Shirley Edges Sheppard by .090 in Late Model Thriller, Krup Scores Third Career Summit Modified Victory at Fairbury

DIRTcar Late Models

FAIRBURY, IL – Aug. 12, 2020 – There’s one constant about Fairbury Speedway. The racing never disappoints.

Brian Shirley, Brandon Sheppard and Frank Heckenast Jr. put on an instant DIRTcar Summer Nationals classic Wednesday night, battling it out with the rest of the field over 40 laps that ended with Shirley’s fifth Hell Tour win of the season by .090 seconds over Sheppard.

Heckenast led the opening laps before outside polesitter Ryan Unzicker cracked the whip to his outside and swiped the lead away on Lap 3, but held it only briefly as Heckenast came back at him on the bottom on Lap 5.

Sheppard climbed aboard his horse on a restart after the caution on Lap 8, throwing a slide job on Unzicker for second as they sailed through Turns 1-2. He was able to track Heckenast down in just two laps and made the move for the top spot on Lap 11.

Sheppard took command out front for the next 11 laps before facing another strong challenge from Heckenast, who took the lead again briefly on Laps 22-23. Sheppard got a better run on the top side to take the lead back, which he held all the way until the final 10 laps.

Shirley had silently been keeping pace all throughout the race behind the leaders and saw the chance to dig-in for the lead on Lap 31. He nearly threaded the Sheppard-Heckenast needle going into Turn 3, but instead was able to get Heckenast to his outside as he steered his Bob Cullen Racing #3s back to the inside to get a run on Sheppard.

Squeezing Sheppard in behind a lapped car, Shirley found some traction down low and grabbed the spot with just eight laps remaining. Sheppard tried to return the favor on the cushion, but to no avail. He got one final push on the final lap, heading way up the banking in each corner, but Shirley was just too strong down low. He crossed the line by a mere .090 seconds over Sheppard to collect his 5th Summer Nationals Feature win of 2020.

“I was just lucky the lapped cars kinda fell my way,” Shirley said in Victory Lane. “I knew where [Sheppard] was, and he was right there on my ass, so I just tried to do the best I could and was able to get the win.”

Unzicker and Weisser completed the top-five, while the former Summer Nationals champions of Shannon Babb, Dennis Erb Jr. and Jason Feger finished 6-7-8.

UP NEXT

The DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models next take on the “Mighty” Macon Speedway Thursday night, Aug. 13, for the 100-lap Herald & Review 100. Catch all the action on DIRTVision presented by Drydene.

Qualifying Flight-A

1. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 12.727; 2. 89-Mike Spatola, 12.752; 3. 18-Shannon Babb, 12.778; 4. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 12.834; 5. 25W-Allen Weisser, 12.869; 6. 4G-Bob Gardner, 12.917; 7. 18L-Jeffrey Ledford, 12.952; 8. 3-Dale Markham, 13.008; 9. 6-Daryn Klein, 13.245; 10. 12-Jeff Curl, 13.327; 11. 48-Tim Lance, 13.351; 12. 28-Dennis Erb, 13.385; 13. 56-Brandon Pralle, 13.459; 14. 16-Rusty Griffaw, 13.477; 15. 51-Dean Carpenter, 13.551; 16. KB1-Kerry King, 13.66; 17. 11T-Trevor Gundaker, 97; 18. 48L-Tim Lance Jr, 98; 19. 33X-Gordy Gundaker, 99

Qualifying Flight-B
1. 111-Steven Roberts, 12.732; 2. 25-Jason Feger, 12.751; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley, 12.763; 4. 24-Ryan Unzicker, 12.846; 5. B12-Kevin Weaver, 12.857; 6. 75-Billy Drake, 12.859; 7. 1W-Donny Walden, 13.012; 8. 77M-Jay Morris, 13.065; 9. 1M-Mike Mataragas, 13.132; 10. 91P-Jason Papich, 13.143; 11. J12-Jason Wagner, 13.304; 12. 10S-Scott Schmitt, 13.313; 13. 30-Mark Voigt, 13.329; 14. 76-Titus Sneed, 13.715; 15. 11C-Rachel Carpenter, 13.793; 16. 82B-Jason Milam, 13.814; 17. 4D-Doug Tye, 14.613; DQ. M27-Mike Provenzano, 13.41

Heat #1 – Flight (A) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. B5-Brandon Sheppard [1]; 2. 18-Shannon Babb [2]; 3. 25W-Allen Weisser [3]; 4. 6-Daryn Klein [5]; 5. 18L-Jeffrey Ledford [4]; 6. 51-Dean Carpenter [8]; 7. 56-Brandon Pralle [7]; 8. 48-Tim Lance [6]; 9. 33X-Gordy Gundaker [10]; 10. 11T-Trevor Gundaker [9]

Heat #2 – Flight (A) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr [2]; 2. 89-Mike Spatola [1]; 3. 4G-Bob Gardner [3]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb [6]; 5. 12-Jeff Curl [5]; 6. 3-Dale Markham [4]; 7. 16-Rusty Griffaw [7]; 8. KB1-Kerry King [8]; 9. 48L-Tim Lance Jr [9]

Heat #3 – Flight (B) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 3S-Brian Shirley [2]; 2. 111-Steven Roberts [1]; 3. 1W-Donny Walden [4]; 4. 1M-Mike Mataragas [5]; 5. 30-Mark Voigt [7]; 6. J12-Jason Wagner [6]; 7. 11C-Rachel Carpenter [8]; 8. B12-Kevin Weaver [3]; 9. 4D-Doug Tye [9]

Heat #4 – Flight (B) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 24-Ryan Unzicker [2]; 2. 25-Jason Feger [1]; 3. 91P-Jason Papich [5]; 4. 75-Billy Drake [3]; 5. 77M-Jay Morris [4]; 6. 10S-Scott Schmitt [6]; 7. 76-Titus Sneed [7]; 8. M27-Mike Provenzano [9]; 9. 82B-Jason Milam [8]

Consolation Race (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. B12-Kevin Weaver [2][]; 2. 48-Tim Lance [1][]; 3. KB1-Kerry King [3][]; 4. 11T-Trevor Gundaker [9][]; 5. M27-Mike Provenzano [4][]; 6. 82B-Jason Milam [8][]; 7. 33X-Gordy Gundaker [5][]; 8. 4D-Doug Tye [6][]; 9. 48L-Tim Lance Jr [7][]

Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps) – Top 2 Transfer
1. 18L-Jeffrey Ledford [1][]; 2. 77M-Jay Morris [4][]; 3. 10S-Scott Schmitt [8][]; 4. 51-Dean Carpenter [5][]; 5. 30-Mark Voigt [2][]; 6. 16-Rusty Griffaw [11][]; 7. B12-Kevin Weaver [13][]; 8. 3-Dale Markham [7][]; 9. 12-Jeff Curl [3][]; 10. 56-Brandon Pralle [9][]; 11. 11C-Rachel Carpenter [10][]; 12. 76-Titus Sneed [12][]; 13. 11T-Trevor Gundaker [16][]; 14. 48-Tim Lance [14][]; 15. J12-Jason Wagner [6][]; 16. KB1-Kerry King [15][]

Feature (40 Laps)
1. 3S-Brian Shirley [3][]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard [4][]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr [1][]; 4. 24-Ryan Unzicker [2][]; 5. 25W-Allen Weisser [9][]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb [15][]; 7. 18-Shannon Babb [5][]; 8. 25-Jason Feger [8][]; 9. 77M-Jay Morris [18][]; 10. 1W-Donny Walden [10][]; 11. 111-Steven Roberts [6][]; 12. 1M-Mike Mataragas [14][]; 13. 4G-Bob Gardner [11][]; 14. 89-Mike Spatola [7][]; 15. 33X-Gordy Gundaker [21][]; 16. 18L-Jeffrey Ledford [17][]; 17. 16-Rusty Griffaw [20][]; 18. 91P-Jason Papich [12][]; 19. B12-Kevin Weaver [19][]; 20. 75-Billy Drake [16][]; 21. 48L-Tim Lance Jr [22][]; 22. 6-Daryn Klein [13][]

KSE Hard Charger Award: 28-Dennis Erb[+9]