Empire State Series Archives

Fulton checkers give Fleming his second win of the 2014 Friesen Empire State Series

FULTON, N.Y. (Oct. 3) – Chris Fleming became the first repeat winner in the 2014 Friesen Chevrolet Empire State Series, leading all 25 laps of the Friday night main event at Fulton Speedway. The IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modified tour victory paid $400. Fleming started outside row one in the Outlaw 200 Weekend feature. A long green flag run at the start got Fleming into lapped traffic before a series of cautions. The last restart came with three laps to go. “The track was really fast,” said Fleming. “I just tried to keep my momentum up and was able to pull away some after the final restart.” Keith Lamphere, tour point leader James Cornell, Gary Smith and Gary Roberts rounded out the top five. Fleming’s first Empire State Series win of the season came on Memorial Weekend at Skyline. He was sidelined with early mechanical issues when the series returned to Cortland on Sept. 20. “We had a really good car at Skyline but broke our driveshaft on a restart,” Fleming said. “That was a [Read More]

Friday show at Fulton next for IMCA’s Friesen Chevrolet Empire State Series

FULTON, N.Y. – Round six of the Friesen Chevrolet Empire State Series takes the tour for IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modifieds to Fulton Speedway for a Friday, Oct. 3 event. The $400 to win, minimum $75 to start feature is part of the opening night program for Fulton’s Outlaw 200 Weekend. Pit gates open at 3 p.m., the grandstand opens at 5 p.m., hot laps are at 6 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m. Grandstand admission is $22 for adults and $8 for kids 14 and under. Entry fee is $20 and pit passes are $35. More information is available at the www.fultonspeedway.com website, by calling 315 593-6531 or on Facebook. Five different drivers – point leader James Cornell of Port Crane, Chris Fleming of Union Springs, Matt Cole of Binghamton, Gary Roberts of Afton and most recently Harpursville’s Gary Smith – have each won one series feature thus far in 2014. Friesen Chevrolet Empire State Series top 20 point standings – 1. James Cornell, Port Crane, 199; 2. Matt Cole, Binghamton, 195; 3. [Read More]

Daughter’s draw puts Smith in right spot to win Empire State Series feature at Skyline

CORTLAND, N.Y. (Sept. 20) – Gary Smith told daughter Danielle before she drew for him that he’d like to start Saturday’s Friesen Chevrolet Empire State Series feature on the front row, and preferably on the outside. Danielle obliged and Smith promptly led all 25 laps in winning for the first time of his career in the IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modified tour at Skyline Raceway. The checkers were good for $400. Keith Lamphere challenged but had to settle for second as Smith stayed strong following a multitude of restarts. Running the high side right to the last lap, Smith switched to the bottom line when the race ended green, white, checkered. Teammate James Cornell, Jared Spaulding and Gary Roberts completed the top five finishers in the Turbo Blue Championship Weekend show. Cornell took over the series point lead; Spalding had made a last-minute decision to race at Skyline and ended up fourth. “I was happy that James finished third,” Smith said after becoming the fifth different winner in as many Empire State Series events so [Read More]

IMCA’s Friesen Chevrolet Empire State Series returning to Skyline

CORTLAND, N.Y. (Sept. 17) – Round five of the Friesen Chevrolet Empire State Series takes touring IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modifieds to Skyline Raceway for a Turbo Blue Championship Weekend show. Modifieds race for $400 to win and a minimum of $75 to start their 25-lapper this Saturday, Sept. 20 at Cortland. Matt Cole of Binghamton tops the current standings, just a single point ahead of Port Crane’s James Cornell. Pit gates and the grandstand both open at 3 p.m. Hot laps are at 5:45 p.m. and racing is at 6:30 p.m. There is no entry fee; pit passes are $35. Spectator admission is $15 for adults, $13 for seniors and students and free for kids nine and under accompanying a paid adult. Chris Fleming was the winner when the series visited Skyline during the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Cornell, Cole and Gary Roberts have also won Empire State Series features this season. The last four tour events will be held after IMCA’s regular point season ends. The first of those races is Friday, Oct. [Read More]

Friesen Chevrolet Empire State Series at 1-88 Speedway for July 11 show

AFTON, N.Y. (July 8) – I-88 Speedway hosts round four of the Friesen Chevrolet Empire State Series, as IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modifieds journey to Afton for a Friday, July 11 show. The feature pays $600 to win and a minimum of $100 to start. IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National, Dirt Works Eastern Region, Allstar Performance State and special series points, but no local track points will be awarded. Pit gates and the grandstand open at 4 p.m. Hot laps are at 6:15 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m. Spectator admission is $10 for adults, $5 for kids ages 9-14 and free for youngsters eight and under. Pit passes are $25 for those with a track license and $30 for those without. More information about Friday’s program is available by calling 607 639-3278 or 607 760-0671, at the www.i-88speedway.com website and on Facebook. Matt Cole of Binghamton won the latest series outing June 15 at Yates County Speedway and is the new Empire State point leader. Port Crane’s James Cornell and Chris Fleming [Read More]

Cole’s first Yates County Speedway visit ends with Friesen Chevrolet Empire State feature win

DUNDEE, N.Y. (June 15) – Matt Cole might have himself a new favorite track. Cole made his first visit to Yates County Speedway on Sunday and came away with his career-first Friesen Chevrolet Empire State Series victory. “It’s a fun little track,” said the third-year IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modified driver. “My luck at new tracks has been pretty good so far this season. Hopefully that’s something we can continue.” Keith Lamphere led much of the way before giving up the lead to Cole in the late going and finishing second. Rich Karlnoski, Bumps Scutt and Mike Griffin completed the top five. Gary Smith and Lamphere led the pack to green with Smith grabbing the early lead. Lamphere took over briefly before relinquishing the lead to Chris Fleming. Fleming and Lamphere went side-by-side for several laps. Their battle ended following a lap 14 restart, however, when the rear locked up on Fleming’s car and sidelined him for the balance. Cole then entered the picture, hounding Lamphere until finally making his move to the front on [Read More]

Yates County Sunday show next for Friesen Chevrolet Empire State Series

DUNDEE, N.Y. – Yates County Speedway is next on the Friesen Chevrolet Challenge Series schedule, with a Sunday, June 15 show for traveling IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modifieds. The feature will be 25 laps and pay $400 to win and a minimum of $75 to start. IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National, Dirt Works Eastern Region, Allstar Performance State, special series and local track points will be awarded. Pit gates at Dundee open at 2:30 p.m. and the grandstand opens at 3 p.m. Hot laps are at 4:15 p.m. and racing starts at 5 p.m. There is no entry fee. Pit passes are $27 for members or $32 for non-members. Spectator admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, $8 for students and free for kids 12 and under when accompanying a paying adult. More information is available on Facebook and the www.yatescountyspeedway.com website. Six previous series events have been held at Yates County with a different driver standing in victory lane after each of them. Winners there last season were Mike Smith of Arkport [Read More]

Fleming scores Friesen Chevrolet Empire State win at Skyline

CORTLAND, N.Y. (May 25) – Sunday’s Friesen Chevrolet Empire State Series feature saw Chris Fleming complete a holiday weekend sweep of at Skyline Raceway. Already the winner of Saturday’s IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modified feature at Cortland, Fleming held off Gary Roberts and hard-charging Bumps Scutt for the tour victory, his career third. Gary Smith and James Cornell completed the top five. The early stages of the feature saw Fleming work his way forward from deep in the field. A series of cautions kept the field bunched up and by the time the 10th lap went up on the board, Fleming had made his way to the lead. Most of the race was run off a few laps at a time as a series of minor spins and mishaps led to numerous cautions. The final yellow came with four laps remaining and set up a four-lap dash to the finish between Fleming and Roberts. Fleming controlled the restart and held off Roberts over the final laps to score the win. Scutt drove from his 18th [Read More]

Skyline hosts Sunday Friesen Chevrolet Empire State Series show

CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Friesen Chevrolet Empire State Series returns to one of its favorite venues for a Sunday, May 25 show. Skyline Raceway has hosted touring IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modifieds on 13 previous occasions. The upcoming holiday weekend feature at Cortland pays $400 to win and a minimum of $75 to start, Pit gates and the grandstand both open at 4:30 p.m. Hot laps are at 5:30 p.m. and racing starts at 6:30 p.m. Spectator admission is $15 for adults, $13 for seniors 65 and over and students ages 10-14, and free for kids nine and under. Pit passes are $35 or $30 with a Saturday wristband. There is no entry fee. Sean Lias of Westfield, Pa., is a four-time series winner at Skyline. Kevan Cook of Constantia has won three Empire State Series features at Cortland. More information is available by calling 607 657-8222 or 607 849-6600 on race day. The champion of the Friesen Chevrolet Empire State Series earns a $600 share of the increased $3,000 point fund. Friesen Chevrolet Empire [Read More]

Friesen Chevrolet Empire State Series is Brewerton bound on May 9

BREWERTON, N.Y. (May 7) – The Empire State Series runs for the first time under the Friesen Chevrolet banner this Friday, when touring IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modifieds travel to Brewerton Speedway. The May 9 feature pays $400 to win, a minimum of $75 to start and doubles as the Dean Hubbs Memorial. All applicable IMCA points will be awarded. Pit gates and the grandstand both open at 5:30 p.m. Hot laps are at 6:30 p.m. and racing starts at 7:30 p.m. Spectator admission is $12 for adults and free for fans ages 18 and under. Pit passes are $27. Sponsor of the IMCA Modified portion of the season-opening program Friday evening is Nationwide Insurance. More information is available by calling 315 668-6906 and at the www.brewertonspeedway.com website. Central Square’s Dale Caswell won four of the first seven series events held at Brewerton, including three straight from 2008-2010. James Cornell of Port Crane topped the April 13 series opener at Five Mile Point Speedway. The third of 10 events on the current tour schedule is [Read More]