By BOBBY SWEENEY
CONCORD, NC – Alex Yankowski became the youngest Super DIRTcar Series winner ever, driving by Larry Wight in the late stages of Friday’s feature event at The Dirt Track Charlotte World Finals. It was an emotional victory for the 17-year-old after his grandfather passed away earlier in the day.
Wight was a rocket at the start of the 40-lap Modified feature, gone by a straightaway in the early stages of the race. Jack Lehner filed into second, battling with Brett Hearn and Max McLaughlin for the runner up spot, while Wight entered lapped traffic. Wight remained clean through said traffic, bringing his lead to over six seconds.
Yankowski was making steady progress forward, riding in fourth as the lap counter hit 15. On lap 18, Yankowski slipped by Hearn for third, then got Lehner for second the next time by. With Wight down low, Yankowski railed the top and began to eat into Wight’s lead. On lap 28, the yellow flag waived, and the rest of Wight’s lead went away in a hurry.
Mat Williamson went from fourth to second on the restart, but Yankowski quickly regained the spot. Then, Yankowski went on attack at Wight, rolling around the outside of Wight to lead lap 31. Once out front, Yankowski was throttle down and quickly pulled away.
While Wight and Williamson battled for second, Yankowski was smooth and comfortable out front. After 40 laps, it was 17 year old Yankowski becoming the youngest Super DIRTcar Series winner ever.
“It’s tough to find the right words for this one,” Yankowski said. “We hopped the cushion early and I started to get hard on myself. The less I tried, the better we were. Next thing we know we’re battling for the win, it’s been a tough day and a good day.”
Yankowski skipped a race at Bridgeport, his home track, to run here. Yankowski noted some similarities between Charlotte and Bridgeport.
“This place is a little bit bigger, a little flatter, and maybe the corners are some more sweeping,” stated Yankowski. “They’re both abrasive on tires, but this Hoosier deal is so different. I love the big blocks opposed to the spec head stuff, but the budget doesn’t. This was a ton of fun to drive tonight and I love this package.”
Wight led much of the event, yet was still disappointed with his result. After leading 31 laps, the #99L was denied his first Super DIRTcar Series win of the year.
“We got a lot of work to do to match Alex, he had so much forward drive,” Wight said. “We’ve done everything we can to get in position to win one of these, we just need to put our heads down and figure out what we need to get better at the end.”
2019 Super DIRTcar Series champion Williamson made some late ground to finish third, almost getting Wight at the finish.
“That’s super cool to see Alex win, it’s great for his family,” Williamson noted. “We were good, just not quite there. We lost a ton of ground on that early restart and fell to tenth, just not enough to get the job done.”
Demetrios Drellos finished in fourth followed by McLaughlin to complete the top five.
THE DIRT TRACK AT CHARLOTTE – WORLD FINALS RESULTS (11/5/21)
Feature 40 Laps | 00:25:08.162 – 1. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[6]; 2. 99L-Larry Wight[2]; 3. 88-Mat Williamson[5]; 4. 111-Demetrios Drellos[10]; 5. 32CC-Max McLaughlin[4]; 6. 19-Tim Fuller[19]; 7. 2L-Jack Lehner[3]; 8. 20-Brett Hearn[1]; 9. 15-Billy Pauch Jr[11]; 10. 91-Billy Decker[14]; 11. 8A-Duane Howard[15]; 12. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[16]; 13. 25-Erick Rudolph[17]; 14. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[26]; 15. 9S-Matt Sheppard[9]; 16. 215-Adam Pierson[13]; 17. 28T-Michael Trautschold[8]; 18. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[24]; 19. 2A-Mike Gular[20]; 20. 3-Justin Haers[25]; 21. 21A-Peter Britten[7]; 22. 28-Jordan McCreadie[27]; 23. 5H-Chris Hile[21]; 24. 88D-Olden Dwyer[29]; 25. JS98-Rocky Warner[18]; 26. 48TOO-Dave Rauscher[30]; 27. 11T-Jeff Taylor[23]; 28. 17-Marcus Dinkins[28]; 29. 34-Kevin Root[22]; 30. 35-Mike Mahaney[12]; Hard Charger – Tim Fuller (+13)
Qualifying 1 3 Laps | 00:00:33.000 – 1. 20-Brett Hearn, 00:16.121[7]; 2. 32CC-Max McLaughlin, 00:16.217[6]; 3. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:16.261[9]; 4. 215-Adam Pierson, 00:16.449[2]; 5. 25-Erick Rudolph, 00:16.495[10]; 6. 5H-Chris Hile, 00:16.572[4]; 7. 37MD-Jeremiah Shingledecker, 00:16.601[8]; 8. 35B-Christopher Curtis, 00:16.823[1]; 9. 48TOO-Dave Rauscher, 00:16.856[3]; 10. 17-Marcus Dinkins, 00:16.974[5]
Qualifying 2 3 Laps | 00:00:34.000 – 1. 28T-Michael Trautschold, 00:16.511[9]; 2. 15-Billy Pauch Jr, 00:16.521[3]; 3. 2L-Jack Lehner, 00:16.539[8]; 4. 11T-Jeff Taylor, 00:16.553[7]; 5. 19-Tim Fuller, 00:16.574[1]; 6. 8A-Duane Howard, 00:16.592[6]; 7. 70A-Alex Payne, 00:16.765[5]; 8. 3-Justin Haers, 00:16.774[2]; 9. 14-CG Morey, 00:16.986[4]; 10. 27J-Danny Johnson, 00:17.030[10]
Qualifying 3 3 Laps | 00:00:33.000 – 1. 21A-Peter Britten, 00:16.140[8]; 2. 111-Demetrios Drellos, 00:16.186[6]; 3. 91-Billy Decker, 00:16.250[7]; 4. JS98-Rocky Warner, 00:16.491[2]; 5. 99L-Larry Wight, 00:16.565[1]; 6. 8-Rich Scagliotta, 00:16.597[10]; 7. 42P-Pat Ward, 00:16.642[5]; 8. 32R-Ronnie Davis III, 00:16.660[4]; 9. 66-Tim McCreadie, 00:16.761[9]; 10. (DNS) 22-Brandon Walters
Qualifying 4 3 Laps | 00:00:32.000 – 1. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:16.021[6]; 2. 98H-Jimmy Phelps, 00:16.131[7]; 3. 88-Mat Williamson, 00:16.221[3]; 4. 35-Mike Mahaney, 00:16.280[2]; 5. 34-Kevin Root, 00:16.346[9]; 6. 2A-Mike Gular, 00:16.375[10]; 7. 83X-Tim Sears Jr, 00:16.420[4]; 8. 28-Jordan McCreadie, 00:16.465[1]; 9. 21M-Bob Mcgannon, 00:16.773[8]; 10. 88D-Olden Dwyer, 00:16.838[5]
Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:02:11.390 – 1. 20-Brett Hearn[1]; 2. 32CC-Max McLaughlin[2]; 3. 9S-Matt Sheppard[3]; 4. 215-Adam Pierson[4]; 5. 25-Erick Rudolph[5]; 6. 5H-Chris Hile[6]; 7. 37MD-Jeremiah Shingledecker[7]; 8. 17-Marcus Dinkins[10]; 9. 35B-Christopher Curtis[8]; 10. 48TOO-Dave Rauscher[9]
Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:02:12.649 – 1. 28T-Michael Trautschold[1]; 2. 2L-Jack Lehner[3]; 3. 15-Billy Pauch Jr[2]; 4. 8A-Duane Howard[6]; 5. 19-Tim Fuller[5]; 6. 11T-Jeff Taylor[4]; 7. 70A-Alex Payne[7]; 8. 3-Justin Haers[8]; 9. 14-CG Morey[9]
Heat 3 8 Laps | 00:02:11.369 – 1. 21A-Peter Britten[1]; 2. 99L-Larry Wight[5]; 3. 111-Demetrios Drellos[2]; 4. 91-Billy Decker[3]; 5. JS98-Rocky Warner[4]; 6. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[8]; 7. 8-Rich Scagliotta[6]; 8. 42P-Pat Ward[7]; 9. 66-Tim McCreadie[9]; 10. (DNS) 22-Brandon Walters
Heat 4 8 Laps – 1. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[1]; 2. 88-Mat Williamson[3]; 3. 35-Mike Mahaney[4]; 4. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[2]; 5. 2A-Mike Gular[6]; 6. 34-Kevin Root[5]; 7. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[7]; 8. 21M-Bob Mcgannon[9]; 9. 28-Jordan McCreadie[8]; 10. (DNF) 88D-Olden Dwyer[10]
Last Chance Showdown 1 10 Laps | 00:02:46.752 – 1. 5H-Chris Hile[1]; 2. 11T-Jeff Taylor[2]; 3. 3-Justin Haers[6]; 4. 70A-Alex Payne[4]; 5. 14-CG Morey[8]; 6. 37MD-Jeremiah Shingledecker[3]; 7. 17-Marcus Dinkins[5]; 8. 35B-Christopher Curtis[7]; 9. 48TOO-Dave Rauscher[9]
Last Chance Showdown 2 10 Laps | 00:02:48.359 – 1. 34-Kevin Root[2]; 2. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[1]; 3. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[4]; 4. 21M-Bob Mcgannon[6]; 5. 8-Rich Scagliotta[3]; 6. 42P-Pat Ward[5]; 7. 28-Jordan McCreadie[8]; 8. 66-Tim McCreadie[7]; 9. 88D-Olden Dwyer[10]; 10. (DNS) 22-Brandon Walters
