Sheppard Rockets to Dirt Track World Championship Checkers
Story By: TRAVIS BRANCH / LUCAS LM SERIES MEDIA
Photos By: MIKE CAMPBELL / THESPORTSWIRE.NET
PORTSMOUTH, OH -October 16, 2016 – Brandon Sheppard charged from the 21st starting position to win his second career Dirt Track World Championship Race at Portsmouth Raceway Park on Saturday night. Sheppard earned a career-best $100,000 as he drove the Eric Brock-owned Best Performance Motorsports Team/Rocket Chassis to the victory.
Sheppard was third different leader of the event – taking over the top spot from Josh Richards on lap 72. Richards forged ahead again on lap 73 before Sheppard cleared Richards for good on lap 77, and never looked back in the final Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event of the season. Earl Pearson Jr. in the Dunn-Benson Ford/Lucas Oil Racing TV/Longhorn charged to second at the finish ahead of Richards, Gregg Satterlee, and Darrell Lanigan.
The 2016 LOLMDS National Champion, Scott Bloomquist, led the first 45 laps of the race until Richards passed him for the lead. Bloomquist, who came into the event seeking his third straight DTWC win at Portsmouth, fell to second and then six laps later yielded the spot to Sheppard.
Richards appeared to be pulling away from the field as he opened up his lead, but Sheppard slowly started to track down Richards and with 23 laps to go he had taken the lead away from him for the final time.
“I never ran the cushion to get to the front,” said the 23-year-old in Lucas Oil Victory Lane, “We had a very good car. This Rocket XR1 Chassis with Integra Shocks and Dargie Racing Engine was just on point tonight. We haven’t finished a race in four weeks. To come out and get progressively better all weekend and then to get the win in the last Lucas Oil race of the year means the world to me.”
Sheppard had to pass the current DirtOnDirt.com Top-Two drivers in the country to get the win. “That shows you if I have a good enough race car, then I can make something happen. I have all the respect in the world for Josh and Scott and all of the guys on this tour. We made the right tire call and had our car right all night.”
“I had a pretty soft left rear tire on. I didn’t know if it was going to last the whole time. I was kind of biding my time out there. I was passing guys and I wasn’t abusing the tires. I got to second and I was just looking for some brown on the track where I could get some grip. I finally got around Josh, and he folded the nose under. It would have been harder to pass him, if it wasn’t for him folding his nose under.”
Pearson tried valiantly to catch Sheppard in the closing laps, and settled for second. “For a while, I thought this might be the race of the year. There were four of us battling for the lead. On the restarts, I couldn’t do anything with him [Sheppard]. We needed for the race to stay green. Congratulations to Brandon, he did a heck of a good job. What’s interesting about the race was that he was on the bottom and I was racing up on the top. Usually it’s the other way around.”
Richards was looking for his first career DTWC win, but came home in third. “It was definitely the nosepiece that cost us this race. Once it folded back I knew we were in trouble. Brandon did a great job tonight. It was a lot of fun racing with those guys. At the end, I was just holding on for a podium finish. He [Sheppard] is a fellow Rocket driver. He is an awesome kid and driver. He doesn’t get enough credit, so it’s awesome to see him win.”
Completing the top ten were Don O’Neal, Devin Moran, Doug Drown, Tim McCreadie, and Rod Conley.
In preliminary action, Jackie Boggs, Rod Conley, Josh Richards, Scott Bloomquist, Brandon Fouts, Dale McDowell, Rick Eckert, and Nick Hoffman won their respective first round heat races. Doug Drown, Steve Francis, Dale McDowell, Tyler Carpenter, Tim McCreadie, Gregg Satterlee, Earl Pearson Jr., and Chubb Frank won their respective second round heat races. Eric Wells, Dustin Linville, and RJ Conley won their respective B-Mains. Devin Moran won the Jim Dunn Memorial Non-Qualifiers Race.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Saturday, October 15th, 2016
36th Annual Rhino Ag Dirt Track World Championship – Presented by Optima Batteries
Portsmouth Raceway Park – Portsmouth, OH
Eibach Springs FIRST ROUND Heat Race #1 Finish: Jackie Boggs, Earl Pearson, Jr., Shannon Thornsberry, Ben Adkins, Ethan Burgess, Greg Johnson, Cameron Logan, Tyler Erb, Jason Montgomery, Steve Prince
FK Rod Ends FIRST ROUND Heat Race #2 Finish: Rod Conley, Eddie Carrier, Jr., Gregg Satterlee, Matt Irey, Dustin Linville, Tim Dohm, Jason Feger, Nick Bocook, Michael Lake, Jacob Curnutte
Simpson Performance Products FIRST ROUND Heat Race #3 Finish: Josh Richards, Dennis Erb, Jr., Jonathan Davenport, Chris Ferguson, Brandon Sheppard, RJ Conley, Tim McCreadie, Mason Zeigler, Steve Casebolt, Dave Hornikel
QA1 FIRST ROUND Heat Race #4 Finish: Scott Bloomquist, Shannon Babb, Darrell Lanigan, Andrew Reaume, John Melvin, Ryan Markham, Steve Stollings, Russ Frohnapfel, Mathew Chapman, Billy Staker
Eibach Springs FIRST ROUND Heat Race #5 Finish: Brandon Fouts, Don O’Neal, Stephen Breeding, Tyler Carpenter, Michael Meyers, Austyn Mills, Kirk Phillips, Boom Briggs, Devin Moran, Evyian Terry-DNS
FK Rod Ends FIRST ROUND Heat Race #6 Finish: Dale McDowell, Steve Francis, Jason Covert, Eric Wells, Hudson O’Neal, Colten Burdette, Robbie Scott, Delmas Conley, Brad Malcuit, Chris Combs
ASi Racewear FIRST ROUND Heat Race #7 Finish: Rick Eckert, Jimmy Owens, Corey Conley, Craig Wolford, Bobby Pierce, Billy Gullion, Lee Logan, Shon Flanary, Danny Wilson, Byron Meeks
DirtOnDirt.com FIRST ROUND Heat Race #8 Finish: Nick Hoffman, Zack Dohm, Brandon Overton, Jason Jameson, Doug Drown, Chris Hackett, Chub Frank, Colton Flinner, Erick Christian
Eibach Springs SECOND ROUND Heat Race #1 Finish: Doug Drown, Devin Moran, Mason Zeigler, Shon Flanary, Jacob Curnutte, Byron Meeks, Russ Frohnapfel, Tyler Erb, Chris Combs
FK Rod Ends SECOND ROUND Heat Race #2 Finish: Steve Francis, Billy Gullion, Rick Eckert, Brad Malcuit, Ben Adkins, Jason Feger, Boom Briggs, Steve Stollings, Dave Hornikel, Chris Hackett
Simpson Performance Products SECOND ROUND Heat Race #3 Finish: Dale McDowell, Colton Flinner, Jason Covert, Bobby Pierce, Cameron Logan, Michael Meyers, Billy Staker, Steve Casebolt , Tim Dohm -DNS, Evyian Terry-DNS
QA1 SECOND ROUND Heat Race #4 Finish: Tyler Carpenter, Jimmy Owens, Eric Wells, Ethan Burgess, Rod Conley, Brandon Overton, Mathew Chapman, Dennis Erb, Jr., Shannon Babb, Brandon Fouts-DNS
Eibach Springs SECOND ROUND Heat Race #5 Finish: Tim McCreadie, Darrell Lanigan, Josh Richards, Delmas Conley, Nick Hoffman, Jackie Boggs, Michael Lake, John Melvin, Lee Logan, Kirk Phillips
FK Rod Ends SECOND ROUND Heat Race #6 Finish: Gregg Satterlee, Chris Ferguson, Jonathan Davenport, Eddie Carrier, Jr., Don O’Neal, Ryan Markham, Zack Dohm, Robbie Scott, Craig Wolford, Jason Montgomery-DNS
ASi Racewear SECOND ROUND Heat Race #7 Finish: Earl Pearson, Jr., RJ Conley, Dustin Linville, Colten Burdette, Jason Jameson, Stephen Breeding, Nick Bocook, Andrew Reaume, Steve Prince, Danny Wilson
DirtOnDirt.com SECOND ROUND Heat Race #8 Finish: Chub Frank, Scott Bloomquist, Brandon Sheppard, Greg Johnson, Matt Irey, Corey Conley , Erick Christian, Austyn Mills, Shannon Thornsberry, Hudson O’Neal
Fast Shafts B-Main #1 Finish (20 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): Eric Wells, Stephen Breeding, Bobby Pierce, Jason Feger, Devin Moran, Ryan Markham, Ben Adkins, Eddie Carrier, Jr., Lee Logan, Brandon Overton, John Melvin, Mathew Chapman, Tim McCreadie, Kirk Phillips, Colten Burdette, Byron Meeks, Brandon Fouts, Russ Frohnapfel, Brad Malcuit-DNS, Tim Dohm -DNS, Chris Combs-DNS
Keyser MFG B-Main #2 Finish (20 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): Dustin Linville, Brandon Sheppard, Chub Frank, Colton Flinner, Zack Dohm, Michael Meyers, Billy Gullion, Cameron Logan, Jason Jameson, Dave Hornikel, Billy Staker, Danny Wilson, Michael Lake, Jacob Curnutte, Mason Zeigler, Nick Bocook, Shannon Babb-DNS, Shon Flanary-DNS, Hudson O’Neal-DNS, Tyler Erb-DNS, Jason Montgomery-DNS
Sunoco Race Fuels B-Main #3 Finish (20 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): RJ Conley, Steve Francis, Robbie Scott, Matt Irey, Craig Wolford, Chris Hackett, Boom Briggs, Steve Prince, Andrew Reaume, Corey Conley , Steve Stollings, Erick Christian, Greg Johnson, Ethan Burgess, Jackie Boggs, Dennis Erb, Jr., Austyn Mills, Delmas Conley, Shannon Thornsberry-DNS, Steve Casebolt -DNS, Evyian Terry-DNS
Jim Dunn Memorial Non-Qualifiers Race Finish (30 Laps): Devin Moran, Zack Dohm, Bobby Pierce, Matt Irey, Corey Conley, Jason Feger, Mason Zeigler, Eddie Carrier, Boom Briggs, Ryan Markham, Michael Meyers, Steve Prince, Cameron Logan, Chris Hackett, Craig Wolford, Bed Adkins, Chub Frank, Dave Hornikel, Lee Logan, Robbie Scott, Billy Gullion, Brandon Fouts
Race Statistics
Entrants: 79
Lap Leaders: Scott Bloomquist (Laps 1 – 45); Josh Richards (Laps 46 – 71); Brandon Sheppard (Lap 72); Josh Richards (Laps 73 – 76); Brandon Sheppard (Laps 77 – 100)
Cautions: Debris (Lap 5); Dennis Erb Jr. (Lap 14); Tyler Carpenter (Lap 27); Nick Hoffman (Lap 27); Jimmy Owens (Lap 28); Jason Covert (Lap 30); Steve Francis (Lap 51); Rick Eckert (Lap 63); Jonathan Davenport (Lap 67); Don O’Neal (Lap 92); Scott Bloomquist (Lap 95)
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Provisionals: Tim McCreadie, Dennis Erb Jr.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Emergency Provisional: Colton Flinner
Portsmouth Raceway Park Track Provisionals: Jackie Boggs, Nick Bocook
Jim Dunn Memorial Non-Qualifiers’ Race Provisional: Devin Moran
Wrisco Feature Winner: Brandon Sheppard
Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Brandon Sheppard (Started: 21st; Finished: 1st; Advanced 20 Positions)
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Scott Bloomquist
Allstar Performance Power Move of the Race: Gregg Satterlee
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Earl Pearson Jr.
Hot Rod Processing Rookie of the Race: Colton Flinner
COMP Cams Engine Builder of the Race: Dargie Racing Engines
Ohlins Shocks Chassis Builder of the Race: Rocket Chassis
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Randall Edwards (Brandon Sheppard)
Fastest Lap of the Race: Scott Bloomquist (Lap #15 – 15.3522 seconds)
Most Laps Led: Scott Bloomquist (45 Laps)
PFC Brakes Tough Break Award: Jimmy Owens
Time of Race: 65 minutes 13 seconds
