Geary, Chappell, VanSickle, Hogan, Foye Score Weekly Racing Victories at Volusia
Weekly racing at Volusia Speedway Park resumed on Saturday, June 1, with a massive field of more than 80 drivers entered among five divisions.
604 Late Models, 602 Late Models, DIRTcar UMP Modifieds, 3/4 Modifieds and Gladiators returned for another around at “The World’s Fastest Half Mile.”
At the end of the night, Donnie Chappell (604 Late Models), Kale VanSickle (602 Late Models), Seth Geary (DIRTcar UMP Modifieds), Timmy Hogan (3/4 Modifieds) and Aaron Foye (Gladiators) left as victors.
604 Late Models
Mikey Kopka, who started in sixth, made his first move on Lap 2 with a pass on the inside after Tuck Trentham slide high coming out of Turn 2.
With the pedal down, Kopka took advantage of Kody Jett and Austin Leamon fighting it out in front of him. Jett pushed Leamon toward the high side of the track while they were two wide going into Turn 3 on Lap 4 making room for Kopka to pass on the inside.
Up front, Lawton Minchew, who was in first, slid up coming out of Turn 2 on Lap 5, making room for Chappell to slide past on the inside.
From there, Chappell pull away from the field and went on to win the 20-lap Feature.
“Track position was the name of the game honestly,” Chappell said. “I knew getting in the lead and controlling the restarts was going to be key. They wet the track a lil’ bit there so it got real fast.”
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 25C-Donnie Chappell[3]; 2. 86-Kody Jett[4]; 3. 721-Mikey Kopka[6]; 4. 28-Austin Leamon[2]; 5. 31S-Tim Swartz[14]; 6. 23L-Lawton Minchew[1]; 7. 07-Jeff Scofield[10]; 8. 54T-Tuck Trentham[5]; 9. 1A-Donnie Birdwell[11]; 10. 23K-Korbin Minchew[9]; 11. 1J-Jason Papp[7]; 12. 10S-Steve Shead[13]; 13. 5-Dustin Carter[8]; 14. 16-Trey Pearson[12]
DIRTcar UMP Modifieds
Eric Moon and Seth Geary were putting on a show, fighting hard for the top spot during the first six laps. Moon, who was defending the lead wasn’t giving Geary anything. Geary tried every lane to get by Moon, but nothing materialized.
On the Lap 7 restart, Geary had a strong start, getting to the outside of Moon, who pushed up the track on entry. With Moon, scrubbing speed, Geary darted past him to take the lead.
“Honestly, I was kind of bummed we got the caution,” Geary recalled in his post-race interview. “I was running [Moon] down and felt like I could have gotten around him [during green flag racing] and could have heck of a green flag race.”
Former track champion Buzzie Reutimann, who recently turned 80 years old, put on a show for fans, charging from 10th to fifth.
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 7G-Seth Geary[6]; 2. 07-Eric Moon[1]; 3. 80-Paul Shead[7]; 4. 99-Wade Olmsted[2]; 5. 00B-Buzzie Reutimann[10]; 6. 3S-Josh Sanford[4]; 7. 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt[3]; 8. 2-Joshua Kunstbeck[13]; 9. 51-Dalton Lanich[9]; 10. 15H-Gator Hise[14]; 11. 34P-Jim Passino[11]; 12. 16-Tony Campbell[17]; 13. 24B-Dillon Buhr[12]; 14. 52-Adam Hanas[19]; 15. (DNF) 47-Billy Howard[20]; 16. (DNF) 75-Ronnie Chance[8]; 17. (DNF) 11P-Charlie Phillips[15]; 18. (DNF) 34-Heath Dorn[22]; 19. (DNF) 1P-Mike Phillips[16]; 20. (DNF) 78-Raymond Rogers[5]; 21. (DNS) 222-Cory Hupp; 22. (DNS) 12-Robert Gast
3/4 Modifieds
Timmy Hogan has been the class of the field with the 3/4 Modifieds this year with one win and a top-five finish in every race. However, Logan Malone tried to put an end to his reign, challenging him for the win early in the 15-lap Feature.
Behind them, Seth Zacharias, who started ninth, was on a charge, moving up to third with eight laps to go.
Then, a caution, bringing Malone and Zacharias to Hogan’s rear bumper. However, when the race resumed, Hogan was able to hold them off and score his second win of the season.
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 26-Timmy Hogan[2]; 2. 9-Logan Malone[1]; 3. 27-Steven Powers[14]; 4. 23-Seth Zacharias[9]; 5. 57H-William Inabnett[7]; 6. 55-Dustin Childers[16]; 7. 32-Patrick Vareika[4]; 8. 7-Chris Olmstead[5]; 9. 29-Nathyn Hwan[10]; 10. 00-Justin Woodrough[11]; 11. 59-Samara Hwan[19]; 12. (DNF) 5-Chase Cooke[8]; 13. (DNF) 21J-Jeff Newton[15]; 14. (DNF) 48-Jeff Wells[17]; 15. (DNF) 117-Jesse Powers[3]; 16. (DNF) 57-Ethyn Hwan[6]; 17. (DNF) 51-Nick Buker[13]; 18. (DNS) F5-Nathan Rhoades; 19. (DNS) 16-Brian Schrunk; 20. (DNS) 1-CR Hill
602 Late Models
Kale VanSickle, looking for back-to-back wins, was off to a quick start in this 20-lap Feature, claiming the lead out of Turn 2.
Following a restart, Brandon Yates and Austin Leamon were drag racing on Lap 8, duking it out for the second position. Leamon tried to pass Yates on the inside, but his attempt failed.
And while they battled, VanSickle drove away with another win, further expanding his points lead – now 15 points ahead of Leamon.
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 3K-Kale VanSickle[2]; 2. 53-Brandon Yates[4]; 3. 28-Austin Leamon[1]; 4. 1T-Tanner Thomas[3]; 5. 9A-Austin Lewis[5]; 6. 17SS-Brody Smith[21]; 7. 1AR-Travis Staats[15]; 8. 1J-Jason Papp[9]; 9. 2B-Robert Brynteson[16]; 10. RP1-Ron Adams[14]; 11. 3C-Cale Gilbert[20]; 12. 32P-Jesse Powers[17]; 13. 26-Mike Warren[19]; 14. (DNF) 02-Sean Babcock[10]; 15. (DNF) 42-Josh Byrd[8]; 16. (DNF) 51-Harley Hughes[13]; 17. (DNF) 31-Donnie Birdwell[7]; 18. (DNF) 44K-Troy Kidd[12]; 19. (DNF) 44-Billy Rodriguez[11]; 20. (DNS) 94-Holden Allen; 21. (DNS) 40-Adam Bennett; 22. (DQ) 35-Justin Dean[6]
Gladiators
In the second race of the season for the Gladiators, Aaron Foye scored his first win of the year – which was also his first podium of 2024.
The Cocoa, FL driver started third and powered to the front of the field in the 15-lap Feature. Behind him, Joe Sunday was also on the move, making his way from sixth to second by the end of the race.
Tim Ross started pole, but couldn’t hold off Foye and Sunday, and hand to settle for a third-place finish. However, it was his first top-five finish of the season.
“First time in Victory Lane,” Foye said in Victory Lane. “It’s almost the best feeling. It’s second to my kids and wife.”
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 47-Aaron Foye[3]; 2. 84-Joe Sunday[6]; 3. 19-TIm Ross[1]; 4. 14K-Brandon Gaither[4]; 5. (DNF) 2-Taylor Hall[5]; 6. (DNS) 72-Charles Friddle; 7. (DNS) 7-Steven Wright; 8. (DNS) 222-Tony Newman; 9. (DQ) 69-Michael Derico[2]
UP NEXT: Volusia Speedway Park’s weekly racing continues Saturday, June 15, for Father’s Day Weekend. For more information, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision.