With Mother Nature playing nice for the first time in two months, Volusia Speedway Park’s “Fab 5” divisions didn’t waste the opportunity to put on a show.
More than 100 cars, among the five divisions, entered for the Summer Sizzler event Saturday night, and the hunger to race was apparent with them all.
Cole Exum, Ethyn Hwan, Tyler Clem, Josh Sanford, and Nevin Gainey walked away as winners, each with their own eventful trials.
602 Late Models
The 602 Late Models kicked off Feature action with a three-wide battle for the top spot coming to the green flag. Michael Trotter won the three-way fight into Turn 1, claiming the top spot while James Haynes fell into second.
Haynes built up a run on Lap 2 and used it to his advantage the next time they reached Turn 1, sliding under and ahead of Trotter. However, Trotter fought back, turning under Haynes and drag racing him down the backstretch.
But Trotter couldn’t match Hayne’s momentum. He had to watch him drive away with the lead and continued to lose ground as the race progressed. On Lap 6, he slipped to fourth, allowing Brandon Yates to move into second and Cole Exum to move into third.
Haynes had a comfortable lead out front until a caution on Lap 15. When the race resumed, Exum bested Yates and Haynes on the acceleration contest, driving by both through Turns 1 and 2. Haynes attempted to keep pace, but Exum was untouchable in clean air.
The No. 86C led the final five laps of the Feature, bringing Exum his first win of the season at Volusia in his first start of the season.
“Man, this is the fourth time I’ve raced in two years and my fourth win,” Exum said in Victory Lane. “I don’t even know what to say right now. I’ve been wanting to win for Kenny Asher for a long time, and his whole family. You know, we’ve been through some things that a lot of people know about, and we was able to put our problems behind us and work things out.
“I told them, when I come racing, it’s gonna be an ass kickin’. That’s what it was.”
RESULTS
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 86C-Cole Exum[4]; 2. C02-Tyler Clem[8]; 3. 45-Jason Garver[7]; 4. 36H-James Haynes[2]; 5. 53-Brandon Yates[3]; 6. 131-Matt Herlong[5]; 7. 1A-Dustin Carter[13]; 8. 28-Austin Leamon[11]; 9. 22-Hania Humphries[10]; 10. 37S-Layne Smith[9]; 11. 35-Justin Dean[6]; 12. 52-Waylon Haynes[12]; 13. 11R-Dustin Beckelheimer[19]; 14. 86-Michael Trotter[1]; 15. 1J-Jason Papp[14]; 16. 91X-Danny Ahrens Jr[15]; 17. 33-Robert Pettet[18]; 18. 73-Taylor Lufkin[20]; 19. (DNS) 27-Tim Ryan; 20. (DNS) 10C-Corey Certain
3/4 Modifieds
Colton Lane entered as the 3/4 Modified points leader and, for most of the 20-lap Feature, looked poised to pick up his second win of the season. Instead, another driver picked up his second career victory overall.
Lane rocketed ahead of the field from the pole on the start, pulling away by over a second. Behind him, Logan Malone and Ethyn Hwan dueled for second.
Malone ran low, while Hwan ran two lanes higher than any other driver on track. At times, Hwan had moments of brilliance using the high line, building strong charges down the straightaways. However, a push through the center of the corner scrubbed his speed.
A caution on Lap 8 saw Malone fall out of the race with a potential motor issue.
That moved Hwan into second and in a better position to try and utilize his high-line hustle against Lane.
By the halfway point, Lane continued to maintain over a second lead and appeared to be on a path to victory. But when the race neared five laps to go, Hwan had mastered the high line, using it to catch and pass Lane.
Once Hwan put his No. 57 car in the top spot, he flipped the script and became the car no one could touch, driving away to his second Volusia Speedway Park win.
“I couldn’t get my car to turn; it was way too slick for me. I found the cushion up there; it’s way sketchy with these little cars; thought I was going to put it in the wall; got it done,” Hwan said.
RESULTS
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 57-Ethyn Hwan[3]; 2. 26L-Colton Lane[1]; 3. 2B-Robert Brynteson[4]; 4. 16-Matt Hodges[8]; 5. 13D-Davin Cardwell[7]; 6. 29W-William Inabnett[10]; 7. (DNF) 32P-Jesse Powers[6]; 8. (DNF) 7-Steven Davila[11]; 9. (DNF) 9-Logan Malone[2]; 10. (DNF) 859-Timmy Hogan[5]; 11. (DNF) 16S-Steve Shead[12]; 12. (DQ) 5C-Chase Cooke[9]
604 Late Models
Tyler Clem brought two chances to win a Summer Sizzler race. His first shot resulted in a second-place run with his 602 Late Models. His second was an easier driver with his No. CO2 604 Late Model.
The St. Petersburg, FL native sprinted to the lead from his outside pole starting position when the green flag flew for the 20-lap Feature and left the rest of the field to battle for second.
James Haynes and Trent Lloyd dueled for the runner-up spot the entire race. A caution on Lap 10 gave him one shot at Clem, but between the No. CO2 car’s speed and their argument over the second-place spot, Clem cruised to victory with ease.
“This car was phenomenal all night,” Clem said. “It usually always is. A big thank you to Auggie, Chris, and Shawn, and my fiancé… Stephanie, Jacob, everyone here. I really appreciate it. Yeah, this car is really, really good. It just showed it there.
“Super cool to get this done. We had a good run in the 602, as well, just started a little deep there. Great track. Track was very technical. You had to hit your marks very right, and, yeah, glad to be here for sure.”
RESULTS
Feature (20 Laps): 1. C02-Tyler Clem[2]; 2. 32-James Haynes[1]; 3. 2-Trynt Lloyd[5]; 4. 1A-Dustin Carter[3]; 5. 74-Jason Garver[9]; 6. 721-Blake Clouser[13]; 7. 67-Garret Stewart[7]; 8. 131-Matt Herlong[4]; 9. 31-Tim Swartz[6]; 10. 46S-Kevin Strife[8]; 11. G2G-Jordan Yawn[15]; 12. 44P-Kole Platt[16]; 13. 41-Derike Bennett[11]; 14. 23K-Korbin Minchew[19]; 15. 33-Gavin Johnson[20]; 16. 54T-Tuck Trentham[12]; 17. 75-Sonny Thompson[18]; 18. 6S-Colin Strife[14]; 19. (DNF) 07S-Jeff Scofield[10]; 20. (DNF) 15M-Chris Meyer[21]; 21. (DNF) 07-David Clegg[17]
DIRTcar UMP Modifieds
Josh Sanford’s patience and stamina were tested throughout the 20-lap DIRTcar UMP Modified Feature.
He used his pole position to dart ahead of the 27-car field when the race commenced. And even though he had a car capable of driving away, four cautions and two green-white-checkered finishes continued to plague his momentum.
The first four restarts caused little stress as Sanford was able to pull away by over half a second. But Dillon Buhr, who moved into second from sixth by the time the green-white-checkers came along, planned to add as much stress as possible.
On the first green-white-checkered attempt, Buhr dove under Sanford into Turn 1, pulling even with him, but the No. 3 car had a better run off Turn 2 to pull away. Then, on the second attempt, Buhr dove in even further.
The power move propelled Buhr ahead and in front of Sanford. Buhr raced down the backstretch with the lead, while Sanford used the momentum he built through Turns 1 and 2 to dive underneath him. When they entered Turn 3, Sanford launched his car back ahead of Buhr and kept his foot in the throttle until he was the first to see the checkered flag.
“The restarts were rough,” Sanford said with a chuckle. “I thought he had me. I stayed in it, and it worked out.”
RESULTS
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 3-Josh Sanford[1]; 2. 24B-Dillon Buhr[6]; 3. 78-Rich Pratt[3]; 4. 21X-Ivedent Lloyd[10]; 5. 7G-Seth Geary[4]; 6. 07S-Jeff Scofield[15]; 7. 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt[13]; 8. 42-Steve Hise Jr[22]; 9. 27G-Jason Garver[7]; 10. 80-Paul Shead[19]; 11. 15H-Gator Hise[8]; 12. 3D-Makayla Tyrrell[12]; 13. 34-Rob Giffen[18]; 14. 8M-Fletcher Mason[14]; 15. 57-Ethyn Hwan[11]; 16. 1P-Mike Phillips[23]; 17. 11P-Charlie Phillips[27]; 18. 00B-Buzzie Reutimann[5]; 19. 99-Wade Olmsted[16]; 20. 51-Dalton Lanich[2]; 21. 5C-Chase Cooke[25]; 22. 2-Devin Dixon[9]; 23. 47-Billy Howard[21]; 24. (DNS) 2D-Ray Durrence Jr; 25. (DNS) 333-Patrick Passanise; 26. (DNS) 18-Richie Wheelihan; 27. (DNS) 29M-Tim McLeod
Factory Stocks
Nevin Gainey is no stranger to Volusia Speedway Park, but he surprised many when he pulled into the Summer Sizzler with a Factory Stock.
To no one’s surprise, though, he drove his No. 17 car from sixth to second by Lap 3, looking to bring a challenge to leader Blake Clouser.
Keeping the No. 5C within reach, any time he was within a car length, Gainey dove into Turn 1, pulling side by side with Clouser before he would drive away. This continued almost every other lap of the 20-lap Feature with the same results each time. However, he kept at it, gaining more and more momentum as the laps clicked off.
With three laps to go, Clouser had finally slipped enough for Gainey to stay side by side with him going down the backstretch. They swapped sliders in the next two corners, with Gainey getting the upper hand on the final one.
He was about to drive to victory until a caution on the final lap set up a green-white-checkered finish. When the race resumed, Clouser tried to use a move out of Gainey’s playbook, diving under him going into Turn 1. However, the No. 17 car was now in the preferred line and drove away with the win.
“The preferred line was at the top and he (Clouser) was doing what he needed to do,” Gainey said. “I’ve been in those shoes many a times. An elder racer would start worrying me and worrying me and worrying me to death, and I’d make a mistake. I mean, that was the only way I was able to pass him. He woed when he should’ve goed that one time, and I had enough momentum to drive by him.”
RESULTS
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 17-Nevin Gainey[6]; 2. 5C-Blake Clouser[1]; 3. 25T-Patrick Thomas[2]; 4. 41L-Mikey Kopka[19]; 5. 1T-Tanner Thomas[4]; 6. 33-Kevin Durden[9]; 7. 5H-Tommy Hill[10]; 8. 78-Arthur Conquest[14]; 9. 23-Willy The Kid Cuddy[3]; 10. 41W-Jeffery White[8]; 11. 15-Jamie Carter[12]; 12. 41-Barry Sheffield[11]; 13. 1AR-Travis Staats[17]; 14. 21M-Mayson Mossow[13]; 15. 7-Bradley Haught[20]; 16. 82D-Larry Masters[21]; 17. 12F-Danny Frye[16]; 18. 118S-Donald Springer[18]; 19. 15G-Gator Hise[7]; 20. (DNF) 12S-Curt Spencer[15]; 21. (DNF) 00-Shaun Daugharty[22]; 22. (DNF) 01-Jason Garver[5]
UP NEXT
Volusia Speedway Park will welcome the Top Gun Sprint Car Series for the Top Gun Classic on Friday, Aug. 28, which leads into the NASCAR Cup Series’ event at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday. The 604 Late Models, DIRTcar UMP Modifieds, and Factory Stocks will join the Sprint Cars.
How can you watch every race from Volusia Speedway Park? Live on your phone, TV, and tablet with DIRTVision.