The first half of the DIRTcar Pro Stock program at Super DIRT Week 54 presented by StubHub is complete, and 21 drivers have locked in their spots for Friday’s I Love NY 50.
Super Six Qualifying
Leading them to green will be Pro Stock veteran Rob Yetman, who topped the Super Six Qualifying session with a 25.779-second lap around Oswego Speedway to pick up the SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award. The Castleton, NY native is the winningest Pro Stock driver in Super DIRT Week history with five-straight triumphs from 2013 to 2017, but will be going for his first victory in nearly a decade on Friday afternoon.
“I got a little choked up, because I’ve been out of this seat a little bit here and there,” Yetman said. “Steve’s been working real hard, the car’s a missile. You never think you’re going to get another one when you’ve been out for a while, but this is pretty cool. The faster [the track] is, the better I think we are.”
Trailing Yetman in the Super Six were Luke Horning, David Stickles, Shane Playford, Bastien Caron and Denis Gauvreau, who will start in spots two through six, respectively.
Heat 1
Gauvreau and Horning shared the front row, but after a Lap 1 pileup, third-starting Dakota Sharp got around Horning and emerged to challenge Gauvreau for the lead. .
The No. 12S got a run off the bottom of Turn 2 on Lap 2 and set sail from there. With Gauvreau and last year’s I Love NY 50 winner Devon Camenga racing hard for second behind him, it was all Sharp out front the rest of the way. The Colton, NY driver will make his third Feature start at Oswego on Friday with the goal of improving on his career best of 11th from 2024.
“Third year coming to it, making the show three years in a row is good,” Sharp said. “Starting third was a good spot. We time trialed really well, had the car on point right out of the trailer. Just hit my marks around the bottom, and I figured if I could keep it around the inside, make everybody go the long way around and hold them in their spots.”
Camenga, Kyle Hoard, Andrew Graves and Kim Duell also punched their tickets to Friday’s Feature.
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 12S-Dakota Sharp[3]; 2. 110-Devon Camenga[7]; 3. 72G-Denis Gauvreau[1]; 4. 76-Kyle Hoard[5]; 5. 8ND-Andrew Graves[6]; 6. 14-Kim Duell[11]; 7. 324-Jason Casey[4]; 8. 2-Brandon Emigh[8]; 9. 7N-AJ Walters[14]; 10. 322-Jay Casey[9]; 11. 57-Charles Mcspirit[10]; 12. 28-Philip DeFiglio[12]; 13. 56-Jaxson Ryan[13]; 14. 09-Shawn Perez Sr[15]; 15. (DNF) 2H-Luke Horning[2]
Heat 2
Caron had already secured the fifth starting spot in Friday’s Feature in Qualifying, and only needs to start the race to clinch his first DIRTcar Pro Stock Series championship, but he saw that as no reason to take it easy in his Heat Race.
The Inverness, QC resident led JJ Courcy and Playford after Lap 1, but Courcy made his bid for the lead by sending it to Caron’s inside in Turns 1 and 2. While those two were racing side-by-side, the stopped car of Joe Wilson brought out the caution to slow the field and hand the lead back to Caron.
Following another yellow flag for a tangle off on the backstretch, Caron put the pedal down and took the win by three seconds over Chucky Dumblewski to keep the momentum up in his Super DIRT Week debut.
“With the pole position for the start in my Heat, it’s not easy, but I took the bottom line because you have more moisture in that lane,” Caron said. “I kept them [behind] for all of the Heat, it was good for me.”
With Caron already in, the five transfer spots went to Dumblewski, Courcy, Ken Schrader, Pete Stefanski and Rich Crane.
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 73-Bastien Caron[1]; 2. 07-Chucky Dumblewski[4]; 3. 4-JJ Courcy[3]; 4. 9S-Ken Schrader[5]; 5. 2S-Pete Stefanski[6]; 6. 711-Rich Crane[8]; 7. 6-Shane Playford[2]; 8. 2M-Johnathan Miller[12]; 9. 32-Jonathan Levesque[11]; 10. 49-Ivan Joslin[14]; 11. (DNF) 33-Bruno Cyr[7]; 12. (DNF) 2Z-Hugh Page[10]; 13. (DNF) 14X-Scott Duell[9]; 14. (DNF) 157-Joe Wilson[13]
Heat 3
The front row of Sid Harmer Jr. and Caden Dumblewski remained side-by-side all the way around on Lap 1, with Dumblewski edging in front to lead the first circuit.
Harmer wasn’t ready to back down though, and he found enough speed on the bottom to nose ahead the next time around. The entertaining battle out front came to an end in Turn 1, as Harmer finally cleared Dumblewski, survived a Lap 5 restart and drove home to the checkered flag. The Gouverneur, NY pilot is competing at Super DIRT Week for the first time since 2019, when he finished a career-best second to Josh Coonradt.
“We ain’t been here since 2019, and it drives a whole lot different than these cars do,” Harmer said. “Back then, I was on leaf springs and it’s totally different. This is a new Manimal chassis, so I’ve really got to thank Nick Stone for just helping me out with this new car and getting me going in the right direction. We’ve won quite a few races this year, luckily, and it’s all because of my team and this car.”
Dumblewski, Dominic Stone, Tyler Bushey and Tommy Lizotte also raced their way into the main event.
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 14R-Sid Harmer Jr[3]; 2. 7C-Caden Dumblewski[4]; 3. 8N-Dominic Stone[5]; 4. X15-Tyler Bushey[6]; 5. 777-Tommy Lizotte[7]; 6. 9B-Slater Baker[8]; 7. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[14]; 8. 48-Jocelyn Roy[9]; 9. 9-Eric Jean Louis[11]; 10. 6C-Brian Carter[12]; 11. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[10]; 12. 55-David Stickles[1]; 13. 0-Broden Weiler[13]; 14. (DNS) 7-Rob Yetman
UP NEXT: The DIRTcar Pro Stock portion of Super DIRT Week 54 presented by StubHub concludes on Friday, Oct. 9, with a pair of Last Chance Showdowns ahead of the I Love NY 50. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.
Want to watch Super DIRT Week? Stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
DIRTcar Pro Stock I Love NY 50 Starting Lineup (spots 22-30 to be determined by Last Chance Showdowns and provisionals):
- Rob Yetman
- Luke Horning
- David Stickles
- Shane Playford
- Bastien Caron
- Denis Gauvreau
- Dakota Sharp
- Sid Harmer Jr.
- Devon Camenga
- Chucky Demblewski
- Caden Demblewski
- JJ Courcy
- Dominic Stone
- Kyle Hoard
- Ken Schrader
- Tyler Bushey
- Andrew Graves
- Pete Stefanski
- Tommy Lizotte
- Kim Duell
- Rich Crane
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