Brandon Sheppard and Jonathan Davenport Strike First At Dream Opener

Wild Action Thrills Large Thursday Crowd; Dirt Late Model Dream by Ferris Mowers Continues Friday and Saturday

ROSSBURG, Ohio (June 9, 2016) – It was a night of extremes Thursday as the first day of the 22nd Annual Dirt Late Model Dream by Ferris Mowers at Eldora Speedway delivered a doubleheader delight for Brandon Sheppard and Jonathan Davenport. While Sheppard dominated the first feature of the night, Jonathan Davenport made a late push to win his A-Feature.

In a 72-car entry list, Sheppard said he thought he underperformed in both his feature race and in qualifying; however, the event format placed him on the outside row of the 24-car Feature race. The New Berlin, Ill. native fended off Terry Phillips in Turn 4 on the opening lap to take command. This is Sheppard’s third win of the season.

“Early in the night we struggled really badly,” Sheppard said. “But we had a really great car in the feature. We did a little homework last year at the World 100 and got better with our older cars. We kind of did some stuff [tonight] that we were doing to them. We’re just really fortunate to come out with the win.”

On lap two, Billy Moyer moved his way up one spot to second place. His early push – like Sheppard’s – was not enough to challenge for the lead spot. Moyer only closed the gap to a 0.848-second margin. But, Moyer did separate himself from the rest of the field by a similar margin. With five laps remaining, Moyer’s strong run faded, leaving the door open for 14th-starting Ricky Thorton Jr. who would work his way into the runner-up position; Moyer managed to hold on to the final podium spot.

Steve Casebolt, who won the Dirt Late Model Dream in 2007, led much of a furious second Feature race that included challenges from Josh Richards, Chris Brown and Jimmy Owens. However, it was the final 15 laps that decided the race.

Jonathan Davenport from Williamston, S.C. darted to the front, swerving top to bottom to find an opening. It took a three-wide maneuver to the bottom of Casebolt and Richards on lap 14 to get the lead. Davenport started sixth.

“Everyone ran a heck of a race,” Davenport said. “Casebolt was running up front for a while, and Josh and I were racing really tight. That was definitely awesome.”

Casebolt blew a rear-right tire late in the race, collecting a quickly closing Bobby Pierce rearranging the podium spots. Davenport maintained a healthy lead for the final laps – returning to the point after the race’s final caution on lap 20. But, the buffer did not come without one last push from Richards, who placed second. Jimmy Owens rounded-out the podium in thrilling fashion, using the restart on lap five to catapult him to a third-place finish.

Both feature winners took home a $5,000 purse.

The 22nd Annual Dirt Late Model Dream by Ferris Mowers returns to action Friday with two $10,000-to-win 25-lap Feature events for the field. Gates open at 12 p.m. with hot laps scheduled to start at 6 p.m. and Heat Races at 8 p.m.

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RESULTS: Thursday, June 9, 2016

DIRTcar UMP Late Models

Time Trials
1.3s-Brian Shirley, 15.310; 2.39-Tim McCreadie, 15.318; 3.21-Billy Moyer, 15.341; 4.1-Josh Richards, 15.348; 5.25C-Shane Clanton, 15.349; 6.5-Don O’Neal, 15.365; 7.3-Matt Miller, 15.384; 8.15-Jon Henry, 15.443; 9.28C-Eddie Carrier Jr. , 15.452; 10.44M-Chris Madden, 15.518; 11.99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr. , 15.558; 12.32-Chris Simpson, 15.583; 13.95J-Jerry Bowersock, 14.592; 16.C9-Steve Casebolt, 15.596; 15.17M-Dale McDowell, 15.607; 16.157-Mike Marlar, 15.633; 17.21H-Robby Hensley, 15.644; 18.15F-Steve Francis, 15.679; 19.7B-Jeff Babcock, 15.698; 20.6-Jonathan Davenport, 15.724; 21.16-Tyler Bruening, 15.738; 22.15L-Darrell Lanigan, 15.744; 23.11RS-Rusty Schlenk, 15.746; 24.6m-Wendell Wallace, 15.748; 25.15J-Scott James, 15.779; 26.32P-Bobby Pierce, 15.779; 27.41R-TJ Reaid, 15.794; 28.97-Michael Chilton, 15.811; 29.21JR-Billy Moyer Jr. , 15.822; 30.5N-Dustin Nobbe, 15.825; 31.25-Jason Feger, 15.827; 32.99M-Devin Moran, 15.847; 33.7R-Kent Robinson, 15.849; 34.777-Jared Landers, 15.850; 35.21B-Chris Brown, 15.851; 36.75P-Terry Phillips, 15.856; 37.76-Brandon Overton, 15.858; 38.50-Shanon Buckingham, 15.859; 39.31-Nick Latham, 15.873; 40.55-Jeep VanWormer, 15.931; 41.18-Shannon Babb, 15.981; 42.18J-Chase Junghans, 15.994; 43.1GK-Ryan King, 16.013; 44.25Z-Mason Zeigler, 16.020; 45.1G-Devin Gilpin, 16.034; 46.20C-Duane Chamberlain, 16.055; 47.28M-Jimmy Mars, 16.056; 48.1B-Mike Benedum, 16.091; 49.11A-Austin Smith, 16.134; 50.77-Gavin Landers, 16.223; 51.33-Tim Manville, 16.269; 52.94-Austin Rettig, 16.290; 53.22-Chris Ferguson, 16.360; 54.28-Dennis Erb Jr. , 16.364; 55.1M-Mike Mataragas, 16.374; 56.20s-Rodney Sanders, 16.430; 57.12-Jason Jameson, 16.484; 58.93-Jay Johnson, 16.528; 59.51-Jason Noll, 16.548; 60.4-Brian Ligon, 16.952; 61.42-Doug Sanders, 17.021; 62.1P-Earl Pearson Jr., 17.148; 63.3c-Charlie LaPlant, 17.219; 64.5*-Bryant Dickinson, 17.232; 65.101-Casey Roberts, 17.855; 66.4G-Kody Evans, 99.999; 67.22*-GR Smith, 99.999;
DQ: Scott Bloomquist, Jimmy Owens, Gregg Satterlee, Brandon Sheppard, Ricky Thornton Jr

Heat 1  –  (10 Laps)
1. 17M-Dale McDowell[2] ; 2. 3s-Brian Shirley[4] ; 3. 1G-Devin Gilpin[7] ; 4. 50-Shanon Buckingham[6] ; 5. 22-Chris Ferguson[8] ; 6. 5N-Dustin Nobbe[5] ; 7. 42-Doug Sanders[9] ; 8. 11RS-Rusty Schlenk[1] ; 9. 28C-Eddie Carrier Jr. [3]

Heat 2  –  (10 Laps)
1. 39-Tim McCreadie[4] ; 2. 6m-Wendell Wallace[1] ; 3. 157-Mike Marlar[2] ; 4. 31-Nick Latham[6] ; 5. 20C-Duane Chamberlain[7] ; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr. [8] ; 7. 1P-Earl Pearson Jr.[9] ; 8. 25-Jason Feger[5] ; DQ: Jimmy Owens

Heat 3 –  (10 Laps)
1. 21H-Robby Hensley[2] ; 2. 21-Billy Moyer[4] ; 3. 99M-Devin Moran[5] ; 4. 15J-Scott James[1] ; 5. 28M-Jimmy Mars[7] ; 6. 1M-Mike Mataragas[8] ; 7. 3c-Charlie LaPlant[9] ; DQ: Ricky Thornton Jr, Gregg Satterlee

Heat 4 –  (10 Laps)
1. 15F-Steve Francis[2] ; 2. 1-Josh Richards[4] ; 3. 32P-Bobby Pierce[9] ; 4. 44M-Chris Madden[1] ; 5. 7R-Kent Robinson[3] ; 6. 20s-Rodney Sanders[8] ; 7. 1B-Mike Benedum[5] ; 8. 55-Jeep VanWormer[6] ; 9. 5*-Bryant Dickinson[7]

Heat 5 –  (10 Laps)
1. 7B-Jeff Babcock[2] ; 2. 18-Shannon Babb[6] ; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr. [3] ; 4. 777-Jared Landers[5] ; 5. 12-Jason Jameson[8] ; 6. 11A-Austin Smith[7] ; 7. 101-Casey Roberts[9] ; 8. 25C-Shane Clanton[4] ; DQ: Brandon Sheppard

Heat 6 –  (10 Laps)
1. 6-Jonathan Davenport[2] ; 2. 21B-Chris Brown[5] ; 3. 4G-Kody Evans[9] ; 4. 32-Chris Simpson[3] ; 5. 18J-Chase Junghans[6] ; 6. 93-Jay Johnson[8] ; 7. 77-Gavin Landers[7] ; 8. 5-Don O’Neal[4] ; 9. 41R-TJ Reaid[1]

Heat 7 –  (10 Laps)
1. 97-Michael Chilton[1] ; 2. 75P-Terry Phillips[5] ; 3. 95J-Jerry Bowersock[3] ; 4. 16-Tyler Bruening[2] ; 5. 33-Tim Manville[7] ; 6. 51-Jason Noll[8] ; 7. 1GK-Ryan King[6] ; 8. 22*-GR Smith[9] ; 9. 3-Matt Miller[4]

Heat 8 –  (10 Laps)
1. 15L-Darrell Lanigan[2] ; 2. C9-Steve Casebolt[3] ; 3. 15-Jon Henry[4] ; 4. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr. [1] ; 5. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[6] ; 6. 76-Brandon Overton[5] ; 7. 4-Brian Ligon[8] ; 8. 94-Austin Rettig[7] ; DQ: Scott Bloomquist

B-Feature 1 (12 Laps)
1. 101-Casey Roberts[11] ; 2. 25C-Shane Clanton[15] ; 3. 11A-Austin Smith[7] ; 4. 12-Jason Jameson[3] ; 5. 51-Jason Noll[4] ; 6. 1GK-Ryan King[8] ; 7. 1M-Mike Mataragas[6] ; 8. 42-Doug Sanders[5] ; 9. 3c-Charlie LaPlant[14] ; 10. 28C-Eddie Carrier Jr. [13] ; 11. 5N-Dustin Nobbe[1] ; 12. 28M-Jimmy Mars[2] ; 13. 11RS-Rusty Schlenk[9] ; 14. 22*-GR Smith[12] ; 15. 3-Matt Miller[16] ; DQ: Gregg Satterlee

B-Feature 2 –  (12 Laps
1. 28-Dennis Erb Jr. [5] ; 2. 1B-Mike Benedum[6] ; 3. 76-Brandon Overton[4] ; 4. 20C-Duane Chamberlain[1] ; 5. 1P-Earl Pearson Jr.[9] ; 6. 20s-Rodney Sanders[2] ; 7. 93-Jay Johnson[3] ; 8. 77-Gavin Landers[7] ; 9. 4-Brian Ligon[12] ; 10. 94-Austin Rettig[16] ; 11. 41R-TJ Reaid[15] ; 12. 55-Jeep VanWormer[10] ; 13. 25-Jason Feger[13] ; 14. 5-Don O’Neal[11] ; 15. 5*-Bryant Dickinson[14] ; DQ: Scott Bloomquist

A-Main 1 –  (25 Laps)
1. 21-Billy Moyer[3] ; 2. 17M-Dale McDowell[8] ; 3. 75P-Terry Phillips[1] ; 4. 3s-Brian Shirley[4] ; 5. 18-Shannon Babb[11] ; 6. 7B-Jeff Babcock[6] ; 7. 1G-Devin Gilpin[9] ; 8. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr. [15] ; 9. 33-Tim Manville[20] ; 10. 97-Michael Chilton[5] ; 11. 777-Jared Landers[19] ; 12. 25C-Shane Clanton[22] ; 13. 99M-Devin Moran[10] ; 14. 101-Casey Roberts[21] ; 15. 11A-Austin Smith[23] ; 16. 16-Tyler Bruening[16] ; 17. 50-Shanon Buckingham[13] ; 18. 22-Chris Ferguson[17] ; 19. 15J-Scott James[18] ; 20. 21H-Robby Hensley[7] ; 21. 95J-Jerry Bowersock[12] ; 22. 12-Jason Jameson[24] ; DQ: Brandon Sheppard, Ricky Thornton Jr

A-Main 2 –  (25 Laps)
1. 6-Jonathan Davenport[6] ; 2. 1-Josh Richards[3] ; 3. 15-Jon Henry[5] ; 4. 157-Mike Marlar[13] ; 5. 15F-Steve Francis[7] ; 6. 39-Tim McCreadie[8] ; 7. 28-Dennis Erb Jr. [21] ; 8. 15L-Darrell Lanigan[12] ; 9. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr. [16] ; 10. 32-Chris Simpson[15] ; 11. 18J-Chase Junghans[19] ; 12. 4G-Kody Evans[11] ; 13. 44M-Chris Madden[14] ; 14. 7R-Kent Robinson[18] ; 15. 1P-Earl Pearson Jr.[25] ; 16. 76-Brandon Overton[23] ; 17. 1B-Mike Benedum[22] ; 18. 20C-Duane Chamberlain[24] ; 19. C9-Steve Casebolt[1] ; 20. 32P-Bobby Pierce[10] ; 21. 21B-Chris Brown[2] ; 22. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[20] ; 23. 6m-Wendell Wallace[9] ; 24. 31-Nick Latham[17] ; DQ: Jimmy Owens