RPW Exclusive: The Concrete King Conquers The Swamp Again; Wins Second World of Outlaws Feature of 26′
Column By: JACOB DOVE / RPW – BARBERVILLE, FL – The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars wrapped up the 2026 Bike Week Jamboree on a warm Monday in Barberville, Florida at the Volusia Speedway Park. Another great crowd of race fans came to watch the intense and exciting racing that Volusia has to offer. With the sun shining and the pit area pet gator enjoying itself in the pond, the scene was set for 31 Sprint Cars to chase after the $12,000 to win payday.
Dillsburg, Pennsylvania’s Anthony Macri picked up a victory during DIRTcar Nationals in February and set his sights on another solid showing with the Outlaws during Bike Week. Macri once again plans to race a true “Outlaw” schedule doing pick & choose race events throughout the racing season. The #39M Macri Motorsports team finished 6th on Sunday night and had high hopes of being closer to the front during Monday’s action.
Macri started out the night qualifying 5th fastest overall, finished 2nd in his heat race, and finished 4th in the dash to set him up for the 25 lap feature. Macri would make his way around Sheldon Haudenschild, David Gravel, and Carson Macedo to take the lead. From there on out, he was unchallenged. With the track slowing down and the technicality of getting around Volusia without making a mistake, Macri did everything right to hold on to win his second World of Outlaws victory of 2026.
Taking home an impressive 2nd place runner up finish was Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year contender Ashton Torgerson. The Glendale, Arizona driver for Shark Racing started the night strong by qualifying 2nd fastest, winning his heat race, finishing 6th in the dash, and improving four positions in the feature to come up one spot short of a win. The #1A car showed speed and consistency during both nights of the Bike Week jamboree. Jacob Allen and the team are confident that Torgerson is their future star driver.
Rounding out the podium was Watertown, Connecticut’s David Gravel who finished in the 3rd position. The Big Game Motorsports team was consistently up front at Volusia during DIRTcar Nationals and Bike Week. Despite not winning a feature event, Gravel showed patience and transparency. Expectations are always high, especially when you’re the two-time and defending World of Outlaws champion. Gravel still will be walking away from Volusia with the World of Outlaws points lead, three 2nd place finishes, and a 3rd place result. It wasn’t a bad start whatsoever having shown speed. Because of this, it doesn’t make the #2 team worried about not having a victory yet in 2026.
Overall, it was a great two nights of racing at Volusia Speedway Park with Sheldon Haudenschild and Anthony Macri emerging victorious. Thank you to DIRTcar Racing and World Racing Group for allowing us the opportunity to cover this event and spending a lot of time the facility for weeks of racing action. We can confidently say that the racing has improved since speedway staff and management made changes to the track surface. It was great to witness so many race fans from all different parts of North America travel to Barberville, Florida for a month to take part in the best form of motorsports in the world. We look forward to having more events in the future.
