7/22/2023
Brandon Sheppard
Sheppard scores second Silver Dollar Nationals, banks $53,000
NEW BERLIN, Ill. (July 24, 2023) — The hard work this season for Brandon Sheppard and Sheppard Riggs Racing paid big dividends on Saturday night as the Illinois racer streaked to the $53,000 triumph in 13th annual Silver Dollar Nationals presented by MyRacePass.
Sheppard’s fifth overall win of the season was achieved at Huset’s Speedway aboard his Valvoline / TrueTimber No. B5 WYLD GEAR / Riggs Drilling Solutions / Bilstein / Longhorn Chassis / Cornett Racing Engine Super Late Model, and he had to fend off a hard-charging Bobby Pierce to secure his second win in the mega event.
“Man, them guys were making it hard on me for sure. The track it was awesome. It was treacherous out there. I was tight about halfway thru the race thru three and four and they had me messed up and a little bit worried. Once I moved to the top in one and two I kind of started slowing down my entry into three and four and that helped me out a bunch then all the lapped cars were on the bottom, so I just committed myself to the top for the rest of the race. I got a smooth rhythm going and I was just able to hold them guys off. Bobby [Pierce] and Hudson [O’Neal] have been really tough this year, we’ve had our ups and downs all year long. Our win column isn’t as good as we would have liked it to be,” Sheppard said.
“This one means a lot to me. I won it with the Rocket House Car a couple of years ago and to do it at a new racetrack, it’s a short track. We were battling hard there and that’s what you get when you run short tracks. This place is awesome. We battled a lot with Mother Nature this weekend, but the track guys did a phenomenal job on the track the whole time. It got a little one lane the first night, but you will have that occasionally. Like I said hats off to the track crew.”
With a scheduled off weekend for the World of Outlaws (WoO) Case Late Model Series, Sheppard Riggs Racing and Brandon Sheppard trekked to Huset's Speedway (Brandon, S.D.) to kick off the Silver Dollar Nationals weekend with Thursday's Go 50.
Drawing 36 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) entries, Sheppard raced his way into the preliminary feature with a fifth-to-third showing in his heat. Chasing a $12,000 top prize, Brandon advanced forward six spots in the 50-lapper to finish sixth.
With Mother Nature shifting Friday's two scheduled rounds of heat races to Saturday afternoon, Brandon followed up a second-place finish in the first round on Saturday with a sixth-to-first charge in his second heat.
Earning the pole for Saturday night's Silver Dollar Nationals finale via passing points accumulated in heats, Sheppard led flag-to-flag in the 80-lap affair to capture his fifth win of the season and second-career Silver Dollar Nationals triumph. He fended off charges from Bobby Pierce and Hudson O'Neal to claim the $53,000 payday.
Full results from the events are available at www.LucasDirt.com.
The team now prepares for a busy week of racing. Action opens on Monday and Tuesday with the Elkhorn 100 at Off-Road Speedway (Norfolk, Neb.). On Monday twin $5,000-to-win features will be held, while a $100,000 top prize is on the line on Saturday.
From there World of Outlaws (WoO) Case Late Model Series action resumes on Friday and Saturday with the 2023 edition of the Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway. The field will be divided into $5,000-to-win prelims on Friday, while a $50,000 top prize is guaranteed in Saturday’s finale, while drivers will be eligible for up to another $50,000 in lap leader money in the 100-lap finale.
For more information on the week’s slate, please visit www.XRSuperSeries.com and www.WoOLMS.com .
Article Credit: Todd Boyd photo
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