Canandaigua, NY – April 27, 2013 – Dave Roberts, Canandaigua Motorsports Park PR Correspondent
 A beautiful night greeted race fans Saturday night at Canandaigua Motorsports Park as the fast Ontario County Fairgrounds based half-mile oval escaped the rainy and cold weather that has hampered the facility for the previous two weeks.
Matt Sheppard of Waterloo, N.Y. made his presence on the evening known, winning his first of the 2013 campaign. Sheppard took the lead off a lap 27 restart and went on for the 35 lap Team Tiremaster Big-Block Modified victory. Sheppard started 11th on the grid and moved himself through the field.
Sheppard got himself into second on lap 19 and pressured then leader Vic Coffey. Another caution period later on proved to be to his advantage.
“Starting 11th in this field is tough enough. You knew if you could get by these guys, you car was running well,” Sheppard said in victory lane.
It has been a tough go for Sheppard. Saturday night’s win was his first of the 2013 season.
“I’ll tell you, the car has been good, then not good. Tonight, we were really on our game.”
Coffey held on for second-place followed by Vince Vitale, who led the first eleven laps of the feature. Fourth was Danny Johnson, who accidentally hit the outside wall off turn two in the late stages of the event but was able to continue on. Rounding out the top-five was Jimmy Phelps.
Steve Paine was also running in the top-five until lap 32 when he started to slow on the back straight, exiting to the infield.
Heat race winners were Chad Homan, Ron Cartright, Vic Coffey and Vince Vitale. The consi was won by Tyler Siri.
 Kevin Ridley took the lead on lap three of the scheduled 25 lap Safety Awareness Solutions main event and captured his first of the 2013 season at Canandaigua. Ridley was strongest off the restarts and was better than three seconds ahead of Dan Wiesner when the duo crossed the finish line.
“This car was so good tonight,” said Ridley in victory lane. “You can go wide-open in three and four while you have to take your foot off the gas just a little in one and two.”
Steve Gray finished third while opening night winner Dave Marcuccilli finished fourth after making a late race pass on fifth-place finisher Paul Guererri.
Heat winners were Paul Guererri, Kevin Ridley, Steve Gray and Eric Giguere. The consolation event was won by Randy McCullough.
In the Parts Plus Street Stock feature, Mike Welch of Lyons, N.Y. repeated his opening night performance buy winning the 15 lap feature. Welch started on the outside pole and was virtually untouchable. The race was interrupted by a pair of caution periods. On each of the restarts, Welch regained a big lead and went under the checkered flag several car-lengths ahead of second-place finisher Chris Guererri.
“The track was just awesome tonight,” said Welch, enjoying the laurels of victory lane. “It’ll probably be next week when we have to start coming from the back of the pack. I have all of my family watching here tonight so this is enjoyable.”
Third was Adam DePuy followed by Jake Karlnoski and Steve Pesarek.
The two Parts Plus Street Stock heat races were won by Mike Welch and Nate Daggett.
 In the 12 lap Pure Stock main event, Derek Excell took his first career win in the division. Excell led the entire distance to post the victory.
Finishing second was Marc Minutolo followed by his father, Mike Minutolo Sr. Roger Bush took home fourth while Eric Chapman was fifth.
Heat race winners in the Pure Stocks were Marc Minutolo and Jeremy Pifer.
“It’s been a long time but we won here before in a Street Stock,” said Excell. “I just love this track. It’s great to win here again.”
In the Castner Performance 305 Sprints, Charlie Donk took his second in a row, leading all 15 laps in the feature event.
“We don’t really put in a lot of stagger here,” Donk said afterwards. “We tighten the car up for this place.”
The top-five was a real family affair. Second was Justin Henderson followed by Darryl Ruggles in third. Rounding out the top-five were Justin’s dad Todd Henderson and Darryl’s daughter Alysha Ruggles.
Heat race winners were Charlie Donk and Darryl Ruggles.
In the Community Car Care of Waterloo New Legend Sportsman, Andrew Jacobson was the winner of the 12 lap feature event. Jacobson led the entire distance.
Following Jacobson to the checkered flag were Nicole Hoag, Josh McMillan, Sarah Johnson and Jason Caldwell.
The heat race winner was also Andrew Jacobson.
Canandaigua Motorsports Park kicks off its second month of action on Saturday, May 4 with American Equipment and Labatt Blue/Blue Light backing a fast-paced six-division show of Team Tiremasters Big-Block Modified, Safety Awareness Solutions Sportsman, Castner Performance 305 Sprint Car, Parts Plus Street Stock, Pure Stock and Community Car Care of Waterloo New Legends Sportsman racing. 1-on-1 Spectator Races fill the card with qualifying rounds going green at 7pm. Pit gates swing open at 4pm with grandstand seating begins at 5pm.
With CMP's Golden Anniversary season now officially underway, be sure to follow the point standings and breaking news online by visiting www.CanandaiguaMotorsportsPark.com. Send along a note to speed@BigMotorMedia.com to join the e-mail list, or register with https://www.twitter.com/Canandaigua_MSP to keep up-to-date on-line and through text messages on cell phones via Twitter.
For more information, please contact Jeremie Corcoran via cell 315-374-2839 or e-mail jeremiecorcoran@yahoo.com. Joe Bailey (585-500-8852, jbailey0626@yahoo.com) can also be reached during the week to discuss marketing opportunities currently available at the track in 2013.
Canandaigua Motorsports Park is located at the Ontario County Fairgrounds, east of the city on Town Line Road (County Road 10), with easy access off either Exit 43 (Manchester, Route 21 South) or Exit 44 (Farmington, Route 332 South) of the New York State Thruway, just ½-hour southeast of Rochester.
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