DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.
Anthony Macri gets first World of Outlaws wins, Posse drivers dominate Outlaw weekend | Daily 10-10-2022
Coming up, the rise of Anthony Macri continues, Posse drivers dominate Outlaws, Tim McCreadie and Buddy Kofoid look to secure championships, and Matt Sheppard is so hot right now. Let's go!
It's Monday, October 10th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
Before we get started, decals have been restocked over at shop.dirtrackr.com, and I've got some new options for you. The logo decals are back after they've been sold out for a few weeks. I also added a sprint car decal and a late model decal to the mix. All of them are $5, which includes tax and postage in the US. If you are in Canada or down under and want just a decal, drop me a message, and we can work out the shipping situation. I don't want you to pay a bunch of money to get them delivered. Also, if you sign up to be a YouTube channel member, you'll get one of these decals free. You'll see the instructions on how to get one after you get signed up. Alright, let's get to the racing.
Coming into the weekend with the World of Outlaws at Port Royal, Anthony Macri had already had an incredible 2022 season to date. 21 wins, over $300,000 in earnings, and some big wins like the Tuscarora 50. In his career, Macri was still missing an Outlaw win on his resume, but everyone and their dog knew it was only a matter of time until that changed. And if you were going to look around and try and decide where it would happen, Port Royal obviously made the most sense. Already eight wins there this season, and he just knows how to get around the place really really well. On Friday night, Macri started on the pole and officially led all 25 laps to finally score that first career series victory. It wasn't easy though, as Lance Dewease kept him honest, and even took a shot at the 39M inside ten to go. I think Macri just wanted it more though, and he was able to fend off the challenge and drive on to the win. Dewease ended up second, and Logan Wagner was third. Posse drivers actually locked out the top four spots in the race, with only four Outlaw full timers in the top ten. They were David Gravel, Donny Schatz, Spencer Bayston, and Carson Macedo. Justin Whittall had a nice run in fourth, and we haven't seen this type of performances from the Central PA squad in a while. On Saturday night, Macri started on the front row with Brent Marks, but it was Marks who led early. Near halfway, the battle was on for the lead, and Marks was able to beat back a few slider attempts, and was able to keep the top spot briefly thanks to a well timed caution. But by lap 15, Macri was past him and driving away to the win. Marks had to settle for second, with David Gravel ending up third. The rise and improvement for Macri has been steady and incremental, really starting from 2019 into 2020. He had his first series top ten and top five in 2019, and then things started to click in 2020 with two more top fives and six top tens in 21 appearances. In 2021, the average finish in Outlaw races got into the single digits and the Concrete Kid really started to become a factor in PA. Now this year, he's having a big season, he's got wins away from the porch, and he's at the top of the list of guys to pay attention to when he rolls into a track. Really impressive stuff from Macri and that team, that's been led by Ryan Hand here recently. On the weekend, Gravel's Saturday podium was the highest finish for an Outlaw regular. He did make up some pretty significant ground on Brad Sweet for the championship, with the gap right now at 66 points with six race nights left. He'll still need to average beating the 49 by about five and a half spots per night to pull even. We also saw Jacob Allen's 16 race top ten streak end with weekend runs of 15th and 16th. The series is headed west this coming weekend with stops at I-80 in Nebraska and Lakeside in Kansas.
In big time late model racing over the weekend, just one race between the two national tours, with the Outlaws off and Lucas at the Talladega Short Track on Saturday night. Down the stretch here, Tim McCreadie has really seized control of the Lucas championship, and a dominant flag to flag win at Talladega was his second victory in three races. Headed to the Dirt Track World Championship this weekend at Portsmouth for the season finale, TMac's lead over Brandon Sheppard has been pushed to 215 points, and that should be more than enough to secure him his second series championship in consecutive years. Ricky Thornton Jr. and Dale McDowell completed the podium at Talladega. Coming up this week, there won't be too much left to decide in the points with McCreadie's lead secure, and Garrett Alberson way ahead of Daulton Wilson for the rookie battle. BShepp and RTJ are good for second and third. The only real movement we could see is fourth to sixth, with Hudson O'Neal, Earl Pearson Jr., and Tyler Erb all within 90 points of each other. The focus will very much be on that $100,000 to win feature on Saturday night, and you know we'll get the best of the best in attendance. We'll talk more about the Dirt Track World Championship later this week.
Up at Super Dirt Week in Oswego, Matt Sheppard kept his incredible 2022 season rolling, bagging the $50,000 win in the 200 for the third time in his career. He started on the pole, and it never really felt like things were out of his control. Because of pit stops and strategy, he didn't lead all the laps, but it never took him long to get back to the front. He took the lead for good from Marc Johnson on lap 160 and drove on to the win. Mat Williamson ended up second, with Max McLaughlin third. Sheppard also won the 358 modified feature for the week, while Cody McPherson was the sportsman winner and Nick Stone took the pro stock victory. So in recent weeks, Sheppard has won the Fonda 200, $10k at Albany Saratoga, now Super Dirt Week, plus he leads all three of the Short Track Super Series championships and is set to also take down the Super DIRTcar Series title.
In Ohio, the All Stars closed out their year with two nights at Fremont Speedway. Friday night it was all Tyler Courtney in the feature. He started second and led all 35 laps, outdueling Justin Peck and Cap Henry. On Saturday, Cole Duncan led from start to finish driving the McGhee 11. He topped fellow local Travis Philo and series regular Kyle Reinhardt. A few things to take away from the weekend. Tyler Courtney was crowned series champion, which was just a formality really. Back to back series titles for the 7BC team, 16 wins over those two years, plus 63 top fives and 84 top tens. Now the question will be what does that Clauson Marshall team do for 2023. Are they going full time Outlaw racing? There are definitely some signs pointing in that direction. The other NOS car, Chris Windom, was the rookie of the year. Not an easy first year of winged competition, but that 19 team did improve from start to finish. Four top fives and 15 top tens in 52 races. They had a best finish of third back in July at Ransomville. Sounds like this grouping will be back in 2023. I also know there were some folks not happy with the track conditions at Fremont on Saturday night. There wasn't nearly as much passing on night two, things were definitely locked down on the bottom. Tires became a problem late. Not quite what you'd hope for in the final feature of the season for the series. The All Stars will have their banquet around PRI in December, and in the meantime we'll wait on the schedule and team announcements over the coming months.
A few other things I wanted to talk about from the past few days. First, the USAC midget championship is looking pretty good for Buddy Kofoid. Justin Grant turned over late on Friday at Wayne County, and even with a bounceback win on Saturday at Haubstadt, is still nearly 200 points back with the late season west coast swing coming up in a few weeks. Mitchel Moles was the Friday night winner in the Jason Leffler Memorial. He continues to be impressive in 2022.
At Fairbury, Shannon Babb and Bobby Pierce picked up MARS wins in the FALS Frenzy Friday and Saturday. Ryan Unzicker is your MARS champion for the year, and McKay Wenger is rookie of the year. Devin Moran won the Dunn Memorial at Muskingum County, Michael Brown was an All Star winner at Smoky Mountain, and Mike Marlar bagged an Iron-Man victory at Lake Cumberland.
Out in California, Corey Day picked up a pair of wins at Hanford. He won the Sprint Car Challenge Tour feature on Friday night, then backed it up Saturday in the first NARC 410 feature. Kerry Madsen was leading that one, but caught the cushion wrong with three to go and went for a tumble. Jonathan Allard won the second NARC feature that was lined up with a full field invert. And after recently parting ways with the Bates Hamilton team, Tim Kaeding was in the Works Limited 57 at Hanford with Paul Silva crew chiefing. He had weekend finishes of third, second, and seventh.
The streaming schedule is quiet today, with just FloRacing 24/7 happening. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
That's it for the show today, have a good Monday. 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!