Henry defends home turft, defeats All Stars to open Ohio Speedweek at Attica
Friday, July 3, 2020
Contact: Brian Liskai
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By Brian Liskai
ATTICA, Ohio – Cap Henry defended home turf Friday at Attica Raceway Park. The Republic, Ohio driver regained the lead on lap 35 and drove to his third win of the season at “Ohio’s Finest Racing” speed plant, defeating the invading Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions to open the Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek Presented by Hercules Tires.

It was Henry’s eighth career win at Attica and his second All Star victory coming on the 126th appearance of the series at the track on Ohio CAT/Baumann Auto Group/Ohio Laborers Night.

“I was really nervous leading on that restart (on lap 20). Wasn’t really sure what I was doing before hand was right. I knew them guys were real good. Buddy (Kofoid) got by and kind of pulled me a little bit and we kind of kept creeping in and creeping in. Traffic was so hard to pass…you couldn’t find any where to get around them. I had to wait with Buddy and when I got next to him I had to go. I couldn’t give him the opportunity to take my line away,” said Henry beside his Dragon’s Milk White/Beer Barrel Bourbon/Pro Auto Wraps/FK Rod Ends backed machine.

So far this season at Attica, Henry has three wins, a third and a ninth place finish to lead the track points. He picked up an extra $1,000 from the track for defeating the All Stars.

“Brett and Patty Lane gave me a great opportunity here and we continue to make the most of it. Zack (Meyers) came on board last year and this is incredible. I’ve come so close to winning one of these speedweek races here and to finally knock one off is so cool,” said the former All Star rookie of the year.

Defending All Star champion Aaron Reutzel jumped out to the early lead of the 40-lap feature with Buddy Kofoid and fifth starter Henry staying close. Henry took second on lap three and began to close on Reutzel as the leaders raced into heavy lapped traffic by lap 10.

Henry took the lead with a low move on lap 12 with Reutzel now having his hands full with Kofoid while Cale Thomas stayed within striking distance. Kofoid was able to wrestle the runner-up spot away on lap 15 and closed on Henry. The only caution fell on lap 20 when a lapped car spun right in front of the battle for second involving Kofoid, Thomas and Reutzel. Thomas made contact but kept going.

On the restart Kofoid made his move, driving into the lead. The California native began to pull away but with eight laps to go, Henry started to close the gap. Henry was able to sneak the nose of his car under Kofoid on lap 35 to take the lead. Henry was patient with the lapped cars, never pushing the issue the final five laps to score the win over Kofoid, Reutzel, Thomas and Cale Conley.

Britton, Michigan’s Devin Shiels, Attica’s 2017 late model champion, hung around the top five throughout the first 13 laps of the Propane.com/Dirt Nerds Podcast late model feature before making his move to take the lead. A caution with three laps to go and another with just one lap remaining gave Jon Henry a couple of shots at Shiels but he was too strong on the bottom of the track and scored his seventh career Attica win.

“I wish I’d have flipped my nose under that tractor tire and got it off the track sooner to stay green. I want to thank my dad and son and Denny for coming down and helping us every week here. Dirt Nerds Pod Cast, Rally’s Hamburgers, Dundee Products, Magic Fountain Auto Wash and Mini Storage…thanks. And all the guys that help us, Denny, Braden to my dad…everybody,” said Shiels.

Attica Raceway Park will be back in action Friday, July 10 with the late models, 305 sprints and dirt trucks in action.

Keep tabs on the ongoing race schedule at www.atticaracewaypark.com or follow the track on Twitter @atticaracewyprk or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/atticaracewaypark and Instagram at attica_raceway_park. For those who can’t attend the races, DirtVision.com carries all the action on pay per view.
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