Calob McLaughlin wins 2020 Drydene Racing Formulas Street Stock World Short Track Championship
CONCORD, NC – October 31, 2020 – Calob McLaughlin, from Belmont, NC, held off all challengers to win the Drydene Racing Formulas Street Stock Feature at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. The new Drydene World Short Track Champion charged to the lead from fourth in a time-limited Feature, which completed only 15 of the 20 scheduled laps due to a streak of sheet metal-bending incidents.
McLaughlin was lightning quick out of the gate starting from fourth. He passed Chris Rice and Patrick Lyon for second within the first lap and then he set his sites on leader Damon Crump. It only took one more lap for McLaughlin to rip around the outside of Crump to take the lead.
“When I got alongside him I thought I just gotta drive it in deeper than he can. It looked like he kind of pushed and I just drove right around the top of him and it was good from there,” said McLaughlin in Victory Lane.
He led the rest of the way after taking control on lap 2 but it was not an easy task. The Feature was slowed by multiple cautions resulting in multiple hair-raising restarts. It takes a lot of concentration to nail restart after restart when a snarling pack of Drydene Racing Formula Street Stocks is racing three and four-wide behind you hoping a mistake is made.
Second-place runner Patrick Lyon, from Gastonia, NC, was one of McLaughlin’s toughest restart challengers. Lyon drove up alongside McLaughlin and dove deep into turn one on a late-race restart. He stayed alongside through the turns but McLaughlin launched off the top-side and drove away.
Third-place finisher Ricky Greene, from Matthews, NC, started seventh. He made some of the best slide jobs of the night to race his way onto the podium. With more green flag laps, Greene looked like he would have been able to give McLaughlin a run to the finish line.
The Drydene Racing Formula Street Stock Feature’s Hard Charger Garret Killman, from Mount Holly, NC, received a $200 Drydene Product Certificate and a $150 Fox Racing Shox Product Certificate. Killman failed to qualify out of the Heat Races but he found himself in the field after transferring from the Last Chance Showdown. He took his No. 32 Street Stock to twelfth after starting twenty-third making up 11 positions for the award.
Unfortunately, the DIRTcar Northeast Pro Stock driver Rick Duzlak, who qualified out of the Last Chance Showdown in his No. 02, had difficulties develop in the Feature and he finished in position 24.
Heat Race 1 winner Tyler Love had his night ended prematurely had his shorted the nose of his Street Stock on the backstretch wall. Love had to be towed off and was scored twenty-sixth.
How the 27-car Drydene Racing Formulas Street Stock Field Came Together
37 Drydene Racing Formulas Street Stocks attempted to qualify for the 24-car Drydene World Short Track Championship Feature scheduled for Saturday, October 31. Four Heat Races separated 20 drivers from those who will need the Last Chance Showdown to make it into the starting lineup.
Tyler Love, from Lancaster, SC, took the win in Heat Race 1. Love took his Hamm-built Street Stock to the lead after starting on the outside pole position. The Johnson Racing chassis served him well as he drove off for the win. Damon Crump, Blake Pryor, Justin Morris and Kris Frost also transferred to the Feature.
Pole-sitter Chris Rice was hammer down from the get-go. His Drydene Racing Formulas Street Stock was quick and handled well enough to bring him home in the top seed. Also transferring was Ricky Greene, Joe Belkey, Johnny Westmoreland, and Earl Petty.
Calob McLaughlin, out of Belmont, NC, took an impressive win in Heat Race 3. His Heat Race-winning Street Stock was built by Statement Racecars and Ellison Racing Engines. McLaughlin held off Thomas McCurdy. Bradley Weaver, Junior Johnson, and Tre Beaty who also qualified for the Feature.
Patrick Lyon roared to the lead in Heat Race 4 and never looked back. Lyon locked himself into an exceptional starring position for the Drydene Racing Formulas Street Stock Feature. Also transferring were Dalon Peavy, Timmy Smith, Jessie Gibson, and Greg Carroll.
Dalton Pannell and Garret Killman battled hard out of an incident-filled Last Chance Showdown make the big show. Brett Cooper and DIRTcar Northeast Pro Stock driver Rick Duzlak transferred out of Last Chance Showdown 2.
Drydene Racing Formulas Street Stock Feature (20 Laps)
- 83-Calob McLaughlin [4]; 2. O1-Patrick Lyon [3]; 3. 18-Ricky Greene [7]; 4. 76-Chris Rice [2]; 5. 18C-Damon Crump [1]; 6. 111-Thomas McCurdy [6]; 7. 9-Dalton Peavy [8]; 8. 78-Blake Pryor [9]; 9. 66-Johnny Westmoreland [15]; 10. 2-Bradley Weaver [10]; 11. 5P-Earl Petty [19]; 12. 32-Garrett Killman [23]; 13. 73-Timmy Smith [12]; 14. 99-Greg Carroll [20]; 15. X-Kris Frost [17]; 16. 84-Brett Cooper [22]; 17. 5-Junior Johnson [14]; 18. 3-Tre Beaty [18]; 19. 28XL-Johnny Hipp [27]; 20. 20T-Tim McBride [26]; 21. 17-Dustin Morris [13]; 22. 96-Dalton Pannell [21]; 23. 119-Joe Belkey [11]; 24. O2-Rick Duzlak [24]; 25. 98-Justin Armour [25]; 26. 92-Tyler Love [5]; 27. 11-Jessie Gibson [16]; Drydene/Fox Racing Shox Hard Charger Award: 32-Garrett Killman[+11]
Qualifying Flight-A
- 18C-Damon Crump, 18.659; 2. 76-Chris Rice, 18.735; 3. 92-Tyler Love, 18.818; 4. 66-Johnny Westmoreland, 18.819; 5. 78-Blake Pryor, 18.852; 6. 18-Ricky Greene, 19.004; 7. 32-Garrett Killman, 19.188; 8. 119-Joe Belkey, 19.281; 9. 17-Dustin Morris, 19.444; 10. 98-Justin Armour, 19.468; 11. X-Kris Frost, 19.559; 12. 28XL-Johnny Hipp, 19.605; 13. 5T-Dustin Taylor, 19.674; 14. 5P-Earl Petty, 19.743; 15. 96-Dalton Pannell, 20.22; 16. 40-Todd Bolin, 20.272; 17. 77R-Glen Rice, 20.744; 18. 611-Rodney Lawter, 43.821; DNS. 18W-Ben Watkins, NT
Qualifying Flight-B
- 83-Calob McLaughlin, 18.622; 2. O1-Patrick Lyon, 18.85; 3. 111-Thomas McCurdy, 19.057; 4. 73-Timmy Smith, 19.152; 5. 2-Bradley Weaver, 19.158; 6. 9-Dalton Peavy, 19.167; 7. 5-Junior Johnson, 19.538; 8. 99-Greg Carroll, 19.874; 9. 3-Tre Beaty, 19.898; 10. O2-Rick Duzlak, 20.02; 11. 20T-Tim McBride, 20.042; 12. 11-Jessie Gibson, 20.114; 13. 97-Jerred Mitchell, 20.307; 14. 78S-David Stone, 21.003; DNS. 29-Bryan Harrelson, NT; DNS. 32B-Kristopher Bobo, NT; DNS. 84-Brett Cooper, NT
Heat Race #1 – Flight (A) (6 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
- 92-Tyler Love [2]; 2. 18C-Damon Crump [1]; 3. 78-Blake Pryor [3]; 4. 17-Dustin Morris [5]; 5. X-Kris Frost [6]; 6. 5T-Dustin Taylor [7]; 7. 96-Dalton Pannell [8]; 8. 32-Garrett Killman [4]; 9. 77R-Glen Rice [9]; 10. 18W-Ben Watkins [10]
Heat Race #2 – Flight (A) (6 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
- 76-Chris Rice [1]; 2. 18-Ricky Greene [3]; 3. 119-Joe Belkey [4]; 4. 66-Johnny Westmoreland [2]; 5. 5P-Earl Petty [7]; 6. 28XL-Johnny Hipp [6]; 7. 40-Todd Bolin [8]; 8. 98-Justin Armour [5]; 9. 611-Rodney Lawter [9]
Heat Race #3 – Flight (B) (6 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
- 83-Calob McLaughlin [1]; 2. 111-Thomas McCurdy [2]; 3. 2-Bradley Weaver [3]; 4. 5-Junior Johnson [4]; 5. 3-Tre Beaty [5]; 6. 20T-Tim McBride [6]; 7. 97-Jerred Mitchell [7]; 8. 29-Bryan Harrelson [8]; 9. 84-Brett Cooper [9]
Heat Race #4 – Flight (B) (6 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
- O1-Patrick Lyon [1]; 2. 9-Dalton Peavy [3]; 3. 73-Timmy Smith [2]; 4. 11-Jessie Gibson [6]; 5. 99-Greg Carroll [4]; 6. O2-Rick Duzlak [5]; 7. 78S-David Stone [7]; 8. 32B-Kristopher Bobo [8]
Last Chance Showdown #1 (8 Laps) – Top 2 Transfer
- 96-Dalton Pannell [3]; 2. 32-Garrett Killman [5]; 3. 98-Justin Armour [6]; 4. 5T-Dustin Taylor [1]; 5. 40-Todd Bolin [4]; 6. 28XL-Johnny Hipp [2]; 7. 611-Rodney Lawter [8]; 8. 77R-Glen Rice [7]; 9. 18W-Ben Watkins [9]
Last Chance Showdown #2 ( Laps)
- 84-Brett Cooper [7]; 2. O2-Rick Duzlak [2]; 3. 20T-Tim McBride [1]; 4. 78S-David Stone [4]; 5. 97-Jerred Mitchell [3]; 6. 29-Bryan Harrelson [5]; 7. 32B-Kristopher Bobo [6]