Cozze thrills, Sheppard chills as NES champ

NEW EGYPT - Frank Cozze of Wind Gap, Pa., drove to his fourth victory of the year Saturday night at New Egypt Speedway with an impressive run in the Modified Championship 35-lap feature.

Runner-up Matt Sheppard chased Cozze across the line, thus locking up his first-ever Big-Block Modified point title. Cozze, who took the lead on lap 4, pocketed $3,000 for his efforts on Reed Sod Farms Wing Night.

"This track is the best," stated a triumphant Cozze in victory lane, "I have been to a lot of other tracks, and no other place compares. When it is racy like tonight, it is a lot of fun to race on."

Champion Sheppard was happy that it was finally over as he chilled out in victory lane after the event. "I want to thank my entire team and I want to congratulate Ryan Godown on a great battle this season," stated Sheppard. "It seemed that most of the time, it came down to which one of us could get to the front first, and tonight I was able to accomplish that."

Rich Rutski quickly grabbed the lead from the front row at the outset of the double point event, only to find Cozze right behind him. Rutski held him back till lap 4, when Cozze powered by for the top spot, and immediately began to open up a sizeable advantage over the field as 11th-starting Tim Tanner Jr. charged into second. With a caution closing the field back up, Tanner took advantage as he kept pace with Cozze on the restart, leaving the rest of the field behind. Tanner's strong run ended near halfway when his mount dropped some fluid on the track and he pulled into the pits, ending his run. The ensuing restart found two-time NES champ Jimmy Horton and former champ Keith Hoffman next in line to challenge. However, Cozze was up to this, as he continued to set the pace. With 15 to go, Sheppard entered the picture and battled hard with Horton for the second position. Sheppard grabbed second, and the top three of Cozze, Sheppard and Horton pulled away from the rest of the field. Sheppard made it close over the final five laps, but Cozze proved to be too much on this night as he took the checkered four car lengths ahead of the champion. Sheppard took home second place money, which was good enough to win the 2007 NES DIRTcar Modified track title. Jimmy Horton turned his recent luck around by finishing a close third. Keith Hoffman was fourth, while championship challenger Ryan Godown took fifth.

The 25-lap URC Sprint Car tour event saw Pedricktown's J.J. Grasso win his first career URC sprint race. Grasso set a blistering pace all night as he took top honors in his heat race, turning a couple of laps that were just 7/100 of a second off the track record, and then leading every lap of the feature to record his first victory. Grasso used the extreme outside groove up against the fence in the feature to secure the win. Michael Carber, who has won the last two URC events here at NES, rallied back in the final stages to claim second, followed by Mark Bitner in third. Lucas Wolfe, 410 Sprint standout, came from 14th to finish in the fourth spot, with ageless Kramer Williamson completing a strong run in fifth.

The 20-lap Sportsman feature was taken by veteran Willie Osmun of Bloomsbury as he powered by Clay Butler with just three laps to go to take the victory. Butler ended his impressive run with a strong second-place finish, followed by Steve Schmidt, John Stangle and Chad Barney.

Bryan Reed of Howell won the 25-lap Super Stock event as he reclaimed the lead from Al Cheney in the last nine laps to post his second win of the year. Al Cheney crossed the line on Reed's bumper to finish second, while Bob Vaccaro finished third. Jason Bubeck and Billy Bauer rounded out the top five.

This Saturday night, the DIRTcar Big- Block Modifieds will headline the card, which will also feature the Sportsman, Super Stocks, Crate 1 Sportsman and Outlaw Stocks. Gates will open at 2 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.