The 49th annual DIRTcar Nationals continued on Tuesday night, February 11th at the Volusia Speedway Park near Barberville Florida. It was the second night of UMP Late Model racing plus the final headliner division of DIRT Motorsports, the Big Block Modifieds, joined the field on Tuesday night for the first of five nights of racing for that division. The last five nights of racing will feature a two division program of the Late Models and Big Blocks.
It was another spectacular night for racing at Volusia as temperatures were again in the eighties with abundant sunshine and many people are already wondering whether or not they can really convince themselves that they really need to jump in that car or plane and travel back home to some place where the weather is really a lot worse. For me, I will just enjoy those moments that I have left down here. And while everyone is reveling in the great weather, it took a couple of racers from far up North to find victory lane in Tuesday night's main event. Specifically, drivers from Ontario Canada and snowy upstate New York took home the winning checks, thus giving just another reason to be happy they are in the sun.
Forty eight Late Models were on hand for Tuesday night's show as the field for this class has pretty much filled out now to what it will be for its maximum. Drivers making their first laps of the week at Volusia included the Scott brothers from New Mexico, Josh Richards, Kyle Strickler, Parker Martin, Mike Marlar, Jonathan Davenport and Brent Larson who just arrived on the grounds this pm while the others were on hand Monday but chose not to race.
Tyler Bruening's rig is still on the grounds but it is clear that he is done racing for the week with his transporter surrounded by a pile of discarded and mangled body parts(from the car, not him to be clear). Likewise, the rigs of Vic Hill and Mason Zeigler are still in the pits also but it isn't clear whether they plan on racing any more this week.
Six heat races and three Last Chance races would set the field with Chase Junghans and Allen Weisser getting the UMP provisionals on this night. Only the heat race winners would redraw with everyone else starting straight up from their heat race finishes. Like every time trial show, getting a quick lap and then winning a heat race is vital as with the quality of the field, big charges through the field don't happen very often and a top two row starting spot is almost mandatory to expecting a win.
Tuesday feature race, which saw Tim McCreadie lead all thirty laps was quite frankly a much better race than that story line would indicate. The race itself was quite entertaining from start to finish. McCreadie got the jump on Brandon Sheppard and Sheppard then spent thirty laps trying to figure out how to get around the talented New Yorker who had many extra fans in the stands based on his days running Big Blocks in the Northeast before he settled on a Late Model career.
Sheppard drew close on several occasions but he just couldn't quite get the speed and find a line that would allow him to catch McCreadie. Meanwhile, as these two battled, the race for third was just as good as Dennis Erb and Kyle Bronson went back and forth for that spot, swapping the position on several occasions. In fact, when McCreadie reached the back of the pack and got slowed down slightly, the third and fourth place cars nearly caught the leaders and we had a legitimate four car race for the lead. And it couldn't be overlooked either that Jonathan Davenport was closing fast too.
However, just when it looked like we were in for an epic finish with the top four getting very close to each other, the lone yellow of the race flew when Mark Whitener slowed on the back chute. And the last ten laps was quite frankly, disappointing. The track seemed to change after the yellow and while I don't think it locked down, the one groove in the middle of the track seemed to get distinctly better and everyone pretty much lined up and followed each other in what was the speedy lane. Bronson tried to go high and it very nearly cost him third but it did hold off Erb for the spot.
Sheppard had nothing for McCreadie and in fact, "T-Mac" pulled away in the final laps for what was a very popular victory with his winning margin .502 seconds. All his Big Block buddies loved the win and McCreadie is one of the most popular drivers in the pits, seemingly much more approachable and personable than many of the other so called "super stars" of the sport. For McCreadie, it is his third win of the southern swing, one with each of the tracks that he has raced at. and it put a stop to Sheppard's five race winning streak here at Volusia. There was only one yellow and two cars that didn't finish the smoothly run event.
The Big Blocks brought down thirty five cars from the Northeast to do battle on night one of their five night run. Canadian driver Matt Williamson, continuing a hot streak that saw him win the Super DIRT series title last Fall, led from start to finish to take the win. The Big Blocks didn't even bother to redraw on this night as they started the main straight up out of heat race finishes with the heats set by qualifying time with of course, the fast cars up front.
Williamson took off right at the start of the thirty lapper and there was no one that had much in the way of a challenge to him. Erick Rudolph made a nice charge forward after starting ninth and got up to second but he could never really manage a push on Williamson. All eyes were on Steward Friesen who after having a bad heat race that saw him drop several spots, came charging up from nineteenth to eventually get up to fourth. He was still on the move when the checkered flag waved as he likely could have gotten further forward but ran out of laps.
Every time it seemed like someone was ready to move in on Williamson, he stepped up the pace and again put some distance between himself and the pack. This race also ran remarkably smooth with a single yellow flag for an Andy Bachetti slowing car on lap fourteen.
Heavy lapped traffic was the concern near the end of the race but Williamson navigated it well with seven cars a lap arrears at the end and two lapped cars between himself and Rudolph. Anthony Perrego ran third with Larry Wight completing the top five. Only Bachetti failed to complete the thirty lap distance with all racing completed before 10 pm, despite the half hour late starting time due to repeated hot lap sessions for the Big Blocks while the Late Models got no hot laps at all with their first appearance on the track being for time trials so they really needed to have their act together from the moment they hit the track. It's funny that at the local track, drivers will scream bloody murder if they aren't allowed to hot lap, even if it's for a regular show, while here they hit the track with the evening's success on the line immediately.
The track was much drier than it was for Monday night's show and while it was much dirtier in the grandstands, we were rewarded with a much better racing program that saw more passing, racing and for the competitors, not nearly as much wrecked equipment which is key to keeping them running and making it through the week. Things were much quieter in the pits on Tuesday night although G.R. Smith and team were changing a motor after a repeated motor oil leak problem has forced them to go to a back up power plant.
I am not much of a technical guy but there has been much talk about the so called "droop rule" for the Late Models this week. After the show there was another meeting called for by track officials to announce that there would be a new way of measuring the cars to ensure that the rule was being enforced correctly. This set off quite a bit of discussion and the pits were still "buzzing" about this when I left.
Every flagman in the country should get a video and watch DIRT starter Dave Farney in action. This guy really knows what he's doing and he puts on a show that is entertaining for the fans and informative for the drivers. MOST starters have now long forgotten that they are part of the show and while they shouldn't be "THE SHOW", there's no reason that their part of the program shouldn't be memorable. Flagmen that just dangle the flags off the front of the flagstand and don't actually wave them, and just turn on the caution lights and don't even bother to wave the yellow flag really annoy me.
At the Big Block driver's meeting today, officials reminded the teams that are pitted surrounding the "Gator Pond" to keep an eye on their small kids and pets. The two gators currently cruising the pond are reported to be an eight footer and a twelve footer!!! Guess I won't go wading in that water!
Wednesday night the action increases in intensity as the Late Models switch over to World of Outlaws sanctioning and the point chase begins.
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