RPW Exclusive: Chris Corbett Has Enjoyed His Time Racing Sportsman In The USA; Plans To Return In ’19

Column By: TREVOR GAVIN / RPW – CONCORD, NC – When Chris Corbett crossed the line first in the DIRTcar Sportsman All-Star Feature Sunday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, he thought it was the best way to cap off his first campaign at the World Short Track Championship.

The thrill of victory was short lived as his car came up light on the scales, giving the win to his teammate Tyler Thompson.

Corbett will have a long trip back from North Carolina to think about what could have been. However, that’s not just the drive from Charlotte to the race shop in Volney, NY. After that 12-hour jaunt, Corbett will start an even longer trip…back to where he lives…Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. The Aussie took his love of racing all the way to the USA for the first time this year.

Corbett races in the Australian V8 Dirt Modified division at the track his family owns, Grafton Speedway, in Grafton, New South Wales. The story of how he got to the United States to race is longer than the 36-hour trip from his home to Syracuse earlier this month.

“I was able to get in touch with Peter Britten through his JBR Motorsport store back home (in Australia) to find out how I could come to the states to race,” Corbett said while waiting out the rain on Saturday night.

JBR Motorsport is owned by Peter Britten and sells Troyer Race Cars to competitors in Australia.

“From there, I got in touch with Jan and Kevin Britten (Peter’s Mom and Brother) who put me in touch with Billy Colton, owner of Troyer Race Cars,” he said. “From there, Bill put me in touch with Jason Simmons who had a car for sale in the states.”

Once Corbett had the connections and a lead on a car, he made his first trip to the states this summer. He raced at Fulton this past July and August alongside Thompson and worked out of the Thompson’s race shop.

“My best finish this summer was a seventh at Fulton,” he recalled.

In addition to Fulton, Corbett also ran at Utica-Rome Speedway before the long trip home.

“I loved Fulton,” he said with a smile. “It’s fast and racing on the high bank was great.”

Corbett and Thompson struck up an immediate friendship to go along with their racing relationship. Thompson kept Corbett’s car at his shop and had it ready for Chris’ return to the states.

“I was coming back for Super DIRT Week at Oswego and Tyler convinced me to stay longer so I could run Charlotte,” he said.

Corbett finished 20th, on the lead lap , n the 75-lap main event at Oswego but was happy to make the show. He time trailed 62nd, but was the last car to transfer to the A-Main with a third place finish in the final last chance qualifier.

Despite the uphill climb, Corbett enjoyed his first Super DIRT Week experience.

“Oswego was a good track,” he said. “I liked how you could just run the high line and keep the pedal to the floor.”

The Aussie started out the event in Charlotte by timing 27th during Thursday’s hot lap session. Since Friday was a complete washout, DIRTcar decided to have all cars re-time on Saturday. Corbett ended up starting fourth in the second heat race that evening. Teammate Tyler Thompson took home the win in that heat and Corbett improved to third.

After a 16th place finish in the Championship feature earlier in the day on Sunday, Corbett drew the pole for the All-Star Invitational event and led all 20 laps. He held off teammate Thompson for the win until coming up light at the scales in his number A48 Hession’s Auto Parts Troyer.

“This has been fun,” he said. “Now, to get back home, we have to drive from Charlotte to Syracuse. Then, I will fly from Syracuse to JFK. After that, it’s JFK to California and then a final flight back home to Australia.”

The trip home may be long, but Corbett is looking forward to returning next summer to race and is hoping to get Tyler Thompson down to Australia to run with the Australian V8 Dirt Modifieds.