Marcuccilli Becomes First Driver to Win the Classic Twice
By Dan Kapuscinski
WEEDSPORT, NY (July 4, 2017) – Dave Marcuccilli dominated the Sportsman Classic 75 presented by Industrial Tire of CNY at Weedsport Speedway on Monday evening, becoming the first driver to win the $2,500 Sportsman crown jewel twice. It was also his third straight win with the DIRTcar Sportsman Series Central Region, a streak that began back on June 20 at Outlaw Speedway.
Starting from third position, Marcuccilli took the lead from Glenn Forward on lap 14 and never looked back, out running Rocky Warner and Corey Barker in the late stages for the score in the Super DIRTcar Sportsman Series event.
Opening night winner Kevin Ridley came home in fourth position with Forward finishing the top five. Defending champion Ronnie Davis III, Tyler Trump, Taylor Caprara, B-main winner Dave Schilling, and Billy Clark Jr. finished the front ten spots.
Schilling won the 10 lap B-Main presented by Universal Sales & Accessories and opted to start the Classic from 31stposition as opposed to taking the $300 prize.
A total of 65 DIRTcar Sportsman were in the pit area on Monday with 25 cars starting the 10-lap non-qualifier B-Main.
Forward and Clark started the 31-car, 75-lap Classic, from the front row with Forward racing to the early lead in the No. 7C.
With Forward out front, it was Marcuccilli and Trump making moves early on as Marcuccilli immediately fell into the runner-up position with Trump racing from sixth to fourth by the race’s fifth circuit.
Forward and Marcuccilli would run away and hide early on in the long-distance special as Forward found lapped traffic by lap 12. Leading the field by nearly a full straight away, the duo of Forward and Marcuccilli sliced through traffic with ease eventually setting into a bumper to bumper battle.
As the traffic grew, Marcuccilli and his No. M1 machine looked more and more as the car to beat and it was proven on lap 14 as Marcuccilli slid under Forward for the top spot in turn four.
Marcuccilli immediately built a sizeable lead while Rocky Warner, Corey Barker, and Ronnie Davis III began their march through the pack. All three started deep in the field with Warner coming from 15th, Barker from 20th, and Davis from 28th. Warner had found the seventh position by lap 20 while Barker and Davis were creeping toward the top ten.
The night’s first caution would wave on lap 20 for a slowing Nick Krause, who would be done for the night. When the field came back to green Marcuccilli led
Forward, Clark, Trump, Nick Guererri, Ridley, Warner, Shane Pecore, James Michael Friesen, and Kevin Root.
Unfortunately for Root his top ten run would end on the restart as he tangled with Alan Fink coming to the green, bringing out another caution.
Once back underway Marcuccilli and Forward continued their drive out front as Ridley began to put himself into position in the No. 20X.
One by one Ridley pressed into the top five passing Trump on lap 23 and then Guererri on lap 26 to work into the fourth position before the night’s third caution fell on lap 33 for Kyle Inman, who found the back-stretch wall.
On the restart Marcuccilli continued to show the way ahead of Forward, Clark, Ridley, Guererri, Trump, Warner, Barker, and Pecore.
Another long green flag stretch allowed several drivers to continue to move forward including Ridley, Warner, Barker, and Davis.
Just passed halfway Marcuccilli, Forward, and Clark continued to hold court but Ridley and Warner were on the hammer behind them. Making his way by Guererri and Trump, Warner next picked off Ridley at lap 47 before diving under Clark for third on lap 54.
Behind Warner and Ridley it was Barker and Davis seemingly working in unison as they edged closer to the top five as the laps ticked away.
Maruccilli, Forward, and Warner were now the front runners, and they were spaced evenly at the front of the pack. Ridley wanted to join the party and on lap 60 finally worked by Clark to hit fourth. As he tried to give chase to the top three.
Another caution hit the Speedway at lap 62 for a spinning Jackson Gill, which tightened the field for a dash to the checkers.
Warner used this restart to beat Forward for the second position as the Barker No. 31 was shot out of a cannon further behind, sliding into fourth at lap 67.
The field was slowed one last time at lap 70 for a Mike Stanton spin in turn two, which gave Warner the chance he needed to make one last attempt at Marcuccilli for the lead.
However, as the field came back to green for the final five laps it was clear that Marcuccilli would not be denied in his bid for a second Sportsman Classic crown.
Warner held on for the second position while Barker made a great drive to best Ridley for third on the final lap of the event.
DIRTcar Sportsman Series Central Region Statistical Report; 4th annual Sportsman Classic 75 pres. by Industrial Tire of CNY, Weedsport Speedway – Weedsport, NY; July 3, 2017
Sportsman Classic (75 Laps): 1. M1 – Dave Marcuccilli, 2. 1J – Rocky Warner, 3. 31 – Corey Barker, 4. 20X – Kevin Ridley, 5. 7C – Glenn Forward, 6. 32R – Ron Davis III, 7. 9X – Tyler Trump, 8. 21 – Taylor Caprara, 9. 20 – Dave Schilling, 10. 99 – Billy Clark Jr., 11. 0 – Shane Pecore, 12. 67G – Eric Giguere, 13. 15 – Todd Root, 14. 52 – James Michael Friesen, 15. 3M – Mike Stanton, 16. 12G – Matt Guererri, 17. 25G – Nick Guererri, 18. 82 – Will Shields, 19. 35 – Tom Cook, 20. 60 – Jackson Gill, 21. 31K – Kane Bristol, 22. 99 – Ben Wheeler, 23. 1X – Willy Decker Jr., 24. 52 – Jessica Power, 25. 87 – Rocco Leone, 26. 38 – Zach Sobotka, 27. 713 – Tom Collins, 28. 20K – Kyle Inman, 29. 34 – Kevin Root, 30. 8 – Alan Fink, 31. 24K – Nick Krause
Heat #1 (8 Laps, 3 Qualify): 1. 20X – Kevin Ridley, 2. 9X – Tyler Trump, 3. 52 – James Michael Friesen, 4. 87 – Rocco Leone, 5. 67G – Eric Giguere, 6. 24P – Brian Pessolano, 7. 5 – Ricky Yelle, 8. 15B – Brianna Ladouceur, 9. 49C – Carl Warren, 10. 32R – Ron Davis III, 11. 77 – Ben Karlsen
Heat #2 (8 Laps, 3 Qualify): 1. 38 – Zach Sobotka, 2. 8 – Alan Fink, 3. 21 – Taylor Caprara, 4. 1X – Willy Decker Jr., 5. 52 – Jessica Power, 6. 20 – Dave Schilling, 7. 27Z – Dylan Zacharias, 8. 11N – Ricky Newton, 9. 34L – Pat LaPage, 10. 98T – Tyler Thompson, 11. 8 – Zach McBride
Heat #3 (8 Laps, 3 Qualify): 1. 99 – Ben Wheeler, 2. 25G – Nick Guererri, 3. 1J – Rocky Warner, 4. 713 – Tom Collins, 5. 20 – Jason Shipclark, 6. 20K – Kyle Inman, 7. 1R – Ricky Thompson, 8. 22C – Cedric Geauvreau, 9. 132 – Brandon Michaud, 10. 99R – Anthony Rasmussen, 11. 21C – Jeff Devoll,
Heat #4 (8 Laps, 3 Qualify): 1. 7C – Glenn Forward, 2. 12G – Matt Guererri, 3. 3 – Mike Stanton, 4. 31 – Corey Barker, 5. 15 – Todd Root, 6. 415 – Andrew Wren, 7. 1D – Roy Delormier, 8. 94 – Gabriel Cyr, 9. 4 – Tim Murphy, 10. 117 – CJ Castelletti, 11. 18 – Tyler Singleton
Heat #5 (8 Laps, 3 Qualify): 1. 34 – Kevin Root, 2. 99 – Billy Clark, 3. 82 – Will Shields, 4. 24K – Nick Krause, 5. 35 – Tom Cook, 6. 90 – Nate Peckham, 7. 22J – Jeremy Dygert, 8. 72 – Mike Prentice, 9. 15D – Kyle DeMetro, 10. 11T – Jeff Taylor, 11. 1T – Charlie Tibbitts
Heat #6 (8 Laps, 3 Qualify): 1. M1 – Dave Marcuccilli, 2. 0 – Shane Pecore, 3. 31 – Kane Bristol, 4. 98 – Andrew Buff, 5. 60 – Jackson Gill, 6. 21X – Eric Williams, 7. 9T – Tim Baker, 8. 74 – Carl Inman, 9. JVS1 – Jim Spano, 10. 24 – Garrett Rushlow
Consi #1 (10 Laps, 2 Qualify): 1. 1X – Willy Decker Jr., 2. 87 – Rocco Leone, 3. 67G – Eric Giguere, 4. 20 – Dave Schilling, 5. 52 – Jessica Power, 6. 11N – Ricky Newton, 7. 24P – Brian Pessolano, 8. 15B – Brianna Ladouceur, 9. 8 – Zach McBride, 10. 34L – Patrick LaPage, 11. 5 – Ricky Yelle, 12. 49C – Carl Warren, 13. 32R – Ron Davis III
Consi #2 (10 Laps, 2 Qualify):1. 31 – Corey Barker, 2. 15 – Todd Root, 3. 713 – Tom Collins, 4. 20K – Kyle Inman, 5. 20 – Jason Shipclark, 6. 117 – CJ Castelletti, 7. 1D – Roy Delormier, 8. 1R – Ricky Thompson, 9. 21C – Jeff Devolli, 10. 94 – Gabriel Cyr, 11. 22C – Cedric Garuveau, 12. 132 – Brandon Michard, 13. 4 – Tim Murphy, 14. 99R – Anthony Rasmussen
Consi #3 (10 Laps, 2 Qualify): 1. 60 – Jackson Gill, 2. 24K – Nick Krause, 3. 35 – Tom Cook, 4. 98 – Andrew Buff, 5. 22J – Jeremy Dygert, 6. 15D – Kyle Demetro, 7. 90 – Nate Peckham, 8. 9T – Tim Baker, 9. 21X – Eric Williams, 10. 72 – Mike Prentice, 11. 11T – Jeff Taylor, 12. 24 – Garrett Rushlow, 13. 74 – Carl Inman
Universal Sales & Accessories B-Main (15 Laps): 1. 20 – Dave Schilling, 2. 117 – CJ Castelletti, 3. 24P – Brian Pessolano, 4. 15B – Brianna Ladouceur, 5. 20 – Jason Shipclark, 6. 15D – Kyle Demetro, 7. 8 – Zach McBride, 8. 98 – Andrew Buff, 9. 9T – Tim Baker, 10. 22C – Cedric Gauvreau, 11. 24 – Garrett Rushlow, 12. 21X – Eric Williams, 13. 94 – Gabriel Cyr, 14. 5 – Ricky Yelle, 15. 90 – Nate Peckham, 16. 11T – Jeff Taylor, 17. 132 – Brandon Michard, 18. 11N – Ricky Newton, 19. 34L – Patrick LaPage, 20. 74 – Carl Inman, 21. 1R – Ricky Thompson 22. 21C – Jeff Devolli, 23. 3M – Mike Stanton, 24. 49C – Carl Warren, 25. 22J – Jeremy Dygert
** – Schilling opted to start 31st in the Sportsman Classic, turning down the $300 prize.d
