Varin, Friesen, Sliter net wins at U-R Speedway

Utica-Rome Speedway hosted Tuesday Night Thunder to close out the 2015racing season.

VERNON >> Utica-Rome Speedway closed out it 2015 racing season with a special Tuesday Night Thunder event that saw the Stampede Steakhouse Modifieds, 360 Sprints and the Mod Lites tackle an ultra-fast surface. When everything was settled, it was Stewart Friesen claiming another win in the 360 Sprints while Danny Varin held off a last lap charge from track champion Matt Sheppard to take home his first ever UticaRome Speedway victory. Josh Sliter survived a race long duel with Joe Isabell to win the Mod Lite main event. Friesen’s and Varin’s victories were worth $3,000 each while Sliter took home $1,000 for his efforts. Clinton Tractor and Implement and A-Verdi Container Storage sponsored the night’s exciting action.

The start of the 360 Sprint A-Main was marred by a multi-car crash which started when front row starters Paul Habeck and Paul Kinney touched. Habeck flipped several times and the field took evasive action behind him. Unfortunately, not everyone was able to make it through unscathed as a total of eight cars were involved with Habeck, Jeff Cook, Dave Just and Lee Sanders done for the evening.

With the field realigned for another attempt at an original start, Kinney won the drag race to turn one at the drop of the green to grab the early lead over Friesen, who had restarted on the outside front row. Friesen immediately began to pressure Kinney for the top spot and as the pair entered each set of turns, Friesen was alongside Kinney lap after lap. For the next seven laps, the battle for the lead raged on while third place starter Justin Barger chased the duo after passing Kevin Albert for the position on lap two.

As the leaders were entering turns three and four to complete lap eight, Friesen threw a slide job at Kinney and was able to make it stick as he won the race out of turn four to lead the lap. That lead was short lived, however, as Kinney was able to return the favor to regain the lead on lap nine. Friesen wasn’t going to go away though as hemade another run at Kinney for the lead and was again the leader as the duo completed lap 10. Kinney again tried to regain the point but Friesen was able to fend him off. As the field took the halfway signal in the non-stop event, Friesen was setting the pace over Kinney, Barger, Albert and Mike Mahaney.

After losing the lead for the second time, Kinney was able to keep pace with Friesen initially but as the laps clicked off, Friesen began to stretch his advantage as he began to lap some very stout cars. Friesen held on to collect his

third 360 Sprint win of the season at the Utica-Rome Speedway with Kinney in second.

Varin and Ryan Arbuthnot led the Stampede Steakhouse Modifieds to the green flag to start the 30lap main event with Varin grabbing the initial lead. He immediately began to pull away from the field with Arbuthnot immediately feeling the pressure from fourth place starter Ryan Phelps. Phelps was able to wrestle the runnerup spot away on lap three, which put Arbuthnot in the middle of an intense fourcar battle for third with Vic Coffey, Pat Ward, Tom Kinsella, and Mahaney. While that battle raged on, 11thplace starter Sheppard was picking off spots on at a time but with the race continuing under green flag conditions, Sheppard knew he had to make a move if he wanted a shot at the win.

As the field was completing lap eight, Sheppard was in the seventh spot with the cars of Kinsella, Arbuthnot and Coffey directly in front of him. In turns three and four, he made a bold move in lapped traffic to pass all three to cross the line into fourth position. Varin was comfortably out front with Phelps continuing his pursuit and Ward and Sheppard right in his tire tracks at the halfway point.

On lap 22, Sheppard continued his charge to the front as he made an abrupt left turnexiting turn four to get underneath third place Ward and complete the pass by the time they got to the flag stand. He then went to work on Phelps for second and on lap 26, Sheppard took away the second spot. At this time, Varin hadwhat looked to be a comfortable margin between himself and Sheppard but was having a difficult time negotiating lapped traffic. As the laps wound down, Shep- pard was able to close the gap and as the pair raced out of turn four for the final time, Sheppard again made a sharp left to get underneath Varin but was unsuccessful as Varinwas able to hold him off to grab the $3,000 payday and his first ever Utica-Rome Speedway Modified win.

Outside pole sitter Jeff Isabell Jr. led the opening lap of the 20-lap Mod Lite feature event but on lap two, fourth place starter Josh Sliter was able to slip by to grab the lead, bringing Mike Mullen and seventh place starter Joe Isabell with him. Lap three saw Joe Isabell take away the runner up spot from Mullen and set off after Sliter. Joe Isabell immediately began to pressure Sliter for the point but on each circuit, Sliter was able to hold him off. The battle for the lead raged like this throughout the event until the final lap when Joe Isabell made one final bid for the lead exiting turn two and spun into the infield. The field continued on to the checkered with Sliter taking the big win.

For off- season information from Utica-Rome Speedway, log on to www. uticaromespeedway.com, call the speedway office at (315) 829- 4557 or visit the track’s Facebook and Twitter pages at @UR_ Speedway.