SECA Crate Sportsman shine in a thriller at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in season ending extravaganza
CONCORD, NC — Oct. 28, 2018 — The Driven Racing Oil SECA Crate Sportsman division were a part of the 3rd annual Driven World Short Track Championship on Saturday, October 27 at the immaculate 4/10s (0.400) mile high-banked dirt oval of The Dirt Track at Charlotte (NC). The track located northeast of Charlotte in Concord, NC would see rain win the day on Friday, October 26 after a successful Practice day the night before. This created a hectic day for the teams who would race both Friday’s events and Saturday’s scheduled races too with Saturday’s show eventually moved over to Sunday.
Coming into the third edition of the event, Mitchell Duvall had scored the victory in the first two years. In the third year of the race, it would be almost the same story and different year, as it wasn’t easy for Duvall this time around. The Gaffney, SC driver made the pass for the lead after contact with race leader, Chris Rice on the white flag lap and would then hang on to take the victory, his third straight in the World Short Track Championship, while collecting $1,500 for the win.
“Man, I got into Chris (Rice) a little bit there in the corner. I hated to do that, but I just couldn’t hold the bottom like I wanted too,” Explained the 47-year-old driver of his #5d Joe’s Towing / Chevrolet. “This win means a lot to the whole family. We won this last year in memory of my Dad (National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer, Mike Duvall, who passed away back on September 12, 2017). To win here at Charlotte is really something special. I can’t thank everyone who is involved in this enough.” He added.
Andrew Blackwood and Dustin Taylor lead the field to the green flag. Several restarts were needed to get the 25-lap feature going, but once it did, it would be Blackwood grabbing the early race lead. That was short-lived though as Tyler Love, who started sixth, maneuvered his way through the field and grabbed the lead away from Blackwood on lap two and set sail, bringing Duvall, who started third with him. With seven laps to go, Duvall made the pass for the lead, relegating Love to second.
With five laps to go, Love slowed with a right rear flat tire bringing out the caution flag. This placed Chris Rice, who started 17th into second. One the restart, Rice immediately applied pressure to the race leader and made the pass for the lead with just two laps to go. A caution on the white flag lap, set up a green-white-checkered finish. On the final restart, the battle resumed between Rice and Duvall and with the field taking the white flag again, going into turn two, contact between Rice and Duvall sent Rice up and over the cushion and into the turn two wall, but he kept moving forward. This gave the lead to Duvall who would fight off a last-ditch effort by Ricky Greene to secure the victory.
Greene settled for second over Blackwood who recovered to post the final podium position in third, Calob McLaughlin, who started 11th was fourth as Colton Dimsdale, who started 10th, rounded out the top five. Lee Higdon charged from 20th to finish sixth to collect the KSE Hard-Charger award as Brett Cooper was seventh from 18th. Williams Knight was eighth over John Price who started 21st and Shannon Adams were the top 10.
HIGHLIGHTS:
RESULTS:
Feature (20 Laps) – 1. 5D-Mitchell Duvall [3]; 2. 18g-Ricky Greene [7]; 3. 57-Andy Blackwood [1]; 4. O8-Calob Mclaughlin [11]; 5. 15-Colton Dimsdale [10]; 6. 51-Lee Higdon [20]; 7. 84-Brett Cooper [18]; 8. 35-William Knight [13]; 9. P4-John Price [21]; 10. S22-Shannon Adams [4]; 11. 3B-Barrett Bishop [19]; 12. 92T-Tyler Love [6]; 13. 78-Blake Pryor [8]; 14. OOj-Jackson Thomasson [25]; 15. 5-Dustin Taylor [2]; 16. 11-Joseph Johnson [14]; 17. 76-Chris Rice [17]; 18. 14-Russell Williford [22]; 19. 52-Chris Stowe [23]; 20. 3-Kris Frost [5]; 21. 14c-Landon Carson [26]; 22. 99-Ron Scully [16]; 23. 66w-Johnny Westmoreland [15]; 24. 86-Lynn Guest [24]; 25. 18-Bryant Rayfield [9]; 26. 9-Ronnie Mosley [12]; KSE Hard Charger Award: 51-Lee Higdon[+14]
Qualifying Flight-A – 1. 78-Blake Pryor, 20.197; 2. 3-Kris Frost, 20.217; 3. 40-John Reid, 20.275; 4. 18g-Ricky Greene, 20.382; 5. S22-Shannon Adams, 20.383; 6. 15-Colton Dimsdale, 20.513; 7. 14-Russell Williford, 20.536; 8. 18w-Bradley Weaver, 20.548; 9. P4-John Price, 20.603; 10. OOj-Jackson Thomasson, 20.617; 11. 76-Chris Rice, 20.703; 12. 33-David Lucas, 20.764; 13. 35-William Knight, 20.784; 14. 11-Joseph Johnson, 20.789; 15. 18-Bryant Rayfield, 20.858; 16. 84-Brett Cooper, 21.04; 17. 87-Chris Smith, 21.05; 18. 28xl-Johnny Hipp, 21.519; DNS. 30-Brit Dover, NT
Qualifying Flight-B – 1. 92T-Tyler Love, 19.963; 2. 57-Andy Blackwood, 20.085; 3. 66w-Johnny Westmoreland, 20.124; 4. 99-Ron Scully, 20.178; 5. 5-Dustin Taylor, 20.26; 6. 5D-Mitchell Duvall, 20.322; 7. 3B-Barrett Bishop, 20.409; 8. 51-Lee Higdon, 20.49; 9. O8-Calob Mclaughlin, 20.616; 10. 52-Chris Stowe, 20.714; 11. 66-Mitchell Henderson, 20.776; 12. 9-Ronnie Mosley, 20.793; 13. 12-Devon Morgan, 20.938; 14. 29-Bryan Harrelson, 21.082; 15. 90-Eli Davis, 21.103; 16. 611-Rodney Lawter, 22.064; 17. 14c-Landon Carson, 22.197; 18. 86-Lynn Guest, 23.333; DNS. 23-Ronald Rhodes, NT
Heat #1 – Flight (A) (6 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer – 1. 78-Blake Pryor [1]; 2. S22-Shannon Adams [3]; 3. 18-Bryant Rayfield [8]; 4. 35-William Knight [7]; 5. 76-Chris Rice [6]; 6. P4-John Price [5]; 7. 87-Chris Smith [9]; 8. 14-Russell Williford [4]; 9. 40-John Reid [2]; 10. 30-Brit Dover [10]
Heat #2 – Flight (A) (6 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer – 1. 3-Kris Frost [1]; 2. 18g-Ricky Greene [2]; 3. 15-Colton Dimsdale [3]; 4. 11-Joseph Johnson [7]; 5. 84-Brett Cooper [8]; 6. 28xl-Johnny Hipp [9]; 7. 33-David Lucas [6]; 8. OOj-Jackson Thomasson [5]; 9. 18w-Bradley Weaver [4]
Heat #3 – Flight (B) (6 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer – 1. 92T-Tyler Love [1]; 2. 5-Dustin Taylor [3]; 3. O8-Calob Mclaughlin [5]; 4. 66w-Johnny Westmoreland [2]; 5. 3B-Barrett Bishop [4]; 6. 12-Devon Morgan [7]; 7. 66-Mitchell Henderson [6]; 8. 90-Eli Davis [8]; 9. 14c-Landon Carson [9]; 10. 23-Ronald Rhodes [10]
Heat #4 – Flight (B) (6 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer – 1. 57-Andy Blackwood [1]; 2. 5D-Mitchell Duvall [3]; 3. 9-Ronnie Mosley [6]; 4. 99-Ron Scully [2]; 5. 51-Lee Higdon [4]; 6. 29-Bryan Harrelson [7]; 7. 611-Rodney Lawter [8]; 8. 86-Lynn Guest [9]; 9. 52-Chris Stowe [5]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer – 1. P4-John Price [1]; 2. 14-Russell Williford [9]; 3. 40-John Reid [13]; 4. 52-Chris Stowe [16]; 5. 14c-Landon Carson [15]; 6. OOj-Jackson Thomasson [10]; 7. 90-Eli Davis [11]; 8. 29-Bryan Harrelson [4]; 9. 18w-Bradley Weaver [14]; 10. 28xl-Johnny Hipp [2]; 11. 12-Devon Morgan [3]; 12. 33-David Lucas [6]; 13. 86-Lynn Guest [12]; 14. 87-Chris Smith [5]; 15. 66-Mitchell Henderson [7]; 16. 30-Brit Dover [17]; 17. 23-Ronald Rhodes [18]; 18. 611-Rodney Lawter [8]
