Trent Ivey made a choice that paid off Saturday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
After putting a soft right rear tire on his Rocket Chassis, the Union, SC driver stormed through the field to earn the Fox Factory Pro Late Model Feature win at the seventh annual World Short Track Championship.
Dillon Brown grabbed the lead in Turn 1 of the 30-lap Feature, driving away from Ricky Greene and holding on for the first 18 laps.
Behind them, Ivey moved up from his eighth starting spot, working his way into a battle with Jamison McBride for third in the first five laps.
Once he cleared McBride on Lap 8, Ivey needed a Lap 12 restart to get by Greene.
From there, it only took a few more laps for him to power underneath defending race winner Brown, thundering by him on Lap 19 to take the lead.
Ivey went unchallenged for the final 11 laps, scoring his first Pro Late Model Feature win at the World Short Track Championship.
The Palmetto State driver said he was trying to save his tire, hoping it would pay off when the race was over.
“I was caught between trying to save my soft right rear, which was a little different than anybody else,” Ivey said. “I was trying to blast to the front and hope everyone else went soft.
“The car was amazing, man, and it’s the first time I’ve ever driven this thing. I’m no stranger to Charlotte, but it’s been a while since I’ve won here.
From Gaffney, SC, Brown settled for second, falling short of his second straight win in the event. He said he made the wrong tire choice, which cost him a trip to Victory Lane.
“I reeled him back down there at the end, but he had a soft tire on, and we were hard,” Brown said. “It’s won me a lot of money the last two years. It lost me this one tonight. Ahhh, man. You just have to take it and go on.”
Ricky Greene rounded out the podium. The Newton, NC driver also said he felt he chose the wrong tire.
“We had a pretty good piece the first time in it,” Greene said. “I had high expectations, and it’s a pretty good car. I don’t know if we missed on the tire call a little bit. But the track blew off kind of quick on us.”
Jeremy Steele finished fourth, rising five spots from ninth, and Jamison McBride rounded out the top five.
Feature (30 Laps)-1. G4-Trent Ivey[8]; 2. 6-Dillon Brown[1]; 3. 18-Ricky Greene[3]; 4. 22-Jeremy Steele[9]; 5. 215-Jamison McBride[2]; 6. 55-Matt Long[6]; 7. 27H-Justin Hudspeth[15]; 8. 136-David Pangrazio[14]; 9. 55H-Benji Hicks[18]; 10. 08-Layton Sullivan[17]; 11. 114-Jordan Koehler[5]; 12. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[12]; 13. 24-Jacob Brown[13]; 14. 66-Jody Knowles[7]; 15. 615-Colton Trouille[23]; 16. 00-Kendal Tucker[19]; 17. 29-Dale Moore[24]; 18. 7J-Dalton Jacobs[10]; 19. 17-Jeffrey Johnson[25]; 20. 89-Timmie Harrelson[26]; 21. 74-Mike Franklin[22]; 22. 555-Brock Pinkerous[20]; 23. 5S-Joey Johnson[16]; 24. 12C-Cody Cubbage[11]; 25. 7-Daniel Breuer[21]; 26. 5Q-Colby Quick[4]
Last Chance Showdown 2 (8 Laps)-1. 08-Layton Sullivan[1]; 2. 00-Kendal Tucker[2]; 3. 7-Daniel Breuer[3]; 4. 615-Colton Trouille[5]; 5. T20-Taylor Wood[8]; 6. 17-Jeffrey Johnson[4]; 7. 15M-Gary Mabe[6]; 8. 17M-Billy Martin[7]; 9. 70-Roger Lankford[13]; 10. 25M-Marc Berzowski[12]; 11. 10E-Patrick Evatt[10]; 12. 10-Matt Ashworth[9]; 13. 20G-Chub Gunter[11]
Last Chance Showdown 2 (8 Laps)-1. 55H-Benji Hicks[1]; 2. 555-Brock Pinkerous[2]; 3. 74-Mike Franklin[7]; 4. 29-Dale Moore[5]; 5. 2-Shawn Martin[4]; 6. 89-Timmie Harrelson[3]; 7. 57-Keaton Smith[10]; 8. 143-Brian Ledbetter[6]; 9. 62-Jacob Lehn[9]; 10. 228-William Russell III[8]; 11. 15-Chuck Melton[12]; 12. 37-Tommy Eastridge[13]; 13. 12-Randy Pinnix[11]
Heat Race 1 (8 Laps)-1. 5Q-Colby Quick[1]; 2. 114-Jordan Koehler[2]; 3. 22-Jeremy Steele[6]; 4. 24-Jacob Brown[4]; 5. 08-Layton Sullivan[7]; 6. 7-Daniel Breuer[5]; 7. 615-Colton Trouille[11]; 8. 17M-Billy Martin[9]; 9. 10-Matt Ashworth[8]; 10. 20G-Chub Gunter[3]; 11. 70-Roger Lankford[10]
Heat Race 2 (8 Laps)-1. 18-Ricky Greene[1]; 2. 55-Matt Long[2]; 3. 7J-Dalton Jacobs[3]; 4. 136-David Pangrazio[5]; 5. 00-Kendal Tucker[4]; 6. 17-Jeffrey Johnson[7]; 7. 15M-Gary Mabe[8]; 8. T20-Taylor Wood[6]; 9. 10E-Patrick Evatt[10]; 10. 25M-Marc Berzowski[9]
Heat Race 3 (8 Laps)-1. 215-Jamison McBride[1]; 2. 66-Jody Knowles[7]; 3. 12C-Cody Cubbage[2]; 4. 27H-Justin Hudspeth[6]; 5. 55H-Benji Hicks[5]; 6. 89-Timmie Harrelson[3]; 7. 29-Dale Moore[4]; 8. 74-Mike Franklin[9]; 9. 62-Jacob Lehn[10]; 10. 12-Randy Pinnix[8]; 11. 37-Tommy Eastridge[11]
Heat Race 4 (8 Laps)-1. 6-Dillon Brown[1]; 2. G4-Trent Ivey[3]; 3. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[2]; 4. 5S-Joey Johnson[4]; 5. 555-Brock Pinkerous[6]; 6. 2-Shawn Martin[5]; 7. 143-Brian Ledbetter[10]; 8. 228-William Russell III[7]; 9. 57-Keaton Smith[8]; 10. 15-Chuck Melton[9]
