New Egypt Modifieds follow Sheppard again

NEW EGYPT - Matt Sheppard of Waterloo, N.Y., padded his point lead on Saturday night at New Egypt Speedway by winning the 30-lap DIRTcar Modified feature.

Sheppard smoothly sliced through traffic from his 15th starting spot to grab control by lap 13. Once in front, Sheppard was never headed as he claimed the $3,000 top prize for the fourth time this year.

"The track was racy tonight with multiple grooves, which allowed us to get to the front quick," explained Sheppard, "That was important for us, as the car was getting tight over the last 10 laps. Fortunately, we had enough of a lead that it didn't come into play."

Rich Rutski led the field at the start and quickly opened up a comfortable lead. By lap 5, Sheppard, Frank Cozze and Jimmy Horton were all into the top 10 and looking for more. Sheppard worked his way up to third and then took advantage of a lap-12 restart to grab the lead from Rutski and Tim Tanner Jr. Sheppard then worked lapped traffic masterfully as he built a sizable advantage. Sheppard then drove mistake-free as he took his sixth career feature win at NES. Cozze came home in second, followed by Tanner in third, and Tom Carberry was fourth with Keith Hoffman completing a nice effort.

Willie Osmun of Bloomsbury won the 20-lap Sportsman feature event. Osmun lined up 11th on the starting grid and went on to capture his third victory of the season in the speedway's first ever nonstop Sportsman feature event. Early race leader Chris Lane held on for second for his best-ever finish. Mike Brannigan drove home third, followed by Glenn Hisko and Rocco Infante.

Art Liedl won his 17th career SS Sprint feature. Rich Janney drove to a career-best second place, chased by Ken Carberry in third, Lee Taylor Jr. fourth and Dan Biggs in fifth.

Saturday night, July 14, it will be Wing Night at New Egypt Speedway as the Bars Leaks URC Sprints come to visit. The DIRTcar Big-Block Modifieds will also compete for $3,000 to win, along with Sportsman, Super Stocks, Outlaw Stocks and Crate 1 Sportsman. Adult admission will be $20, children 7-12 will be $7.50, and kids 6 and under are always free. Gates will open at 4 p.m. with the first race at 6 p.m. For more information, call the speedway office at (609) 758-1900 or log on to www.newegyptspeedway.net.