Ashton Winger scored his first WoO Late Models win at Cedar Lake
The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series hit the track at Cedar Lake Speedway on Friday night for the second of a three-race weekend. At the end of the night it was rookie Ashton Winger who earned his first series victory and a $20,000 payday at the New Richmond, WI facility after a late-race battle with defending champion Brandon Sheppard.
Jimmy Mars was fastest in qualifying when he turned a lap in 13.307 seconds around the 3/8 mile clay oval to better the efforts of Scott Bloomquist, Dennis Erb Jr., Darrell Lanigan, Frank Heckanast Jr., Ashton Winger, Brandon Sheppard and Ricky Weiss.
Darrell Lanigan took the first heat race of the night by beating out Brandon Sheppard, Jimmy Mars, Rodney Sanders, Colton Horner and Boom Briggs while Scott Bloomquist would score the win in the second preliminary ahead of Ricky Weiss, A.J. Diemel, Frank Heckenast Jr., Brent Larson and Jeff Massingill.
Cade Dillard topped Ashton Winger, Dennis Erb Jr., Chase Junghans, Ricky Thornton Jr. and James Giossi in the third and final heat of the night.
Pat Doar, Rusty Griffaw, Buddy Hanestad, Rick Hanestad, Paul Parker and Steve Hucovski made it into the main event by way of the Last Chance Showdown.
The WoO Late Models redraw set the starting order as Ashton Winger, Darrell Lanigan, Ricky Weiss, Scott Bloomquist, Cade Dillard and Brandon Sheppard.
At the start of the 40-lap feature it was Winger who shot to the early lead with Lanigan, Weiss, Bloomquist and Sheppard following in his tire tracks. Sheppard wasted no time as he passed by Bloomquist to grab fourth on the second lap.
Weiss, Sheppard and Bloomquist fought in a tight battle for third in the early laps. In the meantime, Winger found slower traffic allowing Lanigan to close in by lap 10. Further back, Sheppard got by Weiss to take third on lap 11 which set up a fight among the top-3 in heavy race traffic as the laps clicked off.
Sheppard moved around Lanigan to grab the runner-up position on lap 16 with Weiss following through the open door taking third away from the No. 29 machine.
Just past the halfway mark, Sheppard drew right onto Winger’s rear spoiler and began applying heavy pressure. Multiple times over the course of the closing laps Sheppard worked both inside and outside of Winger for the lead but the rookie repeatedly fought off the challenge.
In the end it was Ashton Winger who sailed under the checkered flag to claim victory.
Feature Finish: 1. Ashton Winger, 2. Brandon Sheppard, 3. Ricky Weiss, 4. Dennis Erb Jr., 5. Darrell Lanigan, 6. Jimmy Mars, 7. Scott Bloomquist, 8. Frank Heckenast Jr., 9. Cade Dillard, 10. Chase Junghans, 11. Ricky Thornton Jr., 12. Rodney Sanders, 13. Boom Briggs, 14. Brent Larson, 15. Rusty Griffaw, 16. Rick Hanestad, 17. Steve Hucovski, 18. Colton Horner, 19. James Giossi, 20. Jeffrey Massingill, 21. Pat Doar, 22. Buddy Hanestad, 23. A.J. Diemel, 24. Paul Parker
