DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Drama, wild finish at Dirt Classic; plus an odd request for Superman | Daily 9-4-2023
On this holiday Monday we'll talk Freddie Rahmer making more friends in Central Pennsylvania, the guy to beat this week at the World 100, a World of Outlaws fill-in driver, and more. Let's go!
It's Monday, September 4th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
Happy Labor Day friends, hope you have a safe day out there and enjoy the extra day off. Eldora Speedway and the World 100 will be a big focus later this week, but there was some dirt late model business to attend to last night. The Lucas competitors followed up Saturday at Portsmouth with a stop at Tyler County for the Hillbilly 100. Daulton Wilson was strong again, leading laps early from the pole, but Jonathan Davenport took over on lap 17 and led all 84 laps to the finish. Lucas win number seven on the season, and his first in over a month, since Wheatland on July 15th. He'd led laps in a bunch of races in between, but was effectively unchallenged last night. Wilson settled for a second straight podium, and still is seeking that first career win. Brandon Overton was third and continues to cement that fourth spot in the chase. One state away, the Baltes Classic was happening at Eldora, and there were a few higher level teams in attendance getting some laps in advance of the World, including Ricky Weiss, Nick Hoffman, Josh Rice, and Matt Cosner. Weiss dominated the feature and picked up the $5000 win, while some of the others struggled, including Hoffman who needed a B-Main transfer, and then hit the wall in the feature. Eldora goes quiet now until Thursday.
We are still a few days out, but I did want to talk about Davenport since he won last night. Headed into this World week, I'm not really sure how you pick against him for the globe trophy come Saturday night. He's won four of the last five crown jewels at Eldora, and even with some changes within that team, even recently, they have stayed fast. And if they are again strong this week, I think the 49 then has to be the favorite for the Lucas championship, regardless of the insane season we've seen from Ricky Thornton Jr. That year ending Dirt Track World Championship at Eldora will settle this, and JD clearly has the leg up. Brandon Overton has been better as of late with five straight Lucas top fives, and that team could be peaking at the right time here. They'll be looking to bounce back from a rough Dream week. And Eldora hasn't always been super kind to RTJ, although he was very solid during the Dream week back in June, winning a prelim feature and finishing fourth in the big show. I think those guys need to take some steps forward this week and really try and fine tune that package for later in the year. Drop me a comment and let me know what your feelings are for this week as we sit a few days out from action getting started for the World.
Before we move on, after last night's victory, a couple of fans went to the parking lot, got the tailgate off their pickup, and carried it back to the pit area so Jonathan Davenport could sign it. As FloRacing's Kyle McFadden tweeted, things you only see at the Hillbilly 100.
In Pennsylvania last night, we had dueling 410 sprint car shows with the Dirt Classic finale at Lincoln, and sprint cars at Selinsgrove. It definitely seemed to split the cars and the fans. I think we had 30 at Lincoln, and 25 at Selinsgrove. I know some haven't been thrilled about Lincoln's move to this two day version of the Dirt Classic, so we'll see what they do for 2024. It was a great race last night though, with some drama and a fantastic finish. Brent Marks topped Danny Dietrich right at the line, after Dietrich threw a hail mary slider on the final lap and pounded the turn four wall. It was back to back event wins for Marks. As for the drama, Freddie Rahmer continues to make friends, and last night it was Tanner Thorson. Rahmer threw a move at Anthony Macri into turn one that everyone in America knew wasn't going to clear, and instead of leaving the outside line open like you usually see, he just kept drifting up until he and the 71 of Macri hit. This wasn't a slider across the nose, this was a door slam that sent Macri spinning down the track. The incident collected Thorson's 58, and he had words for Rahmer under the caution and had to be restrained by the track workers. Hard to fault Thorson for being upset there. I know Rahmer and Dietrich have had issues in recent weeks, but last night's move was one you expect a guy like Rahmer to be smart enough not to make. All three that were involved were fast, and it took them all out of contention. At Selinsgrove, Brian Brown topped Dylan Cisney and Ryan Smith for the victory. Attention in Posseland this week will now shift to Port Royal. They've got the Labor Day show tonight, and then the Tusky 50 starts Thursday.
Up in the northeast, Matt Sheppard picked up the New Yorker win at Utica Rome, topping Billy Decker and Rocky Warner for the $12,000. The next Short Track Super Series event is the big Fonda 200 weekend that pays $53,000 to win. That happens September 14th through the 16th. I don't think I mentioned this yesterday, but Andy Bachetti was the Super DIRTcar Series winner on Saturday at Lebanon Valley. It was his third straight Mr. Dirt Track USA title, and he picked up $15 grand for the win. The Super DIRTcar Series is at Weedsport this coming Sunday.
At Angell Park last night, it was an all Keith Kunz USAC midget podium, with Ryan Timms coming out on top of a nice battle with teammate Gavin Miller. Jade Avedisian made a late move around Logan Seavey for the top three lockout. Logan Seavey extended his already large championship lead, and the USAC midgets will do it all over again tonight in Sun Prairie.
There is other racing tonight as well, including the World of Outlaws at Grays Harbor. Carson Macedo is the defending event winner, and he and David Gravel absolutely must finish in front of Brad Sweet tonight if they want any shot at this championship. The gap is 78 points right now, and there are only 20 race nights left. And not all of those are for points. Gravel and Macedo need to make up 39 race positions on Sweet down the stretch, which will not be an easy task with the Big Cat's insane consistency. After Grays tonight, the Gold Cup is on tap at Silver Dollar.
One team note, Bill Rose suffered some broken ribs last Thursday night at Skagit and did end up competing on Friday. He did not race Saturday though, and the team shared this morning that Tim Kaeding will be in the car for Gold Cup. Probably a good move, and hopefully Bill heals up soon.
For you IMCA fans, the 41st Super Nationals open today at Boone Speedway. Today will feature a complete show for late models, and qualifying for northern sport mods and hobby stocks. Over 1000 cars across the divisions are entered, and more than $300,000 will be paid out over the course of the week. If you aren't headed there, imca.tv has live streams.
That's it for today's Daily. Make sure to hit up the streaming schedule to see all of your options today. You can find it at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
Hope you guys have a good holiday Monday, we'll see you back here tomorrow.