Brandon Sheppard takes 1st on opening night of Firecracker 100 weekend at Lernerville

Brandon Sheppard found his win in Thursday night’s preliminary feature for the Firecracker 100 encouraging for several reasons.

For starters, it was just nice to get a win in general after going a month and a half without one on tour. The other reason was that the track was slick, and that’s something he and his team have struggled with at Lernerville Speedway.

In slick conditions, Sheppard started on the pole and held off a late-race charge from Chris Madden to win on opening night of the Firecracker 100 weekend at the Buffalo Township track.

It was a good start for Sheppard, who hopes to keep the momentum going throughout the weekend and capture his first Firecracker 100 on Saturday.

“Our car was really good in the slick,” Sheppard said. “We were able to keep our corner speed up and steer really well in those conditions. That’s something we normally struggle with, especially here (at Lernerville) late in the big race (Saturday). To be able to say we did that is a confidence boost for myself and the entire team. It was a good start to the weekend and hopefully we can do it again tomorrow.”

Sheppard, a three-time Outlaws champ and current point leader, led comfortably for the first 20 laps, but once he got into lapped traffic, Madden closed to his bumper. With the track bottom dominant, he couldn’t make a move for the lead.

“We had a good car, but Sheppard beat us off the start,” Madden said. “We were just a tick off for the first four or five laps, and then we balanced out. I feel like we had the best two cars tonight, so that’s encouraging for us.”

Madden settled for second. Scott Bloomquist, a three-time winner in the Firecracker 100, finished third. Tyler Bruening was fourth and Spencer Hughes rounded out the top five. Sarver’s Michael Norris was the top local finisher, with an eighth-place result.

Other local drivers that made the feature were Gregg Satterlee (13th), Max Blair (14th), Alex Ferree (15th), Jared Miley (24th) and Tyler Dietz (26th).

Sheppard and Madden, who are the top two in the point standings, started on the front row.

Bloomquist got by Madden on a lap 5 restart and settled into second, but Madden patiently worked the bottom of the speedway and moved past him with 10 laps remaining and set his sights on Sheppard.

“With the track rubbered up, he has to make a mistake and I have to capitalize on it,” Madden said. “He didn’t make one. He did a good job.”

Sheppard patiently waited behind lapped traffic as Madden closed but was committed to the bottom groove. It was the winning move.

“You know it’s going to be hard to pass them when it’s rubbered up,” Sheppard said. “The worst thing you can do is get really close to those lapped cars and try to pass them. If they mess up, that messes you up and that’s when you get passed. I knew (Madden) was back there. My signal guy was telling me he was right on me, but you can’t try anything crazy. If you get out of line or sweep out too far on entry, he’ll sneak right in there. It’s just a matter of holding your line and running the smoothest, clean race you can.”

The field of 53 super late models was split into two groups for qualifying and heat races.

Ryan Gustin was the first car out for time trials and set fast time in Group A with a time of 15.337. Norris topped Group B at 16.123.

Bloomquist went from fifth to first to win the first heat. Sheppard won heat two from the pole as did Cade Dillard in heat three. Madden outdueled Norris in a spirited battle to win heat four. Spencer Hughes passed Chub Frank early and held on to win heat five and Mason Zeigler went from fourth to first to win heat six.

Lernerville weekly regulars that qualified out of heat races were Tyler Dietz, Norris and Alex Ferree.

Mark Whitener, Rick Eckert and Jared Miley won the three Last Chance Showdown races.

A record-setting field of 54 crate late models in attendance for the the RUSH series Bill Emig Memorial was split into two groups for qualifying. Jeremy Wonderling was fastest in Group A and Joe Martin topped Group B. The crates will run their heat races Friday and the top three in each heat will qualify for Saturday’s 50-lap $10,000-to-win feature.