Wednesday night racing on February 14th at Volusia Speedway Park found an interesting night of racing with an unusual format likely not used anywhere during the rest of the season. The Big Block Modifieds would make their first of four appearances to wrap up the racing at Volusia but the Late Models would be the ones with the unusual schedule on this night as they would run triple feature races and for bonus racing, also make up the Monday night feature race that was rained out.
Forty eight Late Models, the high number so far this week, would sign in for Late Model action and an impressive forty nine Big Blocks from all over the eastern part of the country would sign in for their thirty lap feature race to start off their week.
With nearly one hundred race cars to qualify, no matter how speedily and efficiently they did it, time trials did take quite of big of time and for the first time all week, the races didn't start on time as they were nearly forty five minutes behind schedule, right from the get go.
The Modifieds were divided into two groups with Mat Williamson and Demetrios Drellos being the quick qualifiers of their groups with Williamson being the only driver in the sixteens at 16.992.
The Late Models had a pill draw to determine who would be in the three feature races so it was strictly the luck of the draw to determine who raced in which race. They then qualified and the results were lined straight up for the three five grand to win mains. Bobby Pierce, Mike Marlar and Ricky Thornton Jr were the three quick drivers with Thornton Jr quickest overall at 15.439 seconds.
While the Modifieds had to go through the series of heats and then Two B Features, all The Late Models were automatically moved into a feature race.
The first Late Model feature would see Pierce lead all the way for an easy win. He started on the pole and led all laps and was never really challenged, despite a large number of yellow flags (7) that would keep the field bunched. Cade Dillard would get second from Tim McCreadie early and then hold that spot the rest of the race while McCreadie would slip back to fourth but work his way back up to third at the end.
The second feature would also see quick qualifier Marlar lead from start to finish to take an easy win. Jordan Koehler would move into second but would be one of many victims of the big cushion as he would jump it and lose a couple of spots with Nick Hoffman moving into second. Later in the race, Tyler Erb would pick up the pace and he would drive past Hoffman for second and that's how they finished.
The third feature race featured some wild action between a couple of the sports quickest drivers. Devin Moran would use the outside line to get the jump on Ricky Thorton Jr and take the early lead with Moran then leading the majority of the race. Gradually, Thornton Jr and Brandon Sheppard would start to catch the leader and with a few laps remaining things would get interesting. Thornton Jr would use a slide job to get past Moran but Devin reversed things in the next corner, making the same move to claim the lead back. Thornton Jr. would try to get back under Moran in turn two and they would make contact, with Moran almost immediately suffering a flat tire and slowing to trigger a yellow flag.
Thornton Jr. would inherit the lead with only two laps to go but once racing started again, Ricky would push badly up the track, jump the cushion and lose several spots. Whether it was from the contact with Moran, I'm not sure, but his car was not as good following that incident.
Sheppard would take the opportunity presented to him and then drive on for the victory with Ryan Gustin second and Daulton Wilson third while Thornton Jr fell to ninth.
The fourth and final Late Model feature of the night was the rescheduled race from Monday night. Thornton Jr would take the lead and would move off to a nice advantage over Marlar and Pierce. However, as the leaders got into lapped traffic, Tyler Bruening would for some reason come from the bottom right up into the groove of Thornton Jr and they would hit hard, slowing Thornton Jr down and allowing Marlar the opportunity to throw a big slider at Thornton Jr.
Ricky would get over the cushion and the yellow would wave, even though he didn't stop and the "blend rule" would be used to place in the restart lineup. And just one lap later, leader Marlar would slow and Pierce would inherit the lead. Pierce would then go on to lead the last half of the race to get the win with McCreadie coming on to finish second ahead of Dillard.
The Big Blocks put on one of their better shows in recent memory with four different lead changes among three drivers and winner Matt Sheppard earning his historic five hundredth feature win.
Sheppard would start on the pole and lead the opening lap, after which a quick yellow for a spinning car would slow the action. Sheppard, however, would make major gaff on the restart as he would get too high in turn one, jump the cushion and lose a considerable number of positions. In fact, by he finally climbed back on to the track from the mud berm, he would be all the way back to seventh position but he would eventually march back to the front.
Anthony Perrego would inherit the lead after Sheppard's slip but he would lead for only a short time as Demetrios Drellos would then drive around Perrego to take over the top spot. Sheppard was on the move back toward the front though and by the halfway point of the race, he was up to third as he got by Mat Williamson and Jimmy Phelps for position.
Sheppard moved to the high side of the track and he immediately picked up speed and both he and second running Erick Rudolph closed on the leader. Sheppard made a brilliant move as he moved high to pass Rudolph and then closed on the leader. Perrego tried to counter Sheppard's move but Matt moved both high and then low as he drove past into the lead and with green flag racing to the checkered, he pulled away in a very impressive performance. Perrego would settle for second and Rudolph would complete the top three.
Only three minor yellows would slow the pace and twenty four of the twenty seven starters would finish the race.
It was a very cold and damp night but a very large crowd was on hand for the doubleheader with the World of Outlaws Late Models replacing the DIRTcar Late Models on Thursday night as point chasing resumes for the group. The Big Blocks will also be in action once again.
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