Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
After a solid battle with Taylor Holdaway for the lead last week, Gord Shepherd would make his way through the field this week to score the Sauble Falls Tent and Trailer Park Late Model feature victory. It marks his second feature victory of the season and fourth top-seven finish in seven races thus far this season.
When the feature started, Scott Wylie would start pole behind the wheel of the No. 44 for Holdaway Motorsports, followed by Mat Box, Chris Morrow, Jason Witty, Billy Zardo, Dave Bartlett, Al Inglis, Gord Shepherd, Thayne Hallyburton, Dwayne Baker, Taylor Holdaway, Jason Hathaway, Rick Walt, Nick Goetz, Jordan Latimer, Paul Maltese, Ernie Fumerton, Frank Davey, Ian Bourque, Mike Wilkinson, Marcus Keeler, Tom Walters, Travis Hallyburton, Andre Pepin, A.J. Emms, Rick Terry, Brittney Gresel and Kyle Passer.
The green flag would bring a battle for the lead between Wylie and Box’s No. 27 Late Model, with Wylie grabbing the lead on lap four. Morrow would then get alongside Box for second, clearing him a lap later as Witty looked to follow suit. Witty would do so, completing the pass on lap nine, bumping Box back to fourth. Inglis would round out the top-five, followed by Thayne Hallyburton, Shepherd, Holdaway and Baker.
Morrow would continue his climb to the front, getting alongside Wylie for the lead at lap 10, and completing the pass a lap later to put the No. 11 Morrow Electric, CRS Rental Supply and Plumbtech Plumbing Incorporated Late Model into the lead. Wylie would fall back to second, ahead of Witty, Box, Zardo and Shepherd. Shepherd, looking to continue his climb to the front, would get alongside Zardo for fifth at lap 12, while Witty would get alongside Wylie for second. While the battles continued on track, Pepin would head down pit road at lap 14.
At lap 15, Morrow continued to lead, but now ahead of Witty and Wylie as Shepherd battled Box for fourth. That battle would be cut short, though, as the caution would fly at lap 17 for Bartlett having a problem on the backstretch. With 19 laps to go, Morrow led Witty, Wylie, Shepherd, Box, Zardo, Thayne Hallyburton, Inglis, Holdaway, Baker, Walt, Goetz, Inglis, Maltese, Fumerton, Latimer, Travis Hallyburton, Davey, Bourque, Wilkinson, Keeler, Emms, Gresel, Passer and Bartlett as Walters would pull off the track done for the night. Terry continued on track, as the only car a lap down.
The restart would bring forth the second caution of the night as the aforementioned Terry would go around for the spin. The second attempt at a restart was much cleaner with Morrow and Witty battling side-by-side for the lead. Morrow would clear Witty on lap 17 to retain the lead, leaving Witty to battle for second with Shepherd. Shepherd would clear Witty for the spot on lap 18 just before the caution flew for Passer and Maltese wrecking on the frontstretch. At the halfway mark of the event, Morrow led Shepherd, Witty, Wylie, Zardo, Thayne Hallyburton, Inglis, Holdaway, Baker, Walt, Goetz, Hathaway, Fumerton, Travis Hallyburton, Latimer, Bourque, Davey, Wilkinson, Keeler, Bartlett, Gresel, Emms, Box and Terry.
The restart would be all that Shepherd needed as he would put the No. 10s Progressive Waste Solutions, Krueger Electric, Puzzle Partner and Shelswell Racing Late Model ahead of the field. Morrow would fall in line in second while Wylie and Witty battled for third. Wylie would grab the third spot on lap 21 ahead of Witty as Thayne Hallyburton and Zardo battled for fifth. Hallyburton would get the spot 24, with Holdaway following suit to bump Zardo back to the seventh spot. Everybody would get another spot at it, though, as with five to go the caution would fly for Fumerton going around.
The restart would bring a battle for the lead between Shepherd and Morrow, while Inglis bounced off the wall mid-pack but everyone managed to keep things going and straight without caution.
Gord Shepherd would clear Morrow, leading the final laps and scoring the victory. Chris Morrow got second for his first top-five of the season, followed by Jason Witty, Taylor Holdaway and Thayne Hallyburton. Scott Wylie finished sixth, followed by Billy Zardo, Al Inglis, Dwayne Baker, Jason Hathaway, Rick Walt, Nick Goetz, Travis Hallyburton, Jordan Latimer, Ian Bourque, Marcus Keeler, Frank Davey, Paul Maltese, A.J. Emms, Ernie Fumerton, Brittney Gresel and Mike Wilkinson.
