Brandon Sheppard earned the win at All-Tech
Georgia-Florida SpeedWeeks continued in the General Tire Winter Nationals on Thursday night for the Lucas Oil Late Model Series at the All-Tech Raceway. At the end of the night it was defending World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series champion who claimed the victory at the Lake City, Florida track after a dominating night of racing. The Rocket Chassis driver from New Berlin, Illinois earned $10,000 in an event shown live by MavTV Plus.
A total of 43 cars were signed in for competition.
Ricky Thornton Jr. was fastest in Group A qualifying with a lap of 17.170 seconds around the half-mile clay oval to outperform Shane Clanton, Earl Pearson Jr., Jonathan Davenport and Tyler Bruening.
Brandon Sheppard was quickest in Group B time-trials after he toured the track in 17.087 to beat out Dennis Erb Jr., Carson Ferguson, Tim McCreadie and Colton Flinner.
Ricky Thornton Jr. would start the feature from the pole after he won the first heat race of the night over Mark Whitener, Earl Pearson Jr. and Tyler Bruening then Shane Clanton topped Jonathan Davenport, Max Blair and Devin Moran in the second preliminary.
Brandon Sheppard earned an outside front row starting spot for the main event by besting Spencer Hughes, Joseph Joiner and Carson Ferguson in the third heat while Dennis Erb Jr. outran Kyle Bronson, Tim McCreadie and Brian Shirley in the fourth and final heat.
Brandon Overton and Tyler Erb won the two B-main races used to set the remainder of the starting grid for the main event.
On the initial attempt to start the race, an incident involving Joiner and Pearson did significant body damage to the Pearson car.
When the 40-lap feature took the green flag it was Sheppard who grabbed the early lead with Thornton, Dennis Erb Jr., Clanton and Davenport trailing. Thornton harassed the leader in the early going as, further back, Davenport moved around Clanton for fourth.
A lap 4 caution for a spin by Joiner slowed the action early on with Sheppard continuing to lead Thornton, Erb, Davenport and Clanton. On the restart, Davenport and Hughes made moves claiming third and fourth respectively.
Thornton wrested the lead of the race away from Sheppard on lap 7 but Sheppard fought back to regain the position on lap 8. Just after entering the top-5, Whitener suddenly slowed to bring out another yellow flag. Sheppard led at that point ahead of Thornton, Davenport, Hughes and Erb.
Erb Got by Hughes for fourth on lap 12 which then opened the door for Clanton to also move around Hughes for fifth. Just ahead, Erb took third away from Davenport on lap 15. However, Davenport came back on the outside and took third back from Erb at the halfway point of the race.
Thornton closed in on the rear spoiler of Sheppard on lap 23 to challenge for the lead but Sheppard maintained the lead as the two machines began to encounter slower traffic. Sheppard then began to slip away from his closest pursuer as he built a lead of two seconds by lap 30.
Moran, who had two wins and three runner-up finishes coming into the event, entered the top-5 on lap 36 when he passed Erb. Those two drivers engaged in a heated battle over the next lap for that position.
Joiner spun to bring out a yellow flag with only three laps remaining. Sheppard, who narrowly missed the prone car of Joiner, continued to lead Thornton, Davenport, Clanton and Moran.
Davenport took second on the restart while Moran bolted to third. But in the end, it was Sheppard who maintained his advantage to claim the victory as Davenport had an issue coming to the line costing him the second spot.
Feature Finish: 1. Brandon Sheppard, 2. Devin Moran, 3. Jonathan Davenport, 4. Shane Clanton, 5. Ricky Thornton Jr., 6. Ashton Winger, 7. Dennis Erb Jr., 8. Tyler Erb, 9. Brandon Overton, 10. Spencer Hughes, 11. Tim McCreadie, 12. Hudson O’Neal, 13. Earl Pearson Jr., 14. Tyler Bruening, 15. Brian Shirley, 16. Garrett Alberson, 17. Kyle Bronson, 18. Jimmy Owens, 19. Joseph Joiner, 20. Stormy Scott, 21. Daulton Wilson, 22. Carson Ferguson, 23. Mike Marlar, 24. Chris Madden, 25. Mark Whitener, 26. Max Blair
Daulton Wilson looking to continue progression in opportunity with Ratliff
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