Brandon Sheppard Begins Bubba Army Winter Nationals With Win

Ocala, FL - New Berlin, IL driver Brandon Sheppard got his Bubba Army Winter Nationals weekend started in great fashion by picking up the win on Night #1 at Bubba Raceway Park. Sheppard piloted the #17 Sallack Well Service sponsored Rocket Chassis to a 1.256 second margin of victory over 2nd place finisher Kyle Bronson of Brandon, FL. Ringgold, GA's Jamie Perry crossed the stripe in 3rd ahead of Hall of Famer Ronnie Johnson in the CVR Race Cars house car in 4th,and Mike Pegher Jr. of Cranberry Township, PA rounded out the top 5.

Sheppard led the race wire-to-wire, as he was able to keep his Chevrolet Performance 604 powered Rocket Race Car ahead of the hard, side-by-side action that was going on behind him. Johnson, Bronson, and Perry had waged war on each other swapping positions and battling for the runner spot. This allowed Sheppard to jump out to a several car length lead at times, but lap traffic would allow that battle to reel Sheppard in. Before those in pursuit of the #17 could prepare their assault, the caution would wave or Sheppard would clear the lapped cars leaving the others to battle amongst themselves and the lappers.

The initial start to the race took a couple of attempts as the first try was void when several cars came together bringing out the yellow laundry. The second attempt at a start saw the 7A of Corey Almond go for a single car spin. The field would finally get a clean start and race for a short run as damage from the initial attempt at a start would take the #88 of Trent Ivey out of contention on lap 3. The field would race to lap 21 when the 12S of Brian Swank went for a spin collecting the 33 of Jeff Matthews. On the ensuing restart the 5 of Mark Whitener went for a spin after contact from the 111 of Max Blair. Two more cautions were for flat tires when the 56jr of Colton Horner on lap 33 and Mark Whitener on lap 38 setting up a two-lap dash to the finish.

Sheppard would be able to re-establish his lead as he flashed under the Sunoco Race Fuels checkered flag. The NeSmith Dirt Late Model Series RockAuto.com Winter Shootout returns to Bubba Raceway Park for the second night of the Bubba Army Winter Nationals Friday night January 27th. The night will feature a 40 lap, $2,000 to win main event ahead of Saturday's big 100 lap, $10,000 to win Chevrolet Performance World Championship.

More information about Bubba Raceway Park can be obtained by visiting their official website at www.bubbaracewaypark.com

For more information about the NeSmith Dirt Late Model Series, please visit the official website at www.nesmithracing.com.

You can also follow NeSmith Racing on all of your favorite social media outlets as well:
Facebook - NeSmith Racing
Twitter - @NeSmithRacing
Instagram - nesmithracing

Feature Finish Results

Pos

Car #

Driver Name

1

17B

Brandon Sheppard

2

40B

Kyle Bronson

3

P4

Jamie Perry

4

5

Ronnie Johnson

5

RJ1

Mike Pegher

6

71

Hudson O'Neal

7

19

Marcus Minga

8

33

Jeff Matthews

9

12

Doug Horton

10

6

Blake Spencer

11

21

Ivedent Lloyd Jr.

12

30

Tyler Bare

13

87

Walker Arthur

14

111

Max Blair

15

9

Will Thomas

16

5

Mark Whitener

17

56jr

Colton Horner

18

14

Tyler Clem

19

6

Victor Lee

20

7A

Corey Almond

21

12S

Brian Swank

22

17

Logan Roberson

23

58

Devin Dixon

24

88

Trent Ivey

Entries: 41
Fast Qualifier: Brand Sheppard - 14.983
Provisionals: None
Lead Changes: None
Lap Leaders: Sheppard - 1-40
Cautions: 7
Margin of Victory: 1.253 seconds
Time of Race: 31 minutes, 5 seconds
NEXT RACE:  January 27th - Bubba Army Winter Nationals - Bubba Raceway Park, Ocala, FL - $2,000 to win, 40 laps

Qualifying Results

Group A

Pos

Car #

Driver Name

Time

1

17B

Brandon Sheppard

14.983

2

5

Ronnie Johnson

14.984

3

40B

Kyle Bronson

15.140

4

5

Mark Whitener

15.190

5

2

Dennis "Rambo" Franklin

15.246

6

6

Blake Spencer

15.294

7

30

Tyler Bare

15.380

8

14

Tyler Clem

15.393

9

6

Victor Lee

15.455

10

311

Ken Monahan

15.490

11

0F

Troy Frazier

15.607

12

9

Will Thomas

15.611

13

19

Marcus Minga

15.756

14

1

Connor Meade

16.072

15

51M

Mark Steube

16.134

16

9

Geraid Gault

16.160

17

17

Logan Roberson

16.189

18

0

Ryan Scott

16.308

19

21

Ivedent Lloyd Jr.

NT

20

J21

Jamie Wrightsman

NT

21

87

Walker Arthur

NT

Qualifying Results

Group B

Pos

Car #

Driver Name

Time

1

P4

Jamie Perry

15.001

2

RJ1

Mike Pegher

15.304

3

88

Trent Ivey

15.358

4

33

Jeff Matthews

15.499

5

7A

Corey Almond

15.527

6

58

Devin Dixon

15.577

7

56jr

Colton Horner

15.582

8

71

Hudson O'Neal

15.645

9

12

Doug Horton

15.690

10

24

Guy Taylor

15.852

11

117

Jake Teague

15.937

12

12S

Brian Swank

15.944

13

101

Forrest Trent

15.978

14

147

Hunter Carroll

15.983

15

111

Max Blair

16.052

16

J17

Joe Kump

16.184

17

22

Austin Burns

16.551

18

15

Jason Britton

16.619

19

5H

Mark Heatherly

NT

20

71

Pierce McCarter

NT

 

B-Main Finishes(Top 6 Transfer to Feature):

B-Main 1 - 1. Whitener, 2. Bare, 3. Lloyd, 4. Minga, 5. Almond, 6. O'Neal, 7. Monahan, 8. Teague, 9. Carroll, 10. McCarter, 11. Gault, 12. Burns

B-Main 2 - 1. Matthews, 2. Lee, 3. Spencer, 4. Thomas, 5. Horner, 6. Arthur, 7. Trent, 8. Taylor, 9. Kump, 10. Scott, 11. Heatherly, 12. Steube

B-Main 3 - 1. Horton, 2. Blair, 3. Clem, 4. Dixon, 5. Roberson, 6. Swank, 7. Meade, 8. Britton, 9. Wrightsman, 10. Frazier, 11. Franklin

 

NeSmith Chevrolet, Buick, GMC is the Official Title Sponsor of the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series.
Chevrolet Performance is an Official Sponsor of the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series.
Hoosier Racing Tire is the Official Tire of the NeSmith Dirt Late Model Series.
Sunoco Race Fuels is the Official Race Fuel of the Series.
Cruise with the Champions is the Official Vacation and Rookie of the Year Sponsor for the Series.
RockAuto.com is an Associate Sponsor of the Series and Official Sponsor of the RockAuto.com Winter Shootout Series.
David Smith Carburetors is the Official Carburetor of NeSmith Racing.