Jordan Koehler Earns First Career DIRTcar Nationals Big Gator Title
Photo by Emily Schwanke
BARBERVILLE, Fla.—Entering the 55th Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals, Jordan Koehler’s goal was to leave Volusia Speedway Park with a first career trip to the track’s Victory Lane.
Leaving Saturday night’s Gator Championship Feature, the Mt. Airy, NC, racer completed the task with the $5,000 winner’s check, the Big Gator points title, and a week that saw three little gators collected.
Koehler rolled from Pole Position as multi-time Big Gator champ Kyle Strickler started to his outside. On the initial green flag, Strickler took the lead as Koehler moved his car to the cushion.
In the middle of Turn 3, Koehler spun across the track and stopped at the Turn 4 pit entrance without a scratch. Though the first caution was thrown, Koehler retained his position for the restart, as the lap was not officially completed, resetting the field to its original positions.
Multiple cautions affected multiple contenders in the Big Gator title, including Trevor Neville spinning on Lap 2 and a multi-car pileup involving Will Krup, David Stremme, and Ray Kable. At the front, the 24-year-old driver held the lead over Strickler while third-place Ricky Thornton Jr mounted a charge toward the leaders.
Thornton passed Strickler on Lap 11 by using the top side of the half-mile while Strickler was using the bottom. When the yellow flag waved for the final time on Lap 16, Koehler drove through the middle lane as Thornton took to the bottom and reached Koehler’s door. However, Koehler’s Turn 2 exit helped him speed away from the No. 20RT.
The Chandler, AZ native did not relent in his pressure towards his Koehler Motorsports teammate as he shifted to arcing his car to the bottom and reaching the cushion by the corner exit. While it kept him within a one-second gap of the lead, Koehler widened the distance to 2.5 seconds with four laps remaining.
As Koehler crossed the twin checkered flags to claim his first career Gator Championship victory and Big Gator championship, he capped a dominant nine days for the team that included triumphs from Koehler, Thornton, and little brother Evan Koehler.
“Probably, just me getting in my own head,” Koehler said regarding the Lap 1 accident. “Ricky slid me, and it was so slimy at the top that I just got into it. It happens, probably getting into my own head more than anything, that’s about it. Luckily, it worked out for us, and I’m tickled, man. I probably won’t even be able to go to bed tonight.”
Up Next: DIRTcar Racing keeps the racing activity into the final week of Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals with the DIRTcar Late Models tackling the Barberville, FL track from Monday-Wednesday, Feb. 9-11.
DIRTCAR NATIONALS INFO
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DIRTCAR UMP MODIFIED RESULTS (100 entries)
Gator Championship (30 Laps): 1. 114-Jordan Koehler[1]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[4]; 3. 72H-Tristan Chamberlain[23]; 4. 99K-Ray Kable[25]; 5. 5CS-Curt Spalding[26]; 6. 7D-Brad DeYoung[16]; 7. 8S-Kyle Strickler[2]; 8. 71-Pierce McCarter[28]; 9. 45H-Kyle Hammer[21]; 10. 7J-Justin Allgaier[20]; 11. 17-Chris Wilson[13]; 12. 36-Kenny Wallace[19]; 13. 01-Aidan Hinds[24]; 14. 66F-Cole Falloway[10]; 15. 24-Zeke McKenzie[11]; 16. 77B-Ray Bollinger[30]; 17. 15X-Justin Stone[15]; 18. 1H-Ben Harmon[22]; 19. 10Y-Trent Young[18]; 20. 97-Mitch Thomas[6]; 21. 25-Tyler Nicely[9]; 22. 21CZ-Cole Czarneski[8]; 23. 13-Charlie Mefford[7]; 24. 09-Michael Ledford[27]; 25. 777-Trevor Neville[5]; 26. K9-Will Krup[3]; 27. 35-David Stremme[14]; 28. 96M-Mike McKinney[12]; 29. 1TS-Tyler Spalding[17]; 30. 27-Jason Garver[29]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 36-Kenny Wallace[2]; 2. 72H-Tristan Chamberlain[4]; 3. J82-Treb Jacoby[1]; 4. 51-Dalton Lanich[3]; 5. 49-Brian Ruhlman[5]; 6. X-Wyatt Scott[7]; 7. 21C-Drew Charlson[9]; 8. 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt[15]; 9. 84-Ryan Toole[19]; 10. 90-Jason Beaulieu[6]; 11. 2K-Taylor Kuehl[13]; 12. 81C-Christopher Cole[17]; 13. 43A-Mark Anderson[11]; 14. 3S-Josh Sanford[14]; 15. (DNS) 56-Chris Wilson; 16. (DNS) 114B-Clayton Bryant; 17. (DNS) 60F-Shannon Fisk; 18. (DNS) T23-Keith Tincher; 19. (DNS) 66K-Joshua Kunstbeck
Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 45H-Kyle Hammer[1]; 2. 99K-Ray Kable[4]; 3. 09-Michael Ledford[2]; 4. 77B-Ray Bollinger[6]; 5. 27-Jason Garver[5]; 6. 3F-Rob Fuqua[17]; 7. 1-Eric Kinney II[13]; 8. 29C-Joey Cotterman[12]; 9. 52-Mikey Kopka[14]; 10. 99-Cole Hilton[8]; 11. 05-Dave Wietholder[3]; 12. (DNF) 46-Matt Crafton[7]; 13. (DNF) 57-Charlie Sandercock[9]; 14. (DNF) 11D-Brian Diveley[11]; 15. (DNS) 9-Ken Schrader; 16. (DNS) 3G-Bryce Graber; 17. (DNS) 25B-Greg Belyea; 18. (DNS) T9-Zack Tate
Last Chance Showdown 3 (10 Laps): 1. 7J-Justin Allgaier[1]; 2. 01-Aidan Hinds[4]; 3. 17W-Mikey Wilson[3]; 4. 14-Dalton Lane[6]; 5. 35H-Michael Altobelli[2]; 6. 5T-Jonathan Taylor[5]; 7. 99W-Wade Olmsted[17]; 8. 21B-Hunter Breland[7]; 9. 5B-Bobby Bagley[9]; 10. 88-Cody Thornhill[15]; 11. 0K-Damian Kiefer[18]; 12. 8-Jimmy Lennex Jr[8]; 13. (DNS) 54-Zachary Hawk; 14. (DNS) 31G-Stephen Pedulla; 15. (DNS) 17T-Tyler Evans; 16. (DNS) 55-Blaze Melton; 17. (DNS) 0-Glenn Styres; 18. (DNS) 10X-Billy Uptegraff
Last Chance Showdown 4 (10 Laps): 1. 1H-Ben Harmon[1]; 2. 5CS-Curt Spalding[6]; 3. 71-Pierce McCarter[2]; 4. 99H-Justin Haley[5]; 5. 12L-Lucas Lee[4]; 6. 26-Adam Ogle[15]; 7. 43J-Jacob Hall[12]; 8. 11N-Gene Nicholas[11]; 9. 7-Evan Taylor[10]; 10. 00B-Buzzie Reutimann[13]; 11. 28-Mason Lobb[14]; 12. 17X-Richard Michael Jr[3]; 13. 11-Dylan Drake[8]; 14. 70B-Ty Norder[7]; 15. 66-Adam Wright[9]; 16. (DNS) 60-Jim Manka; 17. (DNS) 77D-George Dixon; 18. (DNS) 114K-Evan Koehler
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