FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
6.24.2023 CHARLESTON SPEEDWAY: CHARLESTON, IL
With POWRi National Midgets kicking off their 10th Annual Illinois Speedweek at The Charleston Speedway, that would mean two nights of racing were in store for teams and fans! National Midgets, DIRTcar Modified, DIRTcar Pro Modified and DIRTcar Hornets would compete on Thursday June 22. The POWRi National Midgets NEVER disappoint. Early in the feature, leader Cannon McIntosh and 2nd place Thomas “Tmez”, Meseraull would make slight contact and cut tires on both competitors. Their contact was during the wild crash that occurred when the 71E of Mariah Ede made contact with the 91 of Zach Daum.
Ede’s wild ride can be seen here. https://youtu.be/IJTJf4EVoNY
Ede would walk away unharmed but her car suffered damage too great to continue. During the clean-up efforts, McIntosh and Tmez would change tires and report to the tail. The green flag flew, and McIntosh was on a mission back to the front. Tmez would rally back to finish 9th, but no one had the speed McIntosh did. Gavin Miller started 12th and would work his way to run 2nd, and Daum 3rd. On lap 18, we would see WILD ride #2 of the week when the 00 of Talin Turner flipped most of the way down the backstretch. POWRi and Charleston Speedway safety staff would tend to Turner, who ended up going to the local hospital by ambulance for further evaluation. Turner was later released with bumps, bruises, and a concussion. It was indeed a very scary and wild ride, thankful that Turner did not end up with more severe injuries! Back to the racing action where McIntosh would take the lead on the same lap and never look back! On Sunday, McIntosh would be crowned POWRi Illinois Speedweek Champion, so having him win at The Charleston Speedway on night one, became a little more special. The DIRTcar divisions would not disappoint. King set another quick time, would run 2nd in his heat, but rallied back to win the DIRTcar Modified Feature. Jimmy Dutlinger is seemingly unstoppable in his DIRTcar Hornet, as he won yet another feature for the 2023 season. DIRTcar Pro Modified would see Deece Schwartz denied the clean sweep by the #2 of Brayden Doyle. Deece Schwartz would set fast time and win his heat, but Brayden Doyle would go green flag to checkered flag and win the DIRTcar Pro Modified portion of the event in dominant fashion!
All of the feature event from Thursday’s event can be seen here:
POWRi Midget: https://youtu.be/S7lFlo8x6LQ
DIRTcar Modified: https://youtu.be/_2eTsNKCOvc
DIRTcar Hornet: https://youtu.be/h4b83nOUMWw
DIRTcar Pro Modified: https://youtu.be/imFBorUcXL4
Video credit to Zack Carter
Brad and his staff provided an AMAZING surface on Thursday, and they did not slack off for Saturday’s event. The entire area is struggling with a severe lack of rain fall this season, making track prep a very difficult challenge, but Brad and his crew have stepped up and done a phenomenal job, week in and week out, providing multiple lanes of racing, smooth, and not too dusty racetrack! Saturday night’s event would have DIRTcar Modified, DIRTcar Pro Modified, DIRTcar Street Stock, DIRTcar Factory Stock, DIRTcar Hornet and Limited Late Models competing in the Inaugural Summer Shootout. All classes were competing for DOUBLE track points in addition to their normal purse money. 86 cars checked in and it would prove to be an exciting event!
We single-car qualified 4 divisions. Quick time went to the following:
DIRTcar Modified, #63 Dustin King; 13.966
DIRTcar Pro Modified, #2Brayden Doyle; 15.466
DIRTcar Factory Stock, #X Randy Smyser; 17.116
Limited Late Model, #12C Curtis Eller; 14.444
7:07pm, Heat races would get underway. Randy Smyser qualified quick time in DIRTcar Factory Stock, putting him starting P1 in Heat 1, and Smyser would keep his X machine out front for all 8 laps. Smyser and Lee Joseph Hall would go wheel to wheel and door to door, but at the end of the night, the X of Randy Smyser would prove to be unbeatable as he pulled off the clean sweep, dominating the DIRTcar Factory Stock division with Quick time, Heat race Win and Feature Win! Smyser has 3 wins, and 7 events, but he is still trailing the 66JR of Steve Nolen by 3 points! Nolen, with the most consistent season, is your current DIRTcar Factory Stock point leader. The DIRTcar Factory Stock Feature can be seen here: https://youtu.be/hf8tbrTvvQk
The DIRTcar Street Stock division would see heat race wins by Team Alsop with the #14 of Megan Erwin and the #99K of Jerrad Krick winning their heat races. That set up a Team Alsop front row for the 15 lap Feature. Krick would jump out to an early lead and look to have the race in the bag. However, the #5D of Jordan Smith mounted a late race charge after finding a ton of speed through the middle of 1 & 2 and on lap 13, Smith took the top spot from Krick. As the white flag fell, Smith chose the high line in 1 & 2 leaving the middle wide open for Krick; knowing that is where Smith had passed him just 2 laps earlier, Krick dropped to the middle and would come off turn 2 door to door with Smith. As they raced down the back stretch, Krick would have position entering 3. Exiting turn 4 Krick would see the checkered flag just .212 ahead of Smith. Krick, Smith, and Erwin would fill the podium in DIRTcar Street Stock. The current reigning track Champion, Jesse Simmons ended the night 22 points ahead of Megan Erwin. The DIRTcar Street Stock Feature can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/OgYAgfoTrXg
The DIRTcar Pro Modified division would provide WILD ride number 3 of the weekend. The night started with the #2 of Brayden Doyle setting fast time, heat races were won by #59 JD Carter Evans and #44 Gabe Menser and the feature line up was set! Menser jumped out to take the lead early. Lap 7 would be explosive for the #69 of Mason Lynch. Lynch started 18th and had made his way up to 5th when a $2 bolt would break as he entered turn 3 and mayhem ensued! Lynch’s rear axle seemed to explode and caused his car to roll into turn 3, his car would come to a stop and the Charleston Safety crew sprang to his aide. Lynch would exit the car on his own power and after and examination/evaluation, would be determined to be unharmed. It was DEFINETELY a WILD ride! The track was cleaned up and the green flag fell with Menser out front. Deece Schwartz had taken over 2nd on lap 6, and he was determined to finish 1 spot better. Finally on lap 13 he challenged Menser for the top spot and proved to be just good enough to take the lead. Schwartz would lead the final 3 laps to take win #4 this season at The Charleston Speedway. Menser held onto 2nd and JD Carter Evans would round out the podium! The #2 of Brayden Doyle left the Summer Shootout with a thin point lead of 6 points over second place #121 Deece Schwartz. The DIRTcar Pro Modified Feature Event can be seen here: https://youtu.be/ZlV3UWRKT5E
The Limited Late Model division has seen a bit of dominance from the Father/Son Wilson team. The Eller brothers showed up to challenge the Wilson’s and proved to be slightly better at The Summer Shootout. Curtis Eller Qualified quick time and would win heat #1. Jamie Wilson qualified 8th but rallied back to win Heat #2. Those results put Eller and Wilson on the front row of the feature. As the green flag fell, Curtis Eller wasted no time putting Wilson behind him as he led lap 1. Eller enjoyed leading so much, he decided to lead EVERY lap of the 15 lap Feature event. Wilson would fall back to 3rd as Colby Eller, Curtis’ brother, would do all he could to win, but every effort came up short to the dominant #12C of Curtis Eller. Finishing 3rd, Jammie Wilson would find himself tied with the #55 of Anthony Tucker for the points lead. The top 2 in points are only 3 points ahead of another tie between the #5J of Josh Jackson and the #20 of Nathan Spain. It is an incredibly tight points battle in the Limited Late Model division! The entire Limited Late Model Feature can be seen here: https://youtu.be/H3-VsPtF6ho
The DIRTcar Hornet portion of the event would provide WILD ride #4 of the week. Heat race action would see the #38DD of Dusten Galbreath and the #5 of Ted Ault picking up wins. That started them on the front row of the feature. Dusten Galbreath put his #38DD out front and never let go of the lead! Lash, Durbin, Webb, and Dutlinger tried everything they could to take the lead from Galbreath, but he would not be denied. On lap 5, obvious mechanical failure on the #5 of Ted Ault would send his machine flipping into turn 1&2. His car would come to rest with the passenger side door down. The Charleston Safety crews responded immediately to check on Ault and secure the car. Once the vehicle was secure, Ault was able to climb from his car on his own power. He was examined/evaluated and determined to have received no injuries. Very good news after witnessing his WILD ride!! Track cleaned up and Galbreath would continue his dominance and pick up the feature win! Lash would have to settle for 2nd with Durbin rounding out the podium with his 3rd place finish. Jaekob Durbin’s 3rd place finish kept him in the points lead by 14 points over Jimmy Dutlinger. Devon Webb is currently 3rd on points, 22 points back. The entire DIRTcar Hornet feature, along with Ted Ault’s WILD ride, along with the GREAT 3 & 4 wide racing in the Hornet Feature can be seen here: https://youtu.be/EFxXjwSx7fA
With all that excitement, the bar was high for the DIRTcar Modified division to impress. Not only did they meet the challenge, they exceeded our expectation. The DIRTcar Modified division never disappoints! The #63 of Dustin King has been a force to be reckoned with of late. Quick time, and heat race wins are commonplace for King and Saturday night was no exception. King would win Heat #1 and Deece Schwartz after trading sliders with his father Danny Schwartz, would win heat #2. That would set up a King-Schwartz front row for the feature! King led lap 1 but Deece Schwartz wasn’t going away quietly as he led lap 2. King would rally back to lead lap 3 and from there, he would lead all the way to lap 20. King would fight off challenges from Danny Schwartz, and Kasey Schrock but they were unable to dethrone King as he continued his reign of dominance in the DIRTcar Modified division. Danny Schwartz would finish 2nd, Kasey Schrock 3rd, Denny Schwartz 4th and Deece Schwartz would have to settle for 5th. It was another great night at the races getting to see 3 generations on the same track, in the same class, at the same time, going wheel to wheel throwing sliders on one another to see who the highest finishing Schwartz would be. Dustin King’s victory in the Summer Shootout moved him 6 points in the lead over Kasey Schrock and 28 points over Kenny Carmichael Sr. In case you missed it, there was some incredible 3 wide racing in the DIRTcar Modified feature and the entire feature race can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/7pRuFxsELMg
Your run down of Heat Race winners for June 24
DIRTcar Modified: #63 Dustin King & #121 Deece Schwartz
DIRTcar Pro Modified: #59 JD Carter Evans & #44 Gabe Menser
DIRTcar Street Stock: #14 Megan Erwin & #99K Jerrad Krick
DIRTcar Factory Stock: #X Randy Smyser
Limited Late Model: #12C Curtis Eller & #61 Jammie Wilson
DIRTcar Hornet: #38DD Dusten Galbreath & #5 Ted Ault
Here are the Feature Winners from the Summer Shootout:
DIRTcar Modified #63 DUSTIN KING
DIRTcar Pro Modified #121 DEECE SCHWARTZ
DIRTcar Street Stock #99K JERRAD KRICK
Limited Late Model #12C CURTIS ELLER
DIRTcar Factory Stock #X RANDY SMYSER
DIRTcar Hornets #38DD DUSTEN GALBREATH
Reminder:
There will be NO RACING this coming Saturday, July 1st, 2023.
WE HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON…………..AT THE RACES!!!
#chuckvegas
ALL VIDEO CREDIT: Zack Carter. Look him up nd subscribe to his youtube channel.