Kolby Schroder Wins Mr. DIRT Track U.S.A.

Kolby Schroder was able to sweep around the outside of Darren Smith on lap 37 Thursday night to take the lead.  From there, he was able to pull away on the two remaining restarts to win the Super DIRTcar Series Mr. DIRT Track U.S.A., his first career Super DIRTcar Series victory and the biggest win of his career to date.

“[This was] one of the best cars that I’ve ever had here,” Schroder said after the race.  “It’s a testament to how hard our team works and the effort that we put in every week to come here.  Everything just fell into place.”

Schroder won by 3.501 seconds over Andy Bachetti.  Matt Sheppard was third, while Mat Williamson and Alex Yankowski came from the Last Chance Showdown to finish fourth and fifth.

By virtue of the redraw, Smith claimed the pole for the 100-lap feature.  He had struggled at Lebanon Valley in the past, but with Billy Decker in his corner, Smith brought a stout piece and was ready to go.  He was able to open a small gap on Tim Sears Jr. in the opening laps.

The race was interrupted six times by yellows, but none of the issues involved spins or wall contact.  Jack Lehner slowed on track to draw an early yellow on lap 11 with steering issues.  That ultimately put him out.

Schroder drew the ninth starting spot and quickly moved up the order.  Within a lap of the first restart, he was up to third.  Later on, Chirs Curtis slowed with a shock issue.  Schroder was able to get past Sears for second on the restart.

More problems for Curtis brought out another caution shortly afterwards.  It was on this restart that Schroder got past Smith for the lead.

Once in the lead, Schroder was able to take advantage of a wide track and clean air to pull away.  Further back, the top point contenders in the Super DIRTcar Series had struggled most of the night, but moved up the order in the race.  Yankowski just got the last transfer spot from the LCS, then moved up to seventh by lap 50.

The Valley regulars strutted their stuff for much of the race, at one point holding four of the top-five positions.  Schroder pulled out to a five-second lead over Marc Johnson before a caution came out with 19 laps to go when Matt Pupello had a tire go flat.

Bachetti was able to take second from Johnson with eight laps to go, but he could do nothing to prevent Schroder from taking the victory.  It is the 24^th time in the last 30 Super DIRTcar Series races at Lebanon Valley that a track regular has won.

By virtue of winning, Schroder earned an automatic starting spot in the Billy Whitaker Cars & Trux 200 at Oswego Speedway.  When asked if he would take it up, Schroder indicated that he would have to talk to his sponsors about it since Super DIRT Week is a rather expensive endeavor.

In Sportsman, Connor Prokop started from pole, but lost the lead to A.J. Albreada in turn 3 on the first lap.  Taylor Wason followed past.  Further back, Tim Hartman Jr. was quickly moving up from seventh on the grid.

Following a caution due to a John Agor spin, Hartman immediately put the pressure on Albreada and Wason.  He was able to take second from Wason on lap 5.  A little more than a lap later, he was in the lead.

From there, Hartman was able to pull away with ease to take the win by 3.653 seconds over Albreada.  Connor Prokop was third, then Nick Giardini and Wason.

In the Pro Stock feature, Frank Twing earned the pole for the feature and made good use of it.  When the green came out, he was able to run away from the pack.  Meanwhile, Paul LaRochelle, Jason Meltz and Tom Dean were fighting it out for second.

Dave Stickles was forced to retire from the even on lap 5 when his car locked up in turn 4.  That bunched up the pack, but Twing was able to get away again on the restart.

Further back, Chris Stalker and Zach Sorrentino, who will fight it out for the Pro Stock championship this weekend, fought hard here.  Sorrentino ended up spinning out in a racing incident on lap 15 to bring out a yellow, while Stalker cut a tire and was forced to pits.

An additional caution and a good run allowed Sorrentino to get himself up to second, but he could not prevent Twing from taking the win.  Stalker ended up third, then Meltz and Dean.

Super DIRTcar Series Mr. DIRT Track U.S.A. Results (100 laps): 1) Kolby Schroder, 2) Andy Bachetti, 3) Matt Sheppard, 4) Mat Williamson, 5) Alex Yankowski, 6) Marc Johnson, 7) Tim Sears Jr., 8) Eddie Marshall, 9) Darren Smith, 10) Alex Payne, 11) L.J. Lombardo, 12) Jimmy Phelps, 13) Neil Stratton, 14) Keith Flach, 15) Erick Rudolph, 16) John Virgilio, 17) Felix Roy, 18) Peter Britten, 19) Kyle Sheldon, 20) Mike Mahaney, 21) Michael Trautschold, 22) Matt Pupello, 23) Chris Curtis, 24) Matt Stangle, 25) Kyle Armstrong, 26) Donny Travaglin, 27) Brett Haas, 28) Jack Lehner, 29) Anthony Perrego.  DNQ: Ryan Charland, Justin Stone, Garrett Poland, Montgomery Tremont

Sportsman Mr. Crate Track U.S.A. Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Tim Hartman Jr., 2) A.J. Albreada, 3) Connor Prokop, 4) Nick Giardini, 5) Taylor Wason, 6) Dylan Grogan, 7) Ray Hall Jr., 8) Michael Sabia, 9) Brady Cordova, 10) Tavien Blowers, 11) Justin Gozzi, 12) Chris Crane Jr., 13) Owen Lewis, 14) Connor Crane, 15) Nick Brundige, 16) E.J. Gallup, 17) John Agor, 18) Karl Barnes, 19) Alex Palmer-Sawyer, 20) Cam Van Zandt, 21) Anthony Maxon

Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Frank Twing, 2) Zach Sorrentino, 3) Chris Stalker, 4) Jason Meltz, 5) Tom Dean, 6) Paul LaRochelle, 7) Shawn Perez, 8) Shawn Perez Jr., 9) Richard Spencer, 10) Lou Gancarz, 11) Ryan Crellin, 12) Brian Keough, 13) Dave Stickles