RPW Exclusive: Matt Sheppard Dominates At Utica-Rome For Richie Evans Remembered 61 STSS Victory

Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – VERNON, NY – There’s no doubt that Matt Sheppard has been the man to beat at Utica-Rome Speedway in 2024.

That trend continued on Thursday night.

‘Super Matt’ wheeled his #9S to a dominant win in the Richie Evans Remembered Short Track Super Series event at Utica, a track responsible for building the legend of the NASCAR Hall of Fame driver.

The 61-lap victory was worth $6,100 to Sheppard and was his third-consecutive triumph in this event.

“This has been a really good race for us,” Sheppard noted in Victory Lane. “It’s always an honor when you can win a race in Richie’s name. He was obviously the best ever to run at Utica-Rome. It feels good. He’s a legend in this sport.”

It probably wasn’t as easy as it looked, but Sheppard really did make it look quite easy on Thursday. Starting 3rd, he trailed Mike Mahaney for the first 8 laps until the caution flew. Sheppard took the lead on the restart and was never challenged the rest of the way.

“This has been our home track. We’ve been really solid here this year and when this big race comes to town, you want to defend your home turf, and thankfully, that’s what we were able to do.” he said.

Sheppard got off to a fast start this year on the STSS circuit, getting early season wins. He went through a stretch with good podium finishes, but the wins were lacking. But the team has found it’s stride to victory again recently.

“We picked up some momentum in the north series , we won Fonda and had a good shot at Outlaw. We rebounded with a win tonight. It’s definitely big for our team the way things have been going lately.

With stretches of long green flag racing, Sheppard had to deal with a lot of lapped traffic. But the track was in great shape for him to use different grooves to keep ahead of his pursuers.

“The track had a lot more bite tonight than it had really all season,” Matt said. “The tough part was trying to keep track of where to run. Just thankful that we made it through the feature without issues and we’re standing here in Victory Lane. It’s a great night for me and my team. This race was a great tribute to Richie Evans.”

Stewart Friesen came from deep in the redraw cars to finish 2nd. Jimmy Phelps continued his string of good finishes to finish 3rd. Mat Williamson finished 4th and Mahaney 5th.

Completing the top 10 were Alex Yankowski 6th, Pat Ward 7th, Jack Lehner 8th, Tim Fuller 9th and Michael Trautschold 10th.

The win was Sheppard’s 79th of his career at Utica-Rome and his 8th win of the season at the track. It was also Sheppard’s 44th career STSS win and his 6th this season.

The next appearance for the Short Track Super Series will be in Canada for the Lumberjack Swing. It will be at Autodrome Granby on July 30th and Le RPM Speedway on July 31st.

Utica-Rome Speedway will again be in action on Friday, July 26th as it will be Tibbitts Masonry & Stretch’s Lawn & Landscaping Night: All divisions plus Slingshots.

Richie Evans Remembered Feature (61 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[3]; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen[10]; 3. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[4]; 4. 3W-Mat Williamson[13]; 5. 35M-Mike Mahaney[2]; 6. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[12]; 7. 42-Pat Ward[7]; 8. 02-Jack Lehner[11]; 9. 19-Tim Fuller[8]; 10. 28T-Michael Trautschold[14]; 11. 9J-Marc Johnson[25]; 12. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[9]; 13. 70A-Alex Payne[17]; 14. 4P-Anthony Perrego[22]; 15. 98JS-Rocky Warner[19]; 16. 1X-Willy Decker[15]; 17. 27-Tanner Van Doren[23]; 18. 22W-Brandon Walters[27]; 19. 23-Brandon Loucks[24]; 20. 77X-Addison Bowman[1]; 21. 35B-Francois Bellemare[16]; 22. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[6]; 23. 879-Darryl Mitchell[26]; 24. 34-Dave Constantino[20]; 25. 91-Billy Decker[5]; 26. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[21]; 27. 27J-Danny Johnson[18]

Did Not Qualify: 77-Alan Barker; 47-Kreg Crooker; 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr; 44CD-Ed Downing; 97S-Randy Shantel

• American Racer/Lias Tire Bonuses (FREE Tire Certificate): Tim Fuller (ninth) & Rocky Warner (15th) ▪️ATL Racing Fuel Cells ‘Hot Lap Hero’ ($100): Stewart Friesen (18.107)
• Behrent’s Performance Warehouse Bonuses ($50 Gift Cards): Mat Williamson (fourth) & Tim Fuller (ninth)
• Beyea Headers Redraw Bonus ($50): Alex Yankowski (Redrew 12th)
• Eibach Springs Bonus ($100 Certificate): Alex Yankowski (sixth)
• Elite Welder Training & Testing Halfway Leader Bonus ($150): Matt Sheppard ▪️Henry’s Headers & Exhaust Systems LLC Power Position ($50 Certificate): Marc Johnson (11th)
• PEM Engineering Bonus (Quick Change Gears): Jimmy Phelps (third)
• Penske Racing Shocks Bonuses: Matt Sheppard (first – $150 certificate); Stewart Friesen (second – $75 certificate); Jimmy Phelps (third – $50 certificate); Mat Williamson (fourth – $25 certificate)
• Schultz Racing Fuel Cells Bonus ($100 Certificate): Michael Trautschold (10th)
• Wilwood Disc Brakes ‘Lucky 7’ Bonus ($100 Certificate): Pat Ward (seventh)

Consolation (8 Laps): 1. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[1]; 2. 4P-Anthony Perrego[3]; 3. 27-Tanner Van Doren[2]; 4. 23-Brandon Loucks[5]; 5. 77-Alan Barker[6]; 6. 22W-Brandon Walters[7]; 7. 47-Kreg Crooker[4]; 8. 9J-Marc Johnson[11]; 9. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[10]; 10. 879-Darryl Mitchell[9]; 11. 44CD-Ed Downing[8]; 12. (DNS) 97S-Randy Shantel

Heat #1 (8 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[2]; 2. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[1]; 3. 44-Stewart Friesen[3]; 4. 3W-Mat Williamson[4]; 5. 70A-Alex Payne[6]; 6. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[5]; 7. 23-Brandon Loucks[7]; 8. 879-Darryl Mitchell[8]

Heat #2 (8 Laps): 1. 02-Jack Lehner[2]; 2. 19-Tim Fuller[3]; 3. 42-Pat Ward[1]; 4. 28T-Michael Trautschold[4]; 5. 27J-Danny Johnson[7]; 6. 27-Tanner Van Doren[5]; 7. 77-Alan Barker[6]; 8. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[8]

Heat #3 (8 Laps): 1. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[1]; 2. 35M-Mike Mahaney[3]; 3. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[5]; 4. 1X-Willy Decker[2]; 5. 98JS-Rocky Warner[4]; 6. 4P-Anthony Perrego[7]; 7. 22W-Brandon Walters[6]; 8. 9J-Marc Johnson[8]

Heat #4 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[2]; 2. 91-Billy Decker[3]; 3. 77X-Addison Bowman[1]; 4. 35B-Francois Bellemare[4]; 5. 34-Dave Constantino[6]; 6. 47-Kreg Crooker[7]; 7. 44CD-Ed Downing[8]; 8. 97S-Randy Shantel[5]

Penske Racing Shocks Hot Lap Group 1: 1. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:18.107[3]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:18.172[4]; 3. 1Z-Jessica Friesen, 00:18.318[5]; 4. 3W-Mat Williamson, 00:18.335[7]; 5. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson, 00:18.346[2]; 6. 70A-Alex Payne, 00:18.451[8]; 7. 23-Brandon Loucks, 00:18.894[6]; 8. 879-Darryl Mitchell, 00:20.079[1]

Penske Racing Shocks Hot Lap Group 2: 1. 19-Tim Fuller, 00:18.417[1]; 2. 02-Jack Lehner, 00:18.424[4]; 3. 42-Pat Ward, 00:18.540[5]; 4. 28T-Michael Trautschold, 00:18.570[2]; 5. 27-Tanner Van Doren, 00:18.856[7]; 6. 77-Alan Barker, 00:18.917[6]; 7. 27J-Danny Johnson, 00:19.258[8]; 8. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr, 00:19.395[3]

Penske Racing Shocks Hot Lap Group 3: 1. 35M-Mike Mahaney, 00:18.354[8]; 2. 1X-Willy Decker, 00:18.492[4]; 3. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:18.531[1]; 4. 98JS-Rocky Warner, 00:18.587[7]; 5. 98H-Jimmy Phelps, 00:18.665[5]; 6. 22W-Brandon Walters, 00:18.760[3]; 7. 4P-Anthony Perrego, 00:18.790[6]; 8. 9J-Marc Johnson, 00:18.812[2]

Penske Racing Shocks Hot Lap Group 4: 1. 91-Billy Decker, 00:18.421[6]; 2. 97-Bobby Hackel IV, 00:18.471[1]; 3. 77X-Addison Bowman, 00:18.639[2]; 4. 35B-Francois Bellemare, 00:19.058[8]; 5. 97S-Randy Shantel, 00:19.192[7]; 6. 34-Dave Constantino, 00:19.289[4]; 7. 47-Kreg Crooker, 00:19.369[5]; 8. 44CD-Ed Downing, 00:21.548[3]