BRL GN S8 R8 Recap

by Ryan Senneker
20 Nov 2021
Bootleg Racing League | Season 8 | Round 8
Grand National Series | Lanier National Speedway

J R Shepherd with Different Path Motorsports fought hard against his teammate, Austin Boelke, and secured his second win of the season ahead of Mathew Thunhorst at the Bootleg Racing League Grand National event at Lanier National Speedway. Boelke, Shepherd, and Thunhorst had a race all to themselves as they left the rest of the field behind, Shepherd and Thunhorst stalking Boelke lap after lap waiting for him to make a mistake. Tragically, that moment came with only 7 laps remaining in the event as Boelke got loose coming out of the corner just enough to let Shepherd and Thunhorst take away the inside line and Boelke was shuffled back to 3rd after leading every lap up to that point.

Shepherd holds the lead in the point standings with a 6 point advantage over Thunhorst. Justin Morton, who finished tonight’s race in 4th, is still in contention for the championship following behind Shepherd by 15 points. Kenny Kibbey came home in 6th tonight and holds onto 4th in the standings 19 points off the lead. With three races remaining in the season, any of these drivers could potentially walk away with the season championship title in December.

“That was a very, very stressful race. Just took a lot of patience.”, Shepherd told us while his crew celebrated the win. “I have tons of respect for Austin [Boelke] and he ran a tremendous race tonight and in my opinion he’s one of the best drivers who is out here.” Going into the next event at Martinsville, Shepherd is feeling the pressure. “It’s going to be extremely tough. You’ve seen this year, we’ve had so many different winners, so many guys that have been up front on a consistent basis. The racing’s really hard, there’s nothing easy about trying to making a pass on somebody out here.”