Matt Sheppard Takes Win #5 Of Season At Canandaigua

Story By: PAUL SZMAL / CANANDAIGUA MOTORSPORTS PARK – CANANDAIGUA, NY – Frozen Ocean Kartway and VP Racing Fuels presented Saturday night’s racing action at Canandaigua Motorsports Park on a bright, clear summer night.

Dave Rauscher and Lance Dusett battled for the early lead at the start of the 35-lap Modified feature event, with Dusett emerging at the point a couple of laps in. A lap 7 yellow brought the field back together for a double file restart, which put Matt Sheppard in the fourth spot. On the restart, Sheppard jumped to the top lane and swept his way into the lead. Justin Haers had followed Sheppard through the field and soon made his way past Dusett to take the second spot.

Further back, Eldon Payne was battling with Alan Johnson and Erick Rudolph. At the mid point of the race, Sheppard had built up a huge lead and was tearing through lapped traffic, distancing himself from Haers while Dusett found himself battling Johnson for third. At the finish, Sheppard had wrapped up his fifth win of 2017 at the “Land Of Legends”, while Haers and Johnson cruised home second and third. Dusett held on for fourth with Payne holding off Mike O’Brien for the fifth spot across the line.

Modified heats were won by Lance Dusett and Matt Sheppard.

Anthony Kimble was the early leader of the 25-lap Sportsman feature, but Dave Marcuccill was quickly able to move into second place and the duo pulled away from the rest of the field. As Marcuccilli chased down Kimble, there was a great battle behind them between Karl Comfort, Paul Guererri, and Ricky Newton. Marcuccill was able to run down Kimble and take the lead with less than ten laps to go, but Kimble would remain behind Marcuccilli, challenging him the rest of the way.

Marcuccilli was not to be denied, though, as he brought home his fourth win of the season ahead of Kimble. Comfort, Newton, and Paul Guererri rounded out the top five finishers.

Sportsman heats were won by Anthony Kimble and Dave Marcuccilli.

Marc Minutolo grabbed the lead and the start of the 15-lap Street Stock feature, but the race stopped on lap 1 after a multi car incident that saw Bob Buono spin and Chris Menard flip over. All drivers were OK. When racing resumed, Minutolo maintained the lead while Adam Depuy moved into a battle with Blaine Smith for second. Depuy moved past Smith on a restart and began to pressure Minutolo through several restarts in the middle stage of the race. Smith’s run ended when he blew an engine on the front stretch on lap 10, moving Rick Crego to third as Buono was fighting Steve Pesarek for the fourth spot. Pesarek had problems and pulled off after a spin on lap 13, which set up a two lap fight to the finish. A blown transmission caused Minutolo and Buono to come together on the front stretch as lap 14 was completed, ending the night for both drivers. Depuy held on in the last lap run to take the win over Rick Crego, Brad Steinruck Jr, Nick Dandino, and
Pesarek.

Street Stock heats were won by Steve Pesarek and Marc Minutolo.

Dan Craun led the first laps of the 12-lap 305 Sprint car feature, but was passed by Jason Whipple and Darryl Ruggles by the one third mark. Whipple extended the lead over Ruggles in the second half of the event and carried it home for the win over Ruggles, Dan Bennett, Craun, and Tim Smith.

The 305 Sprint heat was won by Darryl Ruggles.

This Saturday night is Family Autograph Night at Canandaigua Motorsports Park. The Modifieds, Sportsman, 305 Sprints, and Street Stocks will be joined by a Youth Demo Derby. Racing starts at 7pm. For more information visit the web site at www.canandaiguamotorsportspark.com.

RACE SUMMARY-FROZEN OCEAN SPEEDWAY/VP RACING FUELS NIGHT-CANANDAIGUA

MOTORSPORTS PARK-JULY 8, 2017

MODIFIED FEATURE-MATT SHEPPARD, Justin Haers, Alan Johnson, Lance Dusett, Eldon Payne, Mike O’Brien, Erick Rudolph, Justin Wright, Kyle Coffey, Dave Allen, Dave Rauscher, Derrick Posiadlo, James Maier, Rich Vinson, Rick Richner, Greg Birosh, Gil Tegg Jr, Adam Ellis, Steve Paine (DNS), Katlyn Pashina (DNS).

SPORTSMAN FEATURE-DAVE MARCUCCILLI, Anthony Kimble, Karl Comfort, Ricky Newton, Paul Guererri, Matt Guererri, Kevin Ridley, Nick Guererri, Tim Baker, Kane Bristol, Austyn Fugle, Joe Cook, Ben Karlsen, Brian Michaels, Jeff Lawrence, Brett Baldwin, Rich Post.

305 SPRINT FEATURE-JASON WHIPPLE, Darryl Ruggles, Dan Bennett, Dan Craun, Tim Smith, Bobby Gardner.

STREET STOCK FEATURE-ADAM DEPUY, Rick Crego, Brad Steinruck Jr, Nick Dandino, Steve Pesarek, Seth Steele, Bob Buono, Marc Minutolo, Mike Welch, Glenn VanCise, Blaine Smith, Jason Doty, Parker Smith, Shawn Lloyd, Chris Menard.