Phelps and Madden Top Saturday Night Finales at VSP "Rubber Races"

The DIRTcar Nationals would conclude its run on Saturday night, February 19th at the Volusia Speedway Park with one last doubleheader event for the Big Block Modifieds and World of Outlaws Late Models. Winners for the evening on a track that was severely "rubbered up" would be Jimmy Phelps and Chris Madden. 

It was a very cool finale to a long week of racing but another large crowd would be on hand to catch the longest race of the week for the Big Blocks as they went fifty laps on Saturday night while the Late Models would wrap up their week with another forty lap main event. 

Car counts would remain strong this year right through the completion of the last program with thirty eight Big Blocks and fifty seven Late Models still in the pits to make one last attempt before everyone scatters home and gets ready for the rest of the racing season. 

The program format would be identical to previous nights with the Modifieds taking to the track first on Saturday with the week long rotation complete. Phelps would be quick qualifier for the Big Blocks as he would eventually put together a nearly perfect night while Ricky Thornton Jr would be quickest for the Late Models while on his way to a mediocre night. 

It didn't take long to see that there was going to be a problem on this night. Quite simply, there just wasn't enough water on the track on Saturday for whatever reason with the dust flying early during hot laps and the groove starting to move down the track and the surface taking rubber very early. Two lengthy track prep sessions, both before the Late Model Last Chance races and again between the two feature races only helped minimally and briefly as the damage had already been done hours before and there would be no salvaging their mistake on this night. The result was, sadly, a couple of poor feature races which included a Big Block race that turned into a farce at the end, costing much of the good will and positive thoughts that had been built up by a week of good racing and varied winners. 

That final part would be the only positive salvation of this night with Jimmy Phelps and Chris Madden winning their first mains of the week and making it a complete sweep for varied winners as there were no repeat winners in either the Big Blocks or the WoO Late Models during the series here this week, very unusual and in the case of the Big Blocks, unprecedented. 

Phelps would draw the pole for the Big Block feature and he would lead all fifty laps to win the top honors. And not only did he win a "Little Gator" for his feature win, his consistent runs all week would also allow him to go home with the "Big Gator" as the week long point champion. 

Phelps would get the early jump on Adam Pierson for the lead with Matt Sheppard eventually taking over that spot. The field would go for eighteen laps before the yellow would slow things down and by that time, the track was hard locked down and Phelps was wisely trying to set a pace that would keep him from catching the back of the pack where he might be forced into making a move and perhaps getting out of the rubber. 

The first seven or so drivers just got into line and rode around the track, waiting to see if anyone would slip out of line while more importantly, trying to keep their tires under them as tire wear would be a key component to finishing the race. 

Things were moving along smoothly if indeed uneventful until Kyle Coffey slowed with a flat tire with just nine laps left in the race. This would be the portent of things to come and through the rest of the race, it turned into a tire wear fiasco and a farce of a race. While Phelps was able to keep his tires under him and just enough tread on them to keep them from blowing, much of his competition wasn't able to to the same thing. During the last nine laps, Sheppard, Marc Johnson, Mat Williamson, Pierson, Jake Lehner, Demetrious Drellos and Peter Britten, all contenders, rolled to a halt with flat right rears as the yellow waved eight times during the last nine laps of the race, disgusting the crowd while cries came to just throw the checkered, which in fairness they truly couldn't although it would have been nice. 

For sideshow entertainment, a fight broke out on pit road between a couple of teams with an explanation of just what triggered the dustup hard to figure. Finally, the field was able to get the last lap run on a green and checkered finish and Phelps nursed his car, with cords showing on the right rear, home for the win. Larry Wight and Stewart Friesen would finish behind him, two of the few that also didn't burn up a tire. 

For Phelps it was a great week with consistent finishes, his first win and the Big Gator going to him. No repeat winners emerged and the poor final show was not a true reflection of the fine racing that had gone on during the week previously. 

The track was "ripped" for a second time following the Big Block feature for the Late Model finale and it gave the racers a precious few laps of racing before it locked back down once again and the drivers all lined up single file. 

Dale McDowell looked like he just might be the first repeat winner as he took the lead over Max Blair and would lead the first sixteen laps. Mike Marlar would start out hot, passing Madden and moving up but Chris would soon get back around Marlar and pressure Blair for second. 

McDowell caught the back of the pack and he had to make a tough decision whether to try and pass the slower cars and where indeed to go on the track to do so. His choice didn't work as he tried to move higher around the slower cars and he got trapped with Madden surging forward to take over the lead. 

And just after that the yellow waved, the track got even more one groove and the outcome was pretty much determined. Two more yellows would occur in the next ten laps but series officials, correctly so, lined the cars up single file for the restarts as the rubbered up surface would have been unfair for anyone on the outside lane for a restart. 

However, this just promoted the "train" and Madden would drive smart and conservative, maintaining his lead over Blair but not pushing the issue. Madden would drive on for the win and become another new winner for the Late Models this week while Blair would get out of the rubber on the last lap, costing him two spots as both Marlar and McDowell would get past him. Only five drivers would not complete the ceremonial tire smoking adventure as it was a shame that after a largely good week of racing things would end on a downer note. 

Devin Moran was not a factor all night but he would salvage the "Big Gator" as his competitors for that title all had bad luck or poor performances during the night. 

However, despite the less than scintillating conclusion to the week of racing, overall it was pretty darn good. Car counts held up very well and it's always a good thing with varied winners. Crowds were monstrous most nights, leading all to be hopeful for the upcoming season. 

Thanks need to go out to all the helpful WoO employees that made this a good week of racing and all the track workers who were the real heroes with their long hours and tireless efforts. I also need to send out a special thanks to "Super" Dave Wohnourka for all his help at various tracks during this Florida adventure.    

Dennis Erb and McLaughlin get First VSP Wins

 The DIRTcar Nationals would continue at Volusia Speedway Park  on Friday night, February 18th under mostly sunny skies and continued warm temperatures as things have improved here toward the later half of the week. The World Of Outlaws Late Models would be at it again on Friday along with round four of the Big Block Modified action. 

Friday night would find car counts going in opposite directions as somewhat surprisingly, the Late Model count continues to build while the Big Block numbers slipped a bit between necessary driver absences and mechanical issues that shut down a couple teams. The Late Models would find a week long high with fifty nine signing in to race with nearly everyone that has raced here this week still on hand plus Pennsylvania's Michael Norris caught a ride in Jeff Mathews back up car. And Norris was quite impressive as he managed to make the main later against that big field. 

The Big Blocks were down to thirty seven cars with the most notable absence being top contender Stewart Friesen  who was at the "Big Track" taking on the field in the NASCAR Truck event. He is, however, expected to return for the finale on Saturday. 

The night's action produced a "feel good" finish as the "Everyman favorite", Illinois' Dennis Erb Jr, the "One Man Band" along with his long time cohort Heather Lynn, would hold off a strong field of drivers to get his second win of the Florida races and add ten grand to his checking account. He would also become the fifth different winner this week here.  In the Big Blocks, continued balance was shown as for the fourth straight night, a new winner emerged with Max McLaughlin return to the powerful Al Heinke team producing their first win of the week. 

There were some changes going on in the Late Model pits as several weeks or wear and tear plus some disappoints in performance have seen some make changes. Josh Richards, who has struggled mightily this week, actually put his doors on one of Boom Briggs cars' and tried that on Friday. He still ended up having to rely on a provisional start and barely eked out a top twenty finish. 

Brandon Overton had to go to a back up car after blowing two engines in his primary car this week. He was, however, still fast as he set quick time of the night by nearly three tenth of a second over the rest of the field. He also won a great heat race duel over Chris Madden and would be challenging for second in the feature until a flat tire would end any chances of victory. Another very fast car here this week, that of Ashton Winger, would also see his changes fade early with his own tire issues. 

The usual format of six heats and three Last Chance races would set the running order for the forty lap main and once again, several of the WoO regulars would struggle and need provisional or emergency provisional starts in order to make the main. This would swell the starting field to thirty cars once again as the regular WoO racers continue to take a beating from all the traveling stars in Florida in February. 

Erb Jr, however, is a WoO regular and while one wouldn't expect the veteran driver of the short tracks in Illinois to be at his best on a big track like VSP, he would show his mettle on this night, leading all but one lap when he was passed by another Illinois driver, Brandon Sheppard, for just a single lap. 

Erb Jr would get the jump on yet another Illinois driver, Frankie Heckenast, at the start and lead the first twenty two laps of the race. He was hotly pursued by Overton and Darrell Lanigan in the early going until Sheppard got up on the banking and started to move forward. B-Shepp's week has been an up and down one but he looked like the high side was finally going to work for him on this night. Following the yellow for Winger's tire issue, Sheppard would blow past both Lanigan and Overton and take over second and begin to close on Erb Jr. 

Finally, on lap twenty three, Sheppard surged into the lead down the front chute. However, Erb Jr fought right back and would retake the lead and as has happened so often in this month, Sheppard started to make a slow fade the last half of the race. 

Erb Jr most had to worry about Chase Junghans the last ten laps of the race. Junghans, who started out his Florida campaign by running miserably, has really picked up his game the last couple of nights and as the laps ran down, he was closing quickly on Erb Jr with a couple of lapped cars in the way. It really looked like Dennis might be vulnerable to a last lap charge but fortunately for him, Spencer Hughes, who had been running at the back of the pack and in Erb Jr's groove, pulled high up the track in turn three and Dennis was able to pass him. I don't know if Hughes got a signal or he just felt he might be in the way, but his move was key to Erb Jr having to avoid a possible showdown. 

For Erb Jr, it was his second win so far this year in Florida, perhaps almost matching the number of wins already that he usually gets during a year. Erb Jr seldom gets wins but he is a steady runner and a driver that races a huge number of events each year and has been doing so for a long time as the ultimate blue collar racer minus the big backing of some teams. Any win by him is always a popular one for the fans who understand his grit and determination, year after year. Lanigan would continue his strong runs of the week too with a top three finish. Darrell, who has gone through highs and lows in this sport too, seems to have a good handle on what could be a great rebound year for him. 

Tonight's order of events would find the Big Blocks wrapping up the night with their thirty lap main event. Twenty six of them would take the green flag and a new winner would emerge when "Mad" Max McLaughlin would grab the lead for good on lap seventeen and then hold of his team mate Jimmy Phelps for the win. 

McLaughlin had shown speed early, timing in quickest and being just one of two drivers under eighteen seconds in qualifying. But even though he started in the front row, he was beat in the early going by Demetrios Drellos who would get the jump on him and lead the opening eleven laps. Mat Williamson would get by him for second also but a key yellow when Matt Sheppard slowed with a flat tire was key to his success. 

He got a great restart and edged past Williamson and then pulled in to challenge Drellos for the lead. They ran hard, side by side for a couple laps before McLaughlin could claim the top spot. Phelps would pick up the pace, getting past Larry Wight for third and then challenging Williamson for second. 

The top three were running close together when the final yellow waved with only six laps to go when Peter Britten had bad luck for the second time in the race as a tire went down. 

The restart was key as Williamson got a great break, too good as it turned out as he was called for a jump and moved back one spot, moving Phelps to second for another attempt to get the race back under green. 

The final laps would see McLaughlin in control as he would lead Phelps and a perturbed Williamson home for the win. One two of the starters were not around on the track at the finish. 

With spectacular starter Dave Farney absent from the tower on this night, Larry Woodruff would step and fill his shoes admirably on a night when he would eat more dust than at any other time this week. 

It was announced at the driver's meetings that a prayer service for pit personnel would be held on Saturday. Ironically it will be held in turn one at the Beer Tent!  Attendance is expected to be spectacular. 

As the week runs down, officials are really starting to get things figured out as to how to save time. The first race took the green shortly after 7 pm and all racing was complete shortly after 10 pm. Saturday night will see ten extra laps tacked on to each of the feature races. 

The crowd was massive again on Friday night as it has been all week and it seems to me that most of the entire Florida adventure has seen big crowds on hand, hopefully a portent of the season to come in the rest of the country. 

McDowell and Williamson VSP Winners

 Thursday night, February 17th, the DIRTcar Nationals continued at Volusia Speedway Park with a doubleheader program for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series and the Big Block Modifieds. Dale McDowell would win the Late Model feature, marking his second win at VSP this year,  having won the only Sunshine Series race to be completed back in January before a makeup feature from that weekend was won last night by Ashton Winger. The Modifieds continued to provide some very balanced racing and exciting finishes as Mat Williamson, the Canadian driver, would fight off several late race challenges for the win. 

The weather is finally improving here in Florida with temperatures pushing 80 degrees and the sun showing for a goodly portion of the day. It figures that as the time here grows short, the weather would finally start to improve after quite a few days that were somewhat on the disappointing side. 

I was wrong last night in my prediction that the car counts would start to fade as of today as exactly the same number  of cars were on hand to compete as raced on Wednesday night, fifty eight Late Models and forty two of the Big Blocks. The race format would be exactly the same as the one used earlier this week except in the rotation, on Thursday the Modifieds would run first. And after some struggles, track officials are now figuring out how to move things along just a bit better as the first heat was presented to the fans as 7:30 pm, which was an improvement over some days. However, they continue to have a fascination with hot lap sessions as they continue to put lots of needless laps on the racing surface with lengthy hot lap sessions night after night which requires nearly two full hours by the time hot laps and qualifying has been completed. 

The six heat races for the Late Models would produce a couple surprises with very strong runs by Kyle Hammer and Blair Nothdurft and Hammer was far from over with his heat race win. Ricky Thornton Jr also got the crowd on their feet with his last corner pass of Darrell Lanigan to steal a heat race victory. Three smoothly raced Last Chance races that all ran green to checkered would keep everyone intact while setting the grid for the forty lap feature race. 

Once again WoO had to exceed their preseason declaration that they wouldn't run more than twenty eight cars in a main event because there were so many emergency provisional starters needed(translation, WoO regulars that couldn't make the show by racing their way in including Boom, Gustin, B1 Bomber, Gundaker, Kid Rocket and Blair) that thirty car would take the green flag for the main event. And even on this spacious track, thirty cars gets to be a lot of traffic, especially during the early laps when everyone has the desire to go to the front immediately and they are running three wide down the front chute which isn't that wide. but everyone navigated the situation well and while there were six yellows during the event, all were either for spinning cars or flat tires. 

Rookie driver Kyle Hammer shocked nearly everyone on the grounds by getting the jump on Brandon Overton on lap one. We will never know whether Overton could have caught the young Illinois driver as Overton's night ended in another cloud of smoke on lap two, to the audible groans of many in the crowd. Two blown motors in two nights tests the patience and pocket books of even the best of teams and the long and thick trail of oil behind the car clearly showed that this was not some minor failure. It will be interesting to see if the Wells team has another bullet to drop in for Friday or if they call it a week. 

Meanwhile, up front Hammer continued to dazzle. He fought off big attempts to take over the lead by Ricky Thornton Jr and Mark Whitener and actually stretched his lead over the next twelve laps or so. However, Chris Madden was starting to track him down when a slowing Mike Marlar from contact that gave him a flat, closed up the field once again. 

And as we have seen over and over this week, most of the key passes for position have come directly after yellow flag slowdowns. And it happened once again as Hammer and Madden went side by side for the lead and Dale McDowell found a hole between them and drove into the lead. Hammer would get shuffled back a few positions and his night would eventually end after a turn four spin. The rookie appears to be picking things up quickly but unfortunately, he also has quickly learned the art of "the Whine", blaming someone else for crowding him out of the lead instead of "owning" the fact that he just flat got passed. 

In any event, from that point on, McDowell would lead the rest of the contest to get his second win here at VSP this year. He would withstand the challenge of two more yellow flags and a storming Devin Moran at the end to hold on for the win. 

Late in the race, McDowell caught the back of the field, and with the preferred line low on the track and the slower cars hanging out in that same line, McDowell was slowed and Moran was charging. On the final lap, McDowell again paused leaving turn two and actually got up the track a bit which gave Moran a good run at him. Devin went for broke, trying the outside in turn three but there was nothing on the top and he gave up several car lengths as McDowell drove home for the win. Darrell Lanigan would have a nice run as he moved from twelfth to complete the top three. 

This kind of high speed track seems to be one that McDowell shines on, and he has had a number of big wins here. I do not know McDowell but he gives a nice and reasoned interview and seems like a genuine southern gentleman. 

Twenty three drivers would complete the contest and all would still be on the lead lap. More troubles for Kyle Strickler, who remains fast but just can't complete a race. 

I have not seen the Big Block Modifieds race a huge number of times before but I have caught them in action at several different tracks but I would have to say that to this point, they are producing the most impressive series of races I have even seen them complete in. They have raced for three nights now, have produced three different winners, had two terrific shows along with tonight's that was very good also but perhaps didn't have quite as much last lap drama as the previous two, and have run off events with very few yellow flag slowdowns, a perfect formula for entertainment. 

There was drama tonight also as Stewart Friesen, a prohibitive favorite every time he hits the track, was late arriving because of his duties at the Daytona "Big Track" as he prepares for the Truck race on Friday night, which will require that he miss the Friday night show. Also, Matt Sheppard, as fast a driver as there is in Modified racing, has looked, quite frankly, terrible so far here this week and apparently, has had enough of it as he rolled out a second car and sent his other car packing in the rig of Dave Rauscher. Interestingly, despite being a multi time Mr. DIRT Big Block champion, Sheppard travels in a small trailer with room for only one race car, unlike many of his competitors. 

However, both handled the issues at hand well as Friesen arrived in time to run his heat where he came from the back to make the redraw on a last lap pass of Mike Mahaney and Sheppard looked much better too, qualifying well and making the redraw of the top two finishers in each of the four heat races. 

The Modified feature would be another excellent showing for the Big Blocks. Friesen would take the early lead but would only lead for one lap before being passed by Mat Williamson. The race was slowed early when Jeremiah Shingledecker slammed the fourth turn wall and badly damaged his car. However, this would be the only slowdown of the race and Jeremiah would be the only driver in the twenty six car field not to finish. 

Williamson would continue to lead but Friesen was lucking close behind, nearly passing on each and every corner until Williamson would continue to edge ahead down the chutes. Just at the halfway point, Friesen would again edge into the lead but Williamson would fight back past him as both drivers executed clean and exciting slide jobs on each other. 

As the drivers moved toward slower traffic, they got bunched up again while suddenly, Max McLaughlin, who started seventh, was closing fast. He drove around Friesen and set his sites on on Williamson, nearly edging past as they raced down the front chute. However, Williamson was up on the wheel himself, and he won the race with some brilliant driving through the slower traffic. Not afraid to move up off the bottom, he picked off five slower cars to strengthen his lead. 

Meanwhile, last night's winner Peter Britten was on a rush, as he made it a five car wad going for the lead and in the last few laps, gained a couple of positions. Williamson would have a five lapped car cushion over McLaughlin at the finish with Britten charging up to third. Sheppard would have his best run for fourth and Friesen would fade back to fifth after his early challenge for the lead. Again, the Big Blocks would show me more than I had previously seen from them with only one non finisher, one yellow flag in thirty laps and plenty of good, close side by side racing as I think they have been the stars of the week to this point, edging out the Late Models so far. 

Speaking of the Big Blocks, they have a great spokesman for their series doing some guest announcing as Brett "The Corporate Jet" Hearn, a Hall of Fame driver and now promoter at Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown New York, has been providing color commentary for the races the last couple of nights. He is well spoken and provides insight for the fans in the stands, many of whom aren't Big Bock knowledgeable fans. 

Head Starter Dave Farney had a fan in the stands to thank on Thursday as he avoided a potentially embarrassing moment. The checkered flag blew down off the flag stand and landed below him but a nice fan retrieved it for Farney and Dave was able to reach back and grab it when he needed it to complete a heat race. He acknowledged the fan and both received applause from the spectators. 

I'm not sure how many people recognized him as he walked the grounds on Thursday night, but one of Iowa's many Dirt Late Model Hall of Famers, Ed Sanger, was in attendance at VSP.

Special thanks to My Race Pass's Josh Rosen for providing us with some tools that will go to great use as the racing season progresses. If you are a fan of racing or if you own a race track and aren't using My Race Pass, you need to update yourself and start using one of the most handy tools ever conceived for use at a race track. 

Britten Wins Another Modified Thriller; Overton and Winger Split Late Model Wins

 The DIRTcar Nationals reached its midweek point on Wednesday night, February 16th with a doubleheader show featuring the World of Outlaws Late Models and the Big Block center steer Modifieds. The Modifieds would be in action with their second thirty lap feature of the week while we would get to see a rare, doubleheader run for the Late Models with a regularly scheduled forty lap event plus a left over, makeup forty lapper from the Sunshine Nationals also run here at VSP last month. 

The Modifieds are overachieving this week with another dandy feature race that would be won on the final lap by Aussie Peter Britten while the Late Model mains would be split between Brandon Overton who barely held on to take the opener while Ashton Winger used a very impressive run to dominate the Sunshine makeup feature. 

We learned that surprisingly, while there was no rain along the Coast, inland at the track there were scattered rain showers until about Noon but by race time the skies had cleared and it would be a nice night for racing. It has, however, been a somewhat disappointing week as far as the weather has been concerned with not much sun and temperatures not as high as hoped for. We are, however, racing in February and that I guess should be enough for all of us. 

The Late Model field would grow to fifty eight cars on Wednesday night with the addition of a couple more new drivers. This would, I'm guessing, probably be the largest field we will see this week as blown motors and teams rolling out back up cars are starting to increase and there were a few haulers that pulled out of the pits following the show, most prominently Earl Pearson Jr who I point out mostly because his rig is so easy to determine. 

Ashton Winger used two cars on this night along with Brandon Sheppard, Kyle Bronson replaced a motor along with Shane Clanton and there would be several more motors including Ricky Thornton Jr who would blow up while leading a heat race and park it for the night. Clanton would also have to hammer out his car after clipping the wall in hot laps.  The track has been so fast and it must be brutal on the equipment as the motors don't even get much time to breath and with back to back forty lappers with very little break, plus all the bouncing around at high speed through the increasingly rugged turn one bumps, man and machine would be tested on this night. 

In what will likely be the last car additions of the week, Tanner English moved over to his own car for the start tonight of the WoO points here this week but that surprisingly left the very strong running #99 car, a top three finisher last night, sitting in the pits with apparently no driver. Hudson O'Neal made his first start of the week and he would eventually get top five finishes in both feature races. Caeden was brought in to drive Reid Millard's car on this night while Millard broke out a different Black Diamond car to try for himself. The Scott brothers pulled out of the pits having not even unloaded as they were likely on a sad funeral trip back to Oklahoma.

Tonight would mark the first appearance of Case Construction Equipment as the title sponsor of the World of Outlaws Late Model series since the recent announcement that they would be replaced Morton Buildings as the main backer of the series. The race tonight would run under the same format as used in recent nights with qualifying, six heat races, three B Features and the forty lap main event. The most marked difference would come when provisional starters were appointed as WoO has a different way of ascertaining who makes the show as a provisional as opposed to UMP.

The first Late Model feature start a big field of thirty cars with those just mentioned provisional starters helping to balloon the field. The green flag would see Chris Madden get the initial jump but before a lap could be scored, Kyle Strickler surged past him and took over the lead. Strickler would set a torrid pace, bouncing through the holes and launching his car on several occasions. It would be a question of not whether he was fast or not but whether the car would hold up or he wouldn't stick it into the wall first. 

A couple of contenders were eliminated early when Mike Marlar got a flat tire and Dale McDowell spun after contact from Madden. Then, on lap sixteen, Strickler rolled to a halt, the driveline not able to withstand the brutal treatment it was receiving. 

Madden would inherit the lead but on the restart, Brandon Overton flew past him to take over the top spot and as we have seen so far this week, the easiest time to make a pass is following a restart on this high speed track. At the halfway point, Overton would continue to lead Madden and Devin Moran who had worked his way forward after starting ninth. The first half of the race was problematic with seven yellow flag slowdowns but then things would settle down and the last half of the race would go green to checkered. 

Overton would dominate the second half of the race although as the laps ran down, Moran, who had moved to second, would slowly start to eat into Overton's advantage as he worked through traffic. The race was reaching its conclusion when smoke started to appear from the car of Overton and it was clear he was having some major motor issues. The smoke got heavier and heavier and the lead margin began to shrink considerably. It seemed questionable whether he could last but the motor held on just long enough for him to cross the line with an .8 second win over Moran. The car likely wouldn't have lasted another lap as he pulled into victory lane with the car coated in oil and covered with smoke and steam. He had "cooked it" for sure. Brandon Sheppard had quite a ride of his own, having taken his back up car from twenty fifth to third in a combination of passed cars and drop outs. 

The Late Models would get a break but it was a short one as the Modified feature clicked off thirty laps in quick fashion. The make up feature, from January 21st, was required when the Sunshine Nationals, the first races of the new Outlaws season, were plagued by track conditions and two days of rain with this feature, that had already determined its starting field, needing to be postponed to this week for its completion. Therefore, there were some drivers that raced in both events but some that had qualified for the makeup race that didn't run the first feature of the night. 

Twenty seven drivers would start the makeup race which would also be a forty lap event. And following the trend set in the first feature, the race would see four slow downs in the first twenty one laps and then the last nineteen laps would go green to checkered. Ashton Winger would start on the pole and except for a one lap break following an early restart when Chris Madden would sneak in to lead a lap, Winger would lead the rest of the race to get his first win of 2022 and first here in Florida. 

Winger applies a driving style much like Strickler with the tires off the ground as much as they are connected to "Mother Earth" and his runs are often marked by spectacular sliders, bold moves and often DNF's. However, somehow his car held together for forty laps which he performed at blinding speed and once get got away from the field following the last yellow, no one had anything for him as he ran away from the field. It should be pointed out that he switched cars following the first feature so his car was only asked to stand up to forty laps of abuse. 

Just before the last yellow, McDowell took over second from Madden and it looked like he was gaining ever so slightly on the leader. However, Winger took off like a rocket following that last yellow and there would be no catching him on this night. Madden would settle for third while Moran and O'Neal would complete a night with two solid finishes each. 

To illustrate the difficulties and frustration that racing can provide, one needs to only look at Ryan Gustin. Last night he was on top of the world, producing a stirring drive to get his first  win of the year and highlighting a very special night for him. Tonight his performance was just the opposite as he was scored dead last in both the feature races. Talk about going from the summit of the mountain to the pit. And after Wednesday night's huge disappointment, he has to pull himself up by his boot straps and try again on Thursday.  

While the Late Model features would not be slouches by any means, once again it was the Modifieds that would provide the thrilling finish to their thirty lap main event. And actually, to their credit, they made lemonade out of lemons as the track seemed to turn against side by side racing but with some determined efforts, they still made a whale of a race out of their contest. 

Forty two Modifieds would sign in to race on Wednesday with only Erick Rudolph missing after his grinding crash when the accelerator stuck and he plowed the third turn wall. Rudolph opted not to run Wednesday even though they did have a back up car available. 

Jimmy Phelps would lead the opening lap and actually would lead twenty nine laps, only to get the win stolen on a last lap, "Hail Mary" by Peter Britten. Phelps would fight off determined challenges by Stewart Friesen in the early going until Friesen started to struggle and was shuffled back to the fifth spot by halfway as Jack Lehner and Britten came to challenge. 

There was only one yellow for a spin on lap nine and the rest of the race ran green right to the finiish. By the halfway point, Phelps had settled in as the leader with Lehner, Britten and Kyle Coffey trailing. For some reason, the Modifieds found that the fast way around the track was right on the bottom and they lined up in a big train, nose to tail. I thought that the track was perhaps "rubbering up" but after this race the Late Models came back out and ran all over the track so I can't explain why the Mods couldn't make the second lane work, but it was clear that they couldn't . Friesen tried to go top side but he dropped like a rock before he was able to get back in line, so no one was able to get that groove to open up. 

Things went smooth until Phelps caught the back of the pack, all running that same line. Phelps tried to get by on the tall side but he nearly lost the lead to Lehner and quickly dived back to the bottom so we saw the top three running in close fashion but frustrated that they couldn't go any faster. 

As the laps ran down, Lehner made a bold move, pulling out of line and trying to drive around Phelps. But he couldn't make it work and had to dive back to the bottom, just barely beating Britten back to second. However, it was clear that Britten wasn't out to run for a good finish, he wanted to win. So when Lehner pulled back to the bottom, Britten put on his signal light to make a right turn(something that no one from Florida doesn't when they drive!),  and he went to the second lane in a bold move. He actually used the big hole in turn one as a launching platform, getting bit off the hole and roaring past Lehner. He then did the same thing again and pulled up and then past Phelps for the lead with a bold and aggressive drive. He got too high in the final corner though, as there was nothing up there as other drivers had found out and it would be a final sprint to the line for the finish. 

However, the momentum that Britten had build up on the final lap paid off as he surged to the outside of Phelps and nipped him at the line by .025 seconds in a dandy race. It was a case of Britten just not settling for a good finish and truly willing himself to victory lane with a determined and gritty drive. It was a heartbreaker for Phelps, however, after leading all but the final front chute as he was between a rock and a hard place, not knowing whether to settle for his line or try an outside move that could have very likely back fired and then everyone would have been on him for pulling out of line. It was one of those cases where he was in a "no win" situation. Lehner would finish third in the thriller. 

Strolling through the pits before the show, I found the first actual Gator in the Gator pond of the week. It was a disappointment though as it was just a little tyke that could have not been more than two feet long. I don't know where the "big boys" from last year are  as perhaps they were relocated for the week by officials to keep the dogs and small children safe. 

WoO officials are on hand again to run the show and as always here at Volusia, it is head starter Dave Farney who is waving the flags in a spectacular manner as always. He commends the flag stand like no one else can and who else but "Mr Fastidious" Farney would be seen sweeping out the stand before the start of each night's show. 

After Ruben Mireles called the UMP shows, WoO veteran announcer Rick Eshelman has had the call for the WoO race programs. I'm sure Mississippi Thunder Speedway promoter Bob Timm, when Eshelman was discussing the upcoming schedule , was surprised to find out that MTS is close by to Illinois! There is another state just across the river from MTS, but it is Minnesota, not Illinois. 

The same two classes will be in action for the last three shows of the DIRTcar Nationals starting on Thursday night with the warmest day of speedweeks promised as drivers will cinch up their belts tight and give it another whirl.   

Gustin Surprises With UMP Late Model Win; Friesen and Meseraull Also Winners During Night, Day Doubleheader at VSP

 Little did we know that when we arrived at Volusia Speedway Park on Tuesday night, February 15th for a three division program featuring night number two for the UMP Late Models, the first night for the Big Bock Modifieds and the conclusion of the opening series for the Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Car Series that we would be in for a long evening of racing that eventually developed into that rare night, day doubleheader with the final checkered flag waving just after 2 am local time, even later that bar closing time in Wisconsin. I always figure it's a really late night when we are still going at it at the track after legal closing time in Wisconsin and that was the result of a long evening of racing with probably one division more than could be handled given the number of cars in the competing classes. Throw in some surprise rain showers that caused a near two hour delay and you're talking about a show that while it produced two excellent feature races, saw it's completion only witnessed by the very hearty that stuck out a long night. 

Let's focus on the program, division by division, starting with the Late Models. After a number of drivers sat out Monday night's show, most were to race on Tuesday with Chase Junghans, Josh Richards, Gordy Gundaker, Tim McCreadie, Ross Robinson, Earl Pearson Jr, Tyler Erb and Jacob Ulrich all making their first laps of the week after sitting out Monday. Also adding to the field were Cade Dillard, Mike Benedum and Garrett Mosley. A couple previous competitors scratched out for Tuesday but that left fifty five cars to compete. 

The format for the Late Models would find two groups for qualifying and because of the larger field of cars, six heat races were scheduled. Different from the WoO qualifying that we will see starting on Wednesday is that the top four qualifiers in each heat would be inverted, so that drivers that didn't run their best laps in time trials would sometimes surprise when they showed up on the pole for a heat race. A primary example would be Brandon Sheppard who struggled just a bit for the second straight night in qualifying but would start on the pole for a heat. This will not be so good for him if that trend continues starting tomorrow. 

With the rain showers that fell during the third Sprint Car heat and threw the whole timing of the evening off, the schedule of races was completely changed and the Late Models would not see the track again until the whole Sprint Car program was over, thus making for a two hour or more break for the class. The rain didn't hurt the track and instead made it blistering fast and I thought with the late hour and the relative unimportance of the night for point chasers that there would be wholesale scratches for the night but I was wrong again as nearly everyone on hand chose to run their heat and if needed, a B Feature also. 

Perhaps most noteworthy in the heat races that produced some blistering fast racing was the move that Blair Nothdurft made to pass Donny Schatz and get the last transfer spot out of a heat. Nothdurft has been down racing here in Florida for three weeks and tonight he finally qualified for a main event for the first time. 

A straight up start for the feature race would see twenty six drivers take the green flag in the wee hours of the morning with Tyler Bruening and Gundaker taking the provisional openings. Sheppard would take the early lead with Earl Pearson Jr, Ashton Winger and Gustin close behind. Gustin made a strong move to slip from the third row up to second and then the chase was on. 

Sheppard built up a sizable lead over Gustin with Tim McCreadie and Tanner English starting to make moves to the  front. Still, except for lap fourteen yellow when Brandon Overton slowed, I think Sheppard would have been home free as Gustin was keeping the distance between the two static, but not really gaining. 

However, yellow flag restarts, which seem to have been a bugaboo for Sheppard during the Florida run, struck again as Gustin got a great run in turn one on the restart and when Sheppard wandered up the track, Gustin cut across him and took over the lead. And once in front, he pulled away as Sheppard really started to struggle and fell back considerably in the closing laps. 

Devin Moran, not in the top five at the halfway point, made a great charge after that, moving to third by the second and final restart on lap twenty four and eventually blasting up to second. He did not have anything for Gustin in the closing laps however, as Ryan drove home unchallenged for the win. It was a great and timely win for Gustin but certainly unexpected as Gustin hadn't shown much down here in Florida before this night  and in fact had passed on much of the Lucas series races here after not showing much early in their tour. The secret now will be to have some consistency and not just be a one time flash that otherwise struggles to remain competitive and that remains to be seen. 

English must be wondering if he should go back to his own car after having a great run on Tuesday driving the car of Dylan Thompson. He completed his dash to the front by surging to third in the closing laps by passing and then holding off Winger after starting eleventh. Sixteen cars were still on the track at the finish with all on the lead lap and only two yellows to slow the blistering pace. 

It was the first of five nights for the center steer, Big Block Modifieds and an excellent field of forty three of them pulled down from the East Coast to race. And while the Late Models put on a good show, the Modifieds stole the night with a great opening night feature race that had, by my unofficial count, seven official lead changes before Stewart Friesen made the winning pass with just two laps to go. 

The Modifieds may have been slightly sorry that they were on the card Tuesday, as they got to be the "crash dummies" of the program, packing and hot lapping until they must have burned up a tank of fuel before they finally got to race, interspersing their heat races around Last Chance qualifying for the Sprint Cars before the Sprint program was completed before anyone else got to race. 

The Mod format would be a simple one. Qualify in groups, start the heats straight up and then start the feature straight up out of the heats. But for a format that often produces "ho hum" events, Tuesday was the pleasant exception as the Modified feature was a dandy and certainly the best at Volusia so far. 

It was a two car battle but what a battle it was between Friesen and Peter Britten. They would start beside each other on the front row and would go at it for thirty laps, slide jobbing each other and swapping lanes on the track continuously

Britten would lead the opening laps before Friesen would make a pass for the lead. Stewart would then lead for twelve laps before Britten would work his way back up beside Stewart. The yellow would fly for the only time of the race with fourteen laps complete when Erick Rudolph would pound the wall in turn three and severely shorten up his car. 

Then the fun would begin as after the restart, they would swap the lead five times as Friesen and Britten would slide each other and take turns leading the race. It was a great battle and while both were making bold moves, both left each other room to race. The last half of the race was a beehive of activity as the leaders traded the top spot, working both high and low on the track while they raced through some lapped traffic at the same time. 

The key moment came with just two laps to go when Britten, who had a slight lead at that point, hit a bump in turn one that upset his car badly and sent the front end into the air, Don Garlits style. By the time he recovered, Friesen had taken over the point and with heavy traffic all around, Stewart maintained the top spot as Britten was bogged down by the slow cars and couldn't make another move. It was a great race and for the first time here for me, the Big Blocks finally put on the kind of show I was hoping for. 

While the leaders were fighting it out, Max McLaughlin came creeping up on them and finished a close third and might have gotten more if there had been a few more laps. His team mate Jimmy Phelps would trail him across the line. 

Because the Sprint Cars couldn't return on another night due to other racing commitments, after the rain showers every effort was made to complete their portion of the program which included scrambling the running order of events twice. The Sprints had gotten three of their heats in before the showers started, so a big change was made so as to get their remaining three qualifiers done and get the feature on the track with the other two divisions pushed to the sidelines, so to speak, to get that done. 

An extra five grand and an extra five laps were on the Xtreme program for this night but it wouldn't have mattered how many laps they ran, it would be a Thomas Meseraull dominating win on Tuesday. He would start on the outside pole and lead all thirty laps to take a relatively easy win. Even a late yellow with just three laps to go would not be a problem for him as he powered away from the field one more time despite an all out charge from Brady Bacon. 

Bacon would be quite the story himself. Going for a wild flip on Monday night when Dennis Gile broke a driveshaft right in front of him and lost power, Bacon would pick up a ride in that same car when Gile suffered a broken ankle in that accident and could not drive. 

Bacon took to the car immediately, and came up from the third row to give Thomas his biggest challenge of the race but Meseraull was smooth on the cushion  and withstood two late yellows for the win. 

As far as the future of the Xtreme Series is concerned, I think it remains to be seen how this will all play out. They had a nice field of cars here and seemed to have a good backing of fans but it must be pointed out that these two races piggy backed onto three nights of racing by the USAC cars at Bubba, just down the road and since the majority of the drivers really are more USAC branded, will this series develop its own following or is it just going to be USAC part 2 which is nice in that it gives the non winged racers more shows and bucks but will it be sustainable? If they really wanted to have a special brand for this new Xtreme Series, they'd get some of their "name" winged drivers to participate and then they'd have something special to offer the fans. Short of that, it seems like just more of the same and nothing particularly special.

One thing I know for sure and it has already been intimated to by Late Model folks and that three classes of cars for a show like this is just too many. Even if things go smoothly, which often does not happen, three classes with all the extra cars and laps is just too much racing to get done in a timely manner. If Volusia plans to continue running the Xtreme Series during the DIRTcar Nationals, then they need to find another rime to run them. Folks for this week are here to see Late Models and Big Blocks and those two classes should not be attempted to be "one upped" by another series. Perhaps they can run the Xtreme cars with the WoO Sprints or the All Stars but this is not the week for them. 

Drivers from twenty four different states were on hand for races so far this weekend with another big crowd in the stands as it seems that the spectator attendance over the last two weeks has been excellent everywhere despite less than spectacular weather. I have to give credit for the enterprising vendor at Volusia who, after it started to rain, dropped the previous items he was trying to see and instead was peddling umbrellas to the crowd.! That takes ingenuity.  

Thornton Jr Performs Massacre on Valentine's Day at Volusia

 The Late Model group moved East across the state of Florida for their last week of the month of speed in the Sunshine State with them settling in at Volusia Speedway Park for the "DIRTcar Nationals" with the Late Models being the featured division for this week. However, it would also be the opening night for the Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Car series, a new series developed for the non winged Sprint Cars by DIRT Motorsports this year to be either a competitor or in compliment to the USAC Sprint Car group, depending on your take on the situation and what might develop in the coming years. 

In any event, on Monday night, February 14th, the field would consist of the UMP Late Models(the World of Outlaws doesn't start here until Wednesday night) and for the first time in over thirty years, the non winged Sprints. 

Track issues had been the number one topic of conversation among racers and fans alike in reference to Volusia after their "Sunshine Nationals" for WoO Late Models and a variety of other types of Late Models last month turned into a disaster when the combination of wet weather and a new racing surface turned the track into a high speed off road course, tearing up much equipment and sending the consternation level of the Late Model teams through the roof. However, much work has been put into the track since that debacle and the racing surface would prove to be much better on Monday night. Even as late as Sunday night, they were still scraping a whole layer of racing surface off the track and the huge piles of dirt inside and around the inside of the corners were testament to the amount of dirt taken off the track. It looks by now that they are pretty much back down to the old surface with none of the new dirt still left on the track. 

In fact, the track got packed down so hard on Monday, likely with the wide tires of the Sprints helping, that they had to take a pause before the feature races and water and scape a little as the track was taking rubber and that would have been a bad thing for the two mains. So they fixed that and the track seemed good for the two mains with no complaints voiced from the racers as it appeared fast, could be raced in various grooves and had a few bumps but nothing severe. 

We were informed that under the WoO method of measuring a race track, that Volusia isn't really a half mile but instead a .425 mile track so now it's claim to be the "World's Fastest Half Mile" track is false on two fronts because not only is it not the world's fastest, it isn't truly a half mile either! However, that is all just semantics anyway. 

With three classes on hand for the first two nights of racing this week(the Big Blocks were on hand for practice before they start racing tomorrow for real) the pits were crowded so all the Sprint Cars were pitted in the infield. This made for less than perfect viewing for the fans, even with the new high rise grandstands that were erected recently that make for a much  better view overall. Still, there is too much stuff in the middle when a full class of cars and their big trailers are in the infield. 

Remember last week when we were begging for a replay scoreboard at East Bay when the MAV TV announcers kept referring the viewing customers to watch the replays while we schmucks in the stands had nothing to see while they talked to the TV audience?

Well, this week we have two giant screens in the in field to watch replays and to see the time trials on. However, they are placed so that virtually everyone in the stands has two blind spots on the track, coming out of corner two and going into corner three. So now we have to watch the replay screens to see what we missed because the screens were obstructing our view of those same areas! Sometimes you just can't win. 

Because this is not an Outlaw race and doesn't pay as much money as some of the races later this week, there are typically some drivers that arrive, unload, do their maintenance on their Late Models but then load back up and don't race. That was again the case this year as there were actually ten drivers in the pits that opted not to run on Monday including Johnny and Stormy Scott, Chase Junghans, Josh Richards, Gordy Gundaker, Tim McCreadie, Ross Robinson, Earl Pearson Jr and Ulrich. Tanner English didn't run his own car but instead raced the car of Dylan Thompson and may do so again on Tuesday until the Outlaw points start. Jason Miller switched cars from what he was running at East Bay as he pulled out in Pierce car for this night. 

In addition, Jeff Mathews and Mikey Kopka drew but didn't race and Brian Shirley had trouble in hot laps and didn't run further. So, because of all the opt outs, the format was a bit different on Monday. The scheduled six heat races were combined into four big heats and a pair of B Features to set the grid for the thirty lap feature race. With no provisional starters for this event, it would be a twenty four car starting field. 

Ricky Thornton Jr would start on the outside pole and he would dominate, leading from start to finish and never being challenged for the top spot. He was very fast right from the start, moving to the high side and pulling away from Brandon Overton and the rest of the field. His biggest challenge would be lapped traffic as there was plenty of that and with the race going green to checkered, the leaders got strung out quite a bit. 

There were, however, some good battles for position behind Thornton Jr. Early on, it was Overton, Brandon Sheppard and Dale McDowell fighting for spots along with Darrell Lanigan. As the race wore on, Overton, Sheppard and Lanigan would all fade back some while Chris Madden and Devin Moran were the big chargers. Madden came from the fourth row and would make a determined run to the front, passing Overton for second with just a  few laps to go and then Moran did the same to Overton late in the contest. 

However, they had nothing for Thornton Jr who continued to ride the cushion, scramble through the traffic and not allow anyone to get too close as he drove on for the win in a real quick main. Overton and McDowell would close out the top five in a race that would see twenty two of twenty four starters still running at the end with six a lap down. Generally in these early week races, drivers would pull off quickly to save tires etc. if not doing well, but everyone apparently wanted laps on this night. 

Thirty seven non winged Sprints would sign in for this historic first ever Xtreme Outlaw Series Sprint Car event with the nonwinged strongholds of Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Phoenix and California strongly represented. Their format would be an interesting one and much different than their winged counterparts. They would qualify by groups with the top four in each group inverted. Then they would race heats but passing points would be used to set the top sixteen drivers. Everyone else would race two B Features lined up by points earned in the heats. The top driver of the sixteen locked in would pull a pill to determine the invert and on this night, Robert Ballou would pull an "eight", the highest invert possible. 

They would start twenty two cars for twenty five laps with the winner earning five grand. The laps will be raised by five tomorrow night and the top prize by five grand. Carson Short would lead off the pole for just one lap before he was passed on the high side by C.J. Leary and once in front, Leary would lead the rest of the race for the win. 

The non winged cars would be all over the slippery track and would put on a good and clean show. Only one lap in, Brady Bacon would take a wild ride in turn one that saw him nearly vault over the fence but fortunately, that did not happen. Bacon, who has taken a series of epic wild rides this year alluded to the fact in this interview that he wished that pattern would end. He was OK but out with frame damage. 

Leary would take the lead on the restart and with only one other slow down for a minor spin, Leary would maintain his lead the rest of the race. A strong charge was put on by Justin Grant who would race into second but it would be too late for him to cut into the leader's margin as Leary would drive on for the win. Short, Chase Stocken and Ballou would complete the top five so you can see that there was a strong influence of USAC regulars on hand. How this will all play out in the future remains to be seen but series officials seemed very pleased with the opening night entry list. Of course, it comes right before the USAC cars race this coming weekend at Bubba, so that was a nice tie in. 

The Big Block Modifieds were also on hand for a series of practice sessions with over forty of them taking laps on this night. There was a lot of French being spoken in the Big Block pits as the visitors from Quebec have returned with their cars as the border is apparently now easier to cross. One minor complaint from me as the Big Blocks practiced in three sessions interspersed during the program. However, on a night when a rubbered up track was developing, I thought it could have been better to wait and have them practice after the other two classes had completed their program. Also, it was dang cold out on Monday on a very un Florida type night and with the racing running late and us freezing, just running the practice sessions during the program made it last longer than it needed to. I thought it would have been better to let the Big Blocks run at the end and then they could have practiced as long as they wanted, not for three quick sessions like they got. All three classes run full programs on Tuesday night, and everybody better be on their "A" game if we are to get the show done in a timely manner. Do you sense that I'm feeling that we are running too many classes? 

Moran Outlasts Sheppard and Rain to Top East Bay Finale

 The forty Sixth Wrisco Winternationals presented  by Lucas Oil wrapped up a five night run on Saturday night, February 12th at the East Bay Raceway Park. In a somewhat crazy race interrupted by rain and featuring some remarkably changing track conditions , the two dominant drivers of the week, Devin Moran and Brandon Sheppard would engage in an interesting battle with Moran prevailing for the week high top prize of fifteen thousand dollars for his fifty lap win. 

Despite no chance of rain until the overnight, that precipitation that was falling from the skies, as wisely noted by tv announcer Bob Dillner, that started just before 9 pm and both delayed the start of the main event and also caused a yellow flag break after twenty eight laps were complete, favored Moran is several ways and was key to his getting the win. 

Sixty nine drivers signed in to race in the East Bay finale with the usual format of six heats, three B Features and the main event as the Strawberry Dashes went by the wayside this year except for opening night. Overton and Ashton Winger were quickest in their two qualifying groups with Overton quickest overall. But despite starting on the pole for the main event, Overton would again fade back and would remain winless for the East Bay portion of the Lucas Oil action. 

The track was very wet on this night and took some extra packing before qualifying would begin. The vintage race cars that have done the track packing all week were really covered in mud on this night but would be rewarded as they were allowed to have an eight lap demonstration race following qualifying. Interestingly though, just as with the Modifieds, on the night that the track was its wettest, it was also the only night that the track would eventually take rubber. The hammer down conditions early would also see some different drivers win qualifiers with Colten Burdette and Tanner English take heat race wins for the first time this year. Tim McCreadie had to run a B Feature on this night to get into the show and some top notch drivers like Brian Shirley and Dennis Erb failed to make the main. 

The preliminary events got over too soon though, so after a quick to that point show, we had to wait twenty minutes for the tv to come on so that we could all watch the feature, whether at the track or at home in the easy chair. 

However, during this break more and more fans in the stands were anxiously peering at their devises, of which I have none. However, I was soon to learn that the radar looked grim with rain on the way quickly and just minutes later, the first rain drops started to fall. Suddenly, track and Lucas officials were set into high gear as the ten minute horn went off and everyone was rushing to get the cars on the track. 

Scrambling so much that even the four wide salute was by passed, the feature race took the green with twenty seven starters scheduled for fifty laps. Overton, from the pole, would lead the first two laps before Sheppard, moving quickly to the cushion, blew past him to take over the top spot. Sheppard was flying and he put considerable distance on the field. He caught the back of the pack soon and while they mostly ran the low side, he would occasionally have a bad lap and lose some ground on the rough cushion. 

Even as he extended his lead to a full straightaway, there was a dandy battle going on for second with Tyler Erb, Moran, Overton and a cushion pounding Kyle Bronson running in a tight pack. The rain started picking up in intensity and the cars started pushing up the track with the yellow called for with twenty eight laps complete, wiping out a full straightaway lead for Sheppard. It took a few minutes for the drivers to dry out the track with the sprinkles still falling and its amazing how fast the crowd can turn on you. Previously, everyone was lauding the great week of racing being put on by East Bay and the Lucas Series but just delay the restart for a few minutes, even as the rain let up and the crowd was screaming for the scalps of the officials as their impatience was severe. 

Finally, the green reappeared with Sheppard retaking the lead and Bronson up to second with Moran close behind. They only made five more laps before the yellow came back out for a spin. 

The key point of the race would be this restart as Moran, on the outside of row two, would be past Bronson and beside Sheppard immediately. He would later claim that the sprinkles help give the lower groove traction and he was able to shot from third into first when he beat Sheppard to turn one. From my vantage point in the grandstands, I thought Moran jumped the start and was too forward when they reached the firing zone. So did Sheppard after the race. However, either I was wrong along with the others who believed the same thing, or Lucas officials didn't see it or they chose to not call it. In any event, Moran was now the leader and when Sheppard stuck the nose of his car into the mud in turn four and lost a bunch of spots, the race was over. To add insult to injury, Sheppard later tagged a spinning Garrett Alberson and was done for the night. 

A couple more yellows would slow the action but things had changed as the track started to take on rubber and everyone was hugging the low line the last fifteen or so laps. Moran was not challenged as he drove home for the win with Tyler Erb getting his best finish of the week. The "Magic Man", Florida's own Mark Whitener, had a fine run for third ahead of English and an obviously frustrated Overton. Sprinkles would fall periodically but none so hard to threaten the rest of the race or the post race activities. 

The crowd was a gigantic one again on Saturday and it will be interesting to find out if they broke the all time Winternationals record but it is a foregone conclusion that the week long totals will be record breakers. Many hope that the big crowds seen so far for many of the Florida shows are a potender for the rest of the racing season. 

As we wrap up the East Bay portion, thanks should go out to Al Varnadore and his entire staff who do a tremendous amount of work for this event which is clearly a highlight of the entire Florida experience. Hopefully the big crowds are just a taste of what they will get for their regular season events which will start before too long.  

Sheppard A "Three Peat" as East Bay Rolls On

 Featuring a fifteen lap stretch in the first half of Friday night's feature race that would rival the best races seen anywhere at anytime, Brandon Sheppard once again came to the front as he won his third straight main event here during the annual Winter Nationals for Lucas Oil Dirt Late Models here at East Bay Raceway Park in front of a packed crowd of race fans from across the country. 

Sheppard is only the third driver to have ever won three straight here during the long history of this event here at the "Clay By The Bay" and after a mediocre 2021 racing season and a seemingly slow start to this season at some of the earlier races held in Florida, the Rocket house car team seems to have come alive in all aspects of their game. Sheppard has been qualifying well and racing well to and that is a combination tough to beat. 

It did take a spectacular heat race win fight over Devin Moran however, to ensure the pole position in the main rather than a fourth row starting spot and while Sheppard was able to win from the fourth row on Thursday night, that doesn't happen too often against a large and talent filled field like the ones that have presented themselves this week. 

One of the most noticeable stories  so far this week has been the huge crowds that continue to stuff East Bay every night. I was told by someone that has the inside truth that the crowd on Thursday night was the second largest in the history of this long event and surely the Friday night crowd was larger than that of Thursday. With a strong finish likely on Saturday night, this could very well turn into the most successful Winter Nationals in track history. Whether or not this will translate into a successful season for tracks across the country I can not foretell, but it certainly a positive way to begin the 2022 racing season for sure. 

Early on we learned that the very fast run by eighteen year old Garrett Smith last night that was negated by a too tall spoiler was not a fluke. For the second straight night he qualified very well, started on the pole and won a heat race and was running decent in the feature until he stuck his car into the turn one wall with just one lap to go and got clipped by both Brandon Overton and Spencer Hughes, which set up a dramatic one lap race to the finish. 

The, by know, familiar format of six heats and three B Features would set the running order for Friday night's feature race, added by ten laps to fifty on this night with twelve thousand dollars on the line to the winner. The only new competitor racing on Friday was Josh Richards, back and racing after his near disastrous camper fire earlier in the week. 

The feature race fields continue to get bigger as more drivers not making the show are using provisional starts to get into the main and on Friday, a large field of thirty drivers would take the green flag. And while the track didn't appear to be as wide as the track was on Thursday night, the skill of the drivers, the quality of their equipment and their intense desire to get to the front of the field would produce an event with approximately fifteen laps of the most intense racing seen in quite some time. 

There would be five lead changes by four different drivers before the halfway signal was given and the amount of position shuffling and lane changing was impressive. Sheppard would be the early leader but he was dogged by Brandon Overton and a surprisingly strong Chase Junghans. In fact, Junghans, after not showing much earlier this week and skipping the All-Tech events, would drive by Sheppard on the high side to take over the lead.

One lap later Sheppard was back in front but only briefly before Junghans repassed him and then was passed himself by Overton. In fact, during one stretch just before the halfway point, the top five cars were running within a couple car lengths of each other while at the same time trying to work their way through several back of the pack cars. 

Sheppard actually slumped back as far as fourth but somehow righted the ship and found a line that would carry him back into the lead by the halfway point. Things settled just a bit after that with Sheppard leading and Overton looking for a way by as a series of five yellow flags for minor spins over the next ten laps would keep the fields bunched but steady racing to a minimum. East restart would see Sheppard take off in the lead with Overton trying to sneak by on the low side while Ashton Winger would try to drive around Overton but inevitably have to settle for third. 

The top two drivers looked pretty even but as long as Sheppard didn't make a mistake, he looked home free as most of the drivers lined up in the low groove and hugged the tires. With just a lap to go, Smith stuck his car into the first turn wall and Overton bashed in his right side door as he had moved up the track to try a last lap run on Sheppard and couldn't avoid the crashed car. Damage was cosmetic and he would continue. 

They tried again for the last lap and Sheppard got away cleanly and with nothing to offer, Overton settled in behind him and raced home for second as Sheppard was flawless when he needed to be. Winger had another strong run for third as one of the positive surprises of the week  while Moran, who was up and down in the field, went barreling back to the top in the waning laps and was able to race up to fourth just ahead of Tim McCreadie. 

Seventeen cars were on the track at the finish with all on the lead lap as the frantic pace saw a number of drivers pull off as the lead pack caught them during the second half of the race. 

Saturday night the Late Models will close out their portion of the Winter Nationals at East Bay with another fifty lap war expected before the 360 Sprints move in next weekend for their three night show. 

Sheppard Edges Earl Pearson Jr In East Bay Thriller

 The Late Models are starting to get into a pattern here at East Bay Raceway Park with the third installment of the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series presented here tonight on Thursday, February 10th as a part of the Forty Sixth Winter Nationals here at East Bay.  It was the first back to back of the year for the Late Models here with no interruptions from the weather  and Brandon Sheppard earned the first back to back wins by any driver here in Florida as he beat Earl Pearson Jr to the line in a stirring forth lap thriller that had the gigantic crowd on their feet as one. 

Using a line on the race track that Stuart announcer Tony Paris would call the "High Side Hustle", the Illinois native and driver of the Rocket house car, would carve out a determined but challenging drive racing against the fast but choppy cushion as he stormed up from the fourth row to drive past Brandon Overton and Brian Shirley and then hold off Pearson Jr in a two lap sprint to the finish. 

With some consistent weather, the track prep crew finally got the East Bay Raceway Park track in the shape that many of us were hoping for and with a few of the drivers venturing to the top side of the third mile, the top side groove opened up for those with the "nuts" to handle the bumps and humps as it worked for drivers like Sheppard, Kyle Bronson and Hudson O'Neal. 

A tour of the pits found the biggest field of the week so far on hand and ready to race as seventy five drivers signed in to run on this finally sunny and warm February night. Jeff Mathews finally got behind the wheel of his own car after two nights of inactivity while Brian Nuttall Jr and Chase Osterhoff also joined the field. Boom Briggs brought his two car team also but Josh Richards didn't join him tonight after a scary camper fire overnight on Wednesday kept them from attending. 

Brennon Willard and Larry Greer took the night off while Jason Miles was back in action after missing on Wednesday night for one of the strangest reasons I have ever heard. He is supportive and uses a certain racing gas and brought two barrels with him from Arkansas. Unfortunately, the simply couldn't find any more of that brand of  fuel in the pits and they had to sit out because they had no fuel for the race car. Also, they use synthetic oil in the car's motor and there was none to be had on hand either, as apparently all the other racers use regular oil or had no extras on hand. Supply chain problems in force once again. 

Much more water had been put down on the race track for Thursday night's show and all cars were required to help wheel pack but that proved to be a great thing as the result was so much better than we had seen earlier in the week in terns of racing and passing which is what we are all here for. The fast and tacky track produced some different cars up front for the heats and also more passing than we had seen in the heats earlier this week. Highlighted was a spectacular heat where Sheppard was passed in the late going by Brandon Overton which would then give Overton the outside pole for the main. However, Sheppard would get his revenge later. 

Young Garrett Smith would shock everyone by recording fast time in group one and then taking the first heat race would should have been for the pole. However, word came in later that he was disqualified for having a one inch too tall spoiler and he was parked for the night, an infraction that was somehow missed earlier as I doubt that he changed spoilers during the night. 

Three B Features were again run on Thursday night and with two provisional starters added, twenty six drivers would take the green flag for the forty lapper paying seven thousand on this night. 

Overton and Pearson Jr would best pole starter Max Blair to the lead and that would be the running order in the early going. Most drivers were still hugging the bottom line but Sheppard, from outside row four, quickly jumped to the cushion and behind him, Bronson would also go to the top early. Sheppard didn't gain much ground early but he stayed with the top side, which was key as near the halfway point of the race, he started to gain some momentum. Pearson Jr was giving Overton a stiff challenge for the lead and Brian Shirley had moved past Blair for third when the yellow flew for a spinning Ross Robinson. And then things got very busy and exciting. 

Overton just didn't take off well and suddenly they were three wide for the lead. Shirley moved to the outside and would storm past Overton to take over the top spot but then Sheppard would come flying off the berm in turn four, squeeze past Shirley down the front stretch up against the wall and take over the lead. It was a mad scramble for several laps and when things settled down again with another yellow three laps later, Sheppard would be in the lead over Pearson and Shirley with Bronson up into the top five and Overton, stunned as he had dropped from the lead all the way back to seventh and would never be heard from again during the race, eventually pulling off when he got lapped near the end. 

Shirley would then be in control as he pulled away by a considerable distance over Pearson Jr. However, his line was tenuous as an occasional slip in the very tricky turn four berm would on several occasions find him careening in a direction he preferred not to be as he "horsed" his car around the track. 

Just when it looked like things were settled, a late race yellow set up a two lap sprint to the finish. I guessed that Sheppard would drop to the bottom and protect that line against the "bottom feeding" Pearson Jr with Bronson, a cushion pounder too, just too far behind to change things in two laps. Of course, I was totally wrong as Brandon went right up to the top side again and this time it bit him big time as he bobbled bad off turn four and by the time he got straightened out, Pearson was underneath him as they raced to the white flag. Sheppard pushed hard down the back chute and was able to beat Pearson to the corner and would hold on by a car length to score an exciting victory  that saw the crowd on their feet in excitement. Bronson would finish third after starting sixteenth, Devin Moran for fourth after starting ninth and O'Neal would round out the top five  from seventeenth as this clearly shows how much passing was going on. This was the East Bay that we had driven so far to see and all were glad it had finally showed up. Only six drivers failed to finish the event but those running the top side had a hand full of car to control, even though that groove worked. 

Victory lane interviews were tough to catch through the squeaking and squawking of the pa system but Sheppard was clearly pleased with his run. The pa system, which worked fine for the Modifieds and crates last week, has somehow been botched up by the MAV TV people, just another irritant that they bring when they are on hand. Announcers that play to a tv audience and talk about replays  while all of us on hand sit in the dark, extended yellow flags while we wait for tv to come back from a commercial are all a part of the new world of racing. It must be frustrating for series announcer James Essex, who is ten times the announcer that Bob Dillner is, to have to sit back and play second fiddle while Dillner continues to bore us with his simplistic and uninformed comments. Oh well, at least the race was good. 

Friday night the ante goes up with more money on hand for the drivers and another ten laps of hopefully exciting racing for the fans.  

Sheppard First Repeat Winner in Florda Late Model Winter Nationals

 After a one day break precipitated by a steady, all day soaker on Tuesday, the Lucas Oil Late Model Series was back in action on Wednesday night, February 9th at the East Bay Raceway Park near Gibsonton. With only one night of racing so far in the East Bay series, most everyone stuck it out in the pits with only three cars not racing on Wednesday while they were replaced by three others making their first East Bay Starts. 

Added to the grid on Wednesday were Frank Heckenast Jr, who actually was here on Monday but opted not to race, Pierce McCarter who practiced on Sunday but also opted out on Monday and Michigan driver Chris Nash. Taking the night off but still on the  grounds were Kerry King, Jimmy Owens and Jason Miles. The car for Jeff Mathews was unloaded and looked ready to race but Mathews did not appear on the track for the second straight night. 

Come to think of it, if anyone would have wanted to leave, they probably couldn't have done so as the mud was considerable all over the grounds at East Bay. In fact, some of the Late Models in the far corners of the pits didn't get liberated until quite close to race time. This has marked the second time during Speed Weeks, the first during the Modified week,  that Al Varnadore and his staff with their heavy equipment have had to spend many hours scraping and shoving mud around so that the roads into the pits and spectator parking lots for that matter, as well as the track itself, were passable. They will be more than ready for this week to end so that they can get some rest as the employees here are probably the only ones working harder than the race crews themselves. 

So it would be another night where no one would know just exactly what the race track would be like until cars actually hit the racing surface and for the second time this week, I must give the track prep crew a "pass" as we were lucky to even see racing, no matter how the surface did work out as other tracks in this area weren't even able to race on this night, it was that wet. 

As it turned out, it would again be a primarily low side racing surface with a few drivers venturing out to the top side but most either settling for the bottom line or afraid to venture up the track. Winner Brandon Sheppard found his best success hugging the infield tires in turns one and two and letting the car drift up the track in turn four to keep his momentum up. 

While walking through the pits, I spotted former Gopher 50 promoter Jerry Ingvalson, from Blooming Prairie Minnesota, visiting with many of the drivers. Many folks will also remember "Mr. Excitement", Terry Casey from New London Wisconsin and his exploits here at East Bay which are part of this track's legacy. Casey was spotted turning wrenches on the car of Missouri's Brennon Willard on Wednesday. 

After Monday night's ridiculously large B Feature, Lucas Oil officials made a nice adjustment to the racing schedule for this night and I believe, for the rest of the week as they added one more B Featrue to the program, thus giving the drivers some last chance races that were not as overly large in number. There were still seventeen or eighteen cars in each B, but they were a little more manageable than the gigantic ones presented on Monday night. 

As always, qualifying is a huge part of the program here as in order to have a reasonable chance of success during the night, one must start toward the very front of a heat race and in order to do that, a quick qualifying lap is necessary. Shcaeppard and Devin Moran would be the quickest of the two groups, with the track slowing about three tenths of a second for the second group. The track must either be pounded down hard from all the racing on it so far this year or they are simply running out of racing material on the surface as it was showing "black" in the corners before the hot laps were done and would prove to be slippery and somewhat "dirty" all night. The days of hammer down racing here appear to be a thing of the past. 

Six heats and three B Features plus series point provisional starters would set the field for the forty lap main event on Wednesday, with ten laps added to the main plus a couple thousand extra dollars to the winner. One of the surprises of the heats was Ashton Winger getting the jump on  "Turbo" Erb and winning a heat while Tim McCreadie became the first driver not starting in the front row to win a heat. 

Sheppard would get the jump off the pole to lead early but the leaders soon caught the back of the field as the twenty six cars got strung out. The top side was very dirty but Sheppard had no other choice than to go there as everyone was hugging the hub but it bit him quickly. He got stuck on the top side  where he could find no traction and Brandon Overton, who started third, drove under him for the lead which was quickly followed by a yellow. 

Overton would continue to lead with Sheppard and Tyler Erb close behind. However, just as he had trouble in All-Tech under a longer green flag run, Overton would again have trouble keeping the nose of his car from pushing up the track and it did so again here tonight and on lap thirteen, Sheppard would drive under Overton in the tricky turn one and regain the lead. 

Once in front, Sheppard would pull away from the pack and not really be under the gun again during the race. Overton would lose second to Erb who would try and pressure Sheppard on restarts but Sheppard always seemed to have the ability to pull away. 

Overton and Ricky Thornton Jr would fight hard for third and they would get together in the troublesome first turn with Overton spinning but he caught a huge break when the yellow was instead called for debris seconds before they got together. Overton would get his spot back but his car was damaged and he would drop back, eventually triggering the last yellow when he slowed with only four laps left in the race. 

Sheppard would pull away on the four lap sprint to the finish and win easily. The best battle was for second where Ashton Winger has been looking strong and giving the G.R. Smith ride a good show. He would fight his way past Erb right at the end and take second from "Turbo." The other noteworthy run was turned in by Kyle Bronson. He pulled into the "hot pit" early in the feature under yellow, and returned to the back of the pack. Being a wall rider, he threw caution to the wind and tried the high side of the track and eventually it worked for him as he was able to drive back to fourth. So perhaps there is hope that the top side will come in if enough drivers will run out there and clean off that lane of the track which has remained quite "dirty" so far. 

Under improving but still cool conditions, a huge Wednesday night crowd was on hand and with good weather in the forecast for the coming days, it looks like East Bay might be setting some attendance records this week as folks make the "Clay By The Bay" a destination race before the track closes forever. 

Erb Jr. Rides the Ditch to East Bay Opener Win

 The Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series moved down I-75 to the Tampa area and specifically to Gibsonton as the forty sixth annual Winter Nationals for Late Models opened up Monday night, February 7th at East Bay Raceway Park. And the the ultimate "Ditch Runner", Illinois' Dennis Erb Jr would "catfish" his way to a thirty lap Late Model win to open up the six night series that would conclude Lucas Oil events to be contested in Florida this month.

A large field of seventy drivers would sign in to race on this Monday night, a considerable number given that the winner on this night would only take home Five grand as the dollar increments build as the week progresses. Among the seventy drivers on hand, thirty are making their first Florida appearances of 2022. Also in the pits but not racing on this night were Frank Heckenast Jr and Jeff Mathews while a few others are also expected to arrive later this week. Ryan Gustin was also on hand for practice on Sunday night but didn't race on this night. 

However, many of the toughest competitors in the world of dirt Late Model racing would be running tonight and with only twenty four spots plus provisional starters available for the feature race, there would be some hard racing in the qualifying events and time trial success would be abundantly important on Monday. 

Track conditions would make the qualifying perhaps even more important than normal as the conditions on Monday were very un East Bay like as the track was very dry even from the first hot lap sessions and started to take rubber before the heat races were done. Quite frankly, from my perspective, it was quite disappointing as the racing on this night at a track long famed for its racy surface was sub par to the racing seen at the other two Florida venues raced at so far. However, I also have to give a "pass" to the track on this night as they have been battling some weather conditions lately with rain on Saturday and Sunday all while trying to squeeze in the finale for the Crates and get Lucas practice run also. Therefore, we aren't going to press the "panic button" quite yet until we see how the racing is in the coming days, while still expressing some disappointment in what we saw, or perhaps better stated, didn't see on Monday. 

Quick qualifiers in their groups were Brandon Overton and Erb Jr although with fifteen and mid fifteen second laps, the speeds were way off the normal times here. Hudson O'Neal did his best to wake the crowd up early as he came from eighth to win a heat race, a feat that may not be duplicated at any track all year. To be fair as "Hud" even admitted himself, the other cars were so locked in on running the bottom and "tailgating" each other, it made it kind of easy to just pull out and pass them all. This would be harder in the main with all those drivers a little sharper on what was going on with the track. 

It seemed more that a bit strange than with mid forty entries at Bubba they ran four heat races while here at East Bay, with seventy entries and a smaller track  they still ran just four heats. And the two, twenty six car B Features for ten laps while taking just the top two were just plain ridiculous. However, in any event, that's what they did.

Twenty four cars plus provisional entries and Berry Barn Strawberry Dash winner Matt Cosner would make up a twenty eight car field for the thirty lap main event. A goodly amount of time was spent before the feature cutting the track and trying to scrape off the rubber but once racing began, it seems to be a wasted effort as several tried to run the second lane and above with little success and most just settled back in "the ditch." 

With Brandon Overton on the pole, it would have seemed that this race would be decided early and that Overton would drive from green to checkered for the win. However, so far this year Overton has shown to be quite human and while he led through the first half of the race, he would be pit side by the time the checkered would fly. Overton would lead early with Devin Moran and O'Neal battling for second as Erb Jr started on the outside pole and would slip back in the field. 

However, once some green flag laps were completed, Erb Jr would pick up the pace and following a lap fourteen yellow for a slowing Tyler Bruening, Erb Jr would make the move of the race as he would duck under both O'Neal and Moran and take over second. Then, when Overton started to develop a bad push and couldn't hold the bottom, Erb Jr was right there to drive under him and take over the lead on lap eighteen

He would lead the rest of the way and have to stave off competitors following three more restarts including tow for drivers that heard the "siren song" of the top side and tried that line, only to have it bite them both. Ashton Winger was up to third when he tried to get greedy and get more and a spin on the slippery second groove would end his run. Overton, who really fell back out of the top five when his handling woes continued, decided to try the top side and it did work long enough for him to get back to a challenging spot but when he went for broke, that's what he did when he hit the wall and was helped to the pits. 

O'Neal gave Erb Jr one more challenge following a lap twenty five yellow but Dennis skimmed the inside yuke tires and then pulled away to collect the win, his first here at East Bay in several years. It was good to see Erb Jr rewarded for his efforts is he is a true "road warrior", hitting races in all parts of the country often by himself or with just Heather Lynn as crew. 

O'Neal would finish a strong second ahead of an advancing Tim McCreadie, Shane Clanton and Stormy Scott with Scott particularly getting his best run to date. The crowd was a very strong one for a Monday night and my theory is that with East Bay having a limited "shelf life", many people that might otherwise stay home and watch on tv are going to come here over the next two years, just to say that they have been at East Bay at least once. Strawberry Shortcake is going like hot cakes in the concession stand and the over flow parking was needed for just the first of six nights of action. The extra track work did make this the longest night of Speed Weeks so far, a pattern that will hopefully not continue. 

Before the program, I did get a chance to talk to Ricky Kay, co-promoter of the Davenport Speedway with his wife Brenda. He is touring many of the tracks in Florida and the Carolina's, looking for ideas and studying the way they do things to spot areas that he can improve upon at Davenport as he is constantly looking for ways to make the experience better at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds for the fans. He will be the only promoter at the track for 2022 which should make life simpler for him. Their season is scheduled to begin on March 25-26 with a MARS series doubleheader that he is co-promoting with Tony Izzo Jr. 

This race report wraps up with some sad news. Many fans of the old Hawkeye Racing News will remember Jim Morrison. He was the last editor of Hawkeye when it was sold by IMCA to a newspaper media group and he navigated the paper through some tough, tough times until the paper was finally folded by the conglomerate that owned it and Jim went to work for the local Vinton newspaper. Jim was a native of Indiana and moved to Iowa to run the paper for IMCA. I had some nice talks with him when I would visit Iowa and attend the races at Benton County and he always struck me as being a very kind and gentle soul, perhaps even too much so for such a cut throat business that media is these days. RIP. 

"O-Show" Tops Thrilling Lucas Oil Late Model Race at All-Tech

 After a one night break due to weather on Friday night, the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series returned to the All-Tech Raceway South of Lake City in Ellisville for the conclusion of their three night run at the undersized half Mile oval. With fifteen grand on the line for the winner, the conclusion here was also the highest paying of the three nights and the drivers responded with a spectacular fifty lap feature race that saw veteran Jimmy Owens win his first main event of 2022. In a dogfight for the win, Owens never saw the front spot until lap forty three as he was the fourth leader of the race, something not seen often these days with the aero issues that seem to favor the leader, especially on a track with such long straightaways as there are here at All-Tech. 

Forty four Late Models would sign in to race on Saturday as one driver pulled out for a race elsewhere while Brennon Willard and Ryan Gustin joined the field on Saturday. It was a very cool and cloudy day in  North Florida with a few sprinkles in the air from time to time and the engine tuners for the teams were left once again to puzzle over just what the correct setup would be. 

Along with the Late Models, the area Street Stocks would also be racing once again with a thousand dollars on the line for the winner of that event. The two class only show would help in ensuring a quick program was run off as there was a reoccurring chance of showers later in the evening and in fact, a decision was made mid program to run the Late Model feature first just to make sure that event was completed and I'm sure that many in the chilled grandstand were more than happy to see the Late Models out first so they could then help for the warmth of their vehicles. 

One of the beauties of the Lucas oil Series is that when they schedule the hot laps for a certain time which is always posted, once that is completed they go directly into time trials and then right into the racing so on a night like this, the first heat race hit the track by 6:30 pm and then they just plowed right through the program with the Late Models totally done by 9 pm with the Streets to then wrap up the night. 

Devin Moran and Brandon Sheppard would be the quick qualifiers in their groups and would start on the pole for their heats, of which there would be four on this night. For the first time all week, there would be a heat race winner that didn't start on the front row of a heat as Tyler Erb used and unusual line that he discovered to pass Sheppard and win that event. This would then ensure the outside pole, an advantageous place to start, to "Turbo" for the fifty lapper. 

With provisional starts assigned, twenty seven cars would take the green flag for the fifty lapper and Tyler Erb would use that outside spot to take the early lead as he continued to use the unusual line that saw him cut down across turn three through the banking. And while that groove worked for the short term, he quickly began to fade after leading the first eight laps and he would barely hold on for a top ten finish later. 

The race started haltingly, with five yellow flags in the first eleven laps, all for minor spins and fluid from Mark Whitener's blown motor. But after that, they ran the last thirty nine laps nonstop and there would be plenty of action as the changing surface kept even these Late Model stars guessing as to what should be the quickest line around the track. 

Moran would get past Erb and lead for awhile with Tim McCreadie then starting to track him down. Eventually, McCreadie would make a pass on Moran and start to pull away as it looked like the win would be his. However, with the long period of green flag racing, drivers would see their cars shine and then fade some and that is what happened to McCreadie as Moran caught back up to him, briefly led until McCreadie once again grabbed the top spot but while they were battling it out, Owens slowly but steadily gained on both of them. 

Lapped traffic became an issue and between fighting with the slower cars and fighting to find the right line on the track, Owens was suddenly right in the mix while Jonathan Davenport and Brandon Sheppard were also closing in. 

McCreadie was desperate to get past the slower cars but he didn't feel comfortable moving up the track but when he dove low on lap forty three into turn one, he found himself trapped in a box canyon with no where to move to. Owens positioned himself on the top side and blew past the two lapped cars plus Timmy and took over the lead. He then motored away from the field in the remaining laps to score a very popular victory as he seems to have one of the biggest cheering sections at the track most nights. McCreadie would hold on for second while Moran faded back behind Davenport with Sheppard completing the top five. Twenty cars were still running at the end with six a lap down. It was one of the better races seen so far this year for the Late Models. Brandon Overton, Hudson O'Neal and Chris Madden would be among the drivers that much was expected of this week but not shown so far as they look to rebound at East Bay. Davenport is apparently wrapping up his Speed Weeks tonight as he indicated that he won't be seen at either East Bay or Volusia. 

The Street Stocks wrapped up the evening with their twenty lap main that would pay a grand to the winner. Last night's winner Mike Stalnaker would take the top spot once again but things got interesting on the final lap. Earlier, Stalnaker came from the second row of the straight up start to grab the lead and once in front he stretched it impressively. 

At one point he was a full straightaway in front of the field and with this big track, that is quite a distance. However, a yellow flew with just four laps to go and that bunched up things. 

Stalnaker opted to run the low line on the slick track and Cameron Metts used the top side to gain some momentum and suddenly, he was knocking on the back bumper of the leader. In fact, on the final lap, Metts threw a slider in turn one and blew into the lead. However, Stalnaker crossed him over down the back chute to grab the front spot once again and then withstood a strong challenge off the final corner to take the win over Metts. Last year's track champion Heath Walker would come from tenth to finish third. All racing was complete by 9:30 pm. A large crowd was on hand for the Late Model finale here at All-Tech. 

In closing, we have to say that the racing far exceeded our expectations here over the last two nights. I had been here before and found the racing to not be too spectacular with a lot of follow the leader, predictable racing. However, that was not the case here this week. Drivers were using lots of different lines, the track seemed to be endlessly changing and what was good at the start of the race might not be so at the finish. 

The exceedingly slick track conditions were very much of a good thing. They helped slow the cars down and were far easier on equipment than some of he previous races I had seen here and helped keep the racing close and the action very good. The heat races were some of the best seen in quite some time as the icy slick conditions befuddled the drivers and really opened up the racing for surprises. Congratulations to promoter Wendell Durrance and his entire crew for some excellent racing, diminished only because we lost one night of racing I believe the drivers enjoyed their stay here as All-Tech seems to be building a stronger presence among the Late Model set when they come to Florida.