Last to First: Matt Sheppard Drives from 17th to Utica-Rome Speedway Victory
Written by Chris Moore
VERNON, NY – Last to first.
After sustaining significant suspension damage in his heat race, Matt Sheppard drove from the last starting position to win his 10th 3 Bastards Brewing Modified feature of 2024 at Utica-Rome Speedway.
A field of 131 race cars checked into the Home of Heroes pit area for the Friday night event.
Starting last on the field, Sheppard raced to the lead at lap 15, the halfway point, to claim the victory on M2 Metals LLC Night at the Route 5 oval.
The victory was the 81st Modified win of his Utica-Rome Speedway career.
“I owe a thanks to my guys in the pits,” Sheppard proclaimed. “We had broken parts everywhere and my guys worked really hard to get us back together.
“I noticed last week the track was heavy,” Sheppard explained. “We went to our setup from last year and it worked, and it was heavy again tonight and we stuck with the setup, and it worked again tonight.”
York, N.Y.’s Justin Wright and Vernon, N.Y.’s Willy Decker occupied the front row.
The pair traded the lead on the opening two laps, but it was Wright who emerged with the lead and set the early pace.
Sheppard’s charge to the front became apparent early, racing his way into the eighth position as the field completed lap seven.
As Sheppard was entering a four-car battle at the tail end of the top five, Covington Township, Pa.’s Alex Yankowski was leaving it behind and closing in on the leaders, as he moved into a podium position on lap eight.
One lap later, Yankowski took second away, and Sheppard had moved into seventh.
The Savannah, N.Y., driver’s key lap occurred on lap nine, as he moved from seventh into the top five, before the race’s first incident – resulting in a red flag – came one lap later.
Fourth-place-running Brandon Walters caught the cushion in turns three and four barrel-rolled multiple times. Walters walked away from the incident.
The red moved Sheppard into fourth and thrust him right into contention for the top spot. Yankowski snatched the lead away from Wright on the restart and Sheppard followed him through to take second away.
The pair battled for the ensuing four laps before Sheppard got underneath Yankowski going into turn three and wrestled the lead away for good.
Yankowski settled for the runner-up spot and Johnstown, N.Y.’s Rocky Warner came from seventh to round out the podium finishers.
Roscoe, N.Y.’s Michael Trautschold used a last-lap pass to take the fourth spot and Justin Wright completed the top five.
Finishing sixth through 10th, respectively, were Vernon, N.Y.’s Willy Decker; East Greenbush, N.Y.’s Bobby Hackel IV; Bainbridge, N.Y.’s Brandon Loucks; Mexico, N.Y.’s Addison Bowman; and Oneida, N.Y.’s Randy Shantel.
Heat winners were Hackel and Walters.
Durhamville, N.Y.’s Matt Janczuk claimed his fourth Taylor’s Trailers LLC Crate 602 Sportsman win of the season after starting in 11th.
Janczuk picked his way to the front, getting to second on lap 12. From there, Janczuk battled with David Hackett for the next five laps, before prevailing with the top spot, leading the final 10 laps for the win.
Tyler Peet, Allan Hodge, Hackett, and E.J. Gallup concluded the top five.
The M2 Metals LLC Crate Late Models made their second and final appearance of the ’24 season with a 20-lap, $1,000-to-win event.
Chad Homan used a last-lap pass after a restart with three laps to go gave him the opportunity.
Zack Carley appeared to have the race in hand before the yellow flag flew, giving Homan the chance.
Homan nailed the outside groove in the first and second turns, racing around and Carley and hanging on for the final two turns to take the victory.
Carley, Dale Caswell, Alan Chapman, and Rob Pitcher were the top five.
Devon Camenga took home his fourth Next Generation Graphix Pro Stock victory of the season, taking the lead away on lap eight and never looked back.
A pair of late-race yellows gave Shane Playford and a hard charging Luke Horning opportunities to challenge Camenga, but Camenga was up to the challenge.
Playford and Horning completed the podium with George Cushman and Jim Normoyle rounding out the top five.
Hayden Coons led all 15 laps of the Fastline Performance Limited Sportsman feature for his first career victory.
Late race caution flags brought Eric Jensen and Andrew MacFadden to Coons’ back bumper, but the young driver never blinked, taking home the win. Jensen and Coons rounded out the podium.
Rudy King Jr. survived a war of attrition in the Fonda Fair Four Cylinder Dual Cam feature to take the win, while Wayne Russell Jr. was victorious for the 10th time this season in the Single Cams.
The Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modified Series was on hand as well for the second time this season.
Jack Miller (Modified), John Roese (Late Model), Brian Gray (Sportsman), Joe Rando (Mystique), and Bryan Scofield (Antique) were all victorious.
The 2024 Utica-Rome Speedway Championship chase comes to a close next Friday, August 30. All five weekly divisions will be in action and crown champions, along with the Slingshots on the inner oval.
Then on Sunday, September 1, the New Yorker 50 presented by Wilcox Construction LLC will take place. The Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series (STSS) Fueled By Sunoco comes to town for a 50-lap, $10,000-to-win main event. The Empire Super Sprints, Fastline Performance Limited Sportsman, and Fonda Fair Four Cylinders are all on the docket.
Utica-Rome Speedway is located at 5591 NY-5 (Seneca Turnpike) Vernon, NY 13476. The official website is www.uticaromespeedway.com and the speedway can be reached by phone at 315.953.4097. Like Utica-Rome Speedway on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @UR_Speedway.
M2 METALS LLC NIGHT RESULTS SUMMARY – UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY AUGUST 23, 2024
3 Bastards Brewing Modified Feature Finish (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]
Taylor’s Trailers Crate 602 Sportsman Feature Finish (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]
M2 Metal LLC Crate Late Model Feature Finish (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]
Did Not Start: 14AJ-A.J. Miller
SRI Performance Pole Award ($75 Gift Card): 2-Zack Carley
Next Generation Graphix Pro Stock Feature Finish (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]
Fastline Performance Limited Sportsman (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]
Did Not Start: 82-Johnny Holmes
Fonda Fair Four Cylinder Feature Finish (12 laps): 1. 666D-Rudy King Jr[3]; 2. 736D-David Denova[7]; 3. 26D-Len St Andrews[12]; SINGLE CAM WINNER 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]
Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modified Racing Series Modified & Late Model Feature Finish (15 laps): JACK MILLER, John Flach, Darrell Hurlburt, Eric Gifford, Tom Fletcher, Anthony Cardamone, Pete Nowicki (Modified) – JOHN ROESE, Curtis Condon, Will Reed, Justin Knight, Bill Knapp (Late Model).
Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modified Racing Series Sportsman Feature Finish (15 laps): BRIAN GRAY, Phil Beaver, Jon Trudeau, Craig Chisom, John Constantino, Merv Blackwell, Don Briggs.
Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modified Series Vintage & Mystique Feature Finish (15 laps): JOE RANDO, Jimmy Fugel, Tom LaBarr, Brent Williams (Mystiques) – BRIAN SCOFIELD, Jim Hilmire, Speedy Niedhammer, Tim Blake, Mike Gray (Antiques).