe Palmer 2)Chad Ward 3)Billy Shantel, Jr. 4)Ed Kotary 5)Wayne Archer

6)George Kiskiel 7)Dave Bargabus 8)Tom Denton 9)Gerry Newman 10)Brett Haman 11)Stan Clark

12)Rodney True 13)Rich Keller 14)Paul Stoneburg 15)Billy Knapp 16)Jon O’Herien 17)Geoff

VanRiper 18)Dave Moyer.

Pure Stocks - 1)Dave Mannise 2)Jeff Thorpe 3)Jeff Pastorella 4)Dave Arbes 5)Jason Rood 6)Jim

Thomas 7)Chad Ray 8)Alan Graham 9)Dave Meeks 10)Herm Staats 11)Dan Beach 12)Waylon

Wilczek 13)Steve Delano 14)Aaron Jacobs 15)Dave Rogers 16)Mike Burke 17)Mark Effner 18)Lou

Levea 19)Art Newman, Jr. 20)Bob Gloska 21)Don Ray 22)Billy Gibson 23)Dennis Kelly 24)Rick

Dote 25)Mike Archer 26)Skip Miles 27)Mike Howe 28)Duane Arnold.

IMCA Modifieds - 1)Larry Bezner 2)Don Alvord 3)George Cantazano 4)Steve Bidwell 5)Brendt

Matzel 6)Bruce McCloskey 7)Doug McKane 8)Ron O’Neil.