CONCORD, N.C. — Stephen Pedulla will never forget The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
After a year of frustration, the Kannapolis, N.C., driver finally had everything go his way, leading all 20 laps to win the Fox Factory Pro Late Model Championship feature Thursday night at the seventh annual World Short Track Championship.
Pedulla grabbed the lead from the pole position while trying to pull away from challengers Ricky Greene and Jeremy Steele.
Greene hounded Pedulla for the first 14 laps until a yellow flag flew on lap 15 for Timmie Harrelson, who slowed in turns three and four.
From there, Pedulla held off a final stand from Steele on the restart to earn the 20-lap triumph—the first late model win of his career.
“Man, I’ll tell you what, we’ve struggled so much this year, and to get it up here, I can’t say enough,” Pedulla said. “I’m thankful to my parents. Fox shocks, they support me, DEI, they support me, everyone that supports me. I can’t say enough.”
Steele settled for second, while Greene finished third. Cody Cubbage crossed the line fourth and Dillon Brown rounded out the top five.
Sportsman Modified
David Rogers c picked up where he left off at the World Short Track Championship last year, winning another VP Racing Fuels DIRTcar Sportsman Modified feature.
The southern trip for the New York native still saw him face off against several of his DIRTcar Northeast Series regulars, such as Andrew Buff and Mike Fowler, for the victory.
Rogers started eighth on the grid but quickly made his way through the field, finding his way to fourth in the opening lap.
Andrew Buff held the lead until Rogers passed him on lap nine. He battled to stay within striking distance of Rogers, but it was the LaFargeville, N.Y., native’s night to shine, steadily pulling away from the pack.
“The car was good,” Rogers said. “We were a little bit tight. Every restart and on the initial start it felt tight, but once I got some heat in the tires I was really good. The car freed up and I could turn. Man, this thing was incredible.”
Kevin Ridley wanted a piece of the action as well, steadily charging forward from a 10th place starting position. With a consistent pace, he made his way to fifth by the halfway point of the race and eventually worked his by by Ayden Cipriano on lap 18 to secure a podium finish.
Cipriano finished fourth and Dylan Madsen finished fifth.
UMP Modifieds
In a stacked field of 35 Summit Racing Equipment DIRTcar UMP Modifieds, Ethan Dotson was first to strike on the weekend, dominating the All-Star Invitational Feature Thursday night and claiming the division’s first race win of the seventh annual World Short Track Championship.
Dotson, the 23-year-old UMP Modified breakout star from Bakersfield, CA, led all 20 trips around The Dirt Track at Charlotte, picking up a $600 preliminary event check and his first career victory at the famed four-tenths-mile oval.
“It’s probably the best we’ve been so far,” Dotson said. “We could move anywhere, and it just was really, really good.”
Dotson was introduced to The Dirt Track one year ago in his World Short Track debut, piloting a second Longhorn Chassis entry for team owner/driver Steve Arpin. He turned some heads that weekend, consistently running up front and finishing sixth in the Championship feature.
“I got to come here last year, and I really like this place,” Dotson said. “The track kinda fits my driving style. It’s a lot of fun.
“I’m loving the UMP stuff. The big motor and the better tires – it’s just a lot of fun to be able to do that. I come from Crate racing, so it’s really cool to be able to do this stuff.”
Pro Stock
When Pete Stefanski took the green flag in Thursday night’s World Short Track Championship MSD DIRTcar Pro Stock Feature, it commenced only his fifth race in 2022 with his new car.
However, in the opening stage of the 20-lap race, it looked as though he had a full season with it under his belt. Stefanski went from fifth to third in the opening lap. Third to second by Lap 4, and then took the lead on lap nine.
From there, he ran away with the victory – his first at the World Short Track Championship in his fifth start.
While he was confident in his car, he didn’t expect to move forward at that rate.
“I thought if I was patient enough, we would be able to get there and run with those guys,” Stefanski said. “I kept getting my nose underneath [Shawn Perez Sr.] there and I didn’t think I was going to clear him and he just kind of bobbled the corner and I said, ‘I just have to drive it in all the way and do a little bit of a slide job on him.’ And it worked through (turns) three and four.”
Shawn Perez Sr. started on the pole for the feature, after the entire field drew for their starting positions. From there, he jumped ahead of the field on the initial start, leaving a three-way battle for second behind him.
Johnny Rivers Jr. found himself under attack from Stefanski and Denis Gauvreau in the opening laps and eventually lost the battle to both drivers by lap seven, falling to fourth – and eventually fading further until he landed in eighth at the end of the race.
Once Stefanski and Gauvreau found their way into the top-three, it became a three-way battle for the lead. Running low, Stefanski worked his way under Perez, creating a side-by-side race for the lead, which allowed Gauvreau join the duel.
When Perez bobbled through turns three and four, Stefanski had a clean run around the bottom and launched to the lead down the frontstretch. Gauvreau also worked his way by Perez for second.
“It was nice to be three-wide, no contact, because the track is just great top to bottom,” Stefanski said. “That’s what made the racing so good.”
Gauvreau settled for second and along with Stefanski’s impressive drive, Marc Lalonde had the best climb of the race, charging from 20th to finish third.