Column By: BRETT HORLACHER / RPW – CONCORD, NC – Wheatfield, NY’s Pete Stefanski started on the outside of the front row for the World Short Track Championship DIRTcar Pro Stock feature Saturday at the Dirt Track At Charlotte and walked away a winner.
Stefanski got a good start and bested the #14 of Kim Duell to the line, leading lap 1.
The first lap however would unfortunately be marred by a caution involving a spinning Kenny Martin in turn 4. His spin would collect Shane Henderson, Jonathan Lemay, Shawn Perez and Jay Fitzgerald.
Of the five drivers involved, only Henderson, Perez and Fitzgerald were able to continue. St-Mathias, QUE’s Guy Viens, who wasn’t involved in the crash, retired from the event during that caution due to mechanical issues.
The first restart saw Duell take the lead, sliding up in front of Stefanski as the cars exited the second corner. However, the second lap would, yet again, see the throwing of the yellow silk for a spinning Brian Carter, Shane Playford and Jonathan Levesque off of turn 2.
During that caution the #09 of Shawn Perez retired, citing mechanical issues on his car following the first lap crash with Martin.
For the green, Duell elected to take the top line, and would end up losing the lead, once again to Stefanski. As the field was exiting turn 2, Johnny Rivers’ #14 checked up due to traffic and spun off the nose of Henderson. The result was Rivers getting into the backstretch wall, damaging his car too badly to continue and he retired from the race.
Due to the troubled starts, race officials elected to have a single-file restart and Duell would take the lead with Stefanski closely behind. That lead was short-lived, however, as Duell slowed on the backstretch just five laps in and pull into the infield, surrendering the lead back to Stefanski.
The race went another lap and a half until the caution came out again on lap 6 due to a spinning Eric Jean-Louis.
The field was re-racked and Stefanski established a comfortable lead but that was short lived for a spinning Phil Defiglio, who was avoiding contact with Jordan Modiano. This spin would collect Stephane Lebrun, Shawn Corr and Francois Adam. All would continue.
Due to the excessive number of cautions, officials once again used a single-file restart where Stefanski stepped out to a multiple car lead. He maintained that lead for several laps until the #25Y of Ken Griffin brought out another yellow.
The caution-filled early portion of the race would result in a green-white-checkered restart on lap 11. However, it was only a formality as Stefanski would go on to win the feature. The Ransomville star led the two final laps with heavy pressure from Denis Gaurvreau.
“I just knew we had to do three good laps at the end,” Stefanski said. “I knew we had to get to the front with the yellows coming out early. I also knew it was going to be a shortened race with the time limit so I knew I had to get by Kim (Duell). From there, I just had to be good for every lap that we got a green flag for. This was just a fun race.”
Gauvreau was second at the finish with Lebanon Valley standout Zach Sorrentino coming in third. Bruno Richard was fourth with Luke Horning completing the top five.
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 2-Pete Stefanski[2]; 2. 72G-Denis Gauvreau[4]; 3. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[6]; 4. 44X-Bruno Richard[15]; 5. 2H-Luke Horning[5]; 6. 04-Jaxson Ryan[7]; 7. 33-Bruno Cyr[12]; 8. 8C-Sean Corr[30]; 9. 8-Marc Lalonde[3]; 10. 6P-Shane Playford[31]; 11. 4M-Jordan Modiano[19]; 12. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[20]; 13. 32-Jonathan Levesque[18]; 14. 9-Shane Henderson[14]; 15. 28-Philip DeFiglio[28]; 16. 63-Ryan Crellin[23]; 17. 58-Roxanne Roy[25]; 18. 7-Sean Brierley[27]; 19. 6C-Brian Carter[29]; 20. 56-John Fitzgerald[22]; 21. 25Y-Ken Griffin[16]; 22. 6-Stephane Lebrun[21]; 23. 9J-Eric Jean Louis[8]; 24. 5-Ian Bressette[17]; 25. 01-Francois Adam[26]; 26. 14-Kim Duell[1]; 27. 14J-Johnny Rivers Jr[9]; 28. 93-Kenny Martin[10]; 29. 15-Guy Viens[11]; 30. 35-Jonathan Lemay[13]; 31. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[24]