Brandon Sheppard continued his hot streak in Superior, WI
The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series tour through the upper Midwest continued on Tuesday evening when the competitors pulled into Gondik Law Speedway. At the end of a full night of racing it was Brandon Sheppard who earned his fourth consecutive series victory at the Superior, WI facility. The New Berlin, IL driver came away with a payment of $10,000 for his efforts in a race shown live by DirtVision.com.
It was Sheppard’s ninth WoO Late Models win of the 2020 season.
James Giossi led Group A qualifying with a time of 18.340 seconds around the 3/8 mile clay oval to beat out Kevin Eder, Mike Prochnow, Chad Mahder and Pat Doar.
Cade Dillard was quickest in Group B time-trials completing a lap in 18.360 seconds topping Jimmy Owens, Derek Vessel, Brandon Sheppard and Travis Budasalovich.
Mike Prochnow took the night’s first heat race ahead of James Giossi, Pat Doar and Scott Bloomquist while Kevin Eder was the victor in the second preliminary over Steve Laursen, Chad Mahder and Brent Larson.
Cade Dillard won out in the third heat of the night by besting Darrell Lanigan, Ashton Winger and Travis Budasalovich just before Brandon Sheppard scored the final heat race win of the night ahead of Jimmy Owens, Jimmy Mars and Ricky Weiss.
Derek Vessel won the lone Last Chance Showdown used to set the remainder of the starting grid for the main event over Scott Bloomquist, Jeff Massengill, Boom Briggs, Devin VanHouse and Dennis Erb Jr.
The WoO Late Models redraw placed Brandon Sheppard on the pole with Mike Prochnow, Kevin Eder, Cade Dillard, Jimmy Owens, Darrell Lanigan and James Giossi lining up in order behind him.
At the start of the 50-lap feature it was Sheppard who seized control of the race right away leaving Eder, Prochnow, Lanigan and Dillard to battle for second in his wake. The only thing that would slow the eventual winner during the race would be slower traffic which he began to encounter on lap 8.
Further back, Lanigan, Dillard and Owens waged war for positions 4-6 as they raced around the slick track in tight formation. Dillard would briefly break away from that fight while Owens took fifth from Lanigan on lap 21.
A lap 23 caution bunched the field and set up a restart. Owens was able to get around Dillard to lay claim to fourth when the race went back to green flag conditions but a yellow flag on lap 24 again slowed the proceedings.
On the ensuing restart, Prochnow wrested second away from Eder bringing Dillard along for the ride as the No. 97 machine moved up to third. One lap later, Dillard would take second away from Prochnow with Owens also storming through the open door to grab third.
All the while, Sheppard again drove away from his pursuers, building a lead of a full straightaway. As the laps wound down, the top-5 would be completely filled with national touring series regulars as Sheppard led Dillard, Owens, Lanigan and Winger.
But in the end, there proved to be no challenge for Sheppard as he claimed the 64th World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series win of his career and further tightened his hold on the series standings.
Feature Finish: 1. Brandon Sheppard, 2. Cade Dillard, 3. Jimmy Owens, 4. Darrell Lanigan, 5. Ashton Winger, 6. Chad Mahder, 7. Ricky Weiss, 8. Kevin Eder, 9. Mike Prochnow, 10. Chase Junghans, 11. James Giossi, 12. Derek Vessel, 13. Pat Doar, 14. Brent Larson, 15. Dennis Erb Jr., 16. Devin VanHouse, 17. Scott Bloomquist, 18. Jeff Massengill, 19. Boom Briggs, 20. Travis Budisalovich, 21. Steve Laursen, 22. Jimmy Mars, 23. Aaron Lillo, 24. Tim McMann
