Conley holds off Jacobs for Attica 410 win; Weaver earns 5th 305 victory; Bores holds off Markham for late model win

Friday, July 23, 2021

By Brian Liskai

ATTICA, Ohio – Cale Conley held off Trey Jacobs to score his second career 410 sprint car win at Attica Raceway Park Friday, July 23 on Baumann Auto Group/NAPA Auto Parts/Advanced Drainage Systems Night. Conley’s margin of victory was only .084 seconds over current Attica point leader Jacobs.

Conley, from Vienna, West Virginia, led all 30 laps of the Callie’s Performance Products 410 Sprint A-main, but Jacobs made things very entertaining the final six laps. The victory was worth $4,000 thanks to Spanky’s Pizza of Carey, Ohio.

“I saw him coming. That was way too close of a victory to be comfortable about. I’m still a little bit puckered up after that. I was up here for that front row challenge and I knew I wanted to start out front here. There’s too many good cars here. I said if anyone could start at the back and come up front it would be that 3J car of Jacobs and sure enough there he was at the end. I’m really happy to hold him off because he’s pretty solid on the bottom and the top was getting pretty thin. The car was great thanks to Brian and Stacie Kemenah…this thing was really fun to drive. I’m grateful to be here,” said Conley beside his Ravici Racing/The PM Company/Brilex LLC/Precision Garage Door backed #3c.

With his third place finish Craig Mintz gained valuable points on All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads/Kistler Racing Products 410 Attica Fremont Championship Series Presented by the Baumann Auto Group point leader DJ Foos who charged from 14^th to a sixth place finish.

When leader Rusty Schlenk jumped the cushion in turn four and slammed into the front stretch wall Mike Bores was there to take advantage and drove to his sixth career Dirt Nerds Podcast/Propane.com UMP Late Model win at Attica. It wasn’t easy for Bores as former track champions Ryan Markham, Devin Shiels and Matt Irey pressured Bores the final 14 laps.

“You can’t mess around with them (lapped cars too much) because you don’t know where that second place guy is. I knew Markham was coming…someone was coming from up top. I just had to protect the middle…the race track was good tonight,” said Bores beside his Underground Utilities Inc./AccuForce/Burns Electric/Steins Honey/Yetter Dun Boom Mowing/Cam-Tech backed #94.

Fremont, Ohio’s Paul Weaver, defending and five time Attica 305 champion, took the lead of the 25 lap Fremont Fence 305 Sprint A-main on lap 13, survived a caution with four laps to go and drove to his fifth win of the season. It was the 61^st of his career in the division and 64^th overall Attica win (three 410 victories) to lead all drivers in career wins in the history of Attica Raceway Park.

“That wasn’t fun….that was a workout. I’ve got the identical set-up…I put the same set-up on it when we went to Portsmouth, Atomic, Wayne County. I know what the car’s going to do. It might not win all the time but it’s comfortable. I have to thank Bob Hampshire for one hell of a motor, Kenny Greber kind of come on board and helped me a little bit with some parts, Pam and Steve Brown of B&B Drain Services, M&L Excavating and Dave Rice,” said Weaver.

Weaver, the 2020 NAPA Auto Parts of Bryan 305 AFCS Presented by Jason Dietsch Trailer Sales champion, padded his lead in the AFCS points with the victory.

Prior to the 410 A-main, Rich Farmer of NAPA Auto Parts offered a $10,000 to pole-sitter Chris Andrews to go to the tail and come back and win. Andrews unfortunately crashed out of the A-main on lap 13.

So the front row of the feature saw Conley and Ricky Peterson charge to the green with Conley gaining the advantage as Peterson got locked in a tremendous battle with Stuart Brubaker for second while Jacobs and Craig Mintz stayed within striking distance. A caution for debris on lap six wiped out a substantial lead for Conley as Brubaker had moved into second over Peterson, Jacobs, Mintz and Cole Macedo.

A couple of cautions prior to the half-way point kept the field close, wiping out big leads for Conley while Brubaker, Peterson and Jacobs battled extremely hard for second. With eight laps to go Conley’s lead has dissipated as Brubaker, Jacobs and Peterson closed. Unfortunately for Peterson his great run came to an end when he slammed into the front stretch wall with just six laps to go.

On the restart Conley took off but in a few laps Jacobs, utilizing the low line, closed and was racing inside the leader when a caution flew with just three laps remaining. Again Conley got an excellent restart on the high side of the track but Jacobs closed quickly on the bottom and as they charged to the checkers Jacobs was beside Conley who took the very close win. Mintz, Brubaker and Macedo rounded out the top five.

Schlenk jumped into the early lead of the late model A-main with Shiels, Bores, Markham, Larry Bellman and Irey in pursuit. While Schlenk pulled away the battle for second heated up with Bores taking the spot on lap four only to see Shiels regain the position on lap eight with Bores back into second a lap later. Schlenk slipped off the cushion exiting turn four on lap 10 and hit the front stretch wall, ending his night and handing the lead to Bores.

Bores pulled away on the restart as Shiels, Irey and Markham traded positions lap after lap. With nine circuits remaining, Markham had caught Bores and blasting away at the cushion drove side by side with the leader. The high line in turn two was tricky and a couple of minor bobbles allowed Bores to pull away slightly. The remaining five laps saw Markham, Shiels and Irey swap positions nearly each corner.

On the last lap Bores had to be conservative with a lapped car and Markham gave one final try to his outside only to fall short. Bores scored the victory with Markham, Shiels, Irey and Bellman rounding out the top five.

Steve Rando grabbed the early lead of the 305 A-main over Kyle Peters, Seth Schneider, Logan Riehl and Weaver. Rando built a big lead but a couple of cautions early on kept he field close as Schneider took second on lap four with Weaver into third. Weaver grabbed second on lap eight and immediately closed on Rando, driving under him to take the lead on lap 13.

Weaver pulled away steadily as Rando ran unchallenged in second while Schneider, Riehl and Jamie Miller battled for third.  A final caution with four laps to go gave Rando one final chance but Weaver was too strong and drove to the win with Miller, Schneider and Matt Foos rounding out the top five.

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