August 30th WILLY DECKER DEFEATS MOTHER NATURE AND REST OF MODIFIED FIELD TO SCORE WIN AT UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY VERNON, NY- Mother Nature twice interfered with racing this past Sunday, August 30, at Utica-Rome Speedway but patience by the race teams and hard work by the track crews saw that the night’s program was completed. The night, sponsored by Daryl’s Heavy Truck Repair and Gardner’s Landscape, saw Willy Decker take home the $2,000 Modified win while Jeremy Vunk took the Sportsman win. Shawn Frost and Ron Hawker took home the Pro Stock and Pure Stock wins, respectively. When the green flag flew to begin the 30 lap Modified feature event, it was pole sitter John Ramsey getting the jump over fellow front row starter Todd Burley. Ramsey was stout out front as he led the first third of the event which were all run under green flag conditions. By lap 11, fifth place starter Willy Decker moved into the second spot and as he made his move for the lead on lap 13, the caution flag came out for Dave Rauscher’s disable mount in turn four. When the green flag again came out, Decker finished the pass he began before the caution and he was shown the leader for lap 14. At the halfway point, it was Decker, Ramsey, Brian Weaver, Stewart Friesen, and Jamie Christian riding in the top five spots. With Decker driving away out front, business began to pick up behind him. Weaver, Stewart Friesen, Ronnie Johnson, and Pat Ward all began to maneuver around the half mile oval battling for the remaining top five spots. With the fast tacky track conditions and the hard driving, something was bound to happen and on lap 29, it did. Contact among the top five cars sent Johnson sideways in turns one and two, with him almost flipping coming off turn two while collecting Christian, Burley, and Paul Jensen in melee. Johnson’s and Christian’s vehicles were done for the night while Friesen, Burley, and Jensen all were the rear as a result of the incident which change the look of the top five spots at the finish. When the green flag dropped, Decker drove away for his second win at Utica-Rome in 2009 with Ward nipping Weaver for second. Ramsey finished in a hard fought fourth with Bobby Varin grabbing fifth. The rest of the top ten was filled by Ryan Odasz, Pete Taylor, Ted Lamb, Brad Alger, and Elmo Reckner. AJ Filbeck took command of the Sportsman 20 lap feature event at the drop of the green flag; as he jumped from his fourth starting spot to the lead by the end of lap one. Filbeck looked strong out front, leading the first five circuits until eighth place starter Jeremy Vunk went by the outside coming off turn four to lead lap six. Vunk would race away from the field, leaving a heated battle behind him for the runner up spot. Lap after lap, Jeff Leslie, Steve Way, and Jason Rood would swap positions to take the spot and at the checkered it would be Vunk scoring his first win of the season over Leslie, Way, Rood, and a rapidly closing Matt Janzcuk. After a rough start to begin the 20 lap Pro Stock feature event, outside pole starter Ed Ostrander would be shown the early leader. Lap six Chris Mackey take over the top spot only to have Ostrander regain it by charging by the outside of Mackey on lap seven. Ostrander would repel the repeated efforts of Rocky Warner and Jim Normoyle for the next handful of laps until a new player entered the picture. Shawn Frost, after pitting on lap two, broke into the top three by lap 13 and by lap 15, he was the leader. Frost would race to his third win followed by Normoyle, Ostrander, Warner, and Tom Denton. The 15 lap Pure Stock main saw Chuck Cushman leading the field around the big half mile, leading the event until mechanical problems sent him pit side. Invading driver Ron Marsden would inherit the lead, a spot he would hold until point leader and 21st place starter Ron Hawker would slip by to lead lap 12. Hawker led the rest of the distance to score win number 10 on the season. Chris Carr, Marsden, Bill Mason, and Chris Cunningham all chased Hawker to the checkered flag. This Sunday evening on September 6, Gates-Cole Associates, Inc. presents the return of the Empire Super Sprints plus the final point show of Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro Stocks, and Pure Stocks. Gates open at 2:30 p.m. with racing at 5 p.m. DARYL’S HEAVY TRUCK REPAIR AND GARDNER’S LANDSCAPE RACE SUMMARY MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (30 LAPS)- WILLY DECKER, Pat Ward, Brian Weaver, John Ramsey, Bobby Varin, Ryan Odasz, Pete Taylor, Ted Lamb Jr., Brad Alger, Elmo Reckner, Don Ronca, Brian Chew, Casey Williams, Stewart Friesen, Jeff Kotary, Paul Jensen, Brian Murphy, Todd Burley, Ronnie Johnson, Jamie Christian, Danny Varin, John Lutes Jr., Mike Ward, Paul Kinney, and Dave Rauscher. DNQ- Alan Barker, Jamie Friesen, Clay Butler, Tim Mayne, Josh Hohenforst, Craig Hanson, Heath Carney, and Bill Shantel Jr. SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (20 LAPS)- JEREMY VUNK, Jeff Leslie, Steve Way, Jason Rood, Matt Janczuk, AJ Filbeck, Jack Miller, Claude Hutchings Jr., John DeForest, Craig Pope, Mike Button, Aaron Jacobs, Andy Graves, Bill Trexler Jr., and Roger West. DNS-Todd Fey. PRO STOCK FEATURE FINISH (20 LAPS)- SHAWN FROST, Jim Normoyle, Ed Ostrander, Rocky Warner, Tom Denton, Mark Effner, Bill Knapp, Rob Seavy, Dan Peo, John Roese, Ryan Lund, Emerson Cargam Jr., John Pearsall, Dave Moyer, Ivan Joslin, Chris Mackey, Bret Belden, AJ Digsby, and Jeff Pastorella. DNS- Chuck Dumblewski. PURE STOCK FEATURE FINISH (15 LAPS)- RON HAWKER, Chris Carr, Ron Marsden, Bill Mason, Chris Cunningham, Rob Thieme, Frank Hyatt, Cale Hoffman, Ricky Breed, Jim Thomas, Jim Richmond, Keith Stevenson, Mike Kazlauskas, John Davis Jr, Stan Clark, Mike Harrison, Eric Staelens, Chuck Cushman, Phil Norman, Scott Wheelock, and Mike Matthews.