Eighteen drivers punched their ticket to Saturday’s Hoosier Racing Tire Mid-East Crate Modified Feature at the World Short Track Championship after six Heat Races on Friday.
Heat 1
Stephen Pedulla and Cambridge Gann led the field to green on the front row, but before they made it to the backstretch on Lap 1, Chase Cardwell and Tyler Love made contact and pounded the wall in Turn 1. Cardwell was able to continue with cosmetic damage, but Love was done for the night.
The yellow was thrown again immediately after the restart, this time for Sheldon Martin spinning in Turn 2.
Pedulla nailed the ensuing restart and led the next two laps until Michael Selig spun in Turn 3 to necessitate the third caution of the race.
Pedulla was unfazed by the rash of yellows, driving away from the field to take the checkers by 1.5 seconds. It was his second Heat Race victory of the event after he won Heat 4 in the Summit Racing Equipment DIRTcar UMP Modified division earlier in the night.
Gann came home second while Cardwell recovered from the incident earlier in the race to claim the third and final transfer spot.
Heat 2
Garrett Killman started on the pole and took the lead through Turns 1 and 2 on the opening lap with second-place starter Jesse Rockett in tow.
Killman paced the field for the majority of the race until Ronnie Covey spun into the Turn 3 wall to bring out the caution on the final lap. Killman didn’t let that bother him though, as he won the one-lap dash to the finish to advance to Saturday’s Feature.
Rockett crossed the line second, while Gary Jarrett used the late-race restart to his advantage by moving up to third to take the final transfer.
Heat 3
Austin Holcombe slid up in front of Oliver Gentry on the start and rode the top to an early advantage, while Jake Barneycastle pulled a slider on Gentry on Lap 1 to move up to second.
One lap later, Grayson Wells stopped at the top of Turn 3 to bring out the caution. The rest of the field was unable to capitalize on their chance at Holcombe though, as the No. 8A led the remainder of the race by a straightaway.
Behind him, Jay Seward made his way through the field into second, with Barneycastle trailing in third.
Heat 4
Jeff Robinson nailed the start from the pole while Grayson Keaton, Cole Wagoner and Brian Nickerson duked it out for the final two transfer spots on the opening lap.
Keaton and Wagoner settled into second and third respectively while Robinson was long gone. The top three spots would go unchanged the rest of the way, with Robinson taking the checkers by nearly three seconds.
Heat 5
A pair of North Carolinians shared the front row, with Fayetteville’s Ethan Wilson on the inside and Newton’s Ryan Ayers on the outside. Wilson took the early lead and went to work on building a gap over Ayers and the rest of the field.
He did just that in the caution-free affair, crossing the line more than two seconds ahead of Ayers. Taylor Kuehl was all over the back of Morgan Widener throughout the race in the battle for third, but Widener was able to hold on and transfer to the main event.
Heat 6
The final Crate Modified Heat Race of the night began with Adam Favors on the pole and Robert Poole on his outside. Favors drove away in the opening set of corners, while Poole came under fire from Jeff Parsons for second.
After racing side-by-side for nearly a lap, Parsons managed to wrestle the spot away from Poole and set his sights on Favors. He was unable to catch the No. 21A though and trailed Favors at the checkers, while Poole held off Larry Martin late in the race to secure the third spot.
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[1]; 2. 45-Cambridge Gann[2]; 3. 121-Chase Cardwell[3]; 4. 29-Brandon Bentley[8]; 5. 00B-JP Blalock[5]; 6. 2K-Johnny Stovall[7]; 7. 42X-Michael Selig[6]; 8. 93-Sheldon Martin[9]; 9. (DNS) 92-Tyler Love
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 32K-Garrett Killman[1]; 2. 7-Jesse Rockett[2]; 3. 7G-Gary Jarrett[4]; 4. 73-Chris Nickerson[5]; 5. 32-Larry Blankenship[7]; 6. 50-Ronnie Covey[8]; 7. 30-Cole Hedrick[3]; 8. (DQ) T7-Parker Thompson[6]
Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 8A-Austin Holcombe[1]; 2. 88-Jay Seward[4]; 3. 2J-Jake Barneycastle[3]; 4. 03-Oliver Gentry[2]; 5. 50B-Justin Blevins[5]; 6. 95-Brandon Woodcock[7]; 7. B155-Andrew Albertson[6]; 8. 18D-Riley Dunford[8]; 9. (DNF) 59-Grayson Wells[9]
Heat 4 (6 Laps): 1. 14-Jeff Robinson[1]; 2. 1-Grayson Keaton[3]; 3. 04-Cole Wagoner[2]; 4. 44-Brian Nickerson[4]; 5. 41-Mike Lemley[6]; 6. 9-Blake Hedrick[8]; 7. 44T-Zachary Thompson[7]; 8. 4M-Tim Monroe[5]
Heat 5 (6 Laps): 1. 5-Ethan Wilson[1]; 2. 6-Ryan Ayers[2]; 3. 15-Morgan Widener[3]; 4. 2K2-Taylor Kuehl[4]; 5. 16W-Dustin Watkins[6]; 6. 7D-JR Davis[5]; 7. 56-Jaycob Johnson[8]; 8. 61-Cody DeMarmels[7]
Heat 6 (6 Laps): 1. 21A-Adam Favors[1]; 2. 44P-Jeff Parsons[3]; 3. 25-Robert Poole[2]; 4. 92M-Larry Martin[4]; 5. 4-Kevin Lively[5]; 6. 71P-George Proctor[8]; 7. 71K-Dennis Kirk[7]; 8. 05-Travis Covey[6]
