VERNON, N.Y. — For the fifth time this season, Matt Sheppard claimed the 3 Bastards Brewing Modified feature win, this time on Tom Cole’s Lexi LLC and Parker Excavating Night at Utica-Rome Speedway.
Sheppard came from the 10th on Friday night, racing to the lead on lap six and leading the final 25 laps of the main event.
“This car was really good tonight,” Sheppard proclaimed. “We were trying some things, but we put the car back to when we were good in the slick, and it came right back to life.”
The Savannah, N.Y., resident encountered a restart with eight laps remaining that put Sprakers, N.Y.’s Stewart Friesen alongside him, but Sheppard was up to the task.
“Whenever you see the 44 (Friesen) pull up next to you at Utica-Rome, you get a little nervous,” Sheppard said. “Luckily, we were really good tonight and able to hold him off.”
The win was also a special one for Sheppard, picking up the win on his mom’s birthday.
“Happy birthday to mom, happy Father’s Day to my dad,” he smiled. “Good to start this big weekend of racing with a win for mom and dad.”
Stewart Friesen settled for the runner-up spot after starting in 12th and Willy Decker completed the podium.
Pat Ward came from the 17th starting position to finish fourth and Addison Bowman rounded out the top five.
Clayton DuMond claimed his first career Taylor’s Trailers LLC Crate 602 Sportsman feature win at Utica-Rome Speedway.
Devon Camenga took home his second Next Generation Graphix Pro Stock feature win in the last three races.
Josh Coonradt took advantage of a late race restart to come from third to pick up the Fastline Performance Limited Sportsman victory.
Kyle Simmons picked up his first Fonda Fair Four Cylinders victory after winning last night at Brookfield (N.Y.) Speedway.
Brett Putnam put on a dominant performance to win his third All-Star Slingshot feature and Addisyn Roger claimed her fourth Junior Slingshot feature victory.
Feature Finish (30 Laps)
1. 9S-MATT SHEPPARD[10]; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen[12]; 3. 1X-Willy Decker[5]; 4. 42P-Pat Ward[17]; 5. 12B-Addison Bowman[1]; 6. 28T-Michael Trautschold[6]; 7. JS98-Rocky Warner[9]; 8. 22W-Brandon Walters[3]; 9. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[11]; 10. 19W-Justin Wright[14]; 11. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[7]; 12. 23-Brandon Loucks[2]; 13. 76-Jamike Sowle[20]; 14. 77-Alan Barker[4]; 15. 44C-Ed Downing[19]; 16. 16S-Jeremy Slosek[15]; 17. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[8]; 18. 97S-Randy Shantel[16]; 19. 82H-Ron Holmes[13]; 20. 16-Aaron Jacobs[21]; 21. 369-Jim Walsh[18]