Shane Clanton stopped a Brandon Sheppard sweep of World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models action this week.
Sheppard was the winner on Saturday at Illinois’ Fairbury Speedway and on Monday at Wisconsin’s Plymouth Dirt Track.
Clanton, from Zebulon, Georgia, snapped Sheppard’s streak with a win on Tuesday night at Wisconsin’s Shawano Speedway.
On Saturday night, Sheppard used a last lap pass on Bobby Pierce to score the win in the Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury Speedway.
It marked Sheppard’s first win in the event, giving him a $30,000 payday.
Pierce had led every lap since he took the lead from Sheppard in traffic on lap 26. But after driving the entire race without power steering, Pierce’s arms were giving out with just four corners to go.
Sheppard got a great run out of turn two on lap 99, riding the outside wall. Once he got to the mid-point of the backstretch, Sheppard drove deep into turn three with plenty of speed to get back up the banking and slid up in front of Pierce.
Pierce tried a crossover move, but was unsuccessful, as Sheppard drove off of turn four and across the line for the win.
“After that caution with 11 laps to go, I just kept going harder and harder each lap,” Sheppard said. “And then I saw five-to-go and I just let it all hang out. It all worked out for us.”
“I figured, nine times out of ten, the guy would have crossed me back over and beat me to the line,” he continued. “Luckily, the track was slick enough that I was able to death-slid across it, and we were able to stay in front of him.”
Mike Marlar would slip past Pierce to finish in second, while Ricky Weiss in fourth and Gordy Gundaker in fifth.
On Monday, Sheppard led all but two laps in the 50-lap feature en route to the win at Plymouth Dirt Track.
The win gave Sheppard his 15th win of the 2019 season.
Sheppard moved to the point on lap two of the feature, and held onto that lead through nine caution flags and restarts, most of which were spent with Chase Junghans and Ricky Weiss in pursuit. Junghans’ best opportunity to claim take the lead came while following Sheppard through heavy lapped traffic on lap 29.
Sheppard got stuck behind Jason Feger on the top side, while Junghans used the very bottom lane to get by Weiss for second and start a charge for the lead. Racing behind lapped traffic of his own, Junghans stayed side-by-side with Sheppard for two whole circuits before a good run out of turn four earned him the lead as he crossed the start/finish line.
Sheppard took the lead back on the high side just two corners later before another caution flag was thrown
In the end, Sheppard persevered through the five remaining restarts, leading every lap from that point to claim the win.
“Chase and I ran each other clean,” Sheppard said. “If there’s anybody that I like racing with on this tour, it’s Chase. If anybody was going to beat me tonight, I’d just assume it was going to be Chase. He and I are buddies, so it definitely was cool to see him run well too.”
Junghans, Weiss, Brian Shirley and Dennis Erb rounded out the top five.
On Tuesday night, Shane Clanton led all but one lap to win the Sundrop Shooutout at Shawano Speedway.
It took Clanton only a lap and a half to make the move on then-leader Boom Briggs and Chase Junghans for the top spot, as Clanton got a great run out of turn two to grab the top spot.
“I was trying to go anywhere I needed to go,” Clanton said. “I passed a couple of cars on the outside, and I thought I could get up there and go, but I was afraid that it might hurt my tires up there. So, I just stayed on the bottom and made it pull hard leaving the corner and it worked out.”
Brandon Sheppard charged to second place, but Clanton was able to hold him at bay to score the victory.
Jimmy Mars finished in third, with Chase Junghans in fourth and Nick Anvelink in fifth.
The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models next travel to Wisconsin’s Cedar Lake Speedway on Thursday, August 1. For more information, visit WorldofOutlaws.com.
WoO Morton Building Late Model Series
Fairbury Speedway – Fairbury, IL
Prairie Dirt Classic – July 27, 2019
1. 1-Brandon Sheppard
2. 157-Mike Marlar
3. 32-Bobby Pierce
4. 7-Ricky Weiss
5. 11-Gordy Gundaker
6. 25-Shane Clanton
7. 99jr-Frank Heckenast
8. 22-Chris Ferguson
9. 3s-Brian Shirley
10. 18-Chase Junghans
11. 75-Billy Drake
12. 97-Cade Dillard
13. 29-Darrell Lanigan
14. 20-Jimmy Owens
15. 71-Hudson O’Neal
16. 40B-Kyle Bronson
17. 99B-Boom Briggs
18. 28-Dennis Erb
19. 12-Ashton Winger
20. 18b-Shannon Babb
21. 7r-Kent Robinson
22. 9-Devin Moran
23. 24-Ryan Unzicker
24. 77m-Jay Morris
25. B1-Brent Larson
26. 6-Blake Spencer
27. B12-Kevin Weaver
WoO Morton Building Late Model Series
Plymouth Dirt Track – Plymouth, WI
Race Results – July 29, 2019
1. 1-Brandon Sheppard
2. 18-Chase Junghans
3. 7-Ricky Weiss
4. 3s-Brian Shirley
5. 28-Dennis Erb
6. 97-Cade Dillard
7. 25-Shane Clanton
8. 942-Terry Casey
9. B1-Brent Larson
10. 99B-Boom Briggs
11. 89-Brad Mueller
12. 15-Donny Schatz
13. 97s-Justin Schmidt
14. 74-Mitch McGrath
15. 6-Blake Spencer
16. 28m-Jimmy Mars
17. 70-Justin Ritchie
18. 29-Darrell Lanigan
19. 11-Justin Reed
20. 25F-Jason Feger
21. 10-Paul Parker
22. 10s-Taylor Scheffler
23. 15n-Nick Anvelink
24. 16-Tyler Bruening
WoO Morton Building Late Model Series
Shawano Speedway – Shawano, WI
Race Results – July 30, 2019
1. 25-Shane Clanton
2. 1-Brandon Sheppard
3. 28m-Jimmy Mars
4. 18-Chase Junghans
5. 15n-Nick Anvelink
6. 97-Cade Dillard
7. 58-A.J. Diemel
8. 7-Ricky Weiss
9. 29-Darrell Lanigan
10. 16-Tyler Bruening
11. B1-Brent Larson
12. 28-Dennis Erb
13. 99B-Boom Briggs
14. 3-Brett Swedberg
15. 15-Donny Schatz
16. 27-Derek Janike
17. O3-Kyle Raddant
18. 11-Justin Reed
19. 10-Paul Parker
20. 942-Terry Casey
21. 6-Blake Spencer
22. 81-Troy Springborn
23. 33e-Chris Engels
