A brand new facility, great food, a packed house, and of course top notch drivers putting on a top notch show would best describe The Hall of Fame 100 night at Weedsport Speedway. For the first time since 2010 the big-blocks were back at The Port, and they did not disappoint. The action-packed 100-lap feature saw Billy Decker battle his way to a third win of the Super Dirt Season.
In front of a roaring crowd and fireworks display the green flag would fly on the Hall of Fame 100. With Sheppard out to the early lead, Chuck Bower would make the first big move of the night, sliding past Brett Hearn for the number 2 position. One lap later the races’ first caution would come out for the 43 of Keith Flach and the 98h of Jimmy Phelps as the two would get tangled up in turn one. Flach would remain on the track, but Phelps would have to head to the pits to be treated for a right front flat.
On lap seven the green would again fly, but not for long due to the 74 of Tim Fuller coming to a stop in the backstretch on the ninth lap. Lap 13 would allow for the first lengthy green-flag run of the race to commence, seeing the field begin to shuffle around.
By lap 16 Sheppard had opened up a solid lead on the 99b of Chuck Bower, Brett Hearn, Billy Decker and Justin Haers rounding out the top five. Lapped traffic would come into play by lap 24, but Sheppard was up to the task, weaving his way around the 8 of Rich Scagliotta and the 7x of Steve Paine.
Alan Johnson was making a hard charge to the front of the pack by lap 29, pushing his way up to position number 10 after starting back in 17th. Just two laps later he would overtake the 84 machine of Gary Tomkins for the ninth spot. Jimmy Phelps also was working his way from the back of the field after the early race flat – working up to position number 15.
At the front of the field Sheppard continued to easily navigate through traffic, but the same could not be said for Bower as Hearn would use a lapped car to take control of the second position. Decker would follow suite soon after, sliding past Bower on the high side of turn four.
After 25 laps of green the 1F of Stewart Friesen would bring out the races’ third caution on lap 38 for slowing down the backstretch. This would allow the ten of Billy VanInWegan to get back onto the lead lap, and would also erase the lapped-car barrier the leaders had built up from the rest of the field.
The restart on lap 44 would be a dandy with Hearn and Decker battling side-by-side around the track for the number two spot.
Lap 46 would see “The Doctor” Danny Johnson continue to be the races’ hard-charger as he was now all the way up to position seven. Erick Rudolph in the 7 car was having a strong run, climbing up to the fourth spot by the halfway mark of the race. He wasn’t done improving his position, passing Brett Hearn shortly after to become the first driver to crack the top three other than Sheppard, Hearn, Decker, or Bower.
By lap 60 the action would really start to pick up. It all began with Sheppard again meeting lapped traffic and giving the outside retaining wall in turn one a rub. One lap later Rudolph would spin going into turn one leaving Hearn nowhere to go but into the side panel of his stopped car. While Rudolph would head to the pits to repair the extensive damage, Hearn would stay out on the track with his battered number 20 machine.
Sheppard, Decker, Hearn, Haers, and Bower would lead the field to the green on lap 66. With the restart Decker was able to find a new gear and overtake Sheppard for the lead – marking the first lead change of the race. Decker would hold onto his lead through the yellow on lap 73 due to the 42p of Pat Ward slowing in turn one.
The damage to Hearn’s car began to show on lap 75 as he dropped a position to the hard-charging Danny Johnson. On lap 78 Billy Dunn would also take advantage of Hearns’ damaged ride, taking control of the fifth position. Mike Mahaney was running in seventh, followed by Phelps who had made his way back into the top-10 from the back of the field. Phelps wasn’t done, passing Mahaney on lap 89 for seventh.
With 10 to go the battle for second began to heat up, with Justin Haers closing on the 9h machine of Sheppard with each passing lap. Phelps’ would continue to pass cars at a breathtaking pace, overtaking Hearn and Dunn with two laps remaining to claim a top five spot. Decker’s lead would continue to grow the final ten laps, allowing for him to cruise to his third victory of the Super Dirt Series season. Sheppard would finish second, followed by Justin Hears, Danny Johnson, and Jimmy Phelps to round of the top five.
The 25-lap sportsman feature would not be short of action, amassing six cautions throughout the race. The 99 of Billy Clark and the 29G of Steve Gray would lead the field to the green on lap 1, only to have to restart after the 9 of Tim Baker went hard into the wall in turn one.
On the second restart Gray was able to make a pass on Clark for the lead. It could immediately be seen that he was going to be hard to beat as his lead continued to grow with each lap. Jeremy Pitcher, Dave Marcuccilli and Ron Davis III put on a tremendous show battling for spots three through five, at times going three wide down the front stretch. Laps eight through 11 would bring out three cautions that included the 0 of Tony Finch, the 2 of Mike Taylor, the 7 of Mike Marseca, the 12 of Jimmy Horton, the 87 of Roco Leone, the 4 of Austin Brice and the 79 of Rocky Warner. Marcuccilli would prove that Steve Gray could be caught, overtaking him for the lead. Marcuccilli would not look back from there, cruising through the final 13 laps and two cautions to take home the victory. Steve Gray would finish second, Ron Davis III would finish third followed by Jeff Stevenson and Beth Schneider rounding out the top five.
The return of the big-blocks to Weedsport was a hit. Packed grandstands, action-packed racing and plenty of fan interaction including a classic 42p modified of Pat Ward, the 98h sprint car of Dave Blaney and the 12 of Jack Johnson were all on display. Fans also received a Hall of Fame 100 ticket, and promotional item courtesy of the speedway upon entry to the track.
Fans will be able to return to The Port during Super Dirt Week on Wednesday October 8th for the 358-Modified and Sportsman Series. Be sure to stay up to date with all promotions, events and news about the speedway by visiting www.weedsportspeedway.com or following us on Facebook at Weedsport Speedway or on twitter @WeedsportSpdwy.
Results
Hall of Fame 100 (100 Laps):
1- Billy Decker 2-Matt Sheppard 3-Justin Haers 4-Danny Johnson 5-Jimmy Phelps 6-Billy Dunn 7-Brett Hearn 8-Mike Mahaney 9-Gary Tomkins 10-Larry Wight 11-Stewart Friesen 12-Matt Billings 13-Pete Britten 14-Chuck Bower 15-Pat Ward 16-Vince Vitale 17-Justin Wright 18-Billy VanInWegan 19-Ryan Bartlett 20-Ryan Susice 21-Keith Flach 22-Rich Scagliotta 23-Erick Rudolph 24-Chris Hile 25-Steve Paine 26-Dale Planck 27-Matt Fink 28-Tim Fuller 29-Mike Bowman 30-Alan Johnson
Sportsman Feature (25 Laps):
1-Dave Marcuccilli 2-Steve Gray 3-Ron Davis III 4-Jeff Stevenson 5-Beth Schneider 6-Tyler Meeks 7-Billy Clark Jr. 8-Jeremy Pitcher 9-Jim Spano 10-Eric Giguere 11-Frank Burnell 12-Mike Button 13-Nick Krause 14-Brandon Ford 15-Mike Marecsa 16-Jeff Devolli 17-Todd Root 18-Cory Baker 19-Tony Finch II 20-Phil Vigneri III 21-Earl Rudy 22-Roco Leone 23-Tim Baker 24-Rocky Warner 25-Gregg Kimball 26-Todd Heywood 27-Garrett Warren 28-Austin Price 29-Kevin Ridley 30-Mike Taylor 31-Jim Morton
Modified Non-Qualifiers Race (12 Laps):
1-Tim Currier 2-Eldon Payne 3-Tim Sears Jr. 4-Chad Phelps 5-Adam Roberts 6-Tom Sears Jr. 7-Dan Wiesner 8-Tyler Siri 9-Steve Gray 10-Lance Willix III 11-Roy Shields
Big-Block Redraw:
1-Matt Sheppard 2-Brett Hearn 3-Chuck Bower 4-Tim Fuller 5-Billy Decker 6-Erick Rudolph 7-Ryan Bartlett 8-Justin Haers 9-Larry Wight 10-Stewart Friesen 11-Billy Dunn 12-Gary Tomkins
Modified Qualifying Heats (8 Laps, Top 2 to Re-Draw, Top 3 Transfer to Feature):
Heat 1: Bartlett, Bower, VanInwegen, Bowman, Vitale, A. Johnson, Billings, Bliss, Daniel Johnson
Heat 2: Dunn, Sheppard, Hile, Fink, Paine, Currier, R. Phelps, Bates, Willix
Heat 3: Haers, Rudolph, Wright, Britten, Tim Sears, Jr., Coffey, Roberts, W. Decker, Hulsizer
Heat 4: Wight, Friesen, Planck, J. Phelps, Ward, C. Phelps, Bellinger, Gray, Wiesner
Heat 5: Hearn, B. Decker, Danny Johnson, Flach, Payne, Homan, Tom Sears, Jr., Shields
Heat 6: Tomkins, Fuller, Susice, Scagliotta, Mahaney, Siri, Kislowski, Humes
Time Trials: 1. Wight 16.026, 2. Friesen 16.036, 3. Planck 16.070, 4. Hearn 16.084, 5. Dunn 16.097, 6. Sheppard 16.129, 7. Decker 16.152, 8. Tomkins 16.153, 9. Haers 16.175, 10. J. Phelps 16.184, 11. Fink 16.191, 12. Bartlett 16.196, 13. Ward 16.260, 14. Wright 16.270, 15. Rudolph 16.272, 16. VanInwegen 16.274, 17. Bower 16.279, 18. Paine 16.285, 19. Fuller 16.297, 20. Currier 16.297, 21. Britten 16.346, 22. Hile 16.349, 23. R. Phelps 16.357, 24. Bates 16.369, 25. Bellinger 16.400, 26. C. Phelps 6.403, 27. Coffey 16.408, 28. Vitale 16.424, 29. Tim Sears, Jr. 16.426, 30. Flach 16.428, 31. Roberts 16.437, 32. Scagliotta 16.455, 33. Danny Johnson 16.473, 34. Susice 16.476, 35. Bowman 16.494, 36. A. Johnson 16.511, 37. W. Decker 16.511, 38. Billings 16.521, 39. Mahaney 16.524, 40. Homan 16.544, 41. Hulsizer 16.551, 42. Tom Sears, Jr., 16.581, 43. Siri 16.698, 44. Gray 16.742, 45. Kislowski 16.782, 46. Humes 16.818, 47. Payne 16.886, 48. Willix 16.954, 49. Bliss 17.143, 50. Wiesner 17.147, 51. Shields 17.537, 52. Daniel Johnson 17.630