Matt Dimit Holds Off Challengers for Hot Shoe 100 XI Triumph

Matt Dimit joined the list of Hot Shoe 100 winners on Saturday night, holding off Josh Ware on a late-race shootout for the victory in the prestigious Modified event.

Dimit scored the prestigious victory in his Burkett-Nester Racecars No. 7, which came down to a 14-lap shootout after a caution involving Todd Jackson and Buddy Gray. Dimit finished ahead of Ware, four-time Hot Shoe winner Brian Nester and 2022 winner Cody Stickler for the victory.

"That's four guys right there, the best there is," said Dimit. "To be up here with them and even have a shot at this. I don't know what to say. Normally I'm driving around thinking of what I'm going to say. Josh put the pressure on, I couldn't do that.

"I've got to thank everybody that's up here with me, that has helped me get here and helped me today and this weekend."

Coming within a week of the passing of his grandfather, Saturday's win was extra special for Dimit.

"We lost my grandpa this week. Two weeks ago, I said that win was for him, but this is it right here. This is for him."

Dimit won at Owosso on July 27 in a tune-up to Saturday's Hot Shoe 100 XI. While he fought some of the same handling issues he did in that race, the car was fast enough to stay out front by building gaps on short runs such as the one at race's end.

"I pretty much had a similar car where it was tight-center, loose-out. We fought all weekend to get rid of that and ended up going right back to what we had, hoping that the sun going down there would change that. It didn't, just struggling to roll the center, but we were good when it counted. We had a really good short run car and was able to build a gap when we needed it."

On the other side of the coin, Ware had a long-run car and hated to see the caution interrupt his challenge for the lead with 14 laps to go.

"It was a great battle, good friend," said Ware. "Wish we would have went green and not had the last couple of cautions, I think it would have turned out different, but it is what it is. I get to go home in one piece this year.

"I had a bad push off the restarts, the first five or six laps. Then, it started coming back to me and I could start going again."

Brian Nester rallied from a 14th-place starting position to finish on the podium in his hunt for a fifth win in the Hot Shoe 100.

"I put myself in a hole qualifying, had to start 14th," said Nester. "To drive to third with this field, I'm happy. Got a little fender-bender there on the frontstretch and screwed up the toe a little bit. I don't know if that hurt us or not, but it's still in one piece."

Trevor Berry finished fourth, with Nick Clemens rounding out the top five.

The next event for Owosso Speedway is the ASA STARS National Tour's Michigan 300 on Wednesday, August 20.

Hot Shoe 100 XI Unofficial Results