Jessica Power came up one spot shy of her first World Short Track Championship triumph in 2024.
One year later, she was not going to be denied another chance at winning in the VP Racing DIRTcar Sportsman division as she drove towards Sunday night’s $5,000 payday.
The Kingston, ON native began the 25-lap Feature from the outside of the front row and sped away with the lead from the top of Turns 1-2 while Alex Bell, David Rogers, and Kevin Ridley fought for a spot inside the podium.
As the three drivers traded positions inside the podium, Power stretched her lead away through the first half as the cars behind her continued to battle. Ridley then found his pace around the top of Turns 3-4 to secure second place on Lap 12. On Lap 18, the caution flag flew – eliminating Power’s 3.3-second lead over the field.
On the ensuing restart, Power maintained the lead as Ridley kept his No. 20X Sportsman glued to Power’s back bumper. Though he tried to make the top of the 0.4-mile track work in the final laps, he was unable to make a final charge as Power’s No. 52 Modified crossed the finish line as a first-time winner at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
“This is the most incredible special moment,” Power said. “I can’t even describe the feeling. We’ve been coming here since the beginning, and this has been our goal for years, and it’s just an incredible feeling.
“That’s a great and bad thing about being in the lead is that you don’t know how far of a lead you have, but I was trying to be real consistent, hit my marks, not get into the rougher patches. But I will say kudos to the track crew. I’m just really thankful for the car we brought here. It’s been fast all year, and we were able to finish strong.”
Ridley finished the 25-lap battle in second place. The Waterloo, NY driver has finished inside the top five at the Concord, NC track in four of the last five years.
“It was pretty tough,” Ridley said. “(Turns) 1-2 was kind of one lane, and I did pass a few cars through the top when I got up from fourth to second. But, I mean, (Power) had a good car, I can’t take anything away from them, they did a good job.
“We just needed a little bit more time down there, I think. We were a tad bit better than her, and we were running her down before the caution, then we stayed right to the back bumper. In the last lap, I was going to try and zing the top of (Turns) 3-4, but I got tight and let her get away from me.”
Bell finished the Sportsman Feature in the last spot on the podium to complete his debut weekend at World Short Track Championship.
“We didn’t really know what to expect as far as the racetrack,” Bell said. “I think Jessica had us beat no matter what. We were just a little too tight the first 10 laps, and I’m pretty happy to make the podium for the first time here, ever. The first laps I saw were Qualifying laps, so I’ll chalk this up to a good night.”
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 52-Jessica Power[2]; 2. 20X-Kevin Ridley[3]; 3. 23-Alex Bell[1]; 4. 9-Joe Toth[8]; 5. 28-Mitch Dumont[14]; 6. 44-David Rogers[7]; 7. 33JR-Clayton Brewer III[5]; 8. 165K-Karston King[12]; 9. 03-Joshua Jock[10]; 10. 57-Ray Hall Jr[9]; 11. 7-Brady Cordova[18]; 12. 711-Todd English[11]; 13. 58-Logen Lockhart[6]; 14. 2-AJ Alsup[13]; 15. 89-Dylan Madsen[15]; 16. 16X-Savannah Laflair[19]; 17. 73G-Gordon Hermanson Jr[17]; 18. 24-Austin Seburn[16]; 19. 64-Tyler Corcoran[4]
