Barberville, FL – February 13, 2010 – By Tom Skibinski, Super DIRTcar Series PR Director - (photo by Chris Dolack)
Matt Sheppard closed out his visit to Volusia Speedway Park last February with a pair of Top-3 feature finishes and some added confidence for the 20-hour trip home. That was just the beginning for DIRTcar Northeast’s hottest driver as Sheppard closed out the recent 39th Annual Florida DIRTcar Nationals By University of Northwestern Ohio on Saturday with a second straight victory and the coveted Big-Block Modified points title over the best in the business. “That was a lot of fun, I think the fans really got their moneys worth tonight,” remarked Sheppard, 27, who, over the past two years, has finished no worse than his sixth-place tally on Wednesday after chalking up 2nd, 3rd and 4th-place runs to close out last winter’s haul south. “It was just a tough battle out there, I think there were 4-5 guys that probably could’ve won that race. We just made a couple good moves there in the middle, got ourselves in the right position and were able to get out front.” Once moving ahead aboard the JB Motorsports no 9S Xtreme Lubricants/Bicknell entry, the Waterloo, N.Y. speedster was far from alone however, edging runner-up Dale Planck by less than a half-second at the line, with Rick Laubach charging into third out of the final corner to salvage third. Long-time race leader Billy Pauch and 19th-place starter Billy Decker rounded out the front-five ahead of Top-10 finishers Jamie Mills, opening night winner Stewart Friesen, hard charger Bobby Varin (started 27th), Danny Johnson and DCN rookie Chris Higgins. |
