Dalton Hopke traded a backflip for a broomstick on Monday night at Volusia Speedway Park with a clean sweep of the 3/4 Modifieds at the third annual Bike Week Jamboree.
The Jacksonville, FL driver displayed his mastery of “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile” with a dominating green-to-checkered drive aboard his No. H1 machine.
Jonathan Layerd and Dustin Peterson brought the 3/4 Modifieds to the green flag, but stood no chance at claiming the lead as Hopke took to the high line of the race track for the high point before entering Turn 1.
Hopke dominated the early portion of the Feature by building his way upwards to a four-second lead until a caution on Lap 10 brought new challengers of the division into the spotlight.
Heat 2 winner Ethyn Hwan lined up second after running behind Hopke around the start, and Lake Helen, FL driver Timmy Hogan found his way to third by methodically working his way from an eighth-place starting spot.
Hopke did not break a sweat on the restart. Instead, he broke out to a three-second lead as he led the final five laps to join Hogan as the only drivers to sweep the 3/4 Modifieds portion of Bike Week Jamboree.
“I knew we were gonna be pretty good,” Hopke said. “We’ve always been really good here, just had a lot of bad luck. I wanna thank all of my sponsors, my crew, my dad, my mom, and all (the fans) coming out on a Monday night and spending your hard-earned money. We greatly appreciate it.”
Hwan, of DeLand, FL, finished second, and Hogan finished his hard-charging night with the last step on the podium. Last year’s Bike Week Jamboree winner Patrick Vareika finished fourth, and DeLeon Springs, FL driver Dustin Peterson cemented the top five finishers in Monday’s 15-lap Feature.
Up Next: Volusia Speedway Park’s local racing season begins with the Spring Fling weekend, March 20-21. Friday begins with open practice for all cars, and at the end of the session, the 2024 champions will be celebrated at the VSP bar.
Saturday gets the points chase started for the “Fab 5” that includes the 602 Late Models, 604 Late Models, DIRTcar UMP Modifieds, 3/4 Modifieds, and Factory Stocks. To learn more about the event, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVIsion – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
Feature (15 Laps): 1. H1-Dalton Hopke[4]; 2. 57-Ethyn Hwan[3]; 3. 859-Timmy Hogan[8]; 4. 23-Patrick Vareika[6]; 5. 51-Dustin Peterson[2]; 6. 5-Chase Cooke[5]; 7. 17Z-Seth Zacharias[7]; 8. 45-James Williams[11]; 9. 188-Josh Panetti[9]; 10. 21-Dakota Cleland[13]; 11. (DNF) 7L-Jonathan Layerd[1]; 12. (DNF) 27-Steven Powers[12]; 13. (DNS) 26L-Colton Lane; 14. (DNS) 7-Chris Olmstead; 15. (DNS) 59H-Jason Stewart