LIGHTNING ON THE LAKE: Larry Wight Earns Pole For Billy Whittaker Cars 200, Wins Thursday Qualifier
After taking a provisional in last year’s Billy Whittaker Cars 200, Larry Wight has a much shorter drive to the front at Super DIRT Week 54 presented by StubHub.
The Phoenix, NY driver earned the SRI Performance and Stock Car Steep Pole Award in “Super Six” Qualifying on Thursday and backed it up with a win in his Heat Race, taking home $4,000.
“Lightning Larry,” along with 29 other drivers, have locked in to Saturday’s $54,000-to-win Billy Whittaker Cars 200.
THE SUPER SIX
On Thursday afternoon, 76 drivers entered Big Block Modified racing’s crown jewel, with the top two cars in each of the three Qualifying groups earning a spot in the “Super Six.”
After both rounds of Qualifying, Wight earned the SRI Performance and Stock Car Steel Pole Award with a 21.719 second lap.
Joining Wight in this year’s “Super Six” were Fratto Curbing Outside Pole Award winner Jimmy Phelps, Alex Payne, Tim Fuller, Billy Dunn, and Alex Yankowski.
HEAT #1
Yankowski, the Super DIRTcar Series points leader, continued his consistency in 2026 by leading all 25 laps of Thursday’s first Heat Race. The Covington Township, PA driver chose the outside lane on the initial restart and never looked back, using it to win by more than three seconds.
Behind “Kid Rocket,” defending Billy Whittaker Cars 200 winner Mat Williamson charged forward, moving up four spots to finish third behind Darren Smith.
Dunn faded to fourth in the final circuits after starting second, while Garrett Krummert qualified for his first 200 with a fifth-place finish.
The transfer cars from the race were Smith, Williamson, Garrett Krummert, Mike Mahaney, Tim McCreadie, Justin Stone, Chris Curtis, and Brian Calabrese.
“The engine is really, really smooth,” Yankowski said. “It’s allowing us to move around, into the black, getting into the grip and off the grip. As the race plays out, though, I think we’re going to see some comers and goers. I hope when it’s dead black, and there’s no grip to be had, that we’re just as fast.”
Heat 1 (25 Laps): 1. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[1]; 2. 12-Darren Smith[3]; 3. 88-Mat Williamson[7]; 4. 49-Billy Dunn[2]; 5. 29-Garrett Krummert[6]; 6. 35-Mike Mahaney[10]; 7. 9M-Tim McCreadie[5]; 8. 15X-Justin Stone[8]; 9. 35C-Chris Curtis[4]; 10. 21C-Brian Calabrese[9]; 11. 25-Erick Rudolph[14]; 12. 29K-Ryan Krachun[13]; 13. 27Z-Dylan Zacharias[17]; 14. 3M-Chris Mackey[12]; 15. 3CC-James Meehan[16]; 16. 76-Chip Constantino[15]; 17. 17-Marcus Dinkins[18]; 18. 14S-Brian Swarthout[23]; 19. 22E-Mike Engwer[24]; 20. 0-Glenn Styres[20]; 21. 8M-Macey Adamik[21]; 22. 44S-Kyle Sheldon[19]; 23. 88D-Dave Allen[25]; 24. 84-Gary Tomkins[11]; 25. 82-Wally Wade[22]; 26. 35B-Francois Bellemare[26]
HEAT #2
The second Super DIRTcar Series Heat Race felt similar to the first, with an Alex at the front. This time, Alex Payne drove away from Jimmy Phelps to take the lead on the opening lap, going unchallenged to earn a Heat Race win for the second straight season.
While Payne won the second Heat Race comfortably, all eyes were on six-time Billy Whittaker Cars 200 winner Stewart Friesen, who had trouble while running in the top five.
As Friesen battled in the top five with Gary Lindberg, the Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON driver’s left front wheel went onto the inside jersey barrier in Turn 3, leaving his Halmar International No. 44 with a flat tire and bent front axle.
Friesen went to the pits to try and drive back into the transfer spot but fell short when he crossed the line in 13th.
Rounding out the podium behind Payne were Jimmy Phelps and new dad Jack Lehner.
The transfer cars in Heat Race 2 were Lehner, Lindberg, Peter Britten, Ryan Godown, Mike Maresca, Mike Trautschold, Tyler Dippel, and Tanner Van Doren, who out dueled Ronnie Davis III for the final spot.
“You take that time to work on a racetrack similar to what I think the 200 is going to be on Saturday,” Payne said. “We felt pretty comfortable. We know what to look for. We know what we need to work on and have a pretty good starting spot and a little extra money. The week’s going good, so far.”
Heat 2 (25 Laps): 1. 70A-Alex Payne[1]; 2. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[2]; 3. 2-Jack Lehner[5]; 4. 37S-Gary Lindberg[3]; 5. 21A-Peter Britten[4]; 6. 26-Ryan Godown[6]; 7. 7MM-Michael Maresca[7]; 8. 28-Michael Trautschold[9]; 9. 1-Tyler Dippel[13]; 10. 27-Tanner Van Doren[16]; 11. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[10]; 12. 25P-Michael Parent[12]; 13. 44-Stewart Friesen[11]; 14. 98-Rocky Warner[14]; 15. 22C-Cedric Gauvreau[15]; 16. 6-Matt Stangle[8]; 17. 7M-Paul Mancini[20]; 18. 9X-Tyler Trump[18]; 19. 14-CG Morey[24]; 20. 21M-Bob Mcgannon[22]; 21. 48T-Dave Rauscher[19]; 22. 10-Karl Comfort[21]; 23. 444-Russell Morseman IV[23]; 24. 16-Aaron Jacobs[25]; 25. 28M-Jordan McCreadie[17]
Heat #3
With the pole already locked up, Wight aimed to sweep the day with a Heat Race Victory. However, a Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Famer wasn’t going to make that easy.
After a Lap 6 caution, drivers faced a long green-flag run toward the end of the third Heat Race, which almost played into the hands of Fuller. As Wight clicked laps off, Fuller’s No. 19 closed in on the No. 99L and caught him once they reached the tail of the field.
Fuller tried finding the right lane to sneak by and take the lead, but Wight was better in traffic. Wight dove underneath Jeremy Pitts, a lap car, in Turns 1 and 2 and slid up in front of the No. 27 to separate himself from Fuller, which was all he needed to earn the $4,000 victory.
Behind the top two, 10-time Series champion Matt Sheppard charged forward from eleventh, using the top of the track to storm past Marc Johnson, Felix Roy, and Nick Root to earn a top five finish.
The transfer cars in Heat Race 3 were Justin Haers, Tim Sears Jr., Sheppard, Root, Roy, Johnson, Matt Caprara, and Andrew Buff.
“The car was phenomenal,” Wight said. “The engine ran awesome. You can’t ask for much more than that.
“Clean air is so big here. I felt like I was glued to the track and then I’d get into lap traffic and get into that dirty air and start losing the nose and losing the rear deck a little bit. I just had to go where they weren’t to keep my nose in clean air.”
Heat 3 (25 Laps): 1. 99L-Larry Wight[1]; 2. 19-Tim Fuller[2]; 3. 3-Justin Haers[4]; 4. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[6]; 5. 9S-Matt Sheppard[11]; 6. 30-Nicholas Root[3]; 7. 91-Felix Roy[9]; 8. 9-Marc Johnson[5]; 9. 11-Matt Caprara[7]; 10. 92-Andrew Buff[8]; 11. 60-Jackson Gill[12]; 12. 4-Anthony Perrego[14]; 13. 3RS-Dalton Slack[10]; 14. 7Z-Zachary Payne[19]; 15. 15-Todd Root[20]; 16. 44H-Chris Hulsizer[18]; 17. 4K-Elliot Gamache[13]; 18. 44R-Rusty Smith[17]; 19. 27P-Jeremy Pitts[23]; 20. 99-Kolby Schroder[16]; 21. 176-Billy Pauch Jr[21]; 22. 22-Brandon Walters[15]; 23. 8-Rich Scagliotta[24]; 24. 81-Heath Metzger[25]; 25. 11T-Jeff Taylor[22]
UP NEXT: The Super DIRTcar Series returns to Super DIRT Week 54 presented by Stubhub on Saturday, Oct. 10, for the $54,000-to-win Billy Whittaker Cars 200.
How can you watch every lap of Super DIRT Week 54 if you can’t be at Oswego Speedway? Live on DIRTVision.
