Chris Madden and Don O’Neal round out the podium

SHAWANO, WI- Aug. 2, 2017- Rick Eckert closed the book on an overdue victory at Shawano Speedway on Wednesday night by leading flag-to-flag to claim his second World of Outlaws Craftsman® Late Model Series win of the 2017 season.

The Series has consecutively visited the half-mile dirt track for the past eight years. Among all eight shows, Eckert holds the most consistent runs with six top-five finishes of the eight Series races at Shawano. He has only ever finished outside of the top-10 one time where he placed 11th in the 2010 shootout.

“I’ve always been fond of this place but I don’t think I’ve ever won here so it’s good to get a win here,” said Eckert. “It’s great to see this crowd of fans here. That is awesome. I want to thank all of the fans for coming out. The race track was really good and the rain held off so all of that was good.”

Earlier in the day it looked as if rain might win the show but Mother Nature had different plans as nothing more than gloomy skies blanketed over Shawano, WI.

Eckert started on the pole next to Don O’Neal for the 50-lap showdown. The first lap saw O’Neal pass for the lead down the backstretch but by turn four Eckert was back in control. Eckert was able to pull away from O’Neal’s grasp by nearly 2 seconds by lap 15. In the following four laps O’Neal was able to cut Eckert’s lead down to only .333 seconds but the No. 7 Paul Crowl machine was no match as he was able to pull away.

Eckert defended his lead from two cautions which reset his gains back to zero. Chris Madden was the biggest benefactor from the cautions as he was able to pass O’Neal for second on lap 34 after falling back to sixth during the first half of the event.

“Man, this redraw is killing us,” said Madden on his third position start in the feature. “If we could just ever put this thing on the front row, I think we could get quite a few more wins than what we have been getting. Awesome car tonight to be able to get through the dirty air at this big ol’ place and get to second. We closed in on him by about a second and a half on those last seven or eight laps. We definitely had a good piece tonight and no complaints.”

O’Neal settled for third by the time the checkers fell collecting his second podium finish in a row with the Series.

“I just got so tight after that last caution,” said O’Neal. “We just got to work on the steering part a little bit and if we get that down I think we really got something. We are getting there but man we just want to get this Peak car to victory lane bad.”

The World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series hits the road towards Cedar Lake Speedway for USA Nationals for the next three nights to wrap up the Wisconsin swing. On Saturday night, the Outlaws have their biggest payout of the season with $50,000-to-win.

Additional Race Notes:

Eckert’s last win with the Series was on Feb. 17 at Screven Motorsports Complex for the season opener.

Brandon Sheppard hit some bad luck today during his heat race with a right rear flat tire on lap two. The Rocket1 team quickly got it fixed and Sheppard headed back out onto the track to start tail. He finished fifth in the heat to collect a transfer position into the feature but would start 14th. During the feature, Sheppard made up six positions to finish among the top-10.

Shawano Speedway Results:

Craftsman Club Feature: 1. 7- Rick Eckert[1]; 2. 44- Chris Madden[3]; 3. 5- Don O’Neal[2]; 4. 25- Shane Clanton[5]; 5. 157- Mike Marlar[8]; 6. 14- Darrell Lanigan[7]; 7. 32- Chris Simpson[4]; 8. 1- Brandon Sheppard[14]; 9. 9- Devin Moran[12]; 10. 14m- Morgan Bagley[13]; 11. 28- Jimmy Mars[15]; 12. 91- Tyler Erb[20]; 13. 40B- Kyle Bronson[10]; 14. 18- Eric Wells[23]; 15. 28e- Dennis Erb Jr[19]; 16. 16- Tyler Bruening[22]; 17. 7R- Kent Robinson[16]; 18. 99jr- Frank Heckenast Jr[9]; 19. 18c- Chase Junghans[18]; 20. 15- Nick Anvelink[19]; 21. 1P- Earl Pearson Jr[6]; 22. 10- Paul Parker[21]; 23. 1*- Chub Frank[24]; 24. 58- A.J. Diemel[11]

Last Chance Showdown: 1. 15- Nick Anvelink[1]; 2. 91- Tyler Erb[3]; 3. 10- Paul Parker[7]; 4. 16- Tyler Bruening[4]; 5. 1*- Chub Frank[2]; 6. 3- Brett Swedberg[8]; 7. 7D- Austin Theiss[9]; 8. 31- Paul Stubber[5]; 9. 1d- Doug Blashe[6]; 10. 51- Matthew Furman[10]; DNS. 18- Eric Wells[11]; DNS. 66- Ron Berna[12];

Heat 1: 1. 32- Chris Simpson[1]; 2. 1P- Earl Pearson Jr[2]; 3. 14- Darrell Lanigan[4]; 4. 40B- Kyle Bronson[6]; 5. 14m- Morgan Bagley[3]; 6. 7R- Kent Robinson[5]; 7. 15- Nick Anvelink[8]; 8. 16- Tyler Bruening[7]; 9. 10- Paul Parker[9]; 10. 51- Matthew Furman[10]

Heat 2: 1. 44- Chris Madden[1]; 2. 7- Rick Eckert[5]; 3. 157- Mike Marlar[2]; 4. 58- A.J. Diemel[4]; 5. 1- Brandon Sheppard[3]; 6. 28e- Dennis Erb Jr[9]; 7. 1*- Chub Frank[7]; 8. 31- Paul Stubber[8]; 9. 3- Brett Swedberg[6]; DNS. 18- Eric Wells[10]

Heat 3: 1. 25- Shane Clanton[2]; 2. 5- Don O’Neal[1]; 3. 99jr- Frank Heckenast Jr[4]; 4. 9- Devin Moran[3]; 5. 28- Jimmy Mars[5]; 6. 18c- Chase Junghans[6]; 7. 91- Tyler Erb[8]; 8. 1d- Doug Blashe[7]; DNS. 7D- Austin Theiss[9]; DNS. 66- Ron Berna[10]

Qualifying:  1. 32- Chris Simpson, 19.354; 2. 44- Chris Madden, 19.393; 3. 5- Don O’Neal, 19.536; 4. 1P- Earl Pearson Jr, 19.549; 5. 157- Mike Marlar, 19.563; 6. 25- Shane Clanton, 19.588; 7. 14m- Morgan Bagley, 19.594; 8. 1- Brandon Sheppard, 19.662; 9. 9- Devin Moran, 19.767; 10. 14- Darrell Lanigan, 19.824; 11. 58- A.J. Diemel, 19.847; 12. 99jr- Frank Heckenast Jr, 19.88; 13. 7R- Kent Robinson, 19.943; 14. 7- Rick Eckert, 19.954; 15. 28- Jimmy Mars, 19.963; 16. 40B- Kyle Bronson, 20.055; 17. 3- Brett Swedberg, 20.067; 18. 18c- Chase Junghans, 20.067; 19. 16- Tyler Bruening, 20.079; 20. 1*- Chub Frank, 20.113; 21. 1d- Doug Blashe, 20.148; 22. 15- Nick Anvelink, 20.235; 23. 31- Paul Stubber. 20.341; 24. 91- Tyler Erb, 20.343; 25. 10- Paul Parker, 20.405; 26. 28e- Dennis Erb Jr, 20.501; 27. 7D- Austin Theiss, 20.558; 28. 51- Matthew Furman, 20.681; 29. 18- Eric Wells, 28.388; DNS. 66- Ron Berna 

CONTINGENCY WINNERS: Craftsman/Sears ($200 Cash): Rick Eckert, Chris Madden, Shane Clanton, Brandon Sheppard, Devin Moran.; Craftsman/Sears ($100 Cash): Don O’Neal; Comp Cams ($50 product certificate):Chris Madden; MSD Ignition ($50 Cash): Shane Clanton; Quarter Master ($100 Product Certificate): Rick Eckert; Wrisco (Three Sheets of aluminum):Shane Clanton;  Penske Racing Shocks ($50 Product Certificate): Chris Madden; JE Pistons ($50 Cash):Brandon Sheppard; VP Racing Fuels ($50 Cash): Devin Moran; Edelbrock ($50 Cash): Devin Moran; Comp Cams ($50 Cash): Morgan Bagley; Extended Stay America ($50 Cash): Tyler Erb; Cometic ($50 Cash): Tyler Erb; JRI Shocks ($50 Cash): Chub Frank; Superflow Dyno’s ($50 Cash): Eric Wells; Quartermaster ($25 Product Certificate): Nick Anvelink; JE Pistons (One set of piston rings): Frank Heckenast Jr.; Quartermaster ($50 Product Certificate): Nick Anvelink; Arizona Sport Shirts ($100 Product Certificate): Chris Madden; JE Pistons (One set of piston rings): A.J. Diemel; MSD Ignition ($25 Cash): A.J. Diemel; QA-1 ($50 Cash): Shane Clanton; Rookie Bonus: Devin Moran; Bonus Bucks: Chris Simpson

SEASON WINNERS:

Brandon Sheppard- 11 (Whynot Motorsports Park on March 24, Farmer City Raceway on April 1, Fayetteville Motor Speedway on May 6, Wayne County Speedway on May 27, Senoia Raceway on June 3, Lernerville Speedway on June 25, Federated Auto Part Raceway at I-55 on July 1, Hibbing Raceway on July 13, Fayette County Speedway on July 26, Fairbury American Legion Speedway on July 30)

Shane Clanton- 4 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 24, Cherokee Speedway on May 6, Tazewell Speedway on June 3, River Cities Speedway on June 14)

Chris Madden– 3 (Screven Motorsports Complex on Feb. 18, Deer Creek Speedway on July 8, Ogilvie Raceway on July 12)

Brandon Overton- 2 (Smoky Mountain Speedway on May 13, Lernerville Speedway on June 24)

Rick Eckert– 2 (Screven Motorsports Complex on Feb. 17, Shawano Speedway on Aug. 2)

Don O’Neal- 1 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 25)

Timothy Culp- 1 (LoneStar Speedway on March 26)

Brian Shirley-1 (Farmer City Raceway on April 2)

Mike Marlar- 1 (Duck River Raceway Park on May 14)

Devin Moran-1 (Atomic Speedway on May 26)

Max Blair- 1 (McKean County Raceway on June 20)

Unofficial World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series Championship Standings: