Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – VERNON, NY – There’s very little that has been able to stop Matt Sheppard at Utica-Rome Speedway in 2024.
Now, you can include a mechanical failure in his heat race and being forced to start shotgun on the Modified field for the main event.
Sheppard started in the last row and with the aid of a single caution / red flag was able to grab the top spot away from Alex Yankowski just before the midway point of the 30-lap feature event.
From that point on, it was game, set, match for the 10-time winner on the season in 14 starts as Sheppard cruised to the win and officially clinched the 2024 track championship.
“I didn’t really feel too good at the beginning of the race,” Sheppard said. “Then, I really got rolling right before the red and the track was coming to us.”
On a night that the driver of the 9s showed his prowess, he was quick to give all the credit for this win to his crew.
“Man, I can’t thank these guys enough,” he said. “Our car was torn up after the heat. The radius rod mount was ripped off the frame. The torque arms were bent. The driveshaft was gone. The panhard boomerangs were busted. The shock was gone and all of my guys, all the teams around our pit and everyone pitched in and got this car patched back together. Even with all the porta-powers and welders that were used, I don’t think our car was any worse for the wear.”
There hasn’t been a more dominant Modified at the Vernon, NY track this season than Sheppard but Friday night’s win was extra special to him.
“This was really rewarding after what we went through in the heat race,” he said. “It means a lot with what these guys went through and the work they put into it. They’re filthy and we had tools everywhere in the pit. It was a real mess but winning makes it all worth it.”
Sheppard’s closest competitor in the points race, Alex Yankowski, came home second with Rocky Warner third, Mike Trautschold fourth and Justin Wright fifth.
In the Sportsman 25-lap feature, Matt Janczuk put on a masterful performance of his own, driving from 11th to score the victory. However, the driver of the 33x was another aided by a caution / red flag stop in the racing action.
Janczuk grabbed the number two spot from Tyler Bobar with 14 laps remaining but was nearly three-quarters of a straightaway behind leader David Hackett. Then, the yellow flew for Randy Cosselman who spun in the second turn which tightened the field and put Janczuk back to third.
On the ensuing restart, a multi-car pileup on the backstretch caused a red flag of their own.
When the race finally went back to green, Janczuk got around Bobar for second, once again, and then set his sights on the leader.
With an inside move going through turns one and two on lap 15, Janczuk slid up and took away the line that Hackett was running. However, Hackett was trying to keep his foot in it and was forced over the berm, losing a few more positions.
From there, it was all Matt Janczuk who went on to score his fourth win in just 10 starts this season.
“David was really good tonight,” Janczuk said. “It sucked that he went up over the top there (in turns one and two). I thought he was going to turn back down under me like he did a few laps before.”
You could tell there was a little dejection in Janczuk after the race.
“It just sucks because we had a good race going and he had a good car,” he said. “This is certainly not the way I wanted to get this win. David and I were racing really hard and it would have been nice to just race it out and not squeeze him up the track. I thought he was going to turn back down under me. I saw him at the last minute and at that point, there really wasn’t anything I could do.”
Tyler Peet drove to a runner-up finish with Allan Hodge, Hackett and EJ Gallup rounding out the top five.
In the Pro Stock feature, all eyes were on Luke Horning who was attempting to do exactly the same thing Matt Sheppard did in Modified. That was to win from the last starting spot.
Unfortunately for Horning, he could only get up to third at the finish.
That was just fine for Devon Camenga who drove his #110 to the inside of AJ Walters just before the halfway point of the feature and then went to score his fourth career Pro Stock win at Utica, all of which have come in 2024.
“What a car tonight,” Camenga said. “I’ve been racing for 13 or 14 years and with the help of Shane (Playford) and Luke (Horning), this was so awesome to see PlayFab Chassis go one, two three tonight. We’ve been trying to do that for so long but I usually mess it up.”
Playford and Horning, as stated, drove to second and third place finishes with George Cushman and Jim Normoyle fourth and fifth, respectively.
In the Crate Late Model special on the evening, Chad Homan made a last-lap pass to the outside of leader Zack Carley as the two went through turns one and two.
He then negotiated the final two corners perfectly and brought his #91 home a winner at Utica-Rome.
Carley, who probably had the best car for the entire feature, came home second with Dale Caswell, Alan Chapman and Rob Pitcher the rest of the top five.
Hayden Coons took home the win in the Limited Sportsman feature ahead of Eric Jensen in second, Andrew MacFadden in third, Maddy Broedel in fourth and Corky Warner in fifth.
Rudy King (Dual Cam) and Wayne Russell Jr. (Single Cam) were your Four-Cylinder Winners.
The Five Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modified feature event winners included John Roese in Late Models, Jack Miller in Modified, Joe Rando in Mystique, Brian Gray in Sportsman and Bryan Scofield in Antiques.
Modifieds
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[17]; 2. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[8]; 3. JS98-Rocky Warner[7]; 4. 28T-Michael Trautschold[6]; 5. 19W-Justin Wright[1]; 6. 1X-Willy Decker[2]; 7. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[3]; 8. 23-Brandon Loucks[10]; 9. 12-Addison Bowman[9]; 10. 97S-Randy Shantel[11]; 11. 16-Aaron Jacobs[16]; 12. 44C-Ed Downing[15]; 13. 369-Jim Walsh[13]; 14. 8M-Tim Mayne[14]; 15. 22W-Brandon Walters[4]; 16. 82H-Ron Holmes[12]; 17. 42P-Pat Ward[5]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[3]; 2. 42P-Pat Ward[4]; 3. 19W-Justin Wright[1]; 4. JS98-Rocky Warner[5]; 5. 12-Addison Bowman[2]; 6. 97S-Randy Shantel[6]; 7. 369-Jim Walsh[8]; 8. 44C-Ed Downing[9]; 9. 9S-Matt Sheppard[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 22W-Brandon Walters[3]; 2. 1X-Willy Decker[2]; 3. 28T-Michael Trautschold[4]; 4. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[6]; 5. 23-Brandon Loucks[1]; 6. 82H-Ron Holmes[7]; 7. 8M-Tim Mayne[5]; 8. 16-Aaron Jacobs[8]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:17.946[10]; 2. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:18.074[17]; 3. 1X-Willy Decker, 00:18.210[2]; 4. JS98-Rocky Warner, 00:18.219[15]; 5. 42P-Pat Ward, 00:18.239[14]; 6. 22W-Brandon Walters, 00:18.331[13]; 7. 28T-Michael Trautschold, 00:18.409[11]; 8. 97-Bobby Hackel IV, 00:18.529[4]; 9. 82H-Ron Holmes, 00:18.539[5]; 10. 19W-Justin Wright, 00:18.602[16]; 11. 23-Brandon Loucks, 00:18.961[7]; 12. 369-Jim Walsh, 00:19.277[12]; 13. 8M-Tim Mayne, 00:19.421[8]; 14. 44C-Ed Downing, 00:21.119[3]; 15. (DNS) 12-Addison Bowman; 16. (DNS) 16-Aaron Jacobs; 17. (DNS) 97S-Randy Shantel
Sportsman
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 33X-Matt Janczuk[11]; 2. 12T-Tyler Peet[12]; 3. 7H-Allan Hodge[8]; 4. 82H-David Hackett[5]; 5. 5EJ-EJ Gallup[2]; 6. 33-Richard Murtaugh[10]; 7. 9K-Blaine Klinger[7]; 8. 14T-Payton Talbot[21]; 9. 12B-Tyler Bobar[6]; 10. 42H-Kadon Hohensheldt[14]; 11. 16S-Jeremy Slosek[24]; 12. 2K-Josh Amodio[1]; 13. 22X-Mike Richmond[18]; 14. 63-Chip Constantino[4]; 15. 67W-Zack Welch[23]; 16. 621-Seth Martin[25]; 17. 78-Tanner Warner[19]; 18. 69-Blake Sarpriacone[17]; 19. 4-Carson Rothwell[16]; 20. 262-Matthew Richardson[3]; 21. 5-Kyle Devendorf[13]; 22. 44C-Stephen Denton[15]; 23. 77L-Ed Lukas[9]; 24. 00X-Josh Coonradt[20]; 25. 4M-David Manchester[26]; 26. 5C-Randy Cosselman[27]; 27. 25-Stephen Gray[22]; 28. 0-Robert Simpson[28]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5EJ-EJ Gallup[2]; 2. 9K-Blaine Klinger[4]; 3. 7H-Allan Hodge[5]; 4. 2K-Josh Amodio[1]; 5. 5-Kyle Devendorf[6]; 6. 4-Carson Rothwell[7]; 7. 78-Tanner Warner[8]; 8. 25-Stephen Gray[9]; 9. 621-Seth Martin[3]; 10. (DNS) 0-Robert Simpson
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 33X-Matt Janczuk[7]; 2. 82H-David Hackett[3]; 3. 33-Richard Murtaugh[6]; 4. 262-Matthew Richardson[2]; 5. 42H-Kadon Hohensheldt[8]; 6. 69-Blake Sarpriacone[1]; 7. 00X-Josh Coonradt[5]; 8. 67W-Zack Welch[4]; 9. 4M-David Manchester[9]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 12B-Tyler Bobar[3]; 2. 12T-Tyler Peet[7]; 3. 77L-Ed Lukas[5]; 4. 63-Chip Constantino[2]; 5. 44C-Stephen Denton[1]; 6. 22X-Mike Richmond[4]; 7. 14T-Payton Talbot[6]; 8. 16S-Jeremy Slosek[8]; 9. 5C-Randy Cosselman[9]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 33X-Matt Janczuk, 00:19.409[13]; 2. 22X-Mike Richmond, 00:19.493[21]; 3. 5-Kyle Devendorf, 00:19.598[7]; 4. 262-Matthew Richardson, 00:19.643[20]; 5. 16S-Jeremy Slosek, 00:19.721[25]; 6. 25-Stephen Gray, 00:19.726[9]; 7. 9K-Blaine Klinger, 00:19.730[14]; 8. 69-Blake Sarpriacone, 00:19.777[23]; 9. 00X-Josh Coonradt, 00:19.824[4]; 10. 42H-Kadon Hohensheldt, 00:19.871[12]; 11. 77L-Ed Lukas, 00:19.871[15]; 12. 82H-David Hackett, 00:19.876[10]; 13. 4M-David Manchester, 00:19.879[16]; 14. 78-Tanner Warner, 00:19.884[27]; 15. 2K-Josh Amodio, 00:19.893[1]; 16. 7H-Allan Hodge, 00:19.948[11]; 17. 621-Seth Martin, 00:19.974[17]; 18. 33-Richard Murtaugh, 00:19.977[18]; 19. 67W-Zack Welch, 00:20.014[28]; 20. 4-Carson Rothwell, 00:20.099[22]; 21. 44C-Stephen Denton, 00:20.128[6]; 22. 63-Chip Constantino, 00:20.197[3]; 23. 12B-Tyler Bobar, 00:20.223[2]; 24. 12T-Tyler Peet, 00:20.230[19]; 25. 5C-Randy Cosselman, 00:20.266[5]; 26. 5EJ-EJ Gallup, 00:20.398[8]; 27. 0-Robert Simpson, 00:33.696[24]; 28. (DNS) 14T-Payton Talbot
Pro Stocks
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 110-Devon Camenga[6]; 2. 6-Shane Playford[8]; 3. 2H-Luke Horning[16]; 4. 13-George Cushman[10]; 5. 74N-Jim Normoyle[3]; 6. 81A-Michael Achzet[5]; 7. 22W-AJ Walters[4]; 8. 81-Bret Belden[7]; 9. 14H-Hunter Keith[2]; 10. 101-Ed Kotary[1]; 11. 63-Matt Rose[11]; 12. 28G-Gus Gould[9]; 13. 44-Ray Richer[15]; 14. 15K-Mike Kazluaskas[12]; 15. 28H-Johnny Holmes[14]; 16. 11-George Wright Sr[13]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 74N-Jim Normoyle[4]; 2. 6-Shane Playford[8]; 3. 110-Devon Camenga[7]; 4. 14H-Hunter Keith[3]; 5. 28G-Gus Gould[2]; 6. 63-Matt Rose[5]; 7. 11-George Wright Sr[6]; 8. 44-Ray Richer[1]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 101-Ed Kotary[1]; 2. 22W-AJ Walters[5]; 3. 81-Bret Belden[7]; 4. 81A-Michael Achzet[6]; 5. 13-George Cushman[3]; 6. 15K-Mike Kazluaskas[2]; 7. 28H-Johnny Holmes[4]; 8. 2H-Luke Horning[8]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 110-Devon Camenga, 00:21.997[3]; 2. 22W-AJ Walters, 00:22.164[15]; 3. 81A-Michael Achzet, 00:22.170[1]; 4. 2H-Luke Horning, 00:22.200[7]; 5. 6-Shane Playford, 00:22.263[12]; 6. 14H-Hunter Keith, 00:22.583[9]; 7. 101-Ed Kotary, 00:22.781[10]; 8. 15K-Mike Kazluaskas, 00:22.830[8]; 9. 63-Matt Rose, 00:24.099[14]; 10. 11-George Wright Sr, 00:24.741[16]; 11. (DNS) 81-Bret Belden; 12. (DNS) 13-George Cushman; 13. (DNS) 28G-Gus Gould; 14. (DNS) 28H-Johnny Holmes; 15. (DNS) 74N-Jim Normoyle; 16. (DNS) 44-Ray Richer
Limited Sportsman
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 12-Hayden Coons[2]; 2. 57-Eric Jensen[6]; 3. 10-Andrew MacFadden[7]; 4. 26B-Maddy Broedel[4]; 5. 797-Corky Warner[8]; 6. 43J-Jayden Wust[10]; 7. 77N-Bobby Newman[3]; 8. 36-Matt Bukovan[12]; 9. 5-Eymarah Bowman[5]; 10. 0-Kyle Coley[13]; 11. 17S-Ernie Staelens[11]; 12. 56-Ayden Goodier[15]; 13. 5S-Keith Simpson[1]; 14. 60-Brad Poppleton[16]; 15. 44D-Kadyn Depasquale[9]; 16. (DNS) 28-Johnny Holmes
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 797-Corky Warner[8]; 2. 5S-Keith Simpson[2]; 3. 26B-Maddy Broedel[4]; 4. 57-Eric Jensen[5]; 5. 44D-Kadyn Depasquale[6]; 6. 17S-Ernie Staelens[3]; 7. 0-Kyle Coley[1]; 8. 56-Ayden Goodier[7]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 10-Andrew MacFadden[6]; 2. 12-Hayden Coons[2]; 3. 5-Eymarah Bowman[4]; 4. 77N-Bobby Newman[3]; 5. 43J-Jayden Wust[5]; 6. 36-Matt Bukovan[7]; 7. 28-Johnny Holmes[8]; 8. 60-Brad Poppleton[1]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 57-Eric Jensen, 00:20.601[9]; 2. 12-Hayden Coons, 00:20.663[5]; 3. 36-Matt Bukovan, 00:21.562[3]; 4. 0-Kyle Coley, 00:22.473[4]; 5. 28-Johnny Holmes, 00:22.916[8]; 6. 56-Ayden Goodier, 00:24.803[7]; 7. 43J-Jayden Wust, 00:25.412[16]; 8. (DNS) 5-Eymarah Bowman; 9. (DNS) 26B-Maddy Broedel; 10. (DNS) 44D-Kadyn Depasquale; 11. (DNS) 10-Andrew MacFadden; 12. (DNS) 77N-Bobby Newman; 13. (DNS) 60-Brad Poppleton; 14. (DNS) 5S-Keith Simpson; 15. (DNS) 17S-Ernie Staelens; 16. (DNS) 797-Corky Warner
Four Cylinders
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 666D-Rudy King Jr[3]; 2. 736D-David Denova[7]; 3. 26D-Len St Andrews[12]; 4. 54S-Wayne Russell Jr[5]; 5. 27D-Justin Pope[6]; 6. 17RD-Joseph Bouck[9]; 7. 212S-TJ Marlitt[11]; 8. 31D-Jeff Connolly[2]; 9. 35S-Hank Wedgren[1]; 10. 42S-Hayleigh Gates[8]; 11. H35S-Hank Wedgren Jr[10]; 12. 007S-Paul Becker Jr[13]; 13. 78D-Jacob Kimball[4]; 14. 14BS-Colby Bouck[14]
Heat 1 (5 Laps): 1. 78D-Jacob Kimball[6]; 2. 27D-Justin Pope[14]; 3. 31D-Jeff Connolly[4]; 4. 666D-Rudy King Jr[5]; 5. 35S-Hank Wedgren[2]; 6. 54S-Wayne Russell Jr[7]; 7. 736D-David Denova[8]; 8. 42S-Hayleigh Gates[9]; 9. 17RD-Joseph Bouck[10]; 10. H35S-Hank Wedgren Jr[1]; 11. 212S-TJ Marlitt[3]; 12. 26D-Len St Andrews[11]; 13. 007S-Paul Becker Jr[12]; 14. 14BS-Colby Bouck[13]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 54S-Wayne Russell Jr, 00:25.944[10]; 2. 26D-Len St Andrews, 00:26.872[11]; 3. (DNS) 007S-Paul Becker Jr; 4. (DNS) 14BS-Colby Bouck; 5. (DNS) 17RD-Joseph Bouck; 6. (DNS) 31D-Jeff Connolly; 7. (DNS) 736D-David Denova; 8. (DNS) 42S-Hayleigh Gates; 9. (DNS) 78D-Jacob Kimball; 10. (DNS) 666D-Rudy King Jr; 11. (DNS) 212S-TJ Marlitt; 12. (DNS) 35S-Hank Wedgren; 13. (DNS) H35S-Hank Wedgren Jr
Crate Late Models
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 91-Chad Homan[2]; 2. 2-Zack Carley[1]; 3. 13TWO-Dale Caswell[6]; 4. 64C-Alan Chapman[4]; 5. 17-Rob Pitcher[11]; 6. 3-Nathan Rinaldi[10]; 7. 98-Craig Graham[5]; 8. 16-Aaron Jacobs[8]; 9. 03-TJ Downs[3]; 10. 14-Brandt Graham[9]; 11. 21B-Billy DuBois[7]; 12. (DNS) 14AJ-AJ Miller
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 91-Chad Homan[6]; 2. 64C-Alan Chapman[3]; 3. 98-Craig Graham[4]; 4. 21B-Billy DuBois[2]; 5. 14-Brandt Graham[1]; 6. 3-Nathan Rinaldi[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Zack Carley[2]; 2. 13TWO-Dale Caswell[5]; 3. 14AJ-AJ Miller[1]; 4. 03-TJ Downs[4]; 5. 16-Aaron Jacobs[6]; 6. (DQ) 17-Rob Pitcher[3]
Hot Laps 1: 1. 2-Zack Carley, 00:19.153[1]; 2. 98-Craig Graham, 00:19.359[7]; 3. 91-Chad Homan, 00:19.414[8]; 4. 14AJ-AJ Miller, 00:19.730[10]; 5. 3-Nathan Rinaldi, 00:19.747[12]; 6. 14-Brandt Graham, 00:20.035[6]; 7. 03-TJ Downs, 00:20.157[4]; 8. 13TWO-Dale Caswell, 00:20.212[2]; 9. 21B-Billy DuBois, 00:20.589[5]; 10. 64C-Alan Chapman, 00:20.636[3]; 11. 17-Rob Pitcher, 00:22.183[11]; 12. (DNS) 16-Aaron Jacobs