By Brian Liskai
ATTICA, Ohio – Chris Andrews executed a daring bonsai move on a restart with two laps to go to take the lead and the win in the 410 sprint feature on the Eric Phillips 28th Anniversary Classic Presented by American Powersports/Merrill Lynch Night at Attica Raceway Park.
The drama in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 410 Sprint feature began with two laps to go when Travis Philo and Byron Reed, while battling for second, made contact with a lapped machine, sending both spinning. Up until that point Caleb Griffith looked to be on his way to his second feature win of the year at Attica.
That moved Sandusky, Ohio’s Andrews from fourth to second on the restart. When the ensuing green flew, Andrews drove to the bottom of turns one and two and slid up in front of Griffith. The pair would race side by side down the back stretch and through three and four with Andrews leading to the white flag and going on to his seventh career Attica win.
A disappointed Griffith, who led laps 1 through 28, would fail to go to the scales after the feature and was disqualified.
“We were fourth and the track as slick as it was, there weren’t many options to gain anything then a couple of guys wreck there and I was behind Caleb. I slid him and he point it on me…he did what he had to do. He really left me no choice. If I lifted I’d probably be sitting in the pit stands. We stayed in it and look like a hero,” said Andrews beside his Sennebogen, Aircraft by Armbruster backed #73.
“We’ve hit it off here, me and Joe Armbruster. Andrew Barman is just taking the wrenches and going with it and Doug Berryman getting the shocks going and Paul Kistler…this is our first night on his motor. It’s just really going good. I can’t thank everyone enough,” added Andrews.
The win garnered Andrews value points in the Kistler Racing Products FAST Championship Series Presented by KS Sales and Service.
The drivers in the Summit Racing Equipment UMP Late Models put on just as an exciting feature ending as the sprints. Wooster, Ohio’s Doug Drown would battle last week’s winner Matt Irey the last five laps before taking the lead with just three laps remaining and went on to his second win of the season and the 15th of his career at Attica.
“This didn’t help any…it hurt the car getting into the corner,” said Drown pointing to a wrinkled in right rear fender. “I have to thank my dad, my brother, Dan, Steve for getting the car perfect and Leroy Hall for supporting us and letting me drive for him. I want to thank my whole family and my wife for the support.”
“I’m on the road a lot and today was the first day I saw the car all week. It’s a group effort here. I want to thank Wooster Glass, Halls Auto Sales, Kar Konnections, Nationwide Vehicle Protection, Keith Berner with the shocks, and Malcuit Racing Engines…it’s a heck of a motor. Also Swartz Race Cars…I’m impressed so far, it’s been a real good piece and I feel that every race we’ve been in this year we could have won,” added Drown.
In the Fremont Fence 305 Sprint feature, Fremont, Ohio’s Bobby Clark led every lap to score his first win of the year. It was the 20th of his career in the 305 sprints at Attica. The victory also puts Clark in contention for a second straight JLH General Contractor FAST 305 Championship Series Presented by Engine Pro title.
“I kept watching who was behind me and I saw Nate Dussel snuck up in there. I was pretty good…I wasn’t real worried until I saw someone. I just made sure I ran it as hard as I could those last few laps. I gave one away early in the year so I had to redeem myself. We’ve been changing some things and these guys had the car really good tonight,” said Clark beside his Fremont Fence, Kear’s Speed Shop, B&L Plumbing, Shellukes Bar, Big D’s Pizza, Miller Rigging, Nagy’s Equipment Sales, Willies Towing, Schiets Motorsports backed #8.
Griffith and Trey Jacobs brought the field to green for the 30-lap 410 sprint feature. Griffith would drive into the lead with Jacobs, Mitch Harble, Travis Philo and Broc Martin in pursuit. Harble would spin while running third on lap 3 to bring out the first caution. A lap later and seventh running Stuart Brubaker would spin.
On the ensuing restart Griffith would drive off while Jacobs would surrender second to Philo. Reed would take third on lap eight with Jacobs, Andrews, Craig Mintz and DJ Foos in tow. Just as he was ready to run into heavy lapped traffic, Ryan Broughton would spin, collecting Brian Lay who flipped but was uninjured.
The restart would see Griffith hold off Philo with Reed, Andrews, Jacobs, Mintz, Foos, Jordan Ryan and Jimmy Colvin giving chase. At the half-way point Griffith held a commanding lead while Philo and Reed battled for second. Griffith would slip off the cushion in turn two, allowing Philo and Reed to close as Mintz moved into fourth.
Griffith would hit lapped traffic with 10 laps to go with Philo, Reed, Andrews, Foos and Mintz staying close. Mintz would slip over the banking in turn three, losing a couple of positions on lap 21. With five laps to go Griffith had picked his way through traffic and appeared to be on his way to victory. Philo and Reed began dicing it up for second with Andrews, Foos, Mintz and Ryan in tow.
Just as the leaders hit turn one after completing the 28th lap, Philo attempted to get around a lapped car and made contact, sending him spinning and collecting Reed. Philo was done for the race while Reed went to the tail.
The restart order for the two lap shoot out was Griffith, Andrews, Foos and Mintz. When the green flew Andrews dove low in turn one and slide in front of Griffith. Andrews would hold off Griffith for the win. Because of the disqualification, Mintz would be credited with a rebounding second followed by Foos, Ryan and Martin in the top five.
Last week’s winner Matt Irey and Kyle Moore brought the field to green in the 25 lap late model feature. But, a multi-car pile-up involving Nate Potts, Jon Henry, John Bores and Ryan Markham would necessitate another attempt at the start. That too was nullified when Moore coasted to a stop. On the third attempt it was Mike Bores who drove into the lead over Irey, John Volpe, Rick Bond, Larry Kingseed, Rob Anderzack and Devin Shiels.
Bores would pull away as Irey ran comfortably in second with Volpe in third. The battle for fourth was intense involving Bond, Anderzack, Kingseed, Shiels and 11th starting Drown. It would go on over the next 12 laps.
Disaster struck for Bores on lap 12 as he attempted to lap his father, John, the pair would make contact and Mike would lose several positions as Irey took the lead. Volpe would run second with a charging Drown in third.
The caution flew on lap 17 as Kent Brewer spun right in front of the leaders. Irey led Volpe, Drown, Shiels, Kingseed and Doug Eck, who had started 19th. On the ensuing restart Drown drove to Irey’s inside and the pair would race side by side over the next hand full of laps before Drown took the lead with three circuits remaining.
Once in the lead Drown pulled away to take the win over Irey, Shiels, Volpe and Kingseed.
In the 25 lap 305 sprint feature, Ricky Peterson and Clark paced the field with Clark gaining the advantage. Clark began to pull away from Peterson with Steve Rando, Matt Foos, Kyle Capodice, Nate Dussel and John Ivy in tow.
Jamie Miller would bring out the first caution on lap six with Clark leading Peterson, Rando, Foos, Dussel, Capodice and Dustin Dinan. Rando would take second on lap nine with Dussel sliding into fourth on lap seven. Rando would take second on lap nine but could not close on Clark.
Following a Kyle Farmer spin on lap 12, Clark would get a great restart to lead Rando, Dussel, Foos, Peterson, Dinan and Paul Weaver. Foos’ great run would end on lap 19 when mechanical problems put him in the pits.
The restart with six laps to go would see Clark again pull away from Rando with Dussel, Dinan, Weaver, Peterson and Seth Schneider giving chase.
Clark would go unchallenged to the checkers with Rando, Dussel, Dinan and Weaver rounding out the top five.
Attica Raceway Park will be back in action Friday, May 20 with Scout Night. The 410 sprints, 305 sprints and late models will be in action.
For more information go to www.atticaracewaypark.com, follow the track on Twitter at twitter.com/atticaracewyprk and Facebook at www.facebook.com/atticaracewaypark.
Attica Raceway Park
Friday, May 13, 2016
American Powersports/Merrill Lynch
Starting position [*]
O’Reilly Auto Parts 410 Sprints –
Qualifying
1.73-Chris Andrews, 12.507; 2.3J-Trey Jacobs, 12.605; 3.33M-Caleb Griffith, 12.691; 4.16-Stuart Brubaker, 12.699; 5.45L-Brian Lay, 12.714; 6.23-DJ Foos, 12.736; 7.83M-Broc Martin, 12.736; 8.15H-Mitch Harble, 12.750; 9.09-Craig Mintz, 12.763; 10.9x-Rob Chaney, 12.765; 11.9R-Jordan Ryan, 12.857; 12.5T-Travis Philo, 12.860; 13.8-Kevin Shelbo, 12.864; 14.60-Jody Keegan, 12.876; 15.5R-Byron Reed, 12.945; 16.22-Ryan Broughton, 12.945; 17.68G-Tyler Gunn, 13.000; 18.9Z-Duane Zablocki, 13.030; 19.7B-Shawn Valenti, 13.031; 20.9-Jimmy Colvin, 13.203; 21.25M-Ken Mackey, 13.243; 22.8J-Jess Stiger, 13.376; 23.89-George Hawkins, 14.496; 24.14-Daryl Daugherty, 16.531;
Heat 1, Group A – (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 09-Craig Mintz[1] ; 2. 15H-Mitch Harble[2] ; 3. 5T-Travis Philo[5] ; 4. 23-DJ Foos[3] ; 5. 3J-Trey Jacobs[4] ; 6. 89-George Hawkins[8] ; 7. 8-Kevin Shelbo[7] ; 8. 60-Jody Keegan[6]
Heat 2, Group B – (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 83M-Broc Martin[2] ; 2. 33M-Caleb Griffith[4] ; 3. 9x-Rob Chaney[1] ; 4. 45L-Brian Lay[3] ; 5. 9R-Jordan Ryan[5] ; 6. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[6] ; 7. 25M-Ken Mackey[7] ; 8. 14-Daryl Daugherty[8]
Heat 3, Group C – (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 5R-Byron Reed[1] ; 2. 16-Stuart Brubaker[3] ; 3. 73-Chris Andrews[4] ; 4. 22-Ryan Broughton[2] ; 5. 9-Jimmy Colvin[7] ; 6. 68G-Tyler Gunn[5] ; 7. 8J-Jess Stiger[8] ; 8. 7B-Shawn Valenti[6]
B-Main 1 – (10 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[2] ; 2. 68G-Tyler Gunn[3] ; 3. 60-Jody Keegan[7] ; 4. 89-George Hawkins[1] ; 5. 8-Kevin Shelbo[4] ; 6. 25M-Ken Mackey[5] ; 7. 8J-Jess Stiger[6] ; 8. 14-Daryl Daugherty[8] ; 9. 7B-Shawn Valenti[9]
A-Main 1 – (30 Laps)
1. 73-Chris Andrews[7] ; 2. 09-Craig Mintz[8] ; 3. 23-DJ Foos[11] ; 4. 9R-Jordan Ryan[14] ; 5. 83M-Broc Martin[5] ; 6. 3J-Trey Jacobs[2] ; 7. 68G-Tyler Gunn[17] ; 8. 9-Jimmy Colvin[15] ; 9. 16-Stuart Brubaker[6] ; 10. 9x-Rob Chaney[10] ; 11. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[16] ; 12. 5R-Byron Reed[9] ; 13. 60-Jody Keegan[18] ; 14. 89-George Hawkins[19] ; 15. 15H-Mitch Harble[4] ; 16. 8-Kevin Shelbo[20] ; 17. 5T-Travis Philo[3] ; 18. 22-Ryan Broughton[13] ; 19. 45L-Brian Lay[12] ; 20. 33M-Caleb Griffith[1]
Hard Charger: Jordan Ryan +10
Fremont Fence 305 Sprints –
Heat 1 – (8 Laps, top 4 to A)
1. 4*-Tyler Street[1] ; 2. 77I-John Ivy[4] ; 3. 41-Thomas Schinderle[6] ; 4. 36-Seth Schneider[5] ; 5. 1XX-Jordan Ryan[9] ; 6. 11G-Luke Griffith[10] ; 7. 32H-Dan Hennig[2] ; 8. 7M-Brandon Moore[3] ; 9. 20B-Cody Bova[8] ; 10. 39C-Scott Riley[7]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps, top 4 to A)
1. 12-Kyle Capodice[2] ; 2. 1-Nate Dussel[4] ; 3. 44-Kyle Farmer[3] ; 4. 18N-Frank Neill[6] ; 5. 99-Alvin Roepke[8] ; 6. 11X-George Englert[7] ; 7. 87-Brian Gibbs[5] ; 8. 42-Kevin Shirey[1] ; 9. 7-Dylan Kingan[9]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps, top 4 to A)
1. 25-Jason Keckler[2] ; 2. 8-Bobby Clark[6] ; 3. 1X-Dustin Dinan[8] ; 4. 1W-Paul Weaver[5] ; 5. 27-Cody Gallogly[3] ; 6. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[7] ; 7. 2L-Landon LaLonde[4] ; 8. 75-Jerry Dahms[9] ; 9. 66-Jamie Miller[1]
Heat 4 – (8 Laps, top 4 to A)
1. 2-Ricky Peterson[1] ; 2. 19R-Steve Rando[5] ; 3. 2F-Matt Foos[2] ; 4. 22M-Dan McCarron[9] ; 5. 10X-Dustin Stroup[3] ; 6. 97-Kyle Peters[8] ; 7. 15-Gary Benjamin[6] ; 8. 6-Ray Thurston[4] ; 9. 45-Trevor Baker[7]
B-Main 1 – (10 Laps, top 3 to A)
1. 99-Alvin Roepke[2] ; 2. 1XX-Jordan Ryan[1] ; 3. 7M-Brandon Moore[7] ; 4. 11G-Luke Griffith[3] ; 5. 20B-Cody Bova[9] ; 6. 87-Brian Gibbs[6] ; 7. 11X-George Englert[4] ; 8. 42-Kevin Shirey[8] ; 9. 39C-Scott Riley[11] ; 10. 32H-Dan Hennig[5] ; 11. 7-Dylan Kingan[10]
B-Main 2 – (10 Laps, top 3 to A)
1. 10X-Dustin Stroup[2] ; 2. 97-Kyle Peters[4] ; 3. 66-Jamie Miller[9] ; 4. 27-Cody Gallogly[1] ; 5. 2L-Landon LaLonde[5] ; 6. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[3] ; 7. 45-Trevor Baker[10] ; 8. 75-Jerry Dahms[7] ; 9. 15-Gary Benjamin[6] ; 10. 6-Ray Thurston[8]
A-Main 1 – (25 Laps)
1. 8-Bobby Clark[2] ; 2. 19R-Steve Rando[3] ; 3. 1-Nate Dussel[7] ; 4. 1X-Dustin Dinan[11] ; 5. 1W-Paul Weaver[15] ; 6. 2-Ricky Peterson[1] ; 7. 36-Seth Schneider[13] ; 8. 1XX-Jordan Ryan[19] ; 9. 25-Jason Keckler[10] ; 10. 12-Kyle Capodice[6] ; 11. 10X-Dustin Stroup[18] ; 12. 4*-Tyler Street[12] ; 13. 99-Alvin Roepke[17] ; 14. 77I-John Ivy[8] ; 15. 66-Jamie Miller[22] ; 16. 97-Kyle Peters[20] ; 17. 22M-Dan McCarron[16] ; 18. 18N-Frank Neill[14] ; 19. 44-Kyle Farmer[9] ; 20. 7M-Brandon Moore[21] ; 21. 41-Thomas Schinderle[4] ; 22. 2F-Matt Foos[5]
Hard Charger: Paul Weaver +10
Late Models –
Heat 1 – (8 Laps)
1. 240-Doug Drown[5] ; 2. 53-John Volpe[1] ; 3. 5M-Ryan Markham[7] ; 4. 007-Rick Bond[4] ; 5. 48-John Bores[6] ; 6. 69R-Doug Baird[3] ; 7. 99-Doug Eck[2]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps)
1. 15-Jon Henry[2] ; 2. 21-Larry Kingseed[1] ; 3. 2*-Kyle Moore[6] ; 4. 71-Dave Hornikel[4] ; 5. 59-Larry Bellman[3] ; 6. 03-Jim Gingery[7] ; 7. 30-Nate Potts[5]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps)
1. 51-Devin Shiels[1] ; 2. 15B-Mike Bores[3] ; 3. 36-Matt Irey[7] ; 4. 8-Rob Anderzack[4] ; 5. 00-Mathew Chapman[6] ; 6. 12-Kent Brewer[2] ; 7. 12M-Bobby Michaels[5]
A-Main 1 – (25 Laps)
1. 240-Doug Drown[11] ; 2. 36-Matt Irey[1] ; 3. 51-Devin Shiels[7] ; 4. 53-John Volpe[3] ; 5. 21-Larry Kingseed[5] ; 6. 99-Doug Eck[19] ; 7. 15B-Mike Bores[4] ; 8. 8-Rob Anderzack[8] ; 9. 007-Rick Bond[6] ; 10. Mathew Chapman [15]; 11. 59-Larry Bellman[14] ; 12. 03-Jim Gingery[17] ; 13. 12-Kent Brewer[18] ; 14. 69R-Doug Baird[16] ; 15. 48-John Bores[13] ; 16. 12M-Bobby Michaels[21] ; 17. 2*-Kyle Moore[2] ; 18. 15-Jon Henry[10] ; 19. 71-Dave Hornikel[9] ; 20. 5M-Ryan Markham[12] ; 21. 30-Nate Potts[20]
Hard Charger: Doug Eck +13