Friday night the racers got down to business at the Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway with the first of two full programs that will wrap up the season for DIRT Motorsports and their three major series, the World of Outlaws Sprints and Late Models and the Super Dirt Car series for the Big Block Modifieds. Of course, with two of the three series featuring very close point races, the points battles contain just as much drama to them as the feature races themselves.
Friday night's program would consist of heat races for the Big Blocks that were rained out on Thursday night along with their feature race along with full programs for the Late Models and Sprint Cars.
Every car that was on hand to qualify on Thursday night returned, with the lone exception being the Big Block of Marcus Dinkins who blew his motor on Thursday night and rolled out a back up car belonging to another driver that Dinkins raced on Friday night so all one hundred and sixty drivers again raced the four tenths mile oval.
Controversy started early in the Modified heats which were first on the agenda when long time fan favorite Brett Hearn, who announced this week that he would drastically cut back on his racing program for next year to get into track management at a New York track, was scheduled to start on the pole for the third heat. However, he was called for some kind of an unauthorized work done to his car as the race was waiting to be called on to the track and he was sent to the back of the pack. He instead, pulled off the track and went to speak to management. Later in the same heat, point contender Matt Williamson was also called for a jump and set back a row, allowing Matt Sheppard to win this race and pull out to a small lead in the Modified point battle as they award points in heats for this class.
Later, during the Sprint heats, points leader Brad Sweet was set back on row for jumping the start of a heat while in the previous heat race Donny Schatz was moved to the pole when Kerry Madsen was also called for a jump. This was too much for the conspiracy theorists in the crowd who were set to howling about how they were trying to just give the title to Schatz. However, the "black helicopters" flew away and the races were allowed to continue.
While there were certainly some hard fought and intense battles for some of the qualifying positions with only three from each of the Late Model and Sprint heats moving on, starting positions were of the ultimate importance based on time trials. Shockingly, of the sixteen heat races run over the three divisions, all SIXTEEN were won off the front row. A fan of a typical Saturday night point invert race program would probably wonder when the excitement was starting as one would probably see more passes in a one class program than was demonstrated here all night. But what you sow, so shall you reap and as long as you sell out fourteen thousand seats plus thousands more in the pits, there is no urgency to change anything.
The Big Block feature was first up on the race order on Friday night and to save time, all B Features for this class were cancelled. Thus, all thirty eight cars would start the forty lap main event. While this would seem to be a recipe for disaster, this class is more used to starting huge fields of cars and the large number of cars in this main didn't affect the number of yellow flags. What did was the apparent poor lasting qualities of the tires on the cars as all six yellows were the result of flat tires by the racers.
Things started out with a stunning development when Sheppard, holding the slimmest of leads in the points, got sideways in turn two on the first lap. A near disaster was avoided when another car straightened him out but the damage was done when he slowed with a flat tire on lap three. The exact cause of him getting sideways can't be reported as a group of rude Modified fans chose to stand during the start of this race so whether Sheppard just "stepped on it" couldn't be determined. The Big Block fans stand out by far as one of the rudest crowds seen anywhere at standing in front of other people and "hogging" seats but perhaps that is just my East Coast bias.
Billy Decker led the first twenty two laps of the main until he rolled to a halt with a flat tire and gave up the lead to Jimmy Phelps. This yellow was the fourth of the event, all for flat tires.
Phelps led the rest of the way to record the win. Late in the race Erik Rudolph looked like he might challenge for the lead but Phelps remained strong following the last two restarts to record the win. Rudolph finished a strong second with Larry Wight third. Williamson finished fifth while Sheppard did a good job of racing back to tenth from the back of the pack to minimize the damage to his points battle. However, he will go into Saturday night's finale down eighteen points to Williamson.
It was a "Bloomer" night in the Late Models with the tandem of Chris Madden and Scott Bloomquist finishing first and second in their fifty lap main event. Jonathan Davenport led the first thirty one laps of the feature race, but following a yellow flag for a slowing car, Madden drove past Davenport to take over the lead. After that, he just motored away from the pack and in a seemingly balanced field, he didn't even have to lap a car in the final nineteen laps.
Brandon Sheppard made the biggest charge of the race as he started thirteenth and motored up to sixth as he was one of the few to use the banking and pass cars on the high side. Unfortunately, soon after the last yellow, the track started to take rubber and everyone quickly migrated to the bottom of the track and hung out there.
On the last lap, Davenport made a bold move to run up the banking as he stated that second and third didn't make any difference as he wasn't chasing points and was just there to win. However, the move just gave the second spot to Bloomquist as there was just nothing to be had on the top side of the track. The World of Outlaws regulars were embarrassed as they have been most times in open shows this year with Cade Dillard getting fifth to top the WoO drivers.
With the track taking rubber for the end of the Late Model race, I was worried that the Sprint feature would be a farce. In fact, the laps for this race were cut from thirty to twenty five with my assumption being that they were worried about track conditions destroying tires. However, it was not in any way as the Sprint drivers found a way to race the whole track, with many settling for the bottom in three in four and the top side in the first corner.
David Gravel did lead the entire race to take the win but he was challenged at one point by Aaron Reutzel until Dave Blaney broke right in front of the leaders and sent them all scrambling with Reutzel being the big loser.
Schatz and Sweet were interesting to watch as they fought their way to the front, with Schatz getting up to second and Sweet fifth. They will go into Saturday night's finale to the season with a two point margin between the two so essentially whoever beats the other to the line on Saturday will be the point winner. Heat races and making the dash so as to garner an up front starting spot will be key.
Unlike some years where the racing would continue into the wee hours, the show was completed by 10 pm on Friday night. This place is notorious for its dust problem and that was a major focus by World Dirt officials in the weeks before the race. I'm not sure if they got everything right but I can say that we did not get blanketed in dirt like some years. However, a stiff wind at our back might have been the real cause of us not getting pelted with dust as there was still plenty of it in the air. In fact, it was so heavy that at one point it was impossible to see the front stretch during the Modified feature. The gritty red clay is also apparently still very abrasive as I assume this is the reason for all the flat tires.
It was also the coldest finale that I can remember in the years that I have been attending this event. With temperatures dipping into the low thirties, it was a cold, cold night and the wind chill did not help in that regard.
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