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Sheppard Scores Again at Cayuga County , Completes Weekend Hat-Trick
Weedsport, NY – August 3, 2008 – By Dan Kapuscinski, Cayuga County Speedway PR and Promotions Coordinator
The DIRTcar Big-Block Modifieds had not competed at the Cayuga County Fair Speedway since June 22nd. Fortunately mother nature let up Sunday night as the 800hp ground-pounders made their return, with “Super” Matt Sheppard making all the right moves to score his second feature win of the season at the Weedsport oval. The Advanced Lubrication Specialties no. 9s, owned by Jeff Brownell Sr. with Sheppard at the helm, added Cayuga County victory lane to its list of stops for the weekend after winning at Brewerton Friday night, and Canandaigua Saturday.
The 35-lap victory was worth $1,500 on Spano Companies Night at the Races presented by HEP Sales.
“I don’t know if that was fun or nerve racking,” said Sheppard in victory lane, after battling five other drivers for the top spot in the closing stages. “Everybody was looking for a hole out there, and we were able to find it tonight. We really didn’t do anything different all weekend than we had in the past, but things just went our way the past few days.”
Alan Johnson sliced his way through the field for a runner-up finish just ahead of young rookie Mike Mahaney. Mahaney ran up front all race long, and even lead several laps in the late stages before Sheppard found his way by with just 4-laps to go. Jimmy Phelps and Mike Bowman completed the top five runners at the end of the 35-lap main, which saw only one caution throughout.
Defending DIRTcar Sportsman Modified track champion Jeremy Pitcher and his no. 14 landed in victory lane Sunday night for the first time in 2008, while Nick Rizzo returned to the promised land yet again this season in the Street Stocks.
Bill Werner took the victory in the BattleKarz division which saw 17 cars take the green flag.
Mahaney and Jason Potter started the 35-lap Spano Companies Big-Block Modified feature event from the front row, and it was Potter gaining the early advantage in the no. 5. Potter paced the field for the first four circuits until the night’s only caution flag waved, for a stopped Ryan Bartlett in turn two.
Potter would bring Mahaney, Shannon Whaley, Derrick Podsiadlo, and Jeff Brownell Jr. to the green for the restart. As Potter continued to lead the way Sheppard, Johnson, and Jimmy Phelps slowly began their march from the rear of the field.
By lap-15 Potter was comfortably in front of the field as Mike Bowman and Mahaney battled for the runner-up spot. Meanwhile Sheppard, Whaley, and Podsiadlo were engaged in a great battle for front five positions.
Just prior to the halfway mark Whaley and Podsiadlo made contact down the front straight, which allowed Sheppard to rocket from 6th to 4th in seconds. From there it didn’t take long for Sheppard to run down both Mahaney and Bowman who were still dicing for second place.
As Sheppard worked through the field Steve Paine and Johnson began to take note. On the 22nd circuit Paine drove around Whaley for 5th out of turn four, and Johnson followed suit on the inside the very same lap. With Paine and Johnson into the top six, the lead pack began to chase down Potter’s no. 5 and drew directly to his back bumper with just 10-laps to go setting up a six car battle for the lead.
Surprising front runner, young Mahaney in the no. 33, was the first to strike at the leader. Mahaney had stuck to the bottom all night long from the pole position, and on lap-27 pedaled underneath Potter for the lead down the back straight-away. As Mahaney began to gain some breathing room in the lead, Sheppard knew it was time to move.
Just two-laps later Sheppard made a daring three wide move through the middle of Bowman and Potter to slip into second, and set his sights on Mahaney for the weekend sweep.
Mahaney tried his best to hold of the hard charging Sheppard, but Matt was “Super” in the outside lane, breezing passed the no. 33 on the outside into turn one with just four-laps remaining. As Sheppard pulled away, Mahaney held strong despite losing the second position to Johnson in the no. 14j in the very last lap.
Sheppard would easily sail under starter Dave Farney for his second win of 2008, and 9th career triumph at the 3/8 Weedsport oval. The win puts Sheppard in a tie for 18th on the all-time win list at Cayuga County with defending track champion Jimmy Phelps and long-time dirt and pavement ace Chuck Ciprich.
The 25-lap DIRTcar Sportsman Modified main event pitted Earl Rudy and Fran Hilton against each other on the front row with Rudy blasting out front in the no. 16.
The race’s first caution would be displayed on lap-8 as Todd Town and Daryl Hilkert came together in turn two. Both would be done for the evening. On the restart Rudy chose the inside lane, allowing Hilton to take the outside of the front row.
As the two came down for the green Hilton took advantage, and grabbed the race lead. Hilton led Rudy, AJ Kingsley, Mike Entwistle, Beth Schneider, and Jeremy Pitcher as the field breezed on by the lap-10 mark.
Just prior to halfway Pitcher began to make his charge as he slid to the outside of Schneider and then to the inside of Rudy after a lap-10 restart for the race’s only other caution.
Hilton and Kinglsey had checked away from the field with 10-laps to go, as Pitcher drove around Entwistle for third on the outside in turn four. Pitcher was the only car capable of catching the two race leaders, and he did just that on lap-17.
In one fell swoop, Pitcher drove around both Kingsley and Hilton to snag the lead out of the fourth turn to lead lap-18. From there it was all Pitcher on his way to his first win of the 2008 racing season at Cayuga County .
“This Troyer car that my crew gives me is unbelievable,” said Pitcher, now an 11-time Sportsman winner at the Weedsport oval. “They just left me the top side of the track, and I took it. You really just have to be smooth, and keep it between the white walls at this place.”
Hilton and Kingsley held on for second and third, while Sammy Reakes IV put on a great drive to finish fourth from 15th on the grid ahead of Schneider in the top five.
The 20-lap DIRTcar Street Stock main event saw defending track champion Nick Rizzo lead all but two laps on his way to victory. Rizzo held off Nate Peckham and Steve Woodworth for his second win of 2008, and 6th career at Cayuga County .
Andy Fisk and Chris Fisher filled out the top five runners after 20-laps, while point leader Wayne Ellison settled for the sixth spot.
The event saw just three cautions slow the 17-car field.
In the 25-lap Pick-n-Pull BattleKarz event it was Bill Werner charging to the lead over Skip Degroff near halfway to cash in his second win of 2008. Bobby Boynton, Les Baker, and Zak Petrie finished the top five.
Point lead Nick Werner ran into trouble, dropping out of the event and finishing 12th in the 17-car field.
Next Sunday at the Cayuga County Fair Speedway Town Mechanical presents the WORLD FAMOUS BOAT RACE. The Big-Block Modifieds will be back once again with the Sportsman Modifieds, Street Stocks, and BattleKarz. The night’s racing action will start at 7pm as always.
For more information call the DIRTcar NE Headquarters at 315/834-6606, or visit www.cayugacountyfairspeedway.com.
Spano Companies Night at the Races presented by HEP Sales Event Summary (8-3-08):
BattleKarz
Feature (25-laps): 1) 63- BILL WERNER, 2) 3- Skip Degroff, 3) 81- Bobby Edwards, 4) 73- Les Baker, 5) 13z- Zak Petrie, 6) 13- Barb Amadon, 7) 24- Karl Werner, 8) 72- Adam Keuer, 9) 76j- Jacob Palmiter, 10) 5k- Keith Keuer, 11) 711- Bruce Unger, 12) 47- Nick Werner, 13) k9p- Wally Dean, 14) 67- James Werner, 15) 19- Matt Tripp, 16) 1- Jeremy Werner, 17) 16- Cris Bonoffski
DIRTcar Street Stocks
Heat #1: Hoffman Sr., Burnell, Hoffman Jr., Boynton, Alnutt, Grant, Smith, Buske, Ellison
Heat #2: Woodworth, Vaughn, Welch, Rizzo, Peckham, Fisk, Fisher
Feature (20-laps): 1) 115- NICK RIZZO, 2) 90- Nate Peckham, 3) 2- Steve Woodworth, 4) 33- Andy Fisk, 5) 37- Chris Fisher, 6) 18- Wayne Ellison, 7) 21a- Mark Alnutt, 8) 17- Dan Hoffman Jr., 9) 11- Mike Vaughn, 10) 3L- Bobby Boynton, 11) 71- Dan Hoffman Sr, 12) ws7- Ray Smith, 13) 57b- Bubba Burnell, 14) E4- Van Grant, 15) 00- Mike Welch, 16) 21J- Joe Buske, 17) 99- Dan Searls
Bud Light $25 Wheel of Fortune Bonus: 2- Steve Woodworth
DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds
Heat #1: Kingsley, Town, Behron, Reakes IV, Rudy, Spano, Fink, Currier
Heat #2: Entwistle, Pitcher, Hilton, Wright, Bowman, Gray, Marcuccilli
Heat #3: Schneider, Ridley, Hilkert, Juhl, Wheeler, Buono, Garrison
Feature (25-laps): 1) 14- JEREMY PITCHER, 2) 3- Fran Hilton, 3) 3k- AJ Kingsley, 4) 17k- Sammy Reakes IV, 5) 57s- Beth Schneider, 6) 19w- Justin Wright, 7) jvs1- Jim Spano, 8) m93- Mike Entwistle, 9) 20x- Kevin Ridley, 10) 1F- Steve Gray, 11) 16- Earl Rudy, 12) 17d- Tom Juhl, 13) 11- Ben Wheeler, 14) 2m- John Behron, 15) 54x- Stewart Garrison, 16) m1- Dave Marcuccilli, 17) 10- Tim Currier, 18) 19- Bob Buono, 19) 11j- Alan Fink, 20) 15- Jimmy Bowman, 21) 17t- Todd Town, 22) 4- Daryl Hilkert
Currier Plastics $50 Wheel of Fortune Bonus: 54x- Stewart Garrison
DIRTcar Big-Block Modifieds
Heat #1: Podsiadlo, Homan, Bowman, Haers, R. Phelps, Mahaney, Ward, Vigneri
Heat #2: Bellinger, Johnson, Potter, Paine, Wight, Pfeffer, Bartlett, Shields
Heat #3: Brownell, Whaley, J. Phelps, Dunn, Sheppard, Steiner, Habeck
Feature (35-laps): 1) 9s- MATT SHEPPARD, 2) 14j- Alan Johnson, 3) 33- Mike Mahaney, 4) 99j- Jimmy Phelps, 5) 16- Mike Bowman, 6) 7x- Steve Paine, 7) 5- Jason Potter, 8) 49- Billy Dunn, 9) 44- Shannon Whaley, 10) 29- Jeff Brownell Jr, 11) 91- Chad Homan, 12) 3- Justin Haers, 13) 99- Ryan Phelps, 14) 79- John Pfeffer, 15) 21- Derrick Podsiadlo, 16) 8- Rob Bellinger, 17) 99L- Larry Wight, 18) 45m- Mike Ward, 19) 44v- Phil Vigneri, 20) 13- Tony Steiner, 21) 82s- Roy Shields, 22) 25- Paul Habeck, 23) 93- Ryan Bartlett
Gypsum Wholesalers $100 Wheel of Fortune Bonus: 91- Chad Homan
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