Josh Coonradt will have a little less space in his car on the long trek home to Upstate New York after competing in the World Short Track Championships at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
He clinched the trophy with his first career World Short Track Championship Pro Stock Feature win Saturday night. Starting on the outside of the first row, the Fort Johnson, NY resident went into a battle with Luke Horning within the first ten laps of the race. After Horning slipped by him on the bottom, he battled back to find clean air. After taking over the lead, he never relinquished it for the 25-lap matchup, staying ahead of his competition.
“Once I saw [Horning] on the bottom, I figured it was the fastest way around,” Coonradt said. “So, I dove to the bottom. The car felt better but after talking with Luke he just told me he was coming on the top. We got the race done and we finished on top.”
In the runner-up position, Horning still attempted to put pressure on the leader by taking different approaches to try to pass him.
“I was running the bottom because that’s how I got in the lead,” Horning said. “I pulled a slide job on him, and we were keeping the lead for a little while. Then he got a slide job on me and I just couldn’t keep the momentum with him. It opened up a big gap with no yellows. I think about half a straight-away. We closed it to about a quarter of a straight away.”
After some precision driving around traffic, Pete Stefanski ran in third place by the halfway point of the race, outmaneuvering Marc Lalonde and Sheldon Martin. Coonradt and Horning had put enough distance between the trailing competitors to put them out of reach. Stefanski drove the second half of the contention error free, rounding out the podium with a third-place finish.
Marc Lalonde finished fourth and Sheldon Martin finished fifth.
RESULTS:
Feature 25 Laps | 00:17:59.367
1. 00X-Josh Coonradt[2]; 2. 9S-Luke Horning[4]; 3. 2-Pete Stefanski[5]; 4. 8-Marc Lalonde[3]; 5. 92-Sheldon Martin[10]; 6. 17-Nick Hilt[7]; 7. 11-Stéphane Larivière[19]; 8. 32-Jonathan Levesque[1]; 9. 6-Stephane Lebrun[14]; 10. 14J-Johnny Rivers Jr[13]; 11. 9-Eric Jean Louis[20]; 12. 38JR-Justin Chaput[12]; 13. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[15]; 14. 63-Ryan Crellin[17]; 15. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[16]; 16. 35-Jonathan Lemay[18]; 17. 4M-Jordan Modiano[9]; 18. 58-Roxanne Roy[21]; 19. 8C-Sean Corr[8]; 20. 72G-Denis Gauvreau[6]; 21. 6C-Brian Carter[22]; 22. 33-Bruno Cyr[11]
Heat 1 6 Laps | 00:05:36.016
1. 72G-Denis Gauvreau[1]; 2. 2-Pete Stefanski[4]; 3. 9S-Luke Horning[5]; 4. 17-Nick Hilt[3]; 5. 4M-Jordan Modiano[2]; 6. 33-Bruno Cyr[7]; 7. 14J-Johnny Rivers Jr[6]; 8. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[8]; 9. 63-Ryan Crellin[11]; 10. 11-Stéphane Larivière[9]; 11. 58-Roxanne Roy[10]
Heat 2 6 Laps | 00:02:14.359
1. 8-Marc Lalonde[1]; 2. 32-Jonathan Levesque[4]; 3. 00X-Josh Coonradt[3]; 4. 8C-Sean Corr[2]; 5. 92-Sheldon Martin[6]; 6. 38JR-Justin Chaput[5]; 7. 6-Stephane Lebrun[11]; 8. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[7]; 9. 35-Jonathan Lemay[9]; 10. 9-Eric Jean Louis[10]; 11. 6C-Brian Carter[8]
Qualifying | 00:06:04.624
1. 72G-Denis Gauvreau, 00:19.921[11]; 2. 8-Marc Lalonde, 00:20.040[17]; 3. 4M-Jordan Modiano, 00:20.103[19]; 4. 8C-Sean Corr, 00:20.148[13]; 5. 17-Nick Hilt, 00:20.332[16]; 6. 00X-Josh Coonradt, 00:20.341[10]; 7. 2-Pete Stefanski, 00:20.395[7]; 8. 32-Jonathan Levesque, 00:20.512[9]; 9. 9S-Luke Horning, 00:20.542[22]; 10. 38JR-Justin Chaput, 00:20.653[20]; 11. 14J-Johnny Rivers Jr, 00:20.711[14]; 12. 92-Sheldon Martin, 00:20.766[6]; 13. 33-Bruno Cyr, 00:20.772[4]; 14. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr, 00:20.778[1]; 15. 09-Shawn Perez Sr, 00:20.785[21]; 16. 6C-Brian Carter, 00:20.848[8]; 17. 11-Stéphane Larivière, 00:20.901[12]; 18. 35-Jonathan Lemay, 00:20.924[15]; 19. 58-Roxanne Roy, 00:20.993[5]; 20. 9-Eric Jean Louis, 00:21.064[2]; 21. 63-Ryan Crellin, 00:21.434[18]; 22. 6-Stephane Lebrun, 00:21.569[3]
