BARBERVILLE, Fla. — Carson Macedo proved in Wednesday night’s All Star Circuit of Champions feature at Volusia Raceway Park that even with a fast car, getting to victory lane sometimes requires a bit of luck.
Macedo’s score in the finale of the All Star portion of the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals came at the expense of Donny Schatz, who mounted an impressive late-race charge and got the lead with five to go only to have his front wing blow loose, giving Macedo a chance to redeem himself after letting Schatz past.
“I saw his wing was funny when he drove by,” tipped Macedo. “I missed the bottom and gave him a shot at me, then it came loose and let me get back by. It saved me.”
Macedo started on the pole with Justin Peck alongside and led the early laps as Peck and Anthony Macri contested second behind him. The fourth starting Macri finally prevailed but by then the leaders were deep into the back of the field as the 25-lapper went non-stop and they caught the tailenders early on.
Just before halfway, the third starting Schatz turned up the wick and got by both Peck and Macri, though the later did not go down easily. Peck then cut a great lap and got back by Schatz, who immediately reclaimed second and set out after Macedo again.
With 10 laps to go, Schatz was closing rapidly on the leader and James McFadden, who came out of the third row, was closing on him. With five laps to go, Schatz blew under the leader but then slowed noticeably and Macedo was back by in an instant and off to a substantial lead. McFadden gave it his best but ran out of time and had to settle for third ahead of Macri and Peck.
Tuesday night’s winner, Brad Sweet, led the second five after a crowd pleasing charge from 17th on the grid with Brock Zearfoss, Spencer Bayston, Logan Schuchart and 20th starting David Gravel trailing.
“We were good but have nothing to show for it,” proclaimed Schatz. “Nobody remembers who ran second. Macri hit my nose wing around lap five and it finally blew up after I passed Macedo. I had the win and gave it away.”
McFadden also had his troubles, saying “I got into the fence once and had a hard time getting off it. I hit it pretty hard.
“We couldn’t run the bottom in three and four, though we could at the other end and ended up with a decent finish,” added the Australian. “Schatz is always tough and I think it’s great just to be able to race with him. All in all, tonight was a lot of fun.”
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 41-Carson Macedo[1]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[3]; 3. 83-James McFadden[5]; 4. 39M-Anthony Macri[4]; 5. 13-Justin Peck[2]; 6. 49-Brad Sweet[17]; 7. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[7]; 8. 5-Spencer Bayston[10]; 9. 1S-Logan Schuchart[12]; 10. 2-David Gravel[20]; 11. 11-Michael Kofoid[9]; 12. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[21]; 13. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[8]; 14. 21-Brian Brown[6]; 15. 19M-Brent Marks[14]; 16. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[11]; 17. 8-Aaron Reutzel[22]; 18. 9-Kasey Kahne[13]; 19. 5T-Ryan Timms[24]; 20. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[15]; 21. 9P-Parker Price Miller[16]; 22. 1A-Jacob Allen[18]; 23. 26-Zeb Wise[19]; 24. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[23]