Jeremiah Shingledecker of Polk, Pa., showed that being lucky is sometimes better than being good when he inherited the victory in the 20-lap DIRTcar Big Block Modified feature after Rex “Cooter” King Jr. led the entire race and slid wide in turn two on the 18th circuit. King’s mistake allowed the defending track champion to dash under him for his fourth win in five feature races this season. It was Shingledecker’s 20th career win at Tri-City. It also ended a stellar weekend fro Shingledecker, who finished second on Friday night at Lernerville Speedway and won the BRP Modified Tour race on Saturday night at Mercer Raceway Park.
“This race should have been Cooter’s,” said Shingledecker after the win in his Village Auto/Hard’s Welding/Steve’s Teez Bicknell No. 37MD. “I would never have caught him until he made that mistake in turn two. Three nights is a lot of racing, but we made it through, and it’s been a great weekend with two wins and a second.”
King started on the pole position of the non-stop feature event. He immediately vaulted into the lead at the start and Shingledecker moved into second on the third circuit. While Shingledecker gave chase to King, the battle for the rest of the top five was heated, but all eyes were up front. On the 11th circuit, Eric Martin spun off turn four in front of the leaders, and he kept going. However, the spin caused the two leaders to hesitate, and that bobble allowed King to open back up his lead over Shingledecker. After that incident, King appeared to throw caution to the wind as he continued to race fast around the track. At one point, he slid a little wide in turn one, and Shingledecker closed the gap. Finally, with two laps to go, he raced too hard into the first turn, and he slid over the top edge of the track surface nearly hitting the wall into turn two. The mistake allowed Shingledecker past for the win. King finished a disappointing second over Kevin Hoffman, Rex King and Brad Rapp. Brian Swartzlander and Kevin Bolland won the DIRTcar Big Block Modified heats.