Ron Holmes, Tim Mayne, Billy Shantel, Jr., Sean Lias, and Jeff Thorp Win at NUR

Vernon, NY- Professional racing action returned to the New Utica-Rome Speedway again this past

Sunday night July 26th. Ronnie “Hot Shoes” Holmes was the star of the evening as he stole the

modified feature win from a very determined “Heavy Hauler” Gus Schmidt, who lead most of the

race.

Gus Schmidt and Ted Lamb led the modified feature event down to the flags of Starter

Kenny Marshall, and Schmidt took the lead immediately. Paul Jensen, Mitch Gibbs, and Ron

Holmes raced together for position in the ten laps until they were slowed by the first caution of the

race on lap 10 which was caused by Ed Richer, who stopped in turn three. The green came back

out, but it was short lived as John Ramsey did a simple spin in the fourth turn. Schmidt continued

his lead once again on the restart, but yet another yellow came back out for a spin by Bob Sitterly.

On the restart, Holmes and Rocky Rothwell dueled for the second position, with Holmes winning

out. With three laps to go, Holmes began challenging leader Gus Schmidt for the feature win. Gus

was fighting for his first ever modified feature win, and he gave it all he had. However, on the final

lap, Holmes drove into the third turn deeper than Schmidt, and took the feature win over a

disappointed Schmidt by less than a full car length at the finish line. Paul Jensen was third, J.J.

Michaels fourth, and Ted Lamb was fifth. Holmes, the driver of the Ralph’s Collision #82H, stated

in victory lane, “I gave it all we had and it paid off.”

The always exciting sportsman division feature event produced a first time winner. Tim

Mayne, driver of the #44M took home his first ever sportsman feature victory. Behind Mayne was

97 Track Champion Dan “The Man” Yankowski, Jack Miller, Willy Decker, and John Kinsella.

Billy Shantel, Jr., driver of the Wolcik and LuVullo Homes #97 won his second consecutive

street stock feature event of 1998. It was a popular victory for the young driver in only his second

year of competition. Behind Shantel was Tom Denton, Wayne Archer, Jerry Holmes, and “Razor”

Ray Maloney.

The IMCA Modifieds made their debut at New Utica-Rome Speedway, and they produced

some great racing at the “Fast Track.” Sixteen cars made the trip to NUR, and Sean Lias, former

Brewerton Champion, took home the win of the first ever IMCA feature at NUR. George

Cantazano was second, Randy Hall was third, Richard Michael, Jr., was fourth, and the Larry

Bezner was fifth. The IMCA Modifieds are now a weekly fixture on the NUR racing schedule.

The pure stock feature event saw Jeff Thorp take the checkered flag for the second time

this season. Second was a fast Tom Donahue, third was Rick Dote, fourth was “Junkyard” Jim

Thomas, and fifth was Chad Ray. Six time winner Dave Manisse was a lap down because of a flat

tire that had to be changed.

This coming Sunday August 2nd at the New Utica-Rome Speedway is another regular

show of Modifieds, Sportsman, Street Stocks, IMCA Modifieds, and Pure Stocks.

A reminder for everyone is that big block modifieds will be racing weekly along with the small block

modifieds. Any of them are cordially invited to race at NUR, and they must go by the DIRT

rulebook, weigh 2,600 lbs, and may run Hoosier Tires. In addition, IMCA Modifieds are now a

weekly fixture at NUR. 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 pit area was loaded with race cars. Ronnie Johnson was back with his big block once

again. Roger Phelps raced with his big block because he blew up his small block last Sunday

night. Thirty-one modifieds were on hand to attempt to qualify for the modified feature event. New

mods in the pits were the #16 of Steve Eldred and the #25 of John Ramsey. In addition, the

popular Jeff Walton, in the #2J, returned to racing after sitting out the beginning of the season.

Before racing action began, kiddie rides took place. Many kids got treated to rides in the race cars,

and they really enjoyed themselves. Also, the fans seemed to enjoy the IMCA Mods, which really

got around the fast NUR. Speedway.

Modifieds - 1)Ron Holmes 2)Gus Schmidt 3)Paul Jensen 4)J.J. Michaels 5)Ted Lamb 6)Steve

Hulsizer 7)John Barker, Jr. 8)Rocky Rothwell 9)Doug Fuller 10)Jeff Walton 11)Dave House

12)Jeremy Smith 13)Mike Hulsizer 14)Jerry Northrup 15)Ronnie Johnson 16)Roger Phelps 17)John

Ramsey 18)Pete Taylor 19)Jeff Kotary 20)Steve Way

21)Rich Price 22)Joel Thomas 23)Bob Sitterly 24)Ed Richer 25)Mitch Gibbs (DQ)

Sportsman - 1)Tim Mayne 2)Dan Yankowski 3)Jack Miller 4)Willy Decker 5)John Kinsella 6)Billy

Trexler, Jr. 7)Jamie Christian 8)Tony Buffa 9)Ron Richardson 10)Billy Shantel, Sr. 11)Jim Smith

12)Paul Carey 13)Butch Reiter 14)Roger Cook 15)John Christian 16)Tim Clemons 17)Craig

Pritchard 18)Kevin Therrien 19)Steve Kotary 20)Brian Johnson

Street Stocks - 1)Billy Shantel, Jr. 2)Tom Denton 3)Wayne Archer 4)Jerry Holmes 5)Ray Maloney

6)Joe Palmer 7)Stan Clark 8)Geoff VanRiper 9)Rich Keller 10)Dave Bargabus 11)J.B. Dockstader

12)Jon O’Herien 13)George Kiskiel 14)Steve Weatherbee 15)Brett Hamun 16)Paul Stoneburg

17)Ed Kotary 18)Dave Moyer 19)Billy Knapp 20)Chad Ward 21)Gerry Newman

IMCA Modifieds - 1)Sean Lias 2)George Cantazano 3)Randy Hall 4)Richard Michael, Jr. 5)Larry

Bezner 6)Ron O’Niel 7)Steve Bidwell 8)Craig Simmons 9)Don Alvord 10)Cory Fachini 11)John Bell

12)Doug McKane 13)Joe Miles 14)Bruce McCloskey 15)Neil Edgar 16)Brendt Matzel

Pure Stocks - 1)Jeff Thorp 2)Tom Donahue 3)Rick Dote 4)Jim Thomas 5)Chad Ray 6)Dave

Arbes 7)Herm Staats 8)Billy Gibson 9)Steve Delano 10)Dan Beach 11)Alan Graham 12)Jason

Rood 13)Jeff Pastorella 14)Lou Levea 15)Waylon Wilczek 16)Mike Howe 17)Paul Mercier 18)Aaron

Jacobs 19)Mike Burke 20)Dave Rogers 21)Dave Meeks 22)Dave Mannise 23)Matt Sweet

24)Duane Arnold 25)Mike Archer 26)Art Newman, Jr. 27)Mark Effner 28)Skip Miles 29)Don Ray