The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)

Plenty of Diversity in Utica-rome Speedway 2020 Schedule

- By John Tiff Jr.

VERNON, NY » They say good things come to those who wait.

As has been tradition, the Utica-rome Speedway was looking forward to releasing the 2020 schedule this weekend at the 34th Annual Motorsport­s Expo at the New York State Fairground­s. Unfortunat­ely, due to circumstan­ces out of everyone’s control, the show was canceled. As a result, the wait is officially over.

Utica-rome Speedway officials are excited to offer another diverse schedule of events that includes multiple forms of motorsport­s action from circle track racing, motorcross to truck pulling. Now, we just need some help from Mother Nature for a change.

The season gets underway on Sunday, April 5 with our only practice session of the year. All divisions are welcome. The speedway then takes a one week hiatus for the Easter holiday before returning with the Spring Break Shootout featuring big and small-block Modifieds each running 30-lap main event on April 19. Joining the card are the Broedel Fuel Group DIRTAR Sportsman and the Ted’s Body Shop DIRTCAR

Pro Stocks.

April concludes with a weekly program for the Dirttrackd­igest. com DIRTCAR 358-Modifieds, DIRTCAR Sportsman and DIRTCAR Pro Stocks. For the first time in 2020, the Bernie’s Extreme Performanc­e Parts Rookie Sportsman are in action as well as the newly returning Street Stock division.

Mechanic’s Races highlight the May 3 show before the DIRTCAR 358-Modified Series makes it’s one and only appearance on Mother’s Day weekend May 10. The 100-lap feature is worth $4,000 to the winner. A week later on May 17 the full-fender divisions compete in a pit crew competitio­n in addition to the weekly action. The Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints make their first appearance of the season on Memorial Day Weekend.

May concludes with a huge weekend at the track as Frogfest takes center stage on May 30 headlined by Eli Young Band with racing for our weekly divisions a day later on May 31 plus Power Wheel races for the kids.

The DIRTCAR Sportsman are the feature attraction on June 7 as The Wild 100 Ultimate Sportsman Showdown returns for a second season. Two weeks later on June 21 the

DIRTCAR Sportsman Central Region Series joins a weekly racing program. Our first Upstate Motocross event of 2020 caps off the month on Sunday, June 28th while action on the big track is silent.

July kicks off with one of the biggest Sprint Car events in the Northeast as the Cole Cup returns. This time the $5,000 win event serves as the conclusion of Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprint Speedweek on July 5. The format remains the same for 2020 with the 50-lap distance and a midway break on the fronstretc­h. Kid rides return one week later before the Kotary Memorial offers up $1,000 to win for the Pro Stocks on July 19. Like June, an Upstate Motorcross event caps July on the 26th.

Late summer starts and ends with a bang as the Jan Corcoran Memorial Big/small Block Challenge offers $3,064 to the winner on August 2. The following week is a pit crew contest to coincide with the ever popular autograph night. The Bobby Page Memorial backpack giveaway returns on August 16th. The Dirt Nostalgia Tour makes a stop on August 23rd. Shootout Production­s is back on Friday, August 28 with another season of truck pulls at the speedway.

The DIRTCAR 358-Modified season ends on August 30th before the Super DIRTCAR Series New Yorker 100 returns on September 6 with $7,500 on the line. The Empire Super Sprints join the program to finish up the summer schedule.

Utica-rome Speedway is bringing the Pre-game party back for 2020 as Super DIRT Week gets rolling at the track on Tuesday night, October 6. The DIRTCAR 358-Modified Series is joined by the DIRTCAR Sportsman.

The season wraps up on October 18 with the final Upstate Motocross event of the season.

As has been the case for the past several seasons, once again in 2020, if you can’t make it to the track you can catch all of the racing action on Dirttrackd­igest.tv. Nearly every event throughout the 2020 racing season will be broadcast live on pay-per-view. Utica-rome Speedway is located at 5591 State Route 5 in Vernon, N.Y. Interested parties can find informatio­n about the upcoming season at Utica-rome Speedway on Facebook at Uticarome Speedway, on Twitter @Ur_speedway or on the web at www.uticaromes­peedway.com.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States