Siri Puts Everyone On Notice; He’s For Real With First Career Win At DIRTcar Nationals

Column By: DYLAN FRIEBEL / RPW – BARBERVILLE, FL – After Wednesday nights Big Block Feature at Volusia Speedway Park was postponed to Thursday due to mud and fog, everyone was wondering what changes to make to the car to run a feature so early in the program last night.

Not many drivers race a full feature with such “heavy” track conditions, but it proved just right for the Outlaw Speedway Owner Tyler Siri.

After winning his heat on Wednesday and drawing the outside pole for the feature, he was poised to show the world what he was made of.

“I’ll tell you what, this is awesome,” Siri said after grabbing his first career Gator trophy. “We’ve only been down here a few times, and to come down here and get a Gator, beat the best of the best in the business, it’s a huge honor.”

The track owner from Horseheads, NY started second at the drop of the green flag and stayed around the top three or four the whole night. While running in the runner-up behind Stewart Friesen, Siri saw his chance as Friesen made contact with the outside wall on lap 26 and suffered a cut tire.

That handed the Superior Crushing #5* the lead and he never looked back.

It was his first Super DIRTcar Series checkered flag in Florida for Siri. However, it wasn’t easy. With four laps to go, he had to get a good restart and hold off the likes of Tim McCreadie, Jimmy Horton and Danny Johnson.

“I gotta say thanks to my team,” he said. “We unloaded real fast when we got here. The car’s been awesome and the track was great tonight. To hold off T-Mac and these guys, man this is awesome.”

After the high of winning an elusive DIRTcar Nationals Gator, Siri time-trailed fourth in regularly-scheduled Thursday heat and came home third. However, it was one spot out of the redraw for the night’s second feature. That put him 12th in the main event.

That was as high as he would get, however, as he struggled with the car and came home 21st.

While the second feature of the night didn’t go to plan for the 5* team, early Thursday, they sure put everyone on notice of what they were capable of.

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 5s-Tyler Siri [2]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie [6]; 3. 43-Jimmy Horton [8]; 4. 27J-Danny Johnson [4]; 5. 42p-Pat Ward [10]; 6. 6h-Max McLaughlin [5]; 7. 85-H.J. Bunting [12]; 8. 74-J.R. Heffner [25]; 9. 9-Ryan Watt [15]; 10. 99L-Larry Wight [3]; 11. 5-Ryan Godown [22]; 12. 30M-Joseph Watson [17]; 13. 88-Mike Mahaney [9]; 14. 20-Brett Hearn [13]; 15. 91-Billy Decker [14]; 16. 25R-Erick Rudolph [19]; 17. 19m-Jessey Mueller [20]; 18. 118-Jim Britt [26]; 19. 44-Stewart Friesen [7]; 20. 46-Jeremy Smith [18]; 21. 1-Billy Pauch [11]; 22. 3-Justin Haers [1]; 23. 165-Rex King [24]; 24. 98h-Jimmy Phelps [23]; 25. 9s-Matt Sheppard [21]; 26. 32-Jim Rasey [16]

Qualifying Flight-A: 1. 44-Stewart Friesen, 17.559; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie, 17.61; 3. 88-Mike Mahaney, 17.758; 4. 30M-Joseph Watson, 17.847; 5. 9s-Matt Sheppard, 17.902; 6. 20-Brett Hearn, 17.903; 7. 98h-Jimmy Phelps, 17.945; 8. 1G-Darwin Greene, 18.008; 9. 35-Francois Bellemare, 18.488; 10. 109-Billy Whittaker, 18.786; 11. 6d-Dillon Steuer, 18.873

Qualifying Flight-B: 1. 43-Jimmy Horton, 17.383; 2. 46-Jeremy Smith, 17.743; 3. 6h-Max McLaughlin, 17.87; 4. 30-Jamie Mills, 17.881; 5. 42p-Pat Ward, 17.945; 6. 91-Billy Decker, 18.09; 7. 17-Kyle Sheldon, 18.279; 8. 48t-Dave Rauscher, 18.339; 9. 44R-Russell Morseman, 18.482; 10. 118-Jim Britt, 18.524; 11. 73-Kevin Poitras, 20.277

Qualifying Flight-C: 1. 7-Rick Laubach, 17.153; 2. 3-Justin Haers, 17.452; 3. 21-Yan Bussiere, 17.653; 4. 99L-Larry Wight, 17.654; 5. 1-Billy Pauch, 17.686; 6. 74-J.R. Heffner, 17.755; 7. 9-Ryan Watt, 17.872; 8. 19k-Brett Kressley, 17.894; 9. cb3-Chad Brachmann, 18.202; 10. 19-Tim Fuller, 18.222; 11. 25R-Erick Rudolph, NT

Qualifying Flight-D: 1. 5s-Tyler Siri, 17.545; 2. 85-H.J. Bunting, 17.636; 3. 32-Jim Rasey, 17.685; 4. 27J-Danny Johnson, 17.736; 5. 19m-Jessey Mueller, 17.764; 6. 5-Ryan Godown, 17.781; 7. 165-Rex King, 17.945; 8. 65-Scott Hitchens, 18.055; 9. 96-Jean-Frrancois Corriveau, 18.117; 10. 4-Billy VanInwegen, 18.343; 11. 13-Rick Regalski, 18.459

Heat #1 – Flight (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer: 1. 44-Stewart Friesen [1]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie [2]; 3. 88-Mike Mahaney [3]; 4. 20-Brett Hearn [6]; 5. 30M-Joseph Watson [4]; 6. 9s-Matt Sheppard [5]; 7. 98h-Jimmy Phelps [7]; 8. 1G-Darwin Greene [8]; 9. 109-Billy Whittaker [10]; 10. 6d-Dillon Steuer [11]; 11. 35-Francois Bellemare [9]

Heat #2 – Flight (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer: 1. 6h-Max McLaughlin [3]; 2. 43-Jimmy Horton [1]; 3. 42p-Pat Ward [5]; 4. 91-Billy Decker [6]; 5. 46-Jeremy Smith [2]; 6. 48t-Dave Rauscher [8]; 7. 118-Jim Britt [10]; 8. 17-Kyle Sheldon [7]; 9. 44R-Russell Morseman [9]; 10. 30-Jamie Mills [4]; 11. 73-Kevin Poitras [11

Heat #3 – Flight (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer: 1. 3-Justin Haers [2]; 2. 99L-Larry Wight [4]; 3. 1-Billy Pauch [5]; 4. 9-Ryan Watt [7]; 5. 25R-Erick Rudolph [11]; 6. 21-Yan Bussiere [3]; 7. 74-J.R. Heffner [6]; 8. cb3-Chad Brachmann [9]; 9. 19-Tim Fuller [10]; 10. 19k-Brett Kressley [8]; 11. 7-Rick Laubach [1]

Heat #4 – Flight (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer: 1. 5s-Tyler Siri [1]; 2. 27J-Danny Johnson [4]; 3. 85-H.J. Bunting [2]; 4. 32-Jim Rasey [3]; 5. 19m-Jessey Mueller [5]; 6. 5-Ryan Godown [6]; 7. 165-Rex King [7]; 8. 4-Billy VanInwegen [10]; 9. 65-Scott Hitchens [8]; 10. 96-Jean-Frrancois Corriveau [9]; 11. 13-Rick Regalski [11]

Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer: 1. 9s-Matt Sheppard [1]; 2. 98h-Jimmy Phelps [3]; 3. 74-J.R. Heffner [4]; 4. 19k-Brett Kressley [10]; 5. cb3-Chad Brachmann [6]; 6. 21-Yan Bussiere [2]; 7. 6d-Dillon Steuer [9]; 8. 1G-Darwin Greene [5]; 9. 109-Billy Whittaker [7]; 10. 35-Francois Bellemare [11]; 11. 19-Tim Fuller [8]; 12. 7-Rick Laubach [12]

Last Chance Showdown 2 (10-Laps) – Top 3 Transfer:1. 5-Ryan Godown [2]; 2. 165-Rex King [4]; 3. 118-Jim Britt [3]; 4. 48t-Dave Rauscher [1]; 5. 4-Billy VanInwegen [6]; 6. 13-Rick Regalski [12]; 7. 65-Scott Hitchens [8]; 8. 44R-Russell Morseman [7]; 9. 96-Jean-Frrancois Corriveau [10]; 10. 73-Kevin Poitras [11]; 11. 30-Jamie Mills [9]; 12. 17-Kyle Sheldon [5]