"Through My Eyes" Recaps by Jacob Hord
Fremont AFCS 6/9/19
A warm, partly sunny, hall of fame night sets the evening here at Fremont Speedway for the second leg of the AFCS doubleheader weekend. We had 29 410’s make the call to go racing.
410 Hotlaps: Buddy is still fast folks. He won hotlaps with a 13.456. Following him was Tim Shaffer (13.527), Brickner Martin (13.578), Ryan Broughton (13.632), and Cole Duncan (13.641). Fun fact: the top five all came from the last group, which meant the track was getting fast just in time for qualifying!
410 Qualifying:
Justin Peck
13.176
Buddy Kofoid
13.202
Byron Reed
13.345
DJ Foos
13.352
Broc Martin
13.353
Craig Mintz
13.353
Brian Smith
13.354
Stuart Brubaker
13.360
Travis Philo
13.367
Brian Lay
13.408
Another fun fact: positions 4-8 were separated by .008 seconds! Quicker times were spread out throughout the field.
305 Hotlaps/Qualifying:
John Ivy
13.884
Kyle Peters
14.191
Tyler Street
14.218
Zeth Sabo
14.231
Alvin Roepke
14.270
410 Heat 1: The Brian’s of Lay and Smith were on the front row and it was Smith taking the lead as the green flew. Foos got under Lay for second on lap one and Peck followed suit on lap two. Smith had built a good lead by lap five. Smith ran away with it over Foos, Peck, Lay, Henry (transfers), Griffith, Broughton, Imler, and Duncan (mechanical dnf).
410 Heat 2: Dussel and Brubaker took the field to green and Brubaker assumes the lead while Helms goes from eighth to third! This one was follow the leader until it wasn’t… the last two laps were pretty entertaining! Dussel started closing in on Brubaker for the lead, and almost touched while Helms and Buddy started staring their cases for second. No one swapped positions though as Brubaker wins over Dussel, Helms, Kofoid, Martin (transfers), Swanson, Wilson, Bova, and White rounded out your field.
410 Heat 3: the final heat would determine which 5 was best. Shaffer and Philo touched on the start but both held on to first and second. The 5W tribute car of Lee Jacobs spun on lap 1 bringing out the caution. On the restart, Mintz got under McCarron for fourth. Come lap five and Shaffer was starting to catch Philo for the lead. And McCarron was working hard to fend off Andrews for the final transfer. Philo held off Shaffer in the closing laps followed by Reed, Mintz, McCarron (transfers), Andrews, Jacobs, Ivy, and Gunn round out the final heat.
305 Heat 1: Brandon Moore and Kyle Capodice were up front and it was Capodice taking the early lead. Ivy and Moore were battling for second and Moore was making Ivy work pretty hard for it. On a restart it was Ivy that got the better of Moore on lap 5. The chase was then on for Ivy to see if he could catch Capodice. Ivy waited til the last possible second and went around the top of Capodice in the last corner to steal the heat race win! Capodice second, Moore, Sabo, Adams (transfers), Farmer, Schnieder, Keegan, and Kingseed.
305 Heat 2: it took a couple tries but it was Shawn Valenti that took the lead on the start, slamming the door in Luke Griffiths face which allowed Roepke to get second place. On the ensuing restart after a Ziebold spin, Roepke got under Valenti for the lead. After another Ziebold spin, Peters got around Griffith for third and was then all over second place Roepke. Valenti won the heat over Roepke, Peters, Griffith, Miller (transfers), McGrath Jr. Verda, and Lucius round out the field.
305 Heat 3: A really tamed heat saw an early caution for a spinning Dahms after making contact with Peck. Clark went to the cushion and got around Keckler for the lead on the first lap and Weaver did the exact same thing on the next lap to claim second. Clark wins over Weaver, Keckler, Street, Rall (transfers), Riehl, Peck and Dahms.
410 B-Main: Swanson, Andrews, Griffith, Broughton, and Jacobs are your transfers in a pretty calm B
305 B-Main:Schneider, McGrath Jr, Farmer, Verda and Reihl transfer
410 Feature Top 10 Lineup:
Brian Smith
DJ Foos
Byron Reed
Justin Peck
Stuart Brubaker
Travis Philo
Nate Dussel
Tim Shaffer
Caleb Helms
Brian Lay
DJ Foos was looking to sweep the weekend and he got off to a great start, storming to the lead. Justin Peck and Travis Philo were really engaged in battle all Feature long trying to see who is the best #5! By lap six, Foos had a good gap over Smith who had a good gap over the battling 5’s. But by lap nine, Foos had reached traffic and would have to navigate it on a slick track! Shaffer got by Reed for fifth on lap nine and set his sights on the other two 5’s. Philo was all over Peck, and threw a slider to reclaim third place while Shaffer caught them. Shaffer got by both 5’s on lap 13 and set his sights on Smith. At the halfway point, Foos still had a good gap over Smith and Shaffer. Caution came out on lap 17 for a spinning Broughton, bringing the field back together. Running order: Foos, Smith, Shaffer, Philo, Peck, Mintz, Kofoid. Foos jumped the restart and got it called back, and on the next try set a suuuuper slow pace. Shaffer got by Smith a lap after the restart for second and went after Foos while the 5’s resumed their battle and let Kofoid join their battle. Kofoid ended up getting by both Philo and Peck in one move on lap 20 and began to chase down third place running Smith. If the 11N can get a caution, he’ll be a contender for the win. Shaffer closed the gap to Foos while Foos was negotiating traffic and made it interesting, as did Kofoid when he caught Smith. Kofoid did hold third momentarily but Smith had the better line and got back by.
Foos held off Shaffer and got his second win of the weekend, giving the Burmeister crew great momentum going into Speedweek. Shaffer, Smith, Kofoid, Peck, Philo, Mintz, Henry, Dussel and Jacobs rounded out your top ten!
305 Feature Top 10 Lineup:
Paul Weaver
Alvin Roepke
Kyle Peters
John Ivy
Shawn Valenti
Bobby Clark
Kyle Capodice
Brandon Moore
Jason Keckler
Zeth Sabo
It was the 99 of Alvin Roepke that took the lead from Weaver on the start as Weaver fell to third early. John Ivy put himself in second and was alllll over Roepke for the lead but Roepke was making his car wide and making Ivy work for it. Ivy would get good runs off the corners but would tend to bobble in turns one and two negating his good runs. Roepke reached traffic by lap nine allowing Ivy to get by him on the outside of the front stretch on lap ten. Roepke held on for dear life though and never let Ivy out of his sight as it was Ivy’s turn to maneuver through heavy lap traffic. It looked like Paul Weaver was finding some speed in third on lap 17. It seemed like Roepke would be there, and then he wasn’t. He just couldn’t get as good of a run out of the corners as Ivy. Roepke went low late and really made it interesting, but Ivy was able to put a lapper between him and Roepke and Roepke couldn’t get by in time. Ivy wins over Roepke, Weaver, Moore, Peters, Valenti, Capodice, Street, Clark and Griffith as your top ten finishers in a feature that only took seven minutes to complete (thanks Brian Liskai for that tidbit!)
Great racing all around tonight, and it was really cool to honor those who were inducted into the Fremont Speedway HOF tonight and watch the vintage cars race around to. Definitely a history filled night at the Track That Action Built! Gorgeous weather was the icing on the cake!
Now, do I go to Kokomo for USAC midget week and sprint cars or do I go to Mid-Ohio for RallyCross tomorrow? Hmmmmm.
Attica AFCS 6/7/19
It was a near perfect day for some sprint car action in Attica Ohio for the midseason championship night. AFCS 410’s were $4k to win and the 305’s were in action as well as the dirt trucks since its The Dream Weekend at Eldora. Thirty two stout cars were in attendance to take home a good Friday payday.
410 Qualifying:
Buddy Kofoid
13.027
Brian Lay
13.265
Craig Mintz
13.324
Broc Martin
13.344
Caleb Helms
13.385
Jac Haudenschild
13.420
Byron Reed
13.426
Stuart Brubaker
13.438
Nate Dussel
13.464
Cap Henry
13.448
There was a massive ledge on the exit of four, and if you hit it right, you were golden, but if you didn’t, it was bad news bears for you.
305 Hotlaps: Jamie Miller continues his hot streak and was quickest overall at a 14.170 followed by Paul Weaver (14.220), John Ivy (14.392), Kyle Peters (14.394) and Shawn Valenti (14.465) as your top five.
The stage was set and as the kids always say, “Let’s go racing!”
410 Heat 1: Eight laps, four transfer positions up for grabs. Cap Henry and Nate Dussel were your starters and they battled fiercely for the lead until Kelsey Ivy coasted to a stop before a lap was completed. On the restart it was Cap and Nate battling again. Cap took control on lap two, but Dussel was back for more on lap four, going underneath Cap for the lead in turn one. Cap was faster in three and four though, and powered back by, picking up the victory over Dussel, Helms, Conley as your transfers, and Martin, Lee Jacobs, Jordan Ryan, and Kelsey Ivy.
410 Heat 2: Kody Swanson and Ricky Peterson were on the front row and it was Peterson who took the early lead, but Buddy Kofoid was coming quick. He got by Swanson for second on lap one, and was closing on Peterson at the halfway point. In what may have been the move of the night, Buddy threw a slider in three and four from Bucyrus to take the lead and eek out a victory by a nose over Peterson, Lay, Griffith transfer, Smith, Imler, and Swanson who blew up coming to the checkers.
410 Heat 3: Nine track championships on the front row with Brubaker and Reed pacing the field in what was the most stout heat of the night. Brubaker pulled an early lead while Jess Stiger went from the tail to fifth! Jac had mechanical gremlins on lap three which promoted Stiger to fourth. After that it was a pretty tame heat, Reed and Mintz had a little battle for second on the last lap but it was Brubaker cruising to a win over Reed, Mintz, Stiger, Andrews, Duncan, Dancer, and Jac. (Stout, right?)
410 Heat 4: The final 410 heat of the night saw Trey Jacobs and DJ Foos on pole. Chad Blonde went pitside before the green flew. Foos ripped the top to the lead. The real battle was between Stambaugh and Philo for third. They battled fierce, trading the position multiple times before Stambaugh got by on lap five, Philo never gave up though. Stambaugh made a mistake on the last lap in turns one and two allowing Philo to get back by on hold on to third. Foos won over T. Jacobs, Philo, Stambaugh transfers, Harble, LaLonde, and Niell.
410 BMain1: There was a Bmain you wanted to be in and a BMain you didn’t want to be in. Jac was worth the price of admission in this one as he went from last to second. Andrews won and Jac also transferred. Lee Jacobs, Dancer, Ivy, Ryan, Martin and Duncan did not transfer.
410 BMain2: Brian Smith won a calm race over Mitch Harble (transfers), Niell, White, LaLonde, and Imler.
410 Feature: The stage was set and it was time to go after it for 30 laps and $4k to win!
Craig Mintz
Stuart Brubaker
Cap Henry
Trey Jacobs
Brian Lay
Ricky Peterson
Nate Dussel
DJ Foos
Byron Reed
Buddy Kofoid
Unfortunately for Mintz, his race was over as soon as it started, as something in his steering broke and he went off the banking in one and two, ending his race. What ensued on the restart was a testament to how great these drivers are. Cap took the lead, but Brubaker threw a slider, and Trey Jacobs made his presence felt as well! They were three wide for a couple laps, all swapping the top three positions multiple times. How they didn’t crash, I’m not sure, but what I am sure about is that Jacobs went to the lead before another caution came out on lap three. Jacobs held the lead on the restart and went straight to the low side, which was fast. Jacobs would build a pretty sizeable lead while Buddy Kofoid was charging. He was up to third on lap 11 and second on lap 13. The chase was on for the lead! The 3J was in traffic by lap 16 which allowed Buddy to catch up to him. The 3J was still running low while Buddy was ripping the top. They were side-by-side for the lead for a hot second, but Buddy did take the lead away and started pulling away while DJ Foos was making his way forward, reaching third and looking fast by lap 21. Disaster struck again for the 11N though, as Max Stambaugh went off the high side of three and four, and decided it would be a good idea to come back up over the banking. Buddy had nowhere to go and hit Stambaugh, bringing his night to a frustrating end. Trey Jacobs regained the lead but didn’t get to hang on to it for long as DJ Foos got by him on the outside on the ensuing restart. Foos ran away for his second ARP victory taking home double points and $4k. Jacobs, Cap, Dussel, Reed, Brubaker, Stiger, Andrews, Philo, and Smith rounded out your top ten. It was a fun race, with cars all over the track racing. The bottom and top seemed to be pretty equal if you could run them right. Slick to the cushion for sure.
305 Heat 1: Kyle Peters and Kingseed Jr. took the field to the green flag and it was Peters who took the lead and never looked back, even after a caution for a spinning Dahms. Justin Adams had a great race going from last to fourth as well. Peters won by a mile over Keckler, who slid Kingseed on the last corner, Adams (transfers), Capodice, Farmer, Reihl, and Dahms.
305 Heat 2: Paul Weaver took the lead over Luke Griffith, and everyone else got stacked up behind the 2X of Mike Grigsby. Weaver won an otherwise uneventful heat two over Griffith, Schnieder, Ivy (transfers), Grigsby, Valenti, and Rall.
305 Heat 3: Mike Keegan took the lead over Street who went from sixth to second before Kasey Ziebold got muddy in turn four bringing out the caution. Street got under Keegan on the restart and went on to win over Keegan, Williams, McGrath Jr. (transfers), Miller, Russel, and Ziebold.
305 Heat 4: Bobby Clark was setting the pace early until the 1H of Zeth Sabo spun out of the final transfer position on lap six. Clark held on on the restart and won the final heat over Moore, Lucius, Verda, Sabo, Brewer, and Peck.
305 BMain: Your transfers after a caution fest were Capodice, Miller, Sabo, Valenti, Rall, and Reihl.
305 Feature:
Stuart Williams
Kyle Peters
Paul Weaver
Mike Keegan
Bobby Clark
Brandon Moore
Seth Schneider
Jason Keckler
Tyler Street
Luke Griffith
25 laps would decide how this one would shake out. Not a lot of passing or cautions in this one as it went green to checkers. All the cars were hugging the bottom, and not many cars could make anything else work. Williams had a gigantic lead, even working through traffic. Brandon Moore was pretty quick, as he went from sixth to second by lap 10. Williams still managed his lead through traffic and picked up his very first win at Attica in his first race of the year! It was an emotional time for Stuart, who finally got to go to the horsetrack for a victory lane interview! Moore was second, Peters, Keckler, Street, Weaver, Clark, Capodice, Miller, and Keegan were your top ten finishers.
It was a great night of action, other than a stiff breeze blowing into the stands all night long. The show was very efficient, getting ten heat races and three b mains done by about 9:30. The next leg of the AFCS doubleheader takes us to Fremont on the eighth for Fremont’s Hall of Fame night and another $4k to win show for the 410’s!
Friday, 5/31 SCWC Mansfield
Sixty cars were in the pits for a gorgeous day and night of sprint car racing. Tonights action would set up how Saturday will play out for $100k. The sixty cars were broken up into two groups of thirty. For organizational reasons, we’ll call them “Flight A” and “Flight B.” Each flight would have three heats, eight laps, top five cars transfer to the 30 lap, $5k to win respective feature.
Hot Laps: Overall, your top three times in hot laps were Rico Abreu with a 14.116, Aaron Reutzel at a 14.119, and Gio Scelzi at a 14.146.
Time Trials:
Flight A
Flight B
69k Lance Dewease 14.256
87 Aaron Reutzel 14.231
3C Cale Conley 14.398
71 Gio Scelzi 14.332
16 DJ Foos 14.417
6 Joey Saldana 14.415
72 Ryan Smith 14.419
13 Paul McMahan 14.429
1 Sammy Swindell 14.421
71P Parker Price-Miller 14.459
70x Spencer Bayston 14.424
21 Brian Brown 14.463
28 Danny Mumaw 14.450
42 Sye Lynch 14.484
24 Rico Abreu 14.500
3 Jac Haudenschild 14.515
11N Buddy Kofoid 14.500
2 Kerry Madsen 14.606
97 Caleb Helms 14.550
22 Cole Duncan 14.676
There were ruts and holes developing in turns three and four that kept things interesting in qualifying, and throughout the night.
Flight A Show
Heat 1: Locals Caleb Helms and Danny Mumaw saw the green flag first and it was Helms getting off to a great start over Ryan Smith, who claimed second of the start. Tim Shaffer got by Mumaw for third and thats all she wrote. Helms won big over Smith, Shaffer, Mumaw, Dewease as your transfers, Michael, Hobaugh and Dunn.
Heat 2: Veteran Dean Jacobs and fan favorite Rico Abreu led the field early as Dean took the lead over Rico and Sammy. Red came out though, as Trevor Baker spun, and collected Dale Blaney, sending Dale over and into the water barrels. Rico started catching Jacobs on lap five, and as that was happening, Sammy was catching Rico for second. Nothing came from it though as Jacobs won, followed by Rico, Sammy, Eliason, Conley as your transfers, Wagner, Peck and Dylan Kingan.
Heat 3: All local and another Jacobs on the front row as Lee Jacobs and Buddy Kofoid took the field to green. Jacobs held on to the lead early as Skylar Gee had an early contender for save of the night in turn four. The 11N was fast, but the 81 was faster. Lee Jacobs picked up the win over Buddy, Bayston, Foos, and Ryan as your transfers, Shetler, Gee, Nuckles, and Ivy round out your field.
BMain: The B was 15 laps and took the top five. Your top five were: Logan Wagner, TJ Michael, Justin Peck, Skylar Gee, and George Hobaugh, who didn’t have a nose wing.
Flight A Feature Lineup (1st 10 positions)
Caleb Helms
Lee Jacobs
Dean Jacobs
Rico Abreu
Buddy Kofoid
Ryan Smith
Tim Shaffer
Sammy Swindell
Spencer Bayston
Danny Mumaw
The first feature of the night went green, then it went red as the 8M, 3C, 8, and 99 were all involved in a turn one incident. The next attempt at a start was no bueno either, as a caution came out for a spinning Buddy Kofoid. They finally got a good start in, and it was Lee Jacobs taking the lead over Rico, and Smith, but caution flew again after a lap was completed for a slowing DJ Foos. On the restart, the 5X of Peck got a huge run, picking up a couple more positions, going from 18th to 12th. On lap five it was Caleb Helms vs. Ryan Smith for third. Jacobs had a decent lead, but had caught traffic by lap six, and by lap 10, Jacobs was being held up by Trevor Baker, allowing Rico to close the gap! Unfortunately for Jacobs, it all came tumbling down for him quick. He spun out in traffic, sending him to the rear for bringing out a caution. This gave Rico the lead over Helms, Shaffer, Smith, Sammy, Eliason, and a very hard charging Kofoid. Shaffer got under Helms for second on the restart and Sammy followed suit the next lap. With 11 to go, Rico was holding a steady gap over second until Sammy had a tire blow apart on him. This set up a ten lap shootout where we saw Eliason sneak up and slide Shaffer for second! Red came out again for a tipped Cale Conley, it was an open red. After the red, Eliason went down low searching for P1 ovre Rico and slid Rico for first on lap 24! Rico didn’t let go, but didn’t have anything for Eliason. Eliason won and locked himself into the Saturday night feature over Rico, Shaffer, Kofoid, Bayston, Helms, Smith, Jacobs, Foos, and Hobaugh.
Flight B Show:
Heat 1: We saw Cole Duncan and Sye Lynch pace the field to the green flag. Duncan led early while Reutzel made quick work of Lynch for second. McMahan got to third on the second lap, and Wolfe vs Schurenburg was a fun battle on lap three! Wolfe and Schurenburg caught up to Lynch to make it a three car battle by lap six, and that is when Andrew Palker spun, bringing out a caution. Reutzel was sizing up Duncan the last couple laps, and threw a last lap, last corner slider on Duncan to steal the heat race victory. McMahan, Schurenburg, Wolfe were your transfers, Gunn, Lynch, Spithaler, and Palker rounded out the field
Heat 2: Polyak and Jac took the field early on. Gio and Cap almost had a really big wreck on the front stretch, but thankfully no contact was made. Troy Kingan spun on lap one bringing out a caution. Gio was catching his teammate PPM for third and was making it interesting! Polyak ran away with a victory over Jac, PPM, Cap, Zearfoss transferred, Gio, Blaney, Brubaker, Harble, Kingan. Gio tried to throw a slider from Bucyrus in the last corner for third, but ended up slamming the wall hard and flipping in turn four as the checkers flew.
Heat 3: The final heat of the night had Stambaugh and Madsen on the front row. Walters went into the wall on the start, bringing out the caution early on. Madsen took the lead on the restart over the 23, 21, and W20. Wilson made it to third on lap one as Stambaugh caught a rut that sent him straight into the wall hard. On the restart we saw Wilson and Saldana racing hard for third. Then, the 5T and A79 come together, sending the 5T over and bringing out the red. Saldana and Wilson continued their battle on the restart, with Saldana getting the best of Wilson by lap six. Madsen won, Brown, Saldana, Wilson, and Swanson were your transfers and your only finishing cars.
BMain: Gunn wins big over Dave Blaney, Brubaker, Harble, and Lynch
Flight B Feature Lineup (1st 10 positions):
Paige Polyak
Kerry Madsen
Aaron Reutzel
Cole Duncan
Jac Haudenschild
Brian Brown
Paul McMahan
Parker Price-Miller
Joey Saldana
Hunter Schuerenburg
It didn’t take long for Madsen to take the lead over Polyak, but the 39 stopped on the front stretch, bringing out an early caution. McMahan also stopped with a flat RR tire, and could not rejoin in time. Reutzel disposed of Polyak for second on the restart. Polyak’s feature went from bad to worse as she caught a rut and went straight into the wall and then got slammed by Jac (I think). It was good to see her get out of the car under her own power! The 3 and PPM, Henry, and Brown. Henry got by PPM in what would be a race long battle for third. Madsen maintained a nice gap between him and Reutzel, while Reutzel had 3.3+ seconds on Henry. Madsen caught traffic on lap nine, allowing Reutzel to close up. Reutzel saw an opportunity and took it, sliding Madsen in three and four, but they made contact! Madsen held on to first for the moment. I’m not quite sure how they both saved their cars, as they were 50 shades of sideways. A few laps later though, on lap 16, a caution again flew for a the leader! Madsen must’ve incurred some damage from his contact with Reutzel, ending Madsen’s night. The 87 rocketed out to a huge lead on the restart over Cap. The rest of the battles would be for second and third. PPM wouldn’t let Cap go, and Brown wouldn’t let PPM go. PPM did slide Cap on lap 22, but Cap cut back underneath and reclaimed second. Reutzel won big over Cap, Brown, PPM, Saldana, Zearfoss, Gio (from last), Gunn, Wolfe, and Wilson. Reutzel was looking very strong all night, and he will be the man to beat for $100k I do believe.
Six drivers are locked into Saturday’s show: your two feature winners Eliason and Reutzel. And your four highest point totals for non-winners. So your six drivers locked in are
Cory Eliason, Aaron Reutzel, Brian Brown, Rico Abreu, Joey Saldana, and PPM. Everyone else will have to work their way in Saturday!
5/26 ASCOC Fremont
I was awoken to thunder and lightning this morning, and then went to Twitter to look for “cancelled” tweets from Fremont. That tweet never came. Instead there were “all systems go” tweets. Awesome. Fremont has push trucks on track at 1pm getting the track ran in and it paid off.
Cloudy, 70, slight breeze. A great night for racing. Twenty-seven All Stars were in attendance for the ASCOC’s first race at Fremont since September 2015.
Hot laps: Craig Mintz was quickest in the first group and the only car in the 12 second bracket all night, laying down a 12.982. Group two saw lead foot Buddy Kofoid put down a 13.294. And group three was led by Spencer Bayston at a 13.261.
Time trials
Tim Shaffer 13.110
Paul McMahan 13.132
Aaron Reutzel 13.139
Brock Zearfoss 13.185
Craig Mintz 13.186
Nate Dussel 13.216
Dale Blaney 13.219
Tyler Esh 13.228
Buddy Kofoid: 13.252
DJ Foos 13.254
The top ten were covered by .144 seconds which is pretty impressive. Also impressive is that they tried a new way of qualifying here (they fired from the infield) and it took 18 minutes to qualify 27 cars, even with a four minute break. It was confusing but it worked! Tim Shaffer went out last and still got QuickTime!
Heat 1: Pennsylvanian Tyler Esh and local Nate Dussel led the field to green and Esh took the lead and remained there, cruising to an easy, follow-the-leader heat victory over Dussel, Mintz, Reutzel, Wilson and Foos as your transfers. Trey Jacobs, George Hobaugh and Mark Imler did not transfer.
Heat 2: Spencer Bayston and All Star rookie Skylar Gee took the field to green. Bayston got the lead off the start and didn’t look back. Everyone was still running down low, except for Gee, who would occasionally go to the middle. This didn’t work out for Gee, as he ended up losing second place and a spot in the dash to Kofoid on the last lap. Kofoid got a good run and got underneath Gee and that’s all she wrote. Gee smacks the backstretch wall but hangs on to third. Spithaler was fourth, Blaney fifth, Polyak sixth rounding out the transfers. Helms, Palker, Reed did not transfer.
Heat three: Another 35 and 70 on the front row with Brubaker and Zearfoss pacing the field to the green flag. Brubaker got a good start and set his cruise control. Throughout the race, CBell was trying to make the middle and top work in the corners. He kept gaining time on Paul McMahan, and on lap six, Bell got a good run out of two and got together with McMahan slightly! McMahan had a damaged nosewing, not sure if it was from the contact or not. Bell did get by McMahan though, he just had to wait til the last lap to do it. Brubaker wins comfortably over Zearfoss, Shaffer, Bell, McMahan, McIntyre as the six transfers. Eliason, Dean Jacobs, and Caleb Griffith did not transfer.
The rains came during the truck heats around 7:30. Wasn’t a heavy rain, but enough to halt the action. At 8:30 the push trucks returned to the track to run it back in! It was 10:30 before cars were back on track for some hot lap sessions.
Dash: Esh and McMahan were on the front row. McMahan took the lead, and Dussel flipped it going into one- complete restart. McMahan took the lead again and had a comfortable race to the checkers over Esh, Zearfoss, Shaffer, Buddy, Brubaker, and Bayston who broke a throttle linkage on lap three.
BMain: Hobaugh and Dean Jacobs sat on the front row, we’re taking the top six to the A. Jacobs stormed to a decently big lead off the start over Hobaugh. Hobaugh caught back up to Jacobs though on lap five. Hobaugh got underneath of Jacobs on lap six going into three to take the lead. Hobaugh won easily over Dean, Eliason, Helms, Palker and Trey Jacobs. Griffith, Reed and Imler did not transfer.
AMain:
Paul McMahan
Tyler Esh
Brock Zearfoss
Tim Shaffer
Buddy Kofoid
Stuart Brubaker
Spencer Bayston
Nate Dussel
Craig Mintz
Skylar Gee
On the initial start, McMahan and Esh touched, getting McMahan all squirrelly. Luckily for the 13 there was a debris caution that led to a complete restart. McMahan got the lead on the restart over Esh, and Shaffer. Another caution for lap three for a stopped Palker on track. On the restart, Shaffer was battling for second with Esh and got the second place position on lap seven. Here came Reutzel ripping the top though. Lap ten came and so did another caution for Esh. Reutzel got by Shaffer on the top on the restart and then it was only a matter of time. One lap to be exact. Reutzel was blasting the top, and got by McMahan easily. McMahan claiming that Reutzel “almost sucked his tearoff off when he went by up top.” Reutzel got to traffic by 15. Shaffer started challenging McMahan on lap 18 for second and got it. But by lap 20, Shaffer spun, leading to Zearfoss and Kofoid coming together. Red flag. Shaffer and Kofoid rejoined the field. Reutzel got a huge lead on the restart but it was erased when Buddy shredded a left rear tire on lap 23. On the restart, Greg Wilson got up to fourth and CBell was making moves up top. Bell caught Wilson on lap 32, threw a slider but couldn’t make it stick. Meanwhile, the 99 of Skylar Gee was working on Mintz for third. Bell got by Wilson for fourth on lap 36 and Gee got by Mintz for third on lap 34. Gee and Bell had a good battle the last couple laps for the final podium spot.
Reutzel won by a mile over McMahan, Gee, Bell who smacked the wall hard coming to the checkers, Mintz, Wilson, Shaffer (nice recovery), Bayston, Spirhaler, and Blaney.
We waited 3.5 years and then 3.5 hours for the allstars to come back and they didn’t disappoint! Kudos to everyone involved to get the track ran in multiple times today. It was an incredible effort and we were rewarded with good racing at the Track That Action Built!
5/24 ASCoC Attica
It was a near perfect evening for some sprint car racing at “Ohio’s Finest Racing” plant, Attica Raceway Park. Temps were in the mid-70’s, the sun came out eventually, but the slight wind was blowing straight into the stands. Forty of the Ollies Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions were checked in for a fantastic night of racing, along with a stout field of 39 late models and 25 305’s to round out the evenings card.
410 Hot Laps: In group one, defending track champion Stuart Brubaker was quickest, stopping the clocks at a 13.146. Group two was led by DJ Foos, laying down a 13.101. Cory Eliason was the fastest in group three, breaking into the twelve second bracket with a 12.855. It was the Steel City Outlaw Tim Shaffer who won hot laps though, coming in at a 12.627. Setting up for an entertaining time trial session. Two cars, two laps. It was go fast time.
410 Time Trials:
Aaron Reutzel 12.307
Brock Zearfoss 12.510
Jac Haudenschild 12.535
Paul McMahan 12.583
Dale Blaney 12.603
Tim Shaffer 12.622
Max Stambaugh 12.625
Caleb Griffith 12.642
Travis Philo 12.680
Cap Henry 12.693
Late Model Hot Laps: The always fast Rusty Schlenk was your quickest time overall, at a 14.821, Ryan Missler was second, coming in at 14.843, and your third quickest time was last weeks winner Doug Drown, setting a 14.855.
305 Hot Laps: It was John Ivy who continued his hot start to the year; he was your hot laps winner for the 305’s, clocking in at 13.721. The 97 of Kyle Peters was second overall coming in at 13.773, and third quick was Kyle Capodice at a 13.886.
The stage was set, it was time to go racing.
ASCOC Heat 1: It was the 8 of Jordan Ryan and the 4 of Cap Henry leading the field for this first heat race of the night. It didn’t take long for the caution to fly, as Tyler Esh spun in turn one, bringing out the caution, which also saved Jac Haudenschild’s night. Jac spun in turn three, but kept the car going. So since Jac kept the car going, and seeing as he didn’t bring out the caution, Jac got to keep his starting spot. Cap Henry took the lead off of the restart, but Jordan Ryan was keeping him in check. Jac threw a big slider at Jordan on lap two and made it stick. Philo then got around Jordan for third on lap three. This set up one of many battles between Cap and Jac throughout the evening. Jac was catching Cap for the lead, and almost got by on the bottom of the track on lap six. The next lap, Jac did the same thing and got by for the lead, but it didn’t last long. Cap dove underneath Jac in three and four on lap eight and held on the final two laps. Cap, Jac, Philo, Ryan, and Brubaker were your transfers followed by Spithaler, Helms, Esh, Blonde, and Harble.
ASCOC Heat 2: We saw Broc Martin and Shawn Dancer take the field to green with Martin scooting away to a sizeable lead. The 70X of Spencer Bayston was looking strong, but had mechanical issues that ended his heat race early. Martin ended up winning big over Dancer, Michael, Griffith, and Foos. Dussel, Stiger, Trey Jacobs, Nervo, and Bayston did not transfer.
ASCOC Heat 3: Max Stambaugh and Dale Blaney looked to capitalize on their front row starting positions in the third heat. Blaney took the lead momentarily, but Stambaugh powered around Blaney for the lead early on. We also saw a good battle for third between Paul McMahan and Brock Zearfoss. Zearfoss ended up getting by McMaham for third on lap 6. Stambaugh took an impressive heat race victory in what looked to be his strongest run of the year over Blaney, Zearfoss, McMahan, and Eliason as your transfers. Palker, Ruhl, Boespflug, Polyak and Hobaugh did not transfer.
ASCOC Heat 4: A local front row saw Chris Andrews and Fremont winner Buddy Kofoid on top of the field. Buddy went to the point early, while Andrews had a moment, causing Shaffer and Reutzel to stack up slightly behind him. In a SCWC replay, Reutzel slid Shaffer for third on lap three, but a red flag for a tipping Kelsey Ivy negated that pass. On the ensuing restart, we saw the rookie Skylar Gee get Shaffer for fourth, while Reutzel was closing in on Andrews for second. Buddy ran away with the final heat, followed by Andrews, Reutzel, Gee, and Shaffer as your transfers, Gerard McIntyre, Greg Wilson, and Lee Jacobs did not transfer.
ASCOC Dash 1: Zearfoss and Reutzel set a torrent pace in this short race. Zearfoss got by the 87 while Jac made a big save on the first lap. Cap and Jac then had the second installment of their battle, this time going at it for third. Jac made a move and slammed the door on Cap’s counter move to secure the third position. 70,87,3,4,23
ASCOC Dash 2: Who would be joining Zearfoss on the feature front row? Buddy Kofoid was bound and determined to join Brock, going from third to first very quickly, and then running away with the second dash victory over Blaney, Andrews, Dancer, and Martin.
ASCOC B-main: Only the top four would transfer out of a 20 (I believe) car field. Palker and Bayston took the green flag. Palker would escape to the lead while Bayston and Nate Dussel waged war for second. Meanwhile, the 07 of Gerard McIntyre was tracking down Spithaler for the fourth and final transfer position, and took the position on lap six. Spithaler didn’t give up though, and retook fourth with two to go! It all went wrong though for the 07 and 22, as they came together, with McIntyre’s front wheel ending up sitting on the hood of Spithaler’s. This set up a green white checkered finish where Palker won, followed by Bayston, Dussel, and Greg Wilson, who benefitted from McIntyre and Spithaler’s misfortune. The field was set for what would be a very entertaining feature event!
305 Heat 1: Tyler Street and Jason Keckler were on the front row of the first heat, and it was Street running out to an early lead. Unfortunately for Chris Verda, his heat race came to an abrupt end when he went high in turn four, hit the wall and tipped his car over. On the restart, John Ivy was challenging Keckler for second, and commandeered second on lap seven. Street ran away with the heat over Ivy, Keckler, Capodice, and Peters as your transfers.
305 Heat 2: Jimmy McGrath Jr continued his recent trend of starting up front and took the lead. Kevin Mingus had a tough race, spinning out of second place. Meanwhile, Jamie Miller was doing Jamie Miller things and had gotten up to third from the tail by lap two, and was second the next lap. Could Miller go last to first in eight laps? He had caught McGrath with two to go…
Miller won, over McGrath, Moore, Griffith, and Sabo as your transfers.
305 Heat 3: The final 305 heat had Brandon Reihl and Paul Weaver up front. Weaver took the lead early, while Seth Schnieder was making moves, going from last to fifth on the start. Weaver ended up winning a tame heat over Moore, a hard charging Schnieder, Reihl, and Justin Adams, who slid Bobby Clark on the last lap for the final transfer position!
Late Model Heat 1: The first of five (!!!) heats for the late models saw Matt Irey work his way up from fifth to first by lap three. Justin Chance did put up a decent battle for the lead, but Irey was just too much. Irey, Warnick, Chance, and Hornikel transferred to the A.
Late Model Heat 2: Nate Potts, John Mayes Jr, and Ryan Missler were three wide for the lead on lap one, with Missler winning that battle. Things went south for Missler in a hurry though, as he dropped a driveshaft while leading, ending his night early. Kester benefits from Missler’s misfortune, Ken Hahn, Mike Bores, and Mayes transferred.
Late Model Heat 3: This would be a fun one to watch as Schlenk and Drown both started at the rear of the field. Lap two, they were third and fourth respectively, and they both gained a position a lap later. Drown was blasting the top trying to get around Schlenk, but he couldn’t get it done. Casey Noonan holds both of them off, CJ1, 12, and Rob Anderzack were your transfers.
Late Model Heat 4: Probably the tamest heat all night. Devin Shiels cruised to a victory over Markham, Miller, and Paul Stubber.
Late Model Heat 5: The final heat of the night saw a couple lead changes over the last couple of laps as Dan Wallace and Josh Haynes were both bound and determined to get the win. Wallace eventually made the winning move on the last lap to beat Haynes, Duncan, and Roth as your final transfers of the evening.
305 B-main: Bobby Clark slid Larry Kinseed Jr on the last lap for the win, Lucius, Rall and Verda recovered from his earlier accident to transfer into the feature.
,
Late Model B-main1: 18,21 were your transfers.
Late Model B-main2: 14G and 6 were your transfers.
ASCOC Feature:
Brock Zearfoss
Buddy Kofoid
Aaron Reutzel
Dale Blaney
Jac Haudenschild
Chris Andrews
Cap Henry
Shawn Dancer
Max Stambaugh
Broc Martin
It was Brock Zearfoss who got off to a smoking hot start over Buddy and Aaron initially. Reutzel slid Buddy on lap two, but Greg Wilson stopped on the backstretch and Jordan Ryan blew up, bringing out the first caution. Zearfoss stretched out his lead on the restart over Reutzel and Buddy. Zearfoss reached lap traffic on lap eight, which allowed Reutzel to close up on him. Zearfoss proved to be excellent through the traffic, extending his lead back out over the 87 on lap 11. A caution for Travis Philo brought everyone back together again, and we would see if anyone could do anything to stop the 70. Another caution on the restart saw Broc Martin half spin, and then get tboned by TJ Michael who had nowhere to go in turn one. This led to another restart, which Reutzel nailed. He slid Zearfoss for the lead, but wasn’t able to make it stick, and Zearfoss zoomed right back by Reutzel and was pulling away by lap 14. While all of this was going on, Jac and Cap had resumed their evening long battle and were racing hard for fourth around the lap 16 mark. Zearfoss was back in traffic again on lap 16/17, which allowed Reutzel to close right back up to him! The 11N of Kofoid was never far behind either. Disaster struck for Zearfoss on lap 21 though as he must have caught a rut while running in traffic. Zearfoss spun, bringing out the caution. Heartbreak for the 70 team for sure. The 87 now inherited the lead and rocketed out to a decent gap over Kofoid on the restart. Lap 26 rolled around and this time it was Reutzel’s turn to deal with traffic; could Buddy capitalize and catch the 87? Traffic was holding up Reutzel a little bit, and Buddy was charging for another win. Unfortunately for Buddy, the 87 was extremely fast in turns one and two, and was able to put a couple lappers in between them, sealing the victory for the Baughman-Reutzel crew. 87,11N, 4, 49D by a nose over 3, 25M, 11B, 13, 16, 49X(from 22nd!) and it is worth noting that Zearfoss worked his way back up to 13th after his spin.
An action filled feature with battles everywhere!
Late Model Feature: Josh Haynes and Warnick led the field to the green flag for the 25 lap event. Warnick in the 69 took the lead early as the 31 of Paul Stubber spun to bring out the caution. Shiels made a move for the lead soon after the restart, going under Warnick on lap four to claim the top spot. Shiels had to be on the lookout for Rusty Schlenk and Doug Drown though as they were charging through the field. The CJ1 was almost gaining positions at will and was
F a s t, getting up to second by lap 11. How long would Shiels be able to hang on to the top spot? Stubber spun again, which put a temporary halt to a great lead battle between Shiels, Schlenk, and Irey. On the restart, Schlenk got a huge run for the lead, hammering the top, and getting by the 51 with nine laps remaining. Now it was Doug Drown’s turn to charge. Going from sixth to fourth in one lap, while catching Irey for third! They waged an all out war for third while Schlenk picked up his 26th ARP late model victory. Shiels ran a well deserved second, while Irey just nipped Drown at the line for third. Warnick, Markham, Noonan, Bores, Haynes, and Hahn rounded out the top ten.
305 Feature: In what I believe was a carbon copy of Fremont’s 305 feature last week, we had the 11G of Luke Griffith and the 5Jr of Jimmy McGrath Jr on the front row of this one. On the initial start, the 12 of Kyle Capodice broke a front axle, sending him off the high side of turns one and two, ending his race, and bringing out the caution. On the ensuing restart, the 11G and 5JR had a nice battle for the lead. McGrath won that battle by lap three and built up a one second lead over Griffith. The veteran Paul Weaver was working his way up though, and the JAWS music started to play quietly in the background. The lead was not the place to be though in the sprint features. Terrible luck for leader Jimmy McGrath Jr, as he got caught up in Chris Verda’s spin, leaving him nowhere to go, ending what was looking to be a good shot at his first win. Heartbreak again. Griffith assumed the lead over Valenti, Weaver, and Miller. Could the 11G hang on and snag a win? Both Weaver and Mille got around Valenti with nine to go and that JAWS music suddenly got very loud. Two laps later, we saw Weaver blast around the outside of Griffith to take the lead. Miller then slid Griffith for second a few laps later. Weaver had a two plus second lead wiped out with two to go, thanks to a caution for a spinning Sabo. It was a two lap shootout that had potential, but it was Paul Weaver picking up another win, followed by Miller, Griffith, Valenti, Keckler, Peters, Ivy, Street, Clark, and Sabo.
I couldn’t have asked for a better night of racing at my home track… Ok, maybe the wind didn’t have to blow in my face the entire night, but I can live with that. A very efficient show with quality cars abound. Can’t ask for anything more. Attica proves again and again why they are one of, if not the best weekly track in the nation. Hopefully mother nature plays nice the rest of the weekend, because I want to race!!
5-18-19 Fremont Speedway Recap
It was a warm, sunny, 80 degree day at the Track That Action built. 35 410’s, 26 305’s and 29 trucks checked in at Fremont for the night. Notables include Friday’s winner from Attica, Jac Haudenschild, Greg Wilson, Skyler Gee, Spencer Bayston, Tyler Gunn, Paige Polyak, Dale Blaney, Joey Saldana, and Bill Balog. John Ivy was back in the Kiser 23x 410 as well.
410 hotlaps: Group one was led by Buddy Kofoid, at a 13.738. Group two saw Lady Lightning Paige Polyak on top at a 13.669. Group three had Caleb Griffith with a 13.769 and group four was led by Fremont first timer Skyler Gee.
410 Qualifying: Drivers had one lap to get it done, and had to avoid a rut in three and four. If you wanted to be fast, you either had to hammer the top, or hit the rut and hope for the best.
Justin Peck went our third to last, but that didn’t stop him from setting QuickTime at a 13.424
Craig Mintz: 13.515
Jac Haudenschild: 13.554
Dale Blaney: 13.619
Paige Polyak: 13.637
Joey Saldana: 13.647
Broc Martin: 13.660
Cap Henry: 13.699
Travis Philo: 13.703
Nate Dussel: 13.709 were your top ten qualifiers. The track started to come back around about halfway thru, when Mintz, Blaney and Jac made their runs and came back again when Dussel, Balog, Gee and Peck set their times.
305 hotlaps/qualifying:
Jamie Miller went out late and set his QuickTime overall with a 14.335
Jason Keckler: 14.415
Alvin Roepke: 14.503
Jerry Dahms: 14.645
Tyler Street: 14.672 were your top five!
410 Heat 1: Who will assert their dominance as the best #5? Reed and Philo were up front followed by Polyak and Peck. Polyak hit an infield tire coming to the initial start. Reed reassumed the lead on the restart over Philo and Peck and the son and father duo, Trey and Dean Jacobs. Reed started running away and Helms got by Dean Jacobs for P5. Jacobs must’ve had mechanical issues, because he slowed way down coming to the checkers. Helms almost caught Trey Jacobs for fourth, but fell just short of that final transfer. 5R, 5T, 5X, 3J, 97, 9,14.
410 Heat 2: Foos and Dussel took the field to green, but the caution immediately came out as Ryan Broughton spun in turn two. Bill Balog on the restart had a big bike and fell to last. The track was super rough in the corners and that was throwing the cars everywhere. It was definitely cowboy up. Balog eventually made it back up to 6th. Foos wins, Dussel, Saldana, Mintz transferred, Wilson, Balog, Broughton, Stambaugh and Ivy rounded out the field.
410 Heat 3: I can’t even describe all the excitement in this heat. It was like the last seven laps of the 410 Feature in Attica last night. Skyler Gee slid leader Chris Andrews, but the start was called back. On the second start, Jac was ripping the Haud line and and took the lead momentarily, but Brian Smith blew a tire and brought out another caution. The third start was the charm. Andrews held on for a little bit, but Gee and Haud were coming for him. From lap four to the checkers, it was a three car battle for the win. Gee took the lead on lap five, but slid high in turn two, turning the lead back over to Andrews. Jac kept showing his nose down low the last few laps but just couldn’t get there. Gee and Andrews were side by side the entire last lap, and Gee nipped Andrews for the win, Jac was third, Martin, Gunn, Griffith, Michael and Lay rounded out the field.
410 Heat 4: Lee Jacobs jumped the initial start and it was Bayston who made some moves on the restart, gaining three positions and got up to third before biking it bigtime. Jacobs biked out of second and gave second to Henry. It all came apart though on lap three, as Henry spun, and collected Bayston and Brubaker along the way, putting Henry and Brubaker upside down. Bayston was able to rejoin for a six car shootout. Buddy Kofoid ran away with this heat, winning big over Jacobs, Blaney, Bayston, Ivy and Neill.
305 Heat 1: Shawn Valenti and Seth Schnieder we’re going to find out how long they could hold off Jamie Miller. After a short battle, Schnieder took the lead from Valenti and on lap two, Valenti surrendered second to Miller. Miller was on the charge for the lead now and caught and passed Schnieder on lap 5. Miller wins, 36, 7, Dahms, Kingseed, Lucius, Keegan and Reihl rounded out your field.
305 Heat 2: Brandon Moore held the lead early over Luke Griffith and Tyler Street. Street was challenging Griffith for second while Griffith was making it interesting for the lead. Griffith was faster in three and four, but Moore could pull away down the backstretch. Moore holds on over Griffith, Street, Capodice, who made a nice late race charge, Keckler, Peters, Sabo and Mingus.
305 Heat 3: It’s a rematch of last nights 305 feature with McGrath and Ivy on the front row. They didn’t disappoint either! McGrath took the early lead but Ivy was keeping him honest. McGrath was running the bottom and Ivy was up top, just going at it for the first four laps. Adams stopped on track, bringing out the caution. McGrath did exactly what he did at Attica on the restart and caught them snoozing to get a big lead, but Adams stopped again with mechanical issues ending his race. McGrath did the same thing on this restart, but Ivy kept him a little closer, meanwhile, Roepke and Clark were battling hard for fifth, swapping the position multiple times before it was all said and done. McGrath and Ivy were side by side coming to the white flag! McGrath edges out Ivy and gets a little revenge for last night. Weaver, Clark, Roepke, Verda and Ziebold rounded out the heat race action.
410 BMain1: Helms, Wilson, Dean Jacobs, Balog and Wilson were your top five starters. Helms led early while Balog worked his way up to second. Balog was making a case for the lead on lap four, but biked it again in one and two and lost all his ground. Helms and Balog transferred, Jacobs, Broughton, Stambaugh, and Wilson did not transfer, Neumiester, Greg Wilson and John Ivy DNF’d.
410 BMain2: Gunn, Kelsey Ivy, Griffith, Neill, and Michael were your other top five starters. It was almost disaster for Gunn and Kelsey Ivy on lap two as Gunn Biked it and Kelsey got in the back of him. Ivy took the lead, but was going to have to hold off a charging Caleb Griffith and Cap Henry. Kelsey conceded the lead to Griffith on lap four, and managed to barely hang on to the last transfer spot over Henry. Gunn, Michael, Lay and Neill did not transfer.
305 BMain Finish: Peters, Verda, Sabo, Mingus, and Lucius transfer
410 Feature:
Nate Dussel
Travis Philo
Joey Saldana
Dale Blaney
Jac Haudenschild
Justin Peck
Byron Reed
DJ Foos
Skyler Gee
Buddy Kofoid
Philo and Dussel game together briefly on the start, demoting Dussel to fourth. Blaney was second and Justin Peck was third when Jac started to spin out of turn two, collecting Reed who collected Trey Jacobs, sending Jacobs into a single barrel roll, landing on all fours. Philo held the lead on the restart. Peck was challenging Blaney for second and Buddy Kofoid worked his way up to fifth. Peck got by Blaney and started to catch Philo for the lead on lap 8. Kofoid kept charging up and was all over Saldana for fourth and Blaney for third. By lap 13, Kofoid got by Blaney for third. On lap 15, the 5X showed the 5T his nose but couldn’t make it happen. And here. Came. Buddy. Third on lap 18. Second on lap 20. First on lap 21. Peck got by Philo for second and the race was on. Buddy was in some traffic and Peck was making it verrrrry interesting! BUT, Buddy held him off after last nights heartbreak and picks up a much deserved victory for the Neumeister crew! Peck, Philo, Saldana, Dussel, Blaney, Griffith, Foos, Mintz, and Gee were your top ten. What a win for Buddy, a long time coming and the first of many here. This kid is gonna be big folks.
305 Feature: it was Mimmy McGrath Jr. on pole with the 11G of Luke Griffith beside him. Unfortunately, soon after the start, the 5JR had mechanical issues and eventually fell back to the back of the pack. This gave Griffith the lead until about lap ten, when that white 1W of Paul Weaver caught up to him in traffic. They both biked it big time in three and four. The 11G slid up and that allowed Weaver to get underneath and get the lead. The 11G fought back though and retook the lead on lap 12! Lap 13 rolled around and they swapped the lead again when a caution came out of a spinning Seth Schnieder and Kevin Mingus. Alvin Roepke has worked his way to sixth from 15th at this point. Weaver rocketed our to a big lead on the restart and Jamie Miller got by Griffith for second as well. I thought the 26 of Miller could make it interesting at the end when Weaver was in heavy traffic, but Weaver was too good and wins another feature in Fremont, followed by Miller, Griffith, Street, Ivy, Roepke, Peters, Moore, Clark, and Valenti as your top ten.
Overall I was impressed with Fremont again. Two weeks and two different tracks. Tonight was cowboy up for awhile, and after the 410 heats, lengthy track work was done in the corners to smoothen them out and that did the trick. Great racing ensued, even though the racing before the track work wasn’t bad whatsoever. Track prep was needed throughout the night, which prolonged the night a bit. The trucks even put on good races. As for the trucks, again I didn’t cover them because I don’t know anything about them, so I wouldn’t be able to give a quality report on them. A big weekend next weekend with the all stars invading and the Outlaw show Memorial Day at Lawerenceburg!
A warm, partly sunny, hall of fame night sets the evening here at Fremont Speedway for the second leg of the AFCS doubleheader weekend. We had 29 410’s make the call to go racing.
410 Hotlaps: Buddy is still fast folks. He won hotlaps with a 13.456. Following him was Tim Shaffer (13.527), Brickner Martin (13.578), Ryan Broughton (13.632), and Cole Duncan (13.641). Fun fact: the top five all came from the last group, which meant the track was getting fast just in time for qualifying!
410 Qualifying:
Justin Peck
13.176
Buddy Kofoid
13.202
Byron Reed
13.345
DJ Foos
13.352
Broc Martin
13.353
Craig Mintz
13.353
Brian Smith
13.354
Stuart Brubaker
13.360
Travis Philo
13.367
Brian Lay
13.408
Another fun fact: positions 4-8 were separated by .008 seconds! Quicker times were spread out throughout the field.
305 Hotlaps/Qualifying:
John Ivy
13.884
Kyle Peters
14.191
Tyler Street
14.218
Zeth Sabo
14.231
Alvin Roepke
14.270
410 Heat 1: The Brian’s of Lay and Smith were on the front row and it was Smith taking the lead as the green flew. Foos got under Lay for second on lap one and Peck followed suit on lap two. Smith had built a good lead by lap five. Smith ran away with it over Foos, Peck, Lay, Henry (transfers), Griffith, Broughton, Imler, and Duncan (mechanical dnf).
410 Heat 2: Dussel and Brubaker took the field to green and Brubaker assumes the lead while Helms goes from eighth to third! This one was follow the leader until it wasn’t… the last two laps were pretty entertaining! Dussel started closing in on Brubaker for the lead, and almost touched while Helms and Buddy started staring their cases for second. No one swapped positions though as Brubaker wins over Dussel, Helms, Kofoid, Martin (transfers), Swanson, Wilson, Bova, and White rounded out your field.
410 Heat 3: the final heat would determine which 5 was best. Shaffer and Philo touched on the start but both held on to first and second. The 5W tribute car of Lee Jacobs spun on lap 1 bringing out the caution. On the restart, Mintz got under McCarron for fourth. Come lap five and Shaffer was starting to catch Philo for the lead. And McCarron was working hard to fend off Andrews for the final transfer. Philo held off Shaffer in the closing laps followed by Reed, Mintz, McCarron (transfers), Andrews, Jacobs, Ivy, and Gunn round out the final heat.
305 Heat 1: Brandon Moore and Kyle Capodice were up front and it was Capodice taking the early lead. Ivy and Moore were battling for second and Moore was making Ivy work pretty hard for it. On a restart it was Ivy that got the better of Moore on lap 5. The chase was then on for Ivy to see if he could catch Capodice. Ivy waited til the last possible second and went around the top of Capodice in the last corner to steal the heat race win! Capodice second, Moore, Sabo, Adams (transfers), Farmer, Schnieder, Keegan, and Kingseed.
305 Heat 2: it took a couple tries but it was Shawn Valenti that took the lead on the start, slamming the door in Luke Griffiths face which allowed Roepke to get second place. On the ensuing restart after a Ziebold spin, Roepke got under Valenti for the lead. After another Ziebold spin, Peters got around Griffith for third and was then all over second place Roepke. Valenti won the heat over Roepke, Peters, Griffith, Miller (transfers), McGrath Jr. Verda, and Lucius round out the field.
305 Heat 3: A really tamed heat saw an early caution for a spinning Dahms after making contact with Peck. Clark went to the cushion and got around Keckler for the lead on the first lap and Weaver did the exact same thing on the next lap to claim second. Clark wins over Weaver, Keckler, Street, Rall (transfers), Riehl, Peck and Dahms.
410 B-Main: Swanson, Andrews, Griffith, Broughton, and Jacobs are your transfers in a pretty calm B
305 B-Main:Schneider, McGrath Jr, Farmer, Verda and Reihl transfer
410 Feature Top 10 Lineup:
Brian Smith
DJ Foos
Byron Reed
Justin Peck
Stuart Brubaker
Travis Philo
Nate Dussel
Tim Shaffer
Caleb Helms
Brian Lay
DJ Foos was looking to sweep the weekend and he got off to a great start, storming to the lead. Justin Peck and Travis Philo were really engaged in battle all Feature long trying to see who is the best #5! By lap six, Foos had a good gap over Smith who had a good gap over the battling 5’s. But by lap nine, Foos had reached traffic and would have to navigate it on a slick track! Shaffer got by Reed for fifth on lap nine and set his sights on the other two 5’s. Philo was all over Peck, and threw a slider to reclaim third place while Shaffer caught them. Shaffer got by both 5’s on lap 13 and set his sights on Smith. At the halfway point, Foos still had a good gap over Smith and Shaffer. Caution came out on lap 17 for a spinning Broughton, bringing the field back together. Running order: Foos, Smith, Shaffer, Philo, Peck, Mintz, Kofoid. Foos jumped the restart and got it called back, and on the next try set a suuuuper slow pace. Shaffer got by Smith a lap after the restart for second and went after Foos while the 5’s resumed their battle and let Kofoid join their battle. Kofoid ended up getting by both Philo and Peck in one move on lap 20 and began to chase down third place running Smith. If the 11N can get a caution, he’ll be a contender for the win. Shaffer closed the gap to Foos while Foos was negotiating traffic and made it interesting, as did Kofoid when he caught Smith. Kofoid did hold third momentarily but Smith had the better line and got back by.
Foos held off Shaffer and got his second win of the weekend, giving the Burmeister crew great momentum going into Speedweek. Shaffer, Smith, Kofoid, Peck, Philo, Mintz, Henry, Dussel and Jacobs rounded out your top ten!
305 Feature Top 10 Lineup:
Paul Weaver
Alvin Roepke
Kyle Peters
John Ivy
Shawn Valenti
Bobby Clark
Kyle Capodice
Brandon Moore
Jason Keckler
Zeth Sabo
It was the 99 of Alvin Roepke that took the lead from Weaver on the start as Weaver fell to third early. John Ivy put himself in second and was alllll over Roepke for the lead but Roepke was making his car wide and making Ivy work for it. Ivy would get good runs off the corners but would tend to bobble in turns one and two negating his good runs. Roepke reached traffic by lap nine allowing Ivy to get by him on the outside of the front stretch on lap ten. Roepke held on for dear life though and never let Ivy out of his sight as it was Ivy’s turn to maneuver through heavy lap traffic. It looked like Paul Weaver was finding some speed in third on lap 17. It seemed like Roepke would be there, and then he wasn’t. He just couldn’t get as good of a run out of the corners as Ivy. Roepke went low late and really made it interesting, but Ivy was able to put a lapper between him and Roepke and Roepke couldn’t get by in time. Ivy wins over Roepke, Weaver, Moore, Peters, Valenti, Capodice, Street, Clark and Griffith as your top ten finishers in a feature that only took seven minutes to complete (thanks Brian Liskai for that tidbit!)
Great racing all around tonight, and it was really cool to honor those who were inducted into the Fremont Speedway HOF tonight and watch the vintage cars race around to. Definitely a history filled night at the Track That Action Built! Gorgeous weather was the icing on the cake!
Now, do I go to Kokomo for USAC midget week and sprint cars or do I go to Mid-Ohio for RallyCross tomorrow? Hmmmmm.
Attica AFCS 6/7/19
It was a near perfect day for some sprint car action in Attica Ohio for the midseason championship night. AFCS 410’s were $4k to win and the 305’s were in action as well as the dirt trucks since its The Dream Weekend at Eldora. Thirty two stout cars were in attendance to take home a good Friday payday.
410 Qualifying:
Buddy Kofoid
13.027
Brian Lay
13.265
Craig Mintz
13.324
Broc Martin
13.344
Caleb Helms
13.385
Jac Haudenschild
13.420
Byron Reed
13.426
Stuart Brubaker
13.438
Nate Dussel
13.464
Cap Henry
13.448
There was a massive ledge on the exit of four, and if you hit it right, you were golden, but if you didn’t, it was bad news bears for you.
305 Hotlaps: Jamie Miller continues his hot streak and was quickest overall at a 14.170 followed by Paul Weaver (14.220), John Ivy (14.392), Kyle Peters (14.394) and Shawn Valenti (14.465) as your top five.
The stage was set and as the kids always say, “Let’s go racing!”
410 Heat 1: Eight laps, four transfer positions up for grabs. Cap Henry and Nate Dussel were your starters and they battled fiercely for the lead until Kelsey Ivy coasted to a stop before a lap was completed. On the restart it was Cap and Nate battling again. Cap took control on lap two, but Dussel was back for more on lap four, going underneath Cap for the lead in turn one. Cap was faster in three and four though, and powered back by, picking up the victory over Dussel, Helms, Conley as your transfers, and Martin, Lee Jacobs, Jordan Ryan, and Kelsey Ivy.
410 Heat 2: Kody Swanson and Ricky Peterson were on the front row and it was Peterson who took the early lead, but Buddy Kofoid was coming quick. He got by Swanson for second on lap one, and was closing on Peterson at the halfway point. In what may have been the move of the night, Buddy threw a slider in three and four from Bucyrus to take the lead and eek out a victory by a nose over Peterson, Lay, Griffith transfer, Smith, Imler, and Swanson who blew up coming to the checkers.
410 Heat 3: Nine track championships on the front row with Brubaker and Reed pacing the field in what was the most stout heat of the night. Brubaker pulled an early lead while Jess Stiger went from the tail to fifth! Jac had mechanical gremlins on lap three which promoted Stiger to fourth. After that it was a pretty tame heat, Reed and Mintz had a little battle for second on the last lap but it was Brubaker cruising to a win over Reed, Mintz, Stiger, Andrews, Duncan, Dancer, and Jac. (Stout, right?)
410 Heat 4: The final 410 heat of the night saw Trey Jacobs and DJ Foos on pole. Chad Blonde went pitside before the green flew. Foos ripped the top to the lead. The real battle was between Stambaugh and Philo for third. They battled fierce, trading the position multiple times before Stambaugh got by on lap five, Philo never gave up though. Stambaugh made a mistake on the last lap in turns one and two allowing Philo to get back by on hold on to third. Foos won over T. Jacobs, Philo, Stambaugh transfers, Harble, LaLonde, and Niell.
410 BMain1: There was a Bmain you wanted to be in and a BMain you didn’t want to be in. Jac was worth the price of admission in this one as he went from last to second. Andrews won and Jac also transferred. Lee Jacobs, Dancer, Ivy, Ryan, Martin and Duncan did not transfer.
410 BMain2: Brian Smith won a calm race over Mitch Harble (transfers), Niell, White, LaLonde, and Imler.
410 Feature: The stage was set and it was time to go after it for 30 laps and $4k to win!
Craig Mintz
Stuart Brubaker
Cap Henry
Trey Jacobs
Brian Lay
Ricky Peterson
Nate Dussel
DJ Foos
Byron Reed
Buddy Kofoid
Unfortunately for Mintz, his race was over as soon as it started, as something in his steering broke and he went off the banking in one and two, ending his race. What ensued on the restart was a testament to how great these drivers are. Cap took the lead, but Brubaker threw a slider, and Trey Jacobs made his presence felt as well! They were three wide for a couple laps, all swapping the top three positions multiple times. How they didn’t crash, I’m not sure, but what I am sure about is that Jacobs went to the lead before another caution came out on lap three. Jacobs held the lead on the restart and went straight to the low side, which was fast. Jacobs would build a pretty sizeable lead while Buddy Kofoid was charging. He was up to third on lap 11 and second on lap 13. The chase was on for the lead! The 3J was in traffic by lap 16 which allowed Buddy to catch up to him. The 3J was still running low while Buddy was ripping the top. They were side-by-side for the lead for a hot second, but Buddy did take the lead away and started pulling away while DJ Foos was making his way forward, reaching third and looking fast by lap 21. Disaster struck again for the 11N though, as Max Stambaugh went off the high side of three and four, and decided it would be a good idea to come back up over the banking. Buddy had nowhere to go and hit Stambaugh, bringing his night to a frustrating end. Trey Jacobs regained the lead but didn’t get to hang on to it for long as DJ Foos got by him on the outside on the ensuing restart. Foos ran away for his second ARP victory taking home double points and $4k. Jacobs, Cap, Dussel, Reed, Brubaker, Stiger, Andrews, Philo, and Smith rounded out your top ten. It was a fun race, with cars all over the track racing. The bottom and top seemed to be pretty equal if you could run them right. Slick to the cushion for sure.
305 Heat 1: Kyle Peters and Kingseed Jr. took the field to the green flag and it was Peters who took the lead and never looked back, even after a caution for a spinning Dahms. Justin Adams had a great race going from last to fourth as well. Peters won by a mile over Keckler, who slid Kingseed on the last corner, Adams (transfers), Capodice, Farmer, Reihl, and Dahms.
305 Heat 2: Paul Weaver took the lead over Luke Griffith, and everyone else got stacked up behind the 2X of Mike Grigsby. Weaver won an otherwise uneventful heat two over Griffith, Schnieder, Ivy (transfers), Grigsby, Valenti, and Rall.
305 Heat 3: Mike Keegan took the lead over Street who went from sixth to second before Kasey Ziebold got muddy in turn four bringing out the caution. Street got under Keegan on the restart and went on to win over Keegan, Williams, McGrath Jr. (transfers), Miller, Russel, and Ziebold.
305 Heat 4: Bobby Clark was setting the pace early until the 1H of Zeth Sabo spun out of the final transfer position on lap six. Clark held on on the restart and won the final heat over Moore, Lucius, Verda, Sabo, Brewer, and Peck.
305 BMain: Your transfers after a caution fest were Capodice, Miller, Sabo, Valenti, Rall, and Reihl.
305 Feature:
Stuart Williams
Kyle Peters
Paul Weaver
Mike Keegan
Bobby Clark
Brandon Moore
Seth Schneider
Jason Keckler
Tyler Street
Luke Griffith
25 laps would decide how this one would shake out. Not a lot of passing or cautions in this one as it went green to checkers. All the cars were hugging the bottom, and not many cars could make anything else work. Williams had a gigantic lead, even working through traffic. Brandon Moore was pretty quick, as he went from sixth to second by lap 10. Williams still managed his lead through traffic and picked up his very first win at Attica in his first race of the year! It was an emotional time for Stuart, who finally got to go to the horsetrack for a victory lane interview! Moore was second, Peters, Keckler, Street, Weaver, Clark, Capodice, Miller, and Keegan were your top ten finishers.
It was a great night of action, other than a stiff breeze blowing into the stands all night long. The show was very efficient, getting ten heat races and three b mains done by about 9:30. The next leg of the AFCS doubleheader takes us to Fremont on the eighth for Fremont’s Hall of Fame night and another $4k to win show for the 410’s!
Friday, 5/31 SCWC Mansfield
Sixty cars were in the pits for a gorgeous day and night of sprint car racing. Tonights action would set up how Saturday will play out for $100k. The sixty cars were broken up into two groups of thirty. For organizational reasons, we’ll call them “Flight A” and “Flight B.” Each flight would have three heats, eight laps, top five cars transfer to the 30 lap, $5k to win respective feature.
Hot Laps: Overall, your top three times in hot laps were Rico Abreu with a 14.116, Aaron Reutzel at a 14.119, and Gio Scelzi at a 14.146.
Time Trials:
Flight A
Flight B
69k Lance Dewease 14.256
87 Aaron Reutzel 14.231
3C Cale Conley 14.398
71 Gio Scelzi 14.332
16 DJ Foos 14.417
6 Joey Saldana 14.415
72 Ryan Smith 14.419
13 Paul McMahan 14.429
1 Sammy Swindell 14.421
71P Parker Price-Miller 14.459
70x Spencer Bayston 14.424
21 Brian Brown 14.463
28 Danny Mumaw 14.450
42 Sye Lynch 14.484
24 Rico Abreu 14.500
3 Jac Haudenschild 14.515
11N Buddy Kofoid 14.500
2 Kerry Madsen 14.606
97 Caleb Helms 14.550
22 Cole Duncan 14.676
There were ruts and holes developing in turns three and four that kept things interesting in qualifying, and throughout the night.
Flight A Show
Heat 1: Locals Caleb Helms and Danny Mumaw saw the green flag first and it was Helms getting off to a great start over Ryan Smith, who claimed second of the start. Tim Shaffer got by Mumaw for third and thats all she wrote. Helms won big over Smith, Shaffer, Mumaw, Dewease as your transfers, Michael, Hobaugh and Dunn.
Heat 2: Veteran Dean Jacobs and fan favorite Rico Abreu led the field early as Dean took the lead over Rico and Sammy. Red came out though, as Trevor Baker spun, and collected Dale Blaney, sending Dale over and into the water barrels. Rico started catching Jacobs on lap five, and as that was happening, Sammy was catching Rico for second. Nothing came from it though as Jacobs won, followed by Rico, Sammy, Eliason, Conley as your transfers, Wagner, Peck and Dylan Kingan.
Heat 3: All local and another Jacobs on the front row as Lee Jacobs and Buddy Kofoid took the field to green. Jacobs held on to the lead early as Skylar Gee had an early contender for save of the night in turn four. The 11N was fast, but the 81 was faster. Lee Jacobs picked up the win over Buddy, Bayston, Foos, and Ryan as your transfers, Shetler, Gee, Nuckles, and Ivy round out your field.
BMain: The B was 15 laps and took the top five. Your top five were: Logan Wagner, TJ Michael, Justin Peck, Skylar Gee, and George Hobaugh, who didn’t have a nose wing.
Flight A Feature Lineup (1st 10 positions)
Caleb Helms
Lee Jacobs
Dean Jacobs
Rico Abreu
Buddy Kofoid
Ryan Smith
Tim Shaffer
Sammy Swindell
Spencer Bayston
Danny Mumaw
The first feature of the night went green, then it went red as the 8M, 3C, 8, and 99 were all involved in a turn one incident. The next attempt at a start was no bueno either, as a caution came out for a spinning Buddy Kofoid. They finally got a good start in, and it was Lee Jacobs taking the lead over Rico, and Smith, but caution flew again after a lap was completed for a slowing DJ Foos. On the restart, the 5X of Peck got a huge run, picking up a couple more positions, going from 18th to 12th. On lap five it was Caleb Helms vs. Ryan Smith for third. Jacobs had a decent lead, but had caught traffic by lap six, and by lap 10, Jacobs was being held up by Trevor Baker, allowing Rico to close the gap! Unfortunately for Jacobs, it all came tumbling down for him quick. He spun out in traffic, sending him to the rear for bringing out a caution. This gave Rico the lead over Helms, Shaffer, Smith, Sammy, Eliason, and a very hard charging Kofoid. Shaffer got under Helms for second on the restart and Sammy followed suit the next lap. With 11 to go, Rico was holding a steady gap over second until Sammy had a tire blow apart on him. This set up a ten lap shootout where we saw Eliason sneak up and slide Shaffer for second! Red came out again for a tipped Cale Conley, it was an open red. After the red, Eliason went down low searching for P1 ovre Rico and slid Rico for first on lap 24! Rico didn’t let go, but didn’t have anything for Eliason. Eliason won and locked himself into the Saturday night feature over Rico, Shaffer, Kofoid, Bayston, Helms, Smith, Jacobs, Foos, and Hobaugh.
Flight B Show:
Heat 1: We saw Cole Duncan and Sye Lynch pace the field to the green flag. Duncan led early while Reutzel made quick work of Lynch for second. McMahan got to third on the second lap, and Wolfe vs Schurenburg was a fun battle on lap three! Wolfe and Schurenburg caught up to Lynch to make it a three car battle by lap six, and that is when Andrew Palker spun, bringing out a caution. Reutzel was sizing up Duncan the last couple laps, and threw a last lap, last corner slider on Duncan to steal the heat race victory. McMahan, Schurenburg, Wolfe were your transfers, Gunn, Lynch, Spithaler, and Palker rounded out the field
Heat 2: Polyak and Jac took the field early on. Gio and Cap almost had a really big wreck on the front stretch, but thankfully no contact was made. Troy Kingan spun on lap one bringing out a caution. Gio was catching his teammate PPM for third and was making it interesting! Polyak ran away with a victory over Jac, PPM, Cap, Zearfoss transferred, Gio, Blaney, Brubaker, Harble, Kingan. Gio tried to throw a slider from Bucyrus in the last corner for third, but ended up slamming the wall hard and flipping in turn four as the checkers flew.
Heat 3: The final heat of the night had Stambaugh and Madsen on the front row. Walters went into the wall on the start, bringing out the caution early on. Madsen took the lead on the restart over the 23, 21, and W20. Wilson made it to third on lap one as Stambaugh caught a rut that sent him straight into the wall hard. On the restart we saw Wilson and Saldana racing hard for third. Then, the 5T and A79 come together, sending the 5T over and bringing out the red. Saldana and Wilson continued their battle on the restart, with Saldana getting the best of Wilson by lap six. Madsen won, Brown, Saldana, Wilson, and Swanson were your transfers and your only finishing cars.
BMain: Gunn wins big over Dave Blaney, Brubaker, Harble, and Lynch
Flight B Feature Lineup (1st 10 positions):
Paige Polyak
Kerry Madsen
Aaron Reutzel
Cole Duncan
Jac Haudenschild
Brian Brown
Paul McMahan
Parker Price-Miller
Joey Saldana
Hunter Schuerenburg
It didn’t take long for Madsen to take the lead over Polyak, but the 39 stopped on the front stretch, bringing out an early caution. McMahan also stopped with a flat RR tire, and could not rejoin in time. Reutzel disposed of Polyak for second on the restart. Polyak’s feature went from bad to worse as she caught a rut and went straight into the wall and then got slammed by Jac (I think). It was good to see her get out of the car under her own power! The 3 and PPM, Henry, and Brown. Henry got by PPM in what would be a race long battle for third. Madsen maintained a nice gap between him and Reutzel, while Reutzel had 3.3+ seconds on Henry. Madsen caught traffic on lap nine, allowing Reutzel to close up. Reutzel saw an opportunity and took it, sliding Madsen in three and four, but they made contact! Madsen held on to first for the moment. I’m not quite sure how they both saved their cars, as they were 50 shades of sideways. A few laps later though, on lap 16, a caution again flew for a the leader! Madsen must’ve incurred some damage from his contact with Reutzel, ending Madsen’s night. The 87 rocketed out to a huge lead on the restart over Cap. The rest of the battles would be for second and third. PPM wouldn’t let Cap go, and Brown wouldn’t let PPM go. PPM did slide Cap on lap 22, but Cap cut back underneath and reclaimed second. Reutzel won big over Cap, Brown, PPM, Saldana, Zearfoss, Gio (from last), Gunn, Wolfe, and Wilson. Reutzel was looking very strong all night, and he will be the man to beat for $100k I do believe.
Six drivers are locked into Saturday’s show: your two feature winners Eliason and Reutzel. And your four highest point totals for non-winners. So your six drivers locked in are
Cory Eliason, Aaron Reutzel, Brian Brown, Rico Abreu, Joey Saldana, and PPM. Everyone else will have to work their way in Saturday!
5/26 ASCOC Fremont
I was awoken to thunder and lightning this morning, and then went to Twitter to look for “cancelled” tweets from Fremont. That tweet never came. Instead there were “all systems go” tweets. Awesome. Fremont has push trucks on track at 1pm getting the track ran in and it paid off.
Cloudy, 70, slight breeze. A great night for racing. Twenty-seven All Stars were in attendance for the ASCOC’s first race at Fremont since September 2015.
Hot laps: Craig Mintz was quickest in the first group and the only car in the 12 second bracket all night, laying down a 12.982. Group two saw lead foot Buddy Kofoid put down a 13.294. And group three was led by Spencer Bayston at a 13.261.
Time trials
Tim Shaffer 13.110
Paul McMahan 13.132
Aaron Reutzel 13.139
Brock Zearfoss 13.185
Craig Mintz 13.186
Nate Dussel 13.216
Dale Blaney 13.219
Tyler Esh 13.228
Buddy Kofoid: 13.252
DJ Foos 13.254
The top ten were covered by .144 seconds which is pretty impressive. Also impressive is that they tried a new way of qualifying here (they fired from the infield) and it took 18 minutes to qualify 27 cars, even with a four minute break. It was confusing but it worked! Tim Shaffer went out last and still got QuickTime!
Heat 1: Pennsylvanian Tyler Esh and local Nate Dussel led the field to green and Esh took the lead and remained there, cruising to an easy, follow-the-leader heat victory over Dussel, Mintz, Reutzel, Wilson and Foos as your transfers. Trey Jacobs, George Hobaugh and Mark Imler did not transfer.
Heat 2: Spencer Bayston and All Star rookie Skylar Gee took the field to green. Bayston got the lead off the start and didn’t look back. Everyone was still running down low, except for Gee, who would occasionally go to the middle. This didn’t work out for Gee, as he ended up losing second place and a spot in the dash to Kofoid on the last lap. Kofoid got a good run and got underneath Gee and that’s all she wrote. Gee smacks the backstretch wall but hangs on to third. Spithaler was fourth, Blaney fifth, Polyak sixth rounding out the transfers. Helms, Palker, Reed did not transfer.
Heat three: Another 35 and 70 on the front row with Brubaker and Zearfoss pacing the field to the green flag. Brubaker got a good start and set his cruise control. Throughout the race, CBell was trying to make the middle and top work in the corners. He kept gaining time on Paul McMahan, and on lap six, Bell got a good run out of two and got together with McMahan slightly! McMahan had a damaged nosewing, not sure if it was from the contact or not. Bell did get by McMahan though, he just had to wait til the last lap to do it. Brubaker wins comfortably over Zearfoss, Shaffer, Bell, McMahan, McIntyre as the six transfers. Eliason, Dean Jacobs, and Caleb Griffith did not transfer.
The rains came during the truck heats around 7:30. Wasn’t a heavy rain, but enough to halt the action. At 8:30 the push trucks returned to the track to run it back in! It was 10:30 before cars were back on track for some hot lap sessions.
Dash: Esh and McMahan were on the front row. McMahan took the lead, and Dussel flipped it going into one- complete restart. McMahan took the lead again and had a comfortable race to the checkers over Esh, Zearfoss, Shaffer, Buddy, Brubaker, and Bayston who broke a throttle linkage on lap three.
BMain: Hobaugh and Dean Jacobs sat on the front row, we’re taking the top six to the A. Jacobs stormed to a decently big lead off the start over Hobaugh. Hobaugh caught back up to Jacobs though on lap five. Hobaugh got underneath of Jacobs on lap six going into three to take the lead. Hobaugh won easily over Dean, Eliason, Helms, Palker and Trey Jacobs. Griffith, Reed and Imler did not transfer.
AMain:
Paul McMahan
Tyler Esh
Brock Zearfoss
Tim Shaffer
Buddy Kofoid
Stuart Brubaker
Spencer Bayston
Nate Dussel
Craig Mintz
Skylar Gee
On the initial start, McMahan and Esh touched, getting McMahan all squirrelly. Luckily for the 13 there was a debris caution that led to a complete restart. McMahan got the lead on the restart over Esh, and Shaffer. Another caution for lap three for a stopped Palker on track. On the restart, Shaffer was battling for second with Esh and got the second place position on lap seven. Here came Reutzel ripping the top though. Lap ten came and so did another caution for Esh. Reutzel got by Shaffer on the top on the restart and then it was only a matter of time. One lap to be exact. Reutzel was blasting the top, and got by McMahan easily. McMahan claiming that Reutzel “almost sucked his tearoff off when he went by up top.” Reutzel got to traffic by 15. Shaffer started challenging McMahan on lap 18 for second and got it. But by lap 20, Shaffer spun, leading to Zearfoss and Kofoid coming together. Red flag. Shaffer and Kofoid rejoined the field. Reutzel got a huge lead on the restart but it was erased when Buddy shredded a left rear tire on lap 23. On the restart, Greg Wilson got up to fourth and CBell was making moves up top. Bell caught Wilson on lap 32, threw a slider but couldn’t make it stick. Meanwhile, the 99 of Skylar Gee was working on Mintz for third. Bell got by Wilson for fourth on lap 36 and Gee got by Mintz for third on lap 34. Gee and Bell had a good battle the last couple laps for the final podium spot.
Reutzel won by a mile over McMahan, Gee, Bell who smacked the wall hard coming to the checkers, Mintz, Wilson, Shaffer (nice recovery), Bayston, Spirhaler, and Blaney.
We waited 3.5 years and then 3.5 hours for the allstars to come back and they didn’t disappoint! Kudos to everyone involved to get the track ran in multiple times today. It was an incredible effort and we were rewarded with good racing at the Track That Action Built!
5/24 ASCoC Attica
It was a near perfect evening for some sprint car racing at “Ohio’s Finest Racing” plant, Attica Raceway Park. Temps were in the mid-70’s, the sun came out eventually, but the slight wind was blowing straight into the stands. Forty of the Ollies Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions were checked in for a fantastic night of racing, along with a stout field of 39 late models and 25 305’s to round out the evenings card.
410 Hot Laps: In group one, defending track champion Stuart Brubaker was quickest, stopping the clocks at a 13.146. Group two was led by DJ Foos, laying down a 13.101. Cory Eliason was the fastest in group three, breaking into the twelve second bracket with a 12.855. It was the Steel City Outlaw Tim Shaffer who won hot laps though, coming in at a 12.627. Setting up for an entertaining time trial session. Two cars, two laps. It was go fast time.
410 Time Trials:
Aaron Reutzel 12.307
Brock Zearfoss 12.510
Jac Haudenschild 12.535
Paul McMahan 12.583
Dale Blaney 12.603
Tim Shaffer 12.622
Max Stambaugh 12.625
Caleb Griffith 12.642
Travis Philo 12.680
Cap Henry 12.693
Late Model Hot Laps: The always fast Rusty Schlenk was your quickest time overall, at a 14.821, Ryan Missler was second, coming in at 14.843, and your third quickest time was last weeks winner Doug Drown, setting a 14.855.
305 Hot Laps: It was John Ivy who continued his hot start to the year; he was your hot laps winner for the 305’s, clocking in at 13.721. The 97 of Kyle Peters was second overall coming in at 13.773, and third quick was Kyle Capodice at a 13.886.
The stage was set, it was time to go racing.
ASCOC Heat 1: It was the 8 of Jordan Ryan and the 4 of Cap Henry leading the field for this first heat race of the night. It didn’t take long for the caution to fly, as Tyler Esh spun in turn one, bringing out the caution, which also saved Jac Haudenschild’s night. Jac spun in turn three, but kept the car going. So since Jac kept the car going, and seeing as he didn’t bring out the caution, Jac got to keep his starting spot. Cap Henry took the lead off of the restart, but Jordan Ryan was keeping him in check. Jac threw a big slider at Jordan on lap two and made it stick. Philo then got around Jordan for third on lap three. This set up one of many battles between Cap and Jac throughout the evening. Jac was catching Cap for the lead, and almost got by on the bottom of the track on lap six. The next lap, Jac did the same thing and got by for the lead, but it didn’t last long. Cap dove underneath Jac in three and four on lap eight and held on the final two laps. Cap, Jac, Philo, Ryan, and Brubaker were your transfers followed by Spithaler, Helms, Esh, Blonde, and Harble.
ASCOC Heat 2: We saw Broc Martin and Shawn Dancer take the field to green with Martin scooting away to a sizeable lead. The 70X of Spencer Bayston was looking strong, but had mechanical issues that ended his heat race early. Martin ended up winning big over Dancer, Michael, Griffith, and Foos. Dussel, Stiger, Trey Jacobs, Nervo, and Bayston did not transfer.
ASCOC Heat 3: Max Stambaugh and Dale Blaney looked to capitalize on their front row starting positions in the third heat. Blaney took the lead momentarily, but Stambaugh powered around Blaney for the lead early on. We also saw a good battle for third between Paul McMahan and Brock Zearfoss. Zearfoss ended up getting by McMaham for third on lap 6. Stambaugh took an impressive heat race victory in what looked to be his strongest run of the year over Blaney, Zearfoss, McMahan, and Eliason as your transfers. Palker, Ruhl, Boespflug, Polyak and Hobaugh did not transfer.
ASCOC Heat 4: A local front row saw Chris Andrews and Fremont winner Buddy Kofoid on top of the field. Buddy went to the point early, while Andrews had a moment, causing Shaffer and Reutzel to stack up slightly behind him. In a SCWC replay, Reutzel slid Shaffer for third on lap three, but a red flag for a tipping Kelsey Ivy negated that pass. On the ensuing restart, we saw the rookie Skylar Gee get Shaffer for fourth, while Reutzel was closing in on Andrews for second. Buddy ran away with the final heat, followed by Andrews, Reutzel, Gee, and Shaffer as your transfers, Gerard McIntyre, Greg Wilson, and Lee Jacobs did not transfer.
ASCOC Dash 1: Zearfoss and Reutzel set a torrent pace in this short race. Zearfoss got by the 87 while Jac made a big save on the first lap. Cap and Jac then had the second installment of their battle, this time going at it for third. Jac made a move and slammed the door on Cap’s counter move to secure the third position. 70,87,3,4,23
ASCOC Dash 2: Who would be joining Zearfoss on the feature front row? Buddy Kofoid was bound and determined to join Brock, going from third to first very quickly, and then running away with the second dash victory over Blaney, Andrews, Dancer, and Martin.
ASCOC B-main: Only the top four would transfer out of a 20 (I believe) car field. Palker and Bayston took the green flag. Palker would escape to the lead while Bayston and Nate Dussel waged war for second. Meanwhile, the 07 of Gerard McIntyre was tracking down Spithaler for the fourth and final transfer position, and took the position on lap six. Spithaler didn’t give up though, and retook fourth with two to go! It all went wrong though for the 07 and 22, as they came together, with McIntyre’s front wheel ending up sitting on the hood of Spithaler’s. This set up a green white checkered finish where Palker won, followed by Bayston, Dussel, and Greg Wilson, who benefitted from McIntyre and Spithaler’s misfortune. The field was set for what would be a very entertaining feature event!
305 Heat 1: Tyler Street and Jason Keckler were on the front row of the first heat, and it was Street running out to an early lead. Unfortunately for Chris Verda, his heat race came to an abrupt end when he went high in turn four, hit the wall and tipped his car over. On the restart, John Ivy was challenging Keckler for second, and commandeered second on lap seven. Street ran away with the heat over Ivy, Keckler, Capodice, and Peters as your transfers.
305 Heat 2: Jimmy McGrath Jr continued his recent trend of starting up front and took the lead. Kevin Mingus had a tough race, spinning out of second place. Meanwhile, Jamie Miller was doing Jamie Miller things and had gotten up to third from the tail by lap two, and was second the next lap. Could Miller go last to first in eight laps? He had caught McGrath with two to go…
Miller won, over McGrath, Moore, Griffith, and Sabo as your transfers.
305 Heat 3: The final 305 heat had Brandon Reihl and Paul Weaver up front. Weaver took the lead early, while Seth Schnieder was making moves, going from last to fifth on the start. Weaver ended up winning a tame heat over Moore, a hard charging Schnieder, Reihl, and Justin Adams, who slid Bobby Clark on the last lap for the final transfer position!
Late Model Heat 1: The first of five (!!!) heats for the late models saw Matt Irey work his way up from fifth to first by lap three. Justin Chance did put up a decent battle for the lead, but Irey was just too much. Irey, Warnick, Chance, and Hornikel transferred to the A.
Late Model Heat 2: Nate Potts, John Mayes Jr, and Ryan Missler were three wide for the lead on lap one, with Missler winning that battle. Things went south for Missler in a hurry though, as he dropped a driveshaft while leading, ending his night early. Kester benefits from Missler’s misfortune, Ken Hahn, Mike Bores, and Mayes transferred.
Late Model Heat 3: This would be a fun one to watch as Schlenk and Drown both started at the rear of the field. Lap two, they were third and fourth respectively, and they both gained a position a lap later. Drown was blasting the top trying to get around Schlenk, but he couldn’t get it done. Casey Noonan holds both of them off, CJ1, 12, and Rob Anderzack were your transfers.
Late Model Heat 4: Probably the tamest heat all night. Devin Shiels cruised to a victory over Markham, Miller, and Paul Stubber.
Late Model Heat 5: The final heat of the night saw a couple lead changes over the last couple of laps as Dan Wallace and Josh Haynes were both bound and determined to get the win. Wallace eventually made the winning move on the last lap to beat Haynes, Duncan, and Roth as your final transfers of the evening.
305 B-main: Bobby Clark slid Larry Kinseed Jr on the last lap for the win, Lucius, Rall and Verda recovered from his earlier accident to transfer into the feature.
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Late Model B-main1: 18,21 were your transfers.
Late Model B-main2: 14G and 6 were your transfers.
ASCOC Feature:
Brock Zearfoss
Buddy Kofoid
Aaron Reutzel
Dale Blaney
Jac Haudenschild
Chris Andrews
Cap Henry
Shawn Dancer
Max Stambaugh
Broc Martin
It was Brock Zearfoss who got off to a smoking hot start over Buddy and Aaron initially. Reutzel slid Buddy on lap two, but Greg Wilson stopped on the backstretch and Jordan Ryan blew up, bringing out the first caution. Zearfoss stretched out his lead on the restart over Reutzel and Buddy. Zearfoss reached lap traffic on lap eight, which allowed Reutzel to close up on him. Zearfoss proved to be excellent through the traffic, extending his lead back out over the 87 on lap 11. A caution for Travis Philo brought everyone back together again, and we would see if anyone could do anything to stop the 70. Another caution on the restart saw Broc Martin half spin, and then get tboned by TJ Michael who had nowhere to go in turn one. This led to another restart, which Reutzel nailed. He slid Zearfoss for the lead, but wasn’t able to make it stick, and Zearfoss zoomed right back by Reutzel and was pulling away by lap 14. While all of this was going on, Jac and Cap had resumed their evening long battle and were racing hard for fourth around the lap 16 mark. Zearfoss was back in traffic again on lap 16/17, which allowed Reutzel to close right back up to him! The 11N of Kofoid was never far behind either. Disaster struck for Zearfoss on lap 21 though as he must have caught a rut while running in traffic. Zearfoss spun, bringing out the caution. Heartbreak for the 70 team for sure. The 87 now inherited the lead and rocketed out to a decent gap over Kofoid on the restart. Lap 26 rolled around and this time it was Reutzel’s turn to deal with traffic; could Buddy capitalize and catch the 87? Traffic was holding up Reutzel a little bit, and Buddy was charging for another win. Unfortunately for Buddy, the 87 was extremely fast in turns one and two, and was able to put a couple lappers in between them, sealing the victory for the Baughman-Reutzel crew. 87,11N, 4, 49D by a nose over 3, 25M, 11B, 13, 16, 49X(from 22nd!) and it is worth noting that Zearfoss worked his way back up to 13th after his spin.
An action filled feature with battles everywhere!
Late Model Feature: Josh Haynes and Warnick led the field to the green flag for the 25 lap event. Warnick in the 69 took the lead early as the 31 of Paul Stubber spun to bring out the caution. Shiels made a move for the lead soon after the restart, going under Warnick on lap four to claim the top spot. Shiels had to be on the lookout for Rusty Schlenk and Doug Drown though as they were charging through the field. The CJ1 was almost gaining positions at will and was
F a s t, getting up to second by lap 11. How long would Shiels be able to hang on to the top spot? Stubber spun again, which put a temporary halt to a great lead battle between Shiels, Schlenk, and Irey. On the restart, Schlenk got a huge run for the lead, hammering the top, and getting by the 51 with nine laps remaining. Now it was Doug Drown’s turn to charge. Going from sixth to fourth in one lap, while catching Irey for third! They waged an all out war for third while Schlenk picked up his 26th ARP late model victory. Shiels ran a well deserved second, while Irey just nipped Drown at the line for third. Warnick, Markham, Noonan, Bores, Haynes, and Hahn rounded out the top ten.
305 Feature: In what I believe was a carbon copy of Fremont’s 305 feature last week, we had the 11G of Luke Griffith and the 5Jr of Jimmy McGrath Jr on the front row of this one. On the initial start, the 12 of Kyle Capodice broke a front axle, sending him off the high side of turns one and two, ending his race, and bringing out the caution. On the ensuing restart, the 11G and 5JR had a nice battle for the lead. McGrath won that battle by lap three and built up a one second lead over Griffith. The veteran Paul Weaver was working his way up though, and the JAWS music started to play quietly in the background. The lead was not the place to be though in the sprint features. Terrible luck for leader Jimmy McGrath Jr, as he got caught up in Chris Verda’s spin, leaving him nowhere to go, ending what was looking to be a good shot at his first win. Heartbreak again. Griffith assumed the lead over Valenti, Weaver, and Miller. Could the 11G hang on and snag a win? Both Weaver and Mille got around Valenti with nine to go and that JAWS music suddenly got very loud. Two laps later, we saw Weaver blast around the outside of Griffith to take the lead. Miller then slid Griffith for second a few laps later. Weaver had a two plus second lead wiped out with two to go, thanks to a caution for a spinning Sabo. It was a two lap shootout that had potential, but it was Paul Weaver picking up another win, followed by Miller, Griffith, Valenti, Keckler, Peters, Ivy, Street, Clark, and Sabo.
I couldn’t have asked for a better night of racing at my home track… Ok, maybe the wind didn’t have to blow in my face the entire night, but I can live with that. A very efficient show with quality cars abound. Can’t ask for anything more. Attica proves again and again why they are one of, if not the best weekly track in the nation. Hopefully mother nature plays nice the rest of the weekend, because I want to race!!
5-18-19 Fremont Speedway Recap
It was a warm, sunny, 80 degree day at the Track That Action built. 35 410’s, 26 305’s and 29 trucks checked in at Fremont for the night. Notables include Friday’s winner from Attica, Jac Haudenschild, Greg Wilson, Skyler Gee, Spencer Bayston, Tyler Gunn, Paige Polyak, Dale Blaney, Joey Saldana, and Bill Balog. John Ivy was back in the Kiser 23x 410 as well.
410 hotlaps: Group one was led by Buddy Kofoid, at a 13.738. Group two saw Lady Lightning Paige Polyak on top at a 13.669. Group three had Caleb Griffith with a 13.769 and group four was led by Fremont first timer Skyler Gee.
410 Qualifying: Drivers had one lap to get it done, and had to avoid a rut in three and four. If you wanted to be fast, you either had to hammer the top, or hit the rut and hope for the best.
Justin Peck went our third to last, but that didn’t stop him from setting QuickTime at a 13.424
Craig Mintz: 13.515
Jac Haudenschild: 13.554
Dale Blaney: 13.619
Paige Polyak: 13.637
Joey Saldana: 13.647
Broc Martin: 13.660
Cap Henry: 13.699
Travis Philo: 13.703
Nate Dussel: 13.709 were your top ten qualifiers. The track started to come back around about halfway thru, when Mintz, Blaney and Jac made their runs and came back again when Dussel, Balog, Gee and Peck set their times.
305 hotlaps/qualifying:
Jamie Miller went out late and set his QuickTime overall with a 14.335
Jason Keckler: 14.415
Alvin Roepke: 14.503
Jerry Dahms: 14.645
Tyler Street: 14.672 were your top five!
410 Heat 1: Who will assert their dominance as the best #5? Reed and Philo were up front followed by Polyak and Peck. Polyak hit an infield tire coming to the initial start. Reed reassumed the lead on the restart over Philo and Peck and the son and father duo, Trey and Dean Jacobs. Reed started running away and Helms got by Dean Jacobs for P5. Jacobs must’ve had mechanical issues, because he slowed way down coming to the checkers. Helms almost caught Trey Jacobs for fourth, but fell just short of that final transfer. 5R, 5T, 5X, 3J, 97, 9,14.
410 Heat 2: Foos and Dussel took the field to green, but the caution immediately came out as Ryan Broughton spun in turn two. Bill Balog on the restart had a big bike and fell to last. The track was super rough in the corners and that was throwing the cars everywhere. It was definitely cowboy up. Balog eventually made it back up to 6th. Foos wins, Dussel, Saldana, Mintz transferred, Wilson, Balog, Broughton, Stambaugh and Ivy rounded out the field.
410 Heat 3: I can’t even describe all the excitement in this heat. It was like the last seven laps of the 410 Feature in Attica last night. Skyler Gee slid leader Chris Andrews, but the start was called back. On the second start, Jac was ripping the Haud line and and took the lead momentarily, but Brian Smith blew a tire and brought out another caution. The third start was the charm. Andrews held on for a little bit, but Gee and Haud were coming for him. From lap four to the checkers, it was a three car battle for the win. Gee took the lead on lap five, but slid high in turn two, turning the lead back over to Andrews. Jac kept showing his nose down low the last few laps but just couldn’t get there. Gee and Andrews were side by side the entire last lap, and Gee nipped Andrews for the win, Jac was third, Martin, Gunn, Griffith, Michael and Lay rounded out the field.
410 Heat 4: Lee Jacobs jumped the initial start and it was Bayston who made some moves on the restart, gaining three positions and got up to third before biking it bigtime. Jacobs biked out of second and gave second to Henry. It all came apart though on lap three, as Henry spun, and collected Bayston and Brubaker along the way, putting Henry and Brubaker upside down. Bayston was able to rejoin for a six car shootout. Buddy Kofoid ran away with this heat, winning big over Jacobs, Blaney, Bayston, Ivy and Neill.
305 Heat 1: Shawn Valenti and Seth Schnieder we’re going to find out how long they could hold off Jamie Miller. After a short battle, Schnieder took the lead from Valenti and on lap two, Valenti surrendered second to Miller. Miller was on the charge for the lead now and caught and passed Schnieder on lap 5. Miller wins, 36, 7, Dahms, Kingseed, Lucius, Keegan and Reihl rounded out your field.
305 Heat 2: Brandon Moore held the lead early over Luke Griffith and Tyler Street. Street was challenging Griffith for second while Griffith was making it interesting for the lead. Griffith was faster in three and four, but Moore could pull away down the backstretch. Moore holds on over Griffith, Street, Capodice, who made a nice late race charge, Keckler, Peters, Sabo and Mingus.
305 Heat 3: It’s a rematch of last nights 305 feature with McGrath and Ivy on the front row. They didn’t disappoint either! McGrath took the early lead but Ivy was keeping him honest. McGrath was running the bottom and Ivy was up top, just going at it for the first four laps. Adams stopped on track, bringing out the caution. McGrath did exactly what he did at Attica on the restart and caught them snoozing to get a big lead, but Adams stopped again with mechanical issues ending his race. McGrath did the same thing on this restart, but Ivy kept him a little closer, meanwhile, Roepke and Clark were battling hard for fifth, swapping the position multiple times before it was all said and done. McGrath and Ivy were side by side coming to the white flag! McGrath edges out Ivy and gets a little revenge for last night. Weaver, Clark, Roepke, Verda and Ziebold rounded out the heat race action.
410 BMain1: Helms, Wilson, Dean Jacobs, Balog and Wilson were your top five starters. Helms led early while Balog worked his way up to second. Balog was making a case for the lead on lap four, but biked it again in one and two and lost all his ground. Helms and Balog transferred, Jacobs, Broughton, Stambaugh, and Wilson did not transfer, Neumiester, Greg Wilson and John Ivy DNF’d.
410 BMain2: Gunn, Kelsey Ivy, Griffith, Neill, and Michael were your other top five starters. It was almost disaster for Gunn and Kelsey Ivy on lap two as Gunn Biked it and Kelsey got in the back of him. Ivy took the lead, but was going to have to hold off a charging Caleb Griffith and Cap Henry. Kelsey conceded the lead to Griffith on lap four, and managed to barely hang on to the last transfer spot over Henry. Gunn, Michael, Lay and Neill did not transfer.
305 BMain Finish: Peters, Verda, Sabo, Mingus, and Lucius transfer
410 Feature:
Nate Dussel
Travis Philo
Joey Saldana
Dale Blaney
Jac Haudenschild
Justin Peck
Byron Reed
DJ Foos
Skyler Gee
Buddy Kofoid
Philo and Dussel game together briefly on the start, demoting Dussel to fourth. Blaney was second and Justin Peck was third when Jac started to spin out of turn two, collecting Reed who collected Trey Jacobs, sending Jacobs into a single barrel roll, landing on all fours. Philo held the lead on the restart. Peck was challenging Blaney for second and Buddy Kofoid worked his way up to fifth. Peck got by Blaney and started to catch Philo for the lead on lap 8. Kofoid kept charging up and was all over Saldana for fourth and Blaney for third. By lap 13, Kofoid got by Blaney for third. On lap 15, the 5X showed the 5T his nose but couldn’t make it happen. And here. Came. Buddy. Third on lap 18. Second on lap 20. First on lap 21. Peck got by Philo for second and the race was on. Buddy was in some traffic and Peck was making it verrrrry interesting! BUT, Buddy held him off after last nights heartbreak and picks up a much deserved victory for the Neumeister crew! Peck, Philo, Saldana, Dussel, Blaney, Griffith, Foos, Mintz, and Gee were your top ten. What a win for Buddy, a long time coming and the first of many here. This kid is gonna be big folks.
305 Feature: it was Mimmy McGrath Jr. on pole with the 11G of Luke Griffith beside him. Unfortunately, soon after the start, the 5JR had mechanical issues and eventually fell back to the back of the pack. This gave Griffith the lead until about lap ten, when that white 1W of Paul Weaver caught up to him in traffic. They both biked it big time in three and four. The 11G slid up and that allowed Weaver to get underneath and get the lead. The 11G fought back though and retook the lead on lap 12! Lap 13 rolled around and they swapped the lead again when a caution came out of a spinning Seth Schnieder and Kevin Mingus. Alvin Roepke has worked his way to sixth from 15th at this point. Weaver rocketed our to a big lead on the restart and Jamie Miller got by Griffith for second as well. I thought the 26 of Miller could make it interesting at the end when Weaver was in heavy traffic, but Weaver was too good and wins another feature in Fremont, followed by Miller, Griffith, Street, Ivy, Roepke, Peters, Moore, Clark, and Valenti as your top ten.
Overall I was impressed with Fremont again. Two weeks and two different tracks. Tonight was cowboy up for awhile, and after the 410 heats, lengthy track work was done in the corners to smoothen them out and that did the trick. Great racing ensued, even though the racing before the track work wasn’t bad whatsoever. Track prep was needed throughout the night, which prolonged the night a bit. The trucks even put on good races. As for the trucks, again I didn’t cover them because I don’t know anything about them, so I wouldn’t be able to give a quality report on them. A big weekend next weekend with the all stars invading and the Outlaw show Memorial Day at Lawerenceburg!