Clanton and Moran round out podium

KANSAS CITY, KS- Sept. 22, 2017-Brandon Sheppard secured his 15th win of the 2017 season at Lakeside Speedway after a pass for the lead on lap 22 of the 50-lap feature. Once Sheppard got to the front of the pack from his fifth position start, there was no looking back for the Rocket Chassis No.1 as he created 7.778 seconds between him and Shane Clanton who finished second.

“Putting the hard tires on this thing helped us a little bit tonight,” said Sheppard. “We were a little bit tight early and I think the tires were a little bit too soft for the way that this track was. This track was pretty hard on the soft tires so the hard ones worked really good. Mark [Richards] made all of the right decisions on the car and Dan [White], Austin [Hargrove] and Joel [Rogers] work really hard and it’s a heck of a team we have here. I can’t thank these guys enough.”

Clanton’s second place finish was one spot behind where he finished during the World of Outlaws Craftsman® Late Model Series last visit to the 4/10-mile speedway in 2007. One decade later and Clanton still remains a threat to the podium at the Kansas City semi-banked oval.

Clanton found himself battling with Brent Larson for majority of the race. On a lap 24 restart, after a caution fell for Tyler Erb with a right-rear flat, Clanton was able to pull off the pass for second but Larson quickly regained control. Clanton secured his second-place finish on lap 40 from Larson.

“I know we had a second-place car there and I know that Brandon was a little bit better in lapped traffic and passing the leader there but we’re going to work on it a little bit more and I think we’re going in the right direction and hopefully just compete with them,” said Clanton

Larson held the lead for 22 laps before being passed by Sheppard on lap 22, then by Clanton on lap 24 and again on lap 40. Moran was the next car to find his way to Larson’s bumper and then find his way around on lap 46. Larson settled for a fifth-place finish with Chris Madden sneaking by to make a near last lap pass for fourth.

“I definitely had to fight for that one,” said Moran. “I got shuffled back to eighth or ninth on that start and was kind of just climbing the rest of the way… The 25 car is the man I’m trying to catch so it’s not good when he finishes in front of me but just got to keep on digging and keep on grinding and hopefully we can get to the rest of this year with top-fives.”

Only 54 points stand between Clanton in third and Moran in fourth in the points chase.

The World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series heads to Salina Highbanks Speedway in Salina, Oklahoma for 50-laps and $10,000-to-win Saturday, Sept. 23.

Feature: 1. 1- Brandon Sheppard[5]; 2. 25- Shane Clanton[4]; 3. 9- Devin Moran[6]; 4. 44- Chris Madden[10]; 5. B1- Brent Larson[2]; 6. 7- Rick Eckert[12]; 7. 18c- Chase Junghans[9]; 8. 36- Logan Martin[1]; 9. 14m- Morgan Bagley[18]; 10. 12M- Raymond Merrill[15]; 11. 91- Tyler Erb[8]; 12. 99jr- Frank Heckenast Jr[3]; 13. 1*- Chub Frank[11]; 14. 20- Rodney Sanders[7]; 15. 18- Eric Wells[17]; 16. 5- Todd Shute[19]; 17. 45- Bob King[21]; 18. 173- Shad Badder[14]; 19. 21x- John Anderson[16]; DNS. 16- Austin Siebert[20]; DNS. 43- Jeremy Grady[13]

Heat 1:  1. 99jr- Frank Heckenast Jr[1]; 2. B1- Brent Larson[2]; 3. 20- Rodney Sanders[4]; 4. 44- Chris Madden[3]; 5. 43- Jeremy Grady[5]; 6. 21x- John Anderson[6]; 7. 5- Todd Shute[7]

Heat 2: 1. 1- Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 25- Shane Clanton[2]; 3. 91- Tyler Erb[3]; 4. 1*- Chub Frank[4]; 5. 173- Shad Badder[6]; 6. 18- Eric Wells[7]; 7. 16- Austin Siebert[5]

Heat 3: 1. 36- Logan Martin[1]; 2. 9- Devin Moran[4]; 3. 18c- Chase Junghans[3]; 4. 7- Rick Eckert[5]; 5. 12M- Raymond Merrill[2]; 6. 14m- Morgan Bagley[6]; 7. 45- Bob King[7]

Qualifying: 1. 99jr- Frank Heckenast Jr, 17.027; 2. 1- Brandon Sheppard, 17.119; 3. 36- Logan Martin,17.145; 4. B1- Brent Larson, 17.166; 5. 25- Shane Clanton, 17.206; 6. 12M- Raymond Merrill, 17.209; 7. 44- Chris Madden, 17.309; 8. 91- Tyler Erb, 17.34; 9. 18c- Chase Junghans, 17.372; 10. 20- Rodney Sanders, 17.39; 11. 1*- Chub Frank, 17.451; 12. 9- Devin Moran, 17.495; 13. 43- Jeremy Grady, 17.595; 14. 16- Austin Siebert, 17.781; 15. 7- Rick Eckert, 17.785; 16. 21x- John Anderson, 17.848; 17. 173- Shad Badder, 17.929; 18. 14m- Morgan Bagley, 18.048; 19. 5- Todd Shute, 18.171; 20. 18- Eric Wells, 18.177; 21. 45- Bob King, 19.0

SEASON WINNERS:

Brandon Sheppard- 15 (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, Brighton Speedway on June 17, 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, Oshkosh SpeedZone Raceway on Aug. 1, Port Royal Speedway on Aug. 19, Eriez Speedway on Aug. 20, Lakeside Speedway on Sept. 22)

Shane Clanton- 5 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 24, Cherokee Speedway on May 6, Tazewell Speedway on June 3, River Cities Speedway on June 14, Merritt Speedway on Aug. 26)

Chris Madden– 5 (Screven Motorsports Complex on Feb. 18, Deer Creek Speedway on July 8, Ogilvie Raceway on July 12, Cedar Lake Speedway on Aug. 5, Merritt Speedway on Aug. 27)

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)

Devin Moran- 2 (Atomic Speedway on May 26, Georgetown Speedway on Aug. 18)

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)

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

Jeff Rine- 1 (Selinsgrove Speedway on Sept. 3)

Unofficial World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series Championship Standings: