FULTON, N.Y. — After going winless in the first five DIRTcar Pro Stock Series Features of 2024, Luke Horning finally broke through Saturday afternoon at Fulton Speedway.
The Gloversville, N.Y. driver passed Beau Ballard with six laps to go to score the $1,200 prize and seventh career Series victory.
“This is a big deal,” Horning said. “I keep telling everyone who’s been saying I’m having a down year that I still won 12 races; I just didn’t win 22 like last year. But this is a great facility and still a big deal to us.”
Ballard and Bret Belden led the field to the green in the 30-lap Feature, battling side-by-side for the lead throughout the first 10 laps. Three cautions in the race’s first third didn’t stop the side-by-side fight for the lead, as the two traded the lead three times.
As Ballard and Belden battled up front, Horning moved forward from his seventh. The defending DIRTcar Pro Stock Series champion used the yellows to his advantage, working his way to third by lap 16.
On the next restart, he snuck under Belden in turns three and four to take over second on lap 17, setting his sights on Ballard. Horning pulled even with the No. 15 by lap 21 before another caution came out when Andy Graves’ hood fell off his Pro Stock.
When the race resumed, Ballard stayed on the inside line, where he ran for the first 20 laps while Horning drove through the middle. When the two drivers completed ;ap 22, Ballard held a 0.014-second lead over Horning. However, that changed when they entered turn one.
With a burst of speed, Horning’s momentum allowed him to drive around the Stamford, N.Y., driver to nose ahead in turn two. Then, Horning immediately switched lanes down the backstretch to stop Ballard’s momentum before he could try and take the lead back in turn three.
From there, Horning held on to score his first DIRTcar Pro Stock feature win of 2024.
“Cousin Luke” said he figured out where he needed to be by watching his competitors in front of him.
“I was watching [Belden] come in and like grab a little bit of bite and get tight,” Horning said. “So, I said, let’s just try and follow him. You could stay right in the rough stuff, keep the right rear in it, and keep rolling. I felt like if I got by these guys, they don’t know it’s there, so I probably should just get back to the bottom.
“I just kept Beau down to the bottom, so I wouldn’t let him get his momentum. I kept pulling, and once I got to him, I didn’t know if I quite had him cleared, but I knew I had to get to the bottom and couldn’t give away these chances.”
Ballard settled for second, earning his third consecutive podium after two straight wins. He said the number of yellow flags hurt his chances to stay out front.
“I was just doing my thing on the bottom,” Ballard said. “I raced door-to-door with [Belden] there for a while and said I don’t know if anyone is going to get by me. Then I saw [Horning] up there and knew he was really good in the middle.
“I think it was a tale of too many yellows for us. If we had stayed green for a while I think we would’ve got it.”
With his runner-up finish, Ballard trails Pete Stefanski, who finished third, by 16 points entering the Series finale at Super DIRT Week 52.
The four-time Series champion said he was happy with his third-place finish, keeping an eye on the big picture and a record fifth title.
“Just to come out of here with a top five finish is huge,” Stefanski said. “The track was very slippery. We were just a little bit off for this. Congratulations to Luke. He drove the wheels off the thing.
“To come out third we’re happy with that, but we have to get better on the slick tracks. It just took a little too long for the car to come in.”
Shane Playford finished fourth, and Belden rounded out the top five.
Feature Finish (30 Laps)
1. 2H-Luke Horning[7]; 2. 15-Beau Ballard[1]; 3. 2-Pete Stefanski[6]; 4. 6-Shane Playford[9]; 5. 81-Bret Belden[2]; 6. 110-Devon Camenga[3]; 7. 9B-Slater Baker[19]; 8. 72G-Denis Gauvreau[13]; 9. 48-Jocelyn Roy[8]; 10. 921-Eric Jean Louis[4]; 11. 6L-Stephane Lebrun[11]; 12. 28-Philip DeFiglio[10]; 13. 6C-Brian Carter[18]; 14. 22-AJ Walters[12]; 15. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[16]; 16. 96-Andrew Graves[5]; 17. 58-Roxanne Roy[14]; 18. 33-Bruno Cyr[15]; 19. 75-Gary Silkey[17]; 20. (DNS) 7-Rob Yetman; 21. (DNS) 25Y-Kenneth Griffin; 22. (DNS) 2E-Brandon Emigh; 23. (DNS) 7D-Chucky Dumblewski; 24. (DNS) 7C-Caden Dumblewski; 25. (DNS) 711-Rich Crane; 26. (DNS) 324-Jason Casey; 27. (DNS) 24-Ian Bressett