Volusia Speedway Park brought the “Fab 5” to the “World’s Fastest Half Mile” to help kick off summer during the Firecracker Classic Saturday night.
More than 90 cars were in attendance among the 604 Late Models, 602 Late Models, DIRTcar UMP Modifieds, 3/4 Modifieds, and Factory Stocks divisions to put on a show for the Florida locals.
A last-lap pass for the win, a first-time winner, and dominant performances highlighted the night’s action, which concluded with Trynt Lloyd, Brandon Yates, Dillon Buhr, Dalton Hopke, and Bruce Bennett walking away as victors.
604 Late Models
Mother Nature paused the night’s program for about an hour with passing showers, but the 604 Late Model Feature was worth the wait, with 0.079 becoming the number of the night.
Korbin Minchew jumped to the early lead in the 20-lap Feature with Nevin Gainey in tow. Behind them, Kole Platt and current track points leader Trynt Lloyd argued over who would be third.
Back-to-back cautions with 15 laps to go grouped the field back together for two restarts, and when the field finally got their legs back under them, Gainey dove under Minchew going into Turn 1 but couldn’t complete a slide job and had to lift, which resulted in Platt and Lloyd driving by.
At the halfway point of the Feature, Platt and Lloyd stole the spotlight with their continuous side-by-side battle for second. Even more impressive, they were gaining on Minchew during their door-to-door battle.
Another caution on Lap 15 paused the thrill and set up a five-lap dash to the finish.
When the race resumed, Platt built a run on Minchew and slid by him for the lead off Turn 4 on Lap 16. Lloyd followed him through, taking second from Minchew.
With two laps to go, Platt and Lloyd resumed their side-by-side entertainment. Platt ran low, while Lloyd hammered the cushion. Platt had the advantage going down the backstretch on the final lap, but Lloyd asked for every favor from the top line when he threw his No. 2 car to the outside of Platt in the final corners. And the top lane answered them all, helping to propel him ahead of Platt by 0.079 seconds at the finish line.
“Man, I felt like I had an eighth-place car right there,” Lloyd said. “I tweaked on something I shouldn’t have. I got way out of the ballpark, and I thought for sure Kole was going to walk away from me. No matter what I tried… I could kind of make up some ground down here (in Turns 3 and 4). I finally just drove it in and had it locked to the left, hoping it would turn.”
RESULTS:
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 2-Trynt Lloyd[3]; 2. 44P-Kole Platt[4]; 3. 721-Ivedent Lloyd[10]; 4. 23K-Korbin Minchew[2]; 5. 17G-Nevin Gainey[1]; 6. G2G-Jordan Yawn[12]; 7. 67-Garret Stewart[13]; 8. 31-Tim Swartz[9]; 9. 74-Jason Garver[5]; 10. 9-Wyatt Gainey[8]; 11. 94-Holden Allen[7]; 12. 23L-Lawton Minchew[11]; 13. 54T-Tuck Trentham[15]; 14. 29S-Cameron Saunders[14]; 15. 71-Davy Cline[16]; 16. 5-Dustin Carter[6]; 17. 28-Austin Leamon[17]; 18. 07-David Clegg[18]
602 Late Models
The 602 Late Models tried to repeat the excitement of the 604 Late Model finish but came up potentially one lap short.
Davy Cline led the field to green and secured the lead off Turn 2, but Brandon Yates lurked behind him. Eventually, Yates persistence resulted in him stealing the lead from Cline on Lap 3.
From there, Yates ran while the rest of the field walked, turning tenths into seconds.
Cline fell into the clutches of third-place Jason Garver, who pestered him for second most of the Feature.
Yates had a two-second lead over the field by the halfway point. Five laps later, he had a 3.5-second lead, while Cline and Garver still battled for second place. Coming to the white flag, Yates looked as though he was going to cruise to his second career Volusia Speedway Park win, but before the flagman could show him the flag, a car spun, bringing out the caution. Yates’ straightaway lead was gone.
When Yates finally saw the white flag after the restart, he was no longer on a cruise. Garver had moved into second and was hot on his heels. Going into the final corner, Garver threw his No. 45 high and tried to mimic Trynt Lloyd’s move and steal the win at the line, but he wasn’t as fortunate. Yates cleared him off Turn 4 and drove away with the victory.
“I needed that rain because I’m never good here when it gets black and slick,” Yates said about the rain that delayed the program. “I was praying for the rain to stop. Happy Father’s Day to my dad, he definitely deserves this.”
RESULTS:
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 53-Brandon Yates[2]; 2. 45-Jason Garver[6]; 3. 17J-Griffin Jones[8]; 4. 71-Davy Cline[1]; 5. 28-Austin Leamon[4]; 6. 35-Justin Dean[3]; 7. 11H-Waylon Haynes[5]; 8. 31D-Dustin Beckelheimer[12]; 9. 36-James Haynes[7]; 10. 44-Billy Rodriguez[9]; 11. RP118-Ron Adams[15]; 12. 21D-Lenny Dallman[13]; 13. 7H-Jeremiah Hix[16]; 14. 10-Karli Bennett[10]; 15. 1-Hania Humphries[14]; 16. 11-J R Gray[18]; 17. 02-Gary Sexton[11]; 18. (DNS) 01-Fletcher Mason
DIRTcar UMP Modifieds
The DIRTcar UMP Modifieds kept the action going for another 20 laps with four drivers contending for the victory.
Dillon Buhr tried to run away with the lead a couple of times, but a caution kept bringing the field back together for an original restart. When the field was finally able to get laps in, Jason Garver prevailed as the race leader, taking it from Buhr on the opening lap.
While Garver led, Buhr was in a continuous battle for second against Seth Geary and Dalton Lanich. Just when he thought he’d fended off one, the other showed up for a new war.
By the halfway point of the race, Buhr had reclaimed second from Lanich, just in time for a caution to bring him back to Garver’s rear bumper. He took advantage of that on the restart, throwing a slide job at Lanich in Turn 1 to reclaim the lead.
From there, he finished the race uncontested to claim his first win of the season.
“It was good, we were a little nervous there after the Heat,” Buhr said. “We had speed in the car, it was just super tight. I couldn’t get turned into the corner like I wanted to. We made some changes and then the rain came, so I really didn’t know what to expect with this track. It turned out to be pretty good. It had nothing down at the bottom of (Turns) three and four, so I was working the bottom of (Turns) one and two and the top of three and four.
“That final restart there, I felt like I was far enough to not drive Garver dirty, so I went for it and I was all crossed up but I held on to it, and here we are.”
RESULTS:
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 24B-Dillon Buhr[1]; 2. 7G-Seth Geary[4]; 3. 27G-Jason Garver[2]; 4. 07-Eric Moon[5]; 5. 21-Devin McLeod[12]; 6. 66-Joshua Kunstbeck[6]; 7. 3S-Josh Sanford[3]; 8. 34-Rob Giffen[14]; 9. 12-Tim Swartz[15]; 10. 52-John Haynes[19]; 11. 3D-Makayla Tyrrell[9]; 12. 71A-Andrew Smith[18]; 13. 51-Dalton Lanich[8]; 14. 11P-Charlie Phillips[10]; 15. 1P-Mike Phillips[17]; 16. 333-Patrick Passanise[13]; 17. 80-Paul Shead[7]; 18. (DNS) 23-Kevin Dugger; 19. (DNS) 192-Tim McLeod; 20. (DNS) 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt; 21. (DNS) 00B-Buzzie Reutimann; 22. (DNS) 18A-Jared Allison
3/4 Modifieds
Dalton Hopke returned to the 3/4 Modified field for the Firecracker Classic and fired off like a firecracker at the start of the 15-lap Feature.
When the green flag dropped, Hopke lit a fuse and rocketed from fourth to the lead on the first lap. From there, he never looked back.
By the halfway point of the race, he already had a half-track lead on the field. And that only grew with every lap.
The Jacksonville, FL driver picked up where he left off and scored his third win of the season at Volusia.
“We don’t run power steering in these things, and when it’s really aggressive like that, it gets a handful, especially when we go long green flags,” Hopke said. “There, toward the end, I was struggling on the cushion. A couple of times, I jumped over it and just had issues.”
RESULTS:
Feature (15 Laps): 1. H1-Dalton Hopke[4]; 2. 7L-Jonathan Layerd[6]; 3. 26L-Colton Lane[2]; 4. 27-Timmy Hogan[3]; 5. 188-Josh Panetti[1]; 6. 5C-Chase Cooke[7]; 7. 45-Justin Durbin[9]; 8. 9-Logan Malone[12]; 9. 29-Nathyn Hwan[10]; 10. 21-Dakota Cleland[8]; 11. 57-Ethyn Hwan[5]; 12. 59-William Inabnett[11]
Factory Stocks
The Factory Stocks closed the night with a bang, producing consistent side-by-side racing and a first-time winner.
Bruce Bennett battled side-by-side with Blake Clouser for the lead in the opening laps before taking the position for himself.
While he led, second place became a hot commodity. Clouser faded, allowing Patrick Thomas, Joe Belkey, and Jason Garver to move up and give fans one more epic duel for the night as the three drivers battled for second like it was a battle for the lead.
Thomas and Belkey traded lanes, and raced side-by-side, while Garver threw Hail Marys into Turn 1 each lap, trying to go from fourth to second just to slide back to fourth off Turn 2.
Thomas slid too high in Turn 1 at the halfway point, allowing Belkey to drive by and drive away.
Bennett had a solid lead, but slower traffic hindered his laps and brought Belkey closer to his bumper each lap. By Lap 15, Belkey was close enough to make a move. He took a peek under Bennett in Turns 3 and 4, but Bennett had the better run up top and was able to drive away for his first career win at Volusia.
“It’s pretty good,” Bennett said about getting his first win. “This is our fourth time here, and we’ve been struggling. We were struggling in the Heat Race, fighting the car. Me and Charlie were talking about it, and I said, ‘Screw it, we’re going to do something we’ve never done before.’ And it worked! I don’t think we were the best car, but I think starting out front and running the top is what it took.”
RESULTS:
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 24-Bruce Bennett[2]; 2. 119-Joe Belkey[5]; 3. 01-Jason Garver[6]; 4. 25T-Patrick Thomas[4]; 5. 5-Blake Clouser[1]; 6. 23-Willy The Kid Cuddy[8]; 7. 9T-Dylan Litchfield[3]; 8. 5H-Tommy Hill[21]; 9. 78-Arthur Conquest[7]; 10. 20-Justin Reynolds[14]; 11. 00-Shaun Daugharty[9]; 12. 1T-Tanner Thomas[10]; 13. 20C-Rich Clouser[13]; 14. 82D-Larry Masters[20]; 15. 118S-Donald Springer[19]; 16. 3X-Scott Durlin[12]; 17. 69-Derrick Wood[17]; 18. 38-Charles King[11]; 19. 21M-Mayson Mossow[16]; 20. 41-Barry Sheffield[15]; 21. 12J-John Mossow[18]
UP NEXT: The “Fab 5” returns to Volusia Speedway Park for the Summer Sizzler on Saturday, July 12.
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.