Jul 18, 2026 02:49 PM EDT
MATT SHEPPARD ROLLS TO MODIFIED WIN FOUR OF 2026 AT OUTLAW SPEEDWAY
Scott Torbitt claims Crate Sportsman, Jimmy Grant wins Street Stocks, Brighton Grant in Hobby Stocks and Collin Mills takes home Mini Stock victory.
Story by Kenny Shupp Jr.
(Dundee, NY) A pair of new faces graced the Outlaw Speedway Victory Lane while three others continue to rack up feature win victories during the 2026 season.
Entering the night three Modified drivers were all tied for the most feature wins including defending Track Champion, Michael Maresca, Alex Payne and Matt Sheppard, however with a dominating performance the man called Super Matt lived up to his nickname as he barnstormed through the field from his eleventh starting position to take the lead on lap fourteen and from there cruise to win four on the campaign and extend his point advantage.
Will Shields of Kings Ferry was joined on the front row by Groton’s Tommy Collins as the nineteen-car field rumbled to the opening green flag.
Very uncharastic for the Friendly Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram Modifieds was a barrage of yellow flags with most coming during the first half of the thirty-lap event coming prior to the lap fifteen half-way mark.
Seven yellow flag slow downs total kept the field bunch the entire distance, however on each restart Shields was able to run the very bottom of the Fast 4/10 of a Mile Oval and keep everyone at bay.
The fifth caution flag waved on lap thirteen and it was on the following lap that Sheppard made his move around Shields to take command and from there withstand two more yellow flags to go on to the victory.
Alex Payne who lined up alongside Sheppard on the opening grid got bogged down coming through traffic but was able to clear Michael Maresca late in the event to move into the runner-up spot bringing Maresca along with him and with just a handful of laps remaining the lead trio was able to put some distance between the rest of the field with all three running the very top of the banking.
With the double flags flying Sheppard had a comfortable advantage over Payne who was second with Maresca completing the podium.
Shields drove a masterful race but faded a bit at the end still managing a great fourth place finish with Johnstown, NY veteran Bobby Varin completing the top five after lining up in that same spot after a race long slug fest with his car owner, Bossman Tyler Siri.
The Knapp and Schlappi Lumber 602 Crate Sportsman saw twenty machines go to the post in a twenty-five-lap feature and it comes as no surprise that the highly competitive division produced yet another first time ever feature winner.
Scott Torbitt was dominate in claiming his early evening qualifying heat race and that confidence spilled over to the feature as Torbitt of Freeville lined up third on the grid took control passing front row starters Kevin Decamp and Collin Brown and from there go onto victory making him the tenth different driver to visit Outlaw Speedway Crate Sportsman victory lane thus far in 2026 and to make it even more special it was Torbitt’s first ever feature win.
Veteran Montour Falls wheelman, Dale Welty was looking to add his name to the winners list, but he will have to wait one more week as he started fifth at the start and would come home for a well-deserved runner-up finish.
Outside front row starter, Collin Brown of Corning would race with the lead pack the entire distance and go on to finish out the top three podium finishers.
July 3 feature winner, Daryl Krebs of Union Springs began the event right behind Welty in the fourth row and came home fourth with current high point man, Blake Parsons of Beaver Dams rounding the top five after starting eleventh.
With Glenn Whritenour not returning to Outlaw full time in 2026 it opened the door for what potentially will become a new Swarthout Recycling Street Stock Track Champion in 2026.
Jimmy Grant has become the dominant force during the first half of the 2026 season and entering the night the Penn Yan native had accumulated four feature wins.
A somewhat light but stout field of ten machines took the opening green for the Swarthout Street Stock twenty-lap feature with May 22 winner, Brett Crawford of Corning along with Eli Mangiarelli making up the front row.
Whritenour, who was in attendance, lined up right behind Grant in spot eight and all eyes were on the pair as they maneuvered through traffic and assumed the top two positions with both competitors looking to add another notch in their belts as feature winners.
Grant, who is having a prenominal 2026 season where he goes was able to get the best of GW on this night as he was able to hold off GW to claim his fifth feature win of the campaign and extend his point advantage over last years Rookiei of the Year, Willy Easling of Beaver Dams.
Chasing Grant and Whritenour across the line was Crawford who ran within the lead pack the entire distance after starting on the pole with Easling giving chase but having to settle for fourth after lining up fifth on the starting grid.
Completing the top five was Mangiarelli in the Schuyler Family Racing Grocery Getter.
The Addison, Corning, Hornell, Wellsville NAPA Hobby Stocks brought thirteen machines to the post with Jesse Balance of Corning and Keegan Smith leading the charge into turn one off the drop of the opening green.
Brighton Grant of Penn Yan has been nothing shy of a picture of consistency all year in his Rookie Season and on this night he lined up outside the second starting row, got out front ahead of perennial top dogs Marc Minutolo and Danny Kerrick and was able to go on to his first ever feature win at Outlaw and with that he is able to maintain a solid third place in the point standings in his quest of winning both the Track Championship and Rookie Title in the same season, similar to what Kerrick did in 2025.
Danny Kerrick, who entered the night with a class leading five feature wins, was able to finish second to Grant after starting right behind Grant in the third starting row with Dundee’s Jared Hill having a great run claiming third after maintaining that spot throughout the entire twenty-lap distance.
Fourth was garnered by Mr. Smooth Marc Minutolo of Newark who started eighth on the grid with The Nature Boy Mike Stone of Campbell rounding the top five and like Hill he too maintained his position from start to finish.
MR GRAFIX 4 Cylinder Mini Stocks found another repeat winner as Collin Mills of Deposit made it three wins on the season and back-to-back victories as he blasted through the field from starting spot nine and went on to win.
Mike Ayers of Prattsburgh along with Gavin Hall of Dundee would bring the field to green for their twenty-lap feature with current point leader, Craig Decamp of Beaver Dams starting fifth.
However, Mills was too much to manage on this night as he rolled into victory lane followed across the line by Michael Dickerson of Elmira, however in post-race tech Dickerson was a DQ.
Third place went to Kenneth Evans of Elmira who drove through a loaded field of Mini Stocks after starting the event in seventeenth.
Chasing Evans across the line was former Track Champion, Jayson Smart of Branchport with Decamp advancing one spot from sixth at the start to complete the top five.
Congratulations to all competitors.
Up next at Outlaw Speedway it will be $5 Fan Appreciation Night, Christmas in July with an appearance from Santa Claus, Bike Give Aways and Driver Autographs in addition to a Regular FAST 5* Show.
Come early for this one as it will be a capacity crowd with plenty of excitement on and off track.
11th Annual Outlaw Summer Nationals will wrap up July on the 31st with Wing Night as the 360 Empire Super Sprints and CRSA 305 Sprints will join the Friendly Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram Modifieds, Knapp and Schlappi Sportsman and the NAPA Hobby Stocks. Full point show for Modifieds, CS and HS.
RESULTS.
Friendly Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram Modifieds. 19 cars
Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[11]; 2. 70A-Alex Payne[12]; 3. 7MM-Mike Maresca[10]; 4. 82S-Will Shields[1]; 5. 18V-Bobby Varin[5]; 6. 27J-Danny Johnson[9]; 7. 5*-Tyler Siri[7]; 8. 42P-Pat Ward[13]; 9. 21P-Derrick Podsiadlo[8]; 10. 713-Tommy Collins[2]; 11. 35-Francois Bellemare[16]; 12. 33-Tyler Yeagle[15]; 13. 22JZ-Jeff Daugherty[3]; 14. 70-Brady Fultz[6]; 15. 19W-Justin Wright[4]; 16. 14-Brian Swarthout[14]; 17. 007-Christain Thompson[18]; 18. M13-David Matwiejow[17]; 19. 6-Tommy Paine[19]
Knapp and Schlappi Lumber Crate Sportsman. 20 cars.
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 88T-Scot Torbitt[3]; 2. 123-Dale Welty[6]; 3. 87-Collin Brown[2]; 4. 13K-Daryl Krebs[8]; 5. 55-Blake Parsons[11]; 6. 41-Josh Nobriga[5]; 7. 4R-Bryan Rhoads[4]; 8. 1F-AJ Lloyd[7]; 9. 714-Chris Darling[14]; 10. 5-Brent Ayers[9]; 11. 27B-Quintin Buchanan[13]; 12. 84-Colton Coots[10]; 13. 14G-Craig Gardner[15]; 14. 17-Mikenna Buchanan[20]; 15. 06-Tim Guild[18]; 16. 37-Chris Fisher[12]; 17. 22K-Kevin Decamp[1]; 18. 10J-Jacob Gurecki[16]; 19. 1-Steve Lead[17]; 20. 14-Chris Hall[19]
Swarthout Recycling Street Stocks. 10 cars.
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 36-Jimmy Grant[6]; 2. 15-Glenn Whritenour[8]; 3. 8-Brett Crawford[1]; 4. 28-Willy Easling[5]; 5. 57J-Ely Mangiarelli[2]; 6. 2L-Jerry Lobdell Jr[7]; 7. 25J-Joe Giardina[3]; 8. 7-Gene Sharpsteen[4]; 9. 9-Aksel Jensen[10]; 10. 45-Sparky Hills[9]
Addison, Corning, Hornell, Wellsville NAPA Hobby Stocks. 13 cars
Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 36X-BRIGHTON GRANT[4]; 2. 61-Danny Kerrick[6]; 3. 93-Jared Hill[3]; 4. 25B-Marc Minutolo[8]; 5. 23-Mike Stone[5]; 6. 3X-Meadow Dgien[7]; 7. 21-Jackson Dunning[9]; 8. 3-Jesse Ballance[1]; 9. 4-Jake Karlnoski[10]; 10. 21B-William Bradley[13]; 11. X30-Don Slover[11]; 12. 89-Randy Mathews[12]; 13. (DNS) 36K-Keegan Smith
MR Grafix Mini Stocks. 19 cars.
Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 23X-COLLIN MILLS[9]; 2. 00-Michael Dickerson[7] DQ; 3. 27-Kenneth Evans[17]; 4. 8-Jayson Smart[5]; 5. 22C-Craig Decamp[6]; 6. 22-Zach Daugherty[3]; 7. 21X-Mike Ayers[1]; 8. 6-Derrick Puryear[12]; 9. 19-Lee Fritz[8]; 10. 22E-Eric Inman[13]; 11. 44M-Courtney Thomas[15]; 12. 40-Ricky VanZile[16]; 13. 15-Derrick Evans[10]; 14. 63-Gavin Hall[2]; 15. 52J-Jack Ormsby[4]; 16. 23-Shawn Mills[11]; 17. 88-Marvin Jenkins[18]; 18. 9D-Dylan Burdick[14]; 19. (DNS) 9-Kolston Decamp. DQ. Michael Dickerson
