Steve Sheppard Jr holds off Ryan Unzicker and Jeff Leka nears eighth championship in a row with wins

jdearing

Administrator
Staff member
Farmer City Raceway
Farmer City, IL
July 31, 2009
by Dan Stewart (with some help from DeeDee)
www.midwestdirttrackfacts.com

Steve Sheppard Jr holds off Ryan Unzicker and Jeff Leka nears eighth championship in a row with wins at Farmer City Raceway Friday July 31

With perfect fall weather in July, twenty two late models took to the track Friday night. Fast time went to young Brandon Sheppard at 12.761 seconds. The first heat was an exciting race with Scott Schmitt holding off Ryan Unzicker and Richie Hedrick for the win. The second heat went to Steve Sheppard Jr over Rocky Griffin and Chris Dick. The third heat went to Donny Walden over Joe Harlan and Cody Watters, a race that went three wide for the checkers. The feature only had one early caution, then the race was on as Steve Sheppard Jr would lead every lap, but several times, Ryan Unzicker would pull alongside and try for the lead, just not being able to get around Sheppard Jr.

The modified class had eighteen cars, and evening started with fast time going to Kyle Byerline at 14.146 seconds. The first heat went to Justin DeLong in a close battle over Michael Bradley, Ryan Thomas and Allen Stipp. The second heat went to Jeff Leka over Jeb Friedman, Lance Dehm and Randy Huffman. The feature event had an early caution, then fifteen laps of great racing, mostly with Jeff Leka leading and Justin DeLong pulling alongside in turns one and two, briefly taking the lead lap after lap, until Leka finally moved down into the lower groove and started pulling away. With another caution late setting up a two lap dash to the checkers, Leka used his many years of experience to maintain the lead to the checkers, and Michael Bradley managed to get next to, and barely past DeLong for second. Fourth went to Lance Dehm followed by Ryan Thomas, Jeb Friedman, Jeff Curl, Randy Huffman, Allen Stipp and Jay Ledford.

The crate late model class had ten cars present. The first heat went to Nick Bauman over Allen Thomas. The second heat went to Paducah, Kentucky's Matt Liner over last week's feature winner John Barnard. The feature once again went to points leader Nick Bauman after he made a mid-race pass on Liner, who would finish second, followed by Allen Thomas, John Barnard, Bobby Pierce an Nick Macklin

The street stock heats went to Chris Tackett in a fun race over Darrell Lehigh, and the second heat went to Terry Miller over Jim Quinn. Jim Quinn would go on to win the feature, again on the last lap after race long leader Terry Miller tagged the wall and has car problems on the last turn of the last lap, the win going to Quinn over Al Crawley, with Chris Tackett third

The hornet heats went to Jim Wilson, Larry Hawk and points leader Jason Maier, with Maier once again taking the feature win.

22 Late Models in Attendance<br />Fast Qualifier: Brandon Sheppard 12.761<br /><br /><b>Heat 1</b><br />1 &nbsp; Scott Schmitt &nbsp; 10<br />2 &nbsp; Ryan Unzicker &nbsp; 24<br />3 &nbsp; Richie Hedrick &nbsp; 0<br />4 &nbsp; Brandon Sheppard &nbsp; B5<br />5 &nbsp; Joe Janowski &nbsp; 6J<br />6 &nbsp; Kyle Logue &nbsp; 91<br />7 &nbsp; Jim Moon &nbsp; 1<br />8 &nbsp; Aaron Ricketts &nbsp; 95<br />&nbsp;<br /><b>Heat 2</b><br />1 &nbsp; Steve Sheppard Jr. &nbsp; 5S<br />2 &nbsp; Rocky Griffin &nbsp; 1G<br />3 &nbsp; Chris Dick &nbsp; 22<br />4 &nbsp; Eric Smith &nbsp; 9<br />5 &nbsp; Jimmy Dehm &nbsp; 99J<br />6 &nbsp; Daren Friedman &nbsp; 89<br />7 &nbsp; Scott Schoener &nbsp; 61<br />&nbsp;<br /><b>Heat 3</b><br />1 &nbsp; Donny Walden &nbsp; 1W<br />2 &nbsp; Joe Harlan &nbsp; Z<br />3 &nbsp; Cody Watters &nbsp; 38<br />4 &nbsp; Scott Bull &nbsp; 83<br />5 &nbsp; Brian Diveley &nbsp; 11D<br />6 &nbsp; Jim Felker Jr. &nbsp; 17<br />7 &nbsp; Josh Goode &nbsp; 45Z<br /><br /><b>Feature</b><br />1 &nbsp; Steve Sheppard Jr. &nbsp; 5S<br />2 &nbsp; Ryan Unzicker &nbsp; 24<br />3 &nbsp; Donny Walden &nbsp; 1W<br />4 &nbsp; Eric Smith &nbsp; 9<br />5 &nbsp; Rocky Griffin &nbsp; 1G<br />6 &nbsp; Brandon Sheppard &nbsp; B5<br />7 &nbsp; Scott Schmitt &nbsp; 10<br />8 &nbsp; Joe Janowski &nbsp; 6J<br />9 &nbsp; Chris Dick &nbsp; 22<br />10 &nbsp; Kyle Logue &nbsp; 91<br />11 &nbsp; Jimmy Dehm &nbsp; 99J<br />12 &nbsp; Scott Bull &nbsp; 83<br />13 &nbsp; Cody Watters &nbsp; 38<br />14 &nbsp; Jim Felker Jr. &nbsp; 17<br />15 &nbsp; Richie Hedrick &nbsp; 0<br />16 &nbsp; Joe Harlan &nbsp; Z<br />17 &nbsp; Brian Diveley &nbsp; 11D<br />18 &nbsp; Jim Moon &nbsp; 1<br />19 &nbsp; Scott Schoener &nbsp; 61<br />20 &nbsp; Josh Goode &nbsp; 45Z<br />21 &nbsp; Daren Friedman &nbsp; 89<br />22 &nbsp; Aaron Ricketts &nbsp; 95<br />&nbsp;<br /><b>Qualifying</b><br />1 &nbsp; Brandon Sheppard &nbsp; B5<br />2 &nbsp; Eric Smith &nbsp; 9<br />3 &nbsp; Joe Harlan &nbsp; Z<br />4 &nbsp; Ryan Unzicker &nbsp; 24<br />5 &nbsp; Steve Sheppard Jr. &nbsp; 5S<br />6 &nbsp; Donny Walden &nbsp; 1W<br />7 &nbsp; Scott Schmitt &nbsp; 10<br />8 &nbsp; Daren Friedman &nbsp; 89<br />9 &nbsp; Cody Watters &nbsp; 38<br />10 &nbsp; Joe Janowski &nbsp; 6J<br />11 &nbsp; Jimmy Dehm &nbsp; 99J<br />12 &nbsp; Scott Bull &nbsp; 83<br />13 &nbsp; Richie Hedrick &nbsp; 0<br />14 &nbsp; Rocky Griffin &nbsp; 1G<br />15 &nbsp; Brian Diveley &nbsp; 11D<br />16 &nbsp; Kyle Logue &nbsp; 91<br />17 &nbsp; Chris Dick &nbsp; 22<br />18 &nbsp; Jim Felker Jr. &nbsp; 17<br />19 &nbsp; Aaron Ricketts &nbsp; 95<br />20 &nbsp; Scott Schoener &nbsp; 61<br />21 &nbsp; Josh Goode &nbsp; 45Z<br /><br /><b>Top 10 in Points as of 7.31.09</b><br />1 &nbsp; Eric Smith &nbsp; 554<br />2 &nbsp; Daren Friedman &nbsp; 415<br />3 &nbsp; Joe Harlan &nbsp; 399<br />4 &nbsp; Steve Sheppard Jr. &nbsp; 349<br />5 &nbsp; Richie Hedrick &nbsp; 346<br />6 &nbsp; Donny Walden &nbsp; 296<br />7 &nbsp; Jimmy Dehm &nbsp; 275<br />8 &nbsp; Brandon Sheppard &nbsp; 274<br />9 &nbsp; Ryan Unzicker &nbsp; 262<br />10 &nbsp; Scott Bull &nbsp; 260<br /><br /><br />18 Modifieds in Attendance<br />Fast Qualifier: Kyle Byerline 14.146<br /><br /><b>Heat 1</b><br />1 &nbsp; Justin DeLong &nbsp; 7J<br />2 &nbsp; Michael Bradley &nbsp; 7M<br />3 &nbsp; Ryan Thomas &nbsp; T9<br />4 &nbsp; Allan Stipp &nbsp; 88S<br />5 &nbsp; Kyle Byerline &nbsp; 11B<br />6 &nbsp; Jeff Curl &nbsp; C12<br />7 &nbsp; Darcey Wey &nbsp; 21D<br />8 &nbsp; Mark Auler &nbsp; 10H<br />9 &nbsp; Ryan Wilson &nbsp; 11<br />&nbsp;<br /><b>Heat 2</b><br />1 &nbsp; Jeff Leka &nbsp; 3L<br />2 &nbsp; Jeb Friedman &nbsp; 4<br />3 &nbsp; Lance Dehm &nbsp; D1<br />4 &nbsp; Randy Huffman &nbsp; 5H<br />5 &nbsp; Josh Beebe &nbsp; 5<br />6 &nbsp; Justin Leka &nbsp; 2L<br />7 &nbsp; Roben Huffman &nbsp; 33H<br />8 &nbsp; Jay Ledford &nbsp; 7L<br />9 &nbsp; Derek Hufford &nbsp; P51<br /><br /><b>Feature</b><br />1 &nbsp; Jeff Leka &nbsp; 3L<br />2 &nbsp; Michael Bradley &nbsp; 7M<br />3 &nbsp; Justin DeLong &nbsp; 7J<br />4 &nbsp; Lance Dehm &nbsp; D1<br />5 &nbsp; Ryan Thomas &nbsp; T9<br />6 &nbsp; Jeb Friedman &nbsp; 4<br />7 &nbsp; Jeff Curl &nbsp; C12<br />8 &nbsp; Randy Huffman &nbsp; 5H<br />9 &nbsp; Allan Stipp &nbsp; 88S<br />10 &nbsp; Jay Ledford &nbsp; 7L<br />11 &nbsp; Kyle Byerline &nbsp; 11B<br />12 &nbsp; Derek Hufford &nbsp; P51<br />13 &nbsp; Justin Leka &nbsp; 2L<br />14 &nbsp; Mark Auler &nbsp; 10H<br />15 &nbsp; Darcey Wey &nbsp; 21D<br />16 &nbsp; Josh Beebe &nbsp; 5<br />17 &nbsp; Roben Huffman &nbsp; 33H<br />18 &nbsp; Ryan Wilson &nbsp; 11<br /><br /><b>Qualifying</b><br />1 &nbsp; Kyle Byerline &nbsp; 11B<br />2 &nbsp; Jeb Friedman &nbsp; 4<br />3 &nbsp; Justin DeLong &nbsp; 7J<br />4 &nbsp; Jeff Leka &nbsp; 3L<br />5 &nbsp; Michael Bradley &nbsp; 7M<br />6 &nbsp; Jay Ledford &nbsp; 7L<br />7 &nbsp; Ryan Thomas &nbsp; T9<br />8 &nbsp; Lance Dehm &nbsp; D1<br />9 &nbsp; Allan Stipp &nbsp; 88S<br />10 &nbsp; Derek Hufford &nbsp; P51<br />11 &nbsp; Mark Auler &nbsp; 10H<br />12 &nbsp; Randy Huffman &nbsp; 5H<br />13 &nbsp; Jeff Curl &nbsp; C12<br />14 &nbsp; Josh Beebe &nbsp; 5<br />15 &nbsp; Darcey Wey &nbsp; 21D<br />16 &nbsp; Justin Leka &nbsp; 2L<br />17 &nbsp; Ryan Wilson &nbsp; 11<br />18 &nbsp; Roben Huffman &nbsp; 33H<br /><br /><b>Top 10 in Points as of 7.31.09</b><br />1 &nbsp; Jeff Leka &nbsp; 785<br />2 &nbsp; Chad Osterhoff &nbsp; 624<br />3 &nbsp; Jeb Friedman &nbsp; 493<br />4 &nbsp; Justin DeLong &nbsp; 466<br />5 &nbsp; Jeff Curl &nbsp; 463<br />6 &nbsp; Denny Schwartz &nbsp; 418<br />7 &nbsp; Cory Schwengel &nbsp; 372<br />8 &nbsp; Lance Dehm &nbsp; 370<br />9 &nbsp; Randy Huffman &nbsp; 313<br />10 &nbsp; Allan Stipp &nbsp; 298<br /><br /><br />10 Pro (Crate) Late Models/Sportsman in Attendance<br /><br /><b>Heat 1</b><br />1 &nbsp; Nick Bauman &nbsp; B1<br />2 &nbsp; Allen Thomas &nbsp; 12<br />3 &nbsp; Matt Beadles &nbsp; 17B<br />4 &nbsp; David Henderson &nbsp; H28<br />5 &nbsp; George Clevenger &nbsp; 6<br /><br /><b>Heat 2</b><br />1 &nbsp; Matt Liner &nbsp; 35<br />2 &nbsp; John Barnard &nbsp; B8<br />3 &nbsp; Nick Macklin &nbsp; 16<br />4 &nbsp; Bobby Pierce &nbsp; 32<br />5 &nbsp; Jim Bailey &nbsp; 66B<br /><br /><b>Feature</b><br />1 &nbsp; Nick Bauman &nbsp; B1<br />2 &nbsp; Matt Liner &nbsp; 35<br />3 &nbsp; Allen Thomas &nbsp; 12<br />4 &nbsp; John Barnard &nbsp; B8<br />5 &nbsp; Matt Beadles &nbsp; 17B<br />6 &nbsp; Bobby Pierce &nbsp; 32<br />7 &nbsp; Nick Macklin &nbsp; 16<br />8 &nbsp; Jim Bailey &nbsp; 66B<br />9 &nbsp; George Clevenger &nbsp; 6<br />10 &nbsp; David Henderson &nbsp; H28<br /><br /><b>Top 10 in Points as of 7.31.09</b><br />1 &nbsp; Nick Bauman &nbsp; 658<br />2 &nbsp; Allen Thomas &nbsp; 498<br />3 &nbsp; John Barnard &nbsp; 495<br />4 &nbsp; Kevin Moffett &nbsp; 474<br />5 &nbsp; Matt Beadles &nbsp; 431<br />6 &nbsp; Nick Macklin &nbsp; 406<br />7 &nbsp; Jim Moon &nbsp; 321<br />8 &nbsp; Bobby Pierce &nbsp; 308<br />9 &nbsp; Timmy Dick &nbsp; 279<br />10 &nbsp; Dave Slade &nbsp; 233<br /><br /><br />14 Street Stocks in Attendance<br /><br /><b>Heat 1</b><br />1 &nbsp; Chris Tackett &nbsp; 0<br />2 &nbsp; Darrel Lehigh &nbsp; 71<br />3 &nbsp; Al Crawley &nbsp; 88<br />4 &nbsp; Keith Jiles &nbsp; 4<br />5 &nbsp; Brandon Houser &nbsp; 7<br />6 &nbsp; Brandon Miller &nbsp; 99<br />7 &nbsp; Hugh Johnson &nbsp; 23<br />&nbsp;<br /><b>Heat 2</b><br />1 &nbsp; Terry Miller &nbsp; 9<br />2 &nbsp; Jim Quinn &nbsp; 82<br />3 &nbsp; Scott Thrasher &nbsp; 19<br />4 &nbsp; Doug Berbaum &nbsp; 33B<br />5 &nbsp; Codie Miller &nbsp; 10M<br />6 &nbsp; Wayne Orrick &nbsp; 44<br />7 &nbsp; Danny Williams &nbsp; 39<br /><br /><b>Feature</b><br />1 &nbsp; Jim Quinn &nbsp; 82<br />2 &nbsp; Al Crawley &nbsp; 88<br />3 &nbsp; Chris Tackett &nbsp; 0<br />4 &nbsp; Terry Miller &nbsp; 9<br />5 &nbsp; Codie Miller &nbsp; 10M<br />6 &nbsp; Darrel Lehigh &nbsp; 71<br />7 &nbsp; Hugh Johnson &nbsp; 23<br />8 &nbsp; Keith Jiles &nbsp; 4<br />9 &nbsp; Scott Thrasher &nbsp; 19<br />10 &nbsp; Brandon Miller &nbsp; 99<br />11 &nbsp; Wayne Orrick &nbsp; 44<br />12 &nbsp; Doug Berbaum &nbsp; 33B<br />13 &nbsp; Brandon Houser &nbsp; 7<br />14 &nbsp; Danny Williams &nbsp; 39<br /><br /><b>Top 10 in Points as of 7.31.09</b><br />1 &nbsp; Jim Quinn &nbsp; 665<br />2 &nbsp; Terry Miller &nbsp; 642<br />3 &nbsp; Chris Tackett &nbsp; 512<br />4 &nbsp; Josh Griffith &nbsp; 477<br />5 &nbsp; Chuck Barnes Jr. &nbsp; 368<br />6 &nbsp; Troy Dodson &nbsp; 345<br />7 &nbsp; Darrel Lehigh &nbsp; 345<br />8 &nbsp; Scott Thrasher &nbsp; 340<br />9 &nbsp; Hugh Johnson &nbsp; 297<br />10 &nbsp; Greg Rubenacker &nbsp; 241<br /><br /><br />23 Hornets in Attendance<br /><br /><b>Heat 1</b><br />1 &nbsp; Jim Wilson &nbsp; 47<br />2 &nbsp; Bob Althouse &nbsp; 0A<br />3 &nbsp; Torry Lyons &nbsp; 20<br />4 &nbsp; Jared Mugler &nbsp; 48M<br />5 &nbsp; David Lauritson &nbsp; 15<br />6 &nbsp; Luke Wright &nbsp; 8<br />7 &nbsp; James Alcorn &nbsp; 68<br />8 &nbsp; Farrah Foster &nbsp; 9<br /><br /><b>Heat 2</b><br />1 &nbsp; Larry Hawk &nbsp; 20H<br />2 &nbsp; Matt Musgrave &nbsp; 13<br />3 &nbsp; Lucas Lange &nbsp; 71<br />4 &nbsp; Brian Wilson &nbsp; 83<br />5 &nbsp; Luke Althouse &nbsp; 1A<br />6 &nbsp; Corey Well &nbsp; 9W<br />7 &nbsp; Nick Boung &nbsp; 11B<br />8 &nbsp; Bob Sanders &nbsp; 3S<br /><br /><b>Heat 3</b><br />1 &nbsp; Jason Maier &nbsp; 99L<br />2 &nbsp; Jonathon Schuck &nbsp; 4<br />3 &nbsp; Josh Osborne &nbsp; 5<br />4 &nbsp; Eric Wilson &nbsp; 46<br />5 &nbsp; Dustin Stork &nbsp; 28D<br />6 &nbsp; Trisha Burton &nbsp; 8UP<br />7 &nbsp; Dave Majors &nbsp; 11M<br /><br /><b>Feature</b><br />1 &nbsp; Jason Maier &nbsp; 99L<br />2 &nbsp; Jim Wilson &nbsp; 47<br />3 &nbsp; Josh Osborne &nbsp; 5<br />4 &nbsp; Matt Musgrave &nbsp; 13<br />5 &nbsp; Larry Hawk &nbsp; 20H<br />6 &nbsp; Jonathon Schuck &nbsp; 4<br />7 &nbsp; David Lauritson &nbsp; 15<br />8 &nbsp; Eric Wilson &nbsp; 46<br />9 &nbsp; Torry Lyons &nbsp; 20<br />10 &nbsp; Brian Wilson &nbsp; 83<br />11 &nbsp; Jared Mugler &nbsp; 48M<br />12 &nbsp; Bob Althouse &nbsp; 0A<br />13 &nbsp; Dustin Stork &nbsp; 28D<br />14 &nbsp; Luke Althouse &nbsp; 1A<br />15 &nbsp; Lucas Lange &nbsp; 71<br />16 &nbsp; Trisha Burton &nbsp; 8UP<br />17 &nbsp; Luke Wright &nbsp; 8<br />18 &nbsp; James Alcorn &nbsp; 68<br />19 &nbsp; Nick Boung &nbsp; 11B<br />20 &nbsp; Corey Well &nbsp; 9W<br />21 &nbsp; Dave Majors &nbsp; 11M<br />22 &nbsp; Farrah Foster &nbsp; 9<br />23 &nbsp; Bob Sanders &nbsp; 3S<br /><br /><b>Top 10 in Points as of 7.31.09</b><br />1 &nbsp; Jason Maier &nbsp; 660<br />2 &nbsp; Eric Wilson &nbsp; 577<br />3 &nbsp; Larry Hawk &nbsp; 498<br />4 &nbsp; Jim Wilson &nbsp; 386<br />5 &nbsp; Matt Corray &nbsp; 352<br />6 &nbsp; Joe Reed &nbsp; 319<br />7 &nbsp; Eric Wisher &nbsp; 317<br />8 &nbsp; Matt Maier &nbsp; 287<br />9 &nbsp; David Lauritson &nbsp; 266<br />10 &nbsp; Brian Wilson &nbsp; 246
 




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