This Week in DIRT; Sheppard and Abreu Dominate; Davenport snags $20K, Saldana collects 1st win of year

Amazingly enough, this was the first weekend of the season that mother nature didn't destroy across the board so to speak! The racing gods were watching over the action in most areas of the country, allowing for mostly sunny skies as many tracks opened the 2014 season, and scheduled events (save for the Friday WoO Late Model event at Duck River, TN) went off as planned.


For all the results from the major sanctions, you can check our scoreboard here:

National Results and Points Scoreboard


And if you're in our neck of the woods, you can check out the Western PA/Eastern OH action here:

Regional Scoreboard/Results- Western PA/Eastern OH


Here's a division by division review of the weekend that was:

North East Modified:

 

 

Super Matt Sheppard went on a tear, going two for two for the weekend. Sheppard took the checkered at Fonda (NY) in the season opener on Saturday, and took home the Race of Champions event at Five Mile Point (NY) on Sunday. He took apart two stacked fields in the process and looks completely comfortable in his new HBR racing Troyer race car, and if there was ever any doubt how long it would take for that to happen, it's been put to rest.

 

Coming up this weekend, will be the Jan Corcoran Memorial at Canandaigua which will pay $6400 to the winner!

 

Fonda top 10: Saturday April 12,

 

1. Matt Sheppard
2. Danny Varin
3. Bobby Varin
4. Pat Ward
5. Jeremy Wilder
6. Billy Decker
7. Mark Johnson
8. Alton Palmer
9. A.J. Romano
10. Dale Plank

 

 

Race of Champions- Five Mile Point Sunday April 13,

 

(100): MATT SHEPPARD, Jimmy Phelps, Stewart Friesen, Anthony Perrego, Brian Malcolm, Randy Chrysler, Rick Laubach, Jeff Hoetzler, Pat Ward, Dan Creeden, Mike Mahaney, Mike Bowman, Danny Tyler, Joey Colsten, Larry Wight, Billy Decker, Danny Johnson, Tyler Dippel, Donnie Lawson, Jackie Brown Jr., Nick Petrilak, Richard Smith, Vic Coffey, Sean Merkel, Bobby Varin, Erick Rudolph, Ryan Godown, Mike Colsten.

 

 

 



SUPER LATE MODELS:

Another superman, Jonathan Davenport, took home $20,000 Saturday night at Bill Sawyer's Virginia Motor Speedway and vaulted to the top of the NDRL point standings. The series hosted a three race Mid Atlantic swing this weekend that saw the Kentucky Colonel Steve Francis take the win at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway on Thursday night, and Scott Bloomquist sandwich Davenport's win with a victory at Winchester, VA on Sunday.

In World of Outlaw action, Mike Marlar collected his first ever series win on Saturday night. Marlar topped the 24 car field at Tazewell Speedway (TN). Darrell Lanigan kept his point lead and now sits 36 points ahead of Brandon Sheppard. Next up for the Outlaws will be the makeup of the two day Farmer City (IL) showdown on April 25-26

SPRINTS/MIDGETS:

 

 

Open wheel sensation Rico Abreu continued his torrid pace at the start of the 2014 season with a weekend sweep at Kokomo Speedway (IN) in a USAC /Honda national midget weekend. Abreu won both nights against formidable competitions with the likes of Darland, Buckwalter, Christopher Bell, Brady Bacon, and Shane Cottle in attendance.

 

 

 

And, in World of Outlaw Sprintcar action, Cody Darrah and Joey Saldana each took home their first wins of the season at Kings Speedway (CA) and Perris Auto Speedway (CA), respectively.

 

Darrah's win gave Kasey Kahne Racing their third win in the last five races as he climbed from a fifth place starting spot to stand on top o the podium Friday night, while Saldana translated  his series leading 7th quick time of the season into victory on Saturday.

 

 

Okay, you are now caught up! Enjoy the week and get to the track next weekend!!