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Pair of Top-5 finishes in Illini 100; WoO points battle tightens

On Friday night, Rocket1 Racing and Brandon Sheppard followed the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series to the Land of Lincoln for the two-day Illini 100 at Farmer City Raceway (Farmer City, Ill.). With 46 Late Models entered, Sheppard came one spot shy of a transfer position in his heat with a fifth-place finish, transferring him into the B-Main for another shot at the $6,000-to-win preliminary feature. Streaking to a 10-lap victory, Brandon locked into the 18th-starting position for the A-Main. Breaking into the Top-10, Sheppard passed 13 cars in the 25-lapper to register a fifth-place finish, trailing Mike Spatola, Ryan Unzicker, Bobby Pierce, and Tanner English across the line.

Failing to transfer out of his heat race again on Saturday, Brandon needed a third-place finish or better in his B-Main to make the show. Cruising to a consolation win, Sheppard would roll off 18th for the $20,000-to-win Illini 100. Wasting no time to get to the front, Brandon put himself in contention for the win after a lap-70 restart but fell short, marking him third on the rundown when the checkered flag flew. He followed Bobby Pierce and Cade Dillard to the checkers with Chris Madden and Rick Eckert completing the Top-5 finishers.

With a pair of Top-5 finishes over the weekend, Sheppard shrunk Kyle Strickler’s lead in the World of Outlaw point standings to 24.

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