Diamond State 50 Fires Off For Short Track Super Series August 11th At Delaware Int’l

Story By: BRETT DEYO / SHORT TRACK SUPER SERIES – DELMAR, DE – A Delaware dirt-track tradition continues Tuesday, August 11 at Delaware International Speedway.

The Cathell family’s half-mile clay oval hosts the Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series (STSS) Fueled By Sunoco Modifieds and Crate 602 Sportsman next Tuesday during the ‘Diamond State 50’ annual running sponsored by Hurlock Auto & Speed Supply of Hurlock, Md.

STSS Modifieds of the Velocita-USA South Region presented by Design for Vision and Sunglass Central will race 50 laps for $5,000 to win, $1,000 to win and $400 to start plus special awards and bonuses. STSS Crate 602 Sportsman (25 laps, $1,500 to win), Delaware Super Trucks and Delmarva Chargers complete the program.

The ‘Diamond State 50’ moniker brings with it a storied history at Delaware International Speedway.

The first ‘Diamond State 50’ was contested in 1999 as a Modified vs. Late Model Challenge. Legendary Gary Stuhler etched his name as the inaugural winner. The same format continued for ’00 and ’01 with Kenny Brightbill and Jimmy Horton taking the victories.

Modifieds and Super Late Models split for the ’02 edition and again it was Horton with the Modified triumph and David Hill the Super Late Model winner.

After weather took the ’03 edition, Ricky Elliott topped the ’04 Modified portion and Kenny Pettyjohn was the Super Late Model victor. New York State invader Danny Johnson bested the Modified field in ’05 and David Hill again was the Super Late Model victor.

After an absence of 10 years, Delaware International promoter Charlie Cathell and Short Track Super Series organizer Brett Deyo agreed to bring the event back in 2015 under the STSS sanction.

David Van Horn Jr. broke through in the return of the ‘Diamond State 50’ in ’15 and first-ever Short Track Super Series race at the speedway. Stewart Friesen invaded and won the ’16 event. A year later, Friesen was again in contention for the win, but Ryan Watt swept past on the outside to steal the checkered.

Matt Sheppard emerged from a side-by-side battle with Watt to earn the ’18 triumph and repeated that conquest a year ago, this time after racing wheel-to-wheel with Keystone State veteran Craig Von Dohren.

Whose name will be added to this prestigious list on Aug. 11?

Complete ‘Diamond State 50’ race information can be found at the following link: http://shorttracksuperseries.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/DiamondState50GeneralInfoSheet.pdf

There is an added incentive for a Modified driver to sweep both STSS events in the state of Delaware in August: the ‘Diamond State 50’ on Aug. 11 and the ‘Blast at the Beach’ at Del.’s Georgetown Speedway Aug. 25.

Should one driver sweep the ‘Diamond State 50’ and ‘Blast at the Beach’ feature events with back-to-back victories, that competitor will receive a cash bonus of $2,000 thanks to Stockley Tavern of Georgetown.

If a single driver is not able to win both events, the driver with the best average finish between the two races will take home $1,000. The tiebreaker will be the finishing order of the ‘Blast at the Beach’ event at Georgetown.