Story By: BRETT DEYO / UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY – VERNON, NY – Back on top. Matt Sheppard returned to 3 Bastards Brewing Modified Victory Lane on Saturday night at Utica-Rome Speedway, earning $4,000 as part of the Cole Cup presented by International Wire, Broedel Energy and Recovery Sports Grill.
Morning and afternoon rain showers cleared in Vernon and the program went on as scheduled.
Michael Maresca, meanwhile, clinched the six-race F.X. Caprara Car Companies Thunder on the Thruway Series Modified championship after entering the night just two points ahead of Alex Yankowski.
Sheppard started the 30-lap feature from sixth position while outside pole starter Brandon Walters took command at the start of the main event.
Sheppard sliced through the field, taking second on lap five and beginning his pursuit of Walters.
By the race’s one-third mark, Sheppard had caught Walters’ No. 22. One lap later, he drove off the inside of turn two, taking a lead he would never relinquish.
The race’s first caution flew on lap 17 for a pair of cars with flat tires, regrouping the field.
Stewart Friesen, who was sixth, took advantage of the restart, advancing to second by lap 16.
Friesen chased Sheppard for the remaining 14 laps despite late-race cautions on laps 23, 25 and 27.
Sheppard took the victory over Sprakers, N.Y.’s Friesen, who ended his ascent from ninth starting position in second.
Saratoga Springs, N.Y.’s Jack Lehner climbed from 11th starting position to finish third, followed by early leader Walters of Unadilla, N.Y., and Matt DeLorenzo of Cropseyville, N.Y., up from 20th on the grid.
Finishing sixth through 10th, respectively, were Alex Payne of Canandaigua, N.Y., who ran as high as second; Thunder on the Thruway champion Maresca of Baldwinsville, N.Y.; Brian Calabrese of Johnstown, N.Y.; Pat Ward of Genoa, N.Y., recovering from a lap-17 flat tire; and Willy Decker of Vernon, N.Y.
Heat winners were Decker, Friesen and Lehner.
Billy Van Inwegen of Sparrowbush, N.Y., took home a $5,000 victory with the Empire Super Sprints (ESS) in the 25-lap Cole Cup. ‘Billy V’ inherited the lead on lap 19 in a caution-plagued affair when leader Danny Varin of Fonda, N.Y., ran out of methanol and was forced to pit.
Van Inwegen’s car ran dry on fuel on the final lap, but he was able to cross the checkered with the victory.
Davie Franek finished runner-up after starting the event in Row No. 6, followed by Jordan Porier, Matt Farnham and Jordan Thomas.
After pitting, Varin recovered for ninth.
South New Berlin, N.Y.’s Payton Talbot took the 25-lap Taylor’s Trailers Crate 602 Sportsman program and the Thunder on the Thruway Series title in dramatic fashion, completing a last-lap pass on leader Tanner Warner.
The driver of the Belmont’s Garage No. 14 collected $1,500 for his efforts.
Talbot threaded the needle in traffic with the white flag flying to take the lead. Warner settled for second, followed by Jeremy Slosek, Richard Murtaugh III and Chip Constantino.
Andy Graves took the $1,000 Next Generation GraphiX Pro Stock victory in the 20-lap event, his first of the season. Kenny Gates, meanwhile, clinched the Thunder on the Thruway Series title.
Graves bested Luke Horning, Bret Belden, Shayne Playford and A.J. Walters.
Gates’ 11th-place finish was enough for the Thruway series championship.
Racing resumes on Wednesday, August 21 with Small Car Wednesday featuring Slingshots, Winged Champ Karts, Heavy Tire Predator and Clones.
On Friday (August 23), all divisions will be in action plus the M2 Metals Crate Late Models and Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modifieds.
Modifieds
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[6]; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen[9]; 3. 02-Jack Lehner[11]; 4. 22W-Brandon Walters[2]; 5. 3G-Matt Delorenzo[20]; 6. 70A-Alex Payne[4]; 7. 7MM-Michael Maresca[8]; 8. 21C-Brian Calabrese[12]; 9. 42P-Pat Ward[7]; 10. 1X-Willy Decker[10]; 11. 76-Jamike Sowle[18]; 12. 23-Brandon Loucks[13]; 13. 77X-Addison Bowman[17]; 14. 14AJ-AJ Miller[16]; 15. 97S-Randy Shantel[23]; 16. 8M-Tim Mayne[19]; 17. JS98-Rocky Warner[15]; 18. 19W-Justin Wright[14]; 19. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[5]; 20. 4-Cody Clark[3]; 21. 27-Jason Reome[22]; 22. 44C-Ed Downing[24]; 23. 369-Jim Walsh[21]; 24. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[1]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1X-Willy Decker[1]; 2. 4-Cody Clark[2]; 3. 70A-Alex Payne[7]; 4. 21C-Brian Calabrese[6]; 5. 23-Brandon Loucks[5]; 6. 14AJ-AJ Miller[8]; 7. 8M-Tim Mayne[4]; 8. 27-Jason Reome[3]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[8]; 2. 7MM-Michael Maresca[3]; 3. 42P-Pat Ward[2]; 4. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[7]; 5. 19W-Justin Wright[1]; 6. 77X-Addison Bowman[4]; 7. 3G-Matt Delorenzo[5]; 8. 97S-Randy Shantel[6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 02-Jack Lehner[2]; 2. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[6]; 3. 9S-Matt Sheppard[7]; 4. 22W-Brandon Walters[4]; 5. JS98-Rocky Warner[5]; 6. 76-Jamike Sowle[3]; 7. 369-Jim Walsh[8]; 8. 44C-Ed Downing[1]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:18.122[17]; 2. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:18.206[24]; 3. 4-Cody Clark, 00:18.226[3]; 4. 3G-Matt Delorenzo, 00:18.265[5]; 5. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:18.271[7]; 6. 19W-Justin Wright, 00:18.334[23]; 7. JS98-Rocky Warner, 00:18.485[22]; 8. 1X-Willy Decker, 00:18.497[4]; 9. 23-Brandon Loucks, 00:18.536[10]; 10. 21C-Brian Calabrese, 00:18.588[2]; 11. 97-Bobby Hackel IV, 00:18.610[8]; 12. 76-Jamike Sowle, 00:18.681[18]; 13. 77X-Addison Bowman, 00:18.840[1]; 14. 42P-Pat Ward, 00:18.912[21]; 15. 7MM-Michael Maresca, 00:19.008[11]; 16. 70A-Alex Payne, 00:19.062[14]; 17. 14AJ-AJ Miller, 00:19.280[13]; 18. 97S-Randy Shantel, 00:19.354[16]; 19. 02-Jack Lehner, 00:19.603[9]; 20. 8M-Tim Mayne, 00:19.714[12]; 21. 27-Jason Reome, 00:20.330[15]; 22. 44C-Ed Downing, 00:21.595[6]; 23. (DNS) 369-Jim Walsh; 24. (DNS) 22W-Brandon Walters
Crate 602 Sportsman
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 14T-Payton Talbot[7]; 2. 78-Tanner Warner[2]; 3. 16S-Jeremy Slosek[5]; 4. 33-Richard Murtaugh[3]; 5. 63-Chip Constantino[6]; 6. 10%-Chad Edwards[9]; 7. 7H-Allan Hodge[4]; 8. 12T-Tyler Peet[15]; 9. 82H-David Hackett[13]; 10. 42H-Kadon Hohensheldt[14]; 11. 9K-Blaine Klinger[12]; 12. 44C-Stephen Denton[8]; 13. 4R-Jim Rothwell[16]; 14. 55-Jonny Feagles[22]; 15. 88-Michael Wagner Fitzgerald[11]; 16. 262-Matthew Richardson[10]; 17. 5EJ-EJ Gallup[21]; 18. 7S-Torrey Stoughtenger[24]; 19. 2K-Josh Amodio[23]; 20. 117-Butchie Irwin[20]; 21. 23-David Dickey[19]; 22. 43J-Jayden Wust[25]; 23. 4-Carson Rothwell[17]; 24. 3-Colby Herzog[1]; 25. 00X-Josh Coonradt[18]
B Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 23-David Dickey[2]; 2. 117-Butchie Irwin[1]; 3. 5EJ-EJ Gallup[3]; 4. 55-Jonny Feagles[5]; 5. 2K-Josh Amodio[8]; 6. 7S-Torrey Stoughtenger[6]; 7. 43J-Jayden Wust[9]; 8. 5S-Keith Simpson[4]; 9. 25X-Josh Andrews[12]; 10. 5C-Randy Cosselman[11]; 11. (DNS) 60-Brad Poppleton; 12. (DNS) 77L-Ed Lukas
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 14T-Payton Talbot[1]; 2. 3-Colby Herzog[2]; 3. 78-Tanner Warner[7]; 4. 7H-Allan Hodge[4]; 5. 82H-David Hackett[10]; 6. 4R-Jim Rothwell[5]; 7. 117-Butchie Irwin[9]; 8. 5S-Keith Simpson[6]; 9. 60-Brad Poppleton[3]; 10. 77L-Ed Lukas[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9K-Blaine Klinger[1]; 2. 33-Richard Murtaugh[5]; 3. 88-Michael Wagner Fitzgerald[2]; 4. 63-Chip Constantino[4]; 5. 42H-Kadon Hohensheldt[7]; 6. 4-Carson Rothwell[3]; 7. 23-David Dickey[9]; 8. 55-Jonny Feagles[8]; 9. 2K-Josh Amodio[10]; 10. 5C-Randy Cosselman[6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 16S-Jeremy Slosek[1]; 2. 262-Matthew Richardson[3]; 3. 44C-Stephen Denton[2]; 4. 10%-Chad Edwards[6]; 5. 12T-Tyler Peet[7]; 6. 00X-Josh Coonradt[5]; 7. 5EJ-EJ Gallup[4]; 8. 7S-Torrey Stoughtenger[10]; 9. 43J-Jayden Wust[9]; 10. 25X-Josh Andrews[8]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 262-Matthew Richardson, 00:20.156[21]; 2. 78-Tanner Warner, 00:20.211[28]; 3. 33-Richard Murtaugh, 00:20.263[18]; 4. 14T-Payton Talbot, 00:20.285[26]; 5. 9K-Blaine Klinger, 00:20.286[16]; 6. 63-Chip Constantino, 00:20.301[3]; 7. 82H-David Hackett, 00:20.354[11]; 8. 55-Jonny Feagles, 00:20.391[9]; 9. 3-Colby Herzog, 00:20.501[12]; 10. 7H-Allan Hodge, 00:20.538[13]; 11. 23-David Dickey, 00:20.579[7]; 12. 7S-Torrey Stoughtenger, 00:20.580[30]; 13. 4R-Jim Rothwell, 00:20.585[23]; 14. 12T-Tyler Peet, 00:20.593[19]; 15. 44C-Stephen Denton, 00:20.603[6]; 16. 16S-Jeremy Slosek, 00:20.637[25]; 17. 117-Butchie Irwin, 00:20.690[15]; 18. 00X-Josh Coonradt, 00:20.742[4]; 19. 42H-Kadon Hohensheldt, 00:20.757[14]; 20. 4-Carson Rothwell, 00:20.763[22]; 21. 10%-Chad Edwards, 00:20.765[8]; 22. 5C-Randy Cosselman, 00:20.916[5]; 23. 88-Michael Wagner Fitzgerald, 00:21.026[27]; 24. 5S-Keith Simpson, 00:21.261[24]; 25. 2K-Josh Amodio, 00:21.301[1]; 26. 43J-Jayden Wust, 00:21.310[29]; 27. 5EJ-EJ Gallup, 00:21.487[10]; 28. 77L-Ed Lukas, 00:21.609[17]; 29. 60-Brad Poppleton, 00:21.818[20]; 30. 25X-Josh Andrews, 00:22.504[2]
Pro Stocks
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 96-Andy Graves[1]; 2. 2H-Luke Horning[3]; 3. 81-Bret Belden[6]; 4. 6-Shane Playford[8]; 5. 22W-AJ Walters[10]; 6. 74N-Jim Normoyle[4]; 7. 110-Devon Camenga[19]; 8. 49-Ivan Joslin[7]; 9. 13-George Cushman[11]; 10. 28H-Johnny Holmes[2]; 11. 35-Ken Gates[13]; 12. 101-Ed Kotary[9]; 13. 14H-Hunter Keith[5]; 14. 63-Matt Rose[14]; 15. 14K-Mike Keith[18]; 16. 44-Ray Richer[16]; 17. 28G-Gus Gould[12]; 18. 11-George Wright Sr[17]; 19. 94-Ryan Denton[15]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 81-Bret Belden[5]; 2. 6-Shane Playford[3]; 3. 96-Andy Graves[2]; 4. 49-Ivan Joslin[1]; 5. 74N-Jim Normoyle[9]; 6. 13-George Cushman[7]; 7. 35-Ken Gates[6]; 8. 94-Ryan Denton[8]; 9. 11-George Wright Sr[10]; 10. 110-Devon Camenga[4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 22W-AJ Walters[6]; 2. 2H-Luke Horning[5]; 3. 28H-Johnny Holmes[8]; 4. 14H-Hunter Keith[2]; 5. 101-Ed Kotary[7]; 6. 28G-Gus Gould[9]; 7. 63-Matt Rose[4]; 8. 44-Ray Richer[1]; 9. 14K-Mike Keith[3]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 6-Shane Playford, 00:22.137[15]; 2. 22W-AJ Walters, 00:22.565[18]; 3. 110-Devon Camenga, 00:22.572[2]; 4. 74N-Jim Normoyle, 00:22.607[14]; 5. 96-Andy Graves, 00:22.781[7]; 6. 49-Ivan Joslin, 00:22.988[10]; 7. 35-Ken Gates, 00:23.242[5]; 8. 63-Matt Rose, 00:24.428[17]; 9. 94-Ryan Denton, 00:25.801[4]; 10. (DNS) 81-Bret Belden; 11. (DNS) 13-George Cushman; 12. (DNS) 28G-Gus Gould; 13. (DNS) 28H-Johnny Holmes; 14. (DNS) 2H-Luke Horning; 15. (DNS) 14H-Hunter Keith; 16. (DNS) 14K-Mike Keith; 17. (DNS) 101-Ed Kotary; 18. (DNS) 44-Ray Richer; 19. (DNS) 11-George Wright Sr