DIRTcar/SECA Pro Modifieds collide in showdown at The Dirt Track at Charlotte
CONCORD, NC — Oct. 28, 2018 — The Dirt Track at Charlotte hosted the 3rd annual Driven Racing Oil World Short Track Championship on Sunday, October 28. The 4/10s (0.400) mile high-banked dirt oval would see the Hoosier Racing Tire DIRTcar/SECA Pro Modifieds invade in what has become a yearly appearance at the track with the famed 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway lurking in the background off turns one and two. After Practice Day on Thursday, followed by a Rain Out on Friday, a full day of racing action was in store for the teams on Saturday and they wrapped it up on Sunday.
When all was said and done, Jesse Rockett had bested a strong field of Crate Modifieds and pocketed $1,000 for his efforts. After starting on the pole, the Stanley, NC driver briefly lost the lead, but regained it and would score the biggest win of his career. “That was a blast! This is the first time I’ve ran this race. My goal this weekend was just to make the show and finish. I never expected to win this.” The emotional 25-year-old driver stated standing next to his #537 Gear Train Inc. / Lethal Chassis entry. “The track changed from bottom to top and back to the bottom, so I just stayed on the bottom and man we won Charlotte!”
It would be Rockett and Hank Taylor bringing the field to the green flag for the 25-lap feature and it was Taylor beating Rockett to the first corner to grab the early lead. It was only for a lap though as Rockett powered his way back by Taylor to regain control of the event. Taylor would maintain second, trying to figure out a way around the race leader while at the same time fending off stiff challenges from Chris Steele and Robert Poole.
As the laps continued to click off, Rockett was able to maintain a safe piece of real estate between himself and the rest of the field. Taylor was finally able to break away from the rest of the pack and tried to muster a charge at Rockett for the lead. However, Taylor began to fade, which allowed Poole and Kevin Pangrazio to get by for second and third and try and catch Rockett. However, Rockett was up to the challenge and would see the checkered flag first coming out of turn four to secure the win.
Poole settled for second with Pangrazio coming home in third. Steele finished fourth as Morgan Widener, from 11th, completed the top five. Taylor would fall back to sixth as Chris Stowe, who started 18th, came home in seventh to win the KSE Hard-Charger award. Andrew Durham came from 13th to finish eighth as Luke Fleming went from 15th to ninth and Harley Stanley, who started 21st, would finish off the final top 10.
HIGHLIGHTS:
RESULTS:
Feature (25 Laps) – 1. 537-Jesse Rockett [1]; 2. 25-Robert Poole [4]; 3. 42-Kevin Pangrazio [8]; 4. 10-Chris Steele [7]; 5. 15w-Morgan Widener [11]; 6. 78T-Hank Taylor [2]; 7. 52-Chris Stowe [18]; 8. O75-Andrew Durham [13]; 9. 113-Luke Fleming [15]; 10. 69-Harley Stanley [21]; 11. 57-Andrew Blackwood [9]; 12. OO-Preston Blalock [5]; 13. 37-Shawn Robinson [17]; 14. 12-Jason Wallace [16]; 15. 78-Michael Harrell [22]; 16. T13-Johnny Stovall [20]; 17. O-Brandon McClure [25]; 18. 47-George Pierce [14]; 19. 1-Jake Gibbons [24]; 20. 2-Jeremy Steele [26]; 21. 22-Jake Barneycastle [19]; 22. 21-Chris Mckeehan [23]; 23. 21T-Tam Topham [12]; 24. 44-Jeff Parsons [6]; 25. 99L-Landen Lewis [3]; 26. 60x-Robbie Bailey [10]; KSE Hard Charger Award: 52-Chris Stowe[+11]
Qualifying Flight-A – 1. 99L-Landen Lewis, 18.843; 2. 78T-Hank Taylor, 19.049; 3. 57-Andrew Blackwood, 19.136; 4. 2-Jeremy Steele, 19.171; 5. 25-Robert Poole, 19.249; 6. 537-Jesse Rockett, 19.286; 7. 69-Harley Stanley, 19.357; 8. 60x-Robbie Bailey, 19.405; 9. 37-Shawn Robinson, 19.439; 10. 2s-Katherine Kudla, 19.446; 11. 92-Larry Martin, 19.508; 12. 4-Mike Fain, 19.588; 13. O75-Andrew Durham, 19.603; 14. 52-Chris Stowe, 19.824; 15. 33-Patrick Wheeler, 20.067; 16. 117-Rich Reakes, 20.202; 17. O-Brandon McClure, 20.268; 18. 47-George Pierce, 20.283
Qualifying Flight-B – 1. 15w-Morgan Widener, 19.221; 2. 10-Chris Steele, 19.28; 3. 1-Jake Gibbons, 19.305; 4. 44-Jeff Parsons, 19.383; 5. 42-Kevin Pangrazio, 19.397; 6. 12r-Ty Rhoades, 19.442; 7. 22-Jake Barneycastle, 19.446; 8. 12-Jason Wallace, 19.497; 9. OO-Preston Blalock, 19.499; 10. 21T-Tam Topham, 19.512; 11. 77-Bobby Jones, 19.534; 12. O3-Dylan Smith, 19.588; 13. 78-Michael Harrell, 19.778; 14. T13-Johnny Stovall, 19.851; 15. 113-Luke Fleming, 19.864; 16. 21-Chris Mckeehan, 20.032; 17. 23k-Kenny Kallam, 20.314
Heat #1 – Flight (A) (6 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer – 1. 99L-Landen Lewis [1]; 2. 25-Robert Poole [3]; 3. 57-Andrew Blackwood [2]; 4. O75-Andrew Durham [7]; 5. 37-Shawn Robinson [5]; 6. 69-Harley Stanley [4]; 7. 92-Larry Martin [6]; 8. 33-Patrick Wheeler [8]; 9. O-Brandon McClure [9]
Heat #2 – Flight (A) (6 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer – 1. 78T-Hank Taylor [1]; 2. 537-Jesse Rockett [3]; 3. 60x-Robbie Bailey [4]; 4. 2s-Katherine Kudla [5]; 5. 52-Chris Stowe [7]; 6. 47-George Pierce [9]; 7. 117-Rich Reakes [8]; 8. 2-Jeremy Steele [2]; 9. 4-Mike Fain [6]
Heat #3 – Flight (B) (6 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer – 1. OO-Preston Blalock [5]; 2. 42-Kevin Pangrazio [3]; 3. 15w-Morgan Widener [1]; 4. 113-Luke Fleming [8]; 5. 22-Jake Barneycastle [4]; 6. 1-Jake Gibbons [2]; 7. 77-Bobby Jones [6]; 8. 78-Michael Harrell [7]; 9. 23k-Kenny Kallam [9]
Heat #4 – Flight (B) (6 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer – 1. 10-Chris Steele [1]; 2. 44-Jeff Parsons [2]; 3. 21T-Tam Topham [5]; 4. 12-Jason Wallace [4]; 5. T13-Johnny Stovall [7]; 6. O3-Dylan Smith [6]; 7. 21-Chris Mckeehan [8]; 8. 12r-Ty Rhoades [3]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer – 1. 69-Harley Stanley [1]; 2. O3-Dylan Smith [4]; 3. 78-Michael Harrell [11]; 4. 21-Chris Mckeehan [8]; 5. 1-Jake Gibbons [3]; 6. 77-Bobby Jones [7]; 7. 33-Patrick Wheeler [9]; 8. 23k-Kenny Kallam [15]; 9. 47-George Pierce [2]; 10. 92-Larry Martin [5]; 11. 117-Rich Reakes [6]; 12. 12r-Ty Rhoades [12]; 13. O-Brandon McClure [13]; 14. 4-Mike Fain [14]; 15. 2-Jeremy Steele [10]
