Sheppard Emerges Victorious During Three-Wide Battle for $53,000 Victory at Silver Dollar Nationals Presented by MyRacePass Finale at Huset’s Speedway; Berck and Zeitner Also Triumphant During Marquee Event

Inside Line Promotions – BRANDON, S.D. (July 22, 2023) – Brandon Sheppard is $53,000 richer after earning a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory during the 13 ^th annual Silver Dollar Nationals presented by MyRacePass, which was hosted by Huset’s Speedway on Saturday.

It was announced prior to the race by track and series officials that the event will return to the high-banked dirt oval in 2024.

Sheppard wasn’t the only winner during a long day of racing on Saturday, which included an afternoon program that had been rained out Friday night. Kyle Berck and Justin Zeitner garnered Malvern Bank Super Late Model Racing Series victories at the track with Berck winning the afternoon show before Zeitner reached the Sea Foam Victory Lane in the evening feature.

The event concluded with a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series main event that featured the richest late model payout in South Dakota racing history. Officially, Sheppard led all 80 laps, but it was anything but an easy ride up front. The thrilling feature was a barnburner with three-wide action for the top spot multiple times.

“We were battling hard there and that’s what you get when we run short tracks,” Sheppard said. “This place was awesome.”

Shane Clanton ran a close second to Sheppard early before Hudson O’Neal charged into second place on a restart on Lap 17. Bobby Pierce worked to fourth on that same restart and to third approximately a dozen laps later before he joined Sheppard and O’Neal in a wild race in thick traffic.

The second half of the feature showcased much of the same with Pierce and O’Neal trading the runner-up position a couple of times. Both stayed within striking distance of Sheppard with Pierce nearly clearing a slide job for the lead at one point. Sheppard narrowly snuck by on the cushion to maintain the top spot and he capitalized on the momentum as he was dedicated to the cushion around the high-banked oval.

“Them guys are making it hard on me for sure,” he said. “The track was awesome. It was treacherous out there. I was really tight about halfway through the race through (turns) three and four. That had me messed up and had me worried a little bit. Once I moved to the top in (turns) one and two I kinda started slowing down my entry into (turns) three and four and that helped me out a bunch. All the lapped cars were running the bottom so I just committed myself to the top for the rest of the race. I got a good, smooth rhythm going and I was just able to hold them guys off.”

Pierce made a last-ditch effort on the bottom lane in turns three and four to close the gap before finishing only a couple of car lengths behind Sheppard at the finish line.

“I almost wish I would have tried the bottom a little sooner,” he said. “You want to go for it as quick as you can, but I was just biding my time waiting for him to make a mistake. He made a couple, but you know you just couldn’t make that run. I was hoping for some lapped cars to hold him up and maybe I’d cross him over, but man what a heck of a race.”

O’Neal rounded out the podium.

“Man, that was brutal up around the cushion,” he said. “I was dead by the last 10 laps, but man it was a good race. Me, Shepp and Bobby, I felt you could have thrown a blanket over us the last 30 or 40 laps or whatever it was.”

Ricky Thornton Jr. charged from 16 ^th to fourth and Tyler Erb advanced from 12 ^th to fifth.

The afternoon program featured twin heat races for the drivers with O’Neal, Daniel Hilsabeck, Clanton and Erb winning Round 1 before Devin Moran, Brandon Overton, Tim McCreadie and Sheppard were triumphant in Round 2. In the evening portion, Garrett Alberson and Mike Marlar posted B Main wins before Matt Cosner won the non-qualifiers race.

Berck maneuvered from third to win the 25-lap afternoon main event with the Malvern Bank Super Late Model Racing Series.

Josh Leonard earned a runner-up result with Jesse Glenz placing third, Tad Pospisil fourth and Zeitner fifth.

Zeitner and Andrew Kosiski each set quick time during their group qualifying to open the program. The heat races were won by Leonard, Berck, Corey Zeitner and JC Wyman. Curt Kranz and Bill Leighton were the B Main winners.

A few hours later, Justin Zeitner topped a spirited Malvern Bank Super Late Model Racing Series main event with a late-race pass. He restarted third with five laps remaining and powered into second place in turns one and two before using a slide job in turns three and four to get by Pospisil for the top spot.

“It’s definitely not easy,” he said. “I’m lucky to have really good people behind me and that makes my life a little bit easier. I’ve got great engines, great race cars and my crew is second to none. The main thing is we’re just all gelling right now.”

Pospisil placed second with Dylan Sillman garnering a third-place result. Berck advanced from 11 ^th to fourth and Corey Zeitner hustled from 13 ^th to fifth.

Leonard and Jesse Sobbing were the quickest drivers in their qualifying groups before Berck, Wyman, Mike Balcaen and Todd Cooney posted heat race victories. The B Mains were captured by Darrel DeFrance and Scott Ward.

The next event at Huset’s Speedway is Sunday, July 30, for Nordstrom’s Automotive Night featuring the Cressman Sanitation 410 Outlaw Sprint Cars, the Nordstrom’s Automotive Late Model Street Stocks with a $1,500-to-win, $200-to-start feature and the Wyffels Hybrids RaceSaver Sprint Car Series.

SILVER DOLLAR NATIONALS PRESENTED BY MYRACEPASS FINALE RESULTS AT HUSET’S SPEEDWAY (July 22, 2023) –

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series

A-Main: Silver Dollar Nats (80 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard (1); 2. 32-Bobby Pierce (8); 3. 1H-Hudson O’Neal (4); 4. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr (16); 5. 1T-Tyler Erb (12); 6. 39-Tim McCreadie (7); 7. 18-Chase Junghans (14); 8. 40B-Kyle Bronson (22); 9. 49-Jonathan Davenport (6); 10. 99-Devin Moran (11); 11. 58-Garrett Alberson (17); 12. 25C-Shane Clanton (2); 13. 157-Mike Marlar (18); 14. 111B-Max Blair (10); 15. 28-Dennis Erb Jr (13); 16. 11-Spencer Hughes (23); 17. 16-Tyler Bruening (9); 18. 25-Chad Simpson (19); 19. 46-Earl Pearson Jr (15); 20. 18D-Daulton Wilson (20); 21. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck (3); 22. 76-Brandon Overton (5); 23. 66C-Matt Cosner (25); 24. 7-Ross Robinson (21); 25. 99B-Boom Briggs (24).

FAST Shafts B-Main 1 (12 Laps): 1. 58-Garrett Alberson (1); 2. 25-Chad Simpson (2); 3. 7-Ross Robinson (3); 4. 99B-Boom Briggs (4); 5. 66C-Matt Cosner (5); 6. 8-Dillon McCowan (6); 7. 76B-Blair Nothdurft (7); 8. 11-Spencer Hughes (8); 9. 6-Al Humphrey (9).

UNOH B-Main 2 (12 Laps): 1. 157-Mike Marlar (1); 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson (3); 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson (4); 4. 14M-Morgan Bagley (2); 5. 14J-Jake Neal (5); 6. 07-Ben Sukup (7); 7. 10W-Junior Coover (8); 8. (DNS) 24-Bill Leighton.

Non-Qualifiers: 1. 66C-Matt Cosner (1); 2. 14M-Morgan Bagley (2); 3. 8-Dillon McCowan (3); 4. 14J-Jake Neal (4); 5. 76B-Blair Nothdurft (5); 6. 6-Al Humphrey (7); 7. 07-Ben Sukup (6); 8. 10W-Junior Coover (8).

RND 1: Heat 1 Penske Shocks: 1. 1H-Hudson O’Neal (5); 2. 99B-Boom Briggs (1); 3. 14M-Morgan Bagley (4); 4. 49-Jonathan Davenport (9); 5. 16-Tyler Bruening (7); 6. 8-Dillon McCowan (6); 7. 7-Ross Robinson (3); 8. 11-Spencer Hughes (2); 9. 10W-Junior Coover (8).

RND 1: Heat 2 Summit Racing: 1. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck (2); 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson (1); 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr (3); 4. 157-Mike Marlar (4); 5. 111B-Max Blair (6); 6. 99-Devin Moran (7); 7. 24-Bill Leighton (5); 8. 66C-Matt Cosner (8).

RND 1: Heat 3 Simpson Race: 1. 25C-Shane Clanton (1); 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard (3); 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson (2); 4. 76-Brandon Overton (5); 5. 28-Dennis Erb Jr (6); 6. 58-Garrett Alberson (7); 7. 25-Chad Simpson (4); 8. 07-Ben Sukup (8).

RND 1: Heat 4 AP1 Insurance: 1. 1T-Tyler Erb (1); 2. 18-Chase Junghans (2); 3. 46-Earl Pearson Jr (4); 4. 32-Bobby Pierce (6); 5. 39-Tim McCreadie (7); 6. 76B-Blair Nothdurft (3); 7. 14J-Jake Neal (8); 8. 6-Al Humphrey (5).

RND 2: Heat 1 Penske Shocks: 1. 99-Devin Moran (2); 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport (1); 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr (3); 4. 1H-Hudson O’Neal (4); 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr (5); 6. 1T-Tyler Erb (7); 7. 40B-Kyle Bronson (6); 8. 99B-Boom Briggs (8); 9. (DNS) 6-Al Humphrey.

RND 2: Heat 2 Summit Racing: 1. 76-Brandon Overton (4); 2. 111B-Max Blair (3); 3. 25C-Shane Clanton (8); 4. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck (7); 5. 46-Earl Pearson Jr (5); 6. 14J-Jake Neal (1); 7. 14M-Morgan Bagley (6); 8. 10W-Junior Coover (2).

RND 2: Heat 3 Simpson Race: 1. 39-Tim McCreadie (2); 2. 16-Tyler Bruening (3); 3. 25-Chad Simpson (5); 4. 7-Ross Robinson (7); 5. 07-Ben Sukup (1); 6. 24-Bill Leighton (4); 7. 76B-Blair Nothdurft (6); 8. 18D-Daulton Wilson (8).

RND 2: Heat 4 AP1 Insurance: 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard (6); 2. 32-Bobby Pierce (3); 3. 58-Garrett Alberson (2); 4. 66C-Matt Cosner (1); 5. 157-Mike Marlar (5); 6. 18-Chase Junghans (7); 7. 8-Dillon McCowan (4); 8. 11-Spencer Hughes (8).

Malvern Bank Super Late Model Racing Series (Night Program)

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 62-Justin Zeitner (9); 2. 04-Tad Pospisil (5); 3. 35D-Dylan Sillman (1); 4. 14-Kyle Berck (11); 5. 26JR-Corey Zeitner (13); 6. 32-Curtis Glover (3); 7. 53-Andrew Kosiski (15); 8. 30-Todd Cooney (10); 9. 90-Lance Matthees (19); 10. 10-Mike Balcaen (7); 11. 4-JC Wyman (12); 12. 37-Scott Ward (18); 13. 99D-Darrel DeFrance (17); 14. 15C-Curt Schroeder (22); 15. U2-Scott Daly (24); 16. 52-Brian Kosiski (14); 17. 22-Charlie McKenna (21); 18. 24-Bill Leighton (2); 19. 10B-Blake Swenson (16); 20. 76-Zach Zeitner (20); 21. 85-Josh Leonard (6); 22. 99-Jesse Sobbing (4); 23. 7X-Jesse Glenz (8); 24. 91-Gabe Umbarger (23).

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 99D-Darrel DeFrance (2); 2. 90-Lance Matthees (1); 3. 15C-Curt Schroeder (3); 4. 22-Charlie McKenna (4); 5. U2-Scott Daly (6); 6. 27-Tyler Myers (8); 7. 5-Jeff Segebart (7); 8. 10X-Robert Bitz (9); 9. 56-Chris Spieker (5).

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 37-Scott Ward (4); 2. 76-Zach Zeitner (2); 3. 91-Gabe Umbarger (6); 4. 38-Jordan Heiman (7); 5. 87-Curt Kranz (1); 6. J1-Jay Burdic (5); 7. 1-Jaxon Saathoff (3); 8. X-Chuck Swenson (8); 9. 17J-John Winge (9).

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Kyle Berck (1); 2. 85-Josh Leonard (6); 3. 10B-Blake Swenson (2); 4. 37-Scott Ward (7); 5. 7X-Jesse Glenz (5); 6. 15C-Curt Schroeder (4); 7. 5-Jeff Segebart (8); 8. 10X-Robert Bitz (9); 9. 56-Chris Spieker (3).

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 4-JC Wyman (1); 2. 24-Bill Leighton (5); 3. 90-Lance Matthees (2); 4. 35D-Dylan Sillman (6); 5. 22-Charlie McKenna (3); 6. 1-Jaxon Saathoff (4); 7. 91-Gabe Umbarger (7); 8. 38-Jordan Heiman (8).

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Mike Balcaen (2); 2. 99D-Darrel DeFrance (1); 3. 99-Jesse Sobbing (6); 4. 53-Andrew Kosiski (3); 5. 52-Brian Kosiski (4); 6. 26JR-Corey Zeitner (5); 7. J1-Jay Burdic (7); 8. 27-Tyler Myers (8); 9. 17J-John Winge (9).

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Todd Cooney (1); 2. 32-Curtis Glover (3); 3. 87-Curt Kranz (2); 4. 04-Tad Pospisil (6); 5. 62-Justin Zeitner (5); 6. 76-Zach Zeitner (4); 7. U2-Scott Daly (7); 8. X-Chuck Swenson (8).

Qualifying 1: 1. 85-Josh Leonard, 00:12.876 (8); 2. 35D-Dylan Sillman, 00:13.027 (6); 3. 7X-Jesse Glenz, 00:13.075 (4); 4. 24-Bill Leighton, 00:13.119 (2); 5. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 00:13.202 (11); 6. 1-Jaxon Saathoff, 00:13.217 (16); 7. 56-Chris Spieker, 00:13.233 (10); 8. 22-Charlie McKenna, 00:13.331 (9); 9. 10B-Blake Swenson, 00:13.346 (17); 10. 90-Lance Matthees, 00:13.366 (12); 11. 14-Kyle Berck, 00:13.456 (5); 12. 4-JC Wyman, 00:13.560 (13); 13. 37-Scott Ward, 00:13.567 (7); 14. 91-Gabe Umbarger, 00:13.679 (14); 15. 5-Jeff Segebart, 00:13.912 (3); 16. 38-Jordan Heiman, 00:14.217 (15); 17. 10X-Robert Bitz, 00:14.504 (1).

Qualifying 2: 1. 99-Jesse Sobbing, 00:12.769 (16); 2. 04-Tad Pospisil, 00:12.990 (3); 3. 26JR-Corey Zeitner, 00:12.996 (10); 4. 62-Justin Zeitner, 00:13.090 (5); 5. 52-Brian Kosiski, 00:13.101 (17); 6. 76-Zach Zeitner, 00:13.148 (11); 7. 53-Andrew Kosiski, 00:13.182 (9); 8. 32-Curtis Glover, 00:13.324 (8); 9. 10-Mike Balcaen, 00:13.340 (12); 10. 87-Curt Kranz, 00:13.382 (15); 11. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 00:13.391 (2); 12. 30-Todd Cooney, 00:13.412 (6); 13. J1-Jay Burdic, 00:13.455 (13); 14. U2-Scott Daly, 00:13.675 (1); 15. 27-Tyler Myers, 00:14.388 (7); 16. X-Chuck Swenson, 00:14.677 (14); 17. 17J-John Winge, 00:14.677 (4).

Malvern Bank Super Late Model Racing Series (Day Program)

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 14-Kyle Berck (3); 2. 85-Josh Leonard (4); 3. 7X-Jesse Glenz (6); 4. 04-Tad Pospisil (2); 5. 62-Justin Zeitner (10); 6. 53-Andrew Kosiski (5); 7. 37-Scott Ward (15); 8. 30-Todd Cooney (11); 9. 87-Curt Kranz (17); 10. 4-JC Wyman (16); 11. 1-Jaxon Saathoff (23); 12. 99-Jesse Sobbing (13); 13. 15C-Curt Schroeder (19); 14. 52-Brian Kosiski (14); 15. 32-Curtis Glover (24); 16. J1-Jay Burdic (22); 17. 99D-Darrel DeFrance (21); 18. 22-Charlie McKenna (1); 19. 56-Chris Spieker (12); 20. 90-Lance Matthees (8); 21. 10-Mike Balcaen (20); 22. 24-Bill Leighton (18); 23. 35D-Dylan Sillman (7); 24. 26JR-Corey Zeitner (9).

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 87-Curt Kranz (1); 2. 15C-Curt Schroeder (3); 3. 1-Jaxon Saathoff (2); 4. 10B-Blake Swenson (5); 5. 5-Jeff Segebart (7); 6. X-Chuck Swenson (9); 7. 17J-John Winge (8); 8. J1-Jay Burdic (4); 9. 38-Jordan Heiman (6).

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 24-Bill Leighton (1); 2. 10-Mike Balcaen (3); 3. 32-Curtis Glover (4); 4. 76-Zach Zeitner (2); 5. U2-Scott Daly (8); 6. 10X-Robert Bitz (9); 7. 27-Tyler Myers (5); 8. 99D-Darrel DeFrance (7); 9. 91-Gabe Umbarger (6).

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 85-Josh Leonard (3); 2. 30-Todd Cooney (2); 3. 7X-Jesse Glenz (5); 4. 10-Mike Balcaen (1); 5. 24-Bill Leighton (4); 6. 62-Justin Zeitner (6); 7. 27-Tyler Myers (7); 8. 99D-Darrel DeFrance (8); 9. X-Chuck Swenson (9).

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Kyle Berck (3); 2. 15C-Curt Schroeder (1); 3. 22-Charlie McKenna (5); 4. 04-Tad Pospisil (6); 5. 1-Jaxon Saathoff (4); 6. 32-Curtis Glover (7); 7. 5-Jeff Segebart (8); 8. 10B-Blake Swenson (2).

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 26JR-Corey Zeitner (2); 2. 90-Lance Matthees (3); 3. 35D-Dylan Sillman (5); 4. 53-Andrew Kosiski (6); 5. 76-Zach Zeitner (4); 6. J1-Jay Burdic (1); 7. 38-Jordan Heiman (7); 8. 17J-John Winge (8); 9. 10X-Robert Bitz (9).

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 4-JC Wyman (1); 2. 87-Curt Kranz (2); 3. 37-Scott Ward (3); 4. 52-Brian Kosiski (4); 5. 99-Jesse Sobbing (5); 6. 56-Chris Spieker (6); 7. 91-Gabe Umbarger (7); 8. U2-Scott Daly (8).

Qualifying 1: 1. 62-Justin Zeitner, 00:06.116 (17); 2. 04-Tad Pospisil, 00:14.420 (7); 3. 7X-Jesse Glenz, 00:14.476 (12); 4. 22-Charlie McKenna, 00:14.527 (3); 5. 24-Bill Leighton, 00:14.766 (14); 6. 1-Jaxon Saathoff, 00:14.800 (1); 7. 85-Josh Leonard, 00:14.810 (11); 8. 14-Kyle Berck, 00:14.884 (9); 9. 30-Todd Cooney, 00:14.885 (6); 10. 10B-Blake Swenson, 00:15.077 (15); 11. 10-Mike Balcaen, 00:15.090 (10); 12. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 00:15.115 (5); 13. 27-Tyler Myers, 00:15.170 (8); 14. 32-Curtis Glover, 00:15.444 (13); 15. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 00:15.556 (2); 16. 5-Jeff Segebart, 00:15.729 (4); 17. X-Chuck Swenson, 00:15.767 (16).

Qualifying 2: 1. 53-Andrew Kosiski, 00:14.900 (11); 2. 56-Chris Spieker, 00:14.910 (5); 3. 35D-Dylan Sillman, 00:14.948 (12); 4. 99-Jesse Sobbing, 00:14.974 (7); 5. 76-Zach Zeitner, 00:14.995 (16); 6. 52-Brian Kosiski, 00:15.127 (15); 7. 90-Lance Matthees, 00:15.264 (13); 8. 37-Scott Ward, 00:15.333 (6); 9. 26JR-Corey Zeitner, 00:15.352 (9); 10. 87-Curt Kranz, 00:15.434 (14); 11. J1-Jay Burdic, 00:15.464 (1); 12. 4-JC Wyman, 00:15.479 (4); 13. 38-Jordan Heiman, 00:15.649 (3); 14. 91-Gabe Umbarger, 00:15.852 (17); 15. 17J-John Winge, 00:15.911 (2); 16. U2-Scott Daly, 00:15.940 (8); 17. 10X-Robert Bitz, 00:18.764 (10).

UP NEXT –

Sunday for Nordstrom’s Automotive Night featuring the Cressman Sanitation 410 Outlaw Sprint Cars, the Nordstrom’s Automotive Late Model Street Stocks and the Wyffels Hybrids RaceSaver Sprint Car Series

HUSET’S SPEEDWAY MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.HusetsSpeedway.com

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HUSET’S SPEEDWAY –

Huset’s Speedway is a dirt oval located in Brandon, S.D. The track opened in 1954 and has undergone a large renovation within the last few years, making it a premier destination for both marquee racing events and weekly programs.

INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –

Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.

To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP , contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com . For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.

*PHOTOS BY TYLAN PORATH PHOTOGRAPHY*