by Don Martin 8.6.2018
Below are the rankings after last week’s USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway. Brandon Sheppard took home the $50,000 and is also now on Top of the STLRacing.com Dirt Late Model Rankings. Scott Bloomquist sits in the second spot and will probably take the spot back after he wins the North/South 100 this weekend at Florence Speedway as the Lucas Oil Series roas back in action. How about Illinois driver Brian Shirley taking home second at Cedar Lake. Brian now has finished second in two crown jewels already this season, remember the UMP Summer National Champ finished second at the Show-Me back in May. Brian has climbed to 6th in the Rankings, what a year considering how bad it started in Florida. His car owner Bob Cullen has always believed in Brian’s ability and has given him the confidence and equipment to run up front.
Brandon Sheppard now has 15 wins on the season that have paid over at least $5,000 to win. The kid is stout and determined. His plans this weekend include the MARS events at Tri-City Speedway and Fairbury, and I am sure will make an appearance at Jacksonville Sunday as well. It will be great seeing the B5 in the family operation this weekend Tri-City and Jacksonville are paying $5,000 to win and Fairbury is $10,000 to win Saturday night. The Fals Frenzy was scheduled back in May but was rained out. Jacksonville is paying $5,000 to win Sunday night as the make-up Summer National rain date. Sheppard by the way likes all 3 of these joints.
The World of Outlaws are idle this week. The series will then head out East the following week. The Lucas Series is back in action for 4 straight nights at Florence Speedway. This is the North/South week. Wednesday and Thursday for full Lucas Shows paying $10,000 and $12,000 to win followed by Preliminary’s on Friday for the North South 100 on Saturday paying $50,000 to win. Tim McCreadie, Bobby Pierce, and Scott Bloomquist battled it out last year for the top prize with McCreadie taking home the big check last year. TMAC is still looking for his first Lucas win of the season, it has been a struggle this year. The Sweetner’s Longhorn team has not qualified well this year, and Tim will tell you these guys are too good to spot them 5 rows on the track each night. Tim told me it is tough to win even if you start up front yet alone starting mid pack you have no chance. Hopefully the 39 gets back on track this week. If I was a betting man I would not bet against Bloomer this week. His team did not race last weekend and anytime Scott has an extra time to get ready for big races the field is usually in trouble.
Not everyone will be at Florence this week, the 3 races in Illinois are going to get some good cars, I expect Brandon Sheppard, Brian Shirley, Shannon Babb, Jason Feger, Chris Simpson, Tannner English, Michael Kloos, Tim Manville, Gordy Gundaker, Tony Jackson Jr., Ryan Unzicker, and both Moyers will show their faces this weekend at Tri-City, Fairbury, and Jacksonville this weekend. Friday and Saturday are MARS events and Sunday is a UMP special.
We could see a rematch this weekend of the Summer Nationals between Babb and Shirley – should be a great weekend of racing in Illinois this weekend with several good teams on hand.
StlRacing.com Top 25 Super Dirt Late Model Rankings 8.6.2018
1 Brandon Sheppard
2 Scott Bloomquist
3 Chris Madden
4 Jonathan Davenport
5 Mike Marlar
6 Brian Shirley
7 Bobby Pierce
8 Dale McDowell
9 Shannon Babb
10 Jimmy Owens
11 Josh Richards
12 Tim McCreadie
13 Devin Moran
14 Earl Pearson Jr.
15 Chris Simpson
16 Don O’Neal
17 Hudson O’Neal
18 Brandon Overton
19 Billy Moyer
20 Ricky Weiss
21 Shane Clanton
22 Ryan Unzicker
23 Tyler Erb
24 Chase Junghans
25 Zach Dohm
Enjoy the races and keep supporting your local dirt tracks !!
Dirty Don – see you at the races !! This week’s plans include stops at Tri-City and Fairbury. .