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Sheppard Holds off Erb at Atomic, Ties Richards for Most World of Outlaws Wins

By Mike Warren, WOO Late Model Series (Waverly, OH) -- Actor Tom Hiddleston once said, “You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back, and you’ve climbed a mountain.”

Since 2012, and his first Series victory at Belle-Clair Speedway, Brandon Sheppard has climbed the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series Mountain.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jacy Norgaard

He finally reached the peak of all-time wins Saturday night at Atomic Speedway, holding off a late charge by Dennis Erb Jr. to win the Outlaw Invasion—his 78th Series triumph. He’s now tied with Josh Richards for most wins all-time, a milestone that each four-time champion holds.

For Sheppard, it’s a moment he cherishes, and he is thankful for everyone that’s helped him on his journey.

“When I started, my dad and grandpa gave me everything I needed to get going, “Sheppard said. “I’m just thankful for them and Mark Richards picking me up back in 2012, and everyone that’s backed me for my whole career.

“I think it’s my first win [at Atomic], so that’s exciting, too. I feel like I’ve had a fast car here a lot and just haven’t been able to get the job done.”

Sheppard seemed poised to dominate the $15,000-to-win Feature after wrestling the lead away from Max Blair on a Lap 16 restart. The New Berlin, IL driver, pulled away from the field until he couldn’t carry the same momentum he had early in the race. That’s when Erb set himself up to strike.

The World of Outlaws points leader locked his car to the bottom of the track, pulling even with Sheppard a few times down the backstretch. Erb’s best shot came with three laps remaining as he slid the reigning champion in Turn 2, but Sheppard crossed him back over to keep control. The Illinois veteran may have had another shot, but a caution came out, putting Erb directly behind Sheppard on the restart.

“The Rocket Shepp” held on during the final three laps to win his first World of Outlaws Feature of 2022. Sheppard stated that his charge toward the front early in the race impacted his tires toward the end.

“I think I burned my tires up pretty early in that race trying to get the lead,” Sheppard said. “It was cleaning up and starting to take a little rubber getting into [Turns 1 and 2], and I think I was using a bit too much, and that slowed me down a bunch.

“I was kind of stumped out there, I didn’t know which way to go [in lap traffic], and then Dennis showed me the nose, and I was trying to change what I was doing, but he always races me clean.”

Erb crossed the line second—his fifth top-five of 2022. He felt the last caution took away his opportunity to get by Sheppard.

“The car was working really good while we were under green,” Erb said. “I really didn’t want to see that caution there at the end but [Sheppard’s] car was good too, and we fired off real good and gave it a shot.”

Erb’s runner-up finish extended his points lead for the second consecutive night—44 points ahead of Max Blair, who finished third, rounding out an all-Rocket Chassis podium.

The Centerville, PA driver thundered from his ninth starting position to the lead in 15 laps before falling to third at the checkered flag. Blair’s car got tighter as the race went on.

“If it was a 20-lap race, I feel like we had a car we could’ve won with,” Blair said. “Once the bottom started to give up a little bit, and I had to move up, I was just a little too tight to roll the center as good as what Brandon could.”

Gordy Gundaker crossed the line fourth, his first top-five of 2022. It's the World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year contender's best finish of the season.

“At the end, it seemed like we were just better than everyone in front of us,” Gundaker said. “I just had to pick and choose, and I got my way around Josh [Rice] and Devin [Moran] those last few laps to run fourth.”

Dresden, OH driver Devin Moran rounded out the top five.

Brandon Sheppard’s win on Saturday is one of many historical milestones in his career. But this time, it’s at the top of a mountain, cementing his place as one of the best in World of Outlaws Late Model history.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models join the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars for the Bristol Bash April 28-30 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, TN.

If you can’t make it to the tracks, watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online on with the DIRTVision App.

RESULTS

Case Construction Feature (50 Laps): 1. 1-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[12]; 3. 111V-Max Blair[9]; 4. 11-Gordy Gundaker[6]; 5. 9-Devin Moran[4]; 6. B1-Brent Larson[11]; 7. 11R-Josh Rice[5]; 8. 16-Tyler Bruening[23]; 9. 71-Hudson O'Neal[1]; 10. 45-Kyle Hammer[2]; 11. 81E-Tanner English[21]; 12. 29-Darrell Lanigan[16]; 13. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[17]; 14. C9-Steve Casebolt[10]; 15. 44B-Colten Burdette[19]; 16. 71R-Rod Conley[22]; 17. 19R-Ryan Gustin[15]; 18. 99B-Boom Briggs[24]; 19. 1R-Josh Richards[13]; 20. 1T-Tyler Erb[8]; 21. 53C-Andy Bond[18]; 22. 37-Jacob Hawkins[7]; 23. 44H-Dave Hess Jr[14]; 24. 1AM-Austyn Mills[20]

Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[1]; 2. 44B-Colten Burdette[2]; 3. 81E-Tanner English[3]; 4. 6D-Zack Dohm[9]; 5. 16-Tyler Bruening[5]; 6. 11H-Jared Hawkins[4]; 7. 99B-Boom Briggs[6]; 8. 20-Todd Brennan[7]; 9. 29C-Clint Keenan[8]; 10. 1*-Chub Frank[10]

Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 53C-Andy Bond[2]; 2. 1AM-Austyn Mills[1]; 3. 71R-Rod Conley[4]; 4. 21-William Phillips[6]; 5. 95-Jerry Bowersock[3]; 6. 15-Justin Duty[5]; 7. 6-Travis Carr[8]; 8. 511-Chris Lockhart[7]; 9. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[9]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 9-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 3. 111V-Max Blair[6]; 4. 1R-Josh Richards[3]; 5. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[4]; 6. 81E-Tanner English[5]; 7. 16-Tyler Bruening[8]; 8. 20-Todd Brennan[9]; 9. 6D-Zack Dohm[7]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 45-Kyle Hammer[1]; 2. 37-Jacob Hawkins[2]; 3. B1-Brent Larson[4]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 5. 44B-Colten Burdette[5]; 6. 11H-Jared Hawkins[8]; 7. 99B-Boom Briggs[7]; 8. 29C-Clint Keenan[9]; 9. 1*-Chub Frank[6]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 71-Hudson O'Neal[2]; 2. 11R-Josh Rice[1]; 3. C9-Steve Casebolt[5]; 4. 44H-Dave Hess Jr[3]; 5. 1AM-Austyn Mills[6]; 6. 95-Jerry Bowersock[4]; 7. 15-Justin Duty[8]; 8. 511-Chris Lockhart[9]; 9. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[7]

Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 1-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 11-Gordy Gundaker[5]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[2]; 4. 29-Darrell Lanigan[3]; 5. 53C-Andy Bond[4]; 6. 71R-Rod Conley[6]; 7. 21-William Phillips[7]; 8. 6-Travis Carr[8]

Qualifying Group A (2 Laps): 1. 9-Devin Moran, 00:13.598[4]; 2. 45-Kyle Hammer, 00:13.723[3]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb, 00:13.773[17]; 4. 37-Jacob Hawkins, 00:13.810[5]; 5. 1R-Josh Richards, 00:13.813[7]; 6. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:13.901[13]; 7. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 00:13.903[11]; 8. B1-Brent Larson, 00:13.923[12]; 9. 81E-Tanner English, 00:13.980[6]; 10. 44B-Colten Burdette, 00:13.987[18]; 11. 111V-Max Blair, 00:14.027[8]; 12. 1*-Chub Frank, 00:14.060[10]; 13. 6D-Zack Dohm, 00:14.110[2]; 14. 99B-Boom Briggs, 00:14.153[15]; 15. 16-Tyler Bruening, 00:14.159[16]; 16. 11H-Jared Hawkins, 00:14.184[9]; 17. 20-Todd Brennan, 00:14.452[1]; 18. 29C-Clint Keenan, 00:14.695[14]

Qualifying Group B (2 Laps): 1. 11R-Josh Rice, 00:13.568[6]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard, 00:13.600[14]; 3. 71-Hudson O'Neal, 00:13.803[1]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:13.914[5]; 5. 44H-Dave Hess Jr, 00:14.061[2]; 6. 29-Darrell Lanigan, 00:14.100[7]; 7. 95-Jerry Bowersock, 00:14.147[3]; 8. 53C-Andy Bond, 00:14.148[9]; 9. C9-Steve Casebolt, 00:14.184[16]; 10. 11-Gordy Gundaker, 00:14.392[11]; 11. 1AM-Austyn Mills, 00:14.446[4]; 12. 71R-Rod Conley, 00:14.563[17]; 13. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain, 00:14.610[8]; 14. 21-William Phillips, 00:14.750[15]; 15. 15-Justin Duty, 00:14.774[10]; 16. 6-Travis Carr, 00:14.878[13]; 17. 511-Chris Lockhart, 00:14.903[12]

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OHIO HEATING 410 SPRINTS
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 22-Cole Duncan[9]; 2. 4DS-Danny Smith[5]; 3. 00H-Hunter Lynch[2]; 4. 59-Bryan Knuckles[6]; 5. 1B-Keith Baxter[1]; 6. 22B-Ryan Broughton[16]; 7. 11C-Kory Crabtree[8]; 8. 35-Zach Hampton[11]; 9. 3C-Cale Conley[7]; 10. 42-Chris Garnes[12]; 11. 99S-Skylar Gee[4]; 12. 08-Brandon Conkel[18]; 13. 7A-David Dickson[19]; 14. 83X-Nate Reeser[20]; 15. 8D-Josh Davis[14]; 16. 2-Nathan Skaggs[10]; 17. 5J-Jake Hesson[15]; 18. A79-Brandon Wimmer[3]; 19. 99-Ryan Myers[13]; 20. 6-Gary Taylor[17]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 22B-Ryan Broughton[1]; 2. 6-Gary Taylor[6]; 3. 08-Brandon Conkel[4]; 4. 7A-David Dickson[3]; 5. 83X-Nate Reeser[2]; 6. 4XC-Cale Stinson[7]; 7. 17-Reece Saldana[9]; 8. 12-Corbin Gurley[5]; 9. 24-Lee Haskins[10]; 10. 4X-Bradley Ashford[8]; 11. 5-Ben Webb[12]; 12. 4-Chris Smalley[13]; 13. 40-Logan Fenton[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Cole Duncan[1]; 2. A79-Brandon Wimmer[3]; 3. 1B-Keith Baxter[8]; 4. 2-Nathan Skaggs[5]; 5. 99-Ryan Myers[2]; 6. 22B-Ryan Broughton[4]; 7. 08-Brandon Conkel[7]; 8. 4XC-Cale Stinson[6]; 9. 24-Lee Haskins[9]; 10. 4-Chris Smalley[10]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3C-Cale Conley[1]; 2. 11C-Kory Crabtree[2]; 3. 00H-Hunter Lynch[3]; 4. 35-Zach Hampton[4]; 5. 8D-Josh Davis[6]; 6. 83X-Nate Reeser[5]; 7. 12-Corbin Gurley[7]; 8. 4X-Bradley Ashford[9]; 9. 40-Logan Fenton[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 59-Bryan Knuckles[3]; 2. 99S-Skylar Gee[1]; 3. 4DS-Danny Smith[5]; 4. 42-Chris Garnes[4]; 5. 5J-Jake Hesson[2]; 6. 7A-David Dickson[6]; 7. 6-Gary Taylor[7]; 8. 17-Reece Saldana[8]; 9. 5-Ben Webb[9]

Qualifying 1: 1. 22-Cole Duncan, 00:12.205[2]; 2. 3C-Cale Conley, 00:12.335[7]; 3. 99S-Skylar Gee, 00:12.447[1]; 4. 99-Ryan Myers, 00:12.480[11]; 5. 11C-Kory Crabtree, 00:12.483[9]; 6. 5J-Jake Hesson, 00:12.514[5]; 7. A79-Brandon Wimmer, 00:12.525[3]; 8. 00H-Hunter Lynch, 00:12.574[15]; 9. 59-Bryan Knuckles, 00:12.583[24]; 10. 22B-Ryan Broughton, 00:12.647[4]; 11. 35-Zach Hampton, 00:12.728[28]; 12. 42-Chris Garnes, 00:12.741[22]; 13. 2-Nathan Skaggs, 00:12.779[19]; 14. 83X-Nate Reeser, 00:12.994[6]; 15. 4DS-Danny Smith, 00:13.012[18]; 16. 4XC-Cale Stinson, 00:13.014[17]; 17. 8D-Josh Davis, 00:13.042[12]; 18. 7A-David Dickson, 00:13.116[21]; 19. 08-Brandon Conkel, 00:13.121[8]; 20. 12-Corbin Gurley, 00:13.200[25]; 21. 6-Gary Taylor, 00:13.232[26]; 22. 1B-Keith Baxter, 00:13.306[10]; 23. 40-Logan Fenton, 00:13.344[14]; 24. 17-Reece Saldana, 00:13.471[13]; 25. 24-Lee Haskins, 00:13.475[27]; 26. 4X-Bradley Ashford, 00:13.625[23]; 27. 5-Ben Webb, 00:13.698[16]; 28. 4-Chris Smalley, 00:13.739[20]

KRYPTONITE RACECARS MODIFIEDS

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 68-Adam Stricker[1]; 2. 21X-Jason Montgomery[3]; 3. 18C-Miles Cook Jr[2]; 4. 9R-JP Roberts Jr[7]; 5. 1-Kenny Johnson[4]; 6. 16-Travis Dickson[8]; 7. 11-Jeremy Rayburn[5]; 8. RC10-Reed Bishop[6]; 9. 8-Dave Pinkerton[10]; 10. 3B-Blake Sheets[12]; 11. 21-Seth Daniels[9]; 12. 75C-Steve Clemmons[15]; 13. 99-Seth Chaney[19]; 14. 52-Brian Whiteman[14]; 15. 12-Joseph Buskirk[13]; 16. 98-Dustin Sword[16]; 17. D4-Dave Jamison[11]; 18. 9K-Kevin Wills[18]; 19. 18-Miles Cook Sr[17]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 68-Adam Stricker[1]; 2. 21X-Jason Montgomery[3]; 3. 11-Jeremy Rayburn[4]; 4. 9R-JP Roberts Jr[5]; 5. 21-Seth Daniels[6]; 6. D4-Dave Jamison[8]; 7. 12-Joseph Buskirk[9]; 8. 75C-Steve Clemmons[7]; 9. 18-Miles Cook Sr[10]; 10. (DNS) 99-Seth Chaney

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 18C-Miles Cook Jr[1]; 2. 1-Kenny Johnson[3]; 3. RC10-Reed Bishop[4]; 4. 16-Travis Dickson[5]; 5. 8-Dave Pinkerton[2]; 6. 3B-Blake Sheets[8]; 7. 52-Brian Whiteman[6]; 8. 98-Dustin Sword[7]; 9. 9K-Kevin Wills[9]

Qualifying 1: 1. 68-Adam Stricker, 00:15.731[9]; 2. 18C-Miles Cook Jr, 00:15.863[2]; 3. 99-Seth Chaney, 00:16.037[5]; 4. 8-Dave Pinkerton, 00:16.060[3]; 5. 21X-Jason Montgomery, 00:16.068; 6. 1-Kenny Johnson, 00:16.110[14]; 7. 11-Jeremy Rayburn, 00:16.169[17]; 8. RC10-Reed Bishop, 00:16.206[10]; 9. 9R-JP Roberts Jr, 00:16.242[4]; 10. 16-Travis Dickson, 00:16.342; 11. 21-Seth Daniels, 00:16.344[11]; 12. 52-Brian Whiteman, 00:16.348[12]; 13. 75C-Steve Clemmons, 00:16.348[13]; 14. 98-Dustin Sword, 00:16.421[1]; 15. D4-Dave Jamison, 00:16.425[6]; 16. 3B-Blake Sheets, 00:16.460[15]; 17. 12-Joseph Buskirk, 00:16.608[16]; 18. 9K-Kevin Wills, 00:16.696[8]; 19. 18-Miles Cook Sr, 00:17.078[7]

SOUTHERN OHIO LEGENDS

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 91-Jerren Perdue[2]; 2. 8-Blake Skaggs[4]; 3. 92-Aaron Pendleton[1]; 4. 21X-Steven Partin[3]; 5. 18-Bryce Swango[5]; 6. 82-Ronnie Niehaus[7]; 7. 13-Scott Chaney[6]; 8. 4T-Tom Partin[22]; 9. 8N-Nick Obryant[8]; 10. 1Z-Zach Schuler[14]; 11. M80-Levi Morris[16]; 12. X-Quade Schoonover[19]; 13. 17-CALE MAYBIN[20]; 14. 43-Nathan Young[10]; 15. 36-Jesse Sines[18]; 16. 002-Daryl Bumgarner[17]; 17. 4A-Greg Arthur[21]; 18. 7W-John Gutman[11]; 19. 26-Ronold Scurlock[9]; 20. 4-Garrett Schuler[12]; 21. 12B-Anthony Bumgarner[13]; 22. 4S-Rob Schuler[15]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21X-Steven Partin[1]; 2. 8-Blake Skaggs[2]; 3. 82-Ronnie Niehaus[3]; 4. 43-Nathan Young[4]; 5. 12B-Anthony Bumgarner[5]; 6. M80-Levi Morris[6]; 7. X-Quade Schoonover[7]; 8. 4A-Greg Arthur[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 91-Jerren Perdue[1]; 2. 18-Bryce Swango[2]; 3. 8N-Nick Obryant[4]; 4. 7W-John Gutman[3]; 5. 1Z-Zach Schuler[5]; 6. 002-Daryl Bumgarner[7]; 7. 17-CALE MAYBIN[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 92-Aaron Pendleton[1]; 2. 13-Scott Chaney[3]; 3. 26-Ronold Scurlock[5]; 4. 4-Garrett Schuler[4]; 5. 4S-Rob Schuler[7]; 6. 36-Jesse Sines[6]

Qualifying 1: 1. 21X-Steven Partin, 00:17.820[2]; 2. 91-Jerren Perdue, 00:18.097[22]; 3. 92-Aaron Pendleton, 00:18.116[8]; 4. 8-Blake Skaggs, 00:18.171[21]; 5. 18-Bryce Swango, 00:18.231[1]; 6. 4T-Tom Partin, 00:18.299[15]; 7. 82-Ronnie Niehaus, 00:18.375[6]; 8. 7W-John Gutman, 00:18.535[3]; 9. 13-Scott Chaney, 00:18.719[10]; 10. 43-Nathan Young, 00:18.791[9]; 11. 8N-Nick Obryant, 00:18.961[18]; 12. 4-Garrett Schuler, 00:19.065[4]; 13. 12B-Anthony Bumgarner, 00:19.272[16]; 14. 1Z-Zach Schuler, 00:19.388[20]; 15. 26-Ronold Scurlock, 00:19.419[11]; 16. M80-Levi Morris, 00:19.514[17]; 17. 17-CALE MAYBIN, 00:19.740[7]; 18. 36-Jesse Sines, 00:19.913[19]; 19. X-Quade Schoonover, 00:19.926[5]; 20. 002-Daryl Bumgarner, 00:20.560[13]; 21. 4S-Rob Schuler, 00:20.659[12]; 22. 4A-Greg Arthur, 00:21.887[14]

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