FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ben Shelton (msrmafia@gmail.com) August 3, 2021 Top-5 Run in Prairie Dirt Classic for Rocket1 Racing Four Nights of WoO Wisconsin Action on Tap this Week SHINNSTON, W.Va. (08/03/21) – Brandon Sheppard and Rocket1 Racing rolled into the famed Fairbury Speedway over the weekend for the 31st edition of the Prairie Dirt Classic. Saturday night’s $50,000-to-win finale found Sheppard recording a fifth-place finish in his Valvoline No. 1 Seubert Calf Ranches/ Durham Racing Engines-powered XR1 Rocket Chassis Super Late Model. “Really late in the race when my car came to me, I was a few spots too far back,” Sheppard said. “We just had to make the most out of it and made a few passes on the restarts and just came up short. It’s disappointing because we had a better car than where we finished. We’ll head to Wisconsin this week to go after some more big checks. Thanks as always goes out to all of our marketing partners and supporters.” Taking part in one the biggest weekends of the year with the World of Outlaws (WoO) Morton Buildings Late Model Series, Rocket1Racing and Brandon Sheppard invaded Fairbury Speedway (Fairbury, Ill.) on Friday afternoon for the 31st annual Prairie Dirt Classic. With the massive 74-car field split into two separate groups for time trials, Sheppard recorded the 11th fastest time in his group. Starting his $3,000-to-win preliminary feature in sixth, Brandon improved three spots in the 25-lapper to register a third-place finish. With his third-place finish in preliminary action on Friday placing him 11th on the starting grid for Saturday night’s $50,000-to-win Prairie Dirt Classic, Sheppard advanced six spots in the 100-lap affair to finish fifth. He followed Kyle Larson, Bobby Pierce, Shannon Babb, and Chris Madden across the line. Brandon now sits 86 points ahead of Chris Madden atop the World of Outlaws point standings. For complete results from these events, please visit www.WorldofOutlaws.com . The upcoming week has the team set for four nights of WoO action in Wisconsin. The week opens on Tuesday evening at Outagamie Speedway with a $10,000-to-win event, which is co-sanctioned with the Dirt Kings tour. On Thursday evening three rounds of WoO action kicks off at Cedar Lake Speedway with a $6,000-to-win affair. On Friday and Saturday the 2021 USA Nationals take center stage with double heat races on Friday evening followed by B-mains and the $50,000-to-win finale on Saturday night. Rocket1 Racing would like to thank all of their marketing partners, which include Valvoline, Seubert Calf Ranches, Rocket Chassis, Ace Metal Works, Durham Racing Engines, FiveStar RaceCar Bodies, Gunters Honey, Hoosier Racing Tire, Integra Racing Shocks, Keyser Manufacturing, Petroff Towing, Slavic Custom Racing Shirts & Decals, Sweet Manufacturing, Sunoco Race Fuels, Accu-Force Shock Service, ATL Fuel Cells, Aurora Rod Ends, Barnes Dry Sump Oil Systems, Bazell Race Fuels, Beyea Custom Headers, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Brinn Transmissions, Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, CP Carrillo, Dohm Cycles, Edelbrock, Fibreworks Composites, Hardrock Powder Coating, Howe Racing Enterprises, Jones Racing Products, Kenny’s Components, Maxima Racing Oils, MSD, NGK Spark Plugs, Tel Tac, Performance Bodies, Peterson Fluid Systems, Powers Performance, Performance Rod & Custom, Quarter Master, QuickCar Racing Products, Rocket Pre-Owned Motors, Safecraft, Show Trucks Unlimited, Simpson, Stealth Carburetors, Strange Oval, Suave Talk, Total Power Valvoline Pro-V Racing, Walker Performance Filtration, Weld Racing, Wiles Driveshafts, Wilwood Brakes, Winters Performance Products, Wrisco Aluminum, Xceldyne Valvetrain, and MSR Mafia Marketing Services. For the latest information on Rocket1Racing please visit the team website at www.Rocket1Racing.com as well as their social media channels at www.facebook.com/Rocket1Racing, www.twitter.com/Rocket1_Racing, and www.instagram.com/rocket1racing . Official Internet Home of The Midsouth Racing Scene
 

Locust Grove, AR (August 21, 2021) – In a close and dramatic finish Hudson O’Neal barely edged out Jonathan Davenport at the finish line to win the 29th Annual COMP Cams Topless 100 Presented by Nutrien Ag Solutions. The win Saturday night at Batesville Motor Speedway was O’Neal’s fourth this season with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. The event was co-sanctioned with the COMP Cams Super Dirt Series Presented by Lucas Oil.

For the 20-year-old Indiana native it would be O’Neal’s second crown jewel victory of 2021 to go along with his Show-Me 100 win at Lucas Oil Speedway in May.

O’Neal started sixth and took the lead on lap 39 from Jimmy Owens as he raced unchallenged until Davenport, with five laps to go started to make a run on him. After taking the white flag Davenport went low in turn one for the lead briefly as O’Neal crossed over to regain the top spot heading down the back stretch. Davenport made one last-ditch effort sliding in front of O’Neal as the two headed to the checkers. O’Neal would cross over Davenport as he beat the 3-time Series Champion to the finish line by just 0.116 seconds.

Brandon Overton, last week’s Sunoco Race Fuels North-South 100 winner at Florence Speedway came home in third followed by Tim McCreadie and Jimmy Owens.

McCreadie, the current LOLMDS point leader jumped to the lead at the start of the event with Owens following in second. The two longtime series regulars ran 1-2 until the tenth circuit when Owens took the lead. Owens was trying to make Topless 100 history by becoming the first driver to win the event in back-to-back years by leading the next 29 laps, before he yielded the top spot to O’Neal.

In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 11th time in his career, the third-generation racer won a career-high $40,000. “I was thinking don’t make any mistakes. The top was really thin. I knew when I passed for the lead that some other guys were going to move up there and it was just going to keep dying. We had a lap 75 caution there and my guys were pointing me to the bottom. I heard Jimmy picked the top and I thought I was only going to run this top one lap again because I knew I had some decent speed up there. Whenever I came back around after the restart, they were pointing me back to the top, so I thought I better get back up there.”

“This is just awesome. I knew he [Davenport] was close. They told me was kind of running a little bit of a diamond line in turn one. I knew the line I was running; it was going to be subject to a slider down here.  I knew coming to the white flag, I was actually expecting him to slide me with two to go. I knew I had to be ready the next lap. He was going to slide me, and I was just kind of prepared and turned down the racetrack to get a good run down the backstretch, and then he slid me again. I knew I had to grab that traction early in three to able to get a run to beat him back to the line.”

Davenport, like O’Neal, was looking for his first career win in the annual event but came up just short at the finish line by one car length. “That was just kind of a Hail-Mary there. I got just a little bit of a run on him off of four. He went in just low enough in three that I couldn’t really get a momentum run on him. I was a little bit better running crooked than he was around the top there, but I just couldn’t quite get up there early enough. I probably slid too far and then he got back by me earlier than what I anticipated. He raced me clean. I was just trying to catch a little of grip up there at the checkered flag. He done an awesome job; he never made a mistake.”

Overton entered the event with 21 overall wins this year, looking for his second-straight crown jewel. Finishing in third, Overton said, “We just fell too far back early on. We got it rolling there at the end, we could have run them down there. Hudson and JD, they run a good race. Like I said week after week, we’ve been running a bunch of big races and running up front. I am just proud of my whole team.”

The winner’s Roger Sellers Double Down Motorsports Rocket Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Lazydays RV, O’Neal’s Salvage and Recycling, Lucas Oil products, 2150 Enterprises, WR1 Sim Chassis, and Midwest Sheet Metal.

Completing the top ten were Josh Richards, Ricky Thornton Jr., Shane Clanton, Mike Marlar, and Kyle Bronson.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 
Race Summary 
COMP Cams Topless 100 – Presented by Nutrien Ag Solutions
Saturday, August 21, 2021
Batesville Motor Speedway – Locust Grove, AR

LINE-X B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[2]; 2. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[7]; 3. 14M-Morgan Bagley[4]; 4. 11H-Spencer Hughes[6]; 5. 48-Wendell Wallace[1]; 6. R5-Hunter Rasdon[8]; 7. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[10]; 8. 45-Kylan Garner[3]; 9. 27-Rayce McCord[15]; 10. 6R-Robbie Stuart[14]; 11. 92M-Chad Mallett[11]; 12. 503-Jason Miles[12]; 13. 86R-Rick Rickman[5]; 14. 4A-Michael Arnold[9]; 15. (DNS) 78S-Steve Stultz; 16. (DNS) 26R-Cole Farmer

UNOH B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 40B-Kyle Bronson[1]; 2. 86-Kyle Beard[2]; 3. 75-Terry Phillips[3]; 4. 25-Shane Clanton[4]; 5. 18-Shannon Babb[5]; 6. 1ST-Johnny Scott[6]; 7. 36-Logan Martin[8]; 8. 1R-BJ Robinson[11]; 9. 18P-Brayden Proctor[9]; 10. 13N-Derrick Nichols[13]; 11. 5A-Austin Vincent[10]; 12. 26H-Dustin Holmes[14]; 13. 997-Travis Ashley[15]; 14. (DNS) 91-Chris Jones; 15. (DNS) J8-Jadon Frame

COMP Cams Topless 100 Feature Finish (100 Laps):

Race Statistics
Entrants: 47
Lap Leaders: Tim McCreadie (Laps 1-9); Jimmy Owens (Laps 10-38); Hudson O’Neal (Laps 39-100)
Wrisco Feature Winner: Hudson O’Neal
Arizona Sport Shirts CJC – Presented by DirtOnDirt Feature Winner: Hudson O’Neal
Brandon Ford TV Challenge Feature Winner: Hudson O’Neal
Margin of Victory: 0.116 seconds
Stop Tech Brakes Cautions: Tyler Erb (Lap 37); Nick Hoffman (Lap 67); Billy Moyer, Sr. (Lap 75)
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Provisionals: Shane Clanton; Spencer Hughes
COMP Cams Super Dirt Series Provisionals: Logan Martin; BJ Robinson
Series Emergency Provisionals: n/a
Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Hudson O’Neal, Jonathan Davenport, Brandon Overton
Penske Shocks Top 5: Hudson O’Neal, Jonathan Davenport, Brandon Overton, Tim McCreadie, Jimmy Owens
Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Shane Clanton (Advanced 15 Positions)
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Tim McCreadie
Hot Rod Processing Most Laps Led: Hudson O’Neal (62 Laps)
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Brandon Overton
Eibach Springs Rookie of the Race: Ricky Thornton Jr.
Dirty Girl Racewear Fastest Lap of the Race: Tim McCreadie (Lap 1 – 15.183 seconds)
Fast Shafts Tough Break of the Race: Nick Hoffman
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Trevor Crittenden (Hudson O’Neal)
ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing Engines
Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Rocket Chassis
Dirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Kyle Bronson (13.734 seconds)
Time of Race: 42 minutes 07 seconds