DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Tanner English set to join Viper Motorsports for 2023 World of Outlaws run | Daily 10-7-2022
Two World of Outlaws contenders are joining forces, John Trone and Chase Dietz split, plus Thursday results and what to watch this weekend. Let's go!
It's Friday, October 7th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
It was just about two weeks ago that Tanner English and Riggs Motorsports announced they were parting ways following the season. It was earlier this week that Max Blair and Viper Motorsports announced their partnership would end as well. And now, we've got resolution for two of the parties, with Dirt on Dirt and Kevin Kovac reporting that Tanner English is set to join up with Viper for 2023. So the World of Outlaws Late Models second place driver is joining the third place team for a run at the championship next season. The team will run out of Illinois, instead of Florida like was previously announced to be closer to English. Team owner Shawn Martin told Kovac they could also add the FloRacing Night in America Series or XR Super Series to their slate of races, along with the Outlaw run and crown jewel shows, including at Eldora. English told Kovac he had a chance to do his own thing for next season, but the chance to run a national tour again was attractive. Further details about the team's equipment and sponsors will be released at a later date, but we'll have to see where they go in terms of chassis. English has run Rockets, but as of late has been in a Longhorn with Riggs, while Blair and Viper have been running Rockets. With the way things have gone this season, this new pairing on the surface should definitely be in the conversation for the championship next season with the World of Outlaws.
And also in the last 24 hours, we learned that up in Central Pennsylvania car owner John Trone and driver Chase Dietz have split after a couple of seasons together. Trone's 39 machine was at Lincoln last night with young driver Cameron Smith in the seat. Smith did not make the feature, ending up the night eighth in the B-Main. Smith will also run tonight at the Grove with the Outlaws. Trone told Jeremy Elliott that his plans for next year are not set yet, and that's he going to weigh all options. Dietz had won six times in the 39, and picked up 56 top tens, but posted on his Facebook page that he is now seeking opportunities through the end of the year.
At Lincoln last night, the track held the Brian Montieth Classic, and outsiders locked out the podium and four of the top five spots in the feature. Gio Scelzi led every lap from the pole to score the $7000 win. Buddy Kofoid tried to run him down late, but a caution with two to go for Devon Borden took the leaders out of lap traffic, and that was it. So Gio your winner, Kofoid second, Justin Peck third, Danny Dietrich was the lone local in the top five in fourth, and Kyle Reinhardt was fifth. The field also included Brian Brown, Ayrton Gennetten, and Scotty Thiel.
Also racing on Thursday was the FloRacing Night in America Series. They were at Tri-County Racetrack in North Carolina for 53 laps and $22,000 to win. Bobby Pierce entered the night with back to back series wins, and has been trying to run down Brandon Sheppard in the championship standings. Unfortunately though, he lost a little ground last night. Both Pierce and Sheppard suffered flat tires, and ended up down the order, with BShepp in ninth and Pierce 13th. Sheppard battled with race long leader Carson Ferguson down the stretch, but bowed out from second with 14 to go with that tire issue. That yellow setup up some great racing towards the end with Ferguson, Chris Madden, Dale McDowell, and Garrett Alberson all in the mix. McDowell drove up from 10th, and took the lead from Ferguson with eight to go, and basically went unchallenged from there. Ferguson ended up spinning out trying to keep pace with the 17M and just parked it for the night. Brandon Overton ended up second with Madden in third. So two race nights left on the schedule, Sheppard leads Pierce by 103 points. The series is back next Tuesday night at 411 Motor Speedway for another $22,000 to win feature. The Dirt on Dirt guys say we may even get a Kyle Larson appearance at that show.
Alright, there is a bunch of racing going on around the country, so let's whip around and talk about what to watch for. First up, the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series is at Port Royal for two nights. Following this weekend, they'll go to the midwest for stops at I-80 and Lakeside, then come back to Pennsylvania for the National Open makeup on October 22nd, before coming to Charlotte at the beginning of November for the season ending World Finals. It's appearing more and more like Brad Sweet is on his way to the championship, as he leads David Gravel right now by 94 points. Carson Macedo, Sheldon Haudenschild, and Donny Schatz complete the top five. In the DIRTRACKR Plus race results by track section, we find that recent Outlaw winners at Port include Kyle Larson, Spencer Bayston, Kerry Madsen, and Donny Schatz. Over the past eight races there, Schatz leads all drivers in average finish, except that is for Larson who has three wins in three starts. Some other drivers to keep an eye on, especially for wins, include Lance Dewease, Brent Marks, and Anthony Macri. Port is a not a track we usually see guys like Sweet, Gravel, and Macedo run well at. Tonight is $10k to win, tomorrow is $15k. You can watch live on DIRTVision if you aren't headed there.
In Ohio, the All Stars are set to close out their 2022 season with two nights at Fremont Speedway. Tyler Courtney will be your series champion for the second consecutive season. Tonight is $6k to win and Saturday's season finale is $10k to win. It's been a mixed bag of full timers and locals that have won at Fremont in recent seasons. Earlier this year, Zeb Wise and Parker Price Miller grabbed wins, but in 2021 the two victories went to Cole Macedo and Cole Duncan. Over the past nine races at Fremont, Aaron Reutzel has the best average finish, but of the guys we are likely to see, Cap Henry, Justin Peck and Tyler Courtney are towards the top in that category. The only points position that is really in play for the next two nights is fourth and fifth, with Henry and Wise separated right now by 10 points. Both nights will be live over on Flo.
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series has just one race this week, tomorrow at the Talladega Short Track. $15,000 to win, and Jimmy Owens is the most recent winner there, from back in 2020. With just three race nights left, this championship is about over, with Tim McCreadie leading Brandon Sheppard by 160 points. In addition to the Lucas regulars, Dirt on Dirt says we should see Brandon Overton, Michael Page, Tyler Millwood, and a bunch more of the southeast regional guys. The Lucas season closes out next weekend with the Dirt Track World Championship.
Up at Oswego in New York, Super Dirt Week continues through Sunday. The Friday schedule includes sportsman and big block qualifying, plus sportsman and big block heats later tonight. Saturday we'll get the main events for pro stock and the 358s, with Sunday's program including the sportsman finale and the 200 lap main event for the big blocks. On Thursday, Stewart Friesen and Marc Johnson earned the front row starting spots for the 358 feature on Saturday, and Friesen took the win in the Super Dirt Week past champions race, topping Matt Sheppard and Billy Dunn. If you're a northeast fan, and can't get to Oswego, keep DIRTVision dialed up all weekend. They'll have all the on track action live.
Up against Super Dirt Week in New York is the Short Track SuperNationals at Afton for the Short Track Super Series. Saturday's race is $5500 to win and non-points for the series. I'm not really sure who's running it, as I haven't found any sort of list of competitors anywhere, and a lot of teams are obviously at Oswego. If you want to tune in though, it will be live over on Flo.
Also on FloRacing is the USAC Midget weekend. They are headed to Wayne County in Illinois tonight for the Jason Leffler Memorial, and to Haubstadt on Saturday for the Harvest Cup. Buddy Kofoid has been incredible this season and currently holds a 157 point lead in the title chase over Justin Grant. The Leffler has had eight different winners in eight races, with Christopher Bell the most recent victor from 2021. This was a non-points race last year, held indoors at DuQuoin. Tanner Thorson won it at Wayne County in 2020. At Haubstadt, Thomas Meseraull has won three of the last four races there, with Kyle Cummins the other winner.
And out in California, it's a big sprint car weekend at the Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford. Tonight its the Sprint Car Challenge Tour 360s, and Saturday its the NARC 410s. Andy Forsberg leads Tony Gomes and Ryan Robinson for the Sprint Car Challenge Tour championship currently, while Dominic Scelzi is looking to repeat on the NARC side, currently leading Willie Croft and Bud Kaeding. Saturday's NARC show is twin 20 lap features, with the second show being lined up with a complete invert. We'll see if someone can come from the back and win that one. Both nights at Hanford are also live on Flo.
Drop me a comment and let me know your weekend dirt racing plans and your win picks. There is obviously plenty to get into coming up.
If you have gotten this deep into this particular episode, you are probably a regular watcher or listener, and for that, I say thank you. We crossed over 9000 YouTube subscribers yesterday, and I definitely think we can get to 10,000 before the year is out. There are a bunch of ways you can support what I'm doing here, both free and monetarily, and I wanted to let you know about a new option I turned live yesterday. You can now join the DIRTRACKR YouTube channel as a member. Click the "join" button on the main channel page. It's $2.99 a month, which helps me out, and that gets you a bunch of membership perks, including loyalty badges and custom emojis to use in the comments and chat sections, plus I'm going to spotlight members at the end of shows in the outro, you'll also get 10% off DIRTRACKR merch all the time, and when you sign up, shoot me an email, and I'll send you a DIRTRACKR decal for free. And I'm about to have three different decal options to choose from. So if you want to sign up cool, if not, no biggy. These shows will continue to be free to watch and listen too.
We are around 20 shows for today on the streaming schedule with a nice weekend on tap. Plenty of stuff to watch between DIRTVision, FloRacing, RacinDirt, The Cushion, Speed Sport, and more. To see the full daily streaming schedule through the weekend, head over to dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
That's it for the show today, enjoy the dirt racing weekend ahead. Please hit that like button, and subscribe to the show if you don't already.
Thanks everybody for tuning in, I'll see you tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily!