Strickler Scores Second-Straight UMP Modified World Short Track Championship Win

Story By: COLBY GORNIEWICZ / DIRTCAR – CONCORD, NC – The second annual OneDirt World Short Track Championship came to a close on Saturday after three days of racing at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.

The final night of racing action at the fast 4/10-mile high-banked dirt oval located northeast of Charlotte in Concord, North Carolina featured Last Chance Showdowns, the Championship Features and the special All-Star Invitational Features to conclude the weekend. The High Side Tickler Kyle Strickler would be the man of the weekend as the star from nearby Mooresville, North Carolina, the winner of the Summit Racing Equipment UMP Modified portion of the inaugural WSTC one year ago, scored the $4,000 payday by repeating in 2017.

“There’s so many people here tonight that mean so much to me. My sponsors, my family, just a ton of people from around this area. This race means so much to me and hard work and dedication is hard to beat — I can promise you that,” said the driver of the #8 Longhorn Chassis ride after his second OneDirt World Short Track Championship Feature win in two years. “This Longhorn Chassis, we’ve been working on it all year long. We started off a little slow in Florida, but we worked on it all through the season, and I’ve had a lot of good race cars over the years, but this one is just awesome. Even when we went into conserve mode, we were still pulling away from everyone. We’re still undefeated here, so I guess that’s pretty good, right?” he smiled.

Johnathan Taylor, who earlier in the day was awarded the UMP Modified Sportsman of the Year Award, and Strickler led the star-studded 26-car field to chief starter Dave Farney’s green flag; and after a complete restart, it would be Strickler beating Taylor to the first corner to take the early lead. A couple more cautions slowed things down before lap five, but once the green flag flew again, Strickler maintained the lead as David Stremme, who started third, and Taylor Cook, who started fourth, assumed second and third getting by Taylor while the rest of the field finally settled in. Cook slipped past Stremme for second and set his sights on Strickler. Slowly but surely, Strickler inched away from Cook and pulled out to a five-second lead before the night’s final caution flew with five to go.

This set up a last five-lap shootout between Strickler and Cook with Stremme and Brian Ruhlman, who started sixth. One more restart with two to go gave the trio behind Strickler one last chance, but the 34-year-old Strickler, originally from Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania, would fend off all challengers and go on to win his second straight Summit Racing Equipment UMP Modified OneDirt World Short Track Championship. Cook, from nearby Stanley, North Carolina, finished second after finishing fourth one year ago, with Stremme, originally from South Bend, Indiana and now calling Mooresville, North Carolina home, hanging on for third for a Tar Heel State sweep of the podium finishers.

Ruhlman made the trip from Clarklake, Michigan worthwhile and held on for fourth over Apollo Beach, Florida driver Jeff Matthews, who earlier in the day won the Longest Tow Award from the South and went on to earn the Hard Charger Award with his 14th- to fifth-place run. Taylor, the pole-sitter, recovered to finish sixth as Chad Bauer, Michael Altobelli Jr., Billy Workman Jr., and former NASCAR driver David Reutimann completed the top 10 with his second straight 10th place finish in two years in this race.

In the 20-lap All Star Invitational Feature, 22 cars took the green flag, and Reutimann, fresh from his 10th place finish in the Championship Feature, led the first four laps until Derrick Ramey drove around on lap five. Soon Cook was on the move and grabbed second and set his sights on Ramey. On lap nine, Cook drove by Ramey to take over the lead, bringing Stremme and Strickler with him, and the trio of stars put on a battle no one would forget.

With nine laps to go, Stremme briefly took the lead only to relinquish it back to Cook on the next lap. Stremme and Strickler collided coming out of turn two and slammed the backstretch wall with six laps to go, bringing out the caution and later the red flag. Once order was restored, Cook made no mistake the rest of the way and wouldn’t go home empty handed as the 23-year-old in his #21 Harris Race Cars machine took home the win in the All Star Invite. Bauer finished second while Ramey, Dylan Woodling and Taylor completed the top five.

Earlier in the weekend, Altobelli Jr. was the fastest of the 48-car Summit Racing Equipment UMP Modified field in Qualifying with a lap of 17.006, or 84.676 mph. Cook, Kenny Wallace, Strickler and Stremme all scored Qualifier Heat Races on Friday. On Saturday in the two Last Chance Showdowns, Coleman Evans and R.J. Otto collected those wins to transfer into the main event. Also, earlier on Saturday, Jessie Hoskins won Longest Tow Award from the West after making the trip from Longdale, Oklahoma.

HIGHLIGHTS

Feature – Summit Racing Equipment 30 (30 Laps): 1. (2) 8 Kyle Strickler, 2. (4) 21c Taylor Cook, 3. (3) 35 David Stremme, 4. (6) 49 Brian Ruhlman, 5. (14) 33 Jeff Matthews, 6. (1) 5 Johnathan Taylor, 7. (10) 19 Chad Bauer, 8. (7) 95 Michael Altobelli Jr., 9. (11) 64jr Billy Workman Jr., 10. (8) 00 David Reutimann, 11. (9) 91 Derrick Ramey, 12. (17) 7t Evan Taylor, 13. (12) 7 Christian Thomas, 14. (13) 28b Jason Brookover, 15. (21) 17c Coleman Evans, 16. (19) 51p Joey Polevoy, 17. (23) 71d Dan Davies, 18. (24) 8 Austin Holcombe, 19. (22) 51 R.J. Otto, 20. (18) 3w Dylan Woodling, 21. (26) 9s Slater McCray, 22. (16) 9 Ken Schrader, 23. (15) kc44 K.C. Burdette, 24. (5) 44 Kenny Wallace, 25. (25) 6 Dylan Browning, 26. (20) 25b Shawn Beasley

Qualifying: 1. 95 Michael Altobelli Jr. 17.006, 2. 49 Brian Ruhlman 17.053, 3. 8s Kyle Strickler 17.074, 4. 35 David Stremme 17.109, 5. 21c Taylor Cook 17.251, 6. 44 Kenny Wallace 17.288, 7. 00 David Reutimann 17.339, 8. 51 R.J. Otto 17.374, 9. 6a Ryan Ayers 16.398, 10. 19 Chad Bauer 17.402, 11. kc44 K.C. Burdette 17.407, 12. 7 Christian Thomas 17.433, 13. 91 Derrick Ramey 17.461, 14. 33 Jeff Matthews 17.504, 15. 64jr Billy Workman Jr. 17.570, 16. 5 Johnathan Taylor 17.586, 17. 7t Evan Taylor 17.601, 18. 8 Austin Holcombe 17.673, 19. 51p Joey Polevoy 17.687, 20. 11 Troy Loomis 17.718, 21. 28b Jason Brookover 17.733, 22. 3w Dylan Woodling 17.736, 23. 50 Justin Blevins 17.739, 24. 9 Ken Schrader 17.788, 25. 71d Dan Davies 17.832, 26. 2j Troy Johnson 17.849, 27. 2 Shawn Martin Jr. 17.910, 28. 25b Shawn Beasley 17.923, 29. 84 Ryan Toole 17.926, 30. 6 Dylan Browning 18.017, 31. 17c Coleman Evans 18.019, 32. 25 Mike Corbin 18.103, 33. 9s Slater McCray 18.119, 34. 61 Eric Hill 18.138, 35. 40 Josh Newman 18.143, 36. 5c Mack Coxe 18.227, 37. 312 Greg Brown 18.255, 38. 55 Alyssa Rowe 18.289, 39. 71 Jessie Hoskins 18.311, 40. 62 Daryl Lehn 19.389, 41. 98 Todd Canter 18.422, 42. 18p Brian Pyles 18.431, 43. 95f Chris Fletcher 18.499, 44. 97 Brandon Murphy 18.646, 45. f5 Richard Clew 18.749, 46. 17 Timmy Blackwell No Time, 47. p0 Brody Pompe No Time, 48. 92 Gary Brooks No Time

Last Chance Showdown 1 (8 Laps / Top 2 Transfer): 1. (4) 17c Coleman Evans, 2. (5) 71d Dan Davies, 3. (2) 2 Shawn Martin Jr., 4. (12) p0 Brody Pompe, 5. (3) 84 Ryan Toole, 6. (10) 95f Chris Fletcher, 7. (7) 312 Greg Brown, 8. (14) 50 Justin Blevins, 9. (9) f5 Richard Clew, 10. (11) 98 Todd Canter, 11. (1) Slater McCray, 12. (6) 40 Josh Newman, 13. (8) 71 Jessie Hoskins, 14. (13) 6a Ryan Ayers

Last Chance Showdown 2 (8 Laps / Top 2 Transfer): 1. (2) 51 R.J. Otto, 2. (1) 8 Austin Holcombe, 3. (3) 2j Troy Johnson, 4. (9) 17 Timmy Blackwell, 5. (7) 55 Alyssa Rowe, 6. (4) 25 Mike Corbin, 7. (10) 5c Mack Coxe, 8. (12) 97 Brandon Murphy, 9. (8) 62 Daryl Lehn, 10. (11) 61 Eric Hill, 11. (13) 18p Brian Pyles, 12. (5) 6 Dylan Browning, 13. (6) 11 Troy Loomis, 14. (14) 92 Gary Brooks

Heat 1-Group A (8 Laps / Top 5 Transfer): 1. (2) 21c Taylor Cook, 2. (1) 95 Michael Altobelli Jr., 3. (4) 91 Derrick Ramey, 4. (6) 28b Jason Brookover, 5. (5) 7t Evan Taylor, 6. (9) 9s Slater McCray, 7. (8) 84 Ryan Toole, 8. (7) 71d Dan Davies, 9. (10) 312 Greg Brown, 10. (12) f5 Richard Clew, 11. (11) 98 Todd Canter, 12. (3) 6a Ryan Ayers

Heat 2-Group B (8 Laps / Top 5 Transfer): 1. (2) 44 Kenny Wallace, 2. (1) 49 Brian Ruhlman, 3. (3) 19 Chad Bauer, 4. (4) 33 Jeff Matthews, 5. (6) 3w Dylan Woodling, 6. (5) 8 Austin Holcombe, 7. (7) 2j Troy Johnson, 8. (8) 6 Dylan Browning, 9. (10) 55 Alyssa Rowe, 10. (12) 17 Timmy Blackwell, 11. (9) 61 Eric Hill, 12. (11) 18p Brian Pyles

Heat 3-Group C (8 Laps / Top 5 Transfer): 1. (1) 8s Kyle Strickler, 2. (2) 00 David Reutimann, 3. (4) 64jr Billy Workman Jr., 4. (3) kc44 K.C. Burdette, 5. (5) 51p Joey Polevoy, 6. (7) 2 Shawn Martin Jr., 7. (8) 17c Coleman Evans, 8. (9) 40 Josh Newman, 9. (10) 71 Jessie Hoskins, 10. (11) 95f Chris Fletcher, 11. (12) p0 Brody Pompe, 12. (6) 50 Justin Blevins

Heat 4-Group D (8 Laps / Top 5 Transfer): 1. (1) 35 David Stremme, 2. (4) 5 Johnathan Taylor, 3. (3) 7 Christian Thomas, 4. (6) 9 Ken Schrader, 5. (7) 25b Shawn Beasley, 6. (2) 51 R.J. Otto, 7. (8) 25 Mike Corbin, 8. (5) 11 Troy Loomis, 9. (10) 62 Daryl Lehn, 10. (9) 5c Mack Coxe, 11. (11) 97 Brandon Murphy, 12. (12) 92 Gary Brooks

All Star Invitational Feature (20 Laps): 1. (7) 21c Taylor Cook, 2. (9) 19 Chad Bauer, 3. (4) 91 Derrick Ramey, 4. (2) 3w Dylan Woodling, 5. (13) 5 Johnathan Taylor, 6. (12) 49 Brian Ruhlman, 7. (10) 64jr Billy Workman Jr., 8. (19) 33 Jeff Matthews, 9. (8) p0 Brady Pompe, 10. (11) 8 Austin Holcombe, 11. (16) 9s Slater McCray, 12. (6) 51p Joey Polevoy, 13. (18) 55 Alyssa Rowe, 14. (3) 84 Ryan Toole, 15. (14) 6 Dylan Browning, 16. (5) 35 David Stremme, 17. (1) 00 David Reutimann, 18. (17) 7t Evan Taylor, 19. (15) 8 Kyle Stricker – Did Not Start: 71 Jessie Hoskins, 44 Kenny Wallace, 23k Ryan Ayers