Mike Mahaney, Billy Decker, Keith Flach, Brett Hearn Among Big Winners For Big Blocks At World Finals Thursday

Story By: JOE GRABIANOWSKI / DIRTCAR – CONCORD, NC – Forty-two Big-Block Modifieds made the tow to premier dirt track racing facility The Dirt Track at Charlotte for the 2018 edition of the World of Outlaws World Finals presented by Can-Am.

Two rounds of timed Hot Laps and two sets of Heat Races set the lineups for both Friday and Saturday’s Feature events. The big winner was Mike Mahaney from King Ferry, NY who took the checkered flag in both of his Heat Races.

Matt Sheppard started his World Finals weekend off well with a Heat Race win passing two cars on his way to the checkered flag: “I got lucky on a couple restarts. We were able to pick off a few cars and get out from. Luckily there weren’t any more cautions. Things just really went our way.”

Brett Hearn has not had the best year on the Super DIRTcar Series trail, by his standards but he rolled off the trailer fast in Charlotte. Hearn said, “Car feels fantastic. Of course, last year we blew a rear end in Time Trials and it ruined our whole weekend. So far, we have a different scenario this time around. I’m just happy to be in the draw and we’ll see what happens with the weather. It could be a day-time race. We don’t know yet. We’ll see what happens.”

Max McLaughlin took a Heat Race win but he isn’t satisfied with the car. “We had a lot of work to do after qualifying. We struggled a little bit with being tight there and we were lucky enough to get to the ready early. We got a good restart where we could capitalize and gain a bit of ground. There’s still a little bit of work to do to get better and try to catch the three other Heat winners. Our car’s got speed so it’s just fine tuning from here.” McLaughlin’s teammate Jimmy Phelps struggled in the Heat Races.

Mike Mahaney was the class of the field in qualifying, “We were really fast off the trailer last year and that worked into this year. We came back with the same setup. Our Time Trial laps were very similar We had some troubles in Time Trials that kept us from getting quick-time but at least it put us on the front row of the heat. The tough part of the Heat Races was the restarts. They were tricky getting to the front because you didn’t want to start on the outside row because you’d get hit with a slide job but I wanted to be on the outside going into turn one. Luckily we were able to hang on those restarts and stay in front.”

Unfortunately for Erick Rudolph, a severe vibration forced him off the track during his second Heat Race and will need to qualify through the Last Chance Showdown on Saturday.

Friday Feature Time Trials and Heat Race Results:

Qualifying Flight-A
1. 91-Billy Decker, 15.839; 2. O7-Tim Kerr, 15.897; 3. 9s-Matt Sheppard, 16.008; 4. 66-Matt Williamson, 16.078; 5. 54-Steve Bernard, 16.114; 6. 6jh-Josh Hohenforst, 16.161; 7. 19w-Justin Wright, 16.276; 8. 3-Justin Haers, 16.32; 9. 8-Rich Scagliotta, 16.568; 10. 48T-Dave Rauscher, 16.641; 11. 63-Adam Roberts, 16.773

Qualifying Flight-B
1. 43-Keith Flach, 15.871; 2. 42p-Pat Ward, 15.878; 3. 6h-Max McLaughlin, 16.004; 4. 111-Demetrois Drellos, 16.05; 5. 21J-Danny Johnson, 16.151; 6. 18Jr-Louie Jackson, 16.156; 7. 19-Tim Fuller, 16.284; 8. 17d-Marcus Dinkins, 16.32; 9. 28z-Gary Lindberg, 16.357; 10. 2L-Jack Lehner, 16.398; DQ. 21e-Gary Edwards, 16.064

Qualifying Flight-C
1. 88-Mike Mahaney, 15.683; 2. 19m-Jessy Mueller, 15.783; 3. 21a-Peter Britten, 15.874; 4. 25r-Erick Rudolph, 15.906; 5. 66x-Carey Terrence, 15.954; 6. 25j-Chad Jeseo, 16.162; 7. 39-Tim McCreadie, 16.217; 8. 13r-Rick Regalski, 16.38; 9. X-Edward Kitchell, 19.336; 10. 7m-Michael Marseca, NT

Qualifying Flight-D
1. 20-Brett Hearn, 15.674; 2. 21b-Yan Bussiere, 15.797; 3. 5H-Chris Hile, 16.124; 4. 98h-Jimmy Phelps, 16.147; 5. 37m-Jeremiah Shingledecker, 16.164; 6. 5st-Tyler Siri, 16.246; 7. 45F-Steve Feder, 16.416; 8. 65-Scott Hitchen, 16.775; 9. 13-Ralph McBride, 17.295; DQ. 43a-Austin Langenstein, 16.142

Heat #1 – Flight (A) – (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 9s-Matt Sheppard [3]; 2. 91-Billy Decker [1]; 3. 6jh-Josh Hohenforst [6]; 4. 66-Matt Williamson [4]; 5. 54-Steve Bernard [5]; 6. O7-Tim Kerr [2]; 7. 3-Justin Haers [8]; 8. 8-Rich Scagliotta [9]; 9. 48T-Dave Rauscher [10]; 10. 63-Adam Roberts [11]; 11. 19w-Justin Wright [7]

Heat #2 – Flight (B) – (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 6h-Max McLaughlin [3]; 2. 42p-Pat Ward [2]; 3. 21J-Danny Johnson [5]; 4. 19-Tim Fuller [7]; 5. 43-Keith Flach [1]; 6. 28z-Gary Lindberg [9]; 7. 17d-Marcus Dinkins [8]; 8. 21e-Gary Edwards [11]; 9. 2L-Jack Lehner [10]; 10. 18Jr-Louie Jackson [6]; 11. 111-Demetrois Drellos [4]

Heat #3 – Flight (C) – (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 88-Mike Mahaney [1]; 2. 19m-Jessy Mueller [2]; 3. 21a-Peter Britten [3]; 4. 66x-Carey Terrence [5]; 5. 25r-Erick Rudolph [4]; 6. 39-Tim McCreadie [7]; 7. 7m-Michael Marseca [10]; 8. 13r-Rick Regalski [8]; 9. 25j-Chad Jeseo [6]; 10. X-Edward Kitchell [9]

Heat #4 – Flight (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 20-Brett Hearn [1]; 2. 21b-Yan Bussiere [2]; 3. 5H-Chris Hile [3]; 4. 5st-Tyler Siri [6]; 5. 98h-Jimmy Phelps [4]; 6. 37m-Jeremiah Shingledecker [5]; 7. 45F-Steve Feder [7]; 8. 65-Scott Hitchen [8]; 9. 13-Ralph McBride [9]; 10. 43a-Austin Langenstein [10]

Saturday Feature Time Trials and Heat Race Results:

Qualifying Flight-A
1. 91-Billy Decker, 15.579; 2. 25r-Erick Rudolph, 15.985; 3. 20-Brett Hearn, 16.036; 4. 19w-Justin Wright, 16.173; 5. 21J-Danny Johnson, 16.246; 6. O7-Tim Kerr, 16.275; 7. 21a-Peter Britten, 16.28; 8. 45F-Steve Feder, 16.586; 9. 17d-Marcus Dinkins, 16.838; 10. 28z-Gary Lindberg, 16.848; 11. 5H-Chris Hile, NT

Qualifying Flight-B

1. 111-Demetrois Drellos, 16.003; 2. 9s-Matt Sheppard, 16.01; 3. 3-Justin Haers, 16.054; 4. 25j-Chad Jeseo, 16.133; 5. 66x-Carey Terrence, 16.159; 6. 18Jr-Louie Jackson, 16.186; 7. 98h-Jimmy Phelps, 16.247; 8. 21e-Gary Edwards, 16.426; 9. 63-Adam Roberts, 16.933; 10. X-Edward Kitchell, 18.637; 11. 43a-Austin Langenstein, NT

Qualifying Flight-C
1. 88-Mike Mahaney, 15.713; 2. 19-Tim Fuller, 15.888; 3. 37m-Jeremiah Shingledecker, 16.047; 4. 19m-Jessy Mueller, 16.162; 5. 66-Matt Williamson, 16.33; 6. 48T-Dave Rauscher, 16.44; 7. 2L-Jack Lehner, 16.562; 8. 13r-Rick Regalski, 16.569; 9. 5st-Tyler Siri, 16.678; 10. 8-Rich Scagliotta, 17.132

Qualifying Flight-D
1. 43-Keith Flach, 15.705; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie, 15.906; 3. 54-Steve Bernard, 15.937; 4. 7m-Michael Maresca, 16.073; 5. 6h-Max McLaughlin, 16.111; 6. 21b-Yan Bussiere, 16.129; 7. 42p-Pat Ward, 16.173; 8. 6jh-Josh Hohenforst, 16.35; 9. 65-Scott Hitchen, 16.637; 10. 13-Ralph McBride, 17.611

Heat #1 – Flight (A) – (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 91-Billy Decker [1]; 2. 21a-Peter Britten [7]; 3. 20-Brett Hearn [3]; 4. 21J-Danny Johnson [5]; 5. O7-Tim Kerr [6]; 6. 28z-Gary Lindberg [10]; 7. 45F-Steve Feder [8]; 8. 17d-Marcus Dinkins [9]; 9. 5H-Chris Hile [11]; 10. 25r-Erick Rudolph [2]; 11. 19w-Justin Wright [4]

Heat #2 – Flight (B) – (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 111-Demetrois Drellos [1]; 2. 9s-Matt Sheppard [2]; 3. 3-Justin Haers [3]; 4. 25j-Chad Jeseo [4]; 5. 66x-Carey Terrence [5]; 6. 98h-Jimmy Phelps [7]; 7. 63-Adam Roberts [9]; 8. 21e-Gary Edwards [8]; 9. 18Jr-Louie Jackson [6]; 10. X-Edward Kitchell [10]; 11. 43a-Austin Langenstein [11]

Heat #3 – Flight (C) – (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 88-Mike Mahaney [1]; 2. 19-Tim Fuller [2]; 3. 37m-Jeremiah Shingledecker [3]; 4. 48T-Dave Rauscher [6]; 5. 66-Matt Williamson [5]; 6. 19m-Jessy Mueller [4]; 7. 5st-Tyler Siri [9]; 8. 13r-Rick Regalski [8]; 9. 8-Rich Scagliotta [10]; 10. 2L-Jack Lehner [7]

Heat #4 – Flight (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 43-Keith Flach [1]; 2. 7m-Michael Maresca [4]; 3. 39-Tim McCreadie [2]; 4. 6h-Max McLaughlin [5]; 5. 54-Steve Bernard [3]; 6. 42p-Pat Ward [7]; 7. 21b-Yan Bussiere [6]; 8. 65-Scott Hitchen [9]; 9. 13-Ralph McBride [10]; 10. 6jh-Josh Hohenforst [8]