CENTER LISLE, NY – Matt Sheppard moved one step closer to a significant Super DIRTcar Series milestone Monday night at Thunder Mountain Speedway on JMS Plumbing and Heating Night.

“Super Matt” beat Peter Britten to Turn 1 on the race’s opening lap and never relinquished the position, leading every lap to win the Natural 77 honoring Dale Planck, and earning his 99th career Series win.

The victory brings Sheppard one win away from joining Brett Hearn as the only two drivers to earn 100 Series triumphs.

It’s also his first championship season top five of the year after what he called a horrible start to 2025.

“Flat tires, broken shocks, bad Qualifying efforts, we just haven’t been able to put a night together,” Sheppard said. “We had speed at times but never at the right time. Luckily, tonight, we were able to pick up that [Heat Race] win and that all-important number one draw and put 77 laps together.

“You have to have a really good race car and a really good team, but luck is just as important in this game, too. Sometimes drawing a good number is just as important as having a good race car.”

Sheppard, the SRI Performance and Stock Car Steel Pole Award winner led the field to the green alongside Britten in the 77-lap Feature. The two drivers battled side-by-side down the backstretch on the race’s opening lap, but Sheppard’s momentum carried him across the start-finish line as the leader on Lap 1.

That side-by-side battle didn’t last long, as Sheppard pulled ahead through Turns 1 and 2 and drove away from the No. 21A. However, contact at the back of the field led to an incident involving Jimmy Phelps, Tim Sears Jr., and Jamie Kamrowski for the first of the race’s two cautions.

Sheppard continued his lead when the race resumed, pulling away until he reached the back of the field on Lap 17. That allowed Britten to close in on Sheppard, but the Brisbane, QLD driver couldn’t find a way by the No. 9S.

The Waterloo, NY driver eventually pulled away to a two-second lead over Britten in traffic and went unchallenged before a caution for Daniel Morgewicz on Lap 56 slowed the field again.

On the restart, Sheppard drove away from Britten for a third time, cruising through the final 21 laps to win the $7,700 prize and his second Series checkered flag of the season.

Sheppard said his notes from last year’s race at Thunder Mountain helped him prepare for the 77-lap Feature.

“Everyone tried driving around lap cars (last year), and it cost them spots every time,” Sheppard said. “I was definitely nervous early in the race because the top was really good, and the middle was pretty good. But I thought the longer the race went on, as long as I could stay on the brown, that would be a positive for me.

“It was just a matter of keeping the car straight and trying to pass the lap cars you could pass.”

Britten crossed the line second, earning his first championship season top five of 2025. It’s a run the Aussie said he needed after he finished 17th, 28th, and 16th in the first three events.

“Knowing how the race went and how my year’s gone, I wasn’t going to be the guy to pull out of line and get freight trained,” Britten said. “If someone has been brave enough to do it and it worked, then good on them. Matt obviously tried the same approach.

“I really didn’t want to see that last caution come out because then I had to make a decision on what to do on this restart. I felt like the tires had finally gone off, and they did feather a little bit on the right rear. And I wasn’t feeling as confident to roll the middle. So, I tried to floor it the best I could, and Matt got a better jump.”

The Ransomville, NY driver said his third consecutive top-five finish was possible after he passed nine cars in the first 12 laps using the outside lane.

“I knew everyone was fighting for the bottom there,” Rudolph said. “They kind of got jammed up, so I got a couple of them that way. I think the middle was there all night, but I think after a handful of laps it seemed like the bottom got too good on everybody. I tried it a few times on that green flag run, but there was nothing there.”

Jordan McCreadie finished fourth in his first Super DIRTcar Series start of 2025.

Richard Murtaugh captured a long-awaited victory Saturday night at Thunder Mountain Speedway, earning his first win in over five year at Thunder Mountain. After starting second, Murtaugh took control on a lap five restart and never looked back, fending off fierce challenges through multiple restarts.

Tyler Corcoran made a strong charge from ninth to finish second, while pole-sitter Brian Harber settled for third. Jordan Millard and Matt Brewer rounded out the top five in the 25-lap feature, but the night belonged to Murtaugh, who returned to victory lane in triumphant fashion.

Doug Stack Jr. dominated the 20-lap 4-Cylinder main event Saturday night at Thunder Mountain Speedway, leading every lap from the pole position to secure a commanding victory. Stack Jr. set the pace early and never faltered, despite a hard-charging field behind him.

Adding to the excitement, Doug Stack Sr. thrilled fans with a dramatic run from 12th to finish second, making it a memorable night for the Stack family. Shane Moshier stormed through the field from 14th to take third, while Thomas Hammond impressed by climbing from 24th to finish fourth. Bob Maynard finished fifth.

Information:

📍 Track Location: 91 Hunts Corners Rd, Richford, NY 13835
📞 More Info: Visit Thunder Mountain Speedway on Facebook or contact the track directly at 607.849.7889.

About Thunder Mountain Speedway:
Thunder Mountain Speedway is a high-banked 3/8-mile dirt oval nestled in Center Lisle, NY. Family-owned and operated, the track is known for its fast racing, scenic location, and commitment to delivering top-tier dirt racing events. Each season features a blend of weekly divisions and touring series that make Thunder Mountain one of the Northeast’s must-visit dirt tracks.

RACE RESULTS 5/26/25

DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds
The Natural 77 (77 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[1]; 2. 21A-Peter Britten[2]; 3. 25-Erick Rudolph[19]; 4. 28M-Jordan McCreadie[6]; 5. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[7]; 6. 70A-Alex Payne[18]; 7. 91-Felix Roy[25]; 8. 4M-Logan Watt[9]; 9. 31-Lance Willix[11]; 10. 4-Anthony Perrego[8]; 11. 88-Mat Williamson[3]; 12. 35-Mike Mahaney[5]; 13. 2-Jack Lehner[13]; 14. 26R-Corey Cormier[23]; 15. 7Z-Zachary Payne[15]; 16. 22-Brandon Walters[10]; 17. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[20]; 18. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[14]; 19. 71-Jimmy Zacharias[21]; 20. 27K-Brett Tonkin[4]; 21. 27JR-Daniel Johnson[27]; 22. 12-Darren Smith[22]; 23. 284-Jamie Kamrowski[29]; 24. (DNF) 14B-Brendan Darrah[16]; 25. (DNF) 44H-Chris Hulsizer[24]; 26. (DNF) 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[12]; 27. (DNF) 15-Todd Root[17]; 28. (DNF) 17-Marcus Dinkins[28]; 29. (DNF) 98H-Jimmy Phelps[26]

Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 25-Erick Rudolph[3]; 2. 71-Jimmy Zacharias[1]; 3. 26R-Corey Cormier[9]; 4. 91-Felix Roy[4]; 5. 9X-Tyler Trump[5]; 6. 15X-Justin Stone[6]; 7. 284-Jamie Kamrowski[10]; 8. 53-Geoffrey Quackenbush[14]; 9. 28-Michael Trautschold[12]; 10. 99L-Larry Wight[16]; 11. #34-Shayne Spoonhower[8]; 12. 17-Marcus Dinkins[7]; 13. 44S-Gordon Smith[11]; 14. 11-Matt Caprara[18]; 15. 60-Jackson Gill[15]; 16. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[17]; 17. 35L-LJ Lombardo[2]; 18. (DNS) 18$-Sean Beardsley

Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[5]; 2. 12-Darren Smith[1]; 3. 44H-Chris Hulsizer[2]; 4. 27JR-Daniel Johnson[7]; 5. 6NN-Nick Nye[4]; 6. 6-Matt Stangle[11]; 7. 4V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[13]; 8. 3B-Ryan Behrent[6]; 9. 21M-Bob Mcgannon[9]; 10. 28S-Matt Smith[3]; 11. 30-Nicholas Root[15]; 12. 25P-Michael Parent[12]; 13. JD33-Joshua Landers[16]; 14. (DNF) 97-Cody Higbie[8]; 15. (DNF) 91D-Billy Decker[10]; 16. (DNF) X1-Ken Eckert[14]; 17. (DNS) 20-David Schilling

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 35-Mike Mahaney[1]; 2. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[3]; 3. 2-Jack Lehner[4]; 4. 71-Jimmy Zacharias[2]; 5. 91-Felix Roy[5]; 6. 17-Marcus Dinkins[7]; 7. 284-Jamie Kamrowski[6]; 8. 18$-Sean Beardsley[8]; 9. 99L-Larry Wight[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Mat Williamson[1]; 2. 4-Anthony Perrego[3]; 3. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[5]; 4. 35L-LJ Lombardo[2]; 5. 9X-Tyler Trump[4]; 6. #34-Shayne Spoonhower[8]; 7. 44S-Gordon Smith[6]; 8. 53-Geoffrey Quackenbush[9]; 9. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 28M-Jordan McCreadie[1]; 2. 4M-Logan Watt[3]; 3. 7Z-Zachary Payne[6]; 4. 25-Erick Rudolph[2]; 5. 15X-Justin Stone[4]; 6. 26R-Corey Cormier[9]; 7. 28-Michael Trautschold[7]; 8. 60-Jackson Gill[8]; 9. 11-Matt Caprara[5]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[3]; 2. 22-Brandon Walters[1]; 3. 14B-Brendan Darrah[2]; 4. 12-Darren Smith[4]; 5. 6NN-Nick Nye[5]; 6. 27JR-Daniel Johnson[8]; 7. 91D-Billy Decker[6]; 8. 4V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[7]; 9. JD33-Joshua Landers[9]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 21A-Peter Britten[2]; 2. 31-Lance Willix[1]; 3. 15-Todd Root[4]; 4. 44H-Chris Hulsizer[3]; 5. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[5]; 6. 97-Cody Higbie[7]; 7. 6-Matt Stangle[9]; 8. X1-Ken Eckert[8]; 9. (DNF) 20-David Schilling[6]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 27K-Brett Tonkin[2]; 2. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[1]; 3. 70A-Alex Payne[5]; 4. 28S-Matt Smith[4]; 5. 3B-Ryan Behrent[3]; 6. 21M-Bob Mcgannon[7]; 7. 25P-Michael Parent[6]; 8. 30-Nicholas Root[8]

Group A Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 35-Mike Mahaney, 00:13.930[3]; 2. 88-Mat Williamson, 00:14.081[2]; 3. 28M-Jordan McCreadie, 00:14.116[14]; 4. 71-Jimmy Zacharias, 00:14.130[9]; 5. 35L-LJ Lombardo, 00:14.162[1]; 6. 25-Erick Rudolph, 00:14.162[20]; 7. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:14.167[8]; 8. 4-Anthony Perrego, 00:14.171[25]; 9. 4M-Logan Watt, 00:14.199[26]; 10. 2-Jack Lehner, 00:14.245[13]; 11. 9X-Tyler Trump, 00:14.277[5]; 12. 15X-Justin Stone, 00:14.281[24]; 13. 91-Felix Roy, 00:14.296[6]; 14. 83X-Tim Sears Jr, 00:14.343[23]; 15. 11-Matt Caprara, 00:14.368[10]; 16. 284-Jamie Kamrowski, 00:14.405[19]; 17. 44S-Gordon Smith, 00:14.408[7]; 18. 7Z-Zachary Payne, 00:14.417[21]; 19. 17-Marcus Dinkins, 00:14.469[16]; 20. 98H-Jimmy Phelps, 00:14.500[18]; 21. 28-Michael Trautschold, 00:14.551[15]; 22. 18$-Sean Beardsley, 00:14.563[12]; 23. #34-Shayne Spoonhower, 00:14.645[27]; 24. 60-Jackson Gill, 00:14.653[11]; 25. 99L-Larry Wight, 00:14.774[22]; 26. 53-Geoffrey Quackenbush, 00:14.889[17]; 27. (DNS) 26R-Corey Cormier

Group B Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 22-Brandon Walters, 00:14.324[19]; 2. 31-Lance Willix, 00:14.327[7]; 3. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr, 00:14.347[4]; 4. 14B-Brendan Darrah, 00:14.369[3]; 5. 21A-Peter Britten, 00:14.379[22]; 6. 27K-Brett Tonkin, 00:14.402[1]; 7. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:14.452[13]; 8. 44H-Chris Hulsizer, 00:14.515[9]; 9. 3B-Ryan Behrent, 00:14.517[17]; 10. 12-Darren Smith, 00:14.546[26]; 11. 15-Todd Root, 00:14.557[23]; 12. 28S-Matt Smith, 00:14.589[14]; 13. 6NN-Nick Nye, 00:14.600[8]; 14. 32R-Ronnie Davis III, 00:14.630[11]; 15. 70A-Alex Payne, 00:14.672[16]; 16. 91D-Billy Decker, 00:14.700[2]; 17. 20-David Schilling, 00:14.725[21]; 18. 25P-Michael Parent, 00:14.739[10]; 19. 4V-Billy VanInwegen Jr, 00:14.750[12]; 20. 97-Cody Higbie, 00:14.806[6]; 21. 21M-Bob Mcgannon, 00:14.844[15]; 22. 27JR-Daniel Johnson, 00:14.856[24]; 23. X1-Ken Eckert, 00:14.877[25]; 24. 30-Nicholas Root, 00:15.037[18]; 25. JD33-Joshua Landers, 00:15.344[5]; 26. 6-Matt Stangle, 00:15.359[20]

Re-Draw: 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[4]; 2. 21A-Peter Britten[5]; 3. 88-Mat Williamson[2]; 4. 27K-Brett Tonkin[6]; 5. 35-Mike Mahaney[1]; 6. 28M-Jordan McCreadie[3]

DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds
Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 33-Richard Murtaugh[2]; 2. 64-Tyler Corcoran[9]; 3. 18$-Brian Harber[1]; 4. 99M-Jordan Millard[11]; 5. 39B-MATT BREWER[8]; 6. 120-Will Eastman[10]; 7. 56-Devon Green[16]; 8. 79-Eric Winsor[15]; 9. 121-Chris Clemens[4]; 10. T69-Travis Green[12]; 11. 78-Stephen Winsor[6]; 12. 10-Trevor Houghton[18]; 13. 34F-Wyatt Frink[13]; 14. 30-Michael Root[23]; 15. 48-Luke Powell[3]; 16. 37-TJ Frost[14]; 17. 90-Ray Taylor[17]; 18. 99-Cody Jackson[7]; 19. 08-Rich Talada[21]; 20. 0-Tony Finch II[5]; 21. D3-Dale Folejewski[26]; 22. B17-Randy Brokaw[20]; 23. 7-Chance Spoonhower Jr[19]; 24. 88-Alan Komar[24]; 25. (DNS) 27-Chuck Lowe; 26. (DNS) 76-Michael Arnold

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 39B-MATT BREWER[5]; 2. 120-Will Eastman[2]; 3. 18$-Brian Harber[3]; 4. 48-Luke Powell[7]; 5. 34F-Wyatt Frink[4]; 6. 56-Devon Green[9]; 7. 7-Chance Spoonhower Jr[6]; 8. 76-Michael Arnold[8]; 9. (DNF) 27-Chuck Lowe[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Cody Jackson[1]; 2. 64-Tyler Corcoran[5]; 3. 99M-Jordan Millard[4]; 4. 78-Stephen Winsor[3]; 5. 37-TJ Frost[7]; 6. 90-Ray Taylor[8]; 7. B17-Randy Brokaw[2]; 8. 30-Michael Root[6]; 9. D3-Dale Folejewski[9]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 0-Tony Finch II[4]; 2. T69-Travis Green[2]; 3. 121-Chris Clemens[1]; 4. 33-Richard Murtaugh[7]; 5. 79-Eric Winsor[8]; 6. 10-Trevor Houghton[3]; 7. 08-Rich Talada[6]; 8. 88-Alan Komar[5]

Factory Stocks
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 4 1S-Doug Stack JR[1]; 2. 34-Doug Stack SR[12]; 3. 1I-Shane Moshier[14]; 4. 7JR-Thomas Hammond[24]; 5. 29-Bob Maynard[15]; 6. 22L-Harold Lobdell Jr[7]; 7. 9J-Josh Towner[6]; 8. 83T-Rich Sharpsteen[9]; 9. 202L-Jerry Lobdell Jr[11]; 10. 8M-Harry Marvin[8]; 11. 113-Dan Worthington[22]; 12. 28-Brandon Barron[13]; 13. 97-Austin Baldwin[17]; 14. 87-Ace Prentice[16]; 15. 77-Donny Burgess[23]; 16. M60-Lukas Mills[3]; 17. 1-Kevin Garland[20]; 18. 1*-Tommy Groover[5]; 19. 19-Darren Davies[18]; 20. 57-Damon Decker[10]; 21. 4-Richard Glover[21]; 22. 81-Justin Lovejoy[19]; 23. (DNS) 65-Kyle Lingerfelt; 24. (DQ) 32-Eric Beach[2]; 25. (DQ) 115-Buck Mills jr[4]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 4 1S-Doug Stack JR[4]; 2. 9J-Josh Towner[1]; 3. 22L-Harold Lobdell Jr[3]; 4. M60-Lukas Mills[6]; 5. 28-Brandon Barron[2]; 6. 87-Ace Prentice[7]; 7. 81-Justin Lovejoy[8]; 8. 113-Dan Worthington[5]; 9. (DNS) 65-Kyle Lingerfelt

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 8M-Harry Marvin[1]; 2. 57-Damon Decker[4]; 3. 1*-Tommy Groover[2]; 4. 115-Buck Mills jr[3]; 5. 1I-Shane Moshier[6]; 6. 97-Austin Baldwin[7]; 7. 1-Kevin Garland[5]; 8. 77-Donny Burgess[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 34-Doug Stack SR[3]; 2. 32-Eric Beach[8]; 3. 83T-Rich Sharpsteen[5]; 4. 202L-Jerry Lobdell Jr[7]; 5. 29-Bob Maynard[2]; 6. 19-Darren Davies[1]; 7. 4-Richard Glover[4]; 8. 7JR-Thomas Hammond[6]