Tuesday February 14th brought more beautiful sunny weather to the East coast of Florida and provided another nice night for racing at the Volusia Speedway Park. On top on Tuesday would be round two for both the DIRTcar Late Models running under UMP rules plus the finale for the USAC Sprint Cars.
Tim McCreadie, after having a number of solid but non winning races of late, would finally fight his way to victory lane, holding off heavy challenges from both Bobby Pierce and Hudson O'Neal to get the win. In the USAC Sprints, it would be Daison Pursley trading the lead with Emerson Axsom before Pursley would make the winning move with just five laps for his first USAC Sprint win.
Night two for the DIRTcar Late Models would see fifty one drivers sign in to race, an increase of five over Monday night. Entering for the first time this week at Volusia were Dale McDowell, Michael Norris, Chase Junghans, Tanner English, Jimmy Owens and Kyle Larson, who snuck away from the big speedway to run what was reported as his only night of dirt track racing this week with all his other commitments. Blake Spencer was the only driver not to return from Monday night as they were making a motor change in the pits and were in no hurry to rush the car back out on to the track. Ryan Gustin, who was also making a motor change pit side, Gordy Gundaker and Johnny Scott all still waiting to, presumably until the points paying events start on Thursday. It was reported that Jonathan Davenport is also on site but I have yet to see him.
With the increase in entrants, so also the Late Model portion of the program was changed up too. Four heats last night became six heats on this night with only three drivers moving on. One more Last Chance race was also added and a twenty six car starting field would be the plan. Eventually, Tanner English and Shane Clanton would get the final two positions as provisional starters.
Things started out on a stunning note with young Blair Nothdurft from Renner South Dakota outqualifying the field, turning a lap at 15.647 seconds. He was the first car out for time and the track quickly slowed down on this night but still, his effort against many of the top drivers in the country can't be diminished. It has been apparent at both here and East Bay that the South Dakota team has picked up speed this year and he seems particularly adept at turning quick qualifying times, a good trait to have in open motor racing where much of the night's success is predicated on turning a good qualifying lap and starting up front in the qualifying heats. Nothdurft still has much to learn about racing but at least by starting up toward the front of events, he gives himself a much better chance at success.
The six Late Model heats would go much according to plan and it would be a power packed starting field for the twenty five lap feature race with Pierce and McCreadie sharing the front row. As seems to be the case much of the time here so far this week, the outside lane seems to be the best one to start in and McCreadie would get the jump and lead lap one. However, Pierce, looking to atone for Monday night's fade into the pack, would blast past McCreadie just one lap later to take over the lead.
Behind those two, a great battle raged among Kyle Bronson, Brandon Overton and Dale McDowell. They were soon joined by Hudson O'Neal who raced up from the sixth row to join them. McCreadie began to pick up the pace again as the front runners reached lapped traffic and Tim would duck under Pierce and retake the lead on lap twelve. Overton was really getting strong as he challenged Pierce for second.
The track was not racing as well as it did on Monday night with most of the drivers drifting down to the low side in the corners. The slower cars were running that same line and it produced a traffic jam of sorts as McCreadie and the other leaders had to decide whether to duck into line and putt around the bottom or make a bold move and try to pass up high. Several times McCreadie almost got stuck between a rock and a hard place and had to dive back to the bottom at the last second to hold off Pierce and Overton.
This issue was resolved with only five laps to go when Overton, with a legitimate chance at the win, would roll to a halt with a torn up tire and would need to pit, ending his chances of victory. With only five laps to go, a single file restart was called for which would seem to favor McCreadie. However, he couldn't predict that O'Neal, now up to fifth, would throw a "Hail Mary" on the restart, charging to the cushion and to most people's surprise, making it work like no one else had all week. He went tearing by Brandon Sheppard and Dale McDowell and then made Pierce his next victim as he raced into second.
He had a legitimate chance at victory on the final lap as McCreadie suddenly moved up the track too, but not to the extreme extent that O'Neal did. However, it was "do or die" for O'Neal and on this night he didn't survive as the cushion monster reached out and snagged his car, costing him time in turn one. And his attempt to overcome that set back just got even worse when he really got caught up in the turn three mud and slipped back even further.
Meanwhile, McCreadie was peddling as best he could in the middle of the track and O'Neal's slip up would allow him to drive home for the win. Pierce was able to slip under O'Neal off turn four as Hudson was trying to yank his car off the cushion and would take second. Sheppard would get a quiet fourth and Bronson would nip McDowell for fifth at the line.
There would be only the one yellow to slow the pace and only three drivers wouldn't be running at the finish, thus adding to the bottle neck at the back of the pack that almost snared McCreadie.
Twenty six USAC non winged Sprints would return for Tuesday night's show after a couple blew up on Monday night and called it a week. Three heats and B Feature would set their twenty two car starting field as four poor drivers were left on the sidelines come feature time. Just as in the Late Models, the first car out for time trials would set the quick time as Thomas Meseraull would be quickest at 16.482 seconds. I really thought that the Sprint Cars, on this big track, would be quicker than the Late Models but that proved to not be the case.
The Sprint feature would be provide an emotional moment for the eventual winner Pursley. Eighteen months ago he was severely injured in a Midget crash in Arizona and for quite some time, there was a question whether he would ever walk again, much less race a car. However, while still feeling some of the after effects from that crash, he has made a remarkable recovery and was even able to race some late last Fall.
However, his experience in Sprint Cars has been limited to a handful of starts but you would never have known that as he raced hard and smooth to edge out his buddy Emerson Axsom. Pursley would start on the pole and would take the early lead as the Sprints quickly dropped to the low groove on the track. A good battle for second saw Axsom, C.J. Leary and Meseraull battle for that spot. Eventually it would Axsom that would claim second and he would then close in on the leader.
Racing through traffic on nineteen, Pursley would slip off the bottom and Axsom would be right there to jump on the mistake and take over the lead. However, there was no quit in Pursley and he came right back to challenge for the lead. On lap twenty five, with just five laps to go, Axsom got hung up in traffic with his low side blocked and Pursley would spot that and power to the higher side of the track where few had ventured except the wild Robert Ballou.
Pursley would roar back around Axsom and retake the lead and then drive away in the final laps to take the win. Things were dicey at the end however, as his motor started to smoke badly and he crossed the finish line with a cloud of smoke coming from the sizzling engine. But he got the win, which was his first in USAC Sprint action. I don't know about you, but when I was eighteen, I wasn't racing Sprint Cars but both the winner and second place driver are exactly that age!
Leary would finish a strong third, ahead of Meseraull and Jake Swanson. Swanson's solid two night effort would earn him his first Gator as the overall champion of the short series here.
I must give credit to the USAC drivers that were on hand. They ran fifty five laps of feature race action over the two nights and had just one yellow flag during that time. Tuesday night's show was completed with only two yellows for their entire program to along with the nonstop main event as the non winged drivers seem to race each other with a bit more respect than the winged drivers seem to.
I felt it an odd pairing to be running USAC non winged Sprints with UMP Late Models but both sides seemed to make it work well with two smooth, organized and well run programs that produced good racing and also quick shows that were done by 10 pm both nights. There is not much more than that to be asked for.
The Sprint Cars of USAC are now headed to Bubba Raceway Park starting on Thursday for their first point nights of the 2023 racing season. I especially want to thank Richie Murray of USAC for his help and as usual, enjoyed hearing Chet Christner call the action.
For the Late Models, the DIRTcar portion of their week ends on Wednesday night with a new event for them. On hand will be a triple header feature program with all drivers being divided up into three groups, then qualifying and everyone runs a twenty five lap feature. I have already heard that the Late Model drivers have not been particularly receptive to this format so it will be interesting to see who races, who doesn't and who whines!
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