As the full moon rose over The Dirt Track at Charlotte, the COMP Cams Monster Mini-Stocks lived up to their Halloween themed moniker putting on a 25-lap Feature event during the fifth annual Drydene Performance World Short Track Championships that would thrill fans and crews alike.
Phillip Wilson [O4W] led the 26 car field to green and battle swiftly ensued. While the top 3 of Wilson, Tack Brown [4B], and Nick Broome [O7] broke away from the pack, positions seven through ten raced in a pack banging doors and fenders in hopes that one of them might break free from the pack and catch the top three to contend for a win.
On the second lap Travis Sharpe [T2] spun in the middle of turns three and four, collecting Dustin Bolin [8] and bringing out the first caution. During the caution Greg Brew [212] punctured a right rear tire and took his car to the pits. While in the pits an oil leak was discovered and Brew was forced to retire for the night.
Safety crews made quick work of the cleanup and the green was once again thrown. The field raced tightly packed through turns one and two just before all hell broke loose. Coming down the back stretch several cars got together sending four of them into the wall in a dramatic and scary wreck.
All of the drivers were safe and able to walk away as the safety crew worked to clean up the mass of metal and discarded parts that littered the track just past the turn three pit entrance.
Coming back to green — single file this time — the competitors relented not, as the close action continued into turns one and two. Johnny Raines [2] pulled into the pits immediately after the start with fire billowing from underneath the car. The infield safety crew extinguished the fire and the on track action stayed under green conditions.
On lap 4 Nick Walker [0] took the lead and led the next several laps relatively unchallenged as Wilson kept pace behind him. Meanwhile, several car lengths back, the battle for third was three wide and contentious. On lap 13, while Walker and Wilson were now nose to tail at the point, last year’s feature winner Brayden Pruitt [13] was able to break away from the cars around her and begin to reel in the leaders.
The yellow came back out for oil on the track on lap 15, re-racking the field and setting up a shootout for the coveted championship trophy. Again lining up single file for the restart, Walker led Wilson and Pruitt through the turns and down the back stretch. Passing the flagstand Pruitt was able to get to Wilson’s door and show him the nose. She kept the pressure on Wilson and was eventually able to pass him on lap 18 to take the second position.
Nick “Hotrod” Walker held onto the lead for the final laps and took the checkered flag.
After an exuberant victory lane celebration the top three cars headed back to the pits for technical inspection, where it was found that the 0 car had an illegal floorpan and disqualified.
This unexpected turn of events handed the feature win to Brayden Pruitt, making her the first back-to-back Champion of the prestigious event.
COMP CAMS MONSTER MINI-STOCK RESULTS
COMP Cams Feature (25 Laps) – 1. 13-Brayden Pruitt [5]; 2. O4W-Phillip Wilson [1]; 3. H3-Harley Holden [21]; 4. 43-Sparks Parris [7]; 5. 117-Matt Gilbert [9]; 6. 19-Travis Mosley [25]; 7. 12-Jason Dickerson [12]; 8. 30-Larry Housley [19]; 9. 33-Roger Nance [14]; 10. X-Kevin Cooper [26]; 11. 7-Patrick Annas [22]; 12. 10-Logan Ritchey [11]; 13. O7-Nick Broome [3]; 14. 10C-Carl Currin [17]; 15. 4B-Tack Brown [2]; 16. 97-Casey Towell [15]; 17. O4-Austin Brown [6]; 18. 99-Daniel Coffey [10]; 19. 7C-Brandon Clements [8]; 20. 8T-Rod Tucker [18]; 21. 12B-Pete Brew [13]; 22. 212-Greg Brew [23]; 23. 2-Johnny Raines [24]; 24. T2-Travis Sharpe [16]; 25. 8-Dustin Bolin [20]; 26. O-Nick Walker [4]; Drydene/Fox Racing Shocks Hard Charger Award: 19-Travis Mosley[+19]
Qualifying Flight-A – 1. 43-Sparks Parris, 19.857; 2. O4-Austin Brown, 19.874; 3. 4B-Tack Brown, 19.928; 4. 117-Matt Gilbert, 19.975; 5. 12B-Pete Brew, 20.017; 6. 97-Casey Towell, 20.174; 7. 14-Dakota Wilson, 20.214; 8. 30-Larry Housley, 20.405; 9. 7-Patrick Annas, 20.412; 10. 208-Bubba Kolb, 20.521; 11. 2W-Dylan Warden, 20.548; 12. 61-Eric Hill, 20.747; 13. KO-Caylan Kettle, 20.977; 14. X-Kevin Cooper, 22.42; 15. C5-Johnny Richardson, 22.677; 16. 933-Michael Hill, 23.022; 17. 22-Terry Caples, NT; 18. 69-Billy Cline, NT
Qualifying Flight-B – 1. O-Nick Walker, 19.968; 2. O7-Nick Broome, 20.004; 3. 10-Logan Ritchey, 20.004; 4. 7C-Brandon Clements, 20.141; 5. 19-Travis Mosley, 20.144; 6. 212-Greg Brew, 20.183; 7. 8-Dustin Bolin, 20.212; 8. 44-Marcus Hughes, 20.245; 9. 10C-Carl Currin, 20.293; 10. 33-Roger Nance, 20.47; 11. 12K-Blake Keen, 20.546; 12. 84-Kyle Cooper, 20.671; 13. 96-Tanner Cook, 20.694; 14. 483-Jesse Wall, 21.296; 15. 4-Landen Davis, 21.336; 16. T19-Tyler Hobgood, NT
Qualifying Flight-C – 1. 13-Brayden Pruitt, 19.642; 2. O4W-Phillip Wilson, 19.695; 3. 99-Daniel Coffey, 19.877; 4. 12-Jason Dickerson, 19.885; 5. 2-Johnny Raines, 20.075; 6. 8T-Rod Tucker, 20.183; 7. T2-Travis Sharpe, 20.328; 8. 32-Corey Christian, 20.349; 9. 25-Rusty Campbell, 20.357; 10. 483H-Hannah Wall, 20.376; 11. 52-Timmy Mills, 20.403; 12. 96B-Stacy Brock, 20.45; 13. OO-Cody Ussery, 20.468; 14. O3-Barrett Bishop, 20.587; 15. J2-James Manning, 20.757; 16. 51-Cody Keith, 20.777; 17. R110-Michael Simmons, 20.866; DNS. H3-Harley Holden, NT
Drydene Heat #1 – Flight (A) (6 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer – 1. 4B-Tack Brown [2]; 2. 43-Sparks Parris [1]; 3. 12B-Pete Brew [3]; 4. 7-Patrick Annas [5]; 5. 22-Terry Caples [9]; 6. KO-Caylan Kettle [7]; 7. 14-Dakota Wilson [4]; 8. 2W-Dylan Warden [6]; 9. C5-Johnny Richardson [8]
Drydene Heat #2 – Flight (A) (6 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer – 1. O4-Austin Brown [1]; 2. 117-Matt Gilbert [2]; 3. 97-Casey Towell [3]; 4. 30-Larry Housley [4]; 5. X-Kevin Cooper [7]; 6. 933-Michael Hill [8]; 7. 61-Eric Hill [6]; 8. 208-Bubba Kolb [5]; 9. 69-Billy Cline [9]
Drydene Heat #3 – Flight (B) (6 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer – 1. O-Nick Walker [1]; 2. 10-Logan Ritchey [2]; 3. 10C-Carl Currin [5]; 4. 8-Dustin Bolin [4]; 5. 96-Tanner Cook [7]; 6. 12K-Blake Keen [6]; 7. 4-Landen Davis [8]; 8. 19-Travis Mosley [3]; 9. 69-Billy Cline [9]
Drydene Heat #4 – Flight (B) (6 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer – 1. O7-Nick Broome [1]; 2. 7C-Brandon Clements [2]; 3. 33-Roger Nance [5]; 4. 212-Greg Brew [3]; 5. 44-Marcus Hughes [4]; 6. 84-Kyle Cooper [6]; 7. 483-Jesse Wall [7]; 8. T19-Tyler Hobgood [8]
Drydene Heat #5 – Flight (C) (6 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer – 1. 13-Brayden Pruitt [1]; 2. 99-Daniel Coffey [2]; 3. T2-Travis Sharpe [4]; 4. 2-Johnny Raines [3]; 5. 52-Timmy Mills [6]; 6. OO-Cody Ussery [7]; 7. R110-Michael Simmons [9]; 8. J2-James Manning [8]; 9. 25-Rusty Campbell [5]
Drydene Heat #6 – Flight (C) (6 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer – 1. O4W-Phillip Wilson [1]; 2. 12-Jason Dickerson [2]; 3. 8T-Rod Tucker [3]; 4. H3-Harley Holden [9]; 5. O3-Barrett Bishop [7]; 6. 51-Cody Keith [8]; 7. 32-Corey Christian [4]; 8. 96B-Stacy Brock [6]; 9. 483H-Hannah Wall [5]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (8 Laps) – Top 2 Transfer – 1. 30-Larry Housley [2]; 2. 7-Patrick Annas [1]; 3. 14-Dakota Wilson [7]; 4. 208-Bubba Kolb [10]; 5. 933-Michael Hill [6]; 6. C5-Johnny Richardson [11]; 7. X-Kevin Cooper [4]; 8. 69-Billy Cline [12]; 9. 22-Terry Caples [3]; 10. KO-Caylan Kettle [5]; 11. 61-Eric Hill [8]; 12. 2W-Dylan Warden [9]
Last Chance Showdown 2 ( Laps) – 1. 8-Dustin Bolin [1]; 2. 212-Greg Brew [2]; 3. 84-Kyle Cooper [6]; 4. 96-Tanner Cook [3]; 5. 4-Landen Davis [7]; 6. 19-Travis Mosley [9]; 7. 44-Marcus Hughes [4]; 8. 483-Jesse Wall [8]; 9. 12K-Blake Keen [5]; 10. T19-Tyler Hobgood [10]; 11. 69-Billy Cline [11]
Last Chance Showdown 3 ( Laps) – 1. H3-Harley Holden [2]; 2. 2-Johnny Raines [1]; 3. 32-Corey Christian [8]; 4. 96B-Stacy Brock [10]; 5. 52-Timmy Mills [3]; 6. OO-Cody Ussery [5]; 7. R110-Michael Simmons [7]; 8. J2-James Manning [9]; 9. 483H-Hannah Wall [12]; 10. O3-Barrett Bishop [4]; 11. 51-Cody Keith [6]; 12. 25-Rusty Campbell [11]
