Stewart Friesen Wins Wild New Yorker 100 at Utica-Rome Speedway
VERNON, NY- After a rough couple of days with the weather that included over four inches of rain, a tornado touchdown a quarter mile away, and localized flooding, Utica-Rome Speedway was greeted by sunny skies this past Sunday, July 2. A blockbuster show presented by Clinton Tractor and Wilber-Duck Chevrolet featured the Super DIRTcar Series Modified Series New Yorker 100 that saw XXX get the win. Chuck Hebing won the Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprint 25-lap battle over Danny Varin, but it was Varin who took the Donath MotorWorx ESS Speedweek war as he was crowned the champion of the five-race series. Stewart Friesen won the firework filled New Yorker with Chuck Hebing taking the ESS Speedweek finale. Mark Effner took home his first ever Broedel Energy Sportsman win.
Defending Utica-Rome Speedway Modified champion Matt Sheppard and Max McLaughlin led the 30-car Super DIRTcar Series New Yorker 100 field to the green with Sheppard grabbing the early lead. The early portion of the race went incident free as Sheppard tried to pull away from the field, but third place starter Billy Decker kept pace with him. As the duo started to reach lapped traffic, Sheppard show his mastery of the Vernon oval as he used the lap cars to stretch his lead over Decker. With 25 laps complete, the leaderboard showed Sheppard over Decker, Pat Ward, Tim Fuller, and Stewart Friesen.
Decker would not let Sheppard out of his sights as the veteran driver began to close the gap and on lap 37, Decker would get alongside Sheppard for the lead. Contact with lapped car slowed Sheppard’s pace enough to allow Decker to grab the top spot on lap 38. The complexion of the race took on a new look a lap later as Sheppard slowed with a left front flat tire, bringing out the caution.
When the field restarted on lap 46, it was Ward that would steal the lead away from Decker. At the halfway point, it was Ward showing the way over Decker, Friesen, Fuller, and Danny Varin. Varin’s charge started from the 18th starting spot.
Multi-time track champion Friesen seemed to find some speed as on lap 52 he went around Decker on the high side and started tracking down the Ward. It took just two laps for Friesen to close the gap, as on lap 54, he went around Ward on the top of turn one and two to be scored the leader on lap 55.
Another extended green flag session saw Friesen continue to lead as Ward, Fuller, Decker, and Varin in pursuit. A scary moment occurred on lap 74 as Claude Hutchings Jr. and Beth Bellinger made contact as they went down the backstretch and the pair nosed into the outer guardrail. Bellinger spun around while Hutchings flipped hard a couple times, bringing out the red flag. Both drivers were unhurt.
The ensuing restart saw Friesen again jump to the lead and as the field completed lap 75 saw Friesen leading over Ward, Decker, Fuller, and Varin. Even though Friesen led, Ward would not let him get away as kept the leader in his sights. Another scary incident came on lap 88 as Sheppard and Larry Wight, battling for seventh and eighth, made contact down in the backstretch with Wight taking several hard tumbles in turn three.
On the restart after the red flag, Friesen would hold on to the lead and the remainder of the New Yorker 100 to score his 54th career win at Utica-Rome Speedway and his second ever New Yorker win. Ward, Fuller, Varin, and Decker rounded out the top five at the checkered. Brett Hearn, Gary Tomkins, Erick Rudolph, Alan Johnson, and Peter Britten filled out the rest of the top 10.
In the Broedel Energy Sportsman main event, Kyle Kiehn and Mark Effner started on the front for their 27-car 20-lap main event with Effner grabbing the early lead. Effner would continue to lead the way with Charlie Tibbitts, Kiehn, AJ Miller, and Daryl Nutting chasing. After slipping at the start from his third starting spot to outside the top five, Kyle DeMetro was looking recover as he broke back into the top five on lap seven. At the halfway point, it was still Effner showing the way in search of his first Sportsman win as DeMetro continued his march to the front as he was second over Kiehn, Miller, and Nutting. DeMetro’s fine run ended on a lap 19 slip over the turn one banking while Effner easily led the rest of the way to score the win. Miller, Kyle Inman, Kiehn, and 15th place starter Matt Janczuk rounded out the top five.
For complete Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprint results and details, please see ESS release.
Another exciting show is scheduled for this upcoming Sunday, July 9, at the “Action Track of the East” when the King of Dirt 358-Modified Series makes its inaugural visit for the Victoria 200 40-lap $3,000 to win main event for the 358-Modifieds. The Broedel Energy Sportsman, Pro Stocks, and Novice Sportsman are also in action as well. Gates will open at 3:30 p.m. with racing at 6 p.m. More information can be found at www.uticaromespeedway.com or by calling (315)829-4557.
RACE SUMMARY
SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (100 LAPS)-STEWART FRIESEN, Pat Ward, Tim Fuller, Danny Varin, Billy Decker, Brett Hearn, Gary Tomkins, Erick Rudolph, Alan Johnson, Peter Britten, Billy Dunn, Max McLaughlin, Bobby Varin, Jimmy Phelps, Billy Whittaker, Justin Haers, Mike Mahaney, Marc Johnson, Rob Bellinger, Justin Wright, Rich Scagliotta, Keith Flach, Michael Maresca, Matt Sheppard, Larry Wight, Nick Webb, Claude Hutchings Jr., Beth Bellinger, Brandon Walters, and Jessey Mueller.
BROEDEL ENERGY SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (20 LAPS)-MARK EFFNER, AJ Miller, Kyle Kiehn, Matt Janczuk, Daryl Nutting, Chris Mackey, AJ Filbeck, Dave Moyer, Jason Rood, Brad Alger, Kyle DeMetro, Stephen Denton, Charlie Tibbitts, Scott Duell, Brian Pessolano, Andrew Wren, Tim Falter, Jeff Taylor, Carl Inman, Aaron Jacobs, Joel Hall, George Dyer, Jeremy Nestved, Brent Joy, Kevin Poitras, and Tyler Thompson. DQ-Kyle Inman.
LUCAS OIL EMPIRE SUPER SPRINTS A-MAIN FINISH (25 LAPS)-CHUCK HEBING, Danny Varin, Matt Tanner, Paul Kinney, Bobby Varin, Matt Billings, Jason Barney, Jeff Cook, Paulie Colagiovanni, Dan Douville, Jonathon Preston, Dave Axton, Ryan Susice, Billy VanInwegan, Darryl Ruggles, Steve Glover, Dan Bennett, Denny Peebles, Scott Holcomb, Yan Bilodeau, Bryan Howland, Coleman Gulick, Cory Sparks, Mark Smith, and Mike Mahaney.
DONATH MOTORWORX LUCAS OIL EMPIRE SUPER SPRINT SPEEDWEEK CHAMPION-Danny Varin.
Sources: John Tiff/Utica-Rome Speedway PR