Silver Dollar Nationals at I-80 Speedway Next
SHINNSTON, W.Va. (07/20/20) – Brandon Sheppard continued his summer hot streak, adding two more World of Outlaws (WoO) Morton Buildings Late Model Series wins to the Rocket1 Racing season tally.
Sheppard increased his WoO Late Model Series win count to ten this week, following triumphs at Gondik Law Speedway and River Cities Speedway in the Valvoline No. 1 Seubert Calf Ranches/ Durham Racing Engines-powered Rocket Chassis House Car.
“This is all so surreal for me,” Sheppard said of his latest in a long line of accomplishments. “I was a kid that grew up at Macon, Farmer City, Lincoln, Jacksonville; and now I’m out here on the road living the dream. Mark [Richards] picked me up and gave me this opportunity to get the experienced I needed at tracks all over the country and that is what got us here to be as consistent as we are. I’m just having a ton of fun. In my opinion, we can’t go to enough races right now. Let’s keep going!”
Continuing the WoO Late Model Series Northern Swing, the tour invaded Gondik Law Speedway in Superior, Wis. on Tuesday. Sheppard timed in fourth and powered to a heat race win to earn a spot in the redraw.
Drawing the pole position for the 50-lapper, Sheppard jumped out to the early lead and never looked back. Navigating his way through heavy lap traffic, Brandon held off Cade Dillard and Jimmy Owens for the $10,000 payday. Darrell Lanigan and Ashton Winger completed the Top-5.
“I was kind of watching the scoreboard just to see who was back there,” Sheppard noted speaking of his challengers. “I knew once Cade got to second and Jimmy was third, that I needed to stay on top of my game. I knew they were gonna be there when it came down to it. It’s definitely nice to to know we hold those two guys off, especially in this type of condition which isn’t really my style.”
“I like to think I can run on all conditions, but this is definitely one of the tougher ones for me as a driver as slick as this track was,” spoke Sheppard on the track conditions. “They told me it would get black by the end of the night and we’d race all over it, and that’s exactly what happened. It was kind of hard to maneuver around and pass cars, but I was getting through lap traffic okay for awhile. We had a really great car though. It helps when you qualify good and win your heat, I think that was the key for us again.”
On Saturday, Rocket1 Racing traveled to Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo, N.D. Another solid start saw Sheppard post QuickTime in his qualifying group and charge to a heat race win before drawing the fourth starting spot for the A-Main.
Capitalizing in lap traffic, Sheppard snuck by Ricky Weiss in the final two circuits to secure the second spot behind race winner, Darrell Lanigan. Weiss finished third with Chase Junghans and Ashton Winger rounding out the Top-5 finishers.
After being postponed from Friday night because of severe weather, River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D. hosted the WoO Late Model Series on Sunday. Brandon was the top qualifier of the night and picked up a heat race win, sending him to the redraw.
Starting the $10,000-to win feature in fourth, Sheppard used lap traffic to reel in race leader Ricky Weiss and assume command of the lead on the 32nd circuit. “The Rocket Shepp” survived a late-race charge from Dillard to claim the win. Dillard was second, Weiss was third, while Dennis Erb Jr. and Dustin Strand finished fourth and fifth respectively.
“The way track was I was glad that we were getting to lap traffic, because I knew that was probably the only way I could get around him,” Sheppard said on tracking down Weiss. “This place relies so heavily on momentum. Until lap traffic slows us down, you’re kind of married to a momentum line. Once we got there I could run the top, run the bottom, feel out where I needed to be and where I could pass him at. He kept guarding the bottom after I showed him a nose and then those lap cars went down low that one lap and left me a lane up high; and I just sent it off in there and it stuck.”
Rocket1 Racing continues to lead the latest World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series Championship Standings. To view the latest standings, complete results, and learn more about upcoming events, please visit www.WoOLMS.com.
The team will travel south this week to compete with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb. The action gets underway on Thursday with The Dirt Track Bank Go 50, paying $12,000-to-win. Friday includes preliminary events for the 10th Annual Silver Dollar Nationals. The weekend culminates on Saturday with a $53,000-to-win finale.
To learn more about these events, please visit www.LucasDirt.com.
Rocket1 Racing would like to thank all of their marketing partners, which include Valvoline, Seubert Calf Ranches, Rocket Chassis, Ace Metal Works, Durham Racing Engines, FiveStar RaceCar Bodies, Gunters Honey, Hoosier Racing Tire, Integra Racing Shocks, Keyser Manufacturing, Petroff Towing, Slavic Custom Racing Shirts & Decals, Sweet Manufacturing, Sunoco Race Fuels, Accu-Force Shock Service, ATL Fuel Cells, Aurora Rod Ends, Barnes Dry Sump Oil Systems, Bazell Race Fuels, Beyea Custom Headers, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Brinn Transmissions, Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, CP Carrillo, Dohm Cycles, Edelbrock, Fibreworks Composites, Hardrock Powder Coating, Howe Racing Enterprises, Jones Racing Products, Kenny’s Components, Maxima Racing Oils, MSD, NGK Spark Plugs, Tel Tac, Performance Bodies, Peterson Fluid Systems, Powers Performance, Performance Rod & Custom, Quarter Master, QuickCar Racing Products, Rocket Pre-Owned Motors, Safecraft, Show Trucks Unlimited, Simpson, Stealth Carburetors, Strange Oval, Suave Talk, Total Power Valvoline Pro-V Racing, Walker Performance Filtration, Weld Racing, Wiles Driveshafts, Wilwood Brakes, Winters Performance Products, Wrisco Aluminum, Xceldyne Valvetrain, and MSR Mafia Marketing Services.
For the latest information on Rocket1Racing please visit the team website at www.Rocket1Racing.com as well as their social media channels at www.facebook.com/Rocket1Racing, www.twitter.com/Rocket1_Racing, and www.instagram.com/rocket1racing.