WEDNESDAY WINNERS: Sorensen, Neville, Kable, Wallace, Mefford, Nicely Take DIRTcar Nationals Gators at Volusia
BARBERVILLE, FL (Feb. 7, 2023) – Wednesday night DIRTcar UMP Modified Features at Volusia Speedway Park put three new faces and three returning drivers in Victory Lane, awarding them the signature gator trophy in the 53rd Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals.
Dustin Sorensen, Trevor Neville, and Raymond Kable each scored their first career Volusia wins in Features 1-3, while Kenny Wallace, Charlie Mefford, and Tyler Nicely revisited Victory Lane in Features 4-6.
Feature #1 – Dustin Sorensen
The first Feature of Wednesday night put a first-time winner in Victory Lane when Dustin Sorensen crossed the stripe.
The 23-year-old from Rochester, MN, took the lead on Lap 3 after Lap 1 leader Mitch Thomas and Lap 2 leader Will Krup each brought out cautions early. Sorensen was there to pick up the pieces, advancing into the lead for a Lap 3 restart and leading the rest of the way to bag his first career victory at Volusia.
“I thought for sure [Thomas and Krup] were gonna be tough, those guys have been fast all week,” Sorsensen said. “I was looking forward to racing with them really, and I didn’t really get the chance – they dropped out pretty early. I don’t really know where we stack up against them, but we’ll find out tomorrow.”
Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 19-Dustin Sorensen[3]; 2. 77D-George Dixon[4]; 3. 21CZ-Cole Czarneski[6]; 4. K9-Will Krup[2]; 5. 5-Jonathan Taylor[10]; 6. 95-Michael Altobelli[7]; 7. 4TW-Tim Ward[8]; 8. 28B-Jason Brookover[5]; 9. 2T-Ty Norder[11]; 10. 6ST-Joseph Thomas[16]; 11. 01-Brayden Weller[15]; 12. 18-Miles Beaulieu[14]; 13. 5B-Bobby Bagley[12]; 14. 40-Ronald Wadforth[19]; 15. 89W-Rick Weitekamp[17]; 16. 57-Charlie Sandercock[9]; 17. 58F-Donnie Farlling[13]; 18. 2G-Troy Girolamo[18]; 19. 97-Mitch Thomas[1]
Hot Lap / Qualifying Group 1 (3 Laps): 1. 97-Mitch Thomas, 00:17.598[9]; 2. K9-Will Krup, 00:17.703[2]; 3. 19-Dustin Sorensen, 00:17.791[13]; 4. 77D-George Dixon, 00:17.840[6]; 5. 28B-Jason Brookover, 00:17.971[14]; 6. 21CZ-Cole Czarneski, 00:18.038[12]; 7. 95-Michael Altobelli, 00:18.085[10]; 8. 4TW-Tim Ward, 00:18.131[15]; 9. 57-Charlie Sandercock, 00:18.155[3]; 10. 5-Jonathan Taylor, 00:18.166[1]; 11. 2T-Ty Norder, 00:18.294[18]; 12. 5B-Bobby Bagley, 00:18.665[5]; 13. 58F-Donnie Farlling, 00:18.686[19]; 14. 18-Miles Beaulieu, 00:19.049[8]; 15. 01-Brayden Weller, 00:19.097[4]; 16. 6ST-Joseph Thomas, 00:19.194[16]; 17. 89W-Rick Weitekamp, 00:19.704[7]; 18. 2G-Troy Girolamo, 00:19.704[17]; 19. 40-Ronald Wadforth, 00:19.704[11]
Feature #2 – Trevor Neville
Heading into Turn 1 on the final lap, Trevor Neville said he was prepared to settle for a respectable second-place finish to David Stremme. That was, until Stremme broke going through Turn 2.
Neville, 23, of Mackinaw, IL, had chased Stremme the entire race and entered the corner right on his heels. When one of Stremme’s brake calipers busted apart going through Turn 1, the car suddenly pushed up the track and out of the bottom lane, opening the door for Neville as they raced out of Turn 2.
Neville raced into the lead down the backstretch, brought it through Turns 3-4 and back to the checkered to clinch his first career gator trophy.
“This is a dream come true,” Neville said. “There’s two platforms that a guy should win on to become something or achieve something, and this is one of them. This is breathtaking, and to beat some of the guys we beat and compete where we are, I can’t thank enough people for it.”
Feature 2 (20 Laps): 1. 777-Trevor Neville[2]; 2. 96M-Mike McKinney[4]; 3. 35-David Stremme[1]; 4. 18L-Michael Long[5]; 5. 27-Michael Turner[8]; 6. 7D-TJ DeHaven[3]; 7. 17T-Tyler Evans[7]; 8. 18K-Brandon Kinzer[14]; 9. 9-Ken Schrader[10]; 10. 21C-Drew Charlson[6]; 11. 00B-Buzzie Reutimann[15]; 12. 12M-John McClure[17]; 13. 21-Scott Ladner[9]; 14. 2J-Troy Johnson[11]; 15. 32-Chad Roush[12]; 16. 59-Doug Stine[16]; 17. 4UW-Bobby Regot[18]; 18. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum[13]
Hot Lap / Qualifying Group 2 (3 Laps): 1. 35-David Stremme, 00:17.659[1]; 2. 777-Trevor Neville, 00:17.932[11]; 3. 7D-TJ DeHaven, 00:18.074[9]; 4. 96M-Mike McKinney, 00:18.105[13]; 5. 18L-Michael Long, 00:18.112[15]; 6. 21C-Drew Charlson, 00:18.128[8]; 7. 17T-Tyler Evans, 00:18.178[10]; 8. 27-Michael Turner, 00:18.250[5]; 9. 21-Scott Ladner, 00:18.292[7]; 10. 9-Ken Schrader, 00:18.307[4]; 11. 2J-Troy Johnson, 00:18.338[6]; 12. 32-Chad Roush, 00:18.501[17]; 13. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum, 00:18.526[2]; 14. 18K-Brandon Kinzer, 00:18.710[14]; 15. 00B-Buzzie Reutimann, 00:18.815[16]; 16. 59-Doug Stine, 00:19.046[3]; 17. 12M-John McClure, 00:19.436[12]; 18. 4UW-Bobby Regot, 00:19.627[18]
Feature #3 – Raymond Kable
Maryland racer Raymond Kable had been a DIRTcar Nationals regular for the past several seasons but had never had any hardware to show for it, until Wednesday night.
Kable started third and turned on the jets in the second half of the race, getting by Shannon Fisk for second by Lap 10 and hunting down Monday night winner Brian Ruhlman five laps later to take the lead in traffic. From there, Kable was smooth sailing out front, winning Wednesday’s third Feature right before a notable face joined him in a Victory Lane celebration.
“It’s kind of unreal,” Kable said. “We just really struggled the first night – we were horrible – and then we picked it up last night, and tonight I’m sharing Victory Lane with Kenny Wallace. It was awesome.”
Feature 3 (20 Laps): 1. 90H-Raymond Kable[3]; 2. 49-Brian Ruhlman[1]; 3. 10Y-Trent Young[4]; 4. 60-Shannon Fisk[2]; 5. 463-Daniel Sanchez[5]; 6. 7B-Brad Deyoung[8]; 7. 8W-Gregory Moore[9]; 8. 51-Dalton Lanich[7]; 9. 11W-James Whittredge[11]; 10. 17C-Coleman Evans[17]; 11. 4S-Craig Shaw[10]; 12. 3D-Makayla Tyrrell[13]; 13. 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt[14]; 14. 99-Cole Hilton[6]; 15. 33-Kenny Mihalik[18]; 16. 77S-Jim Shipman[15]; 17. 0-Dylan Murray[16]; 18. E85-Jesse Strange[12]
Hot Lap / Qualifying Group 3 (3 Laps): 1. 49-Brian Ruhlman, 00:17.840[11]; 2. 60-Shannon Fisk, 00:18.197[5]; 3. 90H-Raymond Kable, 00:18.271[16]; 4. 10Y-Trent Young, 00:18.394[2]; 5. 463-Daniel Sanchez, 00:18.446[15]; 6. 99-Cole Hilton, 00:18.455[10]; 7. 51-Dalton Lanich, 00:18.522[12]; 8. 7B-Brad Deyoung, 00:18.543[9]; 9. 8W-Gregory Moore, 00:18.613[6]; 10. 4S-Craig Shaw, 00:18.789[7]; 11. 11W-James Whittredge, 00:18.867[14]; 12. E85-Jesse Strange, 00:18.881[18]; 13. 3D-Makayla Tyrrell, 00:19.020[17]; 14. 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt, 00:19.124[1]; 15. 77S-Jim Shipman, 00:19.183[4]; 16. 0-Dylan Murray, 00:19.412[3]; 17. 17C-Coleman Evans, 00:19.412[8]; 18. 33-Kenny Mihalik, 00:19.412[13]
Feature #4 – Kenny Wallace
Since 2012, Kenny Wallace had gone winless at DIRTcar Nationals.
But as he crossed the finish line first Wednesday night and stepped into Victory Lane, emotion-filled the 60-year-old as he hoisted his fifth career gator trophy and first in nearly 12 years.
“I almost started crying,” Wallace said. “You don’t know how bad you want something until you accomplish it. I’m just so excited and so happy.”
Wallace, of Arnold, MO, was stout all night long, setting quick time in his group before grabbing the lead on the opening lap of the Feature and never looking back, leading all 20 laps virtually unchallenged to score the win in a car fielded by seven-time Big Gator points champion, Nick Hoffman.
“The key to Nick giving me this car is our friendship,” Wallace said. “I’ve said this before – when I look at Nick, I see myself, because you couldn’t outwork me when I was his age. And that’s the same way he is; he just works so damn hard.”
Feature 4 (20 Laps): 1. 36-Kenny Wallace[1]; 2. 8S-Kyle Strickler[2]; 3. 11X-Tom Berry Jr[3]; 4. 4-Mike Learman[7]; 5. 24-Zeke McKenzie[4]; 6. 8A-Austin Holcombe[11]; 7. 90-Jason Beaulieu[6]; 8. 16C-John Clippinger[9]; 9. 88-Matt Crafton[8]; 10. 43A-Mark Anderson[17]; 11. 1S-Brian Shaw[5]; 12. 82-Gary Dillon[13]; 13. 6-Ryan Ayers[16]; 14. 72-Todd Neiheiser[12]; 15. 95J-Justin Cullum[15]; 16. 0S-Glenn Styres[14]; 17. 8-Dave Pinkerton[10]; 18. 78-Raymond Rogers[18]
Hot Lap / Qualifying Group 4 (3 Laps): 1. 36-Kenny Wallace, 00:17.739[13]; 2. 8S-Kyle Strickler, 00:17.991[1]; 3. 11X-Tom Berry Jr, 00:18.115[9]; 4. 24-Zeke McKenzie, 00:18.150[7]; 5. 1S-Brian Shaw, 00:18.254[16]; 6. 90-Jason Beaulieu, 00:18.280[5]; 7. 4-Mike Learman, 00:18.325[14]; 8. 88-Matt Crafton, 00:18.347[12]; 9. 16C-John Clippinger, 00:18.393[4]; 10. 8-Dave Pinkerton, 00:18.462[18]; 11. 8A-Austin Holcombe, 00:18.532[8]; 12. 72-Todd Neiheiser, 00:18.586[11]; 13. 82-Gary Dillon, 00:18.603[15]; 14. 0S-Glenn Styres, 00:18.627[3]; 15. 95J-Justin Cullum, 00:18.635[6]; 16. 6-Ryan Ayers, 00:18.642[10]; 17. 43A-Mark Anderson, 00:18.778[17]; 18. 78-Raymond Rogers, 00:20.354[2]
Feature #5 – Charlie Mefford
“Chargin’ Charlie” has done it again, winning DIRTcar Nationals for the second night in-a-row at Volusia Speedway Park.
The 17-year-old from Belton, KY, started second and trailed Michael Leach through the first half of the race before reeling him in on Lap 10, shooting to the inside of Leach’s #09 in Turn 1 and sliding up in front of him through Turn 2 to take the lead.
From there, Mefford held strong on the multiple restarts he faced and led the field back around to the checkers to bag his third career gator trophy.
“This thing was pretty good tonight,” Mefford said. “It wasn’t as good as last night; we’ve gotta tweak on it before we go into the points day tomorrow.
“We’re just really good at Volusia.”
Feature 5 (20 Laps): 1. 13-Charlie Mefford[2]; 2. 5CS-Curt Spalding[3]; 3. 09-Michael Leach[1]; 4. 7T-Evan Taylor[5]; 5. 11M-Michael McGee[7]; 6. 91-Chris Beaulieu[4]; 7. 27G-Jason Garver[6]; 8. 4K-Jason Kinney[8]; 9. 54-Zachary Hawk[12]; 10. 25B-Greg Belyea[10]; 11. 6B-Dave Baldwin[11]; 12. 77C-Jason Cox[16]; 13. 55-Alyssa Rowe[13]; 14. 187-Tyler Wiles[14]; 15. 1-Randy Giroux[9]; 16. 23-Jerol Stepp[15]; 17. 114B-Clayton Bryant[17]; 18. 97G-Jason Crose[18]
Hot Lap / Qualifying Group 5 (3 Laps): 1. 09-Michael Leach, 00:17.914[3]; 2. 13-Charlie Mefford, 00:17.931[6]; 3. 5CS-Curt Spalding, 00:18.080[7]; 4. 91-Chris Beaulieu, 00:18.423[2]; 5. 7T-Evan Taylor, 00:18.576[14]; 6. 27G-Jason Garver, 00:18.666[17]; 7. 11M-Michael McGee, 00:18.692[9]; 8. 4K-Jason Kinney, 00:18.703[1]; 9. 1-Randy Giroux, 00:18.761[18]; 10. 25B-Greg Belyea, 00:18.918[8]; 11. 6B-Dave Baldwin, 00:19.083[10]; 12. 54-Zachary Hawk, 00:19.127[11]; 13. 55-Alyssa Rowe, 00:19.180[15]; 14. 187-Tyler Wiles, 00:19.419[4]; 15. 23-Jerol Stepp, 00:19.544[13]; 16. 77C-Jason Cox, 00:19.948[5]; 17. 114B-Clayton Bryant, 00:19.948[16]; 18. 97G-Jason Crose, 00:19.948[12]
Feature #6 – Tyler Nicely
Tyler Nicely’s streak of perfection at DIRTcar Nationals this week lives on. He’s now three-for-three in pursuit of his first Big Gator points championship.
Nicely, 28, of Owensboro, KY, once again led all 20 laps en route to the checkered, unchallenged by Justin Allgaier and Ray Bollinger who completed the podium behind him. Despite his success, Nicely still is not satisfied with everything going on in his operation.
“I feel like we were still a little bit out there,” Nicely said. “The longer the run goes, I just keep getting tighter getting in and it’s just killing my speed.”
Now that he’s clinched his 10th gator Feature winner trophy – tied for third-most all-time with Austin Dillon – Nicely’s focus is the Big Gator points title and the Gator Championship Feature on Saturday.
“That’s my main focus this year – I really wanna win Saturday,” Nicely said. “Just trying to get the balance right on the racecar.”
Feature 6 (20 Laps): 1. 25-Tyler Nicely[2]; 2. 7-Justin Allgaier[3]; 3. 77-Ray Bollinger[6]; 4. 114-Jordan Koehler[4]; 5. 23Z-Austin Self[8]; 6. 26-Ryan Gierke[11]; 7. 21B-Hunter Breland[5]; 8. 11N-Gene Nicholas[15]; 9. 07-Eric Moon[12]; 10. 12L-Lucas Lee[1]; 11. 12-Robert Gast[9]; 12. N8-Nathan Huffingham[18]; 13. 07K-Curtis King[16]; 14. 3-Josh Sanford[10]; 15. 99W-Wade Olmsted[17]; 16. 57M-Fletcher Mason[14]; 17. 3F-Rob Fuqua[13]; 18. 99G-Mark Grosvenor[7]
Hot Lap / Qualifying Group 6 (3 Laps): 1. 12L-Lucas Lee, 00:18.111[4]; 2. 25-Tyler Nicely, 00:18.149[8]; 3. 7-Justin Allgaier, 00:18.323[17]; 4. 114-Jordan Koehler, 00:18.433[12]; 5. 21B-Hunter Breland, 00:18.485[10]; 6. 77-Ray Bollinger, 00:18.527[6]; 7. 99G-Mark Grosvenor, 00:18.595[11]; 8. 23Z-Austin Self, 00:18.686[13]; 9. 12-Robert Gast, 00:18.692[7]; 10. 3-Josh Sanford, 00:18.731[14]; 11. 26-Ryan Gierke, 00:18.803[15]; 12. 07-Eric Moon, 00:18.847[16]; 13. 3F-Rob Fuqua, 00:18.892[1]; 14. 57M-Fletcher Mason, 00:19.132[18]; 15. 11N-Gene Nicholas, 00:19.271[2]; 16. 07K-Curtis King, 00:19.440[5]; 17. 99W-Wade Olmsted, 00:19.456[3]; 18. N8-Nathan Huffingham, 00:19.643[9]
UP NEXT
DIRTcar UMP Modified racing at Volusia Speedway Park continues Thursday night, Feb. 8, with another six-pack of Features, also on the card with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.
Tickets and information are available at DIRTcarNationals.com. If you can’t be at the track, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
DIRTcar Racing is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including: Chevy Performance (Official Vehicle), DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), Racing Electronics (Official Radio Supplier), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), VP Racing (Official Racing Fuel), iRacing (Official Online Racing Game), Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race. Contingency sponsors include: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Bassett Racing Wheel, Bell Helmets, Beyea Custom Headers, Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, Fast Shafts, Fox Factory, Jerovetz Motorsports Shock Service, KSE Racing Products, Lifeline, MSD, Multi Fire X, Quarter Master, Schoenfeld Headers, Summit Racing Equipment, Swift Springs, Velocita USA, and Wieland Metal Services (Exclusive Racing Aluminum). Along with manufacturer sponsors, including: FIREBULL, Intercomp, and Simpson Performance Products.
Sources: Jordan DeLucia, DIRTcar Racing PR
Photo credit – Tyler Carr