Shepard wins Knoxville Nationals opener
Friday, August 10, 2007
by Stacy Ervin - Jeff Shepard of Upperco, Maryland, opened up the 47th Annual Knoxville Nationals with a win for the Pennsylvania Posse on Thursday, August 9. The win came on what became opening night for the biggest sprint-car racing event in the world after heavy rains washed out the Wednesday night qualifying show and delayed it until Friday night. The event is sponsored by Super Clean and presented by Factory Value Parts. Thursday evening’s show was courtesy of Weld Racing.
Shepard started on the pole of the 25-lap main event, but did not lead the race until a late-race caution forced a green, white, checkered restart. When the race went green, outside front-row starter Brooke Tatnell jumped out to the lead, with Shepard and fourth starter Wayne Johnson duking it out for the runner-up spot. Shepard and Johnson traded that spot a couple of times early on, but when Tatnell came to lapped traffic at lap eight, Shepard closed in from second place.
On the 22nd circuit, Tatnell and Shepard went side-by-side for the lead, but a slower car trapped Shepard from making his move. In turn one the next time by, Lynton Jeffrey put a scare into the leaders as he let off the throttle with mechanical problems right in front of them. Everyone got by safely and that set up a green, white, checkered restart.
On that restart, Shepard went low in turn one to attempt to get the lead away from Tatnell. The two touched wheels going down the backstretch and then Shepard pulled away to the $12,000 payday. Tatnell earned $10,000 for second. Wayne Johnson ran a steady race to finish third.
Paul McMahan set the night’s fast time at 14.817. Heat races were won by Brooke Tatnell, Lynton Jeffrey, Randy Martin, Ben Gregg and Greg Wilson. Kenny Jacobs won the C-Main and transferred to the B-Main along with Chad Hillier. Travis Cram won the B-Main and transferred to the A-Main along with Stevie Smith, Terry McCarl and Dion Hindi.
The fifth heat race saw an interesting incident when Brian Brown got together with Nick Smith. That sent Brownie sideways in turn one and he was subsequently T-boned by Ricky Logan, who was then hit by Steve Kinser. Both Logan and Kinser turned over and only Kinser was able to restart. He was also able to secure a transfer spot. In the B-Main, the machine of World of Outlaws favorite Jason Meyers went up in smoke, ending his night. The machine of Knoxville regular Kaley Gharst went up in smoke in his heat race and he was not able to start the C-Main.
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