ROSSBURG, Ohio – June 10, 2016 – “Two” seemed to be the lucky number Friday night at the 22nd Annual Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, as Brandon Sheppard and Jared Landers became the duo to win the double-feature program in front of a packed crowd.

The Big E’s 24-degree banking is where most of the battles were held during the first feature. The victory was not only Sheppard’s fourth of the year, but also a follow-up to Thursday night’s win. Sheppard is the most recent driver to sweep both preliminary nights of an event weekend at the track since Jonathan Davenport did it at the World 100 in 2015.

Sheppard ran a similar race as the night before. His No. B5 Best Performance Motorsports Rocket machine started on the outside of first position, and he eventually shut the door on the rest of the 24-car field within the first five laps. Sheppard cleared his car for the lead at turn four on lap four.

“We got lucky starting in the front row both nights, but we had a strong car tonight,” Sheppard said. “This is a new car for this track for us. We tried a bunch of different stuff and last night we found a setup that worked. We stuck with that.” (more…)

The Dirt Late Model Dream by Ferris Mowers Returns Friday for a Second-Straight Double Feature

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, Davenport made a late push to win his A-Main.

In a 72-car entry list, Sheppard said he under-performed in both his feature race and in qualifying; however, Sheppard started the 24-car A-Main on the outside first row. The New Berlin, Ill. native ended up capturing the lead in turn four on the very first lap in turn three. He was uncontested by Terry Phillips, who lead the field into the green flag. This is Sheppard’s third win of the season.

“Early in the night we struggle 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 Ricky Thornton Jr. who eventually finished in the runner-up position; Moyer managed to hold on to the final podium spot. (more…)

Antron Brown raced to his second Top Fuel victory of the season Monday at the rain-delayed NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway.

Ron Capps (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also were winners of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event near Boston.

Brown closed the gap on series points leader Doug Kalitta with a convincing victory over rival Steve Torrence in the final round. Brown powered his Matco Tools dragster to a winning performance of 3.769 seconds at 314.61 mph to hold off Torrence’s Capco Contractors machine, which trailed with a 3.778 at 325.30, in a very close finish.

Antron Brown

It was Brown’s 56th career win and his first at New England Dragway. He earned an opening-round bye as the No. 1 qualifier and then defeated Shawn Langdon and Tony Schumacher to advance to his fourth final-round appearance of the season. With the victory, Brown cut Kalitta’s lead from 95 to 46 points.

“The car ran great all weekend,” said Brown, who is now 18-1 in head-to-head meetings versus Torrence. “We were fortunate to get the win. That Capco team over there is no joke. Steve is a real tough competitor, and we like racing against those guys because you know they are going to give you a great race every time. We’re going home to Englishtown this weekend, and we are ready for it. We’ve got to keep pushing.” (more…)

Donnellson, Iowa – Friday night marked the Lucas Oil MLRA’s second stop of the season at the Lee County Speedway. A total of 35 cars checked into the pit area to do battle for the $3,000 top prize.

Jimmy Mars brought the field to the green flag from his DirtOnDirt.com pole position alongside front row starter Tony Jackson Jr. Oxford, Iowa’s Chris Simpson wasted no time in marching to the runner-up spot from his 5th starting position to contend for the race lead with Mars.

As the Lucas Oil Racing TV feature event neared the mid-point the race leaders encountered heavy lap traffic in an event that would go caution free. Simpson tried numerous times to overtake Mars for the lead to no avail, but finally with just 6 laps remaining Simpson was able to pin his Longhorn chassis to the bottom of turn 4 and overtake Mars for the lead and eventual win.

In Andy’s Frozen Custard Victory Lane Simpson commented on the battle with Mars. “We both had really good cars, and sometimes running 2nd at that point is where you need to be to see where he’s losing a little and I’m gaining a little.” As for the pass for the race lead Simpson said, “I just kept arching it into three really good and getting a straight run off of 4, and I’m pretty sure that won me the race.” (more…)

Photo Credit: Speed51.com/Rick Ibsen

For the third straight NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at Stafford Motor Speedway, it was three-time champion Doug Coby taking home the checkers Friday night in the TSI Harley-Davidson 125. Though the stats show a dominating performance, leading 129 of 130 completed laps, it was not as easy an effort as it appeared with a fast Donny Lia sticking to Coby’s back bumper for much of the race.

Coby was in complete agreement with those present that it was anything but a cakewalk.

“Donny was right there. I had to push it, the car was tight in the beginning, I don’t know if he just wanted to lay back a little bit,” Coby said after the race. “My car got a little better after the first 20 laps, but he was there.”

After the field pitted on a lap 72 caution, Coby was able to get more room on Lia, but a series of late restarts caused by chaos behind kept the field tight and Coby responded in kind.

“It’s just uncertainty. I was kind of spinning the tires, I guess they were spinning them worse than me,” said Coby “The restart before the last one, Donny got in right behind me and that was probably the most dangerous restart you can have as the leader. I drove the last restarts probably harder than I should have, that’s something for me to think about as a driver.” (more…)

Bloomington, IN – Just like clockwork, each June when “Indiana Midget Week” rolls around, one has been able to witness what has become a yearly tradition: Christopher Bell standing in Bloomington Speedway’s victory lane.

Christopher Bell is all smiles after his Indiana Midget Week win. (Neil Cavanah photo)
Christopher Bell is all smiles after his Indiana Midget Week win. (Neil Cavanah photo)
For the third straight year, Bell’s mastery of Bloomington’s red clay was on full display Friday night at the southern Indiana track as he picked up USAC National Midget victory number 17, tying him with Jay Drake and J.J. Yeley for 36th on the all-time list.

Norman, Oklahoma’s Bell also extended the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports dominance of the past week by becoming the fourth consecutive (and fourth different) pilot on the team to earn a victory in the first four races of the six-race series.

At the start, pole sitter Dave Darland stepped out in front of the field and, despite contact from behind by Carson Macedo between turns one and two, was able to take the advantage in the early going, leading his first laps in the series since the “Belleville Nationals” in July of 2014. (more…)

Photo credit: David Nearpass

Rico Abreu finished off a stretch of Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports domination Sunday night at Kokomo Speedway, becoming the fifth driver from the team’s stable to win during the five nights of “Indiana Midget Week.” However, a string of consistent finishes by RKR/Dooling Racing pilot Bryan Clauson throughout the week was enough to earn the Noblesville, Indiana driver his third “Indiana Midget Week” title.

Coming into the night, Clauson held a 40-point advantage over Spencer Bayston in the “Indiana Midget Week” standings. By feature time, Clauson had bumped up his lead over Bayston to 43, meaning that Clauson would merely have to finish 18th or better to clinch the title.

Clauson’s cause was benefited by his outside front row starting position, while Bayston rolled off from the eighth spot. However, it was Phoenix, Arizona’s Chad Boat who took control at the start of the 30-lap feature. (more…)

Flick, Ferree & Young also find Dlubak Powder Coatings Victory Lane

Sarver, PA (June 3, 2016) Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, and then other times it’s just better to be better. All four feature winners in Friday’s Fab4 Racing Fueled by Turner’s Premium Iced Teas were on the better side with a little luck factored in. The action on the track played out beneath beautiful skies and on a surface that kept drivers guessing all night long. AJ Flick took home his second feature win of 2016 in the Peoples Natural Gas DIRTcar Sprints while Alex Ferree found Dlubak Powder Coatings Victory Lane for the first time this season in the Precise Racing Products DIRTcar Late Models. In Diehl Automotive DIRTcar Northeast Big Block Modified action, St. Catharines, Ontario’s Mat Williamson scored a very difficult hat trick by way of winning his third consecutive feature, and in the Millerstown Pic-A-Part Sportsman division, Terry Young wired the field in the most dominant performance of the night.

Peoples Natural Gas DIRTcar Sprints

It took 25 laps and three red flag periods to finish, but when all was said and done, AJ Flick managed to stay focused through a period where he was desperately hunting the leaders, followed by a stretch where he had to nail a critical restart and fend off a hard charging Dan Kuriger en route to victory lane for the second time in 2016. (more…)