Sheppard holds back hard-charging Pierce at Mississippi Thunder
Photo by Buck Monson
Fountain City, WI — Brandon Sheppard went the first eight months of the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series season without a Feature win. At Mississippi Thunder Speedway Friday night, he scored his second victory in less than a week.
The Series returned to Mississippi Thunder for the $20,000-to-win Milton Hershey School Back to Class Showdown after weather postponed the May event.
Sheppard won one of the preliminary races during the May race but didn’t credit that as an inspirational source for Friday night’s triumph.
This year has been a process for the four-time Series champion. A long process. One part, building a new team with Sheppard Riggs Racing. And another, learning his new Longhorn chassis. So, while the Victory Lane photos from May and now look similar, behind the curtain is a more evolved program.
“The team has been working their tails off, they deserve it,” Sheppard said. “We all deserve it. It’s been a long year. It’s finally starting to come our way.
“Back when we won the prelim here, we were doing a lot of different stuff to the car than what we’re doing now. I’ve tried a lot of stuff and been through a bunch of different set ups on this thing, just to get a lot of stuff out of my head that I was curious about. We got everything out of the way as far as that goes and have a pretty good program going.”
He entered the weekend as a 2023 World of Outlaws winner for the first time after his Davenport Speedway victory last Saturday. That confidence led to a second place run in his Heat Race and the luck of drawing the outside pole for the 50-lap Feature.
When the race commenced, polesitter Brian Shirley bolted to the early lead with Sheppard in tow. While they ran one-two, defending Series champion Dennis Erb Jr. closed in. What has forming to be a thrilling three-horse battle was tamed by the first caution of the night on Lap 14.
Tyler Erb slowed in front of current points leader Bobby Pierce, causing the #32 to run into the back of Erb’s new MB Customs chassis and puncture Pierce’s right front tire. It made a bad night worse for Pierce, who qualified 22nd and started 16th in the Feature. However, his story didn’t end there (more on that later).
When the race resumed, Sheppard stayed within striking distance of Shirley before throwing a slider at his fellow Illinoisian on Lap 17. The #B5 drifted from the bottom to the wall through Turns 1 and 2 to take the lead and drive off with it.
By the halfway point, two new movers came into play. Ryan Gustin, who started eighth, passed Erb for third and Pierce had already climbed his way into the top five.
After a restart with 21 laps to go, Gustin snuck by Shirley for second and gave fans a barn burner duel with Sheppard.
While Sheppard ran high, Gustin stayed low. Lap after lap, turn after turn, they battled side by side. Gustin had a strong entry into each corner, pulling even with Sheppard through the turns, but the blue #B5 had a better run off the top and pull ahead each straightaway.
The battle led to a key factor in helping Sheppard pull off the win.
“I kept seeing Gustin down there and thought, ‘Man, I got to change my line up a little bit,” Sheppard said.
“I moved up a little bit coming off of (Turn) 2. I was kind of coming off the cushion a little bit. Then I started staying up, not against the cushion but in the black a little bit more and my tires were working better up there.”
While Gustin watched Sheppard pull away, he also lost second to Pierce.
“It got so fast on the top there wasn’t much the bottom could do,” Gustin said. “But [my team] said it ended up rubbering at the bottom at the end. I probably should have stuck with it for a few more laps, but [Sheppard and Pierce] were driving away in a hurry so it was hard to watch them drive away like that.”
Once Pierce got to second with seven laps to go, Sheppard said he saw the #32 on the score board and thought “Oh shit, I better elbow up here.”
Banging his right rear against the wall every corner with sparks flying into the night sky, Pierce closed and closed on Sheppard as the race went six to go, five to go, four to go.
However, in the final three laps, Sheppard was able to gap Pierce by a couple car lengths and claim his second straight win.
“It was a very, very, fine treacherous line up there,” Pierce said. “That’s the kind of stuff I like. I’m just going to go send it… Just awesome to salvage a great points night out of this. Congratulations to Brandon on the win. I was catching him, and he really got up on the wheel hard.”
Gustin’s third-place finish is his seventh podium of the year and Pierce’s second-place finish is his 17th. Pierce also earned the Fox Factory Hard Charger award, going from 16th to second.
Kyle Bronson, debuting his new Longhorn chassis finished fourth and Chris Madden rounded out the top five. Cade Dillard, who finished eighth, started out the night earning the Simpson Quick Time Award – his fifth of the season.
Sheppard’s win is his 83rd career World of Outlaws victory – further extending his record as the winningest driver on tour – and put him eight points behind Madden for second in the championship standings.
Now, the New Berlin, IL driver’s focus turns to Deer Creek Speedway for the World of Outlaws Labor Day Duel on Saturday. The last time the Series visited the track in 2019, Sheppard won.
“Feeling good about it. Confident,” Sheppard said. “I don’t know, we’ll see what happens.”
VIDEO RECAP:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCX1T0rAlk4
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series returns to Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, MN on Saturday, Sept. 2. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision.
RESULTS
CASE Late Mode Feature (50 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[16]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[8]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[9]; 5. 44-Chris Madden[7]; 6. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 7. 9-Nick Hoffman[4]; 8. 97-Cade Dillard[5]; 9. 16-Tyler Bruening[19]; 10. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 11. B1-Brent Larson[21]; 12. 96V-Tanner English[10]; 13. 76-Blair Nothdurft[14]; 14. 2S-Stormy Scott[13]; 15. 25-Shane Clanton[18]; 16. 11-Gordy Gundaker[23]; 17. 30-Todd Cooney[11]; 18. 90-Lance Matthees[22]; 19. 14W-Dustin Walker[24]; 20. 49-Jake Timm[3]; 21. 1-Tyler Erb[12]; 22. 15-Nick Anvelink[20]; 23. 77-Jordan Yaggy[17]; 24. 28S-Dustin Sorensen[15]
Last Chance Showdown (10 Laps): 1. 16-Tyler Bruening[1]; 2. 15-Nick Anvelink[3]; 3. B1-Brent Larson[5]; 4. 90-Lance Matthees[2]; 5. 7X-Jesse Glenz[4]; 6. 11-Gordy Gundaker[6]; 7. 11G-James Giossi[8]; 8. 10-Paul Parker[10]; 9. 51-Matt Furman[7]; 10. 11H-Lance Hofer[9]; 11. 14W-Dustin Walker[11]; 12. (DNS) 55C-Chad Mahder
Case No.1 Engine Oil Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[2]; 2. 97-Cade Dillard[1]; 3. 44-Chris Madden[3]; 4. 96V-Tanner English[5]; 5. 2S-Stormy Scott[7]; 6. 32-Bobby Pierce[8]; 7. 16-Tyler Bruening[6]; 8. 7X-Jesse Glenz[4]; 9. 51-Matt Furman[9]; 10. 10-Paul Parker[10]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 49-Jake Timm[1]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[3]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[4]; 4. 30-Todd Cooney[5]; 5. 76-Blair Nothdurft[2]; 6. 77-Jordan Yaggy[6]; 7. 90-Lance Matthees[9]; 8. B1-Brent Larson[8]; 9. 11G-James Giossi[7]; 10. 14W-Dustin Walker[10]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[2]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[1]; 4. 1-Tyler Erb[6]; 5. 28S-Dustin Sorensen[4]; 6. 25-Shane Clanton[8]; 7. 15-Nick Anvelink[5]; 8. 11-Gordy Gundaker[7]; 9. 11H-Lance Hofer[9]; 10. 55C-Chad Mahder[10]
Low-E Insulation Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:13.670[8]; 2. 49-Jake Timm, 00:13.722[5]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:13.791[4]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:13.893[22]; 5. 76-Blair Nothdurft, 00:13.917[6]; 6. 9-Nick Hoffman, 00:13.997[26]; 7. 44-Chris Madden, 00:14.056[10]; 8. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:14.061[21]; 9. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:14.061[30]; 10. 7X-Jesse Glenz, 00:14.073[9]; 11. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:14.078[29]; 12. 28S-Dustin Sorensen, 00:14.108[12]; 13. 96V-Tanner English, 00:14.115[14]; 14. 30-Todd Cooney, 00:14.124[3]; 15. 15-Nick Anvelink, 00:14.126[7]; 16. 16-Tyler Bruening, 00:14.133[18]; 17. 77-Jordan Yaggy, 00:14.156[2]; 18. 1-Tyler Erb, 00:14.165[19]; 19. 2S-Stormy Scott, 00:14.173[25]; 20. 11G-James Giossi, 00:14.189[16]; 21. 11-Gordy Gundaker, 00:14.227[20]; 22. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:14.365[27]; 23. B1-Brent Larson, 00:14.375[13]; 24. 25-Shane Clanton, 00:14.386[28]; 25. 51-Matt Furman, 00:14.479[1]; 26. 90-Lance Matthees, 00:14.563[17]; 27. 11H-Lance Hofer, 00:14.569[24]; 28. 10-Paul Parker, 00:14.673[15]; 29. 14W-Dustin Walker, 00:14.792[11]; 30. 55C-Chad Mahder, 00:14.792[23]
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KEVKORACING.COM USRA MODIFIEDS
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 28-Parker Hale[1]; 2. 24C-Jim Chisholm[9]; 3. 49-Jake Timm[2]; 4. 50III-Brandon Davis[7]; 5. 27X-Calvin Iverson[4]; 6. 69-Lucas Schott[6]; 7. 89-AJ Diemel[10]; 8. 21-Jacob Bleess[12]; 9. 15W-Alex Williamson[16]; 10. 95-Keith Foss[8]; 11. 30-Matt Leer[18]; 12. 43-Zach Brom[21]; 13. 55H-AJ Hoff[14]; 14. 99L-Steve Lavasseur[17]; 15. 21S-Jake Smith[13]; 16. 60-Dan Ebert[11]; 17. 51W-JT Wasmund[19]; 18. 51-Chris Oertel[15]; 19. 94JR-John Doelle[22]; 20. 8J-Darran Jonsgaard[25]; 21. 00X-Robby Bunkelman[20]; 22. 18-Michael Hofer[23]; 23. (DNF) 99-Josh Angst[5]; 24. (DNF) 95X-Shaun Walski[3]; 25. (DNF) 80-Lee Jonsgaard[24]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 49-Jake Timm[7]; 2. 27X-Calvin Iverson[3]; 3. 24C-Jim Chisholm[6]; 4. 60-Dan Ebert[1]; 5. 21S-Jake Smith[4]; 6. 15W-Alex Williamson[5]; 7. 51W-JT Wasmund[8]; 8. 94JR-John Doelle[2]; 9. 8J-Darran Jonsgaard[9]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Keith Foss[4]; 2. 28-Parker Hale[5]; 3. 50III-Brandon Davis[7]; 4. 89-AJ Diemel[8]; 5. 55H-AJ Hoff[1]; 6. 99L-Steve Lavasseur[3]; 7. 00X-Robby Bunkelman[2]; 8. 18-Michael Hofer[6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 95X-Shaun Walski[1]; 2. 69-Lucas Schott[7]; 3. 99-Josh Angst[8]; 4. 21-Jacob Bleess[4]; 5. 51-Chris Oertel[3]; 6. 30-Matt Leer[6]; 7. 43-Zach Brom[5]; 8. 80-Lee Jonsgaard[2]
BLACK HORSE BAR & GRILL USRA B-MODS
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 21-Ryan Olson[3]; 2. 24-Dylan Goettl[7]; 3. 2C-Cole Bennerotte[1]; 4. 32-Taylor Skauge[10]; 5. 56H-Brandon Hare[21]; 6. 25-Joe Chisholm[2]; 7. 16-Dan Hovden[5]; 8. 23K-Erik Kanz[6]; 9. 18-Tyler Werner[13]; 10. 43-Zach Brom[18]; 11. 87H-Harley Dais[16]; 12. 3A-Taylor Ausrud[9]; 13. 42B-Kaeden Bronner[14]; 14. 35-Dennis Dunbar[12]; 15. 11J-Jacob Lynch[4]; 16. 97JR-Landon Volkman[15]; 17. 5-Trystan Hagen[23]; 18. 85-Ben Moudry[20]; 19. 91-Tyler Johnson[19]; 20. 11-Lyndon Johnson[22]; 21. 89-Matt Klukas[24]; 22. 87-Miah Christensen[8]; 23. 54X-Jett Sorensen[11]; 24. 54-John Feirn[17]
B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 56H-Brandon Hare[2]; 2. 11-Lyndon Johnson[1]; 3. 5-Trystan Hagen[6]; 4. 89-Matt Klukas[5]; 5. 2-Nathan Butterfield[10]; 6. 28P-James Patzner[8]; 7. 10T-Trevor Fecht[7]; 8. 88DH-Dylan Hutkowski[11]; 9. 72-Travis Scholbrock[9]; 10. 79-Kyle Johnson[12]; 11. 48-Wally Olsen[13]; 12. (DNF) 155-Gavin Shaw[4]; 13. (DNF) 95X-Kent Baxter[14]; 14. (DNS) 91-Tyler Johnson
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 16-Dan Hovden[5]; 2. 54X-Jett Sorensen[1]; 3. 11J-Jacob Lynch[3]; 4. 18-Tyler Werner[6]; 5. 54-John Feirn[4]; 6. 11-Lyndon Johnson[7]; 7. 89-Matt Klukas[8]; 8. 72-Travis Scholbrock[2]; 9. 48-Wally Olsen[9]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Miah Christensen[1]; 2. 24-Dylan Goettl[5]; 3. 2C-Cole Bennerotte[2]; 4. 42B-Kaeden Bronner[3]; 5. 43-Zach Brom[7]; 6. 56H-Brandon Hare[6]; 7. 5-Trystan Hagen[4]; 8. 2-Nathan Butterfield[8]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 3A-Taylor Ausrud[2]; 2. 21-Ryan Olson[6]; 3. 35-Dennis Dunbar[7]; 4. 97JR-Landon Volkman[1]; 5. 91-Tyler Johnson[8]; 6. 10T-Trevor Fecht[4]; 7. 88DH-Dylan Hutkowski[5]; 8. (DQ) 95X-Kent Baxter[3]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Taylor Skauge[3]; 2. 23K-Erik Kanz[4]; 3. 25-Joe Chisholm[8]; 4. 87H-Harley Dais[7]; 5. 85-Ben Moudry[6]; 6. 155-Gavin Shaw[5]; 7. 28P-James Patzner[2]; 8. 79-Kyle Johnson[1]
HORMAN'S HVAC USRA HOBBY STOCKS
A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 18K-Dylan Clinton[4]; 2. 01X-Travis Krause[2]; 3. 86-Ryan Happel[8]; 4. 18-Scott Spilde[7]; 5. 07-Chris Hovden[5]; 6. 27H-Austin Hoeft[6]; 7. 22L-Jake James[3]; 8. 88-Robert Anderson[13]; 9. 32J-Carter Jonsgaard[10]; 10. 15C-Caden Helle[1]; 11. 37-Casey Colsch[15]; 12. 99-Jeremy Werner[17]; 13. 7-Steve Dwyer[9]; 14. 18JR-Gavin Bartel[19]; 15. 01-Trevor Krause[16]; 16. 94-Kevin Hager[14]; 17. 7D-Devin Holthaus[12]; 18. 70-Steve Holthaus[11]; 19. 95-Shawn Hughes[21]; 20. (DNS) 43-Garrett Nemechek; 21. (DNS) 11-Seth Scholl
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 07-Chris Hovden[2]; 2. 01X-Travis Krause[3]; 3. 18-Scott Spilde[4]; 4. 86-Ryan Happel[5]; 5. 7-Steve Dwyer[7]; 6. 70-Steve Holthaus[10]; 7. 88-Robert Anderson[1]; 8. 37-Casey Colsch[6]; 9. 99-Jeremy Werner[9]; 10. (DNF) 18JR-Gavin Bartel[8]; 11. (DNF) 95-Shawn Hughes[11]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 18K-Dylan Clinton[4]; 2. 27H-Austin Hoeft[1]; 3. 22L-Jake James[2]; 4. 15C-Caden Helle[7]; 5. 32J-Carter Jonsgaard[6]; 6. 7D-Devin Holthaus[9]; 7. 94-Kevin Hager[10]; 8. 01-Trevor Krause[5]; 9. 43-Garrett Nemechek[8]; 10. (DNS) 11-Seth Scholl
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