By Brian Liskai: ATTICA, Ohio – Dale Blaney wasn’t even sure he wanted to race Friday. The J&M Motorsports team experienced mechanical issues with the tow rig and Blaney nearly told them to wait to race until Saturday. The team made it to Attica Raceway Park and Blaney promptly parked the #55 in victory lane on Kistler Racing Products/Jon Wright’s Custom Chrome Plating Night.
It looked like Cap Henry would take the Hammer Pallets 410 sprint win as the Republic, Ohio driver led the first 18 circuits before jumping the cushion in turns three and four and spinning though he kept it going as Blaney drove by. Blaney had to endure a couple of late race restarts but drove away the final eight laps to take the win 5.6 seconds ahead of Craig Mintz. It was Blaney’s 26th career win at Attica as he sits third on the track’s all-time win list.
“It was a tough night. My daughter’s coming home this weekend…it’s her birthday on Wednesday and I don’t get to see her a whole lot. I can’t thank Gene Jenkins and Scott Mertz and Rick enough for helping out tonight. Scott and Gene have been friends of mine for a long time. Gene worked on my car on the Outlaw tour for a long time. I’m dumfounded the way things have been going this year. I haven’t had the greatest of years. But no better place to finally get one than Attica,” said Blaney beside his Century 21 Mertz & Associates, Svas Appraisals backed machine.
“On the red there (9 laps to go) I didn’t have any brakes and I really didn’t know how hard to run. I knew Stuart (Brubaker) must have been running okay…he kind of followed me up through there a little bit. I knew the 11n (Craig Mintz) was in fourth so I just tried to run as hard as I could and not make any mistakes,” added Blaney in the Engine Pro Victory Lane.
Sandusky, Ohio’s Chris Andrews wrapped up his second 410 track championship aboard the Burmeister #16.
“Points racing is not fun. I relate it to like NASCAR when they tell you to drive 30 miles an hour slower to save fuel…it’s not fun at all. Sonny (Burmeister) is looking down on us and Sharon…I got a championship for them. I can’t say enough about DJ Foos and that team with Jay Kiser and Daniel Smith…they are tough to beat,” said Andrews, the track’s 2009 champion.
Wooster, Ohio’s Doug Drown grabbed the lead from Steve Kester on lap 11 in the Summit Racing Equipment Late Model feature and then held off a charging Rusty Schlenk to record his third Attica win of the year. The victory moves Drown into a tie with Schlenk atop the division’s all-time win list with 23.
“Kester was rolling pretty good but I don’t know if his motor was letting go or what because he was spitting oil all over me. That’s why I went a groove down and the car was really good down there. But I knew I couldn’t leave the top open for Rusty so I kept looking around and waiting to see him. It was good racing…the track was awesome. I saw Rusty a few times. I knew he would run me hard…that’s how we race each other hard and clean. That’s why we both have the results we have here,” said Drown beside his Hall’s Auto Sales, Kar Connection, Malcuit Racing Engines, Wooster Glass, ABR Farms, Dirty Girl Raceware, Efco backed #240.
Britton, Michigan’s Devin Shiels scored a sixth place finish to earn his first ever Attica Raceway Park late model track championship.
“I hate to see that top line so fast…I like dry slick. I saw some slide jobs coming and I thought ‘I’d better back out of this.’ I want to thank my dad. I have one more to go. I’m leading Oakshade points with a couple of races left,” said Shiels of his first ever championship.
Fremont, Ohio’s Paul Weaver only had to make the A-main to score his third track championship in the Fremont Fence 305 Sprints. But, when his engine let go in hot laps, that title was in doubt. In stepped Jim Taddeo who gave up his seat to Weaver. Weaver rewarded that gesture by leading all by the first lap of the feature to score his eight win of the year and wrap up the track championship. It was Weaver’s 43rd career win at Attica in the 305 sprint division as he leads all other drivers.
“Jim’s seat I could have tucked my elbows under so that had to be the first thing to go. Then I had to hold my leg up because he had no heal riser so I had put that in. Still I wasn’t completely comfortable in it…the steering wheel was too low. I have to thank Jim for the opportunity and his crew guys and Daniel for busting their asses to get this thing switched over.. I want to thank Dave Rice and Bob Hampshire…we had something go wrong with the motor…I don’t know how severe. Instead of starting it back up and risk really hurting it I just parked it,” said Weaver beside the Jon Wright’s Custom Chrome Plating, Greber Machine Tools backed #4T.
Cap Henry and Chris Andrews brought the field to green for the 30-lap 410 sprint feature with Henry blasting into the lead. With four laps scored fourth place runner Broc Martin got up on two wheels in turn three causing fifth place DJ Foos to spin to avoid a collision. On the restart Henry pulled away from Andrews, Blaney, Martin, Stuart Brubaker, Jess Stiger and Travis Philo. Henry had a huge lead as he raced into lapped traffic on lap 12 as Andrews was trying to fend off Blaney for second.
At the half-way point Foos spun, ending his night. The restart order was Henry, Blaney, Andrews, Brubaker and Philo. The car on the move was 11th starter Craig Mintz who had worked his way up to sixth. When the green flew so did Henry, pulling away once again. Disaster struck for Henry on lap 19 as he bounced over the cushion in turns three and four, did a 360 degree spin and kept going but fell to fifth as Blaney now led Brubaker, Andrews and Mintz.
Byron Reed stopped on the track with 20 laps in with Blaney continuing to lead Brubaker, Andrews, Mintz, Henry and Philo. Racing ground to a halt with 21 laps scored when Duane Zablocki slowed on the back stretch and Brian Lay drove over him, flipping violently. Neither driver was injured.
Blaney got a great restart and drove away from the field as Brubaker began battling with Mintz with Andrews and Henry racing hard for fourth. Blaney continued to stretch his lead with Mintz finally taking second with two laps to go. When the checkers flew Blaney’s winning margin was 5.6 seconds over Mintz while Philo charged to third on the final lap with Brubaker and Henry rounding out the top five.
Steve Kester and Ryan Missler paced the field for the 25 lap late model feature with Kester jumping into the lead over Missler, Drown, Cody Scott, Mike Bores and Shiels. Doug Baird brought out the first caution with three laps scored with the running order Kester, Drown, Missler, Shiels, Scott, Bores, Ken Hahn and Schlenk. On the restart Drown immediately applied pressure to Kester but a Ryan Eddleblute spin with five laps in postponed that battle. On the restart Kester and Drown continued to race side by side with Missler trying to hold off Shiels, Bores and Scott.
Drown executed a slider in turns three and four to take the lead on lap 11 while Schlenk had blasted his way to third. With 10 laps to go Drown had pulled away as Kester and Schlenk battled for the runner-up spot with Missler, Shiels, Bores, Scott and Dave Hornikel giving chase.
Lapped traffic would allow Schlenk to close on Drown with eight laps to go. Hahn stopped on the back stretch with five laps remaining giving Drown a clear track. When the green flew Drown edged ahead of Schlenk, Kester, Missler, Bores and Shiels. With two laps to go Schlenk was glued to Drown’s rear bumper but a bobble on the cushion in turn two on the white flag lap allowed Drown to drive away to the win. Schlenk, Kester, Missler and Bores rounded out the top five.
John Ivy and Kyle Capodice brought the field to green for the 25 lap 305 sprint feature with Ivy gaining the advantage while fourth starter Weaver powered into second. Weaver blasted to Ivy’s outside to grab the lead on lap two. Weaver couldn’t shake Ivy as the two ran nose to tail over the next hand full of laps. The car on the move was ninth starter Jamie Miller who had worked his way up to third when the caution flew for a Seth Schneider spin with 16 laps to go.
Weaver pulled away on the restart while Ivy had to fend off Miller while Bobby Clark and Capodice stayed close. Ivy started to eat into Weaver’s lead as they raced into lapped traffic with five laps to go. It was now a four car battle for the lead with Weaver holding off Ivy, Clark and Miller. Once through the heaviest of the lapped traffic Weaver was able to pull away to the checkers over Ivy, Miller, Clark and Jordan Ryan.
Attica Raceway Park will close out the season Friday and Saturday, Sept. 1 and 2 with the Attica Ambush. On Friday the All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads FAST 410 Championship Series will battle for $5,000 to win as will the Sunoco American Late Model Series. Saturday includes the make-up A-main for the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions from June 16 and then the Dirt Classic Ohio for the All Stars paying $10,000 to win. The 305 sprints will also be in action Saturday.
For more information go to www.atticaracewaypark.com or follow the track on Twitter @atticaracewyprk or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/atticaracewaypark and Instagram at attica_raceway_park.
Attica Raceway Park
Kistler Racing Products/Jon Wright’s Custom Chrome Plating
Friday, Aug. 25, 2017
Starting position [*]
410 Sprints – Hammer Pallets
Qualifying
1.55-Dale Blaney, 12.438; 2.23-DJ Foos, 12.459; 3.9X-Cap Henry, 12.475; 4.11N-Craig Mintz, 12.477; 5.60-Jody Keegan, 12.481; 6.45-Trevor Baker, 12.530; 7.8J-Jess Stiger, 12.631; 8.16-Chris Andrews, 12.636; 9.5T-Travis Philo, 12.642; 10.5R-Byron Reed, 12.659; 11.97-Broc Martin, 12.664; 12.7-Shawn Valenti, 12.729; 13.35-Stuart Brubaker, 12.790; 14.45L-Brian Lay, 12.865; 15.22M-Dan McCarron, 12.876; 16.3J-Trey Jacobs, 12.885; 17.9-Jordan Ryan, 13.006; 18.7J-Joe Swanson, 13.006; 19.9Z-Duane Zablocki, 13.032; 20.11X-Brandon Martin, 13.054; 21.8-Kevin Shelbo, 13.451; 22.1M-Brandon Moore, 13.633; 23.2DI-Dustin Ingle, 13.776; 24.14-Daryl Daugherty, 14.360; 25.21M-Chris Olding, 16.822;
Heat 1, Group A – (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 5R-Byron Reed[1] ; 2. 23-DJ Foos[4] ; 3. 45-Trevor Baker[2] ; 4. 11N-Craig Mintz[3] ; 5. 9-Jordan Ryan[6] ; 6. 45L-Brian Lay[5] ; 7. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[7] ; 8. 11X-Brandon Martin[8] ; 9. 8-Kevin Shelbo[9]
Heat 2, Group B – (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 5T-Travis Philo[1] ; 2. 16-Chris Andrews[2] ; 3. 9X-Cap Henry[4] ; 4. 60-Jody Keegan[3] ; 5. 7-Shawn Valenti[5] ; 6. 3J-Trey Jacobs[6] ; 7. 7J-Joe Swanson[7] ; 8. 2DI-Dustin Ingle[8]
Heat 3, Group C – (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 35-Stuart Brubaker[1] ; 2. 97-Broc Martin[2] ; 3. 8J-Jess Stiger[3] ; 4. 55-Dale Blaney[4] ; 5. 22M-Dan McCarron[5] ; 6. 1M-Brandon Moore[6] ; 7. 14-Daryl Daugherty[7] ; 8. 21M-Chris Olding[8]
B-Main 1 – (10 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 45L-Brian Lay[1] ; 2. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[4] ; 3. 3J-Trey Jacobs[2] ; 4. 7J-Joe Swanson[5] ; 5. 11X-Brandon Martin[7] ; 6. 2DI-Dustin Ingle[8] ; 7. 1M-Brandon Moore[3] ; 8. 14-Daryl Daugherty[6] ; 9. 21M-Chris Olding[9] ; 10. 8-Kevin Shelbo[10]
A-Main 1 – (30 Laps)
1. 55-Dale Blaney[4] ; 2. 11N-Craig Mintz[11] ; 3. 5T-Travis Philo[9] ; 4. 35-Stuart Brubaker[6] ; 5. 9X-Cap Henry[1] ; 6. 7-Shawn Valenti[15] ; 7. 16-Chris Andrews[2] ; 8. 60-Jody Keegan[12] ; 9. 45-Trevor Baker[8] ; 10. 22M-Dan McCarron[13] ; 11. 3J-Trey Jacobs[18] ; 12. 11X-Brandon Martin[20] ; 13. 9-Jordan Ryan[14] ; 14. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[17] ; 15. 45L-Brian Lay[16] ; 16. 5R-Byron Reed[10] ; 17. 7J-Joe Swanson[19] ; 18. 8J-Jess Stiger[7] ; 19. 97-Broc Martin[3] ; 20. 23-DJ Foos[5]
Hard Charger: 11n-Craig Mintz +9
305 Sprints – Fremont Fence
Heat 1 – (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 77I-John Ivy[5] ; 2. 12-Kyle Capodice[3] ; 3. 11G-Luke Griffith[4] ; 4. 75-Jerry Dahms[2] ; 5. 47-Matt Lucius[7] ; 6. 2L-Landon LaLonde[9] ; 7. 5JR-Jimmy McGrath Sr.[6] ; 8. 14-Luke Daugherty[8] ; 9. 4T-James Taddeo[1]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[1] ; 2. 66D-Chase Dunham[4] ; 3. 8-Bobby Clark[5] ; 4. 2-Ricky Peterson[7] ; 5. 9R-Dustin Rall[8] ; 6. 25-Jason Keckler[3] ; 7. 94K-Kevin Mingus[6] ; 8. 88N-Frank Neill[2] ; 9. 63-Tad Peck[9]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 66-Jamie Miller[1] ; 2. 4*-Tyler Street[3] ; 3. 11X-Jordan Ryan[6] ; 4. 1W-Paul Weaver[7] ; 5. 19R-Steve Rando[4] ; 6. 36-Seth Schneider[8] ; 7. 97-Kyle Peters[2] ; 8. 09-Justin Adams[5]
B-Main 1 – (10 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 2L-Landon LaLonde[1] ; 2. 25-Jason Keckler[2] ; 3. 36-Seth Schneider[3] ; 4. 97-Kyle Peters[6] ; 5. 5JR-Jimmy McGrath Sr.[4] ; 6. 09-Justin Adams[9] ; 7. 94K-Kevin Mingus[5] ; 8. 88N-Frank Neill[8] ; 9. 14-Luke Daugherty[7] ; 10. 63-Tad Peck[10]
A-Main 1 – (25 Laps)
1. 1W-Paul Weaver[4] ; 2. 77I-John Ivy[1] ; 3. 66-Jamie Miller[9] ; 4. 8-Bobby Clark[5] ; 5. 11X-Jordan Ryan[10] ; 6. 12-Kyle Capodice[2] ; 7. 19R-Steve Rando[15] ; 8. 11G-Luke Griffith[8] ; 9. 4*-Tyler Street[12] ; 10. 47-Matt Lucius[13] ; 11. 25-Jason Keckler[17] ; 12. 36-Seth Schneider[18] ; 13. 66D-Chase Dunham[11] ; 14. 97-Kyle Peters[19] ; 15. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[3] ; 16. 2L-Landon LaLonde[16] ; 17. 5JR-Jimmy McGrath Sr.[20] ; 18. 9R-Dustin Rall[14] ; 19. 75-Jerry Dahms[7] ; 20. 2-Ricky Peterson[6]
Hard Charger: 19R-Steve Rando +8
Late Models – Summit Racing Equipment
Heat 1 – (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 36-Matt Irey[2] ; 2. 36R-Ryan Eddleblute[4] ; 3. 19-Cody Scott[6] ; 4. 15B-Mike Bores[7] ; 5. 1-Ben Mott[5] ; 6. 03-Jim Gingery[1] ; 7. 78-Chris Sands[8] ; 8. 57-Jeremy White[3]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 51-Devin Shiels[1] ; 2. 240-Doug Drown[5] ; 3. CJ1-Rusty Schlenk[8] ; 4. 27-Ken Hahn[3] ; 5. 1*-Chub Frank[6] ; 6. 10-Nathan Loney[4] ; 7. 5M-Ryan Markham[7] ; 8. 69R-Doug Baird[2]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 50Y-Ryan Missler[2] ; 2. 77-Steve Kester[1] ; 3. 71-Dave Hornikel[5] ; 4. 69-Jeff Warnick[4] ; 5. 42*-Bob Mayer[3] ; 6. 28-Kent Brewer[8] ; 7. 30-Nate Potts[7] ; 8. 59-Larry Bellman[6]
B-Main 1 – (10 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 10-Nathan Loney[2] ; 2. 28-Kent Brewer[3] ; 3. 5M-Ryan Markham[5] ; 4. 03-Jim Gingery[1] ; 5. 59-Larry Bellman[9] ; 6. 78-Chris Sands[4] ; 7. 69R-Doug Baird[8] ; 8. 57-Jeremy White[7] ; 9. 30-Nate Potts[6]
A-Main 1 – (25 Laps)
1. 240-Doug Drown[3] ; 2. CJ1-Rusty Schlenk[11] ; 3. 77-Steve Kester[1] ; 4. 50Y-Ryan Missler[2] ; 5. 15B-Mike Bores[6] ; 6. 51-Devin Shiels[8] ; 7. 71-Dave Hornikel[10] ; 8. 5M-Ryan Markham[18] ; 9. 1*-Chub Frank[14] ; 10. 36-Matt Irey[9] ; 11. 28-Kent Brewer[17] ; 12. 10-Nathan Loney[16] ; 13. 1-Ben Mott[13] ; 14. 42*-Bob Mayer[15] ; 15. 69-Jeff Warnick[12] ; 16. 36R-Ryan Eddleblute[7] ; 17. 59-Larry Bellman[20] ; 18. 27-Ken Hahn[5] ; 19. 03-Jim Gingery[19] ; 20. 19-Cody Scott[4]
Hard Charger: 5M-Ryan Markham +10