HAMM, ZEMKEN ARE FIRST TIME WINNERS AT THE
NEW AFTON SPEEDWAY ON GARY’S U PULL-IT NIGHT
AFTON, NY – It was a mixture of first-time winners in 2004 and repeat winners at The New Afton
Speedway during a busy Friday night sponsored by Gary’s U Pull-It.
Rick Wilson of Joyceville, Ontario, Canada is still the only A-Main winner in the Patriot Sprint Group on
the 4/10-mile Afton Fairgrounds’ layout as he followed up his 2003 win with another checkered flag
Friday with other repeat winners being Trout Creek’s Denny Smith in the DIRT Pro Stocks and Lansing’
s Dick Stark in the Pure Stocks.
First-time winners in 2004 were Bob Hamm, Jr. of Windsor in an exciting DIRT 358-Modified
feature and Jessica Zemken from Sprakers in the DIRT Sportsman main event. Rich Gardiner of
Chenango Forks won his first 4-Cylinder Enduro feature.
After the tradition four-wide salute to the fans, polesitter Bryan Howland and Wilson brought the
Patriot Sprint Group 20-car starting field to Sam Rogers’ green flag with Wilson using the quicker
outside groove to grab the point in the 20-lap A-Main with Howland, Doug Norrie, Don Adamczyk and
Billy Coffey in tow. Wilson led until Howland blasted by on the high side out of turn two on lap nine.
Unfortunately, Howland’s advantage would be shortlived as he spun between turns one and two on lap
11 and lost several positions after continuing on under the green flag.
Wilson would continue to pull away and posted a comfortable second win at the speedway. Norrie
came home in second place with Adamczyk, Jared Zimbardi and Gordy Button rounding out the top five.
Hamm started on the outside of the front row for the 30-lap DIRT 358 Modified feature, but he
grabbed the lead from polesitter Ed Harris before the first lap was complete. Chris Ostrosky, J.R.
Crouse, Willy Decker and Jamie Christian gave chase. The race would only be slowed by back-to-back
caution flags on laps 24 and 25.
As Hamm opened a slight advantage over Ostrowsky, Decker was working his way towards the
front and overtook Ostrowsky on lap 10. That set-up a great three-car battle between Ostrowsky,
Crouse and Hurlburt for third place.
On the lap 24 restart, Hamm still led with Decker second and Ostrowsky in third, but the second
and third place runners flip-flopped on the lap 25 restart. Decker retook the second spot on lap 28 while
Jeff Rudalavage moved into the top five after passing Hurlburt.
As the white flag flew, Hamm was leading Decker by inches, but Decker grabbed advantage
heading down the backstretch. As the two cars hit turn three Decker still led, but drifted a little high as
the two cars approached turn four. Hamm used the slim opening to pull inside of Decker and the two
cars made contact as Hamm began sliding up the track. Hamm had the advantage coming down the
frontstretch and took the checkered flag with Decker tapping his back bumper as the crowd cheered
both competitors.
Ostrowsky completed his great run in third place with Crouse and Rudalavage completing the top
five. Hurlburt was sixth in the running order. Points leader Mitch Gibbs came across the line in eighth
place, one spot behind defending track champion Jeremy Smith.
Craig Pope led the DIRT Sportman field to the green flag for the 20-lap main event, but a flurry of
five early race cautions in the first six laps led to four different race leaders.
Loren Lincoln took the point using the outside groove on a lap two restart as Pope faded into
the field and he led on a lap four restart when Zemken took the lead with the outside groove. On lap five,
Anderson got the better bite on the outside to overtake Zemken on the restart, but the West Edmeston
feature winner from one week earlier maintained his advantage starting from the inside on a lap six
restart. Lap 11 saw Anderson maintain the point on the single-file restart.
Anderson slowly pulled away and took the checkered flag by five car-lengths over Zemken with
Butch Klinger, Tim French and Adam Smith rounding out the top five.
Anderson was disqualified after the post-race inspection and Zemken was awarded the victory with the
rest of the field moving up one spot. That moved Lincoln into the final spot of the top five.
In a twist of irony, Zemken’s second-ever win at Afton came again with the Patriot Sprints on hand
and after a win at Utica-Rome Speedway. Zemken won at Utica-Rome just a few days earlier on May 2.
Pat Nolan brought the DIRT Pro Stock field to the starting line and led the first lap of the 20-lap
feature as Smith charged from his sixth starting spot into second place with Bob Mills, Pete Gulick and
Jeremy Clark in tow. By the end of lap two, Smith would take over the top spot and never relinquish it
for the remainder of the feature,
Nolan held to second place for two circuits before Mills moved into the runner-up spot for two laps.
On a lap six restart, Clark charged into the runner-up spot, leaving Nolan, Brett Belden, Mills and Gulick
battling for top five spots.
Gulick had the toughest road as he came to a halt on lap three with a flat tire after contact with the
backstretch wall. He would return, only to spin again in turn two and bring out the caution. His night
would come to an end on a lap 11 restart when he spun in turn one and was sent to the pits for the three-
spin rule.
The running order of the top five only had one change after the second lap 11 restart. Smith
continued on his way to victory with Clark staying close enough to the leader to pose a threat, but not
close enough to make a move to get the win. The change came on lap 19 as Belden overtook Nolan for
the third spot. Mills came home fifth after a nice recovery from a lap nine spin.
Stark looked to have his third win easily as he roared around polesitter Jeremy Shaw on the opening
lap from his third starting spot. Shaw would cut down a tire after spinning in turn 2 on the third lap to
bring out the caution. Shaw changed the tire and returned from the pits as the green flag flew on the
restart.
Two-time defending track champion Buck Mills looked strong in his brother Frank’s #2 car, but his
bad luck continue on lap 10 when a broke rear axle ended his night. Mills was just a couple of car-
lengths back at the time of the mishap. Mills’ was driving his brother’s car while his #15 ride was sitting
at home with engine problems.
On the lap 10 restart, Stark did have competition as Shaw had recovered from his early race
problems and was on the back bumper of the leader.On lap 11, Stark shot towards the outside wall in
turn one and Shaw grabbed the lead with Charlie Holcomb, Joe Buchek and Paul Harrington, in the
borrowed #20S of Robert Schultz also running in the top five as Stark held on to second place.
Shaw was looking strong, but Stark was able to pull along side coming out of turn two on the final
lap. The two cars remained side-by-side through turns three and four as the dash to the checkered flag
reached its climax. Stark edged in front at the finish line for a one-half car-length win over the
disappointed Shaw. Holcomb, Buchek and Harrington did complete the top five.
A live band, plus a live remote by BIG KAT Country (95.3 FM, WBKT), will headline the big five-
star racing card at The New Afton Speedway this Friday night. Big Kat Country is part of the BANJO
Radio Group, who will sponsor the night‘s activities.
“The High Noon Band” will entertain the crowd from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. in front of the grandstands. It is
also Bikers’ Bonanza Night at the speedway. Ride your motorcycle to the track and get one-half off your
regular admission ticket. The first 500 fans (18 years and older) through the main gates will receive a
Budweiser key chain.
At 7:30, it will be exciting DIRT 358 Modified, DIRT Sportsman, DIRT Pro Stock, Pure Stock and
4-Cylinder Enduro action.
If you have any questions on any upcoming events, you may call the speedway office at 607-657-
8018; the track office at 607-639-1966 or you may log on to The New Afton Speedway website at www.
thenewaftonspeedway.com. The New Afton Speedway, Friday’s Best Family Entertainment Value, is
located on the Afton Fairgrounds off of Interstate 88, Exit 7, on Route 41.