Defending His Turf: Steve Sheppard Jr. Overtakes Frye To Win MARS 40 On Tri-City Speedway Quarter-Mile

PONTOON BEACH, IL – Aug. 13, 2006 – The hometrack advantage paid off for Steve Sheppard Jr. Proving he knows the fast way around Tri-City Speedway’s inner quarter-mile oval, the defending track champion made a stirring late-race charge to capture Sunday night’s 40-lap Mid-America Racing Series (MARS) feature.

Sheppard, 31, of New Berlin, Ill., reached Victory Lane in dramatic fashion, passing three-time MARS titlist Bill Frye for the lead on the 38th lap and then beating Frye to the finish line by barely a car’s length.

Defending MARS champ Terry Phillips of Springfield, Mo., finished third, followed by UMP national points leader Randy Korte of Highland, Ill., and Jeff Taylor of Cave City, Ark., who started fourth but restarted at the rear of the field after two early spins.

“I feel like I’ve got how to drive this place really figured out,” summed up Sheppard, smiling broadly after registering his first career triumph on DIRT MotorSports’ MARS tour. “I’ve learned how to get around the bottom (groove).

“Everybody else kind of slides in there (the corners), but I keep it straight and drive it like it’s asphalt.”

Sheppard, who started 10th in his father’s Pro Power-equipped Rayburn No. 5s, took off after the event’s halfway point. He made his presence known on lap 26, when he glided by Korte and Phillips in one powerful inside sweep to reach second place.

The track surface had finally come to Sheppard.

“You have to have patience here, wait for the bottom to come in,” said Sheppard. “I was good in the middle at first, but you can always feel the middle at this place starting to go away because it gets crumbly. Then you know it’s time to get to the (infield) tires.”

And according to Sheppard, to make that inside groove work, “you gotta graze those tires with the front clip.”

Which is what Sheppard did to pass Frye, who had led the entire distance from the pole position.

After Billy James of Sikeston, Mo., slowed on lap 36 to bring out the race’s seventh and final caution flag, Sheppard was deposited directly on Frye’s rear bumper for the restart. He chased Frye for two circuits before ducking underneath the veteran racer between turns one and two on the 38th lap and emerging as the leader on the backstretch.

“Billy Frye was there (running the bottom),” said Sheppard, who was several car lengths behind Frye in lapped traffic when the final caution flag came out. “But he let ‘er slip up just a little bit and I got a run on him.”

Sheppard was thrilled inside his cockpit when he passed Frye, but he was also a bit surprised.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I’d pull it off after the yellow (flag),” said Sheppard, who has been driving dirt Late Models for just over a decade. “I knew we were pretty good, but Frye’s one of the best in the business.”

The 45-year-old Frye made a rare slip, however, and it left him a runner-up in MARS competition for the second consecutive night. He finished second to Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., on Saturday night at I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo.

“I was too loose and just kinda hanging on at the end,” said Frye, who made his first career start on Tri-City’s quarter-mile oval after many appearances over the years on its trademark half-mile. “Then I got in the corner just a touch hot, slid off the bottom and gave (Sheppard) a good line.

“I think I was still good enough to get back around him on the top, but I waited a lap (to try it) and then it was over. He won, and he did a good job.”

Sheppard’s win was worth $3,000, making it the richest triumph of his racing career.

“I’ve won $2,000 shows, but I’ve never won a $3,000 race until tonight,” said Sheppard, who has competed in all but a handful of Tri-City’s Sunday-night events on the quarter-mile this season. “I won $4,000 one time at Highland (Ill.), but that was for finishing second to (Shannon) Babb.”

Phillips came from the eighth starting spot to finish a solid third in his GRT mount, but he couldn’t keep pace with Sheppard and Frye after the lap-36 restart.

“I tried a different setup I ain’t run in 10 years, and it wasn’t bad,” said Phillips. “But I needed to get the car just a little freer.

“(Sheppard’s) car was free and could turn. Everybody else was pushing.”

Korte also was a bit off the leaders’ pace at the end of the race, thanks largely to a tire problem.

“Our right-rear tire got all chewed up on the right-side edge and we can’t quite figure out why it did that,” said Korte, who advanced from the sixth starting spot to challenge Frye for the lead early in the distance before losing a couple positions. “It’s almost like something cut it.

“When I started running the outside of Bill (Frye) I was good, then all of a sudden I was hanging on and trying to get a good finish.”

Taylor, meanwhile, authored a memorable drive through the field in his No. 5T. An unusual steering problem caused him to slide off the track in turn three on lap two and spin in the second turn one lap later.

“We put a piece of lead on the front end of the car (to add weight),” explained Taylor. “But we haven’t been anywhere where we back-steer as much as you do at this place. When I steered hard to the right (to slide), the steering locked solid against that lead, and off (the track) I went. It was just, Hang on.

“I took a chill pill after the second time it happened. I got back close to the front, but I was a fourth- or fifth-place car because I couldn’t drive it the way I needed to.”

Thirty-eight cars entered the event, which used the passing-points system to line up the top-16 positions in the feature.

Heat winners were Justin Wells, Michael Kloos, Taylor and Bryan Collins, and Rodney Melvin and Jason Bodenhammer captured the B-Mains.

Frye ended the two-race MARS weekend holding a 42-point lead over Phillips.

MARS returns to action with a tripleheader weekend Aug. 25-27 – Friday night at Boliver (Mo.) Motor Speedway, Saturday at Missouri’s Lebanon I-44 Speedway and Sunday back at Tri-City Speedway (half-mile oval) for a MARS/UMP Clash event.

MARS Feature Finish (40 laps): 1. Steve Sheppard Jr., 2. Bill Frye, 3. Terry Phillips, 4. Randy Korte, 5. Jeff Taylor, 6. Steve Rushin, 7. Jeff Floyd, 8. Dane Dacus, 9. Michael Kloos, 10. Rodney Melvin, 11. Joey Mack, 12. Al Purkey, 13. Mark Voight, 14. Will Vaught, 15. Billy James, 16. Bryan Collins, 17. Jayme Zidar, 18. Justin Wells, 19. Craig Smith, 20. Frank Heckenast Jr., 21. Brandon McCormick, 22. Jason Bodenhammer.

DNQ: Jordan Jones, Billy Laycock, Billy Moyer, Billy Moyer Jr., Scott Bell, Mike Hammerly, Rylan Dagg, Tim Manville, Vince Grondzki, Rusty Griffaw, Chris Smyser, Dustin Korte, Len Garson, Joe Desch, Mike Bryant, Brad White.

Unofficial MARS Points Standings (after Aug. 13): 1. Bill Frye 1,161; 2. Terry Phillips 1,119; 3. Jeff Taylor 1,045; 4. Steve Rushin 943; 5. Billy James 911; 6. Will Vaught 878; 7. Jeff Floyd 874; 8. Justin Wells 846; 9. Joey Mack 811; 10. Dane Dacus 744; 11. Jordan Jones 666; 12. Brandon McCormick 641; 13. Wendell Wallace 623; 14. Leslie Essary 532; 15. Chris Smyser 486.