Brandon Sheppard got his first win of 2023 at Red Hill
Brandon Sheppard entered Sunday’s MARS Late Model Championship Series-sanctioned Red Hill Rumble winless in the 2023 season and with his Sheppard Riggs Racing team but that all changed when the checkered flag waved at the end of the night at the Red Hill Raceway. The No. B5 car dominated in the third event of the weekend for MARS competitors.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from New Berlin, Illinois earned $5,000 for his efforts on the track located in Sumner, Illinois in a race aired live by FloRacing.com.
A total of 22 cars were signed in for competition
Qualifying Results: 1. Brandon Sheppard(15.054), 2. Drake Troutman, 3. Kyle Hammer, 4. Ryan Unzicker, 5. Tanner English, 6. Blaze Burwell, 7. Logan Nickerson, 8. Kent Robinson, 9. Jason Feger, 10. Mark Voigt
Heat 1 Results: 1. Brandon Sheppard, 2. Ryan Unzicker, 3. Mike Harrison, 4. Logan Nickerson, 5. Mark Voigt, 6. Brandon Tibaldi, 7. Clifford Tooley, 8. Tommy Sheppard
Heat 2 Results: 1. Drake Troutman, 2. Tanner English, 3. Kent Robinson, 4. Jake Little, 5. Rich Dawson, 6. Jon Woods, 7. Justin White
Heat 3 Results: 1. Kyle Hammer, 2. Jason Feger, 3. Frank Heckenast Jr., 4. Blaze Burwell, 5. Bob Gardner, 6. Lee Williams, 7. Doug Tye
MARS Redraw Results: 1. Hammer, 2. Sheppard, 3. Troutman, 4. Feger, 5. English, 6. Unzicker
Feature Re-cap: On the initial attempt to start the 30-lap feature a caution flag waved when Heckenast slowed.
When the main event did in fact get underway it was Sheppard who blasted away from the pack with Hammer, Troutman, Feger and English. Sheppard looked as if he would run away and hide in the early going as he jumped out to a lead of more then two seconds.
Troutman took second away from Hammer on lap 5 sending Hammer back into a fight with Feger and English for the remaining position in the top-5.
Sheppard found himself in the midst of slower traffic as the race approached the one-third mark which allowed Troutman to close in. However, a lap 10 caution for Williams regrouped the field.
On the lap 10 restart, English moved to fourth then quickly also got around Hammer and Troutman to assume second behind Sheppard. But Sheppard again pulled away by almost two seconds.
Sheppard continued to pull away as the laps clicked away with English and Troutman trying to keep pace. All that remained was for Sheppard to get through traffic which he did successfully on his way to the win.
Feature Results: 1. Brandon Sheppard, 2. Tanner English, 3. Drake Troutman, 4. Ryan Unzicker, 5. Jason Feger, 6. Kent Robinson, 7. Blaze Burwell, 8. Mike Harrison, 9. Tommy Sheppard, 10. Bob Gardner, 11. Frank Heckenast Jr., 12. Jake Little, 13. Logan Nickerson, 14. Rich Dawson, 15. Mark Voigt, 16. Jon Woods, 17. Kyle Hammer, 18. Justin White, 19. Lee Williams, 20. Clifford Tooley, 21. Doug Tye, 22. Brandon Tibaldi
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