Sheppard Ends Winless Drought with Fourth Illini 100 Triumph

FARMER CITY, IL (April 12, 2025) – Brandon Sheppard and Rocket1 Racing are undoubtedly one of the most successful pairings in the history of dirt Late Model racing.

But ever since they reunited over the winter, the conversation surrounding them hasn’t been about how often they were winning. It was about when they would win again.

The answer to that question? Saturday night at Farmer City Raceway.

Sheppard hadn’t won a race since the 2024 Gateway Dirt Nationals, and his last outdoor win came in a preliminary Feature at last year’s Prairie Dirt Classic. The Rocket Chassis house team hadn’t celebrated in Victory Lane since Tim McCreadie won the Topless 100 last August. And Sheppard hadn’t won the Illini 100 since 2019.

The five-time and reigning World of Outlaws Late Models champion brought all those streaks to an end with 60 flawless laps around one of his favorite tracks.

“I’m so happy, man,” Sheppard said following the 88th win of his World of Outlaws career. “Everybody has been talking us down. Do you miss Longhorn, do you miss this, do you miss that? No. I’m not back because I never left.”

Sheppard’s race began in the 11th starting spot, while Bilstein Pole Award winner Cody Overton led the field to green alongside second-starting Drake Troutman. Troutman took the early advantage and went to work on building a gap in hopes of becoming the second rookie in as many nights to win their first World of Outlaws race.

A clean-and-green start to the Feature meant slower traffic quickly became a factor, but Troutman masterfully maneuvered his way through to hold onto the top spot. Behind him, Overton, Brian Shirley, Bobby Pierce and Devin Moran found themselves under a blanket as they dueled for second.

With 25 laps complete, Shirley got to the outside of Troutman in Turns 1 and 2 and briefly grabbed the lead, but Troutman found enough grip on the bottom in the next set of corners to wrestle the position back.

Moran spun in Turn 4 to bring out the first and only caution of the race, erasing Troutman’s gap to the field. On the restart, he would have a different Illinois driver to deal with, as Sheppard had made his way around Shirley and up to second before the pace slowed.

When the race went back green, Sheppard rode the cushion for all it was worth and blasted off Turn 4 and into the lead. Less than five laps later, Sheppard’s gap to the field was already over three seconds. From there, “B-Shepp” put the No. 1 on cruise control, slicing his way through traffic on the way to the checkered flag.

“That was Farmer City right there baby,” Sheppard said. “That was elbows-up, get it on, cushion right up against the wall. That was the Farmer City we like to see for sure.”

While Sheppard was driving off into the sunset, Pierce was busy battling Troutman for second in the laps following the restart. Pierce prevailed and kept Sheppard in sight in traffic, but came up one spot short of a third-straight Illini 100 victory.

“Really love racing here, such an up-on-the-wheel track,” Pierce said. “When I saw Brandon catching lap cars, I thought I was going to have a chance at catching him. Right when I saw him catching those lap cars, he went right through them like a hot knife through butter. He did a great job getting through them. That was my only chance.”

Troutman brought the No. 22* home third for his third podium of the season, enough to take the lead back in the MD3 Rookie of the Year standings by 34 points over Dotson.

“We’ve been so dang close, I just wish we could pull one off,” Troutman said. “That’s part of it, these two are by far the best guys in Illinois. They’re tough to beat, and I saw them up on the boards after that caution and knew I was kind of a sitting duck.”

Shirley ended up fourth for his second top five of the weekend while Dustin Sorensen picked up his best finish of the season in fifth.

RACE NOTES:

McKay Wenger set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Brian Shirley won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Brian Shirley won TheGreatestStoreOnDirt.com Heat 1.

Cody Overton won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Devin Moran won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Drake Troutman won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Ryan Gustin and Tyler Erb won the Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdowns.

Cody Overton won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Dennis Erb Jr. drove from 26th to 13th for the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Drake Troutman was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.

Bobby Pierce won the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher Award.

Brian Shirley was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Dustin Sorensen was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Ricky Thornton Jr. was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Ryan Unzicker was the VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Garrett Alberson was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.

Tyler Bruening was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Kyle Bronson was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Models head south to the Talladega Short Track for the Alabama Gang 100 on Friday and Saturday, April 25-26. For tickets, click here.

Feature (60 Laps): 1. 1-Brandon Sheppard[11]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[7]; 3. 22*-Drake Troutman[2]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 5. 19-Dustin Sorensen[5]; 6. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[16]; 7. 2-Cody Overton[1]; 8. 24-Ryan Unzicker[6]; 9. 58-Garrett Alberson[9]; 10. 16-Tyler Bruening[14]; 11. 96-Tanner English[19]; 12. 40B-Kyle Bronson[20]; 13. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[26]; 14. 19R-Ryan Gustin[17]; 15. 1T-Tyler Erb[18]; 16. 18-Shannon Babb[13]; 17. 25-Jason Feger[10]; 18. 9-Nick Hoffman[23]; 19. 9M-Tim McCreadie[8]; 20. 12-Ashton Winger[12]; 21. 111-Max Blair[25]; 22. 74X-Ethan Dotson[24]; 23. 60-Dan Ebert[15]; 24. 99-Devin Moran[3]; 25. 89-Mike Spatola[21]; 26. 99W-Mckay Wenger[22]

ARTICLE: https://worldofoutlaws.com/latemodels/sheppard-ends-winless-drought-with-fourth-illini-100-triumph/

TRACK INFO: https://www.farmercityracing.com/

Dotson Scores First World of Outlaws Victory on Night One of Illini 100

FARMER CITY, IL (April 11, 2025) – Ethan Dotson and ASD Motorsports joined forces last May with one goal in mind – win races at the highest level of dirt Late Model racing.

They did just that Friday at Farmer City Raceway, as the Bakersfield, CA native became the 103rd different winner in the history of the World of Outlaws Late Models.

“There were a lot of times I thought about quitting,” Dotson said in Victory Lane. “Super glad I didn’t. Grateful for everybody that helped me along the way. There’s a lot of good people that, without them, I wouldn’t be here.”

Dotson’s charge to victory started in the ninth spot while Jason Feger and Ryan Gustin led the field to green in the Feature. A rash of early yellows plagued the start of the race, including one for Feger after he spun out of the lead in Turn 4 on the opening lap.

A poor restart for Gustin handed the lead over to Devin Moran while Drake Troutman waited in the wings for his chance to pounce from second. Soon after, Moran would become the second race leader to have trouble, as Tristan Chamberlain spun on Lap 14 and left Moran with nowhere to go, forcing the No. 99 to the rear for his involvement in the caution.

That put Troutman on top for the restart with Ricky Thornton Jr. and Dotson in tow. The No. 74X nailed the restart from the outside of Row 2 to get alongside Troutman before pulling ahead in the battle of the MD3 Rookie of the Year contenders.

With eight circuits remaining, Troutman’s solid night came to an end when he cut a right-rear tire and brought out the caution. That gave the field one more shot at Dotson, and while Thornton remained on Dotson’s tail throughout the final dash to the checkers, Dotson didn’t let him get close enough to make a move.

As if a World of Outlaws win could ever come at a bad time, Dotson’s triumph came right when the ASD Motorsports crew needed a morale boost. The team got off to a solid start at Volusia Speedway Park, but failed to finish better than ninth in March between Smoky Mountain Speedway and Swainsboro Raceway. With the win, Dotson now finds himself atop the rookie standings and fourth in the overall points.

“I kind of had some bad stuff, I wrecked the car and we kind of just kept racing it,” Dotson said. “It just put us behind, we were chasing our tail and stuff. Just finally got one of my good cars that I wrecked back and everything just went as planned.”

Thornton continued to establish himself as one of the hottest drivers in the country on Friday, as his second-place run was his fourth-straight runner-up in Late Model action and 14th podium of 2025.

“Ethan was really good,” Thornton said. “I should have picked the top on one restart that I didn’t. Troutman got in way slower than I thought and I about wrecked both of us. That let Ethan drive around both of us, and he was really good in traffic too. I feel like we can work on our stuff, get a little bit better for tomorrow. Honestly, we didn’t change anything all night. Our car’s really good, driver needs to be a little bit better.”

Rounding out the podium was the local hero Brian Shirley with his best World of Outlaws finish of the season. “Squirrel” knew he had to get his season back on track at home after a seven-race top-10 drought, and he put his local knowledge to good use to bring the No. 3S home third.

“I definitely felt comfortable in the car,” Shirley said. “Wasn’t sure who was behind me, I just knew where the track would end up there. It always ends up around the wall in Turns 3 and 4. Tried to give myself a shot without costing myself a spot.”

Brandon Sheppard and Tyler Erb picked up their best results of the year with the Outlaws in fourth and fifth, respectively.

RACE NOTES:

Daniel Adam set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Ricky Thornton Jr. won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Ryan Gustin won TheGreatestStoreOnDirt.com Heat 1.

Devin Moran won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Jason Feger won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Garrett Alberson won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Shannon Babb and McKay Wenger won the Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdowns.

Jason Feger won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Dennis Erb Jr. drove from 22nd to 11th for the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Ethan Dotson was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.

Ricky Thornton Jr. won the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher Award.

Brandon Sheppard was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Tyler Erb was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Bobby Pierce was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Nick Hoffman was the VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Max Blair was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.

Kyle Bronson was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Ryan Gustin was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

UP NEXT: The Illini 100 wraps up with a 60-lap, $20,000-to-win Feature at Farmer City Raceway on Saturday, April 12. For tickets, click here.

Feature (40 Laps): 1. 74X-Ethan Dotson[9]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[6]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[13]; 4. 1-Brandon Sheppard[12]; 5. 1T-Tyler Erb[10]; 6. 32-Bobby Pierce[15]; 7. 25-Jason Feger[1]; 8. 9-Nick Hoffman[11]; 9. 111-Max Blair[7]; 10. 40B-Kyle Bronson[20]; 11. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[22]; 12. 19R-Ryan Gustin[2]; 13. 58-Garrett Alberson[4]; 14. 2-Cody Overton[23]; 15. 16-Tyler Bruening[16]; 16. 22*-Drake Troutman[5]; 17. 19-Dustin Sorensen[25]; 18. 96-Tanner English[21]; 19. 75-Daniel Adam[14]; 20. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[26]; 21. 9M-Tim McCreadie[24]; 22. 99W-Mckay Wenger[18]; 23. 99-Devin Moran[3]; 24. 12-Ashton Winger[8]; 25. 18-Shannon Babb[17]; 26. 20-Jimmy Owens[19]