BATAVIA, N.Y. (August 6, 2026) — This week, The Dirt Track at Genesee raced on Thursday instead of Saturday this week in the advent of its single biggest race day of the year: The Big Block/Small Block Challenge, The Mackenzie Kulesza Memorial, and the Kyle Inman Tribute. Mat Williamson, Cole Susice, and Cody McPherson won those races, respectively.

But before those three drivers’ emotions could run high in Victory Lane, they had to get their cars shaken down and determine their starting spots for the features through Heat races.

Because the Mini Stock Heat races were already conducted back on July 3, only the Modifieds and Sportsman Modifieds took to the track for the preliminary events. Coming out in order of how they would run (minus the Minis)

Modifieds: Matt Sheppard, Alex Payne
Sportsman Modifieds: Sam Hoxie, Ray Bliss

Following the Heat races was the Mackenzie Kulesza Memorial race for the Mini Stocks — a race to honor an 11-year-old girl who was taken from the world way too soon due to a car accident.

Leading the 25-car field to the green flag for their 36-lap main event was Susice. Off the line, Susice jumped out front, but Chris Leone was right there after slipping into second. Rocco Conte was just looking for any way to get into that lead position, as well.

Before long, Conte and Leone got side-by-side and battled for a few laps before Conte took over second as they shot out of Turn 2. Conte then set his sights on Susice, slowly closing the gap between them.

Conte got on the bottom of Susice and went dancing with him for a little bit before pulling the exact same move he had on Leone, and in the same corner, no less. Conte had worked his way up to first in five laps.

A lap later, Conte had already caught up to lapped traffic, but the fight didn’t last long; the Transitowne Dodge of Williamsville yellow flag waved for debris on the track in Turn 4. However, that caution wouldn’t stop Conte in the slightest, as he shot back out front when the green flag waved again.

Meanwhile, second place had a new owner: James Gayton. And he was coming up on Conte, fast. But before he could pull any sudden moves, the caution came out again. But that is exactly what Gayton needed.

On the restart, Conte and Gayton were side-by-side. As they kept each other’s pace, Gayton saw an opportunity coming out of Turn 2 on Lap 11 and took it, sliding into first. Now Gayton was the one to catch lapped traffic.

Once again, the yellow flag came back out just as lapped traffic was becoming a factor. This time around, though, the restart was single-file, allowing Gayton to retain his lead without issue.

A few laps later, Gayton went over the berm in turn 1. Now, Conte was back in the lead, but Susice was right there. And that persistence paid off; Conte ended up going into the infield coming down the backstretch, handing over the lead.

Another caution came out, giving Susice a little break before the action started up again. And that’s exactly what happened.

Behind Susice, Leone was fighting for his life with both Cody Wise and Collin Mills, who kept swapping positions with each other, and looking to do so with Leone. Finally, a few laps later on Lap 30, Wise passed Leone coming out of Turn 4 to take over second.

Susice was able to hold off Wise to win his first Kulesza race.

“It’s just how I drew it up,” said the Ransomville, NY, native in Victory Lane when asked how he won. “It didn’t [really] matter [how I drove it.]”

As the interview went on, Susice’s voice started breaking, and his emotion shined through as he expressed how it felt to win.

“It’s so amazing,” he said. “[I’m] so happy to finally win [this event].”

Next up on the card were the Modifieds. Phil Vigneri III led the 13-car field to green to kick off the 40-lap show. And almost immediately, Vigneri lost the lead to Williamson, who rocketed out front and never looked back.

Vigneri wasn’t having a cakewalk in second place, though — Payne was side-by-side with him. A few laps later, Payne passed Vigneri coming out of Turn 2, and Sheppard passed him for third coming out of Turn 4. Erick Rudolph started Lap 12 looking to do the same thing and was successful a few laps later.

Williamson had finally happened upon lapped traffic and was just beginning the weaving process when the yellow flag waved for Andrew Smith, who had blown his engine up.

During the caution, Sheppard went in for a flat tire, but came out with one to go to catch the tail end of the field.

The restart was single-file and didn’t affect Williamson in the slightest. It didn’t affect Sheppard, either, as he was able to work his way back up to fourth before the checkered flag flew, finishing behind Rudolph, Payne, and, of course, Williamson.

“[This] win wasn’t easy,” said Williamson, a St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, native. “[But I had] a really good racecar, and I can’t thank my guys enough.”

However, Williamson expressed displeasure with his fellow competitors in Victory Lane, as well.

“Genesee did a great job of promoting this race,” said Williamson. “It sucks that there’s only 13 cars. There’s no reason for there to only be 13 of us. More people should’ve showed up. It’s disappointing, to say the least.”

The final race of the night was none other than the 30-lap feature for the Sportsman Modifieds to honor Kyle Inman — a man, and racer, who was taken from us too soon due to cancer.

Leading the 13-car field to green was Timmy Catalano. However, Ron Cartwright, Jr., jumped out front, taking over the lead quickly. Behind him, Catalano lost yet another position, this time to Hoxie who stole second coming off Turn 4.

Hoxie made the gap between himself and Cartwright disappear, running side-by-side…until he went over the Turns 1 and 2 banking, drawing the caution.

With Cartwright back in the lead, he was able to see clean air again. However, McPherson had other plans for him. He had moved up into second on the restart, and made his way up to run right next to Cartwright. As they raced down the back chute on Lap 10, McPherson took over first.

For the duration of the race, McPherson sailed out front, with Catalano, Cartwright, and Vigneri battling behind him. On Lap 25, lapped traffic became a factor, but it didn’t slow McPherson down at all. However, the final turn of the race saw intense action between Cartwright and Vigneri.

As they came out of Turn 4, they were side-by-side, and for a split second Vigneri’s front bumper was ahead of Cartwright, but right before they crossed the start/finish line in front of the flagstand, Cartwright managed to get ahead of Vigneri to retain runner-up.

In Victory Lane, McPherson commented on how good the track was.

“The track crew [made this] a hell of a racetrack,” said McPherson, also a native of St. Catharines. “It was really great racing.”

McPherson also reminisced about when he and Inman used to race together.

“We raced with the BEI Lightning Series at Ransomville, Humberstone, and Merrittville, and he was just a great guy,” said McPherson. “This isn’t a race that I’ve won yet, and it feels great to win it in honor of a guy that it was always fun racing with.”

The Dirt Track at Genesee races again next Saturday, August 15, with another Modified show. Pit and grandstand gates open at 5 p.m., with racing action getting underway at 7.

Photo Credit: Woah Evie Productions

Sportsman Modified – 13 entries

A Feature 1: 1. 7-Cody McPherson[6]; 2. 2B-Ron Cartwright Jr[2]; 3. 12V-Phil Vigneri III[3]; 4. 44-Dave Conant[8]; 5. 27Z-Ray Bliss[5]; 6. 45-Timmy Catalano[1]; 7. 54N-Lucas Newton[7]; 8. OO-Sam Hoxie[4]; 9. 379-Ricky Newton[11]; 10. 54-Troyer Catalano[12]; 11. 1H-Rob Richmond[10]; 12. 93-Matt Richmond[13]; 13. 73G-Gordon Hermanson Jr[9]

Heat 1: 1. OO-Sam Hoxie[2]; 2. 12V-Phil Vigneri III[1]; 3. 45-Timmy Catalano[3]; 4. 54-Troyer Catalano[7]; 5. 73G-Gordon Hermanson Jr[5]; 6. 93-Matt Richmond[4]; 7. (DNS) 379-Ricky Newton

Heat 2: 1. 27Z-Ray Bliss[1]; 2. 7-Cody McPherson[3]; 3. 2B-Ron Cartwright Jr[4]; 4. 44-Dave Conant[6]; 5. 1H-Rob Richmond[2]; 6. 54N-Lucas Newton[5]

Hot Laps 1: 1. OO-Sam Hoxie, 17.870[4]; 2. 27Z-Ray Bliss, 18.115[1]; 3. 45-Timmy Catalano, 18.126[3]; 4. 54N-Lucas Newton, 18.133[6]; 5. 2B-Ron Cartwright Jr, 18.229[2]; 6. 54-Troyer Catalano, 18.299[8]; 7. 73G-Gordon Hermanson Jr, 18.361[9]; 8. 93-Matt Richmond, 18.371

Mini Stocks – 26 entries

A Feature 1: 1. 9-Cole Susice[1]; 2. 8W-Cody Wise[6]; 3. 62-Christopher Leone[3]; 4. 4T4-Willy Easling[22]; 5. 23-Collin Mills[21]; 6. 10JR-Paige Gayton[14]; 7. 25-Ben Hornquist[23]; 8. 7-Mike Becker[17]; 9. 113-Nathan Powers[19]; 10. 21V-Corey Valade[2]; 11. 78S-Carson Shetler[10]; 12. 88-Justin Guyle[13]; 13. 13G-Khloe Griffin[20]; 14. 16K-Robert Knapp II[5]; 15. 85-Brian Johnson[8]; 16. 20V-Victor Baxter[12]; 17. 717-Rocco Conte[4]; 18. 46-Brad Whiteside[15]; 19. 11-Eric Brumstead[9]; 20. 15-Jeff Lonnen[25]; 21. 49-Maggie Guyle[11]; 22. O2-Kevin Napier[16]; 23. 72-Zachery Virgilio[18]; 24. 23P-Jessica Petry[26]; 25. 1W-Josh Wilcox[24]; 26. 217-Dylan Strade[7]

Hot Laps 1: 1. 11-Eric Brumstead, 21.548[4]; 2. 85-Brian Johnson, 21.649[2]; 3. 113-Nathan Powers, 21.684[6]; 4. 7-Mike Becker, 22.334[7]; 5. O2-Kevin Napier, 22.806[5]; 6. (DNS) 10JR-Paige Gayton; 7. (DNS) 23-Collin Mills

Hot Laps 2: 1. 46-Brad Whiteside, 20.784; 2. 1W-Josh Wilcox, 21.623[2]; 3. 25-Ben Hornquist, 21.707[6]; 4. 20V-Victor Baxter, 21.797[1]; 5. 21V-Corey Valade, 21.962[5]; 6. 15-Jeff Lonnen, 23.942[4]; 7. 4T4-Willy Easling, 23.943[3]

Big Block Modified – 13 entries

A Feature 1: 1. 6-Mat Williamson[2]; 2. 70A-Alex Payne[3]; 3. 25-Erick Rudolph[6]; 4. 9S-Matt Sheppard[4]; 5. 11J-James Sweeting[8]; 6. 47V-Phil Vigneri III[1]; 7. 19W-Justin Wright[10]; 8. 44W-Shannon Whaley[9]; 9. 1-Andrew Smith[5]; 10. 44-Ryan Barrett[11]; 11. 11N-Ricky Newton[7]; 12. 2B-Ron Cartwright Jr[12]; 13. 41-Tony Pangrazio[13]

Heat 1: 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[1]; 2. 25-Erick Rudolph[6]; 3. 1-Andrew Smith[4]; 4. 11N-Ricky Newton[2]; 5. 44W-Shannon Whaley[3]; 6. 44-Ryan Barrett[5]; 7. 41-Tony Pangrazio[7]

Heat 2: 1. 70A-Alex Payne[4]; 2. 47V-Phil Vigneri III[2]; 3. 6-Mat Williamson[5]; 4. 11J-James Sweeting[6]; 5. 19W-Justin Wright[3]; 6. 2B-Ron Cartwright Jr[1]

Hot Laps 1: 1. 44-Ryan Barrett[1]; 2. 2B-Ron Cartwright Jr[4]; 3. 11N-Ricky Newton[5]; 4. 70A-Alex Payne[3]; 5. 1-Andrew Smith[6]; 6. 44W-Shannon Whaley[2]

Hot Laps 2: 1. 41-Tony Pangrazio[1]; 2. 25-Erick Rudolph[4]; 3. 9S-Matt Sheppard[2]; 4. 11J-James Sweeting[3]; 5. 47V-Phil Vigneri III[7]; 6. 6-Mat Williamson[5]; 7. 19W-Justin Wright[6]

Article Credit: Brooke Johnpier