Mike Warren – DIRTcar – If there’s a perfect way to kick off NAPA Super DIRT Week, Josh Coonradt has figured it out.
One year after starting Super DIRT Week 49 with a Tuesday night win at Brewerton, the Fort Johnson, NY driver did it again, leading wire-to-wire to earn the DIRTcar Pro Stock Series win Tuesday night during Weedsport Speedway’s Super DIRT Week Kickoff Party.
However, the night was anything but smooth for the Capital Region driver.
After dominating the first 15 laps of the race, Chuck Dumblewski reeled Coonradt back in as the two reached traffic.
That’s when the path to victory almost slipped away from Coonradt, as he made contact with Caden Dumblewski, forcing him to spin in Turn 1.
Coonradt avoided catastrophe by inches as he swung his #00X to the outside, narrowly missing Dumblewski’s car and keeping his bid for victory alive.
From there, Coonradt aced several restarts and held back challenges from Jason Casey to earn a trip onto Weedsport’s Victory Hill.
He apologized to Caden Dumblewski for what happened as soon as he got out of the car.
“I have to apologize to Caden Dumblewski,” Coonradt said. “I got into him and turned him. He’s a great kid, and he’s come a long way, and that’s 100% my fault.”
While Coonradt fought off several challenges toward the end of the race, he also fought adversity throughout the night. He said he struggled in Qualifying and didn’t know what to expect in the Feature.
“We were struggling in the beginning of the night,” Coonradt said. “When we got to start on the outside pole, I didn’t really know if we’d be a competitor tonight. I thought maybe a top 10. But we made it to Victory Lane, and I’ll take that.”
Jason Casey, from Ashley Falls, MA, crossed the line second after starting eighth.
He tried the outside line in the final two laps but couldn’t get the momentum he needed to pass Coonradt.
“I was trying to muster up something at the end, but there wasn’t much on the top, and Josh had the bottom covered,” Casey said. “If I had a few more laps to experiment up there, I might’ve had something. But we’ll take second. It’s a good start to DIRT week.”
Chuck Dumblewski finished third in his first appearance at Weedsport. The Amsterdam, NY driver said his car was better early in the race.
“We were pretty good,” Dumblewski said. “I mean, we’ve never been here before. The track is super slick. I was definitely better early on when I got to [Coonradt] in lap traffic, but once we restarted after that, I kind of lost my tires. But all in all, it was a good run.”
Jay Casey, the race’s hard charger, finished fourth after starting 20th. Luke Horning rounded out the top five.
Now that Coonradt has won twice on Tuesday of Super DIRT Week, he’s set his sights on winning another event for the second time—the DIRTcar Pro Stock 50. He hopes to use the valuable momentum he gained at Weedsport to have the perfect start and perfect end to Racing’s Biggest Party.
UP NEXT: The DIRTcar Pro Stock Series returns to action at Oswego Speedway on Thursday, Oct. 6, for Qualifying and Heat Races, before concluding their portion of NAPA Super DIRT Week 50 with the DIRTcar Pro Stock 50 on Saturday, Oct. 8.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either at DIRTVision.com or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
DIRTcar Pro Stock Feature: 1. 00X-Josh Coonradt[2]; 2. 324-Jason Casey[8]; 3. 7D-Chucky Dumblewski[3]; 4. 322-Jay Casey[20]; 5. 2H-Luke Horning[10]; 6. 72-Bruno Richard[4]; 7. 72G-Denis Gauvreau[1]; 8. 14J-Johnny Rivers[15]; 9. 11-Devon Camenga[19]; 10. 9-Shane Henderson[13]; 11. 7C-Caden Dumblewski[14]; 12. 56-Jay Fitzgerald[17]; 13. 17-Nick Hilt[12]; 14. 09J-Shawn Perez[21]; 15. (DNF) X15-Tyler Bushey[9]; 16. (DNF) 2-Pete Stefanski[5]; 17. (DNF) 30-Zach Daniels[6]; 18. (DNF) 55-David Stickles[18]; 19. (DNF) 57-Charles Mcspirit[16]; 20. (DNF) 4-Dean Charbonneau[7]; 21. (DNF) 1X-Justin White[11]