VERNON, NY – Back on top.

Matt Sheppard returned to 3 Bastards Brewing Modified Victory Lane on Saturday night at Utica-Rome Speedway, earning $4,000 as part of the Cole Cup presented by International Wire, Broedel Energy and Recovery Sports Grill.

Morning and afternoon rain showers cleared in Vernon and the program went on as scheduled.

Michael Maresca, meanwhile, clinched the six-race F.X. Caprara Car Companies Thunder on the Thruway Series Modified championship after entering the night just two points ahead of Alex Yankowski.

Sheppard started the 30-lap feature from sixth position while outside pole starter Brandon Walters took command at the start of the main event.

Sheppard sliced through the field, taking second on lap five and beginning his pursuit of Walters.

By the race’s one-third mark, Sheppard had caught Walters’ No. 22. One lap later, he drove off the inside of turn two, taking a lead he would never relinquish.

The race’s first caution flew on lap 17 for a pair of cars with flat tires, regrouping the field.

Stewart Friesen, who was sixth, took advantage of the restart, advancing to second by lap 16.

Friesen chased Sheppard for the remaining 14 laps despite late-race cautions on laps 23, 25 and 27.

Sheppard took the victory over Sprakers, N.Y.’s Friesen, who ended his ascent from ninth starting position in second.

Saratoga Springs, N.Y.’s Jack Lehner climbed from 11^th starting position to finish third, followed by early leader Walters of Unadilla, N.Y., and Matt DeLorenzo of Cropseyville, N.Y., up from 20^th on the grid.

Finishing sixth through 10^th, respectively, were Alex Payne of Canandaigua, N.Y., who ran as high as second; Thunder on the Thruway champion Maresca of Baldwinsville, N.Y.; Brian Calabrese of Johnstown, N.Y.; Pat Ward of Genoa, N.Y., recovering from a lap-17 flat tire; and Willy Decker of Vernon, N.Y.

Heat winners were Decker, Friesen and Lehner.

Billy Van Inwegen of Sparrowbush, N.Y., took home a $5,000 victory with the Empire Super Sprints (ESS) in the 25-lap Cole Cup. ‘Billy V’ inherited the lead on lap 19 in a caution-plagued affair when leader Danny Varin of Fonda, N.Y., ran out of methanol and was forced to pit.

Van Inwegen’s car ran dry on fuel on the final lap, but he was able to cross the checkered with the victory.

Davie Franek finished runner-up after starting the event in Row No. 6, followed by Jordan Porier, Matt Farnham and Jordan Thomas.

After pitting, Varin recovered for ninth.

South New Berlin, N.Y.’s Payton Talbot took the 25-lap Taylor’s Trailers Crate 602 Sportsman program and the Thunder on the Thruway Series title in dramatic fashion, completing a last-lap pass on leader Tanner Warner.

The driver of the Belmont’s Garage No. 14 collected $1,500 for his efforts.

Talbot threaded the needle in traffic with the white flag flying to take the lead. Warner settled for second, followed by Jeremy Slosek, Richard Murtaugh III and Chip Constantino.

Andy Graves took the $1,000 Next Generation GraphiX Pro Stock victory in the 20-lap event, his first of the season. Kenny Gates, meanwhile, clinched the Thunder on the Thruway Series title.

Graves bested Luke Horning, Bret Belden, Shayne Playford and A.J. Walters.

Gates’ 11^th-place finish was enough for the Thruway series championship.

Racing resumes on Wednesday, August 21 with Small Car Wednesday featuring Slingshots, Winged Champ Karts, Heavy Tire Predator and Clones.

On Friday (August 23), all divisions will be in action plus the M2 Metals Crate Late Models and Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modifieds.

Utica-Rome Speedway is located at 5591 NY-5 (Seneca Turnpike) Vernon, NY 13476. The official website is www.uticaromespeedway.com and the speedway can be reached by phone at 315.953.4097.  Like Utica-Rome Speedway on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @UR_Speedway.

COLE CUP PRESENTED BY INTERNATIONAL WIRE, BROEDEL ENERGY & RECOVERY SPORTS GRILL RESULTS SUMMARY – UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY AUGUST 17, 2024

3 Bastards Brewing Modified Feature Finish (30 laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[6]; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen[9]; 3. 02-Jack Lehner[11]; 4. 22W-Brandon Walters[2]; 5. 3G-Matt Delorenzo[20]; 6. 70A-Alex Payne[4]; 7. 7MM-Michael Maresca[8]; 8. 21C-Brian Calabrese[12]; 9. 42P-Pat Ward[7]; 10. 1X-Willy Decker[10]; 11. 76-Jamike Sowle[18]; 12. 23-Brandon Loucks[13]; 13. 77X-Addison Bowman[17]; 14. 14AJ-AJ Miller[16]; 15. 97S-Randy Shantel[23]; 16. 8M-Tim Mayne[19]; 17. JS98-Rocky Warner[15]; 18. 19W-Justin Wright[14]; 19. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[5]; 20. 4-Cody Clark[3]; 21. 27-Jason Reome[22]; 22. 44C-Ed Downing[24]; 23. 369-Jim Walsh[21]; 24. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[1]

F.X. Caprara Thunder on the Thruway Series Champion: Michael Maresca

Empire Super Sprints Feature Finish (25 laps): 1. 10V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[7]; 2. 28F-Davie Franek[11]; 3. 28-Jordan Poirier[14]; 4. #7NY-Matt Farnham[1]; 5. #79-Jordan Thomas[3]; 6. #17-Sammy Reakes IV[24]; 7. 53-Shawn Donath[13]; 8. 22-Jonathan Preston[5]; 9. 01-Danny Varin[2]; 10. 10-Kelly Hebing[17]; 11. 98-Joe Trenca[9]; 12. 90-Matt Tanner[19]; 13. 13T-Trevor Years[21]; 14. #41-Dalton Rombough[15]; 15. X-Dan Bennett[22]; 16. 33-Lacey Hanson[23]; 17. 36-Logan Crisafulli[12]; 18. 13E-Evan Reynolds[20]; 19. 87-Jason Barney[10]; 20. #10K-Joe Kata[4]; 21. 4P-Chase Moran[16]; 22. 3A-Jeff Trombley[18]; 23. #89-Robbie Stillwaggon[8]; 24. 6K-Kyle Dutcher[25]; 25. 2-Dave Axton[6]

Taylor’s Trailers Crate 602 Sportsman Feature Finish (25 laps): 1. 14T-Payton Talbot[7]; 2. 78-Tanner Warner[2]; 3. 16S-Jeremy Slosek[5]; 4. 33-Richard Murtaugh[3]; 5. 63-Chip Constantino[6]; 6. 10%-Chad Edwards[9]; 7. 7H-Allan Hodge[4]; 8. 12T-Tyler Peet[15]; 9. 82H-David Hackett[13]; 10. 42H-Kadon Hohensheldt[14]; 11. 9K-Blaine Klinger[12]; 12. 44C-Stephen Denton[8]; 13. 4R-Jim Rothwell[16]; 14. 55-Jonny Feagles[22]; 15. 88-Michael Wagner Fitzgerald[11]; 16. 262-Matthew Richardson[10]; 17. 5EJ-EJ Gallup[21]; 18. 7S-Torrey Stoughtenger[24]; 19. 2K-Josh Amodio[23]; 20. 117-Butchie Irwin[20]; 21. 23-David Dickey[19]; 22. 43J-Jayden Wust[25]; 23. 4-Carson Rothwell[17]; 24. 3-Colby Herzog[1]; 25. 00X-Josh Coonradt[18]

F.X. Caprara Thunder on the Thruway Series Champion: Payton Talbot

Taylor’s Trailers Crate 602 Sportsman B-Main Feature Finish (8 laps): 1. 23-David Dickey[2]; 2. 117-Butchie Irwin[1]; 3. 5EJ-EJ Gallup[3]; 4. 55-Jonny Feagles[5]; 5. 2K-Josh Amodio[8]; 6. 7S-Torrey Stoughtenger[6]; 7. 43J-Jayden Wust[9]; 8. 5S-Keith Simpson[4]; 9. 25X-Josh Andrews[12]; 10. 5C-Randy Cosselman[11]; 11. (DNS) 60-Brad Poppleton; 12. (DNS) 77L-Ed Lukas

Next Generation GraphiX Pro Stock Feature Finish (20 laps): 1. 96-Andy Graves[1]; 2. 2H-Luke Horning[3]; 3. 81-Bret Belden[6]; 4. 6-Shane Playford[8]; 5. 22W-AJ Walters[10]; 6. 74N-Jim Normoyle[4]; 7. 110-Devon Camenga[19]; 8. 49-Ivan Joslin[7]; 9. 13-George Cushman[11]; 10. 28H-Johnny Holmes[2]; 11. 35-Ken Gates[13]; 12. 101-Ed Kotary[9]; 13. 14H-Hunter Keith[5]; 14. 63-Matt Rose[14]; 15. 14K-Mike Keith[18]; 16. 44-Ray Richer[16]; 17. 28G-Gus Gould[12]; 18. 11-George Wright Sr[17]; 19. 94-Ryan Denton[15]

F.X. Caprara Thunder on the Thruway Series Champion: Kenny Gates