Lightening Larry Wight took the checkers in the Utica Rome Speedway opener to grab his first win of the young season. While White started on the pole, the 30 lap affair was anything but an easy Sunday driver.

Danny Varin and Wight brought the field to the green for the first Gates Cole Insurance Modified Feature of the season, with Wight leading the opening handful of laps over Varin and third starting Alan Johnson. By the fifth circuit, Johnson worked around Wight on the rough tricky surface and immediately opened up a significant gap over Wight, Varin, Tim Filler and the remainder of the field.

After Johnson Kept a rapid pace at the front of the field, a number of drivers that started deeper in the field began working forward. Such as Matt Sheppard, who had beat Johnson earlier in  the night during the heat race by .02 seconds, was forced to start at the rear of the field after switching to a back up car.

After building up nearly a full straightaway, Johnson’s night came to a grinding halt, as the Friendly Ford #14J pulled to the infield off of turn four coming to complete lap 16. That handed the lead to Wight, now being pursued by Fuller and the Varin’s. Sheppard and Pat Ward would fight over the final top 5 spot with Sheppard ultimately winning the battle.

Through the remainder of the event, Wight was able to navigate lapped traffic with relative east, opening up and maintaining a sold second and a half to two second advantage over Fuller.

Through challenging conditions, Wight was able to hang on to grab his first win of the year aboard his FXCaparara, Gypsum Express #99L Bicknell.

Congratulations to other notable Bicknell Drivers picking up top 10 finishes.

Tim Fuller, Matt Sheppard, Pat Ward, Alan Barker, Billy Decker, Mitch Gibbs