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Sorensen highest regional finisher in Volusia, as Madden, O’Neal & McCreadie net wins

By Spence Smithback

BARBERVILLE, FL (Jan. 22-24) - Open Late Model racers convened upon Volusia Speedway January 22-24 for the DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals. Several WISSOTA-region racers were on hand for the weekend, including Brent Larson, Matthew Larson, Jake Timm, Dustin Sorensen, and Blair Nothdurft. Sorensen’s sixth-place finish Thursday was the best performance of the mini-series of all the regional drivers in attendance.

Thursday, January 22

From the moment they unloaded at Volusia Speedway Park for DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals, Chris Madden appeared to be the driver to beat. In Wednesday’s practice night, Madden was the fastest man on the property with a lap faster than the official track record. When it mattered on Thursday, he was fastest overall in qualifying and dominated his heat face.

Once feature time rolled around, Madden led all 35 circuits on his way to the 40th win of his career with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series at the same track where he won his first two decades ago.

“It’s awesome, you couldn’t ask for a better day today,” Madden said.

Madden initially got the lead from second-starting Nick Hoffman on the outside on the opening lap, but it wouldn’t be long until his first close call of the night. Twelve laps in, a broken oil pump belt caused Tristan Chamberlain to slow directly in front of the leaders, forcing Madden to take evasive action to avoid a race-ending collision.

During the ensuing green-flag run, Hoffman found his stride, and with four laps remaining, the No. 9 was side by side with Madden. Hoffman briefly led through turns one and two, before Madden pulled the crossover and found another gear, quickly pulling away with the laps winding down.

As Madden was coming off turn four to the checkered flag, Jake Timm spun to the inside wall to create a green-white-checkered finish. Madden remained unfazed though, and drove two more flawless laps to earn his first win since a Southern Nationals triumph at Volunteer Speedway last July.

“Obviously, starting up front is very important,” Madden said. “Was able to get by Nick there on the start, I knew he was going to be very good. He got by me there, I got extremely tight, couldn’t enter where I needed to be entering. Nick caught me there and got by me, and then I just got up on the wheel and let her rip.”

Hoffman settled for second to open his season, while Brandon Sheppard, Dennis Erb Jr. and Ricky Thornton Jr. rounded out the top five.

Friday, January 23

After Hudson O’Neal finished up a two-win trip to Arizona for the Wild West Shootout, car owner Kevin Rumley elected to take a detour on his way home to Lexington, NC and swing by Volusia Speedway Park to try to keep the hot streak going. They did exactly that on Friday night, as O’Neal pulled off the wire-to-wire victory on the second night of the 2026 season for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series.

The Martinsville, IN driver powered around the outside of polesitter Brandon Overton on the start, but the No. 76 remained his closest competitor early on. The most dominant driver throughout the weekend, Chris Madden, was never far behind until he slowed at the top of turn four while running second to bring out the first caution of the night.

Overton began to fade on the ensuing restart, and in his place, Tyler Erb emerged as the driver to take the fight to O’Neal. By the final lap, “Terbo” was right on O’Neal’s back bumper and dove low through turns one and two to make it side-by-side down the backstretch. However, O’Neal had enough speed on the top to clear Erb into turn three, shutting the door at the checkers to seal his fourth Volusia win.

“I about gave it away going down into [turn] one,” O’Neal said. “I got a little bit too high, got my left rear in the rough and it kind of jumped my right front up. Whenever I seen [Erb] leaving [turn] two, I was like, ‘Oh no.’ I knew I got a better run than him, and I was just trying my best not to miss the bottom. I wasn’t sure where he was at.”

Erb crossed the line second by a car length to match his Volusia career best, while Tim McCreadie, Brandon Sheppard and Nick Hoffman made up the rest of the top five.

Saturday, January 24

Tim McCreadie made one thing clear on Saturday night at Volusia Speedway Park — he plans on being a part of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series championship conversation all year long.

Last season, the primary reason he wasn’t in contention down the stretch was his poor start to the year, as his team did not reach victory lane until May. McCreadie was determined to not let that happen again, and he only needed three nights to finish the job and score his first win of the year at DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals.

“I’ve said this before, I love winning at Volusia,” McCreadie said. “Whether it’s now, whether it’s here during Cup week, I love racing at Volusia. I wish it was up where New York was, I’d probably still be racing weekly.”

Early in the 50-lap contest, Ryan Gustin wasted no time jumping out to a sizeable lead and commanded the first 20 laps. But McCreadie was busy hustling his way through the field from the 10th starting spot, and with 20 laps on the board he had ran down the “Reaper.” McCreadie soon set sail from the rest of the pack, but a lap 34 restart gave Gustin another shot.

With McCreadie rolling the bottom and Gustin ripping the high side, the two remained door-to-door for laps on end. But a slider with 14 to go put McCreadie on top, and he never relinquished the lead from there on his way to his third World of Outlaws win at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile.”

“This place is different and you’ve got to build a balance,” McCreadie said. “Last night, I couldn’t steer on the bottom even though I was there the whole time. We worked on that tonight and the track kind of came to us. Felt like I was a sitting duck, but I moved back to the middle and I didn’t hear nobody anymore, so it must have been good.”

Brandon Sheppard moved up to second late to clinch the Sunshine Nationals championship, while Dennis Erb Jr., Gustin and Drake Troutman completed the top five.

SUMMARY

Thursday, Jan. 22

WoO Late Models:

WoO Late Model Feature (35 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Madden[2]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 3. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[6]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[10]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[13]; 6. 19-Dustin Sorensen[4]; 7. 111-Max Blair[11]; 8. 1-Tyler Erb[26]; 9. 32-Bobby Pierce[12]; 10. 8-Kyle Strickler[7]; 11. 17M-Dale McDowell[19]; 12. 76-Brandon Overton[8]; 13. 7M-Donald McIntosh[3]; 14. 9M-Tim McCreadie[18]; 15. B1-Brent Larson[5]; 16. 15-Clay Stuckey[21]; 17. 19R-Ryan Gustin[14]; 18. 79-Cory Hedgecock[16]; 19. 22*-Drake Troutman[23]; 20. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[9]; 21. 58V-Daulton Wilson[27]; 22. 1Z-Logan Zarin[28]; 23. 74X-Ethan Dotson[17]; 24. 49-Jake Timm[24]; 25. 99B-Boom Briggs[15]; 26. 114-Jordan Koehler[22]; 27. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[25]; 28. 81-Jason Riggs[20]

Heat Race 1 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 2. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 3. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[5]; 4. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[6]; 5. 74X-Ethan Dotson[3]; 6. 22*-Drake Troutman[4]; 7. 11R-Josh Rice[11]; 8. 15-Clay Stuckey[7]; 9. 1Z-Logan Zarin[9]; 10. 388-Jackson Hise[8]; 11. 8L-Matthew Larson[10]

Heat Race 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[2]; 2. B1-Brent Larson[1]; 3. 111-Max Blair[3]; 4. 99B-Boom Briggs[7]; 5. 17M-Dale McDowell[5]; 6. 49-Jake Timm[9]; 7. 58V-Daulton Wilson[6]; 8. 11S-Allen Styck[8]; 9. 11B-Stacy Boles[10]; 10. 0-Glenn Styres[11]; 11. 1-Tyler Erb[4]

Heat Race 3 (8 Laps): 1. 7M-Donald McIntosh[1]; 2. 8-Kyle Strickler[5]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 5. 9M-Tim McCreadie[7]; 6. 81-Jason Riggs[9]; 7. 14-Trey Mills[8]; 8. 5-Mark Whitener[2]; 9. 23-Beckham Malone[10]; 10. T1-Todd Morrow[11]; 11. 6-Hudson O'Neal[4]

Heat Race 4 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Dustin Sorensen[1]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[4]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 4. 79-Cory Hedgecock[3]; 5. 114-Jordan Koehler[5]; 6. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[6]; 7. 24-Tyler Wyant[8]; 8. 40B-Kyle Bronson[7]; 9. 09-Michael Leach[10]; 10. 55E-Eli Johnson[9]; 11. 6H-Clay Harris[11]

LCS 1 (10 Laps): 1. 74X-Ethan Dotson[1]; 2. 17M-Dale McDowell[2]; 3. 15-Clay Stuckey[7]; 4. 22*-Drake Troutman[3]; 5. 49-Jake Timm[4]; 6. 11R-Josh Rice[5]; 7. 58V-Daulton Wilson[6]; 8. 1Z-Logan Zarin[9]; 9. 388-Jackson Hise[11]; 10. 8L-Matthew Larson[13]; 11. 11S-Allen Styck[8]; 12. 0-Glenn Styres[12]; 13. 11B-Stacy Boles[10]; 14. 1-Tyler Erb[14]

LCS 2 (10 Laps): 1. 9M-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 81-Jason Riggs[3]; 3. 114-Jordan Koehler[2]; 4. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[4]; 5. 24-Tyler Wyant[6]; 6. 5-Mark Whitener[7]; 7. 40B-Kyle Bronson[8]; 8. 14-Trey Mills[5]; 9. 23-Beckham Malone[9]; 10. 55E-Eli Johnson[12]; 11. T1-Todd Morrow[11]; 12. 09-Michael Leach[10]; 13. 6-Hudson O'Neal[13]; 14. 6H-Clay Harris[14]

Friday, Jan. 23

WoO Late Model Feature (35 Laps): 1. 6-Hudson O'Neal[2]; 2. 1-Tyler Erb[4]; 3. 9M-Tim McCreadie[11]; 4. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 5. 9-Nick Hoffman[8]; 6. 111-Max Blair[7]; 7. 8-Kyle Strickler[9]; 8. 17M-Dale McDowell[15]; 9. 19R-Ryan Gustin[12]; 10. 32-Bobby Pierce[23]; 11. 22*-Drake Troutman[14]; 12. 97-Cody Overton[17]; 13. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 14. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[18]; 15. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[22]; 16. 74X-Ethan Dotson[10]; 17. 11R-Josh Rice[20]; 18. 1Z-Logan Zarin[26]; 19. 58V-Daulton Wilson[25]; 20. 49-Jake Timm[24]; 21. B1-Brent Larson[16]; 22. 14-Trey Mills[27]; 23. 114-Jordan Koehler[19]; 24. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[13]; 25. 19-Dustin Sorensen[21]; 26. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[6]; 27. 44-Chris Madden[3]; 28. 55E-Eli Johnson[28]

Heat Race 1 (8 Laps): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[3]; 3. 8-Kyle Strickler[2]; 4. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[4]; 5. 97-Cody Overton[7]; 6. 79-Cory Hedgecock[5]; 7. 15-Clay Stuckey[8]; 8. 114-Jordan Koehler[9]; 9. 49-Jake Timm[6]; 10. 09-Michael Leach[10]; 11. 55E-Eli Johnson[11]

Heat Race 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Hudson O'Neal[2]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 3. 9M-Tim McCreadie[4]; 4. 17M-Dale McDowell[3]; 5. 32-Bobby Pierce[5]; 6. 19-Dustin Sorensen[7]; 7. 24-Tyler Wyant[9]; 8. 58V-Daulton Wilson[8]; 9. 7M-Donald McIntosh[6]; 10. T1-Todd Morrow[10]; 11. 0-Glenn Styres[11]

Heat Race 3 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 2. 111-Max Blair[3]; 3. 74X-Ethan Dotson[5]; 4. 22*-Drake Troutman[2]; 5. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[7]; 6. 5-Mark Whitener[4]; 7. 23-Beckham Malone[9]; 8. 40B-Kyle Bronson[8]; 9. 1Z-Logan Zarin[10]; 10. 81-Jason Riggs[11]; 11. 14-Trey Mills[6]

Heat Race 4 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb[1]; 2. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 4. B1-Brent Larson[4]; 5. 11R-Josh Rice[7]; 6. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[6]; 7. 388-Jackson Hise[8]; 8. 11S-Allen Styck[5]; 9. 99B-Boom Briggs[9]; 10. 8L-Matthew Larson[11]; 11. 11B-Stacy Boles[10]

LCS 1 (10 Laps): 1. 97-Cody Overton[1]; 2. 114-Jordan Koehler[7]; 3. 19-Dustin Sorensen[4]; 4. 24-Tyler Wyant[6]; 5. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 6. 09-Michael Leach[11]; 7. 15-Clay Stuckey[5]; 8. 58V-Daulton Wilson[8]; 9. 49-Jake Timm[9]; 10. 7M-Donald McIntosh[10]; 11. 0-Glenn Styres[14]; 12. T1-Todd Morrow[12]; 13. 55E-Eli Johnson[13]; 14. 79-Cory Hedgecock[3]

LCS 2 (10 Laps): 1. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[1]; 2. 11R-Josh Rice[2]; 3. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[4]; 4. 5-Mark Whitener[3]; 5. 388-Jackson Hise[6]; 6. 40B-Kyle Bronson[7]; 7. 1Z-Logan Zarin[9]; 8. 23-Beckham Malone[5]; 9. 14-Trey Mills[13]; 10. 8L-Matthew Larson[12]; 11. 81-Jason Riggs[11]; 12. 11B-Stacy Boles[14]; 13. 11S-Allen Styck[8]; 14. 99B-Boom Briggs[10]

Saturday, Jan. 24

WoO Late Model Feature (50 Laps): 1. 9M-Tim McCreadie[10]; 2. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[6]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[7]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin[1]; 5. 22*-Drake Troutman[12]; 6. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 7. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[18]; 8. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 9. 9-Nick Hoffman[20]; 10. 6-Hudson O'Neal[5]; 11. 44-Chris Madden[4]; 12. 58V-Daulton Wilson[8]; 13. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[19]; 14. 7M-Donald McIntosh[16]; 15. 5-Mark Whitener[9]; 16. 1-Tyler Erb[25]; 17. 49-Jake Timm[24]; 18. 19-Dustin Sorensen[23]; 19. 114-Jordan Koehler[22]; 20. 1Z-Logan Zarin[15]; 21. 40B-Kyle Bronson[11]; 22. 97-Cody Overton[21]; 23. 14-Trey Mills[26]; 24. 11R-Josh Rice[17]; 25. 11S-Allen Styck[13]; 26. 55E-Eli Johnson[27]; 27. B1-Brent Larson[14]

Heat Race 1 (8 Laps): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 6-Hudson O'Neal[2]; 3. 5-Mark Whitener[4]; 4. 11S-Allen Styck[3]; 5. 11R-Josh Rice[8]; 6. 1-Tyler Erb[5]; 7. 8L-Matthew Larson[7]; 8. 15-Clay Stuckey[6]; 9. 14-Trey Mills[9]; 10. 81-Jason Riggs[11]; 11. 79-Cory Hedgecock[10]

Heat Race 2 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 2. 58V-Daulton Wilson[1]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[4]; 4. 1Z-Logan Zarin[2]; 5. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[5]; 6. 388-Jackson Hise[7]; 7. 23-Beckham Malone[6]; 8. 97-Cody Overton[11]; 9. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[10]; 10. 19-Dustin Sorensen[8]; 11. T1-Todd Morrow[9]

Heat Race 3 (8 Laps): 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[2]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[1]; 3. 9M-Tim McCreadie[3]; 4. B1-Brent Larson[4]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[5]; 6. 74X-Ethan Dotson[6]; 7. 8-Kyle Strickler[8]; 8. 99B-Boom Briggs[9]; 9. 111-Max Blair[7]; 10. 11B-Stacy Boles[11]; 11. 49-Jake Timm[10]

Heat Race 4 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 2. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 3. 22*-Drake Troutman[2]; 4. 7M-Donald McIntosh[8]; 5. 9-Nick Hoffman[7]; 6. 114-Jordan Koehler[5]; 7. 24-Tyler Wyant[6]; 8. 09-Michael Leach[9]; 9. 55E-Eli Johnson[10]; 10. 0-Glenn Styres[11]; 11. 17M-Dale McDowell[4]

LCS 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11R-Josh Rice[1]; 2. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[2]; 3. 97-Cody Overton[8]; 4. 1-Tyler Erb[3]; 5. 15-Clay Stuckey[7]; 6. 388-Jackson Hise[4]; 7. 14-Trey Mills[9]; 8. 23-Beckham Malone[6]; 9. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[10]; 10. 8L-Matthew Larson[5]; 11. 81-Jason Riggs[11]; 12. T1-Todd Morrow[14]; 13. 19-Dustin Sorensen[12]; 14. 79-Cory Hedgecock[13]

LCS 2 (10 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[2]; 3. 114-Jordan Koehler[4]; 4. 99B-Boom Briggs[7]; 5. 24-Tyler Wyant[6]; 6. 09-Michael Leach[8]; 7. 55E-Eli Johnson[10]; 8. 11B-Stacy Boles[11]; 9. 0-Glenn Styres[12]; 10. 111-Max Blair[9]; 11. 49-Jake Timm[13]; 12. 74X-Ethan Dotson[3]; 13. 8-Kyle Strickler[5]; 14. 17M-Dale McDowell[14]