CONCORD, N.C. — Kyle Strickler is looking to make a bit of history at the eighth annual World Short Track Championship.
Thursday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte was a solid first step as he dominated the Summit Racing Equipment DIRTcar UMP Modified All-Star Invitational feature.
In his quest to become only the fourth driver to win four World Short Track titles, Strickler — the UMP Modified veteran from Mooresville, N.C. — started the weekend with a strong performance in the 15-lap All-Star event, leading every lap from the pole and crossing the finish line almost five seconds ahead of his competition.
Despite his excellence in the Invitational and a second-best lap in qualifying, Strickler said he did not always feel as comfortable in the car as he would have preferred.
“It was definitely a lot better,” Strickler said. “Didn’t feel great in hot laps, didn’t feel great in qualifying. Then, we made wholesale changes, and it was a lot better. I still think we can get a little bit better.”
Pro Late Models
Dillon Brown planned on using the opening night of the World Short Track Championship as a test run.
He earned an A-plus, leading all 15 laps to win the Fox Factory Pro Late Model All-Star Invitational feature.
Jody Knowles, the polesitter, led the 20-car field to the green. But that didn’t last long as Brown saw his opportunity to pounce in turn one. The Gaffney, S.C., driver snuck past both Knowles and Justin Hudspeth to take the lead away on the opening lap.
As Brown pulled away from Hudspeth, defending Pro Late Model Championship winner Trent Ivey moved toward the front. He snuck past Hudspeth for second in turn one on lap nine.
However, it wasn’t enough as Brown held off the No G4 to earn his second Pro Late Model All-Star Invitational win—and third World Short Track Championship win.
“(At the start) we were just trying to position ourselves to second,” Brown said. “But when we came down the front straightaway, I was like, I ain’t letting off; let’s just see where this goes. We got to the lead, but we need to get a lot, lot better.
“We have something to work with. We have a really good piece. But we changed four or five shocks and springs before that race. I wanted to try something you don’t usually get to here in race trim, so I just kind of looked at that race as a test session.”
Sportsman
Nelson Mason will have a difficult time forgetting how his first visit to the World Short Track Championships felt on opening night as he won the All-Star Invitational for the DIRTcar Sportsman class.
After competing at the track as a child in a go-kart, Mason and his father made the eight-hour trek down to the Concord, N.C., oval to try his luck in a DIRTcar Sportsman. He made every mile count, as he took home his first career victory Thursday night.
Starting on the pole, Mason found himself accompanied by Derrick McGrew to his outside on the front row to start. He took full advantage of his starting position, shooting out in front. Kevin Ridley, who earlier had posted the night’s quick time, aggressively made a move simultaneously, jumping up to second place from fourth on lap one. The two frontrunners immediately started their heated battle towards the finish line, with Ridley close behind.
Ridley was able to close the gap significantly on the last lap going into turn three and turn fur, relentlessly battling until the checkered flag waved. But the No. 35 was too strong for Ridley and the rest of the field, as he crossed the finish line first to send himself to victory lane.
“It’s huge (to get the win here),” Mason said. “I genuinely have been looking forward to (The Dirt Track at Charlotte) the whole year, and honestly the last two years. I wanted to come here knowing we had everything right and in the best position possible. Since I switched to dirt racing last year (from Formula open-wheel car racing), this was the goal. Now we have one win and want to close it out with the big one on Saturday, but I’m super stoked.”
Pro Stock
Two weeks after Luke Horning won his first Super DIRT Week Pro Stock title, he found himself back in victory lane for another marquee win.
“Cousin Luke” scored his first World Short Track Championship All-Star Invitational feature Thursday night. It was his second World Short Track win and 21st victory of the season.
“Winning here is huge,” Horning said. “All the competitive guys are here. Nobody came here thinking they don’t have a chance to win this. To win the [All-Star Invitational], it’s one we haven’t gotten before. This is awesome.”
John Fitzgerald started on the pole with Ken Griffin to his outside. When the green flag dropped for the first time Fitzgerald maintained the lead for the first couple laps while Griffin faded early. Behind him, Horning was on a march.
Hugging the low line, as close as he could to the infield tires, Horning was powering by cars two at a time each corner. By lap two, he was second. Lap three he was the leader.
“I had a plan,” Horning said. “I was watching the progression of the track. Everyone was migrating to the bottom, migrating to the bottom. Being up here (up on the hill)… we got to watch a little more racing than the guys down there (in the lower pit area). I was watching guys moving down, so I said, ‘Starting back there, maybe the first couple laps we can run tight to the bottom and maybe those guys won’t run tight to the bottom,’ and sure enough they kept giving me room and giving me room.”
The finishes:
Modifieds (15 Laps): 1. 8S-Kyle Strickler[1]; 2. 99H-Justin Haley[3]; 3. 7-Evan Taylor[2]; 4. 5T-Drake Troutman[6]; 5. 00-Mike McKinney[7]; 6. 8-Austin Holcombe[11]; 7. 21-Taylor Cook[8]; 8. 35-David Stremme[12]; 9. 13-Charlie Mefford[9]; 10. 2T-Ty Norder[10]; 11. 12L-Lucas Lee[20]; 12. 5CS-Curt Spalding[16]; 13. 51-Dalton Lanich[13]; 14. 90-Ray Kable[14]; 15. 5-Jonathan Taylor[15]; 16. 77-George Dixon[18]; 17. 97-Mitch Thomas[19]; 18. 5B-Bobby Bagley[17]; 19. 04-Kaleb Toole[4]; 20. 99W-Chris Arnold[5]
Pro Late Models (15 Laps): 1. 6-Dillon Brown[3]; 2. G4-Trent Ivey[4]; 3. 27H-Justin Hudspeth[2]; 4. 18-Ricky Greene[8]; 5. 22-Jeremy Steele[12]; 6. 55-Matt Long[5]; 7. 66-Jody Knowles[1]; 8. 55H-Benji Hicks[13]; 9. 615-Colton Trouille[6]; 10. 18DD-Derek Dent[11]; 11. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[10]; 12. 1-Brent Trimble[15]; 13. 215-Jamison McBride[18]; 14. 78B-Matthew Brocato[7]; 15. 5-Travis Steele[20]; 16. 42-Mark Greene[9]; 17. P4-John Price[16]; 18. 34-Logan Roberson[17]; 19. 7J-Dalton Jacobs[14]; 20. 00R-John Ruggiero Jr[19]
Sportsman (15 Laps): 1. 35-Nelson Mason[1]; 2. 20X-Kevin Ridley[4]; 3. 44-David Rogers[6]; 4. 0-Michael Wright[3]; 5. 49M-Derrick McGrew[2]; 6. 22C-Cedric Gauvreau[15]; 7. 318-Dave Richer[7]; 8. 92-Andrew Buff[14]; 9. 35T-Cameron Tuttle[12]; 10. 23-David Dickey[5]; 11. 10-Chelsie Kriegisch[8]; 12. 51-Kreg Crooker[17]; 13. 32C-Carter Crooker[18]; 14. 03-Joshua Jock[10]; 15. 52-Jessica Power[13]; 16. 44S-Gordon Smith[9]; 17. 49-Chris Jakubiak[19]; 18. 5C-Ayden Cipriano[20]; 19. 72-Ray Hall Jr[11]; 20. 813-Jason Quenneville[16]
Pro Stock (15 Laps): 1. 2H-Luke Horning[7]; 2. 8-Marc Lalonde[6]; 3. 72G-Denis Gauvreau[8]; 4. 04-Jaxson Ryan[14]; 5. 44X-Bruno Richard[19]; 6. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[10]; 7. 2-Pete Stefanski[17]; 8. 15-Guy Viens[5]; 9. 9J-Eric Jean Louis[15]; 10. 5-Ian Bressette[18]; 11. 56-John Fitzgerald[1]; 12. 35-Jonathan Lemay[3]; 13. 14J-Johnny Rivers Jr[9]; 14. 28-Philip DeFiglio[16]; 15. 25Y-Ken Griffin[2]; 16. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[12]; 17. 33-Bruno Cyr[20]; 18. 8C-Sean Corr[11]; 19. 9-Shane Henderson[13]; 20. 6C-Brian Carter[4]