Packed house watches Matt Sheppard claim second consecutive Labor Day 100 win!
WEEDSPORT, NY (September 5, 2017) – An overcast Labor Day provided cool temperatures and hot action at Weedsport Speedway on Monday, September 4 with the Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modifieds, ESS Sprint Cars, and the DIRTcar Pro Stock Series all taking part in the Labor Day Double Play presented by Parts Plus and powered by Wix Filters.
When all was said and done it was ‘Super’ Matt Sheppard, Danny Varin, and Nick Stone gracing Victory Hill in front of a packed house at The Port.
Sheppard started the Super DIRTcar Series Labor Day 100 from the pole position in his No. 9S, by virtue of the re-draw, but it was Hall of Fame 100 champion Stewart Friesen gaining the early advantage in his No. 44 from the outside of the front row.
Friesen would set the pace for the first several laps, with Sheppard in tow, as Jimmy Phelps pushed from 8th to 3rd in the lineup by lap 37.
Just prior to halfway, with Friesen still in control, Brandon Walters was attempting to exit the Speedway to the infield on the front stretch just as Friesen was moving to lap the No. 22 on the low side. The move resulted in contact between Walters and Friesen, forcing the No. 44 into the grass, handing the lead over to Sheppard at lap 45 with Phelps assuming the second position.
At halfway Sheppard led Phelps, Friesen, Peter Britten, Varin, Tim McCreadie, Erick Rudolph, Billy Decker, Pat Ward, and Gary Tomkins.
As the race pressed on, with Sheppard eyeing his seventh Super DIRTcar win of the season, Friesen eventually made an outside move on the front stretch at lap 82 over Phelps to move into the runner-up position and begin a charge at Sheppard out front.
With Friesen back to the second position, a duel for the lead was set and made even more exciting with a last lap caution resulting in a green-white-checkered finish.
With two circuits remaining in the event, Friesen tried both the outside and inside of the Speedway, eventually settling for a big charge on the bottom, but fell short of Sheppard at the line by just .139 seconds.
Sheppard’s victory was his second consecutive in the Labor Day 100, his seventh Super DIRTcar Series win of the year, and his 18th career Big Block win at Weedsport tying him all-time with Ward, Tim Fuller, and Joe Plazek.
Despite missing two events this season, Sheppard is now only 48-points behind Decker in the race for the Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modified championship.
Phelps, Britten, Rudolph, Varin, McCreadie, Decker, Tomkins, and Ward followed Sheppard and Friesen across the line Monday in the top ten positions.
Title contenders Brett Hearn and Larry Wight finished 12th and 13th, respectively.
Varin pulled double duty on Monday driving the Dover Brake No. 00 ESS Sprinter and the Magsarus No. 93 Big Block Modified, and once again proved the man to beat in Sprint Car action.
Newly crowned ESS champion Jason Barney led the 360 Sprint Car Invitational early on before giving way to the “Cobra” Chuck Hebing on a lap 5 restart.
With Shawn Donath moving into the third position, Hebing and Barney checked away from the pack until a red flag at lap 13 for a flipping Paulie Colagiovanni. The driver of the No. 10C was ok, but done for the night.
After starting further down in the order, Varin had taken fourth position just prior to the red flag and immediately pounced to second on the lap 13 restart.
Barney was able to jump back to the lead on that restart with Hebing falling to the fourth position. But, the lead was once again short lived for Barney as Varin went to the top spot on the outside in turn two on lap 15.
From there it was once again all Varin at Weedsport, running to his second consecutive winged Sprint Car win at The Port over Barney, Billy VanInwegen, Hebing, Tommy Wickham, Scott Kruetter, Darryl Ruggles, Donath, Paul Kinney, and Coleman Gulick on the top ten.
The DIRTcar Pro Stock Series returned to Weedsport on Monday for the first time in several years, and it was Nick Stone taking command early and dominating the 35-lap event.
Stone outhustled Pete Stefanski, Jocelyn Roy, Dave Bissonnette, and Marc Lalonde in the top five positions.
Weedsport returns to action on Wednesday, October 4, kicking off NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week with the DIRTcar 358 Modified Series and the DIRTcar Sportsman Series.
For detailed information on the Super DIRT Week Kickoff on October 4, be sure to visit online at www.weedsportspeedway.com. Fans can also FOLLOW on Twitter @WeedsportSpdwy and LIKE on Facebook at www.facebook.com/weedsportspeedway.
Labor Day Double Play
Pres. by Parts Plus and Powered by Wix Filters
Weedsport Speedway – Weedsport, NY
Monday, September 4
Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modifieds
Labor Day 100 (100-laps): 1. 9S – Matt Sheppard, 2. 44 – Stewart Friesen, 3. 98H – Jimmy Phelps, 4. 21A – Peter Britten, 5. 25 – Erick Rudolph, 6. 93 – Danny Varin, 7. 39 – Tim McCreadie, 8. 91 – Billy Decker, 9. 84 – Gary Tomkins, 10. 42P – Pat Ward, 11. 88 – Mike Mahaney, 12. 20 – Brett Hearn, 13. 99L – Larry Wight, 14. 19 – Tim Fuller, 15. 6H – Max McLaughlin, 16. 109 – Billy Whittaker, 17. 43 – Keith Flach, 18. 00 – Bobby Varin, 19. 8 – Rich Scagliotta, 20. 7M – Mike Maresca, 21. 11R – Rob Bellinger, 22. 44X – Anthony Perrego, 23. X – Chad Phelps, 24. 55 – Matt Hulsizer, 25. 21R – Ryan Jordan, 26. 3B – Chad Brachmann, 27. 35 – Alan Barker, 28. 22 – Brandon Walters, 29. 21G – Kody Graham, 30. 3 – Justin Haers
Heat #1 (8-laps, 5-Qualify): 1. 9S – Matt Sheppard, 2. 93 – Danny Varin, 3. 21A – Peter Britten, 4. 00 – Bobby Varin, 5. 109 – Billy Whittaker, 6. 44X – Anthony Perrego, 7. 1H – Tim Hindley, 8. 11J – Justin Wright, 9. 22 – Brandon Walters
Heat #2 (8-laps, 5-Qualify): 1. 42P – Pat Ward, 2. 84 – Gary Tomkins, 3. 3B – Chad Brachmann, 4. 20 – Brett Hearn, 5. 6H – Max McLaughling, 6. 8 – Rich Scagliotta, 7. 55 – Matt Hulsizer, 8. 88 – Mike Mahaney, 9. 28P – Eldon Payne
Heat #3 (8-laps, 5-Qualify): 1. 39 – Tim McCreadie, 2. 99L – Larry Wight, 3. 3 – Justin Haers, 4. 43 – Keith Flach, 5. X – Chad Phelps, 6. 11R – Rob Bellinger, 7. 21G – Kody Graham, 8. 35 – Alan Barker
Heat #4 (8-laps, 5-Qualify): 1. 98H – Jimmy Phelps, 2. 44 – Stewart Friesen, 3. 91 – Billy Decker, 4. 25 – Erick Rudolph, 5. 19 – Tim Fuller, 6. 21R – Ryan Jordan, 7. 7M – Michael Maresca, 8. 34 – Andrew Ferguson
Consi #1 (8-laps, 3-Qualify): 1. 8 – Rich Scagliotta, 2. 55 – Matt Hulsizer, 3. 88 – Mike Mahaney, 4. 44X – Anthony Perrego, 5. 1H – Tim Hindley, 6. 11J – Justin Wright, 7. 22 – Brandon Walters
Consi #2 (8-laps, 3-Qualify): 1. 11R – Rob Bellinger, 2. 7M – Mike Maresca, 3. 21R – Ryan Jordan, 4. 21G – Kody Graham, 5. 35 – Alan Barker, 6. 28P – Eldon Payne Jr., 7. 34 – Andrew Ferguson
Empire Super Sprints
Feature (25-laps): 1. 00 – Danny Varin, 2. 87 – Jason Barney, 3. 56 – Billy VanInwegen, 4. 45 – Chuck Hebing, 5. 75 – Tommy Wickham, 6. 49K – Scott Kruetter, 7. 48JR – Darryl Ruggles, 8. 53 – Shawn Donath, 9. 19K – Paul Kinney, 10. 14 – Coleman Gulick, 11. 98 – Joe Trenca, 12. 10H – Kelly Hebing, 13. 2 – Dave Axton, 14. 90 – Matt Tanner, 15. 9 – Josh Pieniazek, 16. 14B – Justin Wright, 17. 91 – Scott Holcomb, 18. 33 – Brandon Kidd, 19. 19EM – Emily VanInwegen, 20. 7C – Dylan Swiernik, 21. 10C – Paulie Colagiovanni, 22. 17 – Sammy Reakes IV, 23. 22 – Jonathan Preston, 24. 00V – Bobby Varin
Heat #1 (8-laps, 5-Qualify): 1. 87 – Jason Barney, 2. 45 – Chuck Hebing, 3. 22 – Jonathan Preston, 4. 17 – Sammy Reakes IV, 5. 7C – Dylan Swiernik, 6. 91 – Scott Holcomb, 7. 56 – Vinnie Vitale, 8. 5T – Darryl Bragman, 9. 22R – Mike Koehler
Heat #2 (8-laps, 5-Qualify): 1. 10C – Paulie Colagiovanni, 2. 49K – Scott Kreutter, 3. 75 – Tommy Wickham, 4. 90 – Matt Tanner, 5. 14B – Brett Wright, 6. 10H – Kelly Hebing, 7. 19EM – Emily VanInwegen, 8. 41 – Josh Flint, 9. 1J – Derrick Juliano
Heat #3 (8-laps, 5-Qualify): 1. 00 – Danny Varin, 2. 98 – Joe Trenca, 3. 53 – Shawn Donath, 4. 2 – Dave Axton, 5. 14 – Coleman Gulick, 6. 9 – Josh Pieniazek, 7. 10 – Jeff Cook, 8. 36 – Matt Billings, 9. 3 – Danny Peebles
Heat #4 (8-laps, 5-Qualify): 1. 00V – Bobby Varin, 2. 19K – Paul Kinney, 3. 56V – Billy VanInwegen, 4. 48J – Darryl Ruggles, 5. 33 – Brandon Kidd, 6. 99 – Mike Kiser, 7. 80 – Chris Steele, 8. 29K – Dalton Herrick
B-Main (10-laps, 4-Qualify): 1. 91 – Scott Holcomb, 2. 10H – Kelly Hebing, 3. 9 – Josh Pieniazek, 4. 19EM – Emily VanInwegen, 5. 56 – Vinnie Vitale, 6. 80 – Chris Steele, 7. 10 – Jeff Cook, 8. 29K – Dalton Herrick, 9. 41 – Josh Flint, 10. 36 – Matt Billings, 11. 3 – Danny Peebles, 12. 22R – Mike Koehler, 13. 5T – Darryl Bragman, 14. 1J – Derrick Juliano, 15. 99 – Mike Kiser
Dash (4-laps): 1. 17 – Sammy Reakes IV, 2. 2 – Dave Axton, 3. 90 – Matt Tanner, 4. 48J – Darryl Ruggles Jr.
DIRTcar Pro Stock Series
Feature (35-laps): 1. 27N – Nick Stone, 2. 2 – Pete Stefanski, 3. 48 – Jocelyn Roy, 4. 47 – Dave Bissonnette, 5. 8 – Marc Lalonde, 6. 00 – Mike Welch, 7. 8 – Jason Corbin, 8. 2H – Luke Horning, 9. 338 – Pascal Payeur, 10. 715 – Gus Hollner, 11. 7 – Rob Yetman, 12. 4C – Dean Charbonneau, 13. 22 – AJ Walters, 14. 97 – Dan Older, 15. 8K – Justin Knight, 16. 73 – PJ Peters, 17. 4 – Roch Aubin, 18. 6 – Shane Playford, 19. 94 – Ivan Joslin, 20. 7N – Jim Normoyle
Heat #1 (8-laps): 1. 27N – Nick Stone, 2. 7 – Rob Yetman, 3. 715 – Gus Hollner, 4. 8 – Marc Lalonde, 5. 22 – AJ Walters, 6. 47 – Dave Bissonnette
Heat #2 (8-laps): 1. 8 – Jim Normoyle, 2. 00 – Mike Welch, 3. 48 – Jocelyn Roy, 4. 2 – Pete Stefanski, 5. 8C – Jason Corbin, 6. 4 – Roch Aubin, 7. 97 – Dan Older
Heat #3 (8-laps): 1. 2H – Luke Horning, 2. 73 – PJ Peters, 3. 4C – Dean Charbonneau, 4. 338 – Pascal Payeur, 5. 6 – Shane Playford, 6. 94 – Ivan Joslin, 7. 8K – Justin Knight
About Weedsport Speedway: Purchased in 2013 by Al Heinke, Weedsport Speedway has returned to a real racers track, providing a complete venue for racers, their families and friends, and for the fans looking for motorsports entertainment. Officially opened for the first time on July 24, 1955 – the Weedsport Speedway 3/8 mile dirt oval has produced a legendary list of drivers and champions including Will Cagle, Danny Johnson, Bob McCreadie, Alan Johnson, Jack Johnson, and Dave Lape to name a few. Today the facility welcomes the best of the best in dirt short track racing from the Craftsman World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series to the Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modifieds along with the DIRTcar 358-Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro Stocks, and more. While racing entertainment is the focal point, Weedsport Speedway has gone the extra mile in welcoming Weedsport Productions, which brings the facility full circle with a dedicated digital entertainment team for web, television, and on site screen usage.