Weedsport, NY — August 3, 2010 – By Tom Skibinski, DIRTcar Racing Northeast PR Director
Matt Sheppard captured the lone Super DIRTcar Series event of the week in the Bob St. Amand Memorial 100 on Monday at Merrittville Speedway while extra-distance shows in the respective Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Championships for 358-Modified, Sportsman Modified and Pro Stock contenders have to wait until later in the summer to get back on track.
Sheppard will carry his tour-best five win total to the high banks when Lebanon Valley Speedway resumes Big-Block SDS activity in the ‘Mr. DIRT Track USA’ title event on Aug. 26, paying out a whopping $17,500 to the 100-lap winner.
The only other series stop during the month is slated for Aug. 21 at Mohawk Int’l Raceway when Louie Jackson leads the top traveling Pro Stock teams to the north country for the highly anticipated twin-bill that includes the first-ever appearance by the World of Outlaws Late Model Series at the modernized Akwesasne, N.Y. oval.
Danny Johnson remains ahead of Canadian chauffeurs Pete Bicknell from St. Catharines, Ont. and Mario Clair from St-Edmond, Que. in the Mr. DIRTcar 358-Modified title run as they await the return to Series action the first weekend of September at Cornwall Motor Speedway. On the Sportsman points trail its Ransomville resident Ryan Susice leading Steve Gray and Tim Sears Jr. with Ransomville, Merrittville and Humberstone speedways hosting a big tour tripleheader on Sept. 10-12.
The final full month of racing along the DIRTcar Northeast circuit is now underway in the season-long regional point races with the 2010 DIRTcar Racing Northeast Regional Championships ending over Labor Day Weekend.
Despite Sheppard’s recent series success, it’s tour runner-up Jimmy Phelps now standing alone atop the Central Region Big-Block standings. ‘Super Matt’ still ranks highest with 13 wins while Phelps has taken a dozen checkered flags in 2010. Craig Hanson and JaMike Sowle both leapfrogged over Brett Hearn on the Eastern Region points chart while Dave Murdick used a pair of wins over the weekend in Pennsylvania to cut Jeremiah Shingledecker’s 32-point lead in half on the Western front.
Tim O’Brien still leads the DIRTcar 358-Modified Northern Region point standings although second-generation standout Stephane LaFrance has reduced the gap after posting his division-high eighth victory at Autodrome Edelweiss. Pete Bicknell has built up a comfortable margin between himself and Chad Brachmann out west heading down the stretch.
On the brink of establishing a new single-season DIRTcar Sportsman standard after sweeping weekend shows at Mohawk, Brockville and Cornwall, two-time Mr. DIRTcar champ Chris Raabe ranks highest in the Northern division with 22 feature wins. The closest battle in any class, Tony Farone leads D.J. Brundige in the Eastern standings by just two markers while Steve Gray has command in the Central points race. Both winners over the weekend, Ryan Susice (Ransomville) still extended his West Region lead over Greg Panunte (Humberstone) with just a handful of weeks remaining.
To follow the status of your favorite DIRTcar driver throughout the season, log into www.dirtcar.com and select ‘Points’ at the top then choose division on the left to view all track, region and series leaders. Complete Championship Series points are also available by clicking ‘Super DIRTcar Series’ on the right, then choosing a specific touring division and opening up using the MS Excel format.
DIRTcar Racing Northeast Point Standings (as of August 2, 2010):
BIG-BLOCK SUPER DIRTcar SERIES POINTS
Pos. Driver Points
1 Matt Sheppard 1,274
2 Jimmy Phelps 1,198
3 Billy Decker 1,179
4 Brett Hearn 1,102
5 Danny Johnson 1,011
6 Dale Planck 936
7 Billy Dunn 863
8 Ryan Phelps 859
9 Tom Sears Jr. 793
10 Steve Paine 785
11 Michael Storms 784
12 Stewart Friesen 722
13 Rich Scagliotta 697
14 Larry Wight 618
15 Pat Ward 589
358-MODIFIED SERIES POINTS
Pos. Driver Points
1 Danny Johnson 190
2 Pete Bicknell 175
3 Mario Clair 149
4 Danny O’Brien 137
5 David Hebert 135
6 Stewart Friesen 128
7 Eric Gauvreau 120
7 Mat Williamson 120
9 Pat O’Brien 116
10 Chad Brachmann 114
11 Dale Planck 102
11 Larry Wight 102
11 Rick Richner 102
14 Brett Hearn 100
15 Tommy Flannigan 98
SPORTSMAN MODIFIED SERIES POINTS
Pos. Driver Points
1 Ryan Susice 270
2 Steve Gray 246
3 Tim Sears Jr. 245
4 Justin Wright 220
5 Dan Wiesner 208
6 Jesse Cotriss 202
7 Chris Raabe 195
8 Mark Dixon 178
8 Shane Pecore 169
10 Loren Lincoln 167
11 Mark Chiddy 154
12 Donnie Lawson 150
13 Eric Giguere 142
14 Christine Martin 138
15 Daryl Hilkert 110
PRO STOCK SERIES POINTS
Pos. Driver Points
1 Louie Jackson 257
2 Jocelyn Roy 252
3 Carl Smith Jr. 236
4 Corey Wheeler 228
5 Joey Ladouceur 227
6 Pete Stefanski 225
7 Buddy Hencke 222
8 Dave Bissonnette 215
9 Stephane Lemire 184
10 P.J. Peters 170
11 Rob Yetman 155
12 David Papineau 154
13 Bruno Cyr 143
14 Stephane Lebrun 141
15 Ricky Thompson 140
BIG-BLOCK MODIFIED REGIONAL POINTS
CENTRAL (Best 15)
Pos. Driver Points
1 Jimmy Phelps 880
2 Matt Sheppard 876
3 Steve Paine 854
4 Billy Decker 812
5 Billy Dunn 786
6 Pat Ward 780
7 Rob Bellinger 778
8 Alan Johnson 758
9 Danny Johnson 756
10 Ryan Phelps 710
11 Michael Storms 704
12 Tom Sears Jr. 682
13 Larry Wight 674
14 Vince Vitale 669
15 Justin Haers 652
EASTERN (Best 12)
Pos. Driver Points
1 Craig Hanson 624
2 JaMike Sowle 598
3 Brett Hearn 590
4 J.R. Heffner 564
5 Bob Varin 554
6 Donnie Corellis 551
7 Andy Bachetti 539
8 Eddie Marshall 538
9 Mike Ronca 526
10 Jackie Brown 518
11 Pep Corrada 511
12 Kenny Tremont Jr. 508
13 Rich Price 498
14 Brian Berger 485
15 Keith Flach 475
WESTERN (Best 12)
Pos. Driver Points
1 Jer. Shingledecker 700
2 Dave Murdick 684
3 Kevin Bolland 662
4 Rex King 630
5 Del Rougeux Jr. 616
6 Brian Swartzlander 614
7 Mike Turner 560
8 Dean Pearson 544
9 Brad Rapp 538
10 Rex King Jr. 512
11 Kevin Hoffman 505
12 Carl Murdick 480
13 Steve Feder 432
14 Chris Haines 414
15 Shawn Fleeger 412
358-MODIFIED REGIONAL POINTS
NORTHERN (Best 15)
Pos. Driver Points
1 Tim O’Brien 838
2 Stephane LaFrance 830
3 Carey Terrance 822
4 Danny O’Brien 806
5 Matt Billings 804
6 Mario Clair 796
7 Luke Whittaker 788
8 Pat O’Brien 782
9 Gage Morin 774
10 Laurent Ladouceur 770
10 David Hébert 770
12 Kayle Robidoux 768
13 Martin Roy 762
14 Yan Bussiere 760
15 Steve Bernard 718
WESTERN (Best 12)
Pos. Driver Points
1 Pete Bicknell 692
2 Chad Brachmann 640
3 Mat Williamson 606
4 Mike Bowman 586
5 Todd Gordon 584
6 Scott Wood 578
7 James M. Friesen 576
8 Boyd MacTavish 568
9 Tommy Flannigan 556
10 Chad Chevalier 550
11 Todd Burley 546
12 Rick Richner 540
12 Fred Carleton 540
14 Robbie Krull 528
15 Rob Pietz 526
SPORTSMAN MODIFIED REGIONAL POINTS
NORTHERN (Best 12)
Pos. Driver Points
1 Chris Raabe 720
2 Dylan Evoy 672
3 Matt Hulsizer 654
4 Chris Herbison 654
5 Randy Earl 636
6 Josh Van Brocklin 630
7 Sheldon Hoogwerf 618
8 Shane Pecore 614
9 Brad Winters 588
10 Brent Kelsey 578
11 Travis Back 562
12 Dana Aikins 540
13 Mike Mainse 540
14 Adam Turner 538
15 Beth Schneider 522
EASTERN (Best 10)
Pos. Driver Points
1 Tony Farone 500
2 Bodie Bellinger 498
3 DJ Brundige 490
4 Greg Pessolano 476
5 Brain Pessolano 468
6 Chuck Allen 460
7 Justin Boehler 456
8 John Marsh 454
8 Chris Schaffer 436
10 Jack Gentile 426
11 Steve Costantino 414
12 Ricky Quick 335
13 Dave Herrick 322
14 Laudy Hoyenga 314
15 Jim Eaton 281
CENTRAL (Best 15)
Pos. Driver Points
1 Steve Gray 810
2 Jeremy Pitcher 768
3 Justin Wright 760
4 Eric Giguere 700
5 Tom Juhl 684
6 James Spano 632
7 Adam Hilton 596
8 Ricky Newton 581
9 Dave Marcuccilli 567
10 Dan Wiesner 562
11 Tim Sears Jr. 548
12 Mark Chiddy 526
13 Greg Mrzywka 525
14 Tim Schneider 511
15 Earl Rudy 477
WESTERN (Best 15)
Pos. Driver Points
1 Ryan Susice 836
2 Greg Panunte 824
3 Cody McPherson 802
4 Brad Rouse 774
5 B.J. Willard 766
6 Don Spatorico 736
7 Nick Cupolo 714
8 Rick Bellante 696
9 Justin Wright 646
10 Brandon Easey 638
11 Mark Chiddy 632
12 Rob Murray 614
13 Adam Leslie 602
14 Jipp Ortiz 542
15 Mark Dixon 533
DIRTcar Racing Northeast main office is located in Weedsport, New York on the Cayuga County Fairgrounds, home of DIRTcar All-Star Weekend in July. DIRTcar Northeast’s crown jewel event —Super DIRT Week at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse runs annually in October featuring Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Championship Series events for Big-Block Modified, 358-Modified, Sportsman and Pro Stock divisions. Ticket and schedule information is available by contacting the Weedsport office (315/834-6606) during the day or logging into www.allstar100weekend.com and www.superdirtweekonline.com anytime.
The Big-Block Super DIRTcar Series is brought to fans across the Northeast by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors Hoosier Racing Tire www.hoosiertire.com and VP Racing Fuels www.vpracingfuels.com. Promotional partners include the University of Northwestern Ohio www.unoh.com and Chizmark & Larson Insurance www.chizmarklarson.com, and contingency sponsors are Bicknell Racing Products www.bicknellracingproducts.com, Bilstein Shocks www.bilstein.com, KSE Racing Products www.kse-racing.com, Motorsports Safety Systems www.motorsportssafetysystems.com, MSD Ignition www.msdignition.com, Penske Shocks, www.penskeshocks.com, Racing Electronics www.racingelectronics.com, Vicci Racing Apparel www.vicci.com and Wrisco Industries www.wrisco.com.
