CONCORD, N.C. — With more than 330 competitors from 20 states taking part, the Drydene World Short Track Championship took the green flag on Friday afternoon with nine classes of race cars at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
Qualifying and heat races were the focus of Friday to set the stage for Saturday’s main events, but three DIRTVision Hornet Features wrapped up the night’s action.
Out from the garages of rural America and off the back of small enclosed, or predominantly open trailers, 50 DIRTVision Hornets graced the The Dirt Track at Charlotte on Friday. All in search of a prestigious Drydene World Short Track Championship win.
Three 10-lap DIRTVision Hornet features were held, lined up by split qualifying sessions earlier in the day. Dave Lanely made a heroic pass in the first feature to snag the win, while Newman Presnell and Chase Hopper stood out as dominant drivers to win their features.
Jonathan Barratt in his No. 311 Hornet has been a winning contender every year he shows up for the Drydene World Short Track Championship. He proved that again by setting Quick Time overall and then held a commanding lead for the majority of the first 10-lap feature.
While Barratt held the lead, Ricky Weaver stayed within striking distance in the runner-up spot. However, around the halfway point of the race, Weaver developed an issue and slowed. That moved Lanely up to second and opened the door for a view at Barratt.
Something went awry on Barratt’s car. His pace dramatically slowed, while Lanely kept the throttle pinned to the floorboard with the checkered flag waving. At the line… Lanely nosed Barratt for the win by 0.025 seconds.
“I didn’t lead none of the laps but the last one, but I guess that’s the only one that matters,” Lanely said. “(I thought) just never give up. Stay in it to the end. I saw I was catching him really fast, I figured something broke on his car for me to catch him that fast. He runs the circuit and he’s pretty fast everywhere. I just stayed in it until it was over.”
Newman Presnell qualified second overall, by only by a hundredth of a second of Barratt’s pole setting time. Then, when it came to the second Hornet feature of the night, he led the field to the green and never looked back. Shannon Barnhill in second and Bradley Williamson, who got by Mark White for second, could do nothing but watch the white No. 48 lead enter a turn while they exited the one prior.
With no flaw in his driver, Presnell raced to the checkered flag with ease to pick up the trophy and $500 check.
“Hey, man, it felt great,” Presnell said. “Just glad to be here. Enjoying our time here in Charlotte. We come to just have a good time. Getting on the track tonight was a blessing. It feels good to be here in victory lane, too.”
In his Drydene World Short Track Championship debut last year, Chase Hopper didn’t know what to expect. He’d never raced on a track that big before and had never been a part of an event that big before. What it resulted in was a podium finish during Friday night’s Feature and a last-lap pass for the win on Saturday.
This year, with that confidence in his head and a new motor under the hood of his #21 machine, Hopper is poised to sweep the weekend.
He launched ahead of the field from the pole position at the start of the third feature, but former World Short Track winner Joe Kelly stayed in his tire tracks.
With a couple laps to go, Kelly slid over the cushion in turn two, allowing Donovan Beacham make an easy pass for second. However, Hopper had already pulled away by more than two seconds at that point. When the checkered flags flew for the final time of the night, Hopper scored a rare back-to-back feat.
“Man, it feels good. This is just a dream come true,” Hopper said. “I feel like I’m in fairyland right now. The program we have now, this car is just a whole different beast. It is just hooked up. I couldn’t ask for a better race car. I was just cruising. I had a little bit more pedal, but I wasn’t going to show them everything I had tonight.”
Other Divisions
Calob McLaughlin was the fast qualifier for the Drydene Performance Products Street Stocks, while Ricky Greene, Dalton Peavy and Damon Crump won heat races.
Heat race winners for the Fox Factory Pro (604) Late Models were Ben Watkins, Colton Trouille, Dillon Brown and Tyler Nicely. They were among the 16 drivers locked into Saturday’s field.
Six Chevrolet Performance 602 Late Models were run on the four-tenths-mile track with 18 drivers grabbing spots in Saturday’s main event. Heat race winners were Rod Tucker, Bryan Mullis, Jay Merck, John Ruggierio Jr., Nathan Walker and Seth Wimpey.
With 57 Summit Racing Equipment DIRTcar UMP Modifieds in the pits, six heat races were run for that class. World of Outlaws Late Model Series regular Chris Madden won the first heat with former NASCAR driver David Stremme claiming the second heat. Class kingpin Nick Hoffman won heat three.
The final three heat race winners were Ethan Dotson, Brandon Green and teenager Hunt Gossum.
Defending division feature winner Kyle Strickler is among the drivers who will have to come through a Last Chance Showdown event on Saturday to make the main event.
There were also six heat races for the Hoosier Racing Tire Pro Modifieds with Kenneth Peeples, Morgan Widener, Eric Bentley, Steve Axtell Jr., Jeff Parsons and Austin Holcombe claiming victories.
Johnny Raines, Greg Brew, Logan Richey, J.R. Baker, Travis Mosley and Harley Holden won the six heat races for the COMP Cams Monster Mini-Stocks.
Brock Pinkerous was the fast qualifier for the VP Race Fuels DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds with David Rogers and Travis Bruno winning the two heat races.
Luke Horning turned the fast lap for the SRI Performance DIRTcar Pro Stocks with Sheldon Martin winning the lone heat race.