The DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park has moved into the "meat" of its schedule now, with Thursday night, February 12th featuring the first of three straight nights of World of Outlaws Late Model points paying events while the Super DIRTcar Series Big Blocks ran their second of four nights with all racing wrapping up on Saturday of this week.
The Late Models would provide the most dominant run of the week to date as Nick Hoffman "smoked" the troops, winning by a resounding five plus seconds over the pack while defending DIRTcar Series Big Block champion Mat Williamson found victory lane over a strong field of racers in that class.
Car counts have remained remarkably similar to previous years with the Late Model field of fifty eight drivers the exact same number as took the green for this event last year while the Big Blocks continue to remain just a bit stronger than last year.
Track conditions split the difference between Tuesday night's rubber race and Wednesday night's mud bath and while a few complained that the slick conditions still weren't good, most of the competitors were happy with the track on Thursday night.
The WoO Late Model format is slightly different than that of UMP with the field split in half and each half of the field qualifying against drivers in their flight with six heats in total and only the top three in each heat moving on. The B Features are most brutal with twenty cars fighting for just two spots and then to fill out the starting grid, the emergency provisional, point provisional and provisional provisional starters that would make up the twenty eight car field.
Cody Overton continued his impressive runs of the week, turning the quickest lap overall at 15.567 seconds while Brandon Sheppard led group B just under a tenth slower.
Twenty eight drivers started the thirty five lap Late Model feature and despite some whining about track conditions from Chris Madden, he still redrew the pole position. However, at the drop of the green, he pushed up the track and Nick Hoffman, who started outside of him, cut under and took over the lead and that would be the closest that anyone would get to him over the next thirty five laps.
Overton likely lost the "Big Gator" point lead when he slowed with mechanical ills just four laps into the race and was done but Hoffman continued to lead following the slowdown over Madden, Drake Troutman, Tyler Erb and Sheppard. However, Madden continued to push up the track on the next restart and he faded back as Erb particularly began to advance.
Ryan Gustin moved into the top five but then he spun with twelve laps complete, slowing the action for the second and final time of the night. Erb was up to third and for the first time all week, Bobby Pierce appeared among the front runners after starting tenth.
The final twenty three laps of the race ran green to checkers and this long green flag run allowed some of the drivers to use the extra laps to work their way forward for the first time this week. By the halfway point of the race, Pierce was up to second while Tim McCreadie, who started twenty second, had also cracked the top five.
Hoffman had built up nearly a full straightaway lead over the pack but then he ran into a major hurdle with a considerable amount of slower cars, ready to go a lap down, to fight his way through. Pierce used this problem to get as close as anyone all night, getting to within a few car lengths and looking like he might challenge.
However, at just the right time, Hoffman made a couple of excellent moves in the heavy traffic, clearing space for himself with some sharp driving that opened up his advantage once again. And at the finish he had four lapped cars and considerable space between himself and the field.
McCreadie continued to be the story late, as his drive to the front saw him slip past Pierce on the final lap and take second which was quite the drive from where he had started. Pierce settled for third with Erb and Madden finishing out the top five.
Eight drivers were a lap in arrears at the finish but there were only four drivers that weren't on the track when the checkers flew, adding much to the challenging traffic situation.
Jimmy Phelps and Williamson were the quickest in the two groups of Big Blocks for time trials but just over a second slower than the Late Models. Four heats and a pair of B Features would set their twenty eight car field for their thirty lap main as they also have their share of provisional starters.
Bobby Varin took the early lead, using the pole starting spot to beat Phelps and Larry Wight and hold the front spot for the first four laps as he held on through two very early yellows.
However, following the second slow down, Wight made a power move and took over the point and one lap later, Williamson moved into second and the chase was on. Those two stepped away from the field while Justin Haers, Alex Payne and Varin battled for third. Wight remained in control and seemed to be able to weather Williamson's challenges.
That is, until the yellow flew with seventeen laps down for a slowing car and while it has been well documented time and again, in the modern racing world most passed occur just after yellow flag situations.
And once again, that is what happened here as on the green, Wight pushed up the track in turn one, Williamson cut left and drove under Larry and took over the lead. Conveniently for Williamson, that was the last yellow of the race so he didn't have to face the same situation.
Wight stayed close but could never muster a challenge to take back the top spot. Lapped traffic played into things late and Williamson mastered that well, snuffing out any chances Wight had of retaking the top spot as Mat made some nice moves and put two slower cars between himself and Wight as he drove on for the win.
Payne had a strong run, coming from the fourth row to claim the third spot, ahead of Haers and Phelps. In this race, only four drivers also failed to finish but the more frequent yellow flags made the lapped traffic not nearly so much an issue.
It was a cold night for February in Florida with an uncomfortable wind blowing right into the grandstand but the crowds continue to be large, split about half and half for the Late Models and Big Blocks. An identical program will be provided again on Friday night with the hopes that the Friday the 13th jinx will not be a part of the show.
No comments:
Post a Comment