SALISBURY, N.C. – Canadian teenager Nick Sheridan is the lone representative of his country in the 67-kart field for the inaugural Keith Kunz Motorsports Giveback Classic, but he’s not letting that intimidate him.

Instead, Sheridan is embracing the opportunity to fly the flag for his home country and represent the nation proudly as he chases glory during Wednesday night’s 50-lap, $2,000-to-win feature.

Originally scheduled to be one of two Canadian drivers in the Giveback Classic field, Sheridan inherited all the honor when friend and competitor Scott Chesterman couldn’t make the trip south to race.

“It’s a really big thing for me, especially since Chesterman is a buddy of mine and wasn’t able to be here,” said the 13-year-old. “It’s an honor to represent Canada in this caliber of an event and I hope I can make everyone back home proud when this is all over.”

Sheridan was 17th-quick in his qualifying flight on Tuesday night, missing the invert by one spot, but he’s not worried about lining up fifth for his heat race and likes his chances of contending to make the feature.

“I have some laps here, but not a lot of setup tuning, so we did a lot to the car working to make it better,” he noted. “We gained a lot of speed through the last two days and I think things are paying off so far. If we can make the A main, it would be a miracle and I’d be so stoked to do that.”

– Karsyn Elledge has a happy homecoming to Millbridge Speedway on Tuesday night, timing in 11th-fastest in her qualifying flight ahead of Wednesday’s heat races at the sixth-mile dirt oval.

The 18-year-old daughter of Factory QRC Karts head man Jimmy Elledge is a former Box Stock and Intermediate class track champion at Millbridge and won two features earlier this season.

Elledge left North Carolina in July to begin attending college at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis. She is studying Criminal Justice and came home specifically to race in the Giveback Classic.

“On the way here, my sister was asking me if I remembered how to do this, and I told her that it’s kind of like riding a bike in the fact that you never really forget,” said Elledge. “I feel like we had good speed, but the track was a lot different tonight than it has been through the year. It was a little tricky.

“I hate qualifying as bad as I did, but when it puts us on the front row of a heat race, I’m not going to complain too loudly.”

– There was plenty of fun to be had outside of qualifying and the support division races on Tuesday as well, as Logan Seavey took his No. 67 Mobil 1/Curb Records Bullet-Toyota midget out onto the clay for some exhibition laps ahead of the main portion of the program.

Seavey’s demonstration gave fans and drivers alike a taste of what the winner of the Giveback Classic will be in for down the road – whether they race in the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals or elsewhere.

“That was a lot of fun,” said Seavey. “I’ve obviously ran a lot of laps at Millbridge over the years in an outlaw kart and won there before, so it’s a huge blessing to be able to bring a midget from the best team in motorsports here and be able to turn some laps around this place. It’s pretty cool and pretty special, especially with all the kids watching and knowing that if they win on Wednesday night, that it could be them in my shoes at some point.

“The track’s fun. I love the small tracks, racing midgets, and it had a decent cushion up there that I could guide off of and have some fun with,” he added. “Hopefully the fans enjoyed it and we can get people excited about dirt-track racing.”

– Several big names were sighted at the track on Tuesday in the pit area, including soon-to-be 10-time World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series champion Donny Schatz, Outlaw team owner and retired NASCAR star Kasey Kahne and Kahne’s Knoxville Nationals-winning driver, Brad Sweet.

Schatz was caught posing for a photo opportunity with young Mason Burnett, the son of track co-promoters Ashly and Jeremy Burnett, while Kahne and Sweet were at the track supporting Kahne’s nephew Eli Adams, who raced in the Intermediate division on Tuesday night.

– The official TRD Flip Count landed at two after the opening night of competition, with Colt Johnson taking a tumble on the initial start of his Beginner Box Stock heat race and Emilee Lowry going end over end coming to the green flag for her qualifying run.

Both drivers were uninjured and returned to competition later in the show.

“I just didn’t realize how tough it is to run the top here when you’re not accustomed to doing it,” Lowry said. “Most of the places I’ve run, it’s through the middle or on the bottom, so when I tried to get up there and go flat-out like my crew told me to … it jumped out and bit me.

“I’m so thankful they got the car repaired enough for us to at least take a lap at the end; we didn’t fix everything we wanted to, but we’ll be back to try again Wednesday night.”