Brandon Sheppard Bags $15,000 at Ponderosa

Zack Dohm, Brandon Sheppard and Bobby Pierce in Victory Lane at Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, Kentucky (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

JUNCTION CITY, Ky. — The World of Outlaws late models traveled to Ponderosa Speedway on Friday night to take part in the 50-lap Billy Todd Classic.

Cody Overton and Nick Hoffman led the 25-car field to the starting line and upon firing, Overton and Hoffman had a drag race down the frontstretch with Overton’s nose just a little bit ahead of Hoffman’s. As the two of them entered Turn 1, Hoffman shot to the high side and was able to pass Overton coming out of Turn 2.

As the two leading cars hit the next set of turns, Overton began to fade, giving Hoffman a huge advantage. As Overton raced down the front straightaway, he lost even more speed and even had some smoke coming out of the car. Overton was able to pull into the infield before a caution could be thrown.

Seven laps later, Brandon Sheppard worked his way up to Hoffman and began his pursuit of the lead. A couple spots back, Cade Dillard and Bobby Pierce fought for third along with Ryan Gustin, who was in fifth. As the three of them raced side-by-side through the turns, Dillard’s right rear tire let loose going into Turn 4 on Lap 10, ending his battle.

On the restart, Gustin raced behind Sheppard going into Turn 1 pretty sloppily, but that did not mean a thing as Gustin passed Sheppard on the bottom and was able to take over second shooting out of the corner.

With Gustin up front, Pierce may have thought that he was in the clear from any competitors, but he in fact was not. Max McLaughlin, who had come up from eighth, was challenging the champion for fourth place, and got it — on his first visit to Ponderosa no less.

Following a little tangle in Turn 2, the field had to restart again. On this restart, Gustin lost second place to Zack Dohm, who came up from tenth, and ended up tagging the wall lightly coming out of Turn 2.  

On Lap 28, the lead was handed over to Sheppard as Hoffman got too high in Turns 1 and 2, hopped the cushion and relinquished his position to Sheppard. Hoffman realized his mistake and immediately started after Sheppard, even with spoiler damage.

Bobby Pierce kicking up dirt while competing at Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, KY (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

At the end of Lap 36, McLaughlin and Pierce were fighting hard for fourth. McLaughlin took the low side and slid up in front of Pierce, but he was not entirely clear and clipped Pierce’s side. This allowed Kyle Bronson and Tyler Bruening to make their way further into the pack, causing Pierce to lose positions and tag the wall slightly coming out of Turn 2.

Three laps later, McLaughlin’s actions came back to bite him as the rear of his car fell apart in Turns 3 and 4.  All of the sheet metal pieces fell off one by one, and the portion that was just pushed in was rubbing dangerously close to his right rear tire. Obviously, McLaughlin was then sent to the pits to fix his shedding car.

Sheppard was able to maintain the lead to win the race and $15,000, but Zack Dohm, who had managed to get up to second, was not able to keep the runner-up position. Pierce came up beside him going into Turn 2 and was able to pass him on the backstretch in a slide job for second on the last lap.

“This is by far my favorite time of the year,” said Sheppard on his win. “We’ve been racing around this area a little bit more in the past couple years for these touring races and the Midwest is my favorite place in the world. Glad to see them get this place packed out here and great to see all the fans out here; we couldn’t do it without them.”