Skyrocket: Alex Yankowski Rips to Second Modified Victory of 2024 at Utica-Rome
Written by Chris Moore
VERNON, NY – Skyrocket.
Alex Yankowski used the extreme outside of Utica-Rome Speedway to perfection on the way to his second 3 Bastards Brewing Modified win of the 2024 season.
‘Kid Rocket’ raced to the lead on a lap-seven restart and never looked back on Charles Tibbitts Masonry Construction & Stretch’s Lawncare and Landscaping Night at the ‘Home of Heroes.’
“I think if Matt (Sheppard) gets in front of us and that one restart doesn’t get called back it’s a different race,” Yankowski explained of the original lap-seven restart. “I’m definitely just proud of our whole group though.”
The restart Yankowski referenced certainly could be argued as the difference in the race.
Mexico, N.Y.’s Addison Bowman and Vernon, N.Y.’s Willy Decker were the front row, with Yankowski and Sheppard in row two.
The restart however was brought back simultaneously to a car stopping on the back straightaway causing confusion on the reason for the yellow and the ensuing restart.
The yellow flag officially flew for a jumped restart, resetting the field for another double file restart and a second go at it for Yankowski.
The driver who celebrated his birthday this past Tuesday, seized the opportunity to get by Willy Decker in turns one and two for the runner-up spot and using his momentum to pull alongside Bowman for the lead down the backstretch.
Yankowski’s run carried him to the lead into turns three and four and from there he appeared well in control.
With the outside of the speedway being the preferred groove, Yankowski appeared well on his way to victory with a healthy lead over Sheppard in hand.
However, as Yankowski approached heavy lap traffic, a caution flag came out, bringing Sheppard right up alongside Sheppard for the top spot with eight laps remaining.
“I definitely think that yellow fell in our favor, I think there were like eight guys bottled up there,” Yankowski proclaimed. “You definitely have to execute the restart perfect and get into one and two perfect though.”
The win for the Covington Township, Pa., native was his second of the season at Utica-Rome and the third of his career at the Route 5 oval.
Sheppard, of Savannah, N.Y., settled for the runner-up spot and Genoa, N.Y.’s Pat Ward rounded out the podium with an impressive drive for the veteran.
Roscoe, N.Y.’s Michael Trautschold emerged from an entertaining battle with the fourth spot and Johnstown, N.Y.’s Rocky Warner charged from 14th to round out the top five.
Finishing sixth through 10th, respectively, were Addison Bowman after a couple of off weeks; Bainbridge, N.Y.’s Brandon Loucks finished seventh, taking home $77 extra dollars courtesy of NYSSCA Night in memory of Dale Planck; Willy Decker came home eighth in his self-owned No. 1X; Norwich, N.Y.’s Alan Barker came home ninth; and Unadilla, N.Y.’s Brandon Walters after an early spin.
Durhamville, N.Y.’s Matt Janczuk claimed his third Taylor’s Trailers LLC Crate 602 Sportsman victory of the season.
Janczuk fired from the 12th position and worked his way into the runner-up spot early before backing off his pace as Fort Johnson, N.Y.’s Josh Coonradt was setting a blistering pace out front.
As the race progressed and worked into lap traffic, Janczuk took advantage of the moment, navigating lap traffic flawlessly and getting by Coonradt in the act as well on lap 18.
Janczuk led the final eight laps for his third win of the season.
Mike Richmond got to the runner-up spot late in the going, with Coonradt, Jim Nagle, and Tyler Bobar completing the top five.
The Next Generation Graphix Pro Stocks put on another thrilled down to the wire, this time with Devon Camenga emerging victorious from a three-wide finish at the line.
Camenga threw a slide job on the final lap to get in front of A.J. Walters. Walters didn’t have the space to crossover on Camenga, and the two made contact and stayed locked together door-to-door all the way to the finish.
Bret Belden tried to take advantage of the opportunity, driving to the bottom of the duo, making it a three-wide finish.
Camenga was victorious by .074 seconds over Walters and .118 seconds over Belden.
Jim Normoyle and Tim Wood rounded out the top five.
Andrew MacFadden won his second consecutive Fastline Performance Limited Sportsman feature event.
MacFadden inherited the lead late after Maddy Broedel spun leading with just four laps to go.
Eymarah Bowman, Kadyn Depesquale, A.J. Albreada, and Bobby Newman completed the top five.
Wayne Russell Jr. claimed the Fonda Fair Four Cylinder victory with a dominant drive in the 12-lap feature event, crowned the Single Cam winner for the ninth time this season.
Jeff Connolly chased him across the line, picking up the Dual Cam victory.
Justin House claimed his first All-Star Slingshot win of the season on a Friday night, after his first two came on Wednesday nights.
Blake Banek took his first victory of the season in the Junior Slingshots, his first since 2022.
Racing continues next Friday, August 2, as Zielinski’s Asphalt and the Friendly Family of Dealerships present the first appearance from the CRSA 305 Sprint Cars. The 3 Bastards Brewing Modifieds co-headline the night and are joined by the Taylor’s Trailers LLC Crate 602 Sportsman, Next Generation Graphix Pro Stocks, Fastline Performance Limited Sportsman, and Fonda Fair Four Cylinders.
The event will be broadcast live on FloRacing (www.floracing.tv).
Utica-Rome Speedway is located at 5591 NY-5 (Seneca Turnpike) Vernon, NY 13476. The official website is www.uticaromespeedway.com and the speedway can be reached by phone at 315.953.4097. Like Utica-Rome Speedway on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @UR_Speedway.
TIBBITTS MASONRY & STRETCH’S LAWN & LANDSCAPING NIGHT RESULTS SUMMARY – UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY FRIDAY, JULY 26, 2024
3 Bastards Brewing Modified Feature Finish (30 laps): 1. 84Y-ALEX YANKOWSKI[7]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard[9]; 3. 42P-Pat Ward[4]; 4. 28T-Michael Trautschold[8]; 5. JS98-Rocky Warner[14]; 6. 12-Addison Bowman[2]; 7. 23-Brandon Loucks[10]; 8. 1X-Willy Decker[3]; 9. 77-Alan Barker[1]; 10. 22W-Brandon Walters[6]; 11. 19W-Justin Wright[5]; 12. 39-Kasey Coffey[12]; 13. 97S-Randy Shantel[13]; 14. 44C-Ed Downing[15]; 15. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[11]; 16. 16-Aaron Jacobs[16]
Taylor’s Trailers Crate 602 Sportsman Feature Finish (25 laps): 1. 33X-MATT JANCZUK[12]; 2. 22X-Mike Richmond[9]; 3. 00X-Josh Coonradt[3]; 4. 10-Jim Nagle[11]; 5. 12B-Tyler Bobar[4]; 6. 262-Matthew Richardson[1]; 7. 7H-Allan Hodge[10]; 8. 9K-Blaine Klinger[6]; 9. 5-Kyle Devendorf[20]; 10. 44C-Stephen Denton[5]; 11. 01-Dylan Nichols[13]; 12. 23-David Dickey[16]; 13. 77X-Zack Welch[7]; 14. 5EJ-EJ Gallup[17]; 15. 14T-Payton Talbot[14]; 16. 621-Seth Martin[18]; 17. 82H-David Hackett[19]; 18. 77L-Ed Lukas[15]; 19. 10A-AJ Digsby[23]; 20. 2K-Josh Amodio[2]; 21. 7UP-Gary Smith[27]; 22. 4-Carson Rothwell[21]; 23. 63-Chip Constantino[8]; 24. 90-Brodie Davis[22]; 25. 08-Dalton Doyle[28]; 26. 52M-Matthew Backus[26]; 27. 28P-Mark Potter[25]; 28. 69-Blake Sarpriacone[24]
Next Generation Graphix Pro Stock Feature Finish (20 laps): 1. 110-DEVON CAMENGA[5]; 2. 22W-AJ Walters[4]; 3. 81-Bret Belden[7]; 4. 74N-Jim Normoyle[3]; 5. 22-Tim Wood[6]; 6. 13-George Cushman[2]; 7. 28H-Johnny Holmes[9]; 8. 101-Ed Kotary[1]; 9. 15K-Mike Kazluaskas[11]; 10. 2H-Luke Horning[8]; 11. 14H-Hunter Keith[10]; 12. 28G-Gus Gould[12]; 13. 14K-Mike Keith[13]; 14. 7S-Eric Stumpf[15]; 15. 44-Ray Richer[16]
Did Not Start: 63-Matt Rose
Fastline Performance Limited Sportsman (15 laps): 1. 10-ANDREW MACFADDEN[6]; 2. 5-Eymarah Bowman[3]; 3. 44D-Kadyn Depasquale[4]; 4. 77X-AJ Albreada[7]; 5. 77N-Bobby Newman[13]; 6. 5P-Aaron Page[8]; 7. 17S-Ernie Staelens[10]; 8. 26B-Maddy Broedel[2]; 9. 60-Brad Poppleton[11]; 10. 5S-Keith Simpson[12]; 11. 56-Ayden Goodier[15]; 12. 57-Eric Jensen[5]; 13. 12-Hayden Coons[1]; 14. 43J-Jayden Wust[9]
Did Not Start: 0-Kyle Coley
Fonda Fair Four Cylinder Feature Finish (12 laps): 1. 54S-WAYNE RUSSELL Jr[3]; 2. 31D-JEFF CONNOLLY[1]; 3. 736D-David Denova[4]; 4. 212S-TJ Marlitt[2]; 5. 18WD-Austin Weeks[5]; 6. 33D-Rudy King Jr[8]; 7. 23TD-Keith Tesiero Jr[7]; 8. H35S-Hank Wedgren Jr[9]; 9. 35S-Hank Wedgren[6]
Did Not Start: 8W-Jeff Weeks
All-Star Slingshot Feature Finish (20 laps): 1. 33Z-JUSTIN HOUSE[6]; 2. 85X-Jason Dufel[3]; 3. 54-Sullivan Dickey[2]; 4. 7J-Nicholas Jenkins[1]; 5. 115-Paul Holic[4]; 6. 29-Billy Richardson[8]; 7. 6B-Brett Putnam[5]; 8. 8-Tadd Granger[10]; 9. 42-Kevin Loveless[7]; 10. 83-Corbyn White[9]
Junior Slingshot Feature Finish (15 laps): 1. 27-BLAKE BANEK[1]; 2. 20-Preston Trautschold[3]; 3. 22-Parker Fowler[5]; 4. 33X-Brody Janczuk[4]; 5. 28RS-Addisyn Roger[2]; 6. 67X-Jaxx Welch[6]