By Scott Porter – FAST Public Relations
(Maumee, OH) After two weeks of defending their home turf from the ill-effects of mother nature and the invasion of the O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions, the Kistler Racing Products Fremont Attica Sprint Title (FAST) drivers are ready to embark on back-to-back weekends of points racing for the $10,000 winner’s share of the season ending point fund and their chance at lifting the Kistler Cup Trophy. Monclova, Ohio’s Byron Reed sits atop the championship points entering the weekend with a 75-point advantage over Brock Mayes. Defending FAST Champion Craig Mintz sits in third well with-in striking distance of both Mayes and Reed, while Mark Keegan and Phil Gressman round out the top-5 in points.
The FAST Championship Series heads to Attica Raceway Park on Friday, June 4th to kick off the weekend and headline a four division racing extravaganza that will be well worth the affordable admission prices. The track is hosting its Mid-Season Championship Night for double points, but this is only for the Attica Track Championship. The FAST Series does not award double points. Saturday, June 5th will be a special day for several owners who field cars in the FAST series along with a driver that still competes weekly at both Northern Ohio speedplants. Fremont Speedway is set to announce its second class of 10 inductees into the Fremont Speedway Hall of Fame, which include De Genzman (Owner: Phil Gressman #53), Sonny Burmeister (Owner: Bryan Sebetto #16) and Mark Keegan (driver of the #X). Fans are invited to attend the free ceremony at 3 pm under the historic covered grandstands at the Track That Action Built. The emotional afternoon will lead into an action packed racing program headlined by the Fremont Attica Sprint Title 410 sprint car drivers.
Everyone will be gunning for the “Monclova Missle” who leads the season with a pair feature wins and has yet to finish outside the top-5 in FAST competition. In a recent interview with Dave Seay of DirtCast.com, Byron commented on the factors that have led to his team’s early success, “We switched and bounced around cars last year and we switched back to a JEI (Chassis) that we have liked in the past and started the year off in that. Our motor program is extremely strong and we have a Kistler Engine that is kind of a little different design that Paul (Kistler) has come up with and its extremely strong. Plus my team is working good and our setups have been working well with the new Goodyear tire. And personally being 37-years old now, I’ve realized that I needed to do some working out in the winter and I’m seeing the results.”
While Byron leads the way it seems no one has passed more cars this season than the duo of Brock Mayes and Craig Mintz. Mayes will be entering the weekend with some momentum on his side as the 2009 Fremont Speedway Track Champion picked up a win at “The Track That Action Built” over the Memorial Weekend. Craig Mintz is still looking to pick up his first win of 2010, but has shown the ability to drive the Real-Geese, KS Sales & Service, Top Gun Enterprises #20X Maxim to the front and has collected several KSE Steering Hard Charger Awards in the process.
Fans once booed Mark Keegan who dominated both Northern Ohio tracks, but the 20-time track champion (Attica: 12 & Fremont: 8) would be a fan favorite if he were able to roll into victory lane this weekend. The local legend has not won a feature since the 2007 season, when he collected his 55th win at Attica, but has shown he can still drive the wheels off of a sprint car en route to several top-5 finishes this season. The start of the season has been a bit of a roller coaster for the #53 Genzman Racing Enterprises entry of Phil Gressman who has picked up a FAST feature win at Attica during week two. “We put ourselves behind the eight ball a bit here for sure, we had a wing valve go bad and it spit all the power steering fluid out of it. Last thing I wanted to do was pull in… but when I had to… I knew we have our work cut out for us. We were able to bounce back with a win and give ourselves some hope of getting it back on track. Then we pull a shiner like that at Fremont (the next week) and didn’t get the job done. We can’t afford many more nights like that and need to stay focussed and get the job done in order to compete for this FAST title,” commented Phil Gressman during his interview with DirtCast.com.
No one is on “Cloud 9” more than Fremont, Ohio’s own Bryan Sebetto. “Flipper” picked up his second career 410-victory – this time against the All Stars – aboard the R&R Auto Wrecking, Schiets Motorsports, Burmeister Racing #16 powered by Kistler Engines and held off the series’ defending champion Tim Shaffer in the process. The young hotshoe sits in 7th place in FAST Kistler Cup Points and looks to close the distance on his challengers ahead to enter the top-5 in points. Other drivers having notable starts to the 2010 Kistler Racing Products FAST Championship Series season are Kevin Lee who sits in 8th place thanks to impressive runs at Fremont and Jody Keegan who clings onto 10th place over Brandon Martin.
For more information on admission prices, start times and directions to either Northern Ohio track Visit www.atticaracewaypark.com or www.fremontohspeedway.com for more information. To find out more about the Kistler Racing Products F.A.S.T. Championship Series presented by SRP Pistons & Engine Pro, the drivers, the rules, the schedule, and to learn about the series’ sponsors visit www.fastondirt.com.
HURRY THEY’RE GOIN’ FAST: Don’t miss out on your chance of getting your hands on some Fremont Attica Sprint Title merchandise before it is sold out! A limited number of FAST sweatshirts are still available at the Action Photos booth at both Attica Raceway Park and Fremont Speedway, which is where all of the FAST merchandise is available weekly. Fans can purchase the 2010 FAST Series T-Shirts (designed by Arizona Sport Shirts) online at www.FastOnDirt.com . Show your support for those who go FAST in Northern Ohio as all sales go right into the 2010 points fund! Other items that are still available include the Kistler Racing Products FAST Championship Series & FAST 305 Championship Series decals and the 2009 Season-In-Review DVDs which includes 4 hours of racing action in a 2-DVD set..
CLEARING THE AIR: The Kistler Racing Products F.A.S.T. Championship Series presented by SRP Pistons & Engine Pro teamed up with Kinser Air Filters to award the Top-5 FAST drivers in last Saturday night’s All Star Circuit of Champions feature at Fremont a $100 gift certificate toward the purchase of Kinser Air Filter products. The winners of these certificates were All Star feature winner Bryan Sebetto, Dean Jacobs (3rd), Brandon Matin (6th), Brock Mayes (8th) and Phil Gressman (9th).
READY FOR LAUNCH: FAST Series title sponsor Kistler Racing Products is proud to announce its new home on the net at www.KistlerRacing.com. This new launch pad allows consumers and fans to easily navigate to the all-new designed home pages of KistlerEngines.com and KistlerRacingProducts.com. Thanks to FAST series sponsor Black Swamp Media Group, the Kistler family of companies now has a new presence online that delivers all the information that you need to know about the companies started by renowned engine builder Paul Kistler.
FAST on Dirt, Inc. would like to thank the following contributors to the 2010 FAST Championship Series point fund:
Kistler Racing Products, Engine Pro, JE/SRP Pistons, Design Graphics Group, Inc, KS Sales & Service, Engler Machine & Tool, Oliver Rods, Henry MotorSports Inc., J&F Construction, Black Swamp Media Group, MyHeroCards.com, Kears Speed Shop, Computer Man, Inc., SCS Gearbox, RockAuto.com, Hoserville Ohio, Hoseheads.com, Level Performance, R&R Auto Wrecking, Reebar Diecasting, The King’s Den, FSR Radiator, Real Geese, Buckeye IT Services, High Vista Video, Racers Racing for a Cure, Gressman Powersports, NAPA (Bryan, OH), Gaerte Engines, Action Photos, PostNet (Fremont, OH), New York Life (Jeremy Shambaugh), Young’s RV Center, October Hills Farms, and OC Shocks
Also, a very special thanks to all of our contingency award sponsors:
R2C Filters, Hepfner Racing Products, TQ Fiberglass, Fuel Safe, Racing Optics, Rocket Headers, Wings Unlimited, VRP Shocks, Kinsler Injections, RAM Engineering Midwest, PRO Shocks, ButlerBuilt, Zemco Headers, Kinser Filters, Outerwears, Inc, DMI Race Components, Keizer Wheels, Linders Speed Equipment, Saldana Racing Products, XXX Race Components, Randy’s Racing Filters, Hinchman Indy Uniforms, King Racing Products, Golden Graphics, OC Shocks, Weld Wheels, KSE Steering, Competition Suspension, Inc, Ti22 Performance, All Pro Heads, FSR Radiator, Speed Meets Art, Productive Tools & Equipment, Arizona Sport Shirts, and Fisher Performance