DAIRYLAND DOMINATOR: Sheppard Makes History with 10th Wisconsin Win at Plymouth

Brandon Sheppard and Rocket1 Racing always seem to find a way to rewrite the record books. On Saturday night, they did it yet again.

Controlling the final 39 laps at Plymouth Dirt Track, the New Berlin, Ill. native extended his record at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds to three-for-three, winning in each of his appearances in 2018, 2019 and 2020. It was his eighth victory of the year (third-straight) and 63rd of his World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series career. Most significantly, the 27-year old Sheppard became the winningest World of Outlaws driver in the state of Wisconsin, as he nabbed his tenth triumph in the Badger State to surpass Billy Moyer’s nine wins.

“I’ve got a little theory: Wherever corn grows good, we’re gonna have a good race,” Sheppard joked on his Wisconsin’s success. “But seriously, we all really look forward to coming up here. This trip north to Wisconsin and then our Western swing, that’s my favorite part of the whole year. We usually get around these tracks really good and they aren’t scared to work on them and give us a good racey place.”

Completing a clean sweep of the night, Sheppard’s conquest for the record books began with his 35th career Fast Time Award at 14.412 seconds, which marked his second-straight year as the fastest qualifier at Plymouth. He continued the onslaught with a dominant heat race win aboard the Valvoline sponsored No. 1 entry, then hit his biggest roadblock in the Morton Buildings Redraw when he pulled the #4 pill.

Lining up on the outside of row two, Sheppard quickly marched forward and slid into the second spot on the opening circuit, but it was Cade Dillard of Robeline, La. who gained early command. Jumping to the lead from the outside pole, Dillard bested fellow MB Customs runner, Jimmy Mars, into turn one and set his sights on a third career World of Outlaws Late Model win.

Quickly attacking Dillard for control of the lead, Sheppard offered a series of challenges that “Thriller” was able to swat away. Heading into lap traffic with back markers hogging every lane imaginable, the frontrunners had their work cut out for them facing traffic, a situation that would ultimately decide the race. Coming together with Brent Larson while trying to swoop around the outside, Dillard cut a left front tire on lap 11 and was forced to the work area during the feature’s first caution.

“I was pressuring him pretty hard there and he knew he had to go,” Sheppard said of challenging Dillard. “There was a lane for a minute, but then Larson went all the way out to the wall when Cade was trying to stick it in there and he got that flat left front. I hated to see that. Cade and I race so well together; he’s a clean racer and we had a good race going there. I was hanging right with him on the bottom over in turns one and two, I think we could’ve had a great race together.”

From there, it was smooth sailing over the remaining 39 laps for Sheppard, who went unchallenged en route to Plymouth victory lane for the third straight year. Contending with lap traffic all throughout the 50-lap, $10,000-to-win feature, “The Rocket Shepp” noted the challenges of working around back markers on the tight Wisconsin oval.

“I’m kind of planning in my head before I get to lap traffic, like three laps before when I see them I’m thinking about what line they’re running, what I think they might do, what I need to do when I get to them,” Sheppard noted on his strategy with traffic. “When you have a decent lead it’s not that bad, but rolling into traffic with pressure on you is how you start making those bad decisions. It’s hard to make the right decisions every corner, especially while leading. It got a little sketchy tonight because the bottom in turns three and four wasn’t as good as I thought and it got really black slick, then the top came in. It got pretty treacherous at times, but our car was super manueverable and I could put it wherever I wanted.”

While Sheppard ran off into the Wisconsin night, the battle behind him kept the crowd at attention with some heated moments. Over the final stages, fans saw a relentless Chase Junghans drive the wheels off his No. 18 machine with a pair of daring moves to first pass Scott Bloomquist around the outside and then Ricky Weiss with a monster slide job in turn three. While Junghans was attending to Jimmy Mars of Menomonie, Wisc. for the second spot with five to go, he received new company in the form of Justin Ritchie, a New London, Wisc. native on the prowl from tenth and charging for a career-best run with the World of Outlaws.

Ultimately, Mars survived the challenges and held on for a season-best second-place effort in his MB Customs No. 28M. Behind him in the third position was Ritchie, who sent the Plymouth crowd wild in his post-race interview, after becoming the second-straight Dirt Kings Late Model Tour competitor to put it on the podium against the World of Outlaws. However, in post-race inspection, Ritchie’s No. 70 failed to meet the quarter panel height check requirements and was docked three positions to a sixth-place finish, still a career-best for him.

Junghans of Manhattan, Kans. was credited with that third podium slot, while Weiss’ Drydene Performance Products No. 7 finished fourth, and Scott Bloomquist’s own Drydene No. 0 rounded out the top five on Saturday night.

Closing out the top ten at Plymouth Dirt Track was Ritchie in that sixth spot, Taylor Scheffler with his own career-best finish in seventh, Ashton Winger in eighth-from-16th, Darrell Lanigan in ninth aboard the No. 29V, and Rodney Sanders in the tenth spot after running fifth in Friday’s program.

The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series will take two nights off before resuming the Northern Swing on Tuesday night with an appearance at Gondik Law Speedway in Superior, Wisconsin. The mid-week show still pays $10,000-to-win with a 50-lap feature capping the program. Tickets are available for purchase HERE, but act fast because seats are limited.

Morton Buildings Feature (50 Laps) – 1. 1-Brandon Sheppard [4][$10,000]; 2. 28m-Jimmy Mars [1][$5,000]; 3. 18-Chase Junghans [6][$3,000]; 4. 7-Ricky Weiss [8][$2,500]; 5. 0-Scott Bloomquist [7][$2,000]; 6. 70-Justin Ritchie [10][$1,700]; 7. 10s-Taylor Scheffler [9][$1,400]; 8. 12-Ashton Winger [16][$1,300]; 9. 29v-Darrell Lanigan [13][$1,200]; 10. 20-Rodney Sanders [12][$1,100]; 11. 99b-Boom Briggs [11][$1,050]; 12. 97-Cade Dillard [2][$1,000]; 13. 97s-Justin Schmidt [18][$950]; 14. 11-Justin Reed [21][$900]; 15. B1-Brent Larson [17][$850]; 16. 28-Dennis Erb [5][$800]; 17. D1-Turk Letizia [20][$770]; 18. 49-Jake Timm [15][$750]; 19. 74-Mitch McGrath [3][$730]; 20. 98-Jason Rauen [14][$700]; 21. 79-Jim Schmidt [22][$700]; 22. 1m-Mike Mataragas [19][$700]; 23. 89-Brad Mueller [23][$700]; 24. 54-Kevin Baldry [24][$700]. Lap Leader(s): Dillard 1-11; Sheppard 12-50. Hard Charger Award: 12-Ashton Winger[+8]

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World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models
Saturday, July 11, 2020
Plymouth Dirt Track
229 Fairview Drive
Plymouth, Wisconsin 53073 

Event Description
The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series will make their third-ever appearance at the Plymouth, Wisc/ 1/3rd-mile. Defending champion and current points leader, Brandon Sheppard, will have to beat his fellow Outlaws and the Wisconsin Dirt Kings to go three-for-three at the track.

Series Racing
World of Outlaws Late Model Series

To Win Amount
$10,000.00

Event Schedule
TICKET PRICES:
Grandstands: $30
Pits: $35

TIMES:
2:00pm Pit Gates Open
4:30pm Grandstands Open
4:30pm Pill Draw (closes at 5:00pm)
5:00pm Driver's Meeting
5:30pm Hot Laps
6:00pm Racing

ORDER OF EVENTS:
1. World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Hot Laps
2. World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Qualifying - 2 Cars/ 2 Laps
3. Opening Ceremonies (6:00pm)
4. Grand National Heats - 8 Laps
5. World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Heats - 10 Laps
6. B-Mod Heats - 8 Laps
7. Grand National LCS - 10 Laps (If needed)
8. World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Redraw
9. World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model LCS - 10 Laps
10. B-Mod LCS - 10 Laps (If needed)
11. Grand National Feature - 20 Laps
12. World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Feature - 50 Laps
13. B-Mod Feature - 20 Laps
*All times Central

Limited Seating Event
Options And Prices
$30 General Admission
12-under Free

Discounts
None

Grandstand Type
Covered Bleachers

Family Section Location
none

Handicapped Seating Location
Front row of the grandstands

Pit Pass Price
$35

Pit Age Requirement
None

Parking Cost
free

Handicapped Parking Location
Front gate

Camping Availability
electric hookup, non-electric, onsite

Camping Cost
$30 with hook ups

To Win Amount
$10,000.00

Type of Grandstand
Covered Bleachers

Stadium Seating
None

Handicapped Seating
Front row of the grandstands

Handicapped Parking
Front gate

Pit Age Limit
None

Personal Coolers
No Coolers

ATMs
1

Alcohol Sales
None brought in

Smoking Policy
no smoking

Family Section
none

Parking Cost
free

Camping Availability
electric hookup, non-electric, onsite

Camping Cost
$30 with hook ups

Plymouth Dirt Track
229 Fairview Drive
Plymouth, Wisconsin 53073 

Track Phone
(920) 893-5751

Track Email
[email protected]

Track Type
0.333;

Late Model Track Record
13.709 seconds by Brandon Sheppard on 7/29/19

Closest Airport
Milwaukee

Other Airport
Green Bay

Track Map

Competitor Downloads
 https://www.dirtcarmembers.com/downloads.php

Competitor Info
Tire Rules:
ALL FOUR (4) CORNERS: HOOSIER LM-30/W30
RIGHT REAR OPTION: HOOSIER LM-40
GROOVING AND SIPING IS ALLOWED

Technical/Safety Rules:
Will be under the guidelines of the 2020 World of Outlaws Rulebook
Heat races, Last Chance Showdowns, and Feature you will get one (1) pound lap.(Not in Qualifying)

Event Format:
1-20 Entries = Overall Qualifying | Two Heats | All Cars Transfer | Top 2 from each heat redraw
21-24 Entries = Overall Qualifying | Three Heats | All Cars Transfer | Top 2 from each heat redraw
25-27 Entries = Overall Qualifying | Three Heats | Top 6 Transfer | Top 2 from each heat redraw | One LCS | Top 4 Transfer
28-47 Entries = A/B Group Qualifying | Four Heats | Top 4 Transfer | Top 2 from each heat redraw |Two LCS | Top 3 Transfer
48+ Entries = A/B Group Qualifying | Six Heats | Top 3 Transfer | Heat Race Winner Redraws | Three LCS | Top 2 Transfer

Radio Frequencies:
Driver Radio: 454.0000