BARBERVILLE, Fla. — The Pennsylvania Posse travels well these days thanks in large part to Anthony Macri.
The “Concrete King’s” latest conquering? The state of Florida with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.
The Dillsburg, Pa., native and his Macri Motorsports crew made the trip south to the “Sunshine State” for Volusia Speedway Park’s Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals. Macri opened the three nights of racing with strong finishes of third and fourth, but he saved his best for last.
Saturday brought the finale with $20,000 and Big Gator bragging rights on the line.
Macri lined up fourth for the main event, putting him in the best position for the reptilian trophy as the two competitors ahead of him in points entering the night started 21st (Buddy Kofoid) and 12th (Carson Macedo).
But Macri wasn’t banking on them staying behind. He got to work right away and blasted around Brian Brown for the lead on the seventh circuit. That looked as if it may be all she wrote as Macri quickly built a lead, but defending Series champion David Gravel wasn’t about to make things easy.
Gravel muscled his way into second and trimmed away at Macri’s advantage, and the opening arrived as the white flag waved. Macri struggled to clear a lapper down the front straightaway, and Gravel took advantage by throwing a slide job in Turn 1.
But Macri refused to flinch as he got the car squared up for a diamond line to build momentum down the back straightaway under both Gravel and the traffic. He found the run he needed, and it was enough to squeeze ahead into Turn 3 and hold off the Big Game Motorsports No. 2 to bank the $20,000 and bag the Big Gator.
“I just saw how those guys were able to diamond the corner off late in the race and make a lot of speed,” Macri said. “Once I almost got into Chase (Dietz) there, I knew he was breathing down my neck, and I knew he was going to make a move to win the race. I just pulled that one out of my butt. I was able to diamond the corner off and get a really good run down the backstretch, and I was either putting it between Chase and the inside wall, or I was trashing this thing trying.
“This is badass. I’m in a little bit of a predicament because I told these guys if I won the Big Gator this week, I was calling it a season already,” Macri added with a smile.
The eighth World of Outlaws victory of Macri’s career equals him with Jimmy Sills and fellow Pennsylvanian Cody Darrah on the all-time win list. He became the ninth different winner of the Big Gator.
David Gravel, Carson Macedo, Buddy Kofoid, and Brian Brown completed the top five.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 39M-Anthony Macri[4]; 2. 2-David Gravel[3]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo[12]; 4. 83-Michael Kofoid[21]; 5. 21-Brian Brown[1]; 6. 23-Garet Williamson[9]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[7]; 8. 19-Brent Marks[2]; 9. 6-Kasey Jedrzejek[5]; 10. 15-Donny Schatz[19]; 11. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[6]; 12. 71-Parker Price Miller[20]; 13. 9-Daison Pursley[14]; 14. 17-Spencer Bayston[25]; 15. 7S-Chris Windom[26]; 16. 2C-Cole Macedo[27]; 17. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[22]; 18. 17B-Bill Balog[11]; 19. 13-Tanner Holmes[10]; 20. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[28]; 21. 16C-Scotty Thiel[24]; 22. 23D-Chase Dietz[8]; 23. 28M-Conner Morrell[16]; 24. (DNF) 88-Austin McCarl[23]; 25. (DNF) 17GP-Hank Davis[18]; 26. (DNF) 27-Emerson Axsom[13]; 27. (DNF) 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[17]; 28. (DNF) 5-Brenham Crouch[15]
