RPW Exclusive: Friday’s World Short Track Championship Was About Making The Show For Sportsman & Pro Stock Racers
News Director 
Column By: BRETT HORLACHER / RPW – CONCORD, NC – The DIRTcar Northeast Sportsman and Pro Stocks ran their heat races on Friday night during the second evening of the 2023 World Short Track Championship.
Here’s how things stacked up.
The Pro Stock heats qualified six with the top three going to the redraw. All others will run in the Last Chance Qualifier on Saturday.
- Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 2H-Luke Horning[1]; 2. 2-Pete Stefanski[2]; 3. 04-Jaxson Ryan[4]; 4. 93-Kenny Martin[8]; 5. 35-Jonathan Lemay[3]; 6. 25Y-Ken Griffin[5]; 7. 4M-Jordan Modiano[9]; 8. 56-John Fitzgerald[7]; 9. 58-Roxanne Roy[10]; 10. 28-Philip DeFiglio[6]
- Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 72G-Denis Gauvreau[1]; 2. 14-Kim Duell[10]; 3. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[3]; 4. 15-Guy Viens[4]; 5. 9-Shane Henderson[5]; 6. 5-Ian Bressette[6]; 7. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[2]; 8. 63-Ryan Crellin[9]; 9. 01-Francois Adam[8]; 10. 6C-Brian Carter[7]
- Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 8-Marc Lalonde[2]; 2. 14J-Johnny Rivers Jr[4]; 3. 9J-Eric Jean Louis[1]; 4. 33-Bruno Cyr[3]; 5. 44X-Bruno Richard[6]; 6. 32-Jonathan Levesque[7]; 7. 6-Stephane Lebrun[8]; 8. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[9]; 9. 7-Sean Brierley[10]; 10. 8C-Sean Corr[5]
The Sportsman had four heat races with the top four making it to the A-Main. The top two went to the redraw while, just like the Pro Stocks, the rest will have to run the LCQ on Saturday.
- Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 22C-Cedric Gauvreau[1]; 2. 318-Dave Richer[2]; 3. 44S-Gordon Smith[6]; 4. 52-Jessica Power[4]; 5. 49-Chris Jakubiak[5]; 6. 7X-Chuck Miller[8]; 7. 22S-Dane Hedlund[7]; 8. 03-Joshua Jock[3]
- Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 32C-Carter Crooker[2]; 2. 0-Michael Wright[1]; 3. 5C-Ayden Cipriano[3]; 4. 35T-Cameron Tuttle[5]; 5. 813-Jason Quenneville[4]; 6. 16X-Savannah Laflair[7]; 7. 23-David Dickey[6]; 8. 6W-Kyle Whitney[8]
- Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 20X-Kevin Ridley[1]; 2. 51-Kreg Crooker[2]; 3. 35-Nelson Mason[3]; 4. 10-Chelsie Kriegisch[4]; 5. 58-Logen Lockhart[8]; 6. 284-Jamie Kamrowski[5]; 7. 73G-Gordon Hermanson Jr[7]; 8. 28J-Jacob Jordan[6]
- Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 92-Andrew Buff[2]; 2. 44-David Rogers[1]; 3. 49M-Derrick McGrew[3]; 4. 72-Ray Hall Jr[4]; 5. 32-Tom Princiotta[6]; 6. 29-Tanner Forbes[8]; 7. 73J-Troy Arnold[7]; 8. 60X-Kinser Hill[5]
Notables: After troubleshooting a fueling issue on Friday, the #14 Pro Stock of Kim Duell went from 10th to second in his heat race and has an amazing car for Saturday’s main event.
Shane Playford, owner of PlayFab Chassis and also a Pro Stock racer who finished second at Super DIRT Week a few weeks back, is taking a break from fabricating the latest evolution in his design for Pro Stocks.
Playford loaded his number 6 “Playfab” machine in the box and is headed south to try his luck in the LCQ on Saturday, hoping to make the Pro Stock feature.
Sportsman campaigner Derrick McGrew had a busy Friday at the Dirt Track. Not only did he qualify his Sportsman third in the fourth heat, but he also qualified his Pro 604 Late Model as well, taking third in his heat race in that class as well.
