SHEPPARD AND LANDERS EARN DREAM XXII FRIDAY VICTORIES

$100,000-to-win Dirt Late Model Dream finale on tap Saturday night

ROSSBURG, Ohio — Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., and Jared Landers of Batesville, Ark., captured two of the richest 25-lap features in Dirt Late Model history Friday, staking their claim at glory on the final preliminary night of Eldora Speedway’s Dream XXII presented by Ferris Mowers.

Both drivers made their winning passes on lap 15 and pulled away over the final 10 laps for $10,000 paydays and crucial points that will set Saturday’s heat race lineups for the $100,000 finale of the season’s richest Dirt Late Model weekend.

Sheppard’s victory in the opening twin 25-lapper came over a pair of fellow Illinois drivers as Dennis Erb Jr of Carpentersvile, Ill., who inched ahead of Sheppard to lead the 14th lap, and Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., finished second and third at the historic half-mile oval owned by  NASCAR star Tony Stewart. Hall of Famer Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., and 11th-starting Dale McDowell of Chickamauga, Ga., rounded out the top five.

“We had an awesome car again tonight. I think we made a pretty good call on tires,” said Sheppard, the driver of Ohio-based Best Performance Motorsports who also won a $5,000 prelim Thursday. “I think we were the only one out there on the tire combination that we have, so I’ve got to thank my crew chief Randall Edwards … and everybody that helps on this thing. This XR1 Rocket was on point again tonight. We’re looking forward to tomorrow for sure.”

Landers stalked Gregg Satterlee of Indiana, Pa., for 14 laps in Friday’s second preliminary feature, making the winning move amid traffic with a daring turn-four slide job. Six-time Dream winner Scott Bloomquist finished second ahead of Satterlee with Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz., and 16th-starting Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., rounding out the top five.

“This is awesome, to win the race here. This car’s great,” said Landers, who led laps at last year’s Dream and World 100 at Eldora. “My crew worked their butt off today trying to fix everything from the track last night. We rebuilt the car and we worked toward this setup and we finally got one. We’ve got it all back like it was when I was at the World, so it’s still good.”

Sheppard, Landers and the weekend’s other top contenders — who accrued preliminary-night points that will set Saturday’s heat race lineups for the first time — return to action at 7 p.m. Saturday with six heat races on a night that culminates with a driver collecting a $100,000 paycheck.

In the first prelim polesitter Chris Brown of Spring, Texas, tried to crash the Illinois party by leading the first three laps, but Sheppard’s lap-four slide job sent him to the front exiting turn four with Erb eventually settling into the second spot.

Erb turned up the wick near the race’s midpoint, and after a lap-13 yellow, he ran side-by-side with Sheppard before going ahead to lead lap 14. But Sheppard kept rolling on the high side and swept back into the lead and edged away as Erb couldn’t keep up.

“Our car’s really good on the top,” Sheppard said, looking ahead to Saturday’s scheduled 100-lapper. “It really helps to start these races on the front row, we don’t have to pass guys. I think we’ve got a good enough car to where we can pass some guys, but the thing about this place is, it takes a long time to pass a guy. You’ve got to work them a little bit and figure out where they’re messing up at and take advantage of that. That’s going to be the biggest thing, hopefully start up front and just hold them off.”

The 25-lapper was slowed by three cautions, one of which turned into a red flag after eight laps complete Frank Heckenast Jr. — an Illinois driver who didn’t have such a good night — got the worst end of a four-wide battle on the frontstretch. His No. 99jr slid nose-first into the inside-wall Hunt Brothers Pizza billboard 50 yards before the turn-one entrance. His car was done for the weeekend, but he wasn’t hurt.

The first caution appeared on the eighth lap for a slowing Rodney Sanders and Shanon Buckingham drew a lap-14 yellow.
In the second feature, Satterlee got the jump on the polesitting Bloomquist, and Landers quickly moved into second Jonathan Davenport, last year’s Dream winner and a Thursday night winner, was further back in fourth with Thornton just behind.

Landers ran virtually side-by-side with Satterlee on the seventh lap before Satterlee moved back ahead, and action picked up near the race’s midpoint as Satterlee, Landers and Bloomquist worked through the slower cars of Rusty Schlenk and Jason Jameson.

With traffic still in play, Landers dove under Satterlee entering turn three and came out on top in turn four, then edged away to complete the his first Eldora victory.

“I’m not going to let lapped traffic hold me up,” Landers said. “If it takes me out of the race, I’ve just got to do it. I can’t follow these guys. I’ve just got to take it when I get it. That’s what I was practicing tonight, I just wanted to pass as many cars as I was able to. I think we’ve got a car to win (Saturday’s) race.”

Saturday’s tickets start at $40 with children 12-and-under free for general admission tickets. Find tickets and camping information at (937) 338-3815 or www.EldoraSpeedway.com.

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Dream XXII – Night #2

DIRTcar UMP Late Models

Time Trials
1.44M-Chris Madden, 16.208; 2.5-Don O’Neal, 16.266; 3.3s-Brian Shirley, 16.356; 4.1-Josh Richards, 16.371; 5.76-Brandon Overton, 16.379; 6.21B-Chris Brown, 16.402; 7.157-Mike Marlar, 16.406; 8.32P-Bobby Pierce, 16.443; 9.6-Jonathan Davenport, 16.452; 10.21-Billy Moyer, 16.493; 11.777-Jared Landers, 16.494; 12.6m-Wendell Wallace, 16.568; 13.15-Jon Henry, 16.600; 14.20s-Rodney Sanders, 16.605; 15.55-Jeep VanWormer, 16.630; 16.C9-Steve Casebolt, 16.639; 17.28M-Jimmy Mars, 16.656; 18.28-Dennis Erb Jr. , 16.671; 19.11A-Austin Smith, 16.673; 20.25Z-Mason Zeigler, 16.674; 21.99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr. , 16.701; 22.18J-Chase Junghans, 16.719; 23.25-Jason Feger, 16.723; 24.18-Shannon Babb, 16.731; 25.50-Shanon Buckingham, 16.738; 26.101-Casey Roberts, 16.783; 27.7B-Jeff Babcock, 16.791; 28.1G-Devin Gilpin, 16.792; 29.1P-Earl Pearson Jr., 16.793; 30.97-Michael Chilton, 16.794; 31.4G-Kody Evans, 16.795; 32.17M-Dale McDowell, 16.807; 33.99M-Devin Moran, 16.811; 34.15L-Darrell Lanigan, 16.838; 35.39-Tim McCreadie, 16.847; 36.31-Nick Latham, 16.874; 37.15F-Steve Francis, 16.898; 38.21H-Robby Hensley, 16.902; 39.22-Chris Ferguson, 16.908; 40.15J-Scott James, 16.944; 41.75P-Terry Phillips, 16.973; 42.21JR-Billy Moyer Jr. , 16.979; 43.32-Chris Simpson, 16.983; 44.7R-Kent Robinson, 16.985; 45.28C-Eddie Carrier Jr. , 16.995; 46.22*-GR Smith, 16.996; 47.41R-TJ Reaid, 16.997; 48.33-Tim Manville, 17.010; 49.48L-Tim Lance, 17.015; 50.1M-Mike Mataragas, 17.017; 51.11RS-Rusty Schlenk, 17.018; 52.95J-Jerry Bowersock, 17.142; 53.42-Doug Sanders, 17.145; 54.1B-Mike Benedum, 17.150; 55.12-Jason Jameson, 17.168; 56.16-Tyler Bruening, 17.227; 57.93-Jay Johnson, 17.268; 58.25C-Shane Clanton, 17.276; 59.51-Jason Noll, 17.382; 60.1GK-Ryan King, 17.384; 61.77-Gavin Landers, 17.510; 62.4-Brian Ligon, 17.549; 63.5N-Dustin Nobbe, 17.562; 64.3c-Charlie LaPlant, 17.697; 65.5*-Bryant Dickinson, 18.789; 66.94-Austin Rettig, 99.999;
DQ: Scott Bloomquist, Jimmy Owens, Gregg Satterlee, Brandon Sheppard, Ricky Thornton Jr

Heat 1  –  (10 Laps)
1. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr. [1] ; 2. 32P-Bobby Pierce[3] ; 3. 1G-Devin Gilpin[5] ; 4. 7R-Kent Robinson[7] ; 5. 20s-Rodney Sanders[2] ; 6. 1GK-Ryan King[9] ; 7. 44M-Chris Madden[4] ; 8. 31-Nick Latham[6] ; 9. 95J-Jerry Bowersock[8]

Heat 2  –  (10 Laps)
1. 6-Jonathan Davenport[3] ; 2. 5-Don O’Neal[4] ; 3. 1P-Earl Pearson Jr.[5] ; 4. 28C-Eddie Carrier Jr. [7] ; 5. 15F-Steve Francis[6] ; 6. 55-Jeep VanWormer[2] ; 7. 77-Gavin Landers[9] ; 8. 42-Doug Sanders[8] ; 9. 18J-Chase Junghans[1]

Heat 3 –  (10 Laps)
1. 3s-Brian Shirley[4] ; 2. 21-Billy Moyer[3] ; 3. C9-Steve Casebolt[2] ; 4. 25-Jason Feger[1] ; 5. 1B-Mike Benedum[8] ; 6. 97-Michael Chilton[5] ; 7. 21H-Robby Hensley[6] ; 8. 4-Brian Ligon[9] ; 9. 22*-GR Smith[7]

Heat 4 –  (10 Laps)
1. 18-Shannon Babb[1] ; 2. 777-Jared Landers[3] ; 3. 1-Josh Richards[4] ; 4. 28M-Jimmy Mars[2] ; 5. 12-Jason Jameson[8] ; 6. 5N-Dustin Nobbe[9] ; 7. 41R-TJ Reaid[7] ; 8. 22-Chris Ferguson[6] ; 9. 4G-Kody Evans[5]

Heat 5 –  (10 Laps)
1. 28-Dennis Erb Jr. [2] ; 2. 17M-Dale McDowell[5] ; 3. 76-Brandon Overton[4] ; 4. 50-Shanon Buckingham[1] ; 5. 16-Tyler Bruening[8] ; 6. 15J-Scott James[6] ; 7. 33-Tim Manville[7] ; 8. 3c-Charlie LaPlant[9] ; DQ: Brandon Sheppard

Heat 6 –  (10 Laps)
1. 11A-Austin Smith[2] ; 2. 75P-Terry Phillips[6] ; 3. 6m-Wendell Wallace[3] ; 4. 93-Jay Johnson[8] ; 5. 48L-Tim Lance[7] ; 6. 5*-Bryant Dickinson[9] ; 7. 99M-Devin Moran[5] ; DQ: Ricky Thornton Jr, Gregg Satterlee

Heat 7 –  (10 Laps)
1. 101-Casey Roberts[1] ; 2. 21B-Chris Brown[4] ; 3. 15L-Darrell Lanigan[5] ; 4. 25C-Shane Clanton[8] ; 5. 1M-Mike Mataragas[7] ; 6. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[2] ; 7. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr. [6] ; 8. 94-Austin Rettig[9] ; DQ: Jimmy Owens

Heat 8 –  (10 Laps)
1. 15-Jon Henry[3] ; 2. 7B-Jeff Babcock[1] ; 3. 39-Tim McCreadie[5] ; 4. 157-Mike Marlar[4] ; 5. 11RS-Rusty Schlenk[7] ; 6. 32-Chris Simpson[6] ; 7. 51-Jason Noll[8] ; DQ: Scott Bloomquist

B-Feature 1 – (12 Laps)
1. 44M-Chris Madden[5] ; 2. 16-Tyler Bruening[3] ; 3. 97-Michael Chilton[2] ; 4. 31-Nick Latham[9] ; 5. 15J-Scott James[7] ; 6. 33-Tim Manville[11] ; 7. 1GK-Ryan King[1] ; 8. 4-Brian Ligon[10] ; 9. 94-Austin Rettig[16] ; 10. 95J-Jerry Bowersock[13] ; 11. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr. [12] ; 12. 3c-Charlie LaPlant[15] ; 13. 21H-Robby Hensley[6] ; 14. 22*-GR Smith[14] ; 15. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[8] ; DQ: Jimmy Owens

B-Feature 2 –  (12 Laps
1. 55-Jeep VanWormer[1] ; 2. 11RS-Rusty Schlenk[4] ; 3. 32-Chris Simpson[8] ; 4. 18J-Chase Junghans[13] ; 5. 5N-Dustin Nobbe[2] ; 6. 41R-TJ Reaid[6] ; 7. 93-Jay Johnson[3] ; 8. 77-Gavin Landers[5] ; 9. 51-Jason Noll[12] ; 10. 42-Doug Sanders[9] ; 11. 4G-Kody Evans[14] ; 12. 22-Chris Ferguson[10] ; 13. 48L-Tim Lance[7] ; 14. 5*-Bryant Dickinson[11] ; 15. 99M-Devin Moran[15] ; 16. 20C-Duane Chamberlain[16]

A-Main 1 –  (25 Laps)
1. 28-Dennis Erb Jr. [6] ; 2. 32P-Bobby Pierce[4] ; 3. 21-Billy Moyer[3] ; 4. 17M-Dale McDowell[11] ; 5. 3s-Brian Shirley[7] ; 6. 25C-Shane Clanton[16] ; 7. 21B-Chris Brown[1] ; 8. 44M-Chris Madden[21] ; 9. 25-Jason Feger[14] ; 10. 76-Brandon Overton[15] ; 11. C9-Steve Casebolt[10] ; 12. 20s-Rodney Sanders[17] ; 13. 101-Casey Roberts[5] ; 14. 1G-Devin Gilpin[9] ; 15. 1M-Mike Mataragas[20] ; 16. 50-Shanon Buckingham[19] ; 17. 1B-Mike Benedum[18] ; 18. 16-Tyler Bruening[22] ; 19. 7R-Kent Robinson[13] ; 20. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr. [8] ; 21. 97-Michael Chilton[23] ; 22. 15L-Darrell Lanigan[12] ; DQ: Brandon Sheppard, Jimmy Owens

A-Main 2 –  (25 Laps)
1. 777-Jared Landers[3] ; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie[16] ; 3. 6-Jonathan Davenport[8] ; 4. 1-Josh Richards[10] ; 5. 11A-Austin Smith[11] ; 6. 1P-Earl Pearson Jr.[9] ; 7. 15-Jon Henry[5] ; 8. 5-Don O’Neal[4] ; 9. 28M-Jimmy Mars[14] ; 10. 6m-Wendell Wallace[19] ; 11. 15F-Steve Francis[17] ; 12. 75P-Terry Phillips[15] ; 13. 157-Mike Marlar[20] ; 14. 28C-Eddie Carrier Jr. [13] ; 15. 55-Jeep VanWormer[21] ; 16. 18J-Chase Junghans[24] ; 17. 18-Shannon Babb[7] ; 18. 32-Chris Simpson[23] ; 19. 7B-Jeff Babcock[12] ; 20. 11RS-Rusty Schlenk[22] ; 21. 12-Jason Jameson[18] ; DQ: Scott Bloomquist, Gregg Satterlee, Ricky Thornton Jr