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ROOKIE RISING: Sheppard Pulls Off Upset at Adams County

Photo: Bryce Graves

May 22, 2022 (Quincy, IL) The 2022 Mars Racing Series tour continued Sunday night at Adams County Speedway for the Sunday night special paying $7,000 to win. A weekend of bad weather washed out Friday and Saturday night events and drivers were eager to get at on the Illinois and Missouri border. The pits filled up with 24 cars at the track formally named Quincy Raceways.

In Allstar Performance qualifying it was McKay Wenger who laid down the quickest lap at 12.862 seconds. This set the stage for 3 heat races to set the field for the 40 lap $7,000 to win event.

In Arizona Sport Shirts Heat Race #1 last years third place points finisher Ryan Unzicker took the win with McKay Wenger and Jake Little your top three.

Heat Race #2 presented by Dirt Track Bank went to Bloomington, IL racer Jason Feger. Mike Spatola and Hunt Gossum finished second and third.

In Oriley's  Heat Race #3 Indiana driver Joe Godsey picked up the win with Dewayne Kiefer and Mark Voight your top three.

The 40 lap $7,000 to win feature was full great racing. Jason Feger took the lead on the opening lap and looked to be in control even after a couple of cautions that slowed the event in the early stages. In the middle stages we saw Ryan Unzicker battle with Feger. Just past the halfway point Feger came in turn three a little too hard and jumped the cushion. This allowed Unzicker to take the lead. Feger would regain his rhythm and him and Unzicker would battle for the lead. Then in the final laps Tommy Sheppard Jr joined the party. After starting tenth Tommy was able to roll the bottom groove and make it three wide as the laps wound down.  Tommy would find some traction on the bottom and scoot past Feger and Unzicker for the win. It was his second win of the weekend and fifth of the season, Tommy was speechless in GP Lithium victory lane as he struggled with words to describe the dream he claims to be living right now. This was Tommy's first career Mars win as he plans to run for the points title and the Sunoco Racing Rookie of the Year. 

Tommy's drive from 10th to the win was also the Keyser Manufacturing Hard Charger Award winner. Ryan Unzicker finished second and last year's Mars Series Championship runner up Jason Feger finished third. Mike Spatola and Jake Little rounded out the top five. Shoutout to Hunt Gossum finishing sixth in his Super Late Model debut.

The Mars Racing Series moves on to a tripleheader this coming weekend. On Friday night they will race at Farmer City Raceway for the $3,000 to win. On Saturday the series will return to the Fairbury Speedway for  another $3,000 to win event. They will finish up the Memorial Day weekend at the Spoon River Speedway for a Sunday night $5,064 to win special.  All the action can be seen next weekend LIVE on FloRacing.

Race Results:

A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr[10]; 2. 24-Ryan Unzicker[1]; 3. 25-Jason Feger[2]; 4. 89-Mike Spatola[5]; 5. 38J-Jake Little[7]; 6. 99-Hunt Gossum[8]; 7. 42-Mckay Wenger[4]; 8. 0-Dewayne Kiefer[6]; 9. 1ST-Justin Reed[14]; 10. 4G-Bob Gardner[11]; 11. 14G-Joe Godsey[3]; 12. 4D-Doug Tye[15]; 13. 31AUS-Paul Stubber[12]; 14. 14-Chad Walter[22]; 15. 32-Derek Fetter[16]; 16. 30-Mark Voigt[9]; 17. 20-Alan Westling[18]; 18. 33F-Rickey Frankel[13]; 19. 50-Kayden Clatt[21]; 20. 11-Darin Weisinger Jr[19]; 21. 7C-Spencer Coats[20]; 22. 45DW-Denny Woodworth[17]; 23. 5DW-Jason Oenning[24]; 24. 12-Brandon Queen[23]

Heat 1-Top 5 transfer (10 Laps): 1. 24-Ryan Unzicker[2]; 2. 42-Mckay Wenger[1]; 3. 38J-Jake Little[3]; 4. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr[4]; 5. 33F-Rickey Frankel[6]; 6. 32-Derek Fetter[5]; 7. 11-Darin Weisinger Jr[7]; 8. 14-Chad Walter[8]

Heat 2-Top 5 transfer (10 Laps): 1. 25-Jason Feger[1]; 2. 89-Mike Spatola[2]; 3. 99-Hunt Gossum[3]; 4. 4G-Bob Gardner[4]; 5. 1ST-Justin Reed[5]; 6. 45DW-Denny Woodworth[7]; 7. 7C-Spencer Coats[8]; 8. 12-Brandon Queen[6]

Heat 3-Top 5 transfer (10 Laps): 1. 14G-Joe Godsey[1]; 2. 0-Dewayne Kiefer[3]; 3. 30-Mark Voigt[5]; 4. 31AUS-Paul Stubber[2]; 5. 4D-Doug Tye[4]; 6. 20-Alan Westling[7]; 7. 50-Kayden Clatt[6]; 8. 5DW-Jason Oenning[8]

Qualifying 1: 1. 42-Mckay Wenger, 00:12.862[16]; 2. 25-Jason Feger, 00:13.004[5]; 3. 14G-Joe Godsey, 00:13.015[2]; 4. 24-Ryan Unzicker, 00:13.081[23]; 5. 89-Mike Spatola, 00:13.091[13]; 6. 31AUS-Paul Stubber, 00:13.161[8]; 7. 38J-Jake Little, 00:13.168[6]; 8. 99-Hunt Gossum, 00:13.250[4]; 9. 0-Dewayne Kiefer, 00:13.251[3]; 10. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr, 00:13.318[15]; 11. 4G-Bob Gardner, 00:13.340[20]; 12. 4D-Doug Tye, 00:13.380[1]; 13. 32-Derek Fetter, 00:13.500[9]; 14. 1ST-Justin Reed, 00:13.585[21]; 15. 30-Mark Voigt, 00:13.620[12]; 16. 33F-Rickey Frankel, 00:13.734[10]; 17. 12-Brandon Queen, 00:13.913[22]; 18. 50-Kayden Clatt, 00:14.095[18]; 19. 11-Darin Weisinger Jr, 00:14.120[19]; 20. 45DW-Denny Woodworth, 00:14.302[11]; 21. 20-Alan Westling, 00:14.365[17]; 22. 14-Chad Walter, 00:14.371[14]; 23. 7C-Spencer Coats, 00:14.807[7]; 24. 5DW-Jason Oenning, 00:14.807[24]

Stay informed on all the news and results of the Mars Racing Series at www.marsracingseries.com.

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