Billy Decker Takes Northeast Fall Nationals At Brockville
Story By: MARTIN BELANGER / DIRTCAR – BROCKVILLE, ONT – Last weekend, Matt Sheppard passed Billy Decker for the Super DIRTcar Series point lead with his win at Super DIRT Week. Friday night at Brockville, Decker fired back, aiming to keep pace with Sheppard by grabbing his fourth series win of 2017 in the Northeast Fall Nationals.
Jimmy Phelps finished second followed by Sheppard, Ryan Arbuthnot and Danny Johnson.
In DIRTcar Sportsman Series action, Dylan Evoy claimed his third series win over Kyle Inman and Johnathon Ferguson. Dave Marcuccilli is the 2017 Sportsman Series Champion.
In the DIRTcar Pro Stock Series finale, Guy Vien held off Dan Older for his first series win of the season. Older finished second with Stephane Lebrun crossing the line third.
One driver was on a mission as the Super DIRTcar Series kicked off the 9th annual Falls Nationals at Brockville. Losing the lead in the early portion, Billy Decker never let off Jimmy Phelps and made a late race pass en route to win #4 on the Series this season.
”It has been a long time coming!” said Decker getting a first win since Eldora back in July. ”The car was really good even though we struggled on the bottom groove, again the track changed as we were hammering pretty hard, it was a lot of fun!” added Decker as the top part of the track was good for the majority of driver throughout the race.
Coming into Brockville with a 46-point deficit over Matt Sheppard, Decker is looking forward to the World Finals at Charlotte: ”Every night we go out and swing at it, we want to win every race and Charlotte will be no different!” said Decker who reduced the margin by a few points as Sheppard came in third.
Leading the way for a great part of the feature, Jimmy Phelps was happy to bring his potent 98H into second: ”The car was tight up, Billy was pretty good at the end, we were good but not good enough tonight” mentioned Phelps who reminded the different scenario that occurred last year: ”This is the car we tore up here last year, we rebuild it over the winter and here we are!”
After a magical NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week at Oswego, Matt Sheppard was satisfied with his third-place finish: ”We got up there, we were everywhere behind the leader, it was a matter of Billy or myself to pass Phelps first to take the lead, hats off to Billy for his good race”
With the season ending in a few weeks at Charlotte; Sheppard will be the man to watch having a slight lead over Decker in the point standing: ”Charlotte is a wild card, you never know what will happen there” said Sheppard.
Billy Decker charged to the lead in the 1000 Island RV Falls Nationals 1000, as Jimmy Phelps and Matt Sheppard quickly making their way into the top 3 within the first few laps as Ryan Arbuthnot and Steve Bernard where also in the mix.
Lap traffic became a factor with a quarter of the race done and this enabled Phelps to grab the lead coming off turn 4 on lap 30. Phelps led the way in front as Decker and Sheppard stayed within tight distance of the 98H.
As the race was able to pick up some momentum, the front 3 drivers stayed together as both Decker and Phelps were waiting for an error from the leader.
In the late portion of the race, traffic was again an influence as Decker was able to regain the lead, the driver of the #91 never looked back and went on to capture his fourth win of the season in front of Phelps and Sheppard. Ryan Arbuthnot and Danny Johnson completed the podium.
The Super DIRTcar Series will take a few weeks pause before heading in the season finale at the Dirt track in Charlotte as all roads leads to the World Finals. An epic battle is shaping up between Sheppard and Decker to crown the 2017 Series champion!
Brockville Speedway Notebook
Feature (100 Laps) – 91d Billy Decker, 98h Jimmy Phelps, 9s Matt Sheppard, R70 Ryan Arbuthnot , 27j Danny Johnson, 19 Tim Fuller, 6h Max McLaughlin, 42p Pat Ward, 54 Steve Bernard, 21a Peter Britten, 20 Brett Hearn, 43 Keith Flach, 151 Brian Mcdonald, 7m Mike Maresca, 22c Mario Clair, 23 Dany Bilodeau, 96 JF Corriveau, 22 Brandon Walters, One David Hebert, 88 Shayne Pierce, m96 Jeremy Lasalle, 73 Alain Boisvert, 99l Larry Wight, 8 Rich Scagliotta, 13 Kevin Hamel, 63 Chris Herbison, 17d Danny O’Brien, 00 Ryan Poole, 21y Yan Bussiere, 66x Carey Terrance
Heat 1 (8 Laps – Top-3 Redraw) – 54 Steve Bernard, 66x Carey Terrance, 20 Brett Hearn, 6h Max McLaughlin, 21a Peter Britten, One David Hebert, 9j Jordan McCreadie, 17d Danny O’Brien, 73 Alain Boisvert, 66 Kyle Dingwall
Heat 2 (8 Laps – Top-3 Redraw) – 91d Billy Decker, 42p Pat Ward, R70 Ryan Arbuthnot, 19 Tim Fuller, 23 Dany Bilodeau, 96 JF Corriveau, 63 Chris Herbison, 88t Tim O’Brien, 14k Rick Wilson, 9 Jason Riddell
Heat 3 (8 Laps -Top-3 Redraw) – 99l Larry Wight, 9s Matt Sheppard, 7m Mike Maresca , 21y Yan Bussiere, 00 Ryan Poole, 13 Kevin Hamel, 91 Mathieu Laramee, 13y Paul Hamel
Heat 4 (8 Laps -Top-3 Redraw) – 98h Jimmy Phelps, 43 Keith Flach , 27j Danny Johnson, 22 Brandon Walters , 8 Rich Scagliotta, 22c Mario Clair, m96 Jeremy Lasalle, 88 Shayne Pierce, 24b Roger Levesque
SEASON WINNERS
Matt Sheppard – 11 (Five Mile Point Speedway on June 11; Autodrome Granby on July 25; Autodrome Drummond on July 26; Ransomville Speedway on August 8; Merrittville Speedway on August 9; Ohsweken Speedway on August 24; Weedsport Speedway on September 4; Le RPM Speedway on September 9; Brewerton Speedway on September 15, Cornwall Speedway on September 17, Oswego Speedway on October 8)
Billy Decker – 4 (Fulton Speedway on April 29; Outlaw Speedway on June 20; Eldora Speedway on July 18, Brockville Speedway, October 13)
Stewart Friesen – 2 (Utica-Rome Speedway on July 2, Weedsport Speedway on July 11)
Larry Wight – 2 (Airborne Park Speedway on July 6; Autodrome Granby on September 8)
Peter Britten – 1 (Sharon Speedway on July 20)
Brett Hearn – 1 (Lebanon Valley Speedway on August 31)
Tim McCreadie – 1 (Albany-Saratoga Speedway on June 27)
Ryan Watt – 1 (Bridgeport Speedway on May 16)
Tim Fuller -1 (Mohawk Speedway on September 16)
Bobby Varin – 1 (Fonda Speedway on September 23)
