Utica-Rome Mother's Day preview

Syracuse qualifiers for Modifieds and Sportsman spice up Mother's day at Utica-Rome Speedway.

VERNON, NY -- Mother's Day Sunday May 12, Utica-Rome Speedway will play host to Syracuse Qualifiers for the DIRT 358-Modifieds and the DIRT Sportsman. Scheduled on Nice N' Easy Grocery Shoppes / F.X. Caprara Car Companies Night is a 100-lap Turning Stone Casino 358-Modified Super DIRT Series feature and a Sunoco Race Fuels Sportsman Super DIRT Series 30-lap event. Both Super DIRT Series events will open the 2002 Super DIRT Series campaign, and Utica-Rome track points will not be issued. Race time is set for 6pm, with time trials kicking off on the freshly clayed half-mile at 5:30pm.

A stellar field of greater than sixty all star 358-Modified drivers is expected for the 100-lap Super DIRT Series race, which will offer a guaranteed starting spot for Super DIRT Week 358-Modified Championship at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. The top names in 358-Modified racing will at Utica-Rome for a share of the huge purse, featuring $3,000 to the race winner. Just some of the invading drivers on hand will be Danny Johnson, Pete Bicknell, Brett Hearn, Steve Paine, Frankie Caprara, Vic Coffey, and Alan Johnson, who won the 2001 100-lap season closer last September. Danny Johnson is the only driver to have won the yearly Mother's Day Super DIRT Series event since the speedway rejoined the DIRT Motorsports circuit in 1999. The Mother's Day 100 will be important to the series point regulars as they try to get an early season hold on the lucrative Mr. DIRT 358-Modified championship.

Last year's Utica-Rome track champion Todd Burley will have his hands full as he tries to score his first Super DIRT Series victory at his home track. For sure, the first time champion whose best finish in a Utica-Rome Super DIRT Series event is second would love to score a victory over the invading stars of the DIRT circuit.

Other Utica-Rome regulars looking to score a win include legendary DIRT Hall of Fame nominee Jack Johnson, Mitch Gibbs, Gordy Button, Matt Sheppard, John Ramsey, Aaron Excell, and J.J. Michaels, who nearly scored a major upset victory in the first Super DIRT Series event in 1999.

The Sportsman division will also be featured with a special 30-lap Sportsman Super DIRT Series event, offering a guaranteed starting spot for the Syracuse Mile "Firecracker" Sportsman Championship feature event plus a cool $1,000 to the race winner. The top Sportsman drivers on the DIRT Circuit including Paul Carey, Stewart Friesen, David VanHorn, Eldon Payne, and Randy Chrysler will all be there to try to start the series off with a huge victory. Home track regulars including defending race winner and track champion Tim Clemons, Jamie Christian, Kevin Crave, teenager Jessica Zemken, and Mike Button will all try to protect their home turf from the invaders.

Treat your mother on Mother's Day May 12 to the opening of the 2002 Super DIRT Series at Utica-Rome Speedway, where some of the best racing on the DIRT Motorsports circuit takes place on the ultra fast half-mile, known as the "Action Track of the East". The gates for the Sunday May 12 special program will open at 3pm with time trials at 5:30pm and racing beginning at 6pm. The speedway, now under new management, is located on Route 5 in Vernon, NY, and it is easily accessible from NYS Thruway Exit 33. Free parking and overnight camping is allowed on speedway grounds. For more information, contact the speedway office at (315) 829-4557 or log on to www.uticaromespeedway.com.

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