Monday night, March 2nd, the World Of Outlaws completed a rare Sunday and Monday doubleheader prompted by Bike Week activities in Daytona Beach and it was Anthony Macri that took the WoO regulars to task as he dominated the final half of the feature race to claim his second WoO feature race of the season.
Monday night saw thirty one drivers again sign in to race, in fact the exact same drivers that raced on Sunday night. The track was considerably slower on Monday with the racing groove slicker but also wider which the drivers liked and it made passing a much more manageable thing than on Sunday night. Instead of flirting with the existing track record, Sheldon Haudenschild, as the third driver out for qualifying, turned a lap just about a full second slower than the track record.
The program would be the exact same as on Sunday with three heats, the dash, B Feature and then another twenty five lap main for the Sprint Cars. Haudenschild won the dash over David Gravel and he would start on the pole for the feature as he looked for his second straight win.
However, things would not go nearly as well for him as both he and Gravel got passed on the opening lap by Carson Macedo for the lead and things would just go downhill from that point for Haudenschild with him slipping back to eighth at the finish.
Macedo held off Gravel until lap ten when David passed him, however Macedo didn't give up and showing lots of speed, one lap later he raced past Gravel to retake the lead. Meanwhile, Macri had started fourth, dropped back just a bit but then the track came to him and he started to march to the front. By the halfway point of the race, he had passed Gravel for second and was closing on Macedo for the lead. Ashton Torgerson and Scotty Thiel, having a good run, were also in the top five at the halfway point.
Macri continued to press and on lap fourteen he drove past Macedo to take over the lead, but the yellow flew just four laps later and bunched the pack with Macedo and Gravel right behind him.
However, Macri's car seemed to get stronger as the race went on and after that last yellow he pulled away from both his challengers and remained in the clear for the last seven laps. Gravel tried to move to the outside to gain some speed but in the last five laps or so the track started to take rubber and the inside line was the place to be.
Torgerson found the changing track conditions to his liking as he got past Macedo for third and when Gravel continued to try the outside, he was also able to drive past him for second. Finally, Gravel dropped to the inside, cut his loses and settled for third ahead of Macedo and Daryn Pittman.
Both Torgerson and Pittman's car came alive as the track changed with them moving up from the third and fifth rows respectively. Only four drivers failed to finish the race but with the well timed yellows,WoO regulars. Donny Schatz was leading a heat race when his car quit and he had to run a B Feature. Bill Balog broke in the B Feature after a poor heat race and he had to rely on a provisional to start the feature. But the worst luck was endured by Buddy Kofoid who broke in both a heat and the B Feature and then, after surrendering one of his provisional starts to race the feature, he couldn't get his back up car to run and sat on pit road as the green flag waved. Running the WoO is not a poor man's game as at least four motors were changed by teams in the last two nights at a monumental expense.
As they did on Sunday night, the Factory Stocks ran as the support class for the WoO. Sunday was a tough night for them mechanically with a number not returning on Monday and they had only twelve cars to race.
However, that didn't stop them from putting on their second straight entertaining feature race and proving they deserved to be a part of the show. The lead changed hands officially three times during their twenty lap feature race, much of which was highlighted by a four car pack battling for the lead.
Tanner Thomas started on the outside pole and he got the early jump on his father Patrick to lead lap one. However, Patrick would have none of that and on the next lap he passed his son to take over the top spot. But neither one of them could hold off Rich Pratt who passed both and took the lead on lap four.
By the halfway point of the race, Pratt continued to lead over Tanner Thomas, Mikey Kopka, Patruck Thomas and Ron Adams.
Most of the front runners were now hugging the low line in the corners but Tanner Thomas made the decision to try to move up the track and it worked great for him. He was able to keep his momentum up as he climbed high in the corners and on lap eleven he passed Pratt to retake the lead, the first time he had led since lap one.
He then pulled away from the field, not hindered by the lone yellow of the race that flew with thirteen laps complete. Tanner would continue to charge and he drove on for the win. Father Patrick made a late race charge and got by Pratt for second with Jason Garver and Sunday night winner Dustin Turnage Sr completing the top five. Ten of the twelve starters were still on the track at the finish.
Because of the Monday night show, the race schedule was flopped for this night with the Sprint feature coming first and about 90% of the crowd was gone by the time the checkers flew for the Factory Stocks.
With the conclusion of the show on Monday, this will very likely conclude my appearances at Volusia Speedway Park for 2026 and although the "World's Fastest Half Mile" track is not really the fastest and indeed, not a true half mile either for that matter, the World Racing Group has put on some excellent racing in the month's of January and February for fans from throughout the country. Thanks to all the officials from the World Racing Group's many branches and all the employees of Volusia Speedway Park.
With things quieting down now at the speedway, the gators have returned to their pond with a nice six footer or so seen swimming serenely as the Sprint Cars made their runs.
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