FAIRBURY, Ill. — Brandon Sheppard had been knocking on the door in Dirt Late Model racing's biggest events all season.
After finishing runner-up in May's Show-Me 100 and seeing a potential Dirt Late Model Dream victory evaporate with a right-front flat tire 20 laps from the finish last month, Brandon Sheppard made sure Saturday's 36th annual Prairie Dirt Classic wouldn't slip away.
Shortly after a lap-52 caution, Sheppard pounced on first-half leader Trey Mills just before the leaders reached lapped traffic on lap 64, leading the final 37 laps to capture his fourth career Fairbury Speedway crown jewel victory — his second in the last five years.
“The big ones have been eluding us for the past couple years here,” Sheppard said. “This one just is so sweet. You can't even imagine.”
For much of the caution-plagued feature, where 13 stoppages repeatedly interrupted the action, 18-year-old Trey Mills appeared in complete control. Sheppard mounted only one serious challenge over the opening 50 laps — peeking beneath the teenager entering turn two on lap 15 — before falling as far as 1.840 seconds behind by lap 49.
But as Sheppard later explained, he was simply waiting for the race to come to him.
“It's one of them deals here, you kind of got to wait for a little while ‘til the track starts to slow down,” Sheppard said in victory lane. “And then there gets to a point where there's three lanes out there and you can run all over it. You got to make the right moves when it comes to that part of the race.”
The lap-52 caution for Ricky Thornton Jr. signaled it was time to go. As the leaders closed on lapped traffic, Sheppard pulled even with Mills exiting turn four on lap 63 before completing the go-ahead pass entering turn one on lap 64. Despite a flurry of late cautions that tested him, Sheppard never relinquished the lead.
“Late in the race, when it gets slick, and I can really run that momentum line like I do — I passed some guys in the, basically, middle-bottom on one and two, and the caution came out immediately, and I'm like, now what do I do? You know, I don't know where to be at.
“So I just stuck to the old faithful line that I always seem to be pretty good with here, especially when I'm out front, and it definitely, it paid off. I can't thank Mark (Richards) and Steve Baker and everybody at Rocket Chassis enough for the opportunity.”
Eight cautions slowed the final 30 laps. Though Sheppard never had to survive a green-flag run longer than 11 laps — from laps 86-96 — each restart presented a fresh challenge.
“Stressful, man. The restarts are stressful. It's nice being out front with the restarts, but at the same time, you don't know when somebody's gonna sneak in there on you and get past you,” Sheppard said. “You’re just kind of flying by the seat of your pants and by what feels good at that time. Nobody’s telling you where to go, it's all on you. Sometimes I like them situations better, and sometimes it's better for somebody to tell you where to go.”
Runner-up Hudson O’Neal, meanwhile, wishes he started closer to the front after rallying from a flat tire while leading Friday’s second semifeature, which relegated him to a Last Chance Showdown on Saturday. The Martinsville, Ind., driver spent majority of the feature clawing his way forward from the 18th-starting spot — finally cracking the top five on lap 43 and then the top three on lap 66.
Once he got to second on lap 73, he couldn’t find a way around Sheppard for the lead.
“To come from 18th and be standing up here on the podium is good. That was all we wanted,” O’Neal said. “You know, obviously we want to win, but whenever you come from 18th, then you gotta dip and dive through cars and use tires and stuff — whenever you get to the front, and them guys have been running up front the whole time, they've just been able to pace theirselves just a little bit more.
“I tried that top, and I felt like I had a run going. Then they moved him up, and it just took all the air off of me, and there was no way I was gonna be able to make much of a run again unless he made a mistake on it or something. Brandon Shepherd on the Fairbury cushion doesn't make many mistakes.”
Bobby Pierce, on the other hand, ran as high as second from the 14th-starting spot from laps 34-60, but also didn’t appear to have anything for Sheppard.
“I just couldn't really have enough grip to catch him off the corner. So I figured — I burned my tires up yesterday — I was just gonna ride around the middle,” Pierce said. “One time I kicked it up a notch, and I felt like I closed the gap on Trey in about three laps. And then the caution came out, and that was the one I didn't need because then, shortly after that, Brandon got that bottom rolling. Once he got his nose in there, it kind of dirtied up the air to run that middle line as well.
“(Sheppard) was really good on the bottom. I felt like he could kind of save his stuff a little longer, just like he did (Friday), and really be there at the end. But luckily we rallied back to third. When I was falling back to fifth, and almost sixth there with (Nick) Hoffman, I got really lucky with one of the cautions. I was in sixth and the caution came out, so I was able to get back to third. And just didn't have enough for him.”
Notes: Trey Mills of St. Augustine, Fla., led the opening 63 laps largely unchallenged and finished 11th after a flat right-rear tire knocked him out of sixth on lap 82. Mills still earned an extra $31,500 in lap bonus money. … Six of the race's 13 cautions fell during a hectic stretch between laps 70 and 86. … Three cautions involved top-five runners. On the lap-45 restart, Tyler Erb spun while battling Brandon Sheppard for third after the two made door-to-door contact on the backstretch, collecting Chris Simpson, Ryan Gustin and Mike Marlar in the ensuing chain-reaction incident. On lap 96, third-running Bobby Pierce brought out the caution after contact from Nick Hoffman sent his car spinning 180 degrees in turn two. Pierce retained his position. On the lap 96 restart, fifth-running Ricky Thornton Jr. triggered the race's final caution when he hopped the turn-two cushion and slammed the backstretch wall, destroying his rear suspension. … The first caution came on lap 29 when ninth-running Shane Clanton slowed on the backstretch, followed by a lap-34 yellow for 10th-running Justin Duty. … Daulton Wilson, running 21st, triggered the next caution on lap 45 after bouncing off the turn-four wall and slowing on the frontstretch as the leaders exited turn four. … Ricky Thornton Jr. brought out the caution on lap 52 while running 10th to change both rear tires. … A flurry of yellows followed late in the race: Dustin Sorensen slowed after contact with the turn-four wall on lap 70, debris drew a caution on lap 71, Wilson slowed again on the ensuing restart, Gustin slowed while running 10th on lap 73, Mills brought out the caution on lap 82 and debris caused a lap 86 yellow. ...
36th annual Prairie Dirt Classic Pos. Driver (car no.), hometown, chassis, earnings 1. Brandon Sheppard (1), New Berlin, Ill., Rocket, $68,500-x 2. Hudson O’Neal (6), Martinsville, Ind., Longhorn, $20,000 3. Bobby Pierce (32), Oakwood, Ill., Longhorn, $12,000 4. Nick Hoffman (9), Mooresville, N.C., Longhorn, $7,500 5. Tim McCreadie (9), Watertown, N.Y., Longhorn, $6,000 6. Jason Feger (25), Bloomington, Ill., Longhorn, $5,000 7. Gordy Gundaker (11), St. Charles, Mo., Longhorn, $4,750 8. Tyler Erb (1), New Waverly, Texas, Rocket, $4,500 9. Ryan Gustin (19r), Marshalltown, Iowa, Infinity, $4,250 10. Ethan Dotson (74x), Bakersfield, Calif., Longhorn, $4,000 11. Trey Mills (14jr), St. Augustine, Fla., Longhorn, $35,400-x 12. Devin Moran (77), Dresden, Ohio, Longhorn, $3,800 13. Kaede Loudy (126), Rogersville, Tenn., MasterSbilt, $3,700 14. Dennis Erb Jr. (28), Carpentersville, Ill., Rocket, $3,600 15. Justin Duty (15), Molalla, Ore., Rocket, $3,500 16. Dallon Murty (13), Chelsea, Iowa, Longhorn, $3,400 17. Sam Seawright (16), Rainsville, Ala., Longhorn, $3,300 18. Kyle Hammer (45), Clinton, Ill., Longhorn, $3,200 19. Ricky Thornton Jr. (20rt), Chandler, Ariz., Longhorn, $3,100 20. Mike Spatola (89), Manhattan, Ill., Rocket, $3,080 21. Mike Marlar (157), Winfield, Tenn., Rocket, $3,060 22. Daulton Wilson (58v), Fayetteville, N.C., Longhorn, $3,060 23. Dustin Sorensen (19), Rochester, Minn., Longhorn, $3,020 24. McKay Wenger (36), Fairbury, Ill., Longhorn, $3,000 25. Kyle Bronson (40B), Brandon, Fla., Longhorn, $3,000 26. Chris Simpson (32), Oxford, Iowa, Longhorn, $3,000 27. Shane Clanton (25), Zebulon, Ga., Capital, $3,000 28. Zack Mitchell (22*), Enoree, S.C., Longhorn, $3,000 29. Shannon Babb (18), Moweaqua, Ill., Longhorn, $3,000 Lap leaders: Mills 1-63; Sheppard 64-100. Fast qualifier (among 86 cars): Feger, 12.947 seconds Semifeature winners: Feger, Seawright, Sheppard, Mills Consolation winners: Bronson, O’Neal, Hoffman Non-qualifiers' race winner: Hammer Provisional starters: Mitchell, Sorensen x-Additional lap money for Mills ($31,500) and Sheppard ($18,500)
Feature lineup
(100 laps)
Row 1: Trey Mills, Brandon Sheppard
Row 2: Jason Feger, Sam Seawright
Row 3: Shane Clanton, Dallon Murty
Row 4: Chris Simpson, Justin Duty
Row 5: Kaede Loudy, Tyler Erb
Row 6: Dennis Erb Jr., Mike Marlar
Row 7: Ricky Thornton Jr., Bobby Pierce
Row 8: Ryan Gustin, Gordy Gundaker
Row 9: Kyle Bronson, Hudson O'Neal
Row 10: Nick Hoffman, Devin Moran
Row 11: Daulton Wilson, Shannon Babb
Row 12: Tim McCreadie, Ethan Dotson
Row 13: McKay Wenger, Mike Spatola
Row 14: Kyle Hammer, Zack Mitchell
Row 15: Dustin Sorensen
Prairie Dirt Shootout non-qualifiers' race
(25 laps; winner transfers)
Finish: Kyle Hammer, Matthew Larson, Brian Shirley, Mitch McGrath, Austin Howes, Daniel Adam, Timmy Dick, Bob Gardner, Bubba Roling, Logan Zarin, Eli Johnson, Dustin Sorensen, Ashton Winger, Zack Mitchell, Tyler Bruening, Brent Larson, Chase Junghans. Scratched: Tristan Chamberlain, Caden McWhorter, Trent Ivey.
Prairie Dirt Shootout lineup
Row 1: Kyle Hammer, Matthew Larson
Row 2: Dustin Sorensen, Brian Shirley
Row 3: Tyler Bruening, Chase Junghans
Row 4: Brent Larson, Tristan Chamberlain
Row 5: Bob Gardner, Daniel Adam
Row 6: Mitch McGrath, Austin Howes
Row 7: Ashton Winger, Bubba Roling
Row 8: Zack Mitchell, Caden McWhorter
Row 9: Trent Ivey, Logan Zarin
Row 10: Eli Johnson, Timmy Dick
Consolation results
(15 laps; top two transfer)
First consolation: Kyle Bronson, Devin Moran, Kyle Hammer, Ethan Dotson, Chase Junghans, Bob Gardner, Mitch McGrath, Bubba Roling, Trent Ivey, Ryan Montgomery, Rich Bell, Alex Wilson, Lance Brasington. Scratched: Max Blair, Brenden Smith, Brayton Wallace, Clay Harris, Dan Ebert, Brian Rickman, Jake O'Neil, Jake Little, Tyler Kuykendall, Collin Rutledge, Garrett Alberson.
Second consolation: Hudson O'Neal, Daulton Wilson, Matthew Larson, Brian Shirley, Brent Larson, Mike Spatola, Austin Howes, Zack Mitchell, Logan Zarin, Timmy Dick, Mike Glasscock, Sean Mattingly, Michael Leach, Tim McCreadie, Austin Smith, Cam Harris, Frank Heckenast Jr., Kyle Strickler. Scratched: Tanner English, Mike Winn, Josh Rice, Brody Smith, Trevor Gundaker.
Third consolation: Nick Hoffman, Shannon Babb, Dustin Sorensen, Tyler Bruening, Tristan Chamberlain, Daniel Adam, Ashton Winger, Caden McWhorter, Eli Johnson, Mike Mataragas, Jerry Bowersock, Matt Furman, Sam Moore, Mike Provenzano, Steven Tippens, Jimmy Miller, Doug Carls, Myles Moos, Ryan Unzicker, Shane Stephens. Scratched: McKay Wenger, Neil Baggett, Chase Osterhoff.
Consolation lineups
First consolation
Row 1: Kyle Bronson, Rich Bell
Row 2: Devin Moran, Ryan Montgomery
Row 3: Bubba Roling, Chase Junghans
Row 4: Max Blair, Brenden Smith
Row 5: Ethan Dotson, Kyle Hammer
Row 6: Brayton Wallace, Bob Gardner
Row 7: Mitch McGrath, Trent Ivey
Row 8: Clay Harris, Dan Ebert
Row 9: Lance Brasington, Brian Rickman
Row 10: Alex Wilson, Jake O’Neil
Row 11: Jake Little, Tyler Kuykendall
Row 12: Collin Rutledge, Garrett Alberson
Second consolation
Row 1: Daulton Wilson, Matthew Larson
Row 2: Tim McCreadie, Brent Larson
Row 3: Hudson O’Neal, Frank Heckenast Jr.
Row 4: Brian Shirley, Kyle Strickler
Row 5: Zack Mitchell, Mike Glasscock
Row 6: Tanner English, Mike Spatola
Row 7: Austin Smith, Michael Leach
Row 8: Austin Howes, Logan Zarin
Row 9: Mike Winn, Josh Rice
Row 10: Cam Harris, Timmy Dick
Row 11: Sean Mattingly, Brody Smith
Row 12: Trevor Gundaker
Third consolation
Row 1: Nick Hoffman, Ryan Unzicker
Row 2: Dustin Sorensen, Myles Moos
Row 3: Shannon Babb, Tyler Bruening
Row 4: Mike Mataragas, Daniel Adam
Row 5: Ashton Winger, Tristan Chamberlain
Row 6: McKay Wenger, Caden McWhorter
Row 7: Shane Stephens, Eli Johnson
Row 8: Matt Furman, Jerry Bowersock
Row 9: Mike Provenzano, Steven Tippens
Row 10: Neil Baggett, Sam Moore
Row 11: Chase Osterhoff, Doug Carls
Row 12: Jimmy Miller
Saturday’s schedule
(All times local)
7-11 a.m. - VFW Post PDC breakfast (VFW Building on Locust Street)
9 a.m. - Pits open, Second Street grandstands open
11 a.m. - First Street grandstands open
3 p.m. - Suave Talk Live show (turn two backstretch bus)
4-4:45 p.m. - Driver autograph session (backstretch midway)
5 p.m. - Drivers’ meeting (WoO command center)
5:30 p.m. - On-track activity
- Late Model hot laps (consolation entrants)
- Modified hot laps (consolation entrants)
Opening ceremonies
6:20 p.m. - Redraw and prerace festivities
- Late Model consolations (15 laps)
- Late Model hot laps (feature entrants)
- Modified consolations (12 laps)
- Modified hot laps (feature entrants)
Intermission/track prep
- Late Model Prairie Dirt Shootout (25 laps)
Feature events
- Modifieds (40 laps)
- 36th annual Prairie Dirt Classic (100 laps)
