Jimmy Phelps Leads Wire-to-Wire for $5,000 ‘Encore 50’ Modified Score at Weedsport

Story By: DAN KAPUSCINSKI / WEEDSPORT SPEEDWAY – WEEDSPORT, NY – Following the cancellation of the Cavalcade Cup in early September, Weedsport Speedway ran it back one more time for the DIRTcar Big Block Modified ‘Encore 50’ on Sunday and it was Jimmy Phelps dominating the action for a $5,000 payday.

Phelps drew the two in the night’s re-draw, but started on the pole position after pole sitter Nicholas Root elected to take the outside of the front row.  Phelps quickly jumped to the point and sped off to the win over Matt Sheppard, Alex Payne, Dave Marcuccilli and Tim Fuller.

Phelps was pressured early on by fourth place starting Fuller, up until the races only caution for a spun Will Shields on lap 4.  Following the yellow, Phelps showed that he was clearly the car to beat, as Sheppard began to mount a charge of his own from sixth on the grid.

Before long Sheppard had overcome Marcuccilli, Root, Fuller and Payne and began to reel in Phelps as he approached lapped traffic.  With Phelps searching for grip in the center of the speedway, Sheppard managed to show a nose to the inside on more than one occasion in a race for the lead.  However, once the wheel was there, Phelps charged to the extreme high side before cutting through two laps cars to give himself the distance he needed to run away to the win.

As Phelps paced away yet again, the battle was for second between Sheppard and Payne.  For several laps Payne appeared to have the momentum he needed on the low side, but it would not be enough, as Sheppard edged the Payne machine at the line for the runner up spot by only .091-seconds.

Chasing Phelps, Sheppard, Payne, Marcuccilli and Fuller across the line were Darren Smith, Tim Sears Jr., Root, Amy Holland and Erick Rudolph.

The night’s qualifying heats were won by Payne and Sheppard.

DIRTcar Big Block Modified ‘Encore 50’
Feature Finish (50-laps): 1. 98H – JIMMY PHELPS, 2. 9S – Matt Sheppard, 3. 70A – Alex Payne, 4. M1 – Dave Marcuccilli, 5. 19 – Tim Fuller, 6. 12 – Darren Smith, 7. 83X – Tim Sears Jr., 8. 30 – Nicholas Root, 9. 5H – Amy Holland, 10. 25 – Erick Rudolph, 11. 21C – Brian Calabrese, 12. 28M – Matt Smith, 13. 7Z – Zach Payne, 14. 92 – Andrew Buff, 15. 15 – Todd Root, 16. 7B – Mitchell Bard, 17. 99L – Larry Wight, 18. 77Z – Zach Payne, 19. 27K – Brett Tonkin, 20. 24R – Will Shields