---

Sheppard Pockets $15,000 in One for the Road at Fairbury

Brandon Sheppard pulled away in the closing laps Tuesday to claim his 20th win of the season for Rocket1 Racing at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway.

Sheppard became the fifth different leader and eventual winner of the “One for the Road” in the Valvoline No. 1 Seubert Calf Ranches/ Durham Racing Engines-powered Rocket Chassis. He pocketed $15,000 for his efforts.

“That’s awesome man. It’s such a privilege to be able to race here,” Sheppard said, quick to credit his crew. “During these hard times and everything, we’re glad to be racing period, but to be able to race still this close to home and at this great of a racetrack, this place puts a lot of places to shame, if you ask me.”

“We’ve had kind of a rough couple of weeks here, and we’re definitely glad to be back in victory lane. We couldn’t do it without all the great supporters that we have,” he added. “It’s just so much fun to drive this thing, especially here. I didn’t know how good the race was going to be as fast as the (track) was, but it came through again.”

Posting the third quickest lap in his time trial group and finishing runner up in his heat race behind Kyle Strickler would position Brandon fifth on the starting grid for the 50-lap main event.

It wasn’t until just past the halfway mark that Sheppard began to roll on the high side, going from fourth to first from lap 31-36. Once out front, Brandon pulled away to a comfortable lead and would cross the finish line 1.616 seconds ahead of Josh Richards, Bobby Pierce, Frank Heckenast Jr. and Shannon Babb.

For complete this event, please visit www.FairburySpeedway.com.

From there, Rocket1 Racing headed west to I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb. for a tripleheader with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. The I-80 Nationals – which filled the void of the Knoxville Late Model Nationals that was postponed to 2021 kicked off Thursday.

After qualifying seventh in his group, Brandon slipped to a sixth-place finish in his heat race, forcing him to run a B-Main. With a runner-up finish in the B-Main, Sheppard was locked into the 21st starting position for the $7,000-to-win preliminary night feature. Brandon charged through the field in the 30-lapper to register a 12th place outing.

Returning on Friday for another $7,000-to-win preliminary program, Sheppard came in fourth fastest in his qualifying group before finishing fourth in his heat race. Rolling off sixth for the main event, Brandon faded to a tenth-place finish.

With preliminary results from Thursday and Friday positioning him 12th on the starting grid for the $30,000 I-80 Nationals finale, Sheppard marched forward six spots to finish sixth at the checkered flag.

Full results from these events are available at www.LucasDirt.com.

Rocket1 Racing returns to the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series this weekend with a trip to Thunder Mountain Speedway in Knoxdale, Pa. The tour’s first ever visit to the 3/8-mile oval will feature back-to-back night’s Friday and Saturday, September 25-26, each paying $10,000.

To learn more about these upcoming events, please visit www.WoOLMS.com.

Rocket1 Racing would like to thank all of their marketing partners, which include Valvoline, Seubert Calf Ranches, Rocket Chassis, Ace Metal Works, Durham Racing Engines, FiveStar RaceCar Bodies, Gunters Honey, Hoosier Racing Tire, Integra Racing Shocks, Keyser Manufacturing, Petroff Towing, Slavic Custom Racing Shirts & Decals, Sweet Manufacturing, Sunoco Race Fuels, Accu-Force Shock Service, ATL Fuel Cells, Aurora Rod Ends, Barnes Dry Sump Oil Systems, Bazell Race Fuels, Beyea Custom Headers, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Brinn Transmissions, Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, CP Carrillo, Dohm Cycles, Edelbrock, Fibreworks Composites, Hardrock Powder Coating, Howe Racing Enterprises, Jones Racing Products, Kenny’s Components, Maxima Racing Oils, MSD, NGK Spark Plugs, Tel Tac, Performance Bodies, Peterson Fluid Systems, Powers Performance, Performance Rod & Custom, Quarter Master, QuickCar Racing Products, Rocket Pre-Owned Motors, Safecraft, Show Trucks Unlimited, Simpson, Stealth Carburetors, Strange Oval, Suave Talk, Total Power Valvoline Pro-V Racing, Walker Performance Filtration, Weld Racing, Wiles Driveshafts, Wilwood Brakes, Winters Performance Products, Wrisco Aluminum, Xceldyne Valvetrain, and MSR Mafia Marketing Services.

Back to News