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B-Shepp secures the victory in the rain-delayed East Bay opener; Nothdurft 14th

From DirtonDirt.com Staff Reports

GIBSONTON, FL (Feb. 5) — Monday’s opening feature of the 48th annual Winternationals was postponed due to rain, and over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday the show was completed, highlighted by a 30-lap, $5,000-to-win Lucas Oil Series-sanctioned Super Late Model feature.

After steadily marching through the field and taking the lead for good with an inside move by mid-race leader Brian Shirley, ninth-starting Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, IL paced the final 11 circuits to win Monday's feature. Sheppard led for 12 laps (18, 20-30) en route to earning his 30th career full-field Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series feature victory and his 21st career Georgia-Florida Speedweeks triumph.

The fifth-starting Shirley, of Chatham, Ill., led twice for four laps (15-17, 19) before giving way to Sheppard and finishing 1.491 seconds back.

“Man you just don’t know (when you’ll win next). The competition is so tough right now,” Sheppard said. “All these guys do such a good job and the racetrack is so much different every night. Hats off to everybody here at East Bay (for) giving us a great race track again tonight. Man, I hated that I had to pass my old buddy (Shirley) for the win. I know he’s needed a good run this week too.”

Third-starting Devin Moran quickly moved into the lead and paced laps 3-14 before being overtaken by Shirley and Sheppard, settling for third. Hudson O'Neal threatened for a podium spot the entire distance, finishing fourth, while Ross Robinson improved six positions and rounded-out the top five.

Renner, South Dakota’s Blair Nothdurft started eighth in the field and finished 14th, following a second-place effort in his heat race.

SUMMARY

Lucas Oil Late Model Series:

Feature(30 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[9]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[5]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[3]; 4. 1-Hudson O'Neal[6]; 5. 7-Ross Robinson[11]; 6. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 7. 18D-Daulton Wilson[10]; 8. 81-Jason Riggs[7]; 9. 174-Ethan Dotson[4]; 10. 96V-Tanner English[16]; 11. 12-Ashton Winger[24]; 12. 19M-Spencer Hughes[12]; 13. 14X-Wil Herrington[19]; 14. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[8]; 15. 71C-RJ Conley[13]; 16. 6H-Ross Bailes[14]; 17. 10-Garrett Smith[1]; 18. 58-Garrett Alberson[18]; 19. 40B-Kyle Bronson[21]; 20. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[17]; 21. 66C-Matt Cosner[22]; 22. 1Z-Logan Zarin[23]; 23. 49-Jonathan Davenport[15]; 24. 111-Max Blair[20]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Garrett Smith[3]; 2. 81-Jason Riggs[1]; 3. 71C-RJ Conley[5]; 4. 7T-Drake Troutman[4]; 5. 14X-Wil Herrington[9]; 6. 8-Dillon McCowan[2]; 7. 2*-Logan Hitt[8]; 8. 20B-Todd Brennan[7]; 9. 33-Jeff Mathews[11]; 10. 69-Brandon Thirlby[6]; 11. 07-Brian Ledbetter[10]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport[3]; 4. 71R-Rod Conley[4]; 5. 66C-Matt Cosner[7]; 6. 15-Blake McClain[10]; 7. 29-Larry Grube[9]; 8. 15K-Jensen Ford[6]; 9. 81F-Jadon Frame[1]; 10. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 2. 7-Ross Robinson[3]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[5]; 4. 1Z-Logan Zarin[1]; 5. 4-Amanda Robinson[7]; 6. 27-Michael Lake[2]; 7. 9-Levi Yetter[8]; 8. 21-Kenny Howell[6]; 9. 4S-Danny Snyder[9]; 10. (DNS) 75-Daniel Adam

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 1T-Tyler Erb[8]; 2. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[2]; 3. 6H-Ross Bailes[1]; 4. 111-Max Blair[3]; 5. 39-Tim McCreadie[5]; 6. 6-Clay Harris[4]; 7. 4G-Bob Gardner[9]; 8. 82B-Jason Milam[7]; 9. 17SS-Brenden Smith[6]; 10. 51-Dean Carpenter[10]; 11. (DNS) 99B-Boom Briggs

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 174-Ethan Dotson[3]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson[1]; 3. 96V-Tanner English[2]; 4. 12-Ashton Winger[7]; 5. 187-David McCoy[6]; 6. 6T-Tim Dohm[8]; 7. 3-Brennon Willard[5]; 8. S21-Seth Daniels[4]; 9. 81J-Jack Riggs[9]; 10. 12R-Ryan Payne[11]; 11. (DNS) 18-Chase Junghans

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Hudson O'Neal[2]; 2. 19M-Spencer Hughes[1]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[7]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 5. 25B-Mike Benedum[4]; 6. 214-Haiden Cowan[3]; 7. 11C-Trevor Collins[9]; 8. 31-Tyler Millwood[6]; 9. 47W-Brandon Weigle[8]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 14X-Wil Herrington[3]; 2. 66C-Matt Cosner[4]; 3. 71R-Rod Conley[2]; 4. 8-Dillon McCowan[5]; 5. 2*-Logan Hitt[7]; 6. 15-Blake McClain[6]; 7. 07-Brian Ledbetter[15]; 8. 33-Jeff Mathews[11]; 9. 29-Larry Grube[8]; 10. 7T-Drake Troutman[1]; 11. 20B-Todd Brennan[9];

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 111-Max Blair[2]; 2. 1Z-Logan Zarin[1]; 3. 27-Michael Lake[5]; 4. 6-Clay Harris[6]; 5. 39-Tim McCreadie[4]; 6. 4-Amanda Robinson[3]; 7. 4S-Danny Snyder[11]; 8. 17SS-Brenden Smith[12]; 9. 4G-Bob Gardner[8]; 10. 9-Levi Yetter[7]; 11. 21-Kenny Howell[9]; 12. 82B-Jason Milam[10];

B Feature 3 (10 Laps): 1. 40B-Kyle Bronson[2]; 2. 12-Ashton Winger[1]; 3. 187-David McCoy[3]; 4. 6T-Tim Dohm[5]; 5. 11C-Trevor Collins[8]; 6. 31-Tyler Millwood[10]; 7. 81J-Jack Riggs[11]; 8. 3-Brennon Willard[7]; 9. 214-Haiden Cowan[6]; 10. 25B-Mike Benedum[4]; 11. S21-Seth Daniels[9]; 12. 47W-Brandon Weigle[12];