Matt Sheppard and Dave Marcuccilli dominant at Weedsport.

Matt Sheppard and Dave Marcuccilli dominant at Weedsport Super DIRT Week XLIII has finally started with Weedsport Speedway hosting both the DIRTcar 358-Modified Series and DIRTcar Sportsman. New year same winner in the DIRTcar 358-Modified Series with Matt Sheppard winning the event for a second year in a row, Dave Marcuccilli showed his experience on the newly refurbished surface in the Sportsman ranks. Polesitter Ryan Godown took the early lead in the 75-lap event while leading the first 16 laps with Matt Sheppard being able to pass, the Waterloo, NY driver didn’t lead for long as Chad Brachmann had visibly the strongest machine in the 30-car starting field, taking the first spot on Sheppard on the following lap and pulled away from Sheppard. Brachmann manoeuvred well around the Weedsport Speedway leading the way until lap traffic came into factor, the leader try to pass a slower car on the outside and Sheppard was able to pass and caught a few breaks in these conditions to stay in front of Brachmann while Godown completed the podium. Another difficult night for our Quebec drivers as Mario Clair had to use a provisional to start finishing 18th while Yan Bussiere, Clement and Alan Therrien failed to qualify. Tough night also for DIRTcar Series points leader Erick Rudolph being involved in a few incidents finishing 20th and not taking much advantage on Clair and Carey Terrance. Dave Marcucilli was the guy to beat in the DIRTcar Sportsman Series as he battled hard with veterans Steve Gray and Boyd McTavish for the lead in the 30-lap affair. Marcucilli came on top after an heated battle with both veterans. Mathieu Desjardins finished a strong 8th and this result might be valuable for the championship as Brad Rouse ran in front of him for the vast majority of the race before being involved in a accident and finally finishing 17th. Desjardins will now have a more comfortable lead coming into qualifying on Friday at the Mile. In the pits... A strong and diverse field of 52 Modifieds showed up with several faces that we rarely see in NY State and Canada. The red clay didn’t give the expected results as both features were a dustbowl, at some point we could not see the grandstand from the middle. What a superb facility with all the new investments, this gives the Speedway a new life and will become a major player again in Central NY. The new pits are wide and give plenty of space for drivers to work; 90 haulers were in the pits and space was still available. The DIRTcar 358-Modified Series has a busy day on Thursday with Time trials in the afternoon on the mile and action will continue at Brewerton Speedway with the 22nd edition of the Hurricane 100.