Sheppard notches first win at Malta


MALTA – Matt Sheppard is obviously a quick learner.

Making his Friday night home at Albany-Saratoga Speedway for the first time in his career, the talented Sheppard added his name to the list of winners at the historic track on Friday night, coming away with his first career 358 modified win.

Sheppard got his first victory in just his ninth week of racing in the Randy Ross-owned small block at Malta. The last time an outsider from Western New York showed that kind of adaptability was 1995, when Alan Johnson got his first career win at Malta in his eighth appearance in the Dennis Tremont-owned ride.

Sheppard started fourth in Friday night's feature, but needed lapped traffic to help him get the lead away from Mike Ronca. Ronca, who was looking for his first win since September 2003, came off the front row and locked into a side-by-side battle with Sheppard early, and because the 35-lap feature was run without a yellow, there was nothing to interrupt their crowd-pleasing run.

In fact, the battle became even more intense when A.J. Romano and Jack Johnson made their way to the front, creating a four-car cluster.

Sheppard finally found a way around Ronca with 10 laps to go, and pulled away for an impressive victory. Romano moved into second with five laps left, but by that time, Sheppard had checked out, and Romano hit the finish line second for the second week in a row. Ronca was third, giving him another strong June run, with Johnson fourth and Ken Tremont Jr. fifth.

The next two spots were interesting, as they were taken up by points leader and defending track champion Brett Hearn and Bobby Varin, who was driving Vinny Salerno's other team car. It was announced that when Hearn skips a race in two weeks to run in a big block show at another speedway, Varin will be driving his Delaney construction-sponsored small block at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

“I really didn't think that my car was as good as the 7 of Ronca,” said Sheppard after the race. “With him in the lead and me in lapped traffic, I was able to pick and choose my line around the lapped cars, and that helped me, along with the fact that it was a caution-free race.”

Sheppard started out the year strong, but has struggled in the month of June. But he may have hit on something Friday night.

“The last couple of weeks, the car hasn't felt comfortable to me,” he said. “We changed quite a few things in the car this week.”

Sheppard wasn't the only driver to get his first career win Friday night. Whitey Slavin led all 25 laps to sit in victory lane for the first time ever in the sportsman division. Dustin Delaney finished second, getting past rookie Pep Corradi on the final lap, but by that time, Slavin had already built up more than a two-second lead.

Defending track champion Lori Cary finally got back on track, notching her second win of the season in the 25-lap pro street stock feature. Coming out of the seventh starting spot, Cary took the lead away from Jimmy Eaton on lap 11 and kept Eaton looking at her rear bumper for the rest of the feature. Dan Madigan hit the stripe third, with Vince Santoro fourth and Bernie Companion fifth. Companion came out of the race as the new points leader, as Jeff Washburn, who went into the night with the lead, only completed one lap of the feature.

Curtis Condon kept the trend of new faces in victory lane going, posting his first win of the year in the limited feature. He is the fourth different winner in that division in as many weeks. After starting ninth, Condon got around D.J. Brundige with four laps to go to take the lead, and survived a late charge from Jeff Monroe, who got up for second, overtaking Brundige with two laps to go. Brundige finished third, his second straight top-three performance

Phil DeFiglio continued to dominate the mini-stock class, posting his fourth straight win, and sixth of the season.

MODIFIEDS: MATT SHEPPARD, A.J. Romano, Mike Ronca, Jack Johnson, Ken Tremont Jr., Brett Hearn, Bobby Varin, Jimmy Davis, Jeff Trombley, Marc Johnson, Ronnie Johnson, Todd Stone, Matt DeLorenzo, Vince Quenneville Jr., Don Ronca, Elmo Reckner, Jimmy Cottrell, Keith Flach, Jim Becker, Tim Hartman, John Proctor, Rich Scagliotta, Mike Sabia Jr., George Foley, Don Ackner, Frank Hoard Sr., Ron Proctor.

SPORTSMAN: WHITEY SLAVIN, Dustin Delaney, Pep Corradi, Mike Ketchum, Josh Hohenforst, Jack Gentile, Scott Duell, Jeff Watson, Dick Bisson, Kory Sandstedt, Rich Ronca, Rob Langevin, Dave DePaulo, David Peek, Matt Depew, Neal Erickson, Joe Santoro, Ken Anatriello, John Willis, Stan Lemiesz, Adam Tranka, Mark Kislowski, Chris Busta, Mike Tholin.

SPORTSMAN B MAIN: JEFF WATSON, Dick Bisson, Matt Depew, John Willis, Joe Santoro, Stan Lemiesz, Chris Johnson, Tyler Curtis, Corey Gilligan, Justin Barner, David Baranowski.

PRO STREET STOCKS: LORI CARY, Jimmy Eaton, Dan Madigan, Vince Santoro, Bernie Companion, Cale Kneer, Pete Broderson, Kevin Van Chance, Darryl Carl, Jim Monroe Sr., William Smith IV, Chuck Towslee, Gregg McGill, Josh Joseph, David Peck Jr., Kim Duell, Frank Twing, Jeff Washburn.

LIMITEDS: CURTIS CONDON, Jeff Monroe, D.J. Brundige, Ken Conroy, Dan Petronis, Jim Monroe Jr., Brian Ashline, John Morris, John Filarecki, Mike Minick, Mike Ostrander, Paul Mulrain, Rich Burke, Ed Bradt, Amanda Clemens, Mark Dwyer, Anthony Marro, Andy Durie, Brandon Emigh, Rick Howe, Dave Billings, Mike Duclos, Dan Older, Bill Duprey.

LIMITED B MAIN: ED BRADT, Mike Minick, Brandon Emigh, Bill Burlingame, Anthony Marro, Rick Howe, Dave Billings, Clint Bonner, Chris Reckner, John Heidrich, Mike Pfau.

MINI-STOCKS: PHIL DEFIGLIO, Brette Osgood, Jason Dickson, Ken Hollenbeck, Travis Tromans, Mike Cranston, Shane Marks, Ray Galusha, Erin Older, Ted Fitzgerald, Car No. 84, Jim Daniels, Dan Older Jr., Andy Hickok, Michelle Catone, Car No. 47.