Brandon Sheppard and Brian Shirley scored victories over the weekend in World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series action at Illinois’ Farmer City Raceway.
Sheppard took the win in Saturday’s 75 lap feature, while Shirley recorded his first series victory of the season in Sunday’s Illini 100.
On Saturday night, Sheppard led wire-to-wire to score the victory in a caution free race.
Not only did he defeat the stacked field during the feature, he also set the fastest lap on the track during qualifying, placed second in his heat race and pulled the pole position during the redraw.
Earlier in the day Sheppard said, “It would mean a lot to me and this team if we won tonight. We only have one Outlaw race on the year and there has been a different winner at every track this year so to be the first repeat winner would be awesome.”
Billy Moyer tried to reel in Sheppard for 70 laps of the feature, but he couldn’t pull it off as he continued to get hung up by lap traffic. Brian Shirley used the lap traffic to his advantage as he was able to pass Moyer to claim the second position within the last five laps.
Devin Moran finished in fourth with Shannon Babb in fifth.
On Sunday, Brian Shirley outdueled Billy Moyer, Shannon Babb and Bobby Pierce to score the Illini 100 victory.
“I am just happy,” said Shirley. “I am happy for my team. We’ve had a lot of solid runs this year and we’ve had some heart breaks so for this to pay off for Bob Cullen, Lisa Cullen and everyone behind us we appreciate it. The biggest thing is that that we get monkey off our back with (this win) and hopefully there’s more to come.”
Moyer started the feature next to Pierce and punched the gas as soon as the green flag to take the early lead. By lap two, Babb found his way past Pierce and by lap-nine he was at Moyers door knocking.
Pierce trailed behind the pair working tirelessly to reel them in. By lap 15 it was a battle for the lead between the three as almost every lap around the track fans saw three-wide action.
It was lap-22 that was a game changer in the race as Pierce and Babb fell off the backstretch ledge losing a little momentum in the process. Shirley capitalized with a run on the bottom of the racetrack to pass Moyer for the lead. As the two front runners ran into lap traffic Shirley was able to hold off a hard-charging Moyer and take the checkers.
It was a big day for Shirley and his crew as they snagged Quick Time, won a heat and finished one position ahead of Moyer for the second night in a row.
Billy Moyer finished in second, with Pierce. Chris Madden and Babb rounding out the top five.
The World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series returns to action on April 28 at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas.
For more information, visit WoOLMS.com.
World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series
Farmer City Raceway – Farmer City, IL
Race Results – April 1-2, 2017
Friday Night
1. 1- Brandon Sheppard
2. 3s- Brian Shirley
3. 21- Billy Moyer
4. 9- Devin Moran
5. 18b- Shannon Babb
6. 32P- Bobby Pierce
7. 25- Shane Clanton
8. 44- Chris Madden
9. 91- Tyler Erb
10. 32- Chris Simpson
11. 99jr- Frank Heckenast, Jr.
12. 18c- Chase Junghans
13. 18- Eric Wells
14. 1*- Chub Frank
15. 21j- Billy Moyer, Jr.
16. 14m- Morgan Bagley
17. 7- Rick Eckert
18. 93- Donald Bradsher
19. 24- Ryan Unzicker
20. 2c- Joey Coulter
21. 1mm- Mike Mataragas
22. 7R- Kent Robinson
23. B12- Kevin Weaver
24. 21B- Rich Bell
25. 15- Kolby Vanderbergh
Saturday Night
1. 3s- Brian Shirley
2. 21- Billy Moyer
3. 32P- Bobby Pierce
4. 44- Chris Madden
5. 18b- Shannon Babb
6. 21j- Billy Moyer, Jr.
7. 25- Shane Clanton
8. 91- Tyler Erb
9. 1- Brandon Sheppard
10. 18- Eric Wells
11. C9- Steve Casebolt
12. 9- Devin Moran
13. 25F- Jason Feger
14. 42- Mckay Wenger
15. 11- Gordy Gundaker
16. 7- Rick Eckert
17. 18c- Chase Junghans
18. 99jr- Frank Heckenast, Jr.
19. 14m- Morgan Bagley
20. 4G- Bob Gardner
21. 2c- Joey Coulter
22. B12- Kevin Weaver
23. 7R- Kent Robinson
24. 1*- Chub Frank
