OSWEGO, N.Y. – Luke Horning is a contender anytime he enters a Pro Stock race in the Northeast. A fact he again backed up at Oswego Speedway by claiming the SRI Performance Pole Award for Sunday’s DIRTcar Pro Stock 50.
On Friday afternoon, the Gloversville, N.Y., driver went out in the first qualifying group, laying down a 24.487 sec. lap to win the SRI Performance Pole Award (worth an extra $500).
Horning’s fast lap came in a new Playfab Chassis — a car he feels pretty good about for Sunday’s race. But “Cousin Luke” still has worries about what it’ll do if the surface gets slick.
“The first lap I ran kind of slow and felt like it was a pretty good lap, so I said let’s see what we got, and the lap was pretty good,” Horning said.
“I think we got a good piece this time; I just really worry about these coil cars as this place slicks off and how fast they’re going to be. But to lead all these cars on the front row, it’s a pretty good deal.”
Joining Horning on the front row of Sunday’s Pro Stock 50 is Chad Jeseo, who won the Low-E Insulation Outside Pole Award (worth an extra $250). He earned it with his 24.610-second lap.
The Albany-Saratoga and Lebanon Valley Speedway track champion, from Averill Park, N.Y., said he’s thrilled with his lap, knowing how vital Qualifying is as a step toward the checkered flag.
“Time trials are crucial for these [DIRTcar Pro Stock] Series races,” Jeseo said. “We race with [Horning] weekly and race with [Nick Stone] a lot, and the top six here are all great guys, and we all really run good together. It’s a little rough at times, but we’re here to put a show on.”
Nick Stone, Jason Casey, Rich Crane and Josh Coonradt also punched their tickets into Sunday’s race by qualifying in the top six.
Out of the top-six drivers locked into the field on Sunday, only Coonradt has won the event. The West Milton, NY driver, found Victory Lane in 2019 and feels confident about his chances to repeat.
“Being locked in is a big accomplishment; you don’t have to stress about the Heat Race,” Coonradt said. “We didn’t make the changes we needed to [in between practice and Qualifying], but we got a better idea of what we have to do, and come Sunday, I think we’ll have something at the end.”