Thursday March 28th, 2024 8:36PM

Late race pass gives Sheppard Wayne Co. WoO LMS win

By Jordan DeLucia

If the standard length of a World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series feature was only 45 laps instead of the usual 50, Saturday night’s race at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio would have ended on a different note.

Former Series Champions Brandon Sheppard and Darrell Lanigan put on one of the most exciting races thus far in the 2019 season, as they battled back and forth over 25 laps. With four laps to go, Sheppard made the winning move to take the lead.

Behind him, rookie driver Ricky Weiss surged past Lanigan to move to second place, and set his sights on the leader, making a drive into turn three on the final laps.

But Sheppard was up to the challenge, and held on for his third straight series win at Wayne County Speedway.

It marks the seventh series victory of the season for the New Berlin, Illinois driver.

“I knew my car was fast on the top, so if I could just get in open track, I could roll pretty good,” Sheppard said. “Everybody was just all over the place and we were racing hard. A fun, clean race, for sure.”

Sheppard spent a lot of effort digging on Lanigan down low until he saw daylight on the high side. When Lanigan saw the signal sticks telling him to move back up to the top, Sheppard went back to the bottom. But after several unsuccessful pass attempts down low and the laps winding down, Sheppard began feeling the heat from Weiss behind him. And that’s when he knew it was now or never.

“I moved to the top in (turns) three and four and caught (Lanigan), and then his crew guys moved him up to the top, which was what they should have done,” Sheppard said. “Finally, we were getting into lapped traffic and I saw Ricky show me a nose on the bottom and I knew it was either time to go or get passed.”

Sheppard got a great run coming out of turn two on lap 46 and drag raced Lanigan down the backstretch. It looked as though Lanigan’s momentum on the high side would carry him through once more, as it had on every other pass attempt. But Larry Bellman, Jr. was already riding the line and impeded Lanigan’s path just enough to allow Sheppard to get the momentum advantage and squeak by underneath.

“The lapped cars were just right where I needed to be and I wasn’t good enough around the bottom to go down there and get up beside them,” Lanigan said. “Brandon’s car was better on the bottom.”

After the lead changed hands, Weiss said he eventually saw an opportunity to grab the lead on the low side, but lapped traffic made him think better of it as well. Blake Spencer was already down on the bottom as the leaders were moving through, and Weiss chose to be conservative over making a bonzai move.

“I just didn’t want to stick my nose in there and maybe hit a tire or slam into his (Spencer’s) door,” Weiss said. “I thought maybe we could get in the right place at the right time and pick off the lead, but I played it safe and went around him on the outside.”

With this win, Sheppard has now tied fellow Series Champion Billy Moyer for third on the all-time series feature wins list at 44.

The series was scheduled to compete on Sunday at Muskingum County Speedway in Dresden, Ohio, but that event was postponed due to already wet grounds and impending rain showers.

Next on the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series schedule is a trip back to the Southeast for two races. The weekend kicks off on Friday, May 31 at Georgia’s Cochran Motor Speedway, and continues on Saturday, June 1 at South Carolina’s Lancaster Speedway.

For more information, visit WorldofOutlaws.com.

World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series
Wayne County Speedway – Orrville, OH
Race Results – May 18, 2019

1. 1-Brandon Sheppard
2. 7-Ricky Weiss
3. 29-Darrell Lanigan
4. 28-Dennis Erb
5. 12-Doug Drown
6. 97-Cade Dillard
7. 25-Shane Clanton
8. 44-Chris Madden
9. 1x-Chub Frank
10. 18-Chase Junghans
11. B1-Brent Larson
12. 99B-Boom Briggs
13. 6-Blake Spencer
14. 59-Larry Bellman
15. 9-Devin Moran
16. 59m-Shane McLoughlin
17. 5m-Ryan Markham
18. C9-Steve Casebolt
19. 18c-Mitchell Caskey
20. 79-Brad Malcuit
21. 44h-Dave Hess
22. 14g-J.R. Gentry
23. 36-Matt Irey
24. 17-Charlie Duncan

  • Associated Categories: NASCAR News, Other Motorsports
  • Associated Tags: motorsports, Auto Racing, Dirt Track, Stock Car, Short Track, Dirt Late Model, WoO Late Model Tour, WoO
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