Carb stud removal

I'm putting in a carb spacer so I must replace the studs coming out of the Edelbrock manifold that attach the carb to the manifold with longer studs.

I'm afraid that I'm going to snap one of these studs off during removal. Is there a safe method to remove these studs? Do these studs back out in the same direction as a nut on the stud (counter-clockwise to loosen?)

Thanks in advance.