Wise dominates for 1st career Attica 410 win; Schlenk takes late model victory; Miller earns 2nd 305 win in a row

Friday, April 23, 2021

Contact: Brian Liskai

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By Brian Liskai

ATTICA, Ohio – It’s hard to believe Zeb Wise and his family, along with veteran crew chief Wayne Priddy, put a new team together in just a few months and are already winning. The 18-year-old Angola, Indiana driver dominated Friday, April 23 on Craig Miller Trucking/Bucyrus Road Materials Presented by Integrity Auto & Truck Sales Night at Attica Raceway Park to earn his first 410 sprint car win at the track.

Wise becomes the fifth first time Attica winner in the division in the first six races of the year. Wise took the lead on lap three and never looked back, taking the checkers with a 5.1 second lead, nearly half a track ahead of Trey Jacobs, who charged from 16^th starting spot.

“I knew we would be pretty good here after are All Star performance…it kind of boosted by confidence coming here. I can’t thank my dad, Wayne, Sundollar Restoration, Quik Pits Auto…so many people on this car…Specialty Rigging, Bill’s Towing, Jason Dietsch Trailer Sales and everyone that helps out. It feels really good to be standing up here,” said Wise, the 2020 FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions Rookie of the Year.

“That is one thing I’ve always enjoyed about this place. It’s really racy in the features and honestly I’ve always been pretty good here in whatever car I’ve been in early in the night and have just not been able to cap it off. I knew when I passed winner DJ Foos in lapped traffic we had to be pretty far out,” added Wise.

McClure, Ohio’s Rusty Schlenk survived a tangle with a lapped car and jumping the treacherous cushion in turns three and four late in the Dirt Nerds Podcast/Propane.com UMP Late Model feature and captured his 29^th career win at Attica. Schlenk now sits atop the division’s all-time win list.

“I got into that lapped car going down the front stretch and got squeezed into the wall and I think it bent the left front spindle because I had a hand full after that. I don’t know if it’s towed out or in but I couldn’t drive straight. We jumped the cushion at that end. I was trying to take it easy and save the right rear…we went soft on tire. I didn’t see a nose so was just on cruise control but I knew when I jumped that cushion I’d have Irey or Drown there to take advantage so I turned up the wick the last few laps,” said Schlenk.

“I just love this place…the track is always awesome. Track work is great. You can run all over. There’s always a cushion…you can run around the tires…there’s a middle. You can set your car up to whatever your driver style is and I’m an up on the wheel up on the cushion type of guy so it fits my driving style to be able to rip around the lip of this place,” added Schlenk beside his Buckeye Concrete, VP Fuel, Tom Finch Auto, Bilstein Shocks, Landrum Springs, Dominator Race Products backed machine.

Fremont, Ohio’s Jamie Miller led the first nine laps of the Fremont Fence 305 Sprint feature before surrendering to Dustin Stroup in lapped traffic. But Miller used the same traffic to regain the lead on lap 14 and survived three late race cautions to score his second straight Attica win, the 29^th of his career in the division where he sits second all-time. It is Miller’s third consecutive win as he won last Saturday at Waynesfield Raceway Park. Even more impressive, Miller has not finished out of the top three all season long.

“God I love this sh*#! That cushion is perfect. When I got into lapped traffic it got a little iffy…I had to slow down a little bit and I started seeing Stroup and he snuck by me and I just picked up the pace and worked my way back up there. This thing was bad fast in clean air…I didn’t have to lift and I could just run the top wide open and it rolled around there beautiful,” said Miller beside his Smitty’s Pizza, JLH General Contractor, Queen of Clean, Rohr Total Lawn Care, Sonic Hauling, Phil Rister, Sloopy’s Pizza, Reedtown Tavern, Crown Battery, Schreiner Farms, Roberts & Sons Contracting, Fostoria Mod Shop, Kenny Kalb Farms backed #26.

Stuart Brubaker and Caleb Griffith brought the field to green for the 30 lap Callie’s Performance Products 410 Sprint A-main with Brubaker gaining the advantage over third starter Wise, Griffith, Cole Macedo, Craig Mintz and Travis Philo. Waynesfield winner Gary Taylor tangled with Nate Dussel on lap two with Taylor flipping; both cars were done for the night in what would be the feature’s only stoppage. On the restart Wise drove into the lead with Brubaker, Griffith, Macedo, Mintz and Trey Jacobs.

Heavy lapped traffic by the 10^th circuit didn’t slow Wise who built his lead to four seconds. At the half-way point Wise maintained his commanding lead over Brubaker, Griffith and Jacobs. Jacobs moved into second on lap 19 but Griffith took the runner-up slot back a lap later. With eight laps remaining, Wise held his biggest lead of the race at 5.5 seconds over Griffith and Jacobs. Jacobs retook second with four laps to go but couldn’t catch Wise who cruised to the win. Griffith, Macedo and Brubaker rounded out the top five. Jacobs took the track point lead with his runner-up finish.

Last week’s winner Matt Irey and Chester Fitch paced the field for the 25 lap late model A-main but a caution on the start necessitated a second try which saw Schlenk take the lead over Irey, Doug Drown and Casey Noonan. A multi-car crash on lap two kept he field close but Schlenk used the cushion to power back into the lead over Irey and Drown.

As Schlenk entered lapped traffic on lap 10, Drown, who took second two laps prior, closed quickly while Irey ran comfortably in third and a tremendous battle ensued for fourth involving Devin Shiels, Noonan and two time feature winner Ryan Markham. With five laps to go Schlenk jumped the thin cushion in turns three and four but Drown did the same as they maintained their top spots. Schlenk drove to the win over Drown, Irey, Shiels and Markham.

At the start of the 25 lap 305 A-main outside front row starter Miller wasted little time jumping into the lead over Dustin Stoup, Luke Griffith, Mike Keegan and Paul Weaver. The leaders caught heavy lapped traffic by the ninth circuit and Stroup closed, driving to Miller’s inside and taking the lead as he and Miller split two lappers.  Miller drove to the cushion and regained the lead on lap 14 and began to pull away.

With 10 laps to go Miller held a nice lead over Stroup as Weaver, a three time winner this season, worked into third. By lap 20 Miller had put a pair of lapped cars between himself and Stroup with Weaver, Griffith, Keegan and Matt Foos giving chaser. Something went amiss for Weaver on the next lap as he went pit side, handing third back to Griffith.

The caution flew with three laps to go and a lap later another caution put Stroup right on Miller’s rear bumper. Two cars spun on the restart and when the green flew with two laps to go Miller executed a phenomenal restart and drove away to the win over Stroup, Griffith, Keegan and Foos.

Attica Raceway Park is back in action Friday, April 30 on The Adkins Group, Smith Paving Night. It’s the 2021 debut of the Kistler Racing Products/All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads 410 Attica Fremont Championship Series (AFCS) Presented by the Baumann Auto Group and the NAPA of Bryan 305 AFCS Presented by Jason Dietsch Trailer Sales with the late models also in action.

Fans and race teams should visit 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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Macedo becomes another first time Attica winner; Irey wins late model thriller; Miller takes 305 point lead with victory

Friday, April 16, 2021

By Brian Liskai

ATTICA, Ohio – Lemoore, California’s Cole Macedo has been so close to winning a 410 sprint car feature at Attica Raceway Park only to suffer bad luck. He tossed that all aside Friday, April 16 and scored his first ever win at “Ohio’s Finest Racing” speedplant on Advanced Drainage Systems/Erie Blacktop Night. Macedo became the fourth different first time winner in the Callie’s Performance Products 410 Sprints in five events in 2021.

Macedo took the lead from Brian Smith at the half-way point of the 30-lap feature and mastered lapped traffic for the victory aboard the Ray Brooks Racing #18.

“I love racing for these guys. They’ve been working their tails off and I’ve been making mistakes and we’ve just been trying to put nights together and it finally paid off. I knew if I kept my nose clean my car was good enough to keep pulling away from guys. I could run the middle, the top, the bottom…everywhere. After five laps my car really came in. I played with the wing a little but my guys did a really good job,” said Macedo beside his Fremont Auto Parts, Grant Decker Construction, Linder’s Speed Equipment, Gill Construction, CK Mechanical, ML Graphics, Diversified Builders backed machine.

“I have to thank Steven, Mike and Stephanie Linder and all the guys that work on this thing, Cody Jarrett, Braden (Finsel)…Ray Brooks…he took a big risk this year and started a team and I hope we’re making him proud,” added Macedo.

In another fantastic Propane.com/Dirt Nerds Podcast UMP Late Model feature, Mansfield, Ohio’s Matt Irey held off a late race charge from the previous week’s winner Ryan Markham and near catastrophe with two laps to go when a lapped car spun right in front of him to score his first win of the season. It was Irey’s sixth career Attica victory.

“My mom says my ADD kicks in…I look too far ahead. I started to see him spin out and I was just hoping he would catch it or I could turn down enough. I guess I turned down enough. I think he got me but it wasn’t that much. I knew on that restart I had to start a little early. When I passed Devin (Shiels) I went to the middle then I started protecting the bottom and then I came out of four and I felt like I got into Ryan (Markham) a little bit. Luckily that caution came out and I knew I was better in the middle so I took that lane away from him and got the job done,” said Irey of his Accu-Force, Rod Eddleblutes Garage, Dalton Garage Door, Robin Jakubic, NuGen LED Solutions, Artizian Concrete, RL Bond Septic, Specialty Tree Service, Kilgore and Harring CPA, Shagalees backed machine.

A two-time Attica 305 champion, Fremont, Ohio’s Jamie Miller has been knocking on the door for a win all season. He utilized the new qualifying format to perfection, started on the pole of the 25 lap Fremont Fence feature and led every lap for his 28^th career victory in the division aboard the Ryan French owned #26.

“It’s a lot easier when you are in clean air and qualifying helps us. You can run quicker lap times…it’s good so you have the whole track pretty much to yourself. We were pretty good tonight. I didn’t even have to lean on the cushion. I could run a groove off. The car was locked down. It was going to take someone pretty good on the bottom to get around me. Everything fell into place tonight,” said Miller beside his Smitty’s Pizza, JLH General Contractor, Queen of Clean, Rohr Total Lawn Care, Sonic Hauling, Phil Rister, Sloopy’s Pizza, Reedtown Tavern, Crown Battery, Schreiner Farms, Roberts & Sons Contracting, Fostoria Mod Shop, Kenny Kalb Farms backed machine.

Gary Taylor and Brian Smith brought the field to green for the 30-lap 410 sprint feature with Taylor gaining the advantage over Smith, Macedo, Travis Philo, Cale Conley, Trey Jacobs and Brandon Spithaler. Taylor set the early pace but by leap eight Smith was closing and took the lead two circuits later, Macedo took second on lap 11 just before the event’s only caution flew.

On the restart Smith maintained the advantage though Macedo was applying the pressure with Taylor locked in a fight with Philo, Spithaler and Jacobs for third. Macedo led lap 15 by half a car length but then began to pull away. The leader encountered lapped traffic with eight laps to go but was able to maneuver through while Smith comfortably ran in second with Philo and Spithaler battling for third. Spithaler, who picked up his first ever Attica win last week, took third on lap 23 and quickly closed on Smith.

Macedo drove to the checkers while Smith was able to hold off Spithaler for the runner-up finish with Philo and Jacobs rounding out the top five. Buddy Kofoid drove from 17^th to a sixth place finish to earn the hard charger honors.

In the late model feature Chester Fitch and Rich Ruff brought the field to green but it was third starter Devin Shiels, the track’s defending division champion, grabbing the lead. Fitch would spin in turn two after the first lap, collecting six other cars. On the restart Shiels led Eric Wilson, Larry Bellman, Irey and Markham.

A caution on lap eight after a car moved an infield tire barrier on the track saw Shiels leading Irey, Wilson, Markham and Bellman. When the green flew Shiels and Irey waged a battle for the lead with Irey taking the top spot on lap 11. Meanwhile Markham was on the move, taking third on lap 14. Another debris caution on lap 16 created a fantastic battle up front when the green came back out. Irey, Shiels and Markham battled nose to tail and side by side and Markham, who took second on lap 19, raced to Irey’s outside. As the pair battled side by side exiting turn two on lap 23, a lapped car spun and both had to take quick evasive action to avoid catastrophe.

Irey executed a perfect restart and drove away the final two laps for the win. Markham, Shiels, Wilson and Bellman rounded out the top five.

Miller and Justin Lusk paced the field for the 305 A-main with Miller immediately grabbing the lead with third starter Jimmy McGrath Jr. taking second while Brandon Riehl, Lusk, Paul Weaver and Logan Riehl battling for third. Miller could not shake McGrath until lapped traffic came into play on lap 10. Miller maneuvered through the traffic to pull away with McGrath. Brandon Riehl, Lusk, Larry Kingseed Jr., Weaver and Zeth Sabo giving chase.

With 10 laps to go Miller held a big lead  but that all evaporated when the only race stoppage happened with five laps to go when Lusk tangled with Steve Rando. But a clear track gave Miller all he needed as he drove away for the win while the battle for second was entertaining with Kingseed taking it over McGrath, Sabo and Weaver.

Attica Raceway Park will be in action Friday, April 23 on Craig Miller Trucking Night with the 410 and 305 sprints along with the UMP late models in action. Fans and race teams should visit 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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