Brandon Sheppard lead all 30 laps for the win
The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series hit the track on Thursday evening at the Lernerville Speedway to kick off the three-night Firecracker 100 weekend that will culminate on Saturday with a $30,000-to-win feature race.
Thursday and Friday feature races will serve to set the heat race lineups for the Saturday night main event. On the first night of competition at the Sarver, PA track saw Brandon Sheppard come away as the winner in a race shown live by DirtVision.com. The New Berlin, IL driver collected a $6,000 check for his efforts on Thursday.
Ryan Gustin was quickest in Group A qualifying with a lap of 15.337 seconds around the 4/10 mile clay oval to beat out Brandon Sheppard, Cade Dillard, Tyler Bruening, and Brandon Overton.
Mike Norris led the way in Group B time-trials with a time of 16.123 seconds to top Chub Frank, Jared Miley, Chris Madden, and Spencer Hughes.
Scott Bloomquist won the first heat of the night beating out Tyler Bruening and Brent Larson then Brandon Sheppard topped Darrell Lanigan and Brandon Overton in the second preliminary.
It was Cade Dillard who took the third heat ahead of Max Blair and Dale McDowell while Chris Madden bested Mike Norris and Jason Covert in the fourth heat.
Spencer Hughes was victorious in the fifth heat over Chub Frank and Tyler Frank just before Mason Zeigler defeated Alex Ferree and Gregg Satterlee in the sixth and final heat race.
Mark Whitener and Ricky Weiss transferred to the feature out of the first Last Chance Showdown with Rick Eckert and Dennis Erb Jr. moving on out of the second LCS. Finally, Jared Miley and Dan Stone joined the feature field from the third LCS race.
The WoO Late Models redraw set the first three rows on the feature starting grid as Sheppard, Madden, Hughes, Zeigler, Bloomquist and Dillard.
At the start of the 30-lap feature it was Sheppard who bolted to the lead with Madden, Hughes, Zeigler and Bloomquist. Zeigler went to work early as he moved by Hughes for third on lap 3 and he was followed through by Bloomquist who grabbed the fourth spot.
Bloomquist then took third away from Zeigler on lap 4 but a caution for the spinning car of Brent Larson.
Bloomquist took second away from Madden on the lap 5 restart as Sheppard looked to slip away from his pursuers. Further back, Bruening took fourth away from Zeigler on lap 9. At the halfway point, Overton finally broke into the top-10 as he passed Lanigan.
As the race entered its second half, Sheppard began to encounter slower traffic while Madden moved in to challenge Bloomquist for the runner-up position. Meanwhile, Bruening closed in and joined the fight for second.
Madden took second away from Bloomquist on lap 21 after the No. 0 machine got held up by a slower car. Madden then quickly began to draw up to the rear spoiler of the race leader. With less than five laps remaining, Sheppard, Madden, Bloomquist and Bruening ran in tight formation in a four-way fight for the lead.
In the end, it was Sheppard who would win the race to the checkered flag to capture the victory. It was the Rocket Chassis house car driver’s second points-paying win of the 2021 season.
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Feature Finish: 1. Brandon Sheppard, 2. Chris Madden, 3. Scott Bloomquist, 4. Tyler Bruening, 5. Spencer Hughes, 6. Mason Zeigler, 7. Cade Dillard, 8. Mike Norris, 9. Chub Frank, 10. Darrell Lanigan, 11. Brandon Overton, 12. Jason Covert, 13. Gregg Satterlee, 14. Max Blair, 15. Alex Ferree, 16. Dale McDowell, 17. Ricky Weiss, 18. Rick Eckert, 19. Dennis Erb Jr., 20. Brent Larson, 21. Mark Whitener, 22. Ryan Gustin, 23. Boom Briggs, 24. Jared Miley, 25. Dan Stone, 26. Tyler Dietz
