By kyohnson 
In Fulton, New York, on Friday night, Todd Root took the lead from Mike Phelps on lap 15 and effortlessly paced the remaining 25 laps, capping a flawless night at Fulton Speedway’s Highbank Holdup 40. This race marked the season opener for the DIRTcar Sportsman Series Central Region.
Root emerged as the fastest overall in time trials among the 52 cars present, before winning his heat race and then the 40-lap main event on a slick yet smooth Fulton track. Standing in Victory Lane, Root said, “This is exactly what I was looking for. We’ll be traveling throughout the series this year, and I was aiming for a strong start right from the gate. It doesn’t get much better than this.”
Mike Phelps and 16-year-old Tyler Trump led the field to the green flag for the 40-lap Feature. Phelps paced the pack early until a caution at lap seven due to Martin Pelletier’s spinning car slowed the field. Phelps maintained the lead on the restart but soon faced pressure from Tyler Trump. Fourth-place starter Root maintained a steady pace with the leading trio that included Jeremy Dygert before using the restart to challenge Trump for the second position. Root made the most of his track position and took the lead on lap 15 after a calculated start to the race.
“We had to search for the right line,” Root explained. “I wasn’t sure exactly where it would be. Earlier in the night, it was low, and I figured the track would improve. Once I started finding my marks, the car performed really well.”
Root built a solid advantage over Trump, but never pulled away completely. However, that advantage was erased with the second and final caution of the Feature when Charlie Tibbitts spun his No. T1 car in turn four. Tyler Trump made his best move on the restart and tried to chase down Root, but fell roughly five car lengths short of the victory. Despite the effort, Trump tried various lines over the final 10 laps in hopes of catching up to the leader Root.
Regarding his strategy, Trump said, “I was looking for a different line that was faster with more momentum to go around the track quicker. The high side was where I wanted to be, and Todd always races there.”
Dave Marcuccelli raced into third position after starting ninth. However, the final caution with 14 laps to go hampered his ability to catch up to the top two. Marcuccelli said, “I had a long-run car, not a short-run one. After that caution, it kind of killed me. We needed another 10 or 15 laps to see if I could get back up there. They were strong, so I struggled a bit as the right-rear heated up.”
Root, Marcuccelli, and Mike Phelps, along with Shane Pecore and Billy Clark Jr., were all heat race winners. Zach Sobotka and Corey Barker claimed the two Last Chance Showdowns to qualify for the main event. Provisional starting spots were awarded to Ron Davis III, Alex LaJoie, Jessica Power, Chris Cunningham, and Kevin Root based on 2016 series points and attendance.
The DIRTcar Sportsman Series Central region continues at Utica-Rome Speedway in Vernon, New York, on Sunday, April 30. The Northern Region kicks off on Saturday, May 6, at Autodrome Drummond in Drummondville, Quebec, with the Racing Stock 50. For more information, visit www.dirtcarump.com.
DIRTcar Sportsman Series Statistical Report (Central Region)
Highbank Hold-Up 40 at Fulton Speedway – April 28, 2017
Feature – (40 Laps) – 1. 15-Todd Root, [4]; 2. 9x-Tyler Trump, [2]; 3. M1-Dave Marcuccelli, [9]; 4. 22J-Jeremy Dygert, [3]; 5. 0-Shane Pecore, [5]; 6. 99-Billy Clark Jr., [6]; 7. 14-Jeremy Pitcher, [18]; 8. 48-Matt Picotin, [11]; 9. 7c-Glenn Forward, [17]; 10. 20k-Kyle Inman, [15]; 11. 31-Corey Barker, [21]; 12. 34-Kevin Root, [30]; 13. 52-Jessica Power, [28]; 14. 99m-Mike Phelps, [1]; 15. 24k-Nick Krause, [16]; 16. 11-Kyle Fink, [13]; 17. 38-Zach Sobotka, [20]; 18. 3x-Tony Finch, [19]; 19. 32r-Ron Davis III, [26]; 20. 713-Tom Collins Jr., [23]; 21. 94x-Chris Burex, [13]; 22. 21d-Robert Delormier, [25]; 23. 33x-Alex Lajoie, [27]; 24. 29k-Chris Cunningham, [28]; 25. 3m-Mike Stanton, [8]; 26. T1-Charlie Tibbitts, [10]; 27. 18r-Brad Rouse, [7]; 28. 80x-Mike Button, [24]; 29. 92p-Martin Pelletier, [14]; 20. 4m-Greg Martin, [22].
Qualifying Group 1 – 1. 15-Todd Root, 17.561; 2. 20k-Kyle Inman, 17.676; 3.18r-Brad Rouse, 17.728; 4. T1-Charlie Tibbitts, 17.757; 5. 80x-Mike Button, 17.785; 6. 52-Jessica Power, 17.792; 7. 3-Chris Mackey, 17.810; 8. 713-Tommy Collins, 17.952; 9. 98T-Tyler Thompson, 17.978; 10. 87J-John Strickler, 18.549.
Qualifying Group 2 – 1. 22j-Jeremy Dygert, 17.784; 2. 48-Matt Picotin, 17.922; 3. 24k-Nick Krause, 17.927; 4. 99m-Mike Phelps, 18.012; 5. 21d-Robert Delormier, 18.046; 6. 06w-Dorian Wahdan, 18.089; 7. 34L-Patrick Lapage, 18.119; 8. 27z-Ray Bliss, 18.163; 9. 8-Zac McBride, 18.274; 10. 94-Gabriel Cyr, 18.796; 11. 7w-Tom Mackey, NT.
Qualifying Group 3 – 1. 32r-Ron Davis III, 17.582; 2. 0-Shane Pecore, 17.659; 3. 7c-Glenn Forward, 17.837; 4. 17J-Brent Joy, 17.874; 5. 38-Zach Sobotka, 17.883; 6. 60-Jackson Gill, 17.899; 7. 94x-Chris Burek, 18.025; 8. 3m-Mike Stanton Jr., 18.058; 9. 35-Tom Cook, 18.111; 10. 36-Chantel Provencher, 18.475; 11. 3c-Colby Herzog, 18.564.
Qualifying Group 4 – 1. 8-Alan Fink, 17.655; 2. 11-Kyle Fink, 17.748; 3. 82-Will Sheilds, 17.760; 4. M1-Dave Marcuccelli, 17.769; 5. 14-Jeremy Pitcher, 17.961; 6. 29k-Graig Cunningham, 17.969; 7. 34-Kevin Root, 17.999; 8. 31-Corey Barker, 18.128; 9. 23-Mike Stacey, 18.176; 10. 22c-Cedric Gauvreau, 18.321.
Qualifying Group 5 – 1. 99-Bill Clark Jr., 17.644; 2. 9x-Tyler Trump, 17.688; 3. 4m-Greg Martin, 17.961; 4. 92p-Martin Pelletier, 17.967; 5. 771-Joe Sobotka, 18.164; 6. 3x-Tony Finch, 18.258; 7. 7d-Bill Meginn, 18.844; 8. 7s-Torrey Stoughtenger, 18.939; 9. 33x-Alex Lajoie, 19.034; 10. 1r-Ricky Thompson, NT.
Heat 1 (8 Laps – Top-4 Finishers Transfer to A-Feature; Top-2 Redraw) – 1. 15-Todd Root; 2. 18r-Brad Rouse; 3. T1-Charlie Tibbitts; 4. 20k-Kyle Inman; 5. 80x-Mike Button; 6. 713-Tom Collins Jr.; 7. 52-Jessica Power; 8. 98T-Tyler Thompson; 9. 3-Chris Mackey; 10. 87J-John Strickler.
Heat 2 (8 Laps – Top-4 Finishers Transfer to A-Feature; Top-2 Redraw) – 1. 99m-Mike Phelps; 2. 22J-Jeremy Dygert; 3. 48-Matt Picotin; 4. 24k-Nick Krause; 5. 21d-Robert Delormier; 6. 27z-Ray Bliss; 7. 8-Zach McBride; 8. 06w-Dorian Wahdam; 9. 34L-Pat Lapage; 10. 94-Gabriel Cyr; 11. 7w-Tom Mackay.
Heat 3 (8 Laps – Top-4 Finishers Transfer to A-Feature; Top-2 Redraw) – 1. 0-Shane Pecore; 2. 3m-Mike Stanton; 3. 94x-Chris Burek; 4. 7c-Glenn Forward; 5. 38-Zach Sobotka; 6. 60-Jackson Gill; 7. 17J-Brent Joy; 8. 35-Thomas Cook; 9. 36-Chantel Provencher; 10. 32R-Ron Davis III.
Heat 4 (8 Laps – Top-4 Finishers Transfer to A-Feature; Top-2 Redraw) – 1. M1-Dave Marcuccelli; 2. 8-Alan Fink; 3. 11-Kyle Fink; 4. 14-Jeremy Pitcher; 5. 31-Corey Barker; 6. 82-Will Shields; 7. 29k-Chris Cunningham; 8. 34-Kevin Root; 9. 23-Mike Stacey; 10. 22c-Cedric Gauvreau; 11. 3c-Colby Herzog.
Heat 5 (8 Laps – Top-4 Finishers Transfer to A-Feature; Top-2 Redraw) – 1. 99-Billy Clark Jr.; 2. 9x-Tyler Trump; 3. 92p-Martin Pelletier; 4. 3x-Tony Finch; 5. 7s-Torry Stoughtenger; 6. 7d-Bill Meginn; 7. 4m-Greg Martin; 8. 771-Joe Sabotka; 9. 33x-Alex Lajoie; 10. 1R-Rick Thompson DNS.
Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps – Top-3 Finishers Transfer to A-Feature) – 1. 38-Zach Sobotka; 2. 4m-Greg Martin; 3. 80x-Mike Button; 4. 82-Will Shields; 5. 3-Chris Mackey; 6. 27z-Ray Bliss; 7. 17J-Brent Joy; 8. 52-Jessica Power; 9. 7s-Torry Stoughtenger; 10. 06w-Dorion Wahden; 11. 22c-Cedric Gauvreau; 12. 36-Chantel Provencher; 13. 34-Kevin Root; 14. 94-Gabrial Cyr; 15. 3c-Colby Herzog; 16. 33x-Alex Lajoie.
Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps – Top-3 Finishers Transfer to A-Feature) – 1. 31-Corey Barker; 2. 713-Tom Collins Jr.; 3. 21d-Robert Delormier; 4. 32R-Ron Davis III; 5. 98T-Tyler Thompson; 6. 8-Zach McBride; 7. 29k-Craig Cunningham; 8. 60-Jackson Gill; 9. 35-Thomas Cook; 10. 34L-Pat Lapage; 11. 87J-John Strickler; 12. 7d-Bill Meginn; 13. 7w-Tom Mackey; 14. 771-Joe Sabotka, DNS; 15. 23-Mike Stacey, DNS; 16. 1R-Ricky Thompson, DNS.