David Gravel Wins Empire State Challenge

David Gravel celebrating his win at Weedsport Speedway in Weedsport, NY (Photo: Trent Gower | World Racing Group)

WEEDSPORT, N.Y. — After leaving Williams Grove Speedway on Saturday night, the World of Outlaws sprint cars headed further north to Weedsport Speedway for their one night Empire State Challenge: a 30-lap feature race.

QUALIFYING

HEAT RACES

Heat Race 1:

Carson Macedo competing at Weedsport Speedway in Weedsport, NY (Photo: Trent Gower | World Racing Group)

Heat Race 2:

Heat Race 3:

DASH

LAST CHANCE SHOWDOWN

FEATURE RACE

After all of the preliminary events, the A-Main was ready to get underway. In front of the biggest crowd in Weedsport Speedway’s history, 24 sprint cars took the green flag to compete for $12,000 and a win in New York state.

Due to coming in first and second during the Dash, Carson Macedo and Michael Kofoid were on the front row. Coming out of Turn 2, Macedo was in the lead with Kofoid right behind him. David Gravel was coming up on the bottom of Kofoid though, just looking to squeeze his way past the rookie for the runner-up spot.

Going into the corner, Gravel switched lanes and went up top to test the waters, but dropped back down low coming out of the fourth turn onto the front stretch. As they turned again, Gravel kept to the bottom and got a little bit ahead of Kofoid to head down the back chute, but then Gravel switched lanes again to go back up top.

Coming out of Turn 4, Gravel stayed on the high side and took second away from Kofoid and was scored as such at the line. But just as Kofoid was going to try and go low and get him going into Turns 1 and 2, Greg Wilson and Davie Franek tangled on the bottom entering Turn 3, with Franek going over a couple of times, drawing red flag conditions.

During the red flag, Danny Varin went into the pits to go get some work done to his car. Once Franek was cleared off the track and Wilson was back at the tail-end of the field, Varin came back out to join Wilson. But Varin’s plan did not get executed correctly because he didn’t go into the infield “hot pit” area to get work on the car. Because of this action, Varin was disqualified from the remainder of the race.

On the restart, Gravel got past Kofoid on the top and so did Sheldon Haudenschild. Kofoid, now in fourth, was far from stopping to feel pressure from fellow competitors because Giovanni Scelzi was coming for Kofoid on the bottom. Although Scelzi was going after Kofoid for fourth, he was not racing without a fear either because Stewart Friesen was coming up to challenge him for a spot in the top five. 

Lap 12 saw lap traffic play a major factor in the race for the leaders. As Macedo raced into Turn 3, his left rear tire hit the right front tire of Dalton Rombough causing Rombough to spin out and draw the second caution of the evening. It was also during this caution that “debris” was reported on the racing surface.

It was actually a traffic cone drivers kept hitting because they were going extremely low on Turn 4. Their right rear tires would hit it, and eventually the cone made its way half-way down the front straight before a safety official was able to grab it and throw it in the infield, out of the way of the drivers and racing action.

Sheldon Haudenschild competing at Weedsport Speedway in Weedsport, NY (Photo: Trent Gower | World Racing Group)

Gravel got a good run on Macedo on the restart. With each turn, he closed the gap between them until he was right beside him coming down the backstretch on Lap 13. As they came off of Turn 4, Gravel switched from the top to the bottom with Macedo and dove down into Turn 1. This proved to be a great move by Gravel because it put him in the lead. 

Four laps later, Friesen finally got by Scelzi to get fifth. As they shot out of Turn 2, Friesen went to the bottom and had enough momentum and speed to be able to pass Scelzi and gain a position.

With two laps remaining, Haudenschild had caught up to Macedo and was looking to get one spot better than his current third. As they crossed the start/finish line, Haudenschild ran low while Macedo took the middle lane. They were close coming down the back chute, but not close enough for Haudenschild’s comfort, so he swapped lanes with Macedo. 

As they entered Turn 1 on Lap 29, Haudenschild had his nose ahead of Macedo just the slightest bit. But this little bit was all he needed to use Macedo’s draft to propel himself forward to get the runner-up spot. Friesen tried to get around Macedo as well, but was not that close enough. Donny Schatz came in fifth, and Gravel won for the 101st time in his career.

“I was kind of pacing myself there,” said Gravel about his fourth win at Weedsport. “I felt like him [Macedo] being down in Turns 3 and 4 I was getting really good runs down the frontstretch. This place continues to change and you really need to get aggressive on your wing. We came here back in the day and it was always a cool racetrack, so I always felt like I was decent here and never could win, but every time I’ve been here in the 2 car we’ve won, so this is fun.”