RPW Exclusive: Another Schedule Change Sends Teams Scrambling At The World Short Track Championship

Column By: TREVOR GAVIN / RPW – CONCORD, NC – When the sun rose over The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, NC this morning teams were ready for a hectic one day show of qualifying and features among the nine classes in attendance.

However, shortly after 9am, DIRTcar reverted to their original two-day show format. This meant that Saturday will serve solely as a qualifying day with timed hot laps, heat races and the All-Star invitational features. Sunday will now be the Last Chance Showdowns and Championship features.

As of 9:30am 383 cars had checked-in for the today’s event and with a forecast of temperatures in the high fifties it should make for a great day of racing. Timed Hot Laps will start at 2:00pm and opening ceremonies at 5:00 pm. The night will conclude with the All-Star Invitation 20 lap features for the Pro Late Models, UMP Modifieds, Northeast Sportsman and Northeast Pro Stocks.

The announced schedule change was news to all teams. When the gates opened at 9:00am teams were expecting to start with heat races at 10:00am but now everyone will start fresh and get another shot at a fast lap.

Jason Casey, driver of the #324 Pro Stock from Canaan, CT was originally qualified 12th but can now improve his time. In a text conversation this morning, he said that the team is able to apply some changes they had made after Thursday’s practice and is hopeful that those will help his Jay’s Lawn Care, Scag Commercial Mowers, Crane’s Outdoor Power Equipment, Dave’s Tire and Auto machine climb the speed charts.

With the announcement of the features moving to Sunday, many of the Northeast teams had to scramble to change their plans. Sunday was also listed as a rain date on the original schedule but more teams had plans of heading home after the races Saturday. Defending Sportsman Champion David Marcuccilli was planning on driving back to New York after the checkered flag fell Saturday night. Now, he and his Page Trucking, All-Star Contractors, Mohawk Northeast, Quicktime Shocks team extended their hotel stay another night.

Pro Stock driver Kenny Martin was planning on staying in Charlotte through next week but members of his Carman Body, Charlton Oil Company, Bobco Video team had wished the schedule stayed as it was announce Friday night.

“I’m okay with it because I’m staying here all next week,” Martin said. “Some of my crew guys aren’t happy and some of the other teams aren’t happy with it because of work (back home). What can you do?”

At 2:00pm the Sportsman will be the second division of cars to take hot laps and set their qualifying times. The Pro Stocks will be the fourth group out to reset their qualifying times and heat race lineups. After scheduled opening ceremonies at 5:00pm, the Sportsman and Pro Stocks will be the third and fourth divisions to run their Heat Races.