Fulton, NY…The 15^th annual Victoria Weekend began Friday night with some exciting support division racing action, and track champion Tim Sears, Tom Barron, and John Pietrowicz came home winners in their respective feature events.

The 30-lap U.F.P.O “Dig Safely” Sportsman Super DIRT Series feature brought to you by Carquest Motorsports Expo 2001 began with Tom Collins, Jr. jumping out front from his pole position.  Collins and the 24s of Chris Schultz battled for the first several laps before 2J of Chad Cook and the Z28 of Shane Donath wound up stopped in turn four.  Collins, Rich Swarthout, Schultz, Jamie Christian, and Tim Sears rounded out the top five at this point. 

Collins and Swarthout took off on the restart, while the 9s of Matt Sheppard was working his way from the 26^th starting position and was running 10^th by lap 11.  On lap 12, the 10A of Stewart Friesen spun in turn four, bringing out another yellow. 

Collins still lead with Swarthout second, but on the restart Collins drifted up the track, leaving an opening for Swarthout, Sears and Schultz to slip by.  Sears was charging hard on the outside, and drove around Swarthout to take the lead. 

Sheppard was continuing his charge to the front with his 9s, and entered the top five on lap 15.  He made short work of Collins for fourth two laps later, and was challenging Schultz for third when the 28 of Jeff Walton came to a stop on the front straightaway, bringing out a yellow flag on lap 19.  The ensuing restart found the 15 of Jim Bowman, running in a top ten position, coming to rest against the outside wall in turn four. 

Sears, Swarthout, Schultz, Sheppard, and youngster Justin Haers rounded out the top five at this point.  Swarthout bobbled on lap 22, losing a couple of positions, with the 3B of Chad Brachmann coming to a stop in turn two. 

Sears and Schultz opened up some ground when the green came back out, with Sheppard racing hard in third.  With two laps left, Sheppard took second but had no time to catch the leader.  The 83 of Sears, the 2000 Fulton Speedway Track Champion, went on for the win, followed by Sheppard, Haers, Schultz, and the 71 of David Van Horn.  In victory lane, Sears did a dance on the roof of his car, then told announcer Shane Andrews “the car worked real good.  The bottom of the track went away as the race went on, but the top came in and that was exactly where we wanted to be.  I cannot thank all my sponsors and my crew enough, all the guys who help out.  It’s been a great season!” Lap leaders were Tom Collins (1-12), Rich Swarthout (13,14) and Tim Sears (15-30). 

The 44B of Jason Boyle shot out front when the green flag flew for the 25-lap Auto Recyclers Association of New York Pro-Stock Super DIRT Series main.  As the field worked their way through turns one and two on the opening lap, however, the 0 of Jipp Ortiz and the 94 of Tom Denton became entangled going into turn one.  Ortiz would return later in the race, but would not be a factor for the win.  Denton was out of the event, a tough break for “The Toe”. 

Racing resumed with Boyle battling with the 62 of Mark Schulz for the lead.  Tom Barron in the 28T was moving quickly through traffic, and he worked his way into third by lap three. 

The 78H of Harold Humphrey had a motor problem on lap five, stopping on the front straightaway with a small fire in the engine compartment.  The track safety crew worked quickly to extinguish the fire, but Humphrey was out of the event. 

The green flag was displayed briefly, but a two-car tangle in turn two brought the caution lights back on with seven laps in the books.  Ortiz returned to the race at this point, but was several laps down to the leaders.   Boyle and Schulz were first and second, with Barron now in third, the 715 of Mike Cooper fourth, and the 18J of Jason Rood in fifth. 

Barron took second quickly and set sail after the leader, running the outside groove.  As the lapboard turned to ten, Barron got the top spot, and the 44B of Boyle spun in turn two, right in front of the 21 of Tom Sears and the 62 of Schulz.  Sears and Schulz both suffered damage in the incident, but Schulz was able to keep going. 

When racing got back underway, Barron took off out front.  The 715 of Cooper was second, with Jason Rood, T.J. Fitzgibbons, and the 16 of Jerry Holmes now rounding out the top five.  Brett Belden lost a tire on lap 11, and the caution flag was waving once again. 

Barron would not be stopped, as he put some distance between himself and the rest of the field for the remainder of the event.  A last lap crash involving Dave Moyer and the 17 of Marc Therrien forced Barron to wait a few extra minutes for his victory lane celebration, but that did not deter his excitement when that moment finally came. 

“This place has been awesome to me,” said a happy Barron after the race.  “This is our third time here, and our third win.  We lost a throw-out bearing, so every time we had to stop I had to restart in gear.  This is just incredible!”

Barron was the winner, with Mike Cooper, Jason Rood, Jody Herriven, and T.J. Fitzgibbons rounding out the top five.  Lap leaders included Boyle (1-9) and Barron (10-25).

The Pure Stock race was all John Pietrowicz, as he led from start to finish in the 20-lap event.  Chad Ray was second briefly, before the 25 of John Pastorella took over on lap three. 

The 31 of Billy Gibson came to a halt and brought out a yellow flag on lap five, with Pietrowicz, Pastorella, Ray, Dave Kirk, and the 11 of Dave Arbes filling the top five at this time.  The Hood Racing 17 was running very well, and try as he might Pastorella could not find a way around the leader. 

Dave Mannise was winging his way through traffic, and picked up the fourth position on lap 7.  The halfway mark saw Pietrowicz, Pastorella, Ray, Mannise, and Kirk up front.  Waylon Wilczek spun his 33 in turn four with just seven laps left, slowing the field again.  The 8 of Mannise had just passed Ray for third, so now the crowd was looking for the eventual showdown between Pietrowicz and Mannise, as had happened so many other times throughout the 2000 Fulton Speedway season. 

Somebody forgot to tell Jeff Pastorella that this showdown was supposed to happen, however, as he kept his 25 neatly tucked between the two rivals and hung on to second.  A bone-jarring crash took place on the final lap when the 21J of Joe Buske wound up facing traffic and was hit hard by the 77 of Ken Conners, who could not avoid the grinding collision.  Both drivers were ok, but the equipment was not so lucky. 

Pietrowicz held off all challengers on the final lap to take the checkered flag in the Pure Stock feature event, with Pastorella, Mannise, Ray, and Arbes rounding out the top five.  Just one leader in the event was the 17 of Pietrowicz, as he had the field nicely covered on a chilly Friday night.  “I would like to thank my sponsors,” said the winner.  “Everything went just great tonight, and I’m very happy for everyone who helped make this happen.”

With Friday night’s racing events concluded, everyone turned their attention to the next day’s 15^th annual Victoria 200.  A capacity crowd and over 100 of the finest 358-Modifieds in the Northeast were already on the grounds, set to do battle in the speedway’s biggest event of the year. 

U.F.P.O “Dig Safely” Sportsman Super DIRT Series Finish:  TIM SEARS, Matt Sheppard, Justin Haers, Chris Schultz, David Van Horn, Tom Kinsella, Tom Collins, Steve Gray, Jamie Christian, Rich Swarthout, Willie Decker, Jim Spano, Tom Juhl Jr., Paul Carey, John Plumb, Randy Chrysler, Stewart Friesen, Walt McCardell, Jim Kite, Ron Richardson, Lance Wilcox, Dave Bargabos, Shane Donath, Jeff Richardson, Steve Hall, Chad Brachmann, Paul Kinney, Jim Bowman, Garry Moreash, Jeff Walton, and Chad Cook.

ARANY Pro Stock Super DIRT Series Finish:  TOM BARRON, Mike Cooper, Jason Rood, Jody Herriven, T.J. Fitzgibbons, Jerry Holmes, Scott Moyer, Mark Schulz, Beamer Guzzardi, Rick Breed, Rich Keehle Jr, Wade Decker, Joe Jackson, Roger Chrysler, Mike Watkins, Jason Boyle, Bob Buano, Ken Sargent, Jack Terrell, Dan Schultz, Tom Kuck, Jipp Ortiz, Mike Loney, Dave Moyer, Marc Therrien, Tom Sears, Pat Hobbs, Bret Belden, Dave Bruno, Harold Humphrey, and Tom Denton. 

Pure Stock Feature Finish:  JOHN PIETROWICZ, Jeff Pastorella, Dave Mannise, Chad Ray, Dave Arbes, Dave Kirk, Art Newman, Mike Welch, Mark Effner, Joe Reeves, Tim Hettis, Buddy Diehl, Bruce Stanton, Mark Smoke, Bob Gloska, Darren Kelso, Gary Barton, Dennis Brown, Todd Koegel, David Marcuccilli, Waylan Wilczek, Adam Morely, Chris Cunningham, Ken Conners, Ray Cooper, Joe Buske, Billy Gibson, Jeff Shannon, Gary Chant, and Don Reeves.