NickHolt Posted September 15, 2018 Report Share Posted September 15, 2018 Sheppard Romps from Nineteenth to Win at Knoxville KNOXVILLE, IOWA (September 14, 2018) - From nineteenth on the grid, Brandon Sheppard charged through the field to win Friday night's portion of the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Store. Sheppard used a late-race restart to take the top spot from Frank Heckenast Jr. and then sprinted away for his fifth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory of 2018 and his first-ever win at Knoxville. Heckenast led from the onset of the 25-lap main event as he looked for his third victory of the season. A restart with six laps remaining was the ticket for Sheppard, who had climbed through the field for the second night in a row. Sheppard dove to the inside of the race track entering turn one and powered by Heckenast down the back straightaway to grab the lead from his fellow Illini driver. Sheppard pulled away in the closing laps to clinch the $7,000 victory. Heckenast finished second followed by Don O'Neal in third. Jonathan Davenport came home in fourth after running as high as second in the race. Tim McCreadie, who started tenth, rounded out the top five. "I can't believe it," said the 25-year-old in Lucas Oil Victory Lane. "My crew has been working so hard this week. We have had a really fast car the whole time. We qualified good the last two nights, but we started so deep in the heat races. The earlier heat races it's hard to pass, but the later heats it's a lot better once the track slicks off. The feature tonight I hope it's a lot like tomorrow night, because it's a lot of fun. This is the Knoxville I love coming to." "My car was a little tight there for a while, but I made up good time on the bottom. I had a good restart one time and I hit one-and-two just right and I went around a couple of guys. I got to third and then I was hoping on the restart to start on the bottom. I learned from Josh [Richards] here in 2013 about getting the lead. When Frankie [Heckenast] entered turn one on that last restart he drifted up high and that just opened the door on the bottom for me." Heckenast, who was seeking his first career Lucas Oil win, held on for the second spot at the finish. "We had a really car tonight. We have been good all weekend. We had a fifth here last night. We are kind of parked over there by ourselves. We were really close tonight. I can't thank everyone enough. I gave the race away on the restart. On the restarts they would get such a run on me into one. I thought I could hang out there on the top and get a run off of two, but Brandon obviously had a lot of traction. His car was good. I guess if we are going to have one taken away I would rather have it tonight than tomorrow night." O'Neal, who won the main event at Knoxville in 2011, finished in third to earn the fourth-starting spot for Saturday night's finale. "All-in-all it was good run for us tonight. We had a good race there at the end with Davenport and we were able to get by him. We are getting better this week, we just need to get a little better for tomorrow night. We would have liked to have won tonight, but tomorrow night is what really counts." Sheppard's, Mark Richards Racing Rocket Chassis House Car is powered by a Durham Racing Engine and sponsored by: Valvoline, Seubert Calf Ranches, Gunter's Honey, Ace Metal Works, Sallack Well Service, Sunoco Race Fuels, Keyser and Integra. Completing the top ten were Jimmy Mars, Tyler Bruening, Jimmy Owens, Chad Simpson and Kyle Bronson. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary Thursday, September 14, 2018 15th Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals - presented by Casey's General Stores Knoxville Raceway - Knoxville, IAMiller Welders Time Trials Fast Time Group A: Chad Simpson / 18.130 seconds Fast Time Group B: Scott Bloomquist / 17.875 seconds (overall)Eibach Springs Heat Race #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): Matt Furman, Tyler Bruening, Chad Simpson, Earl Pearson, Jr., Brent Larson, Mike Mataragas, Scott James , Brian Birkhofer, Chase JunghansFK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): Billy Moyer, Jonathan Davenport, Brian Shirley, Brandon Sheppard, Shannon Babb, Shane Clanton, Jason Feger, Jonathan Brauns, Rob TolandSimpson Performance Products Heat Race #3 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): Scott Ward, Jeremiah Hurst, Jesse Stovall, Dennis Erb, Jr., Josh Richards, Brandon Overton, Mason Zeigler, Jared Landers, Mike Fryer, Dave EckrichQA1 Heat Race #4 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): Scott Bloomquist, Austin Rettig, Tim McCreadie, Morgan Bagley, Kyle Bronson, Spencer Diercks, Justin Zeitner, JC Wyman, Nick Marolf, Junior CooverLucas Oil Heat Race #5 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): Bobby Pierce, Jimmy Mars, Frank Heckenast, Jr., Chris Simpson, Tyler Erb, Gregg Satterlee, Darrell Lanigan, Jake Neal, Al HumphreyCasey's General Store Heat Race #6 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): Don O'Neal, Jimmy Owens, Justin Duty, Ricky Thornton Jr., Chris Spieker, Zach McMillan, Joey Moriarty, Brian Harris, Lyle ZankerFAST Shafts C-Main Finish (12 Laps, Top 4 Transfer to B-Main): Darrell Lanigan, Jason Feger, Jared Landers, Jake Neal, Brian Birkhofer, Scott James , Mason Zeigler, Joey Moriarty, Rob Toland, Nick Marolf, Brian Harris, Dave Eckrich, Mike Fryer, JC Wyman, Al Humphrey, Justin Zeitner, Jonathan Brauns, Lyle Zanker, Chase Junghans, Junior CooverPenske Racing Shocks B-Main Finish (15 Laps, Top 6 Transfer to A-Main): Brandon Sheppard, Tyler Erb, Kyle Bronson, Josh Richards, Shannon Babb, Shane Clanton, Ricky Thornton Jr., Spencer Diercks, Dennis Erb, Jr., Earl Pearson, Jr., Brandon Overton, Darrell Lanigan, Gregg Satterlee, Chris Spieker, Jason Feger, Mike Mataragas, Morgan Bagley, Jake Neal, Brent Larson, Jared Landers, Zach McMillan, Chris SimpsonLucas Oil Feature Finish (25 Laps): FINISH START CAR # DRIVER NAME HOMETOWN EARNINGS 1 19 1S Brandon Sheppard New Berlin, IL $7,000 2 2 99JR Frank Heckenast, Jr. Frankfort, IL $4,000 3 4 5 Don O'Neal Martinsville, IN $3,000 4 3 49 Jonathan Davenport Blairsville, GA $2,000 5 10 39 Tim McCreadie Watertown, NY $1,500 6 12 28m Jimmy Mars Menomonie, WI $1,000 7 1 16T Tyler Bruening Decorah, IA $900 8 6 20 Jimmy Owens Newport, TN $800 9 7 25s Chad Simpson Mt. Vernon, IA $700 10 21 40B Kyle Bronson ® Brandon, FL $600 11 18 32 Bobby Pierce Oakwood, IL $580 12 20 91 Tyler Erb New Waverly, TX $560 13 15 3s Brian Shirley Chatham, IL $540 14 23 18 Shannon Babb Mowequa, IL $520 15 11 58H Jeremiah Hurst Dubuque, IA $500 16 9 21 Billy Moyer Batesville, AR $490 17 13 51 Matt Furman Portland, OR $480 18 14 15d Justin Duty Portland, OR $470 19 16 94 Austin Rettig Sikeston, MO $460 20 5 00s Jesse Stovall Billings, MO $450 21 24 25C Shane Clanton Zebulon, GA $440 22 17 37 Scott Ward Hayti, SD $430 23 22 1R Josh Richards Shinnston, WV $410 24 8 0 Scott Bloomquist Mooresburg, TN $400 Race Statistics Entrants : 57 Lap Leaders: Frank Heckenast Jr. (Laps 1 - 19); Brandon Sheppard (Laps 20 - 25)Wrisco Feature Winner: Brandon SheppardMargin of Victory: 0.909 secondsCautions: Austin Rettig (Lap 1); Jesse Stovall (Lap 18); Matt Furman (Lap 19)Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Brandon Sheppard (Advanced 18 Positions) Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Jonathan DavenportAllstar Performance Power Move of the Race: Brandon SheppardSunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Brandon Sheppard Hot Rod Processing Rookie of the Race: Kyle BronsonCOMP Cams Engine Builder of the Race: Durham Racing Engines Ohlins Shocks Chassis Builder of the Race: Rocket Chassis Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Austin Hargrove (Brandon Sheppard)Fastest Lap of the Race: Frank Heckenast Jr. (Lap #2 - 19.143 seconds)STEEL-IT Most Laps Led: Frank Heckenast (19 Laps)Dirty Girl Racewear Farthest Traveler: Justin DutyPFC Brakes Pole Award: Tyler Bruening Time of Race: 21 minutes 04 seconds SATURDAY LINE UPS: FAST Shafts C-Main Line Up (15 Laps, Top 4 Transfer to B-Main): DRIVER INSIDE OUTSIDE DRIVER Scott James 83 22 Gregg Satterlee Morgan Bagley 14m 14z Zach McMillan Rob Toland 39T B1 Brent Larson Justin Zeitner 1GRT 93J Jay Johnson Mike Fryer 54 93 Brian Harris JC Wyman 4W 6H Al Humphrey Jonathan Brauns 22B 9 Lyle Zanker Joel Callahan 40 10C Junior Coover Penske Racing Shocks B-Main Line-Up (20 Laps, Top 6 Transfer to A-Main): DRIVER INSIDE OUTSIDE DRIVER Jeremiah Hurst 58H 3s Brian Shirley Matt Furman 51 1777 Jared Landers Justin Duty 15D 94 Austin Rettig Scott Ward 37 58 Dave Eckrich Darrell Lanigan 14 14J Jake Neal Dennis Erb Jr. 28 29D Spencer Diercks Ricky Thornton Jr. 20RT 1M Mike Mataragas Joey Moriarty 51M 56s Chris Spieker Jason Feger 25F 33 Nick Marolf Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals Feature Line-Up (100 Laps): DRIVER INSIDE OUTSIDE DRIVER Brandon Sheppard 1s 1 Earl Pearson Jr. Scott Bloomquist 0 5 Don O'Neal Tyler Erb 91 25s Chad Simpson Jimmy Owens 20 99JR Frank Heckenast Jr. Jonathan Davenport 49 32s Chris Simpson Kyle Bronson 40B 76 Brandon Overton Tim McCreadie 39 16T Tyler Bruening Shane Clanton 25c 28m Jimmy Mars Shannon Babb 18 25z Mason Zeigler Brian Birkhofer 30 18J Chase Junghans Josh Richards 1R 32 Bobby Pierce Jesse Stovall 00s 21 Billy Moyer B-Main - 1st 25th 26th B-Main - 2nd B-Main - 3rd 27th 28th B-Main - 4th B-Main - 5th 29th 30th B-Main - 6th LOLMDS Prov. 1 31st 32nd LOLMDS Prov. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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