RPW Exclusive: Rocky Warner Wins Utica-Rome’s Saturday Special Modified Feature

Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – VERNON, NY – Rocky Warner capitalized on Alex Yankowski’s misfortune to capture the Modified win in the 30 lap non-points race at Utica Rome on Saturday.
“I’ll take it,” said a very happy Warner in Victory Lane. “We just needed a little luck and we got it. Alex had the best car. We had a really good car, but he would get away from us. He used the race track like the leader should.”
Yankowski and Warner started on the front row with Alex moving to the lead. Early on in the race, Warner threatened to take the lead, but as the race progressed, Yankowski looked to be on his way to the win as he was able to put some distance between himself and Warner.
Unfortunately, Yankowski has had a lot of bad luck at Utica-Rome the last couple of years and it happened again on Saturday. While leading with 10 to go, the 84Y suffered a water pump problem and slowed, going inti the pits.
Although the driver he chased the first 20 laps had retired, it still wasn’t easy going for Warner. Bobby Hackel IV pressured Warner for the lead and they had a good back and forth for a few laps until Hackel went over the berm in 3/4 with 6 to go and was done with rear end trouble.
“He (Hackel) threw a deep slider and I knew the top wasn’t that great where he was going to land, so I cut it back down. I wasn’t sure what was happening after Alex pulled off. I knew the bottom was good. It was a great race, I wish Bobby could have raced it out. He pits right next to us. He works hard, I would have liked him to stay up there with us, but we’ll take it.”
Jack Lehner, fresh off a big victory at Albany-Saratoga on Friday, took 2nd on the restart. Lehner and Ronnie Johnson both closed in on Warner in the final few laps, but at the end, it was Warner taking the win with Lehner 2nd and Johnson 3rd. Mike Maresca advanced from 22nd to finish 4th and Addison Bowman had his best ever Utica-Rome finish with 5th.
Willy Decker finished 6th with AJay Potrzebowski II finishing 7th, Jeremy Slosek 8th, Brian Calabrese 9th and Darwin Greene 10th.
“I’m super happy for my team. It’s been a long time,” Warner said. “Hats off to everyone. Last night was awesome here. We didn’t have the greatest luck last night, but we got it done tonight.”
The win was Warner’s 3rd Modified win at Utica-Rome and his first since August 27, 2021.
Tyler Peet took the lead near halfway and built up too much of a lead for Matt Janczuk to overcome as he raced to his first ever 602 Crate Sportsman win.
“I didn’t know where to go before the race began,” Peet said after the race. “Alex came up to me and kind of told me what to do. I trusted him.”
Tanner Warner was the early leader before the 7th starting Peet took the lead on lap 12. Janczuk moved into 2nd on the next lap. But as the leaders hit lapped traffic, Peet was flawless and Janczuk was unable to make up much ground.
“I got to the lead way quicker than I thought. And the whole time, I kept thinking, keep Janczuk behind me. I never saw him. I felt like I was starting to struggle the last 5 or so laps. But I think we have something to build off of,” Peet said.
Tanner Warner finished 3rd with David Dickey 4th and Allan Hodge 5th. Chad Edwards was 6th, Mike Richmond 7th, Chip Constantino 8th, Matthew Richardson 9th and Tyler Bobar 10th.
AJ Walters won his 3rd straight Pro Stock feature in a very exciting race with Luke Horning.
“It was a dogfight, that’s what it is,” Walters said. “Over the years, watching him. I spent my whole life watching the guy and I know the moves he makes. Over the years, I got some tips.”
Walters got the lead from Tim Wood on lap 9 with Horning taking the lead after a lap 11 restart. But Walters fought back and the two would swap the lead several times until Horning jumped the cushion with 2 to go.
“I knew that I would get a good run off of turn 2,” Walters said. “He struggled there and I would struggle out of 4. But I could see at the end where he fell back.”
Ivan Joslin finished 3rd with Bret Belden 4th and Ken Gates 5th.
In the Limited Sportsman, Corky Warner was the early leader, lost the lead to Josh Coonradt, but regained it and pulled away for his first ever Limited Sportsman win. Jeff Bobilin finished 2nd, Eric Jensen 3rd, Kristen Swartz 4th and Jayden Wust 5th.
Jay Ingersoll was Saturday’s 4 Cylinder winner. Jeff Connolly was 2nd, Dan Valade 3rd, Len St. Andrews 4th and Wayne Russell Jr. 5th. Russell was the Single Cam winner.
After winning his 8th straight All Star Slingshot win at Accord Speedway on Friday, AJ Albreda continued his winning ways with his win on Saturday. Sullivan Dickey finished 2nd, Paul Holic 3rd, Bill Trexler 4th and Tadd Granger 5th.
Addisyn Roger was the Junior Slingshot winner on Saturday with Blake Banek 2nd and Brody Janczuk 3rd.
Next Friday, May 24th, the Modifieds will be in action featuring the Thunder on the Thruway Series $4000 to win along with other divisions and the Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modified Series.
3 Bastards Brewing Modifieds
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. JS98-Rocky Warner[2]; 2. 02-Jack Lehner[11]; 3. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[9]; 4. 7MM-Michael Maresca[22]; 5. 12B-Addison Bowman[8]; 6. 1X-Willy Decker[21]; 7. 72-Ajay Potrzebowski II[6]; 8. 16S-Jeremy Slosek[5]; 9. 21C-Brian Calabrese[12]; 10. 1G-Darwin Greene[10]; 11. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[18]; 12. 34-Rusty Smith[13]; 13. 82H-Ron Holmes[7]; 14. 76-Jamike Sowle[14]; 15. 67W-Zack Welch[24]; 16. 96-Andy Graves[17]; 17. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[4]; 18. 27-Jason Reome[16]; 19. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[1]; 20. 93-Ryan Odasz[3]; 21. 34C-Dave Constantino[15]; 22. 441-Boyd MacTavish[20]; 23. 44C-Ed Downing[23]; 24. 22F-Billy Fiske[19]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[3]; 2. 02-Jack Lehner[1]; 3. 72-Ajay Potrzebowski II[5]; 4. 93-Ryan Odasz[4]; 5. 34-Rusty Smith[8]; 6. 27-Jason Reome[7]; 7. 22F-Billy Fiske[2]; 8. 7MM-Michael Maresca[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. JS98-Rocky Warner[1]; 2. 21C-Brian Calabrese[2]; 3. 82H-Ron Holmes[3]; 4. 12B-Addison Bowman[4]; 5. 76-Jamike Sowle[7]; 6. 96-Andy Graves[5]; 7. 441-Boyd MacTavish[8]; 8. 44C-Ed Downing[6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[6]; 2. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[1]; 3. 16S-Jeremy Slosek[4]; 4. 1G-Darwin Greene[2]; 5. 34C-Dave Constantino[7]; 6. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[8]; 7. 1X-Willy Decker[5]; 8. 67W-Zack Welch[3]
Hot Laps: 1. 7MM-Michael Maresca, 00:18.537[15]; 2. 02-Jack Lehner, 00:18.641[13]; 3. 16S-Jeremy Slosek, 00:18.667[19]; 4. 93-Ryan Odasz, 00:18.688[16]; 5. JS98-Rocky Warner, 00:18.713[22]; 6. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:18.756[24]; 7. 97-Bobby Hackel IV, 00:18.790[10]; 8. 1X-Willy Decker, 00:18.792[4]; 9. 12B-Addison Bowman, 00:18.838[1]; 10. 72-Ajay Potrzebowski II, 00:18.916[17]; 11. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson, 00:19.057[12]; 12. 1Z-Jessica Friesen, 00:19.188[7]; 13. 21C-Brian Calabrese, 00:19.339[2]; 14. 34-Rusty Smith, 00:19.508[20]; 15. 1G-Darwin Greene, 00:19.541[9]; 16. 34C-Dave Constantino, 00:19.639[3]; 17. 27-Jason Reome, 00:19.851[18]; 18. 76-Jamike Sowle, 00:19.980[21]; 19. 441-Boyd MacTavish, 00:20.015[14]; 20. 96-Andy Graves, 00:20.080[8]; 21. 22F-Billy Fiske, 00:20.105[6]; 22. 67W-Zack Welch, 00:20.184[23]; 23. 44C-Ed Downing, 00:20.187[5]; 24. 82H-Ron Holmes, 00:20.188[11]
Taylor’s Trailers Crate 602 Sportsman
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 12T-Tyler Peet[7]; 2. 33X-Matt Janczuk[10]; 3. 78-Tanner Warner[2]; 4. 23-David Dickey[1]; 5. 7H-Allan Hodge[3]; 6. 10%-Chad Edwards[16]; 7. 22X-Mike Richmond[8]; 8. 63-Chip Constantino[4]; 9. 262-Matthew Richardson[11]; 10. 12B-Tyler Bobar[5]; 11. 77L-Ed Lukas[15]; 12. 9K-Blaine Klinger[20]; 13. 69-Blake Sarpriacone[12]; 14. 82H-David Hackett[28]; 15. 33-Richard Murtaugh[21]; 16. 117N-Butchie Irwin[22]; 17. 36-Brandon Grover[6]; 18. 2A-Tyler Rapp[23]; 19. 25-Stephen Gray[9]; 20. 44-Gordon Smith[18]; 21. 74-Matt Perry[24]; 22. 1M-Mark Mortensen[17]; 23. 55-Blake Parsons[26]; 24. 55F-Jonny Feagles[14]; 25. 1B-Brett Mortensen[13]; 26. 90-Brodie Davis[25]; 27. 318-Dave Richer[19]; 28. 01-Dylan Nichols[27]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Stephen Gray[1]; 2. 262-Matthew Richardson[9]; 3. 36-Brandon Grover[4]; 4. 23-David Dickey[7]; 5. 1B-Brett Mortensen[5]; 6. 10%-Chad Edwards[10]; 7. 318-Dave Richer[8]; 8. 117N-Butchie Irwin[3]; 9. 90-Brodie Davis[6]; 10. 82H-David Hackett[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7H-Allan Hodge[1]; 2. 12T-Tyler Peet[3]; 3. 22X-Mike Richmond[8]; 4. 69-Blake Sarpriacone[7]; 5. 55F-Jonny Feagles[2]; 6. 1M-Mark Mortensen[6]; 7. 9K-Blaine Klinger[9]; 8. 2A-Tyler Rapp[4]; 9. 55-Blake Parsons[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 33X-Matt Janczuk[4]; 2. 12B-Tyler Bobar[2]; 3. 63-Chip Constantino[3]; 4. 78-Tanner Warner[6]; 5. 77L-Ed Lukas[9]; 6. 44-Gordon Smith[8]; 7. 33-Richard Murtaugh[5]; 8. 74-Matt Perry[1]; 9. (DNS) 01-Dylan Nichols
Hot Laps: 1. 10%-Chad Edwards, 00:19.767[5]; 2. 9K-Blaine Klinger, 00:19.900[13]; 3. 1M-Mark Mortensen, 00:20.032[16]; 4. 25-Stephen Gray, 00:20.107[7]; 5. 23-David Dickey, 00:20.127[4]; 6. 262-Matthew Richardson, 00:20.245[23]; 7. 7H-Allan Hodge, 00:20.341[10]; 8. 77L-Ed Lukas, 00:20.345[14]; 9. 117N-Butchie Irwin, 00:20.351[11]; 10. 318-Dave Richer, 00:20.382[24]; 11. 63-Chip Constantino, 00:20.392[2]; 12. 44-Gordon Smith, 00:20.491[27]; 13. 36-Brandon Grover, 00:20.548[8]; 14. 78-Tanner Warner, 00:20.568[28]; 15. 12T-Tyler Peet, 00:20.591[20]; 16. 1B-Brett Mortensen, 00:20.790[15]; 17. 69-Blake Sarpriacone, 00:20.879[26]; 18. 74-Matt Perry, 00:20.915[21]; 19. 55F-Jonny Feagles, 00:20.947[6]; 20. 12B-Tyler Bobar, 00:21.014[1]; 21. 90-Brodie Davis, 00:21.433[3]; 22. 55-Blake Parsons, 00:21.663[19]; 23. 33-Richard Murtaugh, 00:21.668[17]; 24. 2A-Tyler Rapp, 00:22.091[22]; 25. (DNS) 82H-David Hackett; 26. (DNS) 33X-Matt Janczuk; 27. (DNS) 01-Dylan Nichols; 28. (DNS) 22X-Mike Richmond
Next Generation Graphix Pro Stocks
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 22W-AJ Walters[2]; 2. 2H-Luke Horning[7]; 3. 49-Ivan Joslin[5]; 4. 81-Bret Belden[4]; 5. 35-Ken Gates[3]; 6. 6-Shane Playford[6]; 7. 9B-Slater Baker[8]; 8. 74N-Jim Normoyle[9]; 9. 14H-Hunter Keith[14]; 10. 13-George Cushman[10]; 11. 101-Ed Kotary[12]; 12. 22-Tim Wood[1]; 13. 14K-Mike Keith[11]; 14. 44-Ray Richer[13]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 35-Ken Gates[1]; 2. 6-Shane Playford[2]; 3. 22W-AJ Walters[3]; 4. 22-Tim Wood[5]; 5. 74N-Jim Normoyle[6]; 6. 14K-Mike Keith[7]; 7. 44-Ray Richer[4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2H-Luke Horning[3]; 2. 49-Ivan Joslin[2]; 3. 81-Bret Belden[4]; 4. 9B-Slater Baker[1]; 5. 13-George Cushman[7]; 6. 101-Ed Kotary[5]; 7. 14H-Hunter Keith[6]
Hot Laps: 1. 74N-Jim Normoyle, 00:23.171[10]; 2. 22-Tim Wood, 00:23.505[14]; 3. 35-Ken Gates, 00:23.928[4]; 4. 22W-AJ Walters, 00:24.003[13]; 5. 14H-Hunter Keith, 00:24.287[7]; 6. 9B-Slater Baker, 00:24.673[1]; 7. 101-Ed Kotary, 00:24.742[9]; 8. 49-Ivan Joslin, 00:24.779[6]; 9. 6-Shane Playford, 00:24.914[11]; 10. 14K-Mike Keith, 00:25.343[8]; 11. 44-Ray Richer, 00:26.164[12]; 12. (DNS) 81-Bret Belden; 13. (DNS) 13-George Cushman; 14. (DNS) 2H-Luke Horning
Fastline Performance Limited Sportsman
A Feature (15 Laps): 1. 797-Corky Warner[1]; 2. 1B-Jeff Bobilin[4]; 3. 57-Eric Jensen[8]; 4. 24-Kirsten Swartz[2]; 5. 43J-Jayden Wust[7]; 6. 4-Carson Rothwell[11]; 7. 5-Eymarah Bowman[3]; 8. 5C-Randy Cosselman[14]; 9. 618-Bobby Rhinehardt[9]; 10. 77N-Bobby Newman[5]; 11. 44R-Rocco Constantino[12]; 12. 44D-Kadyn Depasquale[10]; 13. 0-Kyle Coley[16]; 14. 10-Andrew MacFadden[13]; 15. 00X-Josh Coonradt[6]; 16. 11-Josh Persse[17]; 17. (DNS) 17S-Ernie Staelens; 18. (DNS) 60-Brad Poppleton; 19. (DNS) 28J-John Morrison
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 1B-Jeff Bobilin[2]; 2. 5-Eymarah Bowman[1]; 3. 00X-Josh Coonradt[7]; 4. 24-Kirsten Swartz[5]; 5. 618-Bobby Rhinehardt[4]; 6. 4-Carson Rothwell[6]; 7. 10-Andrew MacFadden[3]; 8. 17S-Ernie Staelens[9]; 9. 11-Josh Persse[8]; 10. (DNS) 28J-John Morrison
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 797-Corky Warner[4]; 2. 43J-Jayden Wust[7]; 3. 57-Eric Jensen[9]; 4. 77N-Bobby Newman[2]; 5. 44D-Kadyn Depasquale[6]; 6. 44R-Rocco Constantino[3]; 7. 5C-Randy Cosselman[5]; 8. 0-Kyle Coley[8]; 9. (DNS) 60-Brad Poppleton
Hot Laps: 1. 43J-Jayden Wust, 00:21.539[19]; 2. 797-Corky Warner, 00:22.547[18]; 3. 57-Eric Jensen, 00:23.076[8]; 4. 28J-John Morrison, 00:24.796[10]; 5. 11-Josh Persse, 00:24.953[12]; 6. 5-Eymarah Bowman, 00:25.021[2]; 7. 24-Kirsten Swartz, 00:25.278[17]; 8. 5C-Randy Cosselman, 00:25.532[6]; 9. 618-Bobby Rhinehardt, 00:26.091[14]; 10. 44R-Rocco Constantino, 00:37.730[4]; 11. 60-Brad Poppleton, 00:46.420[13]; 12. (DNS) 1B-Jeff Bobilin; 13. (DNS) 0-Kyle Coley; 14. (DNS) 00X-Josh Coonradt; 15. (DNS) 44D-Kadyn Depasquale; 16. (DNS) 10-Andrew MacFadden; 17. (DNS) 77N-Bobby Newman; 18. (DNS) 4-Carson Rothwell; 19. (DNS) 17S-Ernie Staelens
Fonda Fair Four Cylinders
A Feature (12 Laps): 1. 21D-Dan Valade[3]; 2. 11D-Jay Ingersoll[1]; 3. 31D-Jeff Connolly[2]; 4. 09D-Kamrin Krause[8]; 5. 54S-Wayne Russell Jr[5]; 6. 13D-Kyle Simmons[6]; 7. 26S-Len St Andrews[4]; 8. 42S-Hayleigh Gates[9]; 9. 212S-TJ Marlitt[7]; 10. 420XS-Tim Warner[10]; 11. (DNS) XXXD-Donald Kimball; 12. (DNS) 21VD-Corey Valade
Heat 1 (5 Laps): 1. 11D-Jay Ingersoll[6]; 2. 31D-Jeff Connolly[1]; 3. 21D-Dan Valade[10]; 4. 26S-Len St Andrews[2]; 5. 54S-Wayne Russell Jr[3]; 6. 13D-Kyle Simmons[12]; 7. 212S-TJ Marlitt[4]; 8. 09D-Kamrin Krause[11]; 9. 42S-Hayleigh Gates[7]; 10. 420XS-Tim Warner[5]; 11. (DNS) XXXD-Donald Kimball; 12. (DQ) 21VD-Corey Valade[9]
Hot Laps: 1. 11D-Jay Ingersoll, 00:25.736[3]; 2. 21D-Dan Valade, 00:25.857[11]; 3. 212S-TJ Marlitt, 00:28.306[6]; 4. (DNS) 31D-Jeff Connolly; 5. (DNS) 42S-Hayleigh Gates; 6. (DNS) XXXD-Donald Kimball; 7. (DNS) 09D-Kamrin Krause; 8. (DNS) 54S-Wayne Russell Jr; 9. (DNS) 13D-Kyle Simmons; 10. (DNS) 26S-Len St Andrews; 11. (DNS) 21VD-Corey Valade; 12. (DNS) 420XS-Tim Warner
All Star Slingshots
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 22A-AJ Albreada[1]; 2. 54-Sullivan Dickey[8]; 3. 115-Paul Holic[6]; 4. 11A-Bill Trexler Sr[7]; 5. 8-Tadd Granger[4]; 6. 83-Corbyn White[9]; 7. 7J-Nicholas Jenkins[2]; 8. 56-Ayden Goodier[5]; 9. 13K-Kyle Rogers[3]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 22A-AJ Albreada[5]; 2. 13K-Kyle Rogers[2]; 3. 56-Ayden Goodier[4]; 4. 11A-Bill Trexler Sr[3]; 5. 83-Corbyn White[1]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7J-Nicholas Jenkins[1]; 2. 8-Tadd Granger[2]; 3. 115-Paul Holic[3]; 4. 54-Sullivan Dickey[4]
Hot Laps: 1. 22A-AJ Albreada, 00:14.865[1]; 2. 8-Tadd Granger, 00:15.537[4]; 3. 115-Paul Holic, 00:15.584[5]; 4. 54-Sullivan Dickey, 00:15.587[2]; 5. 7J-Nicholas Jenkins, 00:15.702[6]; 6. 56-Ayden Goodier, 00:15.972[3]; 7. 83-Corbyn White, 00:16.521[9]; 8. (DNS) 13K-Kyle Rogers; 9. (DNS) 11A-Bill Trexler Sr
Junior Slingshots
A Feature (15 Laps): 1. 28RS-Addisyn Roger[2]; 2. 27-Blake Banek[3]; 3. 33X-Brody Janczuk[4]; 4. 22-Parker Fowler[1]; 5. 67X-Jaxx Welch[5]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 22-Parker Fowler[1]; 2. 28RS-Addisyn Roger[5]; 3. 27-Blake Banek[4]; 4. 33X-Brody Janczuk[3]; 5. 67X-Jaxx Welch[2]
Hot Laps: 1. 22-Parker Fowler, 00:15.076[2]; 2. 28RS-Addisyn Roger, 00:15.388[4]; 3. 33X-Brody Janczuk, 00:15.783[3]; 4. 27-Blake Banek, 00:15.820[1]; 5. (DNS) 67X-Jaxx Welch