CONCORD, N.C. — The DIRTVision SEHA Hornets made their World Short Track Championship debut Friday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte with three Features, each producing a compelling storyline.
FEATURE 1
Dylan Douglas started on the pole of the first 15-lap Feature and never looked back. While he took off from the field at the start of the race, the rest of the field was battling two-, three- and four-wide for position behind him.
Willie Fowler fought his way out of the “hornet’s nest” of cars to slot into second with Douglas in sight.
While he tried to run down the leader, Carson Venable was on the move from fifth, using the top lane to build moment and run down the cars in front of him. Beating on Eddie Segars’ bumper for third, he got the No. 58 car out of shape off of Turn 2 and used that to move up into the podium spot.
The complexity of the race changed with five laps to go when a PRO-FABrication Headers caution flag brought the field back together.
Douglas jumped ahead of the field, again, on the restart, but Fowler stayed close enough to try a dive bomb into Turn 3, putting his car side by side with Douglas. However, Douglas had the advantage up top and pulled back ahead down the front stretch. That felt Fowler having to fend off Venable and Scott Cloninger, who had charged his way from 12th to fourth before the caution.
Venable tried to make a move around Fowler in the closing laps, but that only slowed the two cars, allowing Cloninger to dart by them both and steal second.
Ahead of them, Douglas saw the checkered flag for the first time at The Dirt Track at Charlotte with a 2.3 second lead. And he became the first SEHA Hornet Feature winner at the World Short Track Championship.
“Man, I was about to puke. I ain’t even going to lie, I was about to throw up,” Douglas said about having to survive the late caution. “On the last restart I reached out for my clutch and there was no pedal at all. So, I was so sick I was about to puke, man. But we got it done. Just happy to be here.”
The finish:
Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 2DD-Dylan Douglas[1]; 2. 3C-Scott Cloninger[12]; 3. 19-Willie Fowler[13]; 4. 26C-Carson Venable[5]; 5. 2D-Daniel Tate[20]; 6. 58-Eddie Segars[4]; 7. 03-Jamey J Bresette[9]; 8. A53-Austin Haskin[21]; 9. 41S-Kevin Saam[3]; 10. 19X-Josh Cody[15]; 11. 35-Ashley Parker[22]; 12. 22-Trent Blackwell[18]; 13. 78-Ethan Fowler[19]; 14. 81A-Avery White[17]; 15. 33S-TJ Slack[7]; 16. T2-Jose Hernandez[16]; 17. 77NY-Kris Clark[2]; 18. 4TJ-Mitchell Coggins[23]; 19. 96-Kevin Brazell[14]; 20. 18-Phillip Taylor[10]; 21. 33-Scott Isbell[6]; 22. (DNS) 8-Charles Johnson; 23. (DNS) C4-CJ LaVair; 24. (DNS) 08-Dallas Griggs
FEATURE 2
Like Dylan Douglas, Kayden Presnell was the only driver out front for all 15 laps in the second Feature of the night. However, he did have a bit of work to do on the initial start.
Presnell started fourth but when the green flag was shown, he had a better jump than the three cars ahead of him, pulling to their outside and charging ahead by Turn 3. From then on, he was in a league of his own.
The drama of the Feature revolved around the battle for second. Dean Riddle held it early, but Travis Jamieson took it by Lap 5. Riddle then fell to fourth after Justin Harris got by him a lap later.
With two laps to go, Jamieson’s engine expired, dumping oil from Turn 3 to Turn 4 and bringing out the PRO-FABrication caution flag.
When the race resumed, Harris tried to make a run at Presnell, diving under him in Turn 3, but like Douglas the race prior, the middle lane prevailed for Presnell. He pulled ahead off Turn 4 and drove away to a 0.7 second victory over Harris.
With the victory, he joined his father, Newman Presnell as a World Short Track Championship winner. They also won on the same night as Newman picked up his third win at Charlotte with the DIRTVision SCDRA Hornets.
“It’s definitely really cool,” Kayden Presnell said. “I had a really good starting spot and that helped a lot.”
The finish:
Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 48-Kayden Presnell[4]; 2. 1H-Justin Harris[5]; 3. BAND1T-Dale Bennett[9]; 4. T3-TJ Hill[8]; 5. 07-Brayden McDonald[7]; 6. 511-Bentley Caudle[10]; 7. 27-Chris Jaret[16]; 8. 25J-Josh Whitfield[22]; 9. 21G-Brandon Greene[3]; 10. 41-Gage McFadden[17]; 11. 10-James Morrow[23]; 12. 15-Ken Colf[20]; 13. 3-Jaycob Johnson[6]; 14. 44-Jordan Webb[13]; 15. 23-Austin Burch[19]; 16. 09-Dean Riddle[1]; 17. 135-Travis Jamieson[15]; 18. 0-Corey Harper[2]; 19. 116-Gavin Bright[21]; 20. (DNS) T3JR-Riley Hill; 21. (DNS) 17E-Glenn Engstrom; 22. (DNS) D2-Danny Tate; 23. (DNS) 21-Nick White
FEATURE 3
Less than 30 minutes after picking up his fourth DIRTVision SCDRA Hornet Feature win at Charlotte, Joey Kelly found himself back in Victory Lane – with a different car – winning the final DIRTVision SEHA Hornet Feature of the night.
With that, he became the first driver in World Short Track Championship history to win two Features in one night and the first DIRTVision Hornet driver with a win with the SEHA group and SCDRA group.
“That’s awesome… it’s a pretty awesome feeling,” Kelly said.
Unlike Douglas and Presnell, who won before him, Kelly had a little of a further climb to the top. He started sixth and had to contend with drivers like Newman Presnell – who also won earlier in the night.
Travis Lankford held the lead early on, while the field behind him traded paint.
Kelly stayed out of the mayhem, charging around the high side of the track. He went from sixth to fourth on the first lap and then fourth to second on Lap 3. He then inched closer and closer to Lankford every lap.
While Kelly used the top lane to get into second, the bottom lane turned into his ally as he used it to sneak under Lankford in Turn 3 on Lap 7. The two raced side by side through the first corner and the advantage went to Kelly on the exit. He pulled ahead down the backstretch and switched back to the middle lane in Turn 3. That allowed Lankford to dive underneath him and try to keep the fight going.
However, he couldn’t match Kelly’s speed. The No. 88K car pulled away to a nearly two second lead by the end of the 15-lap race. Lankford also fell to third after Presnell stole second with two laps to go.
“I was just praying,” Kelly said about his battle with Lankford. “At that point, when you’re going that speed, you’re just praying it’s going to work out at the end of the day. Well, good lord looked down on me and pushed me right on through.”
The finish:
Feature 3 (15 Laps): 1. 88K-Joey Kelly[6]; 2. 48K-Newman Presnell[10]; 3. F1-Travis Lankford[1]; 4. 11-Casey Towell[14]; 5. 78H-Steven Herring[5]; 6. 32-Christian Byers[3]; 7. 57-Jordan Mauney[8]; 8. A23-Andrew Rich[11]; 9. 58K-Kason Bright[13]; 10. 2L-Kylee Laws[21]; 11. 2-Tyler Capps[17]; 12. J6-Jimmy Price[2]; 13. 4-Daniel Wright[19]; 14. 57G-John Graybeal[9]; 15. 328-Christopher Gardner[15]; 16. 58H-Ronnie Hall[22]; 17. 27M-Keitha Martin[16]; 18. 25K-Jeremy Hudson[12]; 19. 214-Thomas Mcgahee[18]; 20. 212-Tanner Coggins[7]; 21. 28A-Tyler Langley[23]; 22. (DNS) 16-Barry Bennett; 23. (DNS) 5-Reggie Twing