McMahan capitalizes on leaders misfortunes to capture Ohio Sprint Speedweek opener at Attica
Friday, June 15, 2018
Contact: Brian Liskai
[email protected]
By Brian Liskai
ATTICA, Ohio – A week ago Paul McMahan ended a 16-year drought with the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobile 1 with a win in New York. The veteran driver from Nashville,Tennessee capitalized on the misfortune of early race leaders Kyle Larson and Aaron Reutzel to score his first ever win at Attica Raceway Park on Friday, June 15 to open up the 36th Annual Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by C&R Racing.
Early on it looked like NASCAR star Larson would drive to dominating win, but he smacked the front stretch wall with 22 laps to go, ending his night. McMahan and Reutzel would battle hard for the top spot until Reutzel also hit the front stretch wall while leading on lap 25. McMahan utilized the bottom groove in the Tom Buch owned machine, Apex Structured, FK Rod Ends, DMI, HP Engines sponsored #13 to hold the top spot when Reutzel’s mount went up in smoke to bring out the caution with 11 laps to go. McMahan now had to hold off Kasey Kahne, but he too found the turn 4 cushion treacherous, hitting the front stretch wall and nearly flipping with five laps to go. Kahne was able to keep rolling but had lost a couple of positions. McMahan had no problems with the bottom lane and drove to a nearly three second win over eight time Attica champion Byron Reed and Jac Haudenschild.
“I’ve run second here several times. It’s a very special place here at Attica. I’ve known Rex (LeJeune, director of operations) for many many years when he was an official with the Gum Out Series and we’ve become really good friends. He’s done a fantastic job here…look at this crowd…thank you for coming out and supporting us. If it wasn’t for you guys supporting us we couldn’t do what we love to do and race and get paid to do it. Man, Sean and Kurt and Danny…they bust their butts all night long. We brought Bobby in from Arizona to help us out through this grueling week. Tom Buch he is missing out…he hasn’t come to a race yet. I think this is the first time Tom has won in Ohio. The 13 car has won in New York three times but no where else,” McMahan said of his fifth career All Star win.
“My mom and dad are here and it’s Fathers’ Day weekend so happy Fathers’ Day to my dad just in case I don’t get a win Sunday. Any time you win is great but to have your family here with you is even more special. I know mom and dad would like to be here all week but they have things to do back home. I can’t remember the last time I won a race that my mom was at so this is damn cool. I was committed to the bottom. I’m too damn old to run that lip like that any more. It’s something we’ve come upon the last few weeks with my guys…we found something where my race car works really good in the slick and the bottom and we’re going to ride it out as long as we can. Today’s Bryan Clauson’s birthday and I parked it for him,” McMahan added.
Reed hasn’t been able to race a lot so far this season but advancing eight spots to finish second showed why he has won so many races at Attica.
“I needed more green flag laps. On the restarts I spun for about two laps and a guy would get me and I’d have to fight back by. If we would have had a long green flag run I think I was as good as anybody. Obviously Larson was better but when he went everybody was all bunched up and I think I had something for them then because no one was running my line at that point. We’ll take second with this field of cars,” Reed said his Crown Battery backed #5.
Wooster, Ohio’s Jac Haudenschild, who scored an All Star win at Attica earlier in the year, finished a close third, much to the delight of the standing room only crowd.
“It was really fun tonight. I was running fourth most of the race and watched the action up front and just tried to keep up with them. At the end had a couple of spots given to us. There’s just so many fast guys out here this year…it’s just unreal,” said Haudenschild beside his Southern Pacific Farms, Whistle Stop Bar and Grill, Finzer Farms, Ron Jacobs Trucking backed #3.
Current All Star point leader Reutzel and Larson brought the field to green for the 40-lap A-main but a caution for Carson Macedo and Broc Martin negated the first race start. On the second try Larson jumped into a commanding lead over Reutzel, Kahne, McMahan, Haudenschild, Gio Scelzi, Cale Thomas, Byron Reed and Spencer Bayston. Chad Kemenah spun with five laps scored with no changes among the top five.
When the green flew Larson once again built a substantial lead over Reutzel with Kahne, McMahan and Haudenschild in pursuit. Larson’s lead evaporated on lap 12 when Danny Dietrich brought out the caution which kept the leader out of very heavy lapped traffic. When the green reappeared Larson pulled away again while the battle for second heated up between Reutzel, Kahne, McMahan and Haudenschild.
Parker Price Miller brought out the caution on lap 14 and a lap later Scelzi would spin. Again on the restart Larson drove away from the field while Reutzel, Kahne and McMahan waged a tremendous battle for second. Disaster struck for Larson on lap 18 when the big cushion in turn four propelled him into the front stretch wall, ending his night. On the ensuing restart McMahan drove under Reutzel to take the lead but Reutzel blasted to his outside to regain the top spot. Reutzel and McMahan raced side by side over the next five laps until the front stretch wall bit Reutzel on lap 25, allowing McMahan to regain the lead.
McMahan was just about to encounter problems with lapped cars running in his bottom groove with Reutzel closing when Reutzel’s machine went up in smoke with 11 laps to go. That put Kahne on McMahan’s rear bumper on the restart. McMahan got a great jump when the green reappeared and maintained the lead though lap after lap Kahne closed every so closer while Haudenschild, Reed and Thomas waged a terrific battle for third.
With five laps to go Kahne jumped the cushion in turn four and got into the front stretch wall miraculously avoiding taking a tumble but he lost a couple of positions and the race stayed green. That allowed McMahan to build a 3.5 second lead with Reed and Haudenschild continuing to battle for second.
At the checkers McMahan scored the second win in seven days over Reed, Haudenschild, Thomas who won the last All Star show on May 26 at Attica, Kahne, Cole Duncan, Bayston, Tony Stewart, Scelzi rebounded for 9th and 24th starter Tim Shaffer rounding out the top 10.
In the Summit Racing Equipment UMP Late Models Ashland, Ohio’s Ryan Markham and Holland, Ohio’s Steve Kester put on a whale of a show, racing side by side the entire 25 laps before Markham prevailed for his first win of the season and the 14th of his career at Attica, tying him for third on the all-time division win list with Jon Henry.
Kester led laps 1-4; Markham led laps 5-17 with Kester leading laps 18-21 and Markham leading laps 22-25.
“He (Kester) was getting a good run off the bottom when he was in front of me and coming up. I tapped him a couple of times to make sure he knew I was right there. It was just good hard racing. I have to thank my wife for that good draw tonight. We’ve had bad luck this year drawing. I had to work for that one and had to get up on the wheel and make her go. I had to be hard on the right rear tire up on the cushion to make sure it would turn. If you look at lap times each week we’re one of the fastest cars each week. It’s just been tough getting to the front with everyone being so good here,” Markham said beside his H&T Demolition, Accu-Force Shock Service, Harriger Towing, Elite Car Auto Center, Wiseking Motorsports, Dzugan Real Estate Services, Innovative Graphics backed #5M.
Attica Raceway Park will be off June 22 but gets back to action on Friday, June 29 on Baumann Auto Group / Kears Speed Shop/Edward Jones-Mike Neill Financial Advisor Fan Night featuring the All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads FAST 410 Championship Series, the JLH General Contractor FAST 305 Championship Series and the late models competing in the Attica-Oakshade Raceway Series Challenge. General admission tickets are just $10 with hot dogs only a $1 and prior to the night’s racing fans will get to go to the pit area to meet the teams.
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.
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Attica Raceway Park
Friday, June 15, 2018
Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions
Starting Position – [*]
Qualifying
Group (A)
1. 39-Spencer Bayston, 12.311; 2. 13-Paul McMahan, 12.518; 3. 4-Parker Price-Miller, 12.558; 4. 57-Kyle Larson, 12.630; 5. 7K-Cale Conley, 12.728; 6. 5T-Travis Philo, 12.875; 7. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 12.892; 8. 35s-Stuart Brubaker, 12.911; 9. 22M-Dan McCarron, 13.214; 10. 2-Ricky Peterson, 13.234; 11. 2+-Brian Smith, 13.300; 12. 51-John Garvin, 13.480
Group (B)
1. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 12.601; 2. 70-Dave Blaney, 12.617; 3. 17-Josh Baughman, 12.676; 4. 5R-Byron Reed, 12.798; 5. 49x-Tim Shaffer, 12.835; 6. 3J-Trey Jacobs, 12.898; 7. 4L-Cap Henry, 12.913; 8. 9Z-Duane Zablocki, 12.928; 9. 8M-TJ Michael, 12.961; 10. 9M-Jordan Ryan, 13.274; 11. 19-Mitch Harble, 14.474
Group (C)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 12.257; 2. 14-Tony Stewart, 12.399; 3. 71-Gio Scelzi, 12.514; 4. 91-Cale Thomas, 12.803; 5. 16-Chris Andrews, 12.963; 6. 98-Carl Bowser, 13.055; 7. 68G-Tyler Gunn, 13.107; 8. A79-Brandon Wimmer, 13.153; 9. 9X-Paul Nienhiser, 13.170; 10. 45-Trevor Baker, 13.311; 11. 8J-Jess Stiger, 13.411
Group (D)
1. 3G-Carson Macedo, 12.530; 2. 35-Tyler Esh, 12.679; 3. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 12.812; 4. 81-Lee Jacobs, 12.946; 5. 23X-DJ Foos, 13.012; 6. 24-Rico Abreu, 13.059; 7. O7-Gerard McIntyre, 13.121; 8. 5X-Justin Peck, 13.140; 9. 17X-Caleb Helms, 13.500; 10. 49-Shawn Dancer, 13.555; 11. 70M-Henry Malcuit, 14.355
Group (E)
1. 48-Danny Dietrich, 12.825; 2. 11-Ryan Smith, 12.825; 3. 4K-Kasey Kahne, 12.851; 4. 22C-Cole Duncan, 12.863; 5. G1-Gary Taylor, 13.024; 6. 97-Broc Martin, 13.318; 7. 23-Chase Baker, 13.597; 8. 97au-Mitchell Wormall, 13.611; 9. 20i-Kesley Ivy, 14.194; 10. 99-Jay Waugh, 14.223; 11. 96AU-Bruce White, 14.727
Heat #1 – Group (A) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 57-Kyle Larson [1]; 2. 13-Paul McMahan [3]; 3. 39-Spencer Bayston [4]; 4. 4-Parker Price-Miller [2]; 5. 7K-Cale Conley [5]; 6. 5T-Travis Philo [6]; 7. 35S-Stuart Brubaker [8]; 8. 2-Ricky Peterson [10]; 9. 22M-Dan McCarron [9]; 10. 51-John Garvin [12]; 11. 22-Brandon Spithaler [7]; 12. 2+-Brian Smith [11]
Heat #2 – Group (B) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 5R-Byron Reed [1]; 2. 17-Josh Baughman [2]; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah [4]; 4. 4L-Cap Henry [7]; 5. 49X-Tim Shaffer [5]; 6. 70-Dave Blaney [3]; 7. 8M-TJ Michael [9]; 8. 3J-Trey Jacobs [6]; 9. 9Z-Duane Zablocki [8]; 10. 9M-Jordan Ryan [10]; 11. 19-Mitch Harble [11]
Heat #3 – Group (C) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 71-Gio Scelzi [2]; 2. 91-Cale Thomas [1]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 4. 14-Tony Stewart [3]; 5. 16-Chris Andrews [5]; 6. 68G-Tyler Gunn [7]; 7. A79-Brandon Wimmer [8]; 8. 8J-Jess Stiger [11]; 9. 9X-Paul Nienhiser [9]; 10. 45-Trevor Baker [10]; 11. 98-Carl Bowser [6]
Heat #4 – Group (D) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 3-Jac Haudenschild [2]; 2. 81-Lee Jacobs [1]; 3. 3G-Carson Macedo [4]; 4. 35-Tyler Esh [3]; 5. 23X-DJ Foos [5]; 6. 17X-Caleb Helms [9]; 7. 49-Shawn Dancer [10]; 8. 5X-Justin Peck [8]; 9. 70M-Henry Malcuit [11]; 10. O7-Gerard McIntyre [7]; 11. 24-Rico Abreu [6]
Heat #5 – Group (E) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 22C-Cole Duncan [1]; 2. 4K-Kasey Kahne [2]; 3. 11-Ryan Smith [3]; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich [4]; 5. 97-Broc Martin [6]; 6. G1-Gary Taylor [5]; 7. 99-Jay Waugh [10]; 8. 97AU-Mitchell Wormall [8]; 9. 20I-Kesley Ivy [9]; 10. 23-Chase Baker [7]; 11. 96AU-Bruce White [11]
Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel [3]; 2. 13-Paul McMahan [4]; 3. 3-Jac Haudenschild [1]; 4. 91-Cale Thomas [5]; 5. 39-Spencer Bayston [2]; 6. 22C-Cole Duncan [6]
Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 57-Kyle Larson [1]; 2. 4K-Kasey Kahne [2]; 3. 71-Gio Scelzi [3]; 4. 5R-Byron Reed [4]; 5. 17-Josh Baughman [5]; 6. 81-Lee Jacobs [6]
D-Main (8 Laps) – Top 2 Transfer
1. 9M-Jordan Ryan [2]; 2. 45-Trevor Baker [3]; 3. O7-Gerard McIntyre [1]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu [8]; 5. 22-Brandon Spithaler [6]; 6. 19-Mitch Harble [9]; 7. 23-Chase Baker [5]; 8. 2+-Brian Smith [11]; 9. 96AU-Bruce White [10]; 10. 51-John Garvin [4]; 11. 98-Carl Bowser [7]
C-Main (10 Laps) – Top 2 Transfer
1. 5X-Justin Peck [2]; 2. 2-Ricky Peterson [3]; 3. 3J-Trey Jacobs [1]; 4. 9Z-Duane Zablocki [6]; 5. 9M-Jordan Ryan [11]; 6. 8J-Jess Stiger [4]; 7. 9X-Paul Nienhiser [7]; 8. 97AU-Mitchell Wormall [5]; 9. 20I-Kesley Ivy [9]; 10. 22M-Dan McCarron [8]; 11. 70M-Henry Malcuit [10]; 12. 45-Trevor Baker [12]
B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 70-Dave Blaney [1]; 2. 97-Broc Martin [6]; 3. 7K-Cale Conley [2]; 4. 49X-Tim Shaffer [3]; 5. 5T-Travis Philo [7]; 6. 8M-TJ Michael [12]; 7. 16-Chris Andrews [4]; 8. 23X-DJ Foos [5]; 9. A79-Brandon Wimmer [13]; 10. 68G-Tyler Gunn [9]; 11. 35S-Stuart Brubaker [11]; 12. 99-Jay Waugh [15]; 13. 49-Shawn Dancer [14]; 14. 2-Ricky Peterson [17]; 15. 5X-Justin Peck [16]; 16. 17X-Caleb Helms [10]; 17. G1-Gary Taylor [8]
A-Main (40 Laps)
1. 13-Paul McMahan [3]; 2. 5R-Byron Reed [8]; 3. 3-Jac Haudenschild [5]; 4. 91-Cale Thomas [7]; 5. 4K-Kasey Kahne [4]; 6. 22C-Cole Duncan [11]; 7. 39-Spencer Bayston [9]; 8. 14-Tony Stewart [16]; 9. 71-Gio Scelzi [6]; 10. 49X-Tim Shaffer [24]; 11. 10H-Chad Kemenah [14]; 12. 48-Danny Dietrich [19]; 13. 81-Lee Jacobs [12]; 14. 3G-Carson Macedo [13]; 15. 17-Josh Baughman [10]; 16. 4L-Cap Henry [20]; 17. 4-Parker Price-Miller [17]; 18. 11-Ryan Smith [15]; 19. 7K-Cale Conley [21]; 20. 35-Tyler Esh [18]; 21. 22-Brandon Spithaler [26]; 22. 87-Aaron Reutzel [1]; 23. 57-Kyle Larson [2]; 24. 98-Carl Bowser [25]; 25. 97-Broc Martin [22]; 26. 70-Dave Blaney [23]
Hard Charger: 49x-Tim Shaffer +14
Late Models – Summit Racing Equipment
Heat 1 – (8 Laps)
1. 12-Doug Drown[2] ; 2. 5M-Ryan Markham[3] ; 3. 27S-Eric Spangler[5] ; 4. 30-Nate Potts[7] ; 5. 17X-Dustin Keegan[6] ; 6. 25-Chuck Hummer[4] ; 7. 69M-John Mayes Jr.[1] ; 8. 22J-Josh Kiser[8]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps)
1. 15B-Mike Bores[1] ; 2. 77-Steve Kester[2] ; 3. 240-Charlie Duncan[5] ; 4. X3-Dan Wallace[7] ; 5. 27-Ken Hahn[6] ; 6. 69W-Jeff Warnick[4] ; 7. 50Y-Ryan Missler[3]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps)
1. 51-Devin Shiels[1] ; 2. 36-Matt Irey[6] ; 3. RH21-Gregg Haskell[5] ; 4. 28-Kent Brewer[7] ; 5. 17-Jeff Geis[4] ; 6. 69R-Doug Baird[3] ; 7. 41-Austin Goon[2]
A-Main 1 – (25 Laps)
1. 5M-Ryan Markham[1] ; 2. 77-Steve Kester[2] ; 3. 27S-Eric Spangler[4] ; 4. 51-Devin Shiels[3] ; 5. 12-Doug Drown[10] ; 6. 36-Matt Irey[7] ; 7. X3-Dan Wallace[12] ; 8. 27-Ken Hahn[14] ; 9. 28-Kent Brewer[6] ; 10. 69W-Jeff Warnick[17] ; 11. 17X-Dustin Keegan[13] ; 12. 17-Jeff Geis[15] ; 13. 25-Chuck Hummer[16] ; 14. 69R-Doug Baird[18] ; 15. RH21-Gregg Haskell[5] ; 16. 50Y-Ryan Missler[20] ; 17. 41-Austin Goon[21] ; 18. 15B-Mike Bores[8] ; 19. 240-Charlie Duncan[11] ; 20. 69M-John Mayes Jr.[19] ; 21. 30-Nate Potts[9] ; 22. 22J-Josh Kiser[22]
Hard Charger: 69W-Jeff Warnick +7