Spring Fling

A new year of Volusia Speedway Park competition saw the “Fab 5” take center stage for a kickoff to the 2025 season in the Spring Fling.

Among the 97 cars that signed in for the season opener, it was Bubba Roling, Mikey Kopka, Dalton Hopke, Jason Garver, and Willy Cuddy who snagged the trophies up for grabs on Saturday night.

602 Late Models

Surfing a wave of confidence after scoring his first DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals surfboard with the 602 Late Models, Bubba Roling drew first blood in the chase for his first track title.

The Clay Hill, FL native had to work for the win on Saturday night from a fourth-place starting spot, behind front-row starters Davy Cline and Dylan Dunn.

Dunn led the first five circuits while Roling battled Cline for second place, eventually taking the position by rolling down the bottom lane of the track.

Roling used the same move on Dunn on the following lap through Turns 3 and 4, solidifying his position at the top and building a gap while the field behind him attempted to keep his pace.

The No.515 felt no sweat in the remaining 14 laps of the Feature as he took his second checkered flag at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile” in 2025.

“This car has been really good the past year,” Roling said. “We won the Sunshine Nationals with it, and this Capital Race Car is just flying. Mr. Shane Clanton and all of the guys, I couldn’t thank them enough.”

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 515-Bubba Roling[4]; 2. 28-Austin Leamon[9]; 3. 45-Jason Garver[6]; 4. 25-Donnie Chappell[7]; 5. 53-Brandon Yates[3]; 6. 22-Dylan Dunn[2]; 7. 1J-Jason Papp[12]; 8. 94-Holden Allen[10]; 9. 17J-Griffin Jones[8]; 10. 01-Fletcher Mason[14]; 11. 55-Dustin Childers[13]; 12. 9A-Tony Lewis[16]; 13. 1-Hania Humphries[19]; 14. 71-Davy Cline[1]; 15. 21D-Lenny Dallman[11]; 16. 11-J R Gray[17]; 17. 32D-Ty Dorn[15]; 18. (DNS) 118-David Showers Sr; 19. (DNS) 35-Justin Dean

604 Late Models

Mikey Kopka clinched his first Volusia 604 Late Model championship with his first win of 2024 coming in the season’s final race.

The Astor, FL native started 2025 where he previously left off with a commanding Feature win in the Spring Fling.

Kopka began the Feature outside on the front row with Steven Stratton Sr. and took early control by getting clear for the lead through the first two turns.

The Volusia veteran took full advantage of the clean air by keeping Kole Platt and Trynt Lloyd at bay while the two drivers attempted different lines to contend with Kopka.

Kopka’s defense played into his favor with the capturing of his second Feature win as a driver for 2022 track champion Joe Kump.

“I’ll tell you what, if anyone talks crap about this racetrack, they’re wrong,” Kopke said. “It is a great racetrack. They did a phenomenal job. Yes, it’s got character, but you know what? Who cares? That’ll put you in a racecar seat. If you can drive it and put it in the front, you’re a wheelman.”

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 721-Mikey Kopka[2]; 2. 44P-Kole Platt[3]; 3. 2-Trynt Lloyd[4]; 4. 67-Garret Stewart[9]; 5. 515-Bubba Roling[6]; 6. 74-Jason Garver[8]; 7. 28-Austin Leamon[13]; 8. 18-David Showers Jr[7]; 9. 1J-Dustin Carter[15]; 10. 55E-Eli Johnson[12]; 11. 54T-Tuck Trentham[14]; 12. 23-Toby Sims[20]; 13. 94-Holden Allen[10]; 14. 23L-Lawton Minchew[17]; 15. (DNF) 1A-Austin Lewis[16]; 16. (DNF) 31S-Tim Swartz[5]; 17. (DNF) 07-David Clegg[11]; 18. (DNF) 71-Davy Cline[18]; 19. (DNF) 42-Steven Stratton Sr[1]; 20. (DNS) 23K-Korbin Minchew

3/4 Modifieds

Dalton Hopke keeps on winning in the 3/4 Modifieds at Volusia Speedway Park in 2025.

The Jacksonville, FL driver rode the momentum from his Sunday Feature win at the World of Outlaws Bike Week Jamboree by leading all 15 laps for the Spring Fling win.

Colton Lane brought the field to the green flag with Patrick Vareika to his outside, but Hopke did not give the two drivers a chance at claiming the lead by clearing the two drivers off of Turn 2. Lane suffered a mechanical failure on the second lap that took him out of contention for the win.

The No.H1 gasser expanded his lead to over four seconds while top five runners Chris Olmstead, Vareika, and Ethyn Hwan traded positions throughout the Feature.

On a late-race restart with two laps remaining, Hopke managed to outrun Olmstead and Hwan while Vareika stumbled outside the top five on the restart to cement his first Volusia points win since the Labor Day Classic in 2023.

“I wanna thank God first,” Hopke said. “Thank all y’all fans for coming out and supporting us. I wanna give a big shoutout to Colton Lane. He did a phenomenal job tonight. He’s onto us and he’s coming, but I wish better luck for him and would like to have seen him finish a race. We’re gonna keep working hard and keep trying to win races.”

Feature (15 Laps): 1. H1-Dalton Hopke[3]; 2. 7-Chris Olmstead[5]; 3. 57-Ethyn Hwan[7]; 4. 7L-Jonathan Layerd[15]; 5. 859-Timmy Hogan[11]; 6. 23-Patrick Vareika[2]; 7. 5-Chase Cooke[10]; 8. 9-Logan Malone[8]; 9. 27-Steven Powers[4]; 10. 21-Dakota Cleland[17]; 11. 41B-Bo Bass[9]; 12. (DNF) 32P-Jesse Powers[14]; 13. (DNF) 188-Josh Panetti[6]; 14. (DNF) 26L-Colton Lane[1]; 15. (DNF) 29-Nathyn Hwan[13]; 16. (DNF) 55-Robert Brynteson[12]; 17. (DNS) 51-Dustin Peterson

DIRTcar UMP Modifieds

Jason Garver had himself a busy night at Volusia Speedway Park by running four out of the “Fab 5” divisions.

The Starke, FL native left the track with a Feature trophy after he completed a hard-charging drive in the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds.

Ronnie Chance and Todd Neiheiser led the hornet’s nest to the green flag, with Neiheiser becoming the head of the field in the early stages of the 20-lap Feature.

While the 2023 Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals Golden Gator winner led, Garver made his way up to fourth on the first lap, then made a daring move on the bottom lane around Buzzie Reutimann and Zac Oedewaldt for second on the following lap.

Those passes gave Garver confidence to chase down Neiheiser for the lead before a caution at the halfway mark became his opportunity to steal away the lead.

On the ensuing restart, Garver and Neiheiser made door-to-door contact throughout the whole lap that gave the driver of the No.27G the point. Neiheiser, upset with how his lead was taken away, attempted to move Garver up the track in the next corner until his car turned sideways and up into the Turn 1 wall.

All that was left for Garver to do to secure the win was to hit his marks, which he completed by extending his lead to 2.8 seconds over the field as he took home the opening-night victory.

“It was a tough race,” Garver said. “Todd missed the corner down there a little, and I was able to get under him, and he don’t wanna give it up and I didn’t wanna give it back and we just beat and banged a little. Todd’s a hard racer, I hate that we did make contact like that, but sometimes it’s like that. Ain’t nothing you can do about it, but that’s why they call it racing.”

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 27G-Jason Garver[6]; 2. 24B-Dillon Buhr[9]; 3. 99M-Eric Moon[20]; 4. 66-Joshua Kunstbeck[17]; 5. 51-Dalton Lanich[12]; 6. 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt[7]; 7. 99-Wade Olmsted[14]; 8. 25-Greg Belyea[11]; 9. 23D-Makayla Tyrrell[16]; 10. 78-Raymond Rogers[10]; 11. 39-Rob Giffen[13]; 12. Z1-Zac Oedewaldt[5]; 13. 72-Todd Neiheiser[2]; 14. 1P-Mike Phillips[15]; 15. 7G-Seth Geary[4]; 16. 80-Paul Shead[8]; 17. 2C-Ronnie Chance[1]; 18. 00B-Buzzie Reutimann[3]; 19. 11P-Charlie Phillips[18]; 20. (DNS) 23-Jerol Stepp

Factory Stocks

Willy Cuddy strongly desired to be a winner at Volusia Speedway Park during his time with the Factory Stocks.

That dream came true on Saturday night with a turn of events he could never expect.

Cuddy had his workload cut out for him when he started seventh in the 21-car Feature and struggled to gain momentum as the first half of the race progressed with Blake Clouser holding the early lead over Garver.

“The Kid” began to find his stride in the second half by moving up to sixth, then passed two cars in one corner for fourth place.

At the front, Clouser and Garver stayed close to each other, with Garver finding a hole in the bottom that he attempted to take advantage of.

This time, Garver’s risky move did not work in his favor, with the two drivers making contact and Clouser spinning around.

Cuddy, who had passed third-place running Joe Belkey on the previous lap, inherited the lead and prepared for a three-lap dash against Belkey to settle it.

The two drivers drag-raced on the final restart, but Cuddy claimed the spot over Belkey by running the middle line as he crossed the checkered flag for his first career win at Volusia.

“My car was tight,” Cuddy said. “I didn’t know if it was how we set it up, or the track took rubber, but I thought I was going I thought he was going to have it because he’s got the bigger motor. We’re all on two barrels and I thought (Belkey) was just gonna pull right away with it, but low and behold, I started to pass him before Garver and Clouser got together and the caution saved us, so thankfully we were able to come out on top after they got together.”

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 23-Willy Cuddy[7]; 2. 119-Joe Belkey[5]; 3. 25T-Patrick Thomas[2]; 4. 118-Ron Adams[1]; 5. 15-Jamie Carter[15]; 6. 69-Derrick Wood[10]; 7. 125T-Tanner Thomas[9]; 8. 41L-Mikey Kopka[3]; 9. 20-Justin Reynolds[11]; 10. 12S-Curt Spencer[13]; 11. 00-Shaun Daugharty[8]; 12. 110-Corey Certain[12]; 13. 12-Danny Frye[17]; 14. 5-Blake Clouser[4]; 15. 9AR-Charlie Stone[21]; 16. 118S-Donald Springer[14]; 17. 82D-Larry Masters[19]; 18. 01-Jason Garver[6]; 19. 21M-Mayson Mossow[18]; 20. 73-David Szczepanik[16]; 21. 13-Sean Babcock[20]

Up Next: Volusia Speedway Park’s “Fab 5” return for the Short Track Showdown on Saturday, April 26. Gates will open at 4:00 p.m., with Hot Laps beginning at 6:00 p.m. For more information about the full schedule, 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.