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Weedsport, NY – April 20, 2008 – By Dan Kapuscinski, Cayuga County Fair Speedway PR and Promotions Coordinator
One night after finishing second in the season opener at Canandaigua Speedway, Matt Sheppard rebounded for his 8th career feature win at Cayuga County Fair Speedway on ‘Gater Online Night at the Races.’. The $1,500 pay day was his first victory behind the wheel of the Jeff Brownell Sr. owned Advance Lubrication Specialties no. 9s DIRTcar Big-Block Modified.
“I can’t thank Jeff enough for putting me in this racecar,” said Sheppard. “Things have been going great to this point, and tonight is a perfect cap to the weekend.”
Sheppard held off the advances of Steve Paine late in the going in lapped traffic to preserve the victory. Jimmy Phelps, Billy Dunn, and Pat O’Brien rounded out the top5.
Kevin Ridley made his way past Tom Juhl on lap-14 to claim his first career DIRTcar Sportsman Modified victory at Cayuga County . Tim Currier made a late race charge in the Currier Plastics no. 10 but couldn’t make it stick. Tom Juhl slipped to third followed by Jeremy Pitcher and Jim Hull in the fast five.
Steve Woodward took advantage of a late race tangle between leaders Jim Wallace and Nick Rizzo to claim the UMP Street Stock feature event, while Nick Werner took the checkered flag in the BattleKarz main event.
Paine and O’Brien started the 35-lap DIRTcar Big-Block Modified main event from the front row. Paine would show the way early on in the Beyea Custom Headers no. 121, trying to capitalize on his pole position for the second consecutive night. Saturday night, Paine started from the pole at the Canandaigua Speedway, but slid to a 5th place finish.
Sheppard though was making moves early from his 6th starting position. By the second circuit the Waterloo driver had moved into the runner-up position and began to chase down the leader.
With Paine and Sheppard out front O’Brien, Dunn, and Jimmy Phelps began a battle for third. By lap-5 Sheppard had reeled Paine and began to work the no. 121 machine. Paine used all he had to try and hold Sheppard back, but on lap-8 Sheppard made the move and pressed into the lead.
The first of only two cautions was displayed on lap-12, as “Lightning” Larry Wight lost the handle on the no. 99L in turn one. Shappard, Paine, and O’Brien restarted in the top3, but Jimmy Phelps used the restart to his advantage working around O’Brien for third on the following lap.
The only other slow down in the event came on the 17th circuit for the no. 99 of Ryan Phelps, as he made contact with the first turn wall. Sheppard, Paine, Phelps, O’Brien, and Dunn would remain the top5.
Sheppard was clearly the class of the field on opening night, but the experienced Paine made a late race charge in lapped traffic. Paine however couldn’t catch a break as the lapped cars wisely stayed to the low side, allowing Sheppard to peddle the top of the Speedway and hold off Paine to the stripe.
In the Sunoco Race Fuels 25 DIRTcar Sportsman Modified event Juhl and Ridley brought the field to the green flag. Juhl, who was involved in a vicious crash at Canandaigua Speedway the previous night, jumped to the early lead but it would be short lived. Ridley made quick work of the no. 17d of Juhl on lap-2 and sped into the lead.
Caution flew on lap-9 for a stopped Nick Guererri in turn four, and that allowed the field to bunch back up. Juhl took advantage on the restart and worked back past Ridley for the lead on the 10th circuit. Juhl led with Ridley, Currier, Mike Entwistle, and Sammy Reakes IV in pursuit.
With Juhl once again pacing the field in the lead it was clear that Ridley just needed an opportunity to get past. The no. 20x found that chance on the low side of turn four on lap-14 dropping Juhl to the runner-up spot. Just three laps later Currier would move past Juhl in turn four, this time using the outside lane.
Currier would be Ridley’s only challenger over the next seven laps. Lapped traffic appeared as though it may play a role, but Ridley was too tough beating Currier to the line by .77 seconds for the feature win.
In the Coke Zero 12 UMP Street Stock feature Wallace appeared to be the man to beat. He held of the advances of defending Cayuga County Fair track champion Rizzo for the first nine laps before the two came together in turn three. Wallace would have to be hooked off the track, but Rizzo would continue.
That handed the lead over to a surprised Woodward for the final three laps. Mark Alnutt and Rizzo threw all they had at Woodward in the closing laps, but the no. 2 machine would visit victory lane.
Nick Werner led all 20 laps on his way to the Pick-n-Pull BattleKarz victory driving his no. 47. Werner was able to keep Dave Nagldinger, Barb Amidon, Les Baker, and Karl Werner at bay. At race’s end Karl Werner also received a special award from Nan-Way Newsletter as the Driver of the Month of August from 2007.
Next Sunday, April 27 at Cayuga County Fair Speedway is “Vault” $20 Carload Night at the Races. Bring a carload of family and friends and enter for just $20 until 4:45pm. The DIRTcar Big-Block Modifieds, DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds, UMP Street Stocks, and BattleKarz will kick-off at 5pm.
GATER ONLINE NIGHT at the RACES – EVENT SUMMARY
BattleKarz
Pick-n-Pull 25: 1) 47- NICK WERNER, 2) 24x- Dave Nagldinger, 3) 13- Barb Amidon, 4) 73- Les Baker, 5) 24- Karl Werner, 6) k9p- Wally Dean, 7) 63- Bill Werner, 8) 81- Bobby Edwards, 9) 27x- Dave Guererri, 10) 1- Jeremy Werner
UMP Street Stocks
Heat: Ellison, Rizzo, Wallace, Alnutt, Woodward, Vaughn
Coke Zero 12: 1) 2- STEVE WOODWARD, 2) 21a- Mark Alnutt, 3) 115-Nick Rizzo, 4) w7- Jim Wallace, 5) 18- Wayne Ellison, 6) 11- Mike Vaughn
DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds
Heat #1 (6 Qualify): Town, Reakes IV, Currier, Planck, Bennett, Hilkert, Guererri, Spano
Heat #2: Sears Jr, Ridley, Raabe, Friesen, Hilton, Pitcher, Peckham, Marcuccilli, Sellen, Occhino
Heat #3: Parkhurst, Juhl, Wright, Rudy, Entwistle, Hotchkiss, Billings , Kingsley, Smith
Consi (6 Qualify): Guererri, Spano, Peckham, Marcuccilli, Henry, Clark, Matt Billings, AJ Kingsley, Jason Occhino, Dan Sellen, Matt Smith
Sunoco Race Fuels 25: 1) 20x- KEVIN RIDLEY, 2) 10-Tim Currier, 3) 17d- Tom Juhl, 4) 14- Jeremy Pitcher, 5) 52- James Friesen, 6) m93- Mike Entwistle, 7) 19w- Justin Wright, 8) 1- Jim Spano, 9) 17k- Sammy Reakes IV, 10) 83x- Tim Sears Jr., 11) 17t- Todd Town, 12) 77x- Brandon Planck, 13) 06J- Jordan Bennett, 14) 4- Darryl Hilkert, 15) 44- Keith Hotchkiss, 16) 38- Jason Parkhurst, 17) 99- Bill Clark, 18) 01- Chris Raabe, 19) 3- Fran Hilton, 20) M1- Dave Marcuccilli, 21) 16- Earl Rudy, 22) 90- Nate Peckham, 23) 25g- Nick Guererri
DIRTcar Big-Block Modifieds
Heat #1 (6 Qualify): Sheppard, Isabell, Bartlett, Caprara, A. Johnson, Whaley, Weaver, Bellinger, Guererri, Ward
Heat #2: J. Phelps, O’Brien, Brownell Jr., Hulsizer, R. Phelps, Bowman, Podsiadlo, Fink, Bennett, D. Johnson
Heat #3: Dunn, Paine, Homan, Haers, Lewis, Wight, Beardsley, Potter, Mahaney
Consi (6 Qualify): Podsiadlo, Bellinger, Weaver, Beardsley, Guererri, Potter, Bob Bennett, Mike Mahaney, Danny Johnson, Alan Fink, Mike Ward
Gater Online 35: 1) 9s- MATT SHEPPARD, 2) 121- Steve Paine, 3) 99J- Jimmy Phelps, 4) 49- Billy Dunn, 5) 6- Pat O’Brien, 6) 14J- Alan Johnson, 7) FX1- Frankie Caprara, 8) 3- Justin Haers, 9) 88- Steve Hulsizer, 10) 93- Ryan Bartlett, 11) 29- Jeff Brownell Jr., 12) 91- Chad Homan, 13) 1a- Brian Weaver, 14) 99L- Larry Wight, 15) 18- Sean Beardsley, 16) 16- Mike Bowman, 17) 8- Rob Bellinger, 18) 7G- Paul Guererri, 19) 21- Derrick Podsiadlo, 20) 09- Kyle Lewis, 21) 7J- Jeff Isabell, 22) 5- Jason Potter, 23) 99- Ryan Phelps, 24) 44- Shannon Whaley
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