News Director 
Story By: DAVE MEDLER / FULTON SPEEDWAY – FULTON, NY – Saturday night Fulton Speedway beat Mother Nature when the weather radar showed green all over the area with heavy showers just a few miles away from the track.
Fans in the stands were treated to fantastic races that saw features come down to last lap passes for wins and first-time feature winners. The whole show was completed, that included Family Autograph night, at 10:09 pm.
When Bobby Herrington from Kingston, Ontario, Canada made the decision to come to the Fulton Speedway to race his 358 Modified on a weekly basis, he related he wanted to race against some of the best racers in the business.
Herrington made the 2 ½ hour, one-way drive weekly, pay off as he won his first ever Fulton Speedway, Tracey Road Equipment DIRTcar 358 Modified feature.
Other winners on Burdick Ford of Central Square night were, Chris Mackey & Mike Phelps (SUNY Canton Sportsman) Jason Parkhurst (Billy Whittaker Cars & Trux RUSH Late Models) and Austin Germinio (E&V Energy Novice Sportsman).
Larry Welling and Tyler Trump would lead the 358 Modified field down to the green with Trump grabbing the lead in the 35-lap feature.
With 5 laps complete Trump, Todd Root and Bobby Herrington were in a close battle for the first three positions with Welling and Larry Wight trying to close on the top three.
On lap 10 the intensity was turned up as you could have thrown a blanket over Root, Trump, Herrington and Wight as they were throwing slide jobs at each end of the speedway.
With 15 laps on the scoring tower, Root, Herrington and Wight were in a three-car breakaway at the front of the field with Pat Ward and Jeff McGinnis racing for fourth and fifth.
At lap 20 Root opened a slight advantage still running the cushion with Herrington running the low side of the speedway. Wight, Ward and Tom Sears Jr. showed in the top five.
Running the bottom groove the entire race paid off for Herrington as he was able to reel in Root and make a pass for the lead on lap 23.
Just when it looked like Herrington would drive away for the win the yellow flag would wave on lap 32 giving the rest of the top five a chance to get by Herrington and go to victory lane.
When the green came back out it looked like Herrington was shot out of a cannon as he drove away for his first ever Fulton Speedway Modified win. Todd Root, Tom Sears Jr., Larry Wight and Ron Davis III finished second through fifth.
With 48 SUNY Canton Sportsman signed into the pits, two 25-lap features were run.
In the first feature Nate Higgins would bolt out to the early lead as he put distance between himself and the rest of the field.
With 10 laps showing on the scoring tower Higgins was fast holding a 3.5 second lead. Behind him you could have thrown a blanket over Tye-Scott Rood, Chris Bonoffski, Zach Sobotka and Corey Barker as they battled for second through fifth.
Higgins was on rails with 10 laps to go with a 4.5 second lead. Sobotka, Bonoffski, Barker and Rood were still showing in the top five.
Just when it looked like Higgins was going to victory lane with his huge lead the yellow flag would wave to give everyone one last shot at Higgins for a trip to the winner’s circle.
When the green came back out everyone ran the low groove except Chris Mackey who went to the top and ran the cushion, picking cars off one by one. When the white flag waved it was a showdown between Higgins and Mackey as they were side by side in turns three and four with Mackey winning the drag race down the front straight for the win over Higgins. AMB scoring showed Mackey winning by 0.078 of a second. Zach Sobotka, Corey Barker and Chris Hulsizer finished third through fifth.
In the second feature AJ Miller would lead the opening 5 laps of the 25-lap feature before the caution lights came on. On the restart Mike Phelps used the top groove of the speedway to bolt into the lead.
With 10 laps in the record books Phelps held a few car length advantage over Miller with Nick Krause, Jimmy Moyer and Wade Chrisman locked in a tight fight for third through fifth.
Phelps, still hooked up on the top side, opened the biggest lead of the race with 10 laps to go as Krause, Chrisman, Moyer and Greg Doust looked for a way to close the gap on the leader.
Over the final laps Krause chased down Phelps setting up a classic finish as the two ran bumper to bumper and side by side. The last lap came down to Phelps, Krause and a back marker in the preferred groove of the speedway that would see Mike Phelps take the win by a slim 0.321 of a second at the checkers over Nick Krause. Wade Chrisman, Jimmy Moyer and Brandon Ford finished third through fifth.
In the 20-lap Billy Whittaker Cars & Trux RUSH Late Model feature Jason Occhino would take the lead at the drop of the green and would lead the first 7 laps until Dane Keller Jr. using the top of the speedway would drive around Occhino into the top spot.
When the race reached the halfway point, Keller led by 10 car lengths while behind him Occhino, Chris Fleming, Jason Parkhurst and Sean Beardsley were slugging it out in the top five.
Over the last 5 laps you could have thrown a blanket over the top five with Keller and Fleming running side by side with Parkhurst ready to pounce on any mistake. Parkhurst moved into second on the final lap and would win by a mere 0.557 of a second over Chris Fleming. Sean Beardsley and Kevan Cook were third and fourth and Dane Keller Jr. finished fifth with a tire going down.
Kearra Backus would lead the opening 9 laps in the 15-lap E&V Energy Novice Sportsman feature until Austin Germinio took the lead. Once out front Germinio, in only his second race at Fulton Speedway would cruise to the win. Kearra Backus, Jake Davis, Matt Becker and Dana Camenga would finish second through fifth.
This Saturday, July 21 Ingles Performance will present a night of exciting, family affordable, fun racing featuring the Tracey Road Equipment DIRTcar 358 Modifieds, SUNY Canton DIRTcar Sportsman, Billy Whittaker Cars & Trux RUSH Late Models and E&V Energy Novice Sportsman. The Home Depot Kids Workshop will be in the midway with fun activities for the kids.
Adult grandstand admission is $12 with everyone 18 years old and younger free. Bring your ticket stub from the Syracuse Nationals and receive ½ price grandstand admission. Pit is $27 Member, $30 Non-Member. Grandstands open at 5:00 pm with racing at 7:00 pm.
Burdick Ford Night July 14 Results.
(Tracey Road Equipment DIRTcar 358 Modifieds 35 Laps) – BOBBY HERRINGTON, Todd Root, Tom Sears Jr., Larry Wight, Ron Davis III, Jordan McCreadie, Pat Ward, Glenn Forward, Billy Whittaker, Tim Sears Jr., Jeff McGinnis, Andy Noto, Joe Shields, Larry Welling, Tyler Trump, Brent Cross.
(SUNY Canton DIRTcar Sportsman #1 25 Laps) – CHRIS MACKEY, Nate Higgins, Zach Sobotka, Corey Barker, Chris Hulsizer, Chris Bonoffski, Jackson Gill, Mike Stanton Jr., Kyle Perry, Amy Holland, Jim Spano, Tyler Murray, Tony Finch II, Bailey Groves, Torrey Stoughtenger, Josh Livingston, Brett Draper, Tye-Scott Rood, Kelly Smith, Willy Decker Jr., Tom Juno, Jessica Power, Mike Fowler, DNS – DJ Forbes.
(SUNY Canton DIRTcar Sportsman #2 25 Laps) – MIKE PHELPS, Nick Krause, Wade Chrisman, Jimmy Moyer, Brandon Ford, Greg Doust, Alan Fink, Chris Curtis, Mike Button, Scott Prentice, AJ Miller, Dylan Zacharias, Brandon Carvey, Kyle DeMetro, Richie Riggs, Tyler Corcoran, Rocky Grosso, Steve Marshall, Ryan Hatherill, Addison Bowman, Billy Sauve, Joe Sobotka, Rachel Zacharias, Garett Rushlow.
(Billy Whittaker Cars & Trux RUSH Late Models 20 Laps) – JASON PARKHURST, Chris Fleming, Sean Beardsley, Kevan Cook, Dane Keller, Jason Occhino, Dale Caswell, Bret Belden, AJ Kingsley, Max Hill, Mike Kazmierczak, Sam Pinancchio, Steve Coit.
(E&V Energy Novice Sportsman 15 Laps) – AUSTIN GERMINIO, Kearra Backus, Jake Davis, Matt Becker, Dana Camenga, Ryan Gustin, Dan Dupra, Pat Nolan, Mikey Wight, Quinn Wallis.
