Two former Super DIRT Week Pro Stock champions and one driver attempting to clinch the 2025 season-long title DIRTcar Pro Stock crown put themselves in prime position Wednesday night to score a victory in the I Love NY 50.
Chris Stalker, who sits fifth in the current Series championship standings, earned a victory in the first of three Qualifying Heat Races at Oswego Speedway, while 2023 Super DIRT Week winner Luke Horning and defending race winner Beau Ballard won the other two Heats.
Those Qualifying Heats followed the afternoon’s Super Six Time Trials, where Devon Camenga won the SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award and Rich Crane earned the Fratto Curbing Outside Pole Award to lock up the front row for Friday night’s Feature. Kyle Hoard, JJ Courcy, Jocelyn Roy, and Stalker completed the Super Six Time Trials, which sets the first three rows for Friday’s I Love NY 50.
Stalker, of Hillsdale, NY, who started on the pole in last year’s event, charged from second to the lead following a caution midway through the first heat race and pulled away to win ahead of Shane Playford and Jocelyn Roy.
“What we did last year seemed to work, so we did the same exact thing this year,” Stalker said. “We made a couple of minor adjustments. We had a good car all night.”
Horning, of Gloversville, NY, started fifth in the second heat and after watching Courcy and Camenga battle out front, he slid past Carmenga on Lap 7 to grab second in Turn 2, then drove by Courcy a lap later in Turn 1 and drove off to the win.
“We were kind of sliding up to the top line early in the race, and sometimes when you slide up to it, you miss it, but we were hitting it every time, so I knew I could hit it and then I started entering a little higher,” Horning said.
Ballard, of Stamford, NY, is aiming to become the first back-to-back I Love NY 50 winner since 2017. He started fourth in the third heat but blasted to the lead exiting Turn 4 on Lap 2 and never looked back, leaving Kyle Hoard and two-time winner Pete Stefanski fighting for second and third.
“After that run there, that gives me a lot of confidence going into Friday,” Ballard said. “We made the right adjustments today to make the car better and I think we hit on something. We’re right where we need to be. We made the right changes, little tweaks on all four corners and it made it a totally different race car.
Camenga, of Troy, NY, is looking forward to starting from the pole position Friday night after turning a lap around Oswego Speedway in 24.509 seconds to earn the SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award.
“We’ve been fast, and I really, really like this track, it suits my driving style,” Camenga said. “The closer up front you start the better it is because this DIRTcar Pro Stock class is just so hard. When I started racing, we didn’t worry about how many tenths we were off, now that’s what we’re all doing, we’re all down in our trailers trying to get one more tenth, two more tenths, three more tenths, which is crazy, but that’s where we’re at. It’s definitely a huge advantage to start out front and set the field and then see what the track conditions are going to be.”
Crane, of Canaan, CT, captured the Fratto Curbing Outside Pole Award, with a 24.696 second lap.
“Being locked in the top six no matter where is really good,” Crane said. “It takes some of the stress off for the rest of the week. It’s a really, racy racetrack.”
Click here for the full qualifying results from Wednesday night. The DIRTcar Pro Stock I Love NY 50 begins at 3 p.m. on Friday at Oswego Speedway. For tickets and more go to SuperDIRTWeek.com.
Brent Smith Photo
