Brandon Sheppard scored the win at Red Cedar Speedway
The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series concluded its northern swing on Sunday night at the Red Cedar Speedway. After a hard night of racing among the top-two runners, Brandon Sheppard took to feature win at the Menomonie, Wisconsin facility. The New Berlin, Illinois driver picked up $10,000 for his victorious effort.
A total of 34 cars were signed in for competition.
Brandon Sheppard was fastest in Group A qualifying by turning a lap in 16.513 seconds around the 3/8 mile clay oval besting Ricky Weiss, Ashton Winger, Brent Larson and Chris Madden.
Frank Heckenast Jr. topped Group B time-trials by touring the track in 16.925 seconds beating out John Kaanta, Jimmy Mars, Dennis Erb Jr. and Sam Mars.
Brandon Sheppard captured the win in the first heat over Ashton Winger, Chris Madden and Chad Mahder then Ricky Weiss outran Brent Larson, Kyle Hammer and Ryan Gustin in the second preliminary.
Jimmy Mars was victorious in the third heat by defeating Cade Dillard, Frank Heckenast Jr. and Rick Hanestad just before Dennis Erb Jr. took the fourth and final heat besting John Kaanta, A.J. Diemel and Tyler Bruening.
James Giossi and Kevin Eder won the two Last Chance Showdown races used to set the remainder of the starting grid for the main event.
The WoO Late Models redraw set the first four rows on the feature starting grid as Weiss, Sheppard, Erb, Mars, Dillard, Kaanta, Winger and Larson.
At the start of the 40-lap feature it was Weiss who went to the lead early with Sheppard, Erb, Dillard and Madden in tow. The action was interrupted almost immediately when Heckenast slowed to bring out a caution just after the completion of the first lap.
Weiss maintained the race lead when green flag racing resumed with Sheppard and Erb side-by-side for second just in front of a similar fight for fourth involving Dillard and Madden until a second yellow flag waved on lap 3 when Boom Briggs spun.
Dillard went to third and Mars rose to fifth on the lap 3 restart. At the same time, Sheppard moved in and began to challenge Weiss for the lead. On lap 7, the series points leader drove around the outside of Weiss to move up to the top of the leaderboard. Again, there was an interruption when Steve Laursen and Nick Panitzke tangled on the front stretch on lap 8.
On the lap 8 restart, Dillard charged to second while Erb fell back several positions. Madden and Mars spent several laps fighting for fourth with Madden claiming the spot on lap 12. But the No. 44 would not stay in that position long as he passed by Weiss for third on lap 13 as Sheppard and Dillard looked to separate and settle the issue among themselves.
Over the race’s second half, it was largely a two man show between Sheppard and Dillard as Madden fought to gain ground. The two leaders constantly battled slower traffic in a race that did not see a caution after lap 8.
Dillard was able to get inside of Sheppard on several occasions with his best chance to grab the lead coming on lap 31. However, Sheppard held back his challenger’s advances and eventually began to slip away.
Sheppard ultimately would sail under the checkered flag to earn his 73rd career WoO Late Models feature win.
Feature Finish: 1. Brandon Sheppard, 2. Cade Dillard, 3. Chris Madden, 4. Ricky Weiss, 5. Jimmy Mars, 6. Ryan Gustin, 7. A,J. Diemel, 8. Tyler Erb, 9. Dennis Erb Jr., 10. Kyle Hammer, 11. James Giossi, 12. John Kaanta, 13. Rick Hanestad, 14. Nick Panitzke, 15. Brent Larson, 16. Ashton Winger, 17. Kevin Eder, 18. Boom Briggs, 19. Brett Swedberg, 20. Chad Mahder, 21. Jake Redetzke, 22. Jeff Massengill, 23. Steve Laursen, 24. Frank Heckenast Jr.
