Sheppard Wins at Fayette County

fayette sn

 

 

Sheppard Escapes Fayette County Speedway with DIRTcar Summer Nationals Victory

 

By Jordan Morris

 

BROWNSTOWN, Ill. July 4, 2014 — 2013 DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion Brandon Sheppard may of not had the fastest car Friday night, but he had the lead when the track began to take rubber and passing became difficult, helping him score the $7,500 checkered flag at Fayette County Speedway.

 

Sheppard would lead the field to the green flag with Wednesday night’s winner Jason Feger starting on his outside. Sheppard started the race by clearing Feger for the lead on the opening lap, but made the mistake of moving to the high-line on lap two, opening up the faster bottom line for Feger to overtake Sheppard for the lead. Feger dominated the next 10 circuits, as Sheppard finally switched his line back to the bottom.

 

As the night went on, the track became more difficult to pass on as the rubber began to build up. Sheppard mounted a charge on lap 12 and reclaimed the lead from Feger, as they lined up nose-to-tail with points leader Shannon Babb and Billy Moyer on the single grove of racing, causing a traffic jam at the front of the field for the lead. All the leader had to do was make his way through slower traffic in order to coast to the victory. That was not so easy for Sheppard.

 

With just three laps left, two lapped cars made contact in front of the leader, causing Sheppard to slow down and giving Feger a chance to make a go-for-broke pass for the lead. Feger dove into the corner trying to clear Sheppard and become the first three time winner of the 2014 DIRTcar Summer Nationals season, but came up just short as Sheppard maintained the lead.

 

Sheppard lead the final two laps without any problems and secured his second win of the season, and ninth of his career, as he claimed the checkered flag at Fayette County Speedway.

 

“We had an awesome car all night long but we were fortunate to get back to victory lane,” said a relieved Sheppard in victory lane. “I went to the top (groove) right off the bat, which was dumb, and Feger got by us for the lead. But we were lucky we had a decent tire package on that allowed us to really get in there and roll that bottom pretty good after my crew guy told me to go back down there, and we were lucky to pass Feger (for the lead) before the rubber came in.”

 

Moyer, Babb, and Ryan Unzicker rounded out the top five.

 

Heat race winners included Sheppard, Unzicker, Feger and Babb.

 

The DIRTcar Summer Nationals continues on Tuesday night as they join the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals at Highland Speedway in Highland, Ill.

 

DIRTcar Summer Nationals Statistical Report; Fayette County Speedway; Brownstown, Ill.;

July 4, 2014; A-Main (40-laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard ($7,500), 2. 25-Jason Feger, 3. 21-Billy Moyer, 4. 18-Shannon Babb, 5. 24-Ryan Unzicker, 6. 96-Tanner English, 7. 7R-Kent Robinson, 8. 32-Bobby Pierce, 9. 27M-Rodney Melvin, 10. 00-Randy Korte, 11. 29W-Brian Divley, 12. 33X-Tim Manville, 13. 11R-Tyler Reddick, 14. 81JR-Jason Riggs, 15. 0-Dewayne Kiefer, 16. 6K-Michael Kloos, 17. 42L-Steve Lach, 18. 71-Trace Westling, 19. 1M-Jim Moon, 20. 81-Brian Shirley, 21. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr, 22. 20-Alan Westling.

 

2014 DIRTcar Summer Nationals Schedule

Date

Day

Track

Location

Win

June 11

Wed

Brownstown Speedway

Brownstown, Ind.

RAIN

June 12

Thur

Kankakee Co. Speedway

Kankakee, Ill.

Billy Moyer

June 13

Fri

Cedar Lake Speedway

Somerset, Wis.

Rick Eckert

June 14

Sat

Cedar Lake Speedway

Somerset, Wis.

RAIN

June 15

Sun

Wilmot Raceway

Wilmot, Wis.

Rick Eckert(2)

June 16

Mon

Off

   

June 17

Tue

Farley Speedway

Farley, Iowa

Shannon Babb

June 18

Wed

Spoon River Speedway

Canton, Ill.

Jason Feger

June 19

Thur

Quincy Raceways

Quincy, Ill.

RAIN

June 20

Fri

Tri-City Speedway

Pontoon Beach, Ill.

Billy Moyer(2)

June 21

Sat

Fairbury Speedway

Fairbury, Ill.

RAIN

June 22

Sun

I-96 Speedway

Ionia, Mich.

Brian Shirley

June 23

Mon

Peoria Speedway

Peoria, Ill.

Brandon Sheppard

June 24

Tue

Off

   

June 25

Wed

Clarksville Speedway

Clarksville, Tenn.

Shannon Babb(2)

June 26

Thur

Clayhill Motorsports

Atwood, Tenn.

Brian Shirley (2)

June 27

Fri

Paducah Int. Raceway

Paducah, Ky.

RAIN

June 28

Sat

Federated Auto Parts Raceway

Pevely, Mo.

Brian Birkhofer

June 29

Sun

Lincoln Speedway

Lincoln, Ill.

Brady Smith

June 30

Mon

Off

   

July 1

Tue

Belle Clair Speedway

Belleville, Ill.

Bobby Pierce

July 2

Wed

Jacksonville Speedway

Jacksonville, Ill.

Jason Feger(2)

July 3

Thur

LaSalle Speedway

LaSalle, Ill.

Brian Birkhofer

July 4

Fri

Fayette Co. Speedway

Brownstown, Ill.

Brandon Sheppard

July 5

Sat

Highland Speedway

Highland, Ill.

$10,000

July 6

Sun

Tri-State Speedway

Haubstadt, Ind.

$5,000

July 7

Mon

Off

   

July 8

Tue

Florence Speedway

Union, Ky.

$5,000

July 9

Wed

Terre Haute Action Track

Terre Haute, Ind.

$5,000

July 10

Thur

Macon Speedway

Macon, Ill.

$5,000

July 11

Fri

Farmer City Raceway

Farmer City, Ill.

$10,000

July 12

Sat

34 Raceway

Burlington, Iowa

$10,000

July 13

Sun

Vermilion Co. Speedway

Danville, Ill.

$5,000

July 14

Mon

Off

   

July 15

Tue

TBA

   

July 16

Wed

Atomic Speedway

Chillicothe, Ohio

$5,000

July 17

Thur

Brushcreek Motorsports Complex

Peebles, Ohio

$5,000

July 18

Fri

Attica Raceway Park

Attica, Ohio

$5,000

July 19

Sat

Oakshade Raceway

Wauseon, Ohio

$10,000

The DIRTcar Summer Nationals “Hell Tour” is brought to fans across the country by many important partners including: Arizona Sport Shirts (Official Apparel Company), Hoosier Racing Tires (Official Racing Tires), Racing Electronics (Official Communication), Velocita (Official Uniform), VP Racing Fuel (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to these fine Contingency Partners: Beyea Headers, Cometic Gasket, Comp Cams, Dominator Race Products, Edelbrock, Fox Shocks, JE Pistons, JRI Shocks, Mobil 1, MSD, Quartermaster, Superflow Dynos, Summit Racing Equipment and Wrisco Aluminum; Promotional Partners include: Chevy Performance Parts, Indiana Decal, Intercomp and Petroff Towing.