Brandon Sheppard
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
PORTSMOUTH, OHIO (September 1, 2018) – Brandon Sheppard capitalized on his success in recent years at Portsmouth Raceway Park, winning the Bob Miller Memorial presented by Pepsi on Saturday night.
Sheppard took the lead from Kyle Bronson on a lap-12 restart when Bronson jumped the cushion in turn number two. Sheppard then went unchallenged the rest of the way to take the win. Josh Richards held off Jonathan Davenport for the runner-up spot. Gregg Satterlee came from the 21st starting spot to finish fourth. Bobby Pierce rounded out the top-five.
Sheppard’s win was his fourth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory of the season. “This car is awesome every time we come here. I don’t know what it is about this place. I can’t thank my crew enough, Mark, Danny, Joel, and Austin; they have worked their tails off on this car. To get to come race night in and night out with those guys is great because I know it’s not going to fall apart and we can run up front. I couldn’t do it without them,” said Sheppard.
“Thanks to all the fans for coming out tonight. I want to thank my family for all of their support. Thanks to Lucas Oil for giving us big paying races to run. Hopefully we can get another win tomorrow at Tyler County. I really didn’t know what line to run early in the race. I was moving around from high to low a little bit to figure it out.”
Richards was pleased with his second podium finish of the weekend. “That was a tough deal in turn two with that wreck with Scott [Bloomquist] getting collected in. It was pretty sketchy to get through, but we did. We had a good race with JD for several laps. Great job to Brandon and his team. We had a great car again tonight.”
Davenport continues to lead the series points standings after taking the third spot at the finish line. “I could never get a good start. I had a run on Josh there once. I really couldn’t see good enough and I couldn’t get to the cushion soon enough. We could get a good run off the corner, but we did have a good points night. We finally ran half-way decent here. I really like the facility and how the race track is laid out. I have just never been really good here. Hopefully we learned a lot tonight to get ready for the $100,000 race here in October.”
The winner’s Mark Richards Racing, Rocket Chassis is powered by an Andy Durham Racing Engine and sponsored by: Valvoline, Seubert Calf Ranches, Gunter’s Honey, Ace Metal Works, Sallack Well Services, Sunoco Race Fuels, Keyser Manufacturing and Integra Shocks.
The remainder of the top-ten finishers were: Mason Zeigler, Dennis Erb Jr., Earl Pearson Jr., Tim McCreadie, and Steve Casebolt
