Matt Gilbert triumphed over the scares of the COMP Cams Monster Mini Stocks on Halloween.
The four-time Monster Mini Stock Association champion added to his resume at World Short Track Championship by becoming the first three-time division Feature winner at The Dirt Track at Charlotte on Saturday night.
Starting the 15-lap race from the outside of the second row, Gilbert immediately challenged front-row starters Logan Richey and Cody Keith, slotting into third as the top two began to stretch away from the field of 25 Monster Mini Stocks behind them.
While Keith took over the lead, Gilbert followed Keith’s shadow to get ahead of Richey for the runner-up spot and ran behind Keith’s No. 51 machine until the caution waved on Lap 7. On the double-file restart, Gilbert gained momentum faster than Keith and became the Feature’s newest leader.
Gilbert never relinquished the lead through the remaining eight laps around the Concord, NC 3/8-mile to become the all-time leader in the Monster Mini Stocks in the event along with a $2,000 check.
“I knew it was going to go green the rest of the way, it’s our luck every year,” Gilbert said. “Luckily, Ron, Cody and them was gonna drive us hard and clean, and I’m just glad to be able to pull off (Turn 3). You never would have imagined we won one of them like that, but we knew we had to go right off the bat.”
Keith finished second, and Richey took third to solidify the podium. Travis Mosley took a fourth-place finish, and Tack Brown completed Saturday’s Feature top five.
RESULTS: Feature (15 Laps): 1. 117-Matt Gilbert[4]; 2. 51-Cody Keith[2]; 3. 10-Logan Richey[1]; 4. 19-Travis Mosley[3]; 5. 4-Tack Brown[6]; 6. A47-Austin Bottoms[9]; 7. 96X-Tyler Riddle[7]; 8. 121W-JR Warren[11]; 9. 16-Robert Arch[23]; 10. 115-Jason Horne[18]; 11. E82-Enzo Dillon[5]; 12. 8J-Tyler Johnson[21]; 13. 84-Kyle Cooper[19]; 14. X-Kevin Cooper[14]; 15. H3-Harley Holden[22]; 16. 3-Barrett Bishop[10]; 17. 12-Matt Gerrin[25]; 18. 121-Jacob Kinder[24]; 19. 56-Nick Fulcher[20]; 20. B3-Damien Bryant[12]; 21. 3C-Allen Cantrell[26]; 22. 50B-Van Bryant[27]; 23. 15-Zach Lankford[13]; 24. 56A-Ken Appleton[17]; 25. 27-Adam Piercy[15]; 26. (DNF) 8-Dustin Bolin[8]; 27. (DNF) J2-Justin Timmons[16]; 28. (DNF) 26-Johnny Raines[28]
