Volusia Speedway Park (Video Highlights from DirtVision.com)
2-7-24
Volusia Speedway Park
De Leon Springs, FL
WoO
45 cars
Cars were split into two groups of qualifying. Landon Crawley (3rd car out to time), making his first career WoO start set quick time overall at 13.346 seconds on the 4/10-mile oval. Justin Whittall set the second quick time, but was DQed for being light at the scales aboard Glenn Styres #0. Tyler Courtney (7th car out) inherited second quick, ahead of Anthony Macri (14th), Brad Sweet (6th) and Gio Scelzi (12th). Rico Abreu (6th car out) was quickest in the second group, ahead of Brian Brown (17th), Bill Balog (4th), David Gravel (10th) and Logan Schuchart (3rd). Wayne Johnson lost an engine in hot laps and was done for the night.
Heat one (started): 1. Scelzi 18 (3) 2. Crawley 7s (1) 3. Macri 39m (2) 4. Justin Peck 13 (6) 5. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (4) / 6. Austin McCarl 88 (5) 7. Spencer Bayston 5 (7) 8. Kraig Kinser 70 (8) 9. Chris Martin 44 (9) 10. Creed Kemenah 15K (10) 11. Bryan Gossel 6G (11) DNS – Wayne Johnson 2c
8 laps heats took the top two to the Dash and the top five to the A. Crawley, running in his first WoO event, led the distance until jumping the cushion in the final corner. He was able to save it and hold onto second, but Scelzi got by for the win. Peck claimed fourth from Hafertepe on lap three.
Heat two (started): 1. Courtney 7BC (1) 2. Sweet 49 (2) 3. Jacob Allen 1a (4) 4. Chris Windom 55 (3) 5. Buddy Kofoid 83 (5) / 6. Brock Zearfoss 3z (6) 7. Carson Macedo 41 (7) 8. Ryan Timms 5T (9) 9. Justin Whittall 0 (11) 10. Brendon Mullen 11m (8) 11. Kevin Newton 16TH (10)
Courtney won in convincing fashion in a mostly single-file affair.
Heat three (started): 1. Abreu 24 (1) 2. Balog 17B (2) 3. Donny Schatz 15 (4) 4. Schuchart 1s (3) 5. Sheldon Haudenschild 17 (5) / 6. Danny Dietrich 48 (6) 7. Cory Eliason 8 (7) 8. Ryan Harrison 97UK (9) 9. Brenham Crouch 1 (8) 10. Andy Pake 64 (10) 11. Austyn Gossel 16G (11)
Abreu led the distance. Schuchart claimed fourth from Dietrich on lap three. Haudenschild pressured Dietrich for the final transfer and made the pass in turns one and two on the final lap.
Heat four (started): 1. Gravel 2 (2) 2. Brown 21 (1) 3. Brent Marks 19 (3) 4. Kasey Kahne 9 (4) 5. Corey Day 14 (5) / 6. Zeb Wise 26 (7) 7. Riley Goodno 22 (6) 8. Danny Sams III 24D (8) 9. Bill Rose 6 (9) 10. Jake Swanson 16T (10) 11. Ben Brown 7B (11)
Brown led the way until Gravel shot by on the final circuit. Day grabbed the final transfer position from Goodno on lap three.
C main (started): 1. Martin (1) 2. Crouch (2) / 3. Whittall (3) 4. Mullen (6) 5. Swanson (7) 6. B. Gossel (8) 7. Ben Brown (11) 8. Kemenah (4) 9. Pake (5) 10. A. Gossel (9) 11. Newton (10) DNS – Rose, Johnson
The 10-lapper took the top two to the B. Martin led Crouch the distance in a mostly single-file race.
Dash (started): 1. Sweet (1) 2. Courtney (3) 3. Gravel (5) 4. Balog (2) 5. Crawley (4) 6. Scelzi (6) 7. Abreu (7) 8. Brian Brown (8)
The 6-lapper saw the top four established on lap one. It set up the first four rows of the feature.
B main (started): 1. McCarl (1) 2. Dietrich (2) 3. Wise (4) 4. Zearfoss (3) / 5. Eliason (6) 6. Macedo (7) 7. Timms (10) 8. Bayston (5) 9. Sams (11) 10. Martin (13) 11. Goodno (8) 12. Kinser (9) 13. Crouch (14) 14. Harrison (12)
The 12-lapper saw the top four transfer to the feature. Harrison was penalized a row for being late to staging. The top four was established right away. Eliason gained fifth from Bayston on lap two, but that was as far as he’d get. Macedo would have to take a provisional to start the WoO opening feature.
A main (started): 1. Sweet (1) 2. Courtney (2) 3. Gravel (3) 4. Brian Brown (8) 5. Schuchart (14) 6. Schatz (10) 7. Scelzi (6) 8. Balog (4) 9. Kahne (16) 10. Macri (9) 11. Marks (12) 12. Abreu (7) 13. Peck (13) 14. Macedo (25, prov.) 15. Dietrich (22) 16. Windom (15) 17. Allen (11) 18. Zearfoss (24) 19. Hafertepe (17) 20. Day (20) 21. Crawley (5) 22. Wise (23) 23. Rose (26, prov.) 24. Kofoid (19) 25. McCarl (21) 26. Haudenschild (18)
Track prep added moisture to the track and would prove to make it lightning fast for the 25-lapper. Sweet led Courtney, Gravel and Balog early. Brown worked by Scelzi for fifth on lap three. Sweet was into lapped traffic on lap seven. Four laps later, Haudenschild stopped to bring the first caution with a retired engine. Sweet chose the inside on the double-file restart, ahead of Courtney, Gravel, Balog, Brown and Scelzi. Brown moved by Balog for fourth on the restart. Courtney reeled in Sweet and began pulling beside him, challenging for the lead. A good race was spoiled when Kofoid’s motor expired with eight to go. Sweet led Courtney, Gravel and Brown the rest of the way. Schuchart grabbed fifth from 14th when he got by Balog on lap 18. Macedo was the hard-charger.