LAKE CITY, FL – After battery issues derailed his heat race, Larry Wight was forced to roll off from the 24th starting position in Friday night’s 50-lap Dirt Track Digest TV Showdown in the Sunshine State Modified feature.

No problem.

Wight survived a mid-race scare to pull off a late-race pass to win for the second night in a row and earn another $5,000 paycheck.

“If they keep leaving the top wide open for me, I’ll keep taking advantage of it,” said Wight. “I can’t even believe this car kept rolling. We had a battery take us out of the heat. We just had to claw our way up.”

Matt Sheppard took the lead at the green after redrawing the pole starting position for the feature. Sheppard raced out front as Tanner VanDoren and Stewart Friesen swapped the second spot back and forth.

On lap 12, Sheppard continued to lead as VanDoren slowed with mechanical issues on the top side of the speedway. The hard-charging Wight was on the top groove and made contact with VanDoren, damaging the right side of his No. 99L while running sixth.

The damage didn’t slow him down. When the green was displayed, Sheppard continued to show the fast way around, with Yankowski moving into second and Friesen third.

“We tagged the wall on that first lap; it just took off on me,” said Wight. “Tanner broke there. I was trying to cut down the track, and I already had my car set before I realized that he was slowing down that much. Luckily, we were able to get away from it with a little body damage. Maybe it helped us.”

As the laps clicked off, Sheppard found the back of the field, which allowed second on back to close in on lap 23. Sheppard’s pace was slowed, allowing Yankowski, Friesen, and Wight to close in.

Wight kept working the top side of the speedway while everyone else was on the bottom of the racetrack. Wight used that to his advantage and started picking off cars in the top five.

With 35 in the books, Wight took second. He then gave his full attention to Sheppard. He made his move two laps later on the outside of the track to take the lead.

Sheppard regrouped, and they raced three-wide down the backstretch on lap 38. Wight went to the top in turns three and four. He drove away for the win.

For the second night in a row, Sheppard was on the podium. He bested his opening night finish by one position, finishing in the runner-up spot.

“I’m a little too old and a little too gun-shy to ride this wall around and beat this thing up,” said Sheppard. “We had a really good car tonight. Larry has been absolutely outstanding down here. He was a league of his own last night and a league of his own tonight.”

Friesen tried to make ground late running the top, but ultimately finished in third.

“I just didn’t have the cojones to get up on the top like Larry did until it was too late,” said Friesen. “I still didn’t get all the way up there. The last two laps, I found that there was some grip there. Shame on me, I missed that lane.”

Darren Smith recorded his second top-five finish of the week by crossing the line fourth, with Yankowski fifth.

It was a bit of redemption in the 25-lap companion feature for the Sportsman division. Richard Murtaugh III earned his second career win at All-Tech by leading the entire way after breaking early in Thursday night’s feature. It was a $2,000 payday for the No. 33.

“I was pissed last night,” said Murtaugh. “We came with one goal, and that was to win. We did that. Glad to be able to finally get it done. What an amazing piece. We missed the setup quite a bit, but this thing was phenomenal. We’ll be better tomorrow because this thing was a handful to drive.”

Murtaugh jumped out early, with action behind him as Logan Lockhart, Chas Wolbert, and Brian Krummel tussled for the second spot. Lockhart eventually secured the position while looking for a way to chase down Murtaugh.

As Murtaugh set a torrid pace, Brian Calabrese was making tracks after starting 12th. He took the runner-up position away from Lockhart at the halfway point.

Calabrese did all he could in the closing laps to catch Murtaugh, to no avail. Murtaugh took the win, with Calabrese second. Lockhart held on for third, while Krummel and Wolbert completed the top five.

The DTD TV Showdown in the Sunshine State is supported by: Smith Site Development, Scott Jeffery’s Performance, Bob Hilbert Sportswear, Accurate Collision, Behrent’s Performance Warehouse, Donath Motor Worx, E&V Energy, Pit Stop Convenience Stores, Tommy Faxon Excavation, Hard Clay Observer, and Hytorc of New York.

Event Information

One night of action remains on Saturday, February 6. Hot laps begin at 6:15pm with racing slated for 7:00pm. Pit passes are $45 for each racing program. Grandstand admission on Saturday is $15.

Fans who can’t attend in person will still be able to catch every lap, as the racing will be broadcast live on Dirt Track Digest TV for $39.99 .

Full purse breakdowns and additional event information are available now atwww.dtdshowdown.com.

RACE RESULTS 2/6/26

MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (40 Laps): 1. 99L-Larry Wight[24]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard[1]; 3. 44-Stewart Friesen[5]; 4. 12-Darren Smith[9]; 5. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[8]; 6. 61L-Donovan Lussier[3]; 7. 88-Mat Williamson[7]; 8. 21A-Peter Britten[12]; 9. 20-Rick Laubach[23]; 10. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[4]; 11. 10C-Dan Creeden[10]; 12. 35-Chris Curtis[13]; 13. 29-Garrett Krummert[16]; 14. 11-Matt Caprara[18]; 15. 18$-Sean Beardsley[14]; 16. 48TOO-Dave Rauscher[21]; 17. 25-Erick Rudolph[6]; 18. 6-Matt Stangle[19]; 19. 165-Rex King Jr[20]; 20. 27T-Tanner VanDoren[2]; 21. 5C-Ayden Cipriano[15]; 22. 8-Rich Scagliotta[22]; 23. 27P-Jeremy Pitts[17]; 24. 70A-Alex Payne[11]

Heat Winners: Friesen, Rudolph, Smith

SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (25 Laps): 1. 33-Richard Murtaugh[2]; 2. 21C-Brian Calabrese[12]; 3. 58-Logen Lockhart[1]; 4. 17-Brian Krummel[3]; 5. C3-Chas Wolbert[10]; 6. 43-Jeff Beaumier[11]; 7. 22A-Avery Decker[15]; 8. 54-Sullivan Dickey[5]; 9. 52-Jessica Power[19]; 10. 26-Derrick Mcgrew Jr[17]; 11. 165K-Karston King[6]; 12. 3-Cole Hentschel[4]; 13. 2A-AJ Alsup[13]; 14. 11-Nick Zielinski[14]; 15. 79-Eric Winsor[18]; 16. 23-Chad Gregory[8]; 17. 78-Stephen Winsor[21]; 18. 44-James O’Hara[16]; 19. 711-Todd English[7]; 20. 3T-Mike Engwer[20]; 21. 10-Karl Comfort[9]

Heat Winners: Henetschel, Wolbert, Beaumier

All-Tech Raceway Modified Winners

7 – Stewart Friesen

5 – Matt Sheppard

3 – Larry Wight

1 – David Schilling

1 – Erick Rudolph

1 – Michael Maresca

All-Tech Raceway Sportsman Winners

3 – Payton Talbot

2 – Paulie Hartwig III

2  – Michael Ballestero

2 – Richard Murtaugh III

1 – Jessica Power

1 – Logan Watt

1 – James Friesen

1 – Brian Calabrese

1 – Dylan Madsen

1 – Scott Hitchens

1 – Steve Davis

1 – Antonio Ballestero

1 – Grant Hilfiger