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Several WISSOTA-area racers take on the half mile at Volusia, with mixed results
From Series Reports
BARBERVILLE, FL (February 10-15) - Many drivers who make the trek south to Barberville, FL each February dream of hoisting just one Gator trophy.
Monday night, Nick Hoffman snagged the reptilian award for the 25th time in his career at Volusia Speedway Park.
Hoffman started the race on the outside of polesitter Cade Dillard and fell in line behind the No. 97 for the opening circuits.
As the race progressed, the bottom of the track became the preferred groove, with Dillard and most of the field opting to hug the inside wall around the “World’s Fastest Half Mile.” That opened the door for Hoffman to ride the cushion and get side-by-side with Dillard for the top spot.
After taking the crossed flags in the 25-lap affair, Hoffman cleared Dillard entering turn one and never let go of the top spot. The win was his second Late Model win during the DIRTcar Nationals in as many years, to go along with 23 DIRTcar UMP Modified victories in the event, expanding his Gator collection that was already the largest of any driver in any division.
WISSOTA-area racers were represented in action by way of Rochester, Minnesota’s Dustin Sorensen; Winona, Minnesota’s Jake Timm; Renner, South Dakota’s Blair Nothdurft; Lake Shore, Minnesota’s Dan Ebert; Lake Elmo, Minnesota’s Brent Larson; and Sun River, Montana’s Michael Leach.
Three drivers from the group qualified for the feature through heat race or B-feature action. Nothdurft was the best finisher in 19th, while Timm finished 21st. Larson finished 24th.
On Tuesday night, Ricky Thornton Jr. put on a masterclass in the DIRTcar Late Model feature.
Thornton won heat one earlier in the night to claim the pole for the main event alongside reigning DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion Tyler Erb. “Terbo” was able to rip the cushion around turns one and two to take the early lead and force Thornton to settle into second.
While Erb worked to build a gap, Thornton came under fire from fourth-place starter Bobby Pierce, who threw a slider on Thornton to steal second before a slowing Brenden Smith brought out the caution with four laps complete.
That gave Thornton the chance to regain second following the restart, and from there he set his sights on the leader. With 11 laps down in the 25-lap affair, Thornton dove to Erb’s inside entering turn three, raced side-by-side with Erb down the frontstretch and cleared him in the next set of corners to take command of the race.
From that point forward, Thornton was off like a rocket. The gap to Erb was already over a second two laps after Thornton completed the pass and grew as large as 3.5 seconds before Thornton caught thick lapped traffic. The slower cars didn’t deter him though, as Thornton went unchallenged for the remainder of the race on his drive to victory.
The upper Midwest was represented in action by way of Rochester, Minnesota’s Dustin Sorensen, Winona, Minnesota’s Jake Timm, Renner, South Dakota’s Blair Nothdurft, Lake Shore, Minnesota’s Dan Ebert, Lake Elmo, Minnesota’s Brent Larson, and Sun River, Montana’s Michael Leach.
Two drivers from the group qualified for the feature through heat race or B-feature action. Sorensen started 24th and finished 20th, while Nothdurft slipped backward from 15th to 21st.
Wednesday night, three drivers added a Gator to their collections, as Ricky Thornton Jr., Jonathan Davenport and Brandon Overton won a trio of DIRTcar Late Model Features at Volusia Speedway Park.
Thornton took the victory in the first feature with a 1.4 second lead over Cade Dillard and padded his point lead in the hunt for his first championship.
In the second feature, Blairsville, Georgia’s Jonathan Davenport grabbed his first golden Gator since 2018. He survived a late-race caution to extend his lead to a half second at the line over Devin Moran.
Rochester, Minnesota’s Dustin Sorensen finished inside the top 10 in ninth, while Montana’s Michael Leach was 12th. Minnesotan and rookie-of-the-year contender Jake Timm was 19th.
In the third feature, Brandon Overton started on the pole and quickly broke away from second-starting Garrett Alberson to take the early lead. He then drove away to victory by half a straightaway over brother Cody Overton.
Renner, South Dakota’s Blair Nothdurft finished 10th, while Lake Elmo, Minnesota’s Brent Larson was 12th.
On Thursday, just three weeks removed from his first World of Outlaws Late Models victory, Garrett Alberson ran it back during the first night of World of Outlaw competition Feb. 13.
A dominant feature showing allowed the Las Cruces, NM driver to double his win total with the series and collect his first Gator from Volusia Speedway Park’s DIRTcar Nationals.
Of those drivers with WISSOTA ties who qualified for the feature, Blair Nothdurft was 22nd. Dustin Sorensen was scored 24th, while Jake Timm was 26th. Brent Larson finished in 29th.
Friday night, Devin “The Mailman” Moran finally delivered for a Gator. Moran began outside of the fourth row and jumped two spots by the time Tristan Chamberlain blew an engine to bring out the caution seven laps in.
A flawless restart allowed Moran to move up to third behind Ricky Thornton Jr. and Ethan Dotson. Luck was on his side a few laps later, as Thornton jumped the cushion entering turn one and Dotson piled into the side of the No. 20RT, opening the door for Moran to slip by on the bottom.
The yellow flag flew before Moran could make it back around to complete the lap, which meant Thornton got the lead back for the ensuing restart.
After Moran rode in third behind Thornton and Jonathan Davenport for a handful of laps, the race slowed once more after Bobby Pierce smacked the turn four wall. That gave Moran the chance to power past Davenport exiting turn two after going back green and turn his focus toward Thornton.
With 16 laps remaining in the 35-lap feature, Moran threw the slider on Thornton and cleared him exiting turn four to take command of the race.
The Dresden, OH driver then sliced and diced his way through traffic in the final run on his way to his 14th World of Outlaws win and his sixth at Volusia.
Dustin Sorensen and Brent Larson were the lone competitors to qualify for the feature from the upper Midwest. Sorensen was scored 19th at the finish, while Larson was 20th.
Saturday night at Volusia Speedway Park was a night of “firsts,” as “Superman” Jonathan Davenport scored his first World of Outlaws Late Models victory at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile” in the DIRTcar Nationals finale.
A 12th-place starting spot could have meant a win was out of the question for most drivers, considering how track position was at a premium throughout the week. But not for Davenport. The Blairsville, GA driver cracked the top 10 by lap five, then into the top five a dozen laps later, and finally up to second 20 laps into the 50-lap feature.
What made the drive all the more impressive was that it came without any cautions to bunch the field. When Davenport got by Bobby Pierce for second, he had a gap of nearly five seconds to make up to Drake Troutman, who left the field in the dust in the first half of the race.
Davenport was up for the challenge, though. The margin immediately began to wither away, and 10 laps later, Davenport was on Troutman’s outside, ripping the top lane trying to wrestle the lead away. That became a theme for the closing laps, as Troutman and most of the field stuck to the rubbered-up bottom groove while Davenport worked the high side for everything it was worth.
Their battle went on pause with 13 to go when a flat right-rear tire on Dustin Walker’s car brought out the caution after 37 laps of green-flag racing. Once the race got going again, it was more of the same between Troutman and Davenport, as the two put on a show running side-by-side lap after lap.
With 10 laps remaining, Davenport finally cleared Troutman, slipped down into the preferred low lane and quickly drove away. A pair of late cautions gave the field their chance at Davenport, but no one was able to stop him from claiming his second Gator of the week.
Lake Shore, Minnesota’s Dan Ebert was the top WISSOTA-area finisher, with an 18th-place finish. Michael Leach, who spends time in Sun River, Montana throughout the year, finished behind him in 20th. Rochester, Minnesota’s Dustin Sorensen was 21st, while Lake Elmo, Minnesota’s Brent Larson was 30th.
The week’s ultimate prize went to sixth-place finisher Ricky Thornton Jr., who earned his first big Gator and a $3,000 bonus by virtue of two wins and four podiums in six races.