Attica Raceway Park
By Brian Liskai
(Attica, OH) While the cold temperatures and wind made for a chilly night Friday on True Value of Woodville Night at Attica Raceway Park Friday, the action on the track was very hot as Wooster, Ohio’s Doug Drown held off Rusty Schlenk, Jeep Van Wormer and Steve Casebolt to claim the opening feature win of the 2010 Sunoco American Late Model Series.
For the first 26 laps of the 30-lap late model feature it was Drown and Ryan Missler who swapped the lead, then sixth starter Schlenk got involved along with 10th starter VanWormer as they diced it out in lapped traffic. When the checkered flag flew, Drown held off Schlenk and VanWormer the last three laps for the win, his third career victory at “Ohio’s Finest Racing” venue.
“Ryan went with 20s and I went with 30s and I’m thinking ‘okay it’s early on’…he did a great job and obviously Rusty coming through there and when I saw him I thought ‘here we go.’ I thought it was over and he was going to slide in front of me because I was losing all the bite..all the traction in the turns when I didn’t stay up top but we came through one way or another. I can’t say enough about my guys…we’re having a good time this year and having more fun and obviously we’re getting better results,” said Drown beside his Wooster Blass, D.J Directional Serices, Malcuit Racin Engines backed #12.
Not to be outdone, the Fremont Fence 305 Sprints put on a whale of a show with John Ivy, Mike Linder and late in the race, winner Paul Weaver slicing and dicing it out. Ivy led the first 16 laps of the 25 lap affair, battling Linder throughout. Then 8th starter Weaver entered the fray and took second on lap 13 and battled with Ivy before taking the top spot with a slide job exiting turn two on lap 17 to take the lead. But, Weaver had to hold off Linder, who used traffic to take the lead exiting turn four on lap 19, but Weaver, the defending track champion, used his experience to regain the top spot on lap 20 and held off both Linder and Ivy for his 23rd career win.
“It seemed like we went back 20 years with us three running for the lead. Those are two guys I know I can run side-by-side with and trust them,” said Weaver, who now sits just two feature wins behind Linder for the all-time win lead in the division at ARP.
In there first appearance of the season, the Computer Man Dirt Trucks saw Risingsun’s Steve Endicott dominate the 15 lap feature to score his second career win.
“We didn’t do a whole lot to this truck over the winter…a new motor and that was it,” said Endicott, the 2009 Fremont Speedway champion. “I want to thank Bob’s Machine Shop for a great motor and all my crew for helping me all winter and Bob’s (Dible) crew for helping me.”
In the late model feature, after a couple of bad starts that saw multi-car yellows, Missler, the defending Attica champion, bolted into the lead from his pole-starting spot with Drown, Ryan Markham, Jeremy Canada and Schlenk in tow. Missler, Drown and Markham would race nose to tail as Schlenk moved into four on lap 3 in the non-stop affair. Missler would use the extreme high side of the track to pull into lapped traffic by lap nine, as Drown would close with Markham comfortably in third with Schlenk, Steve Casebolt and Van Wormer waging a great race for fourth.
Missler would methodically work his way through traffic, as Drown remained in striking distance while Markham had his hands full with Schlenk and VanWormer for third. Missler would chose the bottom to deal with traffic exiting turn two, and Drown pounced on the opportunity to drive to the outside and take the lead on lap 15. Missler wasn’t ready to give up, as he raced side-by-side with Drown in lapped traffic as Schlenk, VanWormer and Casebolt waited for a mistake. You could cover the top five with a napkin over the next few laps, and now Drown had to deal with traffic, as Missler raced side-by-side with him until sliding off the high side of turn two on lap 26.
Now Schlenk, the opening night feature winner at ARP, would pressure Drown, who patiently followed lapped traffic on the high side. Several times Schlenk would pull along side of Drown, with Van Wormer right on both of their rear bumpers. With two laps to go, Drown was able to get a little bit of clear track and he held his line to score the win over Schlenk, VanWormer, Missler and Casebolt.
“I learned from Ryan in lapped traffic…he was the first one there and he dove down low and I thought “I’ve got him.’ I learned a lesson there by his mistake…wasn’t really a mistake…when you’re leading you have to do what you have to do. They were just as fast as us so you have to stay in line as long as possible. I got into the one car which I apologize for…but it’s going for the win and you’re in lapped traffic three wide and you have to do what you have to do,” said Drown.
At the drop of the green in the 25-lap 305 feature, John Ivy grabbed the lead with Mike Linder right on his rear bumper with Brad Bowman not letting them get away while Junior Felver and Stuart Brubaker in tow. Linder would continually close on Ivy, but both were running the extreme high line while Bowman searched for a chance to pass. With seven laps in the books, Ivy, Linder and Bowman waged a terrific battle for the lead while 8th starter Weaver waited patiently in fourth.
Ivy would enter lapped traffic on lap 12, along Linder to watch for an opportunity, while Weaver, who had moved into third on lap 10, closed. A lap later, Weaver would drive in hard on the bottom of turn three and steal second from Linder, who would tap Weaver’s rear bumper to remind him he was there. On lap 15, Weaver would attempt a slide job on Ivy exiting turn two for the lead, and would make it stick. However, Ivy and Linder were not done, as they diced and sliced through traffic side by side. Linder would actually drive under Weaver to lead at the stripe on lap 19, but Weaver would drive to the high side to regain the lead in turns one and two. Ivy would dive to Linder’s inside to wrestle away second on lap 21, but Linder would return the favor in traffic a lap later.
Weaver, aboard his Genzman Enterprises, Level Performance, M&L Excavating, Schiets Motorsports backed #1w, would get a bit of a breather in traffic the last four laps to edge Linder for the win with Ivy, Nate Dussel and Bobby Clark rounding out the top five.
After a couple of mishaps to start the truck feature, Endicott would pull away strong in the lead, while a tremendous five truck battle ensued behind him with defending track champion Art Ball, Cory Ward, Dan Hennig and Alex Wiechman. As the race went non-stop the rest of the way, nobody had anything for Endicott, but Ball, Ward, and Wiechman would continue to race door-to-door for second. Wiechman would take third from Ward on lap 10 and drive under Ball for second a lap later. However, Ball would come back strong to regain the runner-up spot on lap 12.
At the checkered Endicott had a 10 truck length advantage over Ball, Wiechman, Ward and a late race charger Brian Sorg.
Attica Raceway Park will kick off the 2010 Kistler Racing Products Fremont/Attica Sprint Title Championship Series for the 410 sprints on All Pro Cylinder Heads/Construction Equipment Supply Night, Friday, April 23 with the Fultz Fabrications and Speed Shop UMP Late Models and Fremont Fence 305 Sprints in action.
For more information log onto www.atticaracewaypark.com
Attica Raceway Park – 4/16/2010
True Value of Woodville Night
Sunoco American Late Model Series
Heat 1 – Ultra Schield Race Products (10 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. C9-Steve Casebolt; 2. 23C-Jeremy Canada; 3. B4U-Brad Entiear; 4. 1C-Wayne Chinn; 5. 1-Jeff Babcock; 6. 95J-Jerry Bowersocks; 7. 11-Keith Berner; 8. WD40-Dusty Moore; 9. 15A-Phil Ausra; 10. 55T-Tom Ordway; 11. 2D-Curtis Deisenroth
Heat 2 – Bell Racing (10 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 5M-Ryan Markham; 2. 50Y-Ryan Missler; 3. 55V-Jeep Vanwormer; 4. 7-Matt Miller; 5. 9R-Curtis Roberts; 6. 13-Junior Hotovy; 7. 49-Brian Ruhlman; 8. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen; 9. 27-Ken Hahn; 10. 60-Dale Glassford
Heat 3 – Friendship Food Stores (10 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 12D-Doug Drown; 2. 91-Rusty Schlenk; 3. 15-Jon Henry; 4. 16-Shawn Negangard; 5. 1N-Casey Noonan; 6. 84-Tim Sabo; 7. 99-Steve Sabo; 8. 12-Michael Stiltner II; 9. 12M-Bobby Michaels; 10. 49L-Matt Lindsey
Heat 4 – Tin Lizzy Collision (10 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 21-Larry Kingseed; 2. 22-Greg Oakes; 3. 3-Rick Delong; 4. 15B-Mike Bores; 5. 5H-Ernie Haynes; 6. X3-Dan Wallace; 7. 51-Devin Schiels; 8. 40-Wayne Maffett Jr.; 9. 48-John Bores; 10. 30-Nate Potts
B-Main #1 – Computer Man Inc. (10 Laps – Top 2 Transfer)
1. 9R-Curtis Roberts; 2. 1-Jeff Babcock; 3. 49-Brian Ruhlman; 4. 13-Junior Hotovy; 5. 11-Keith Berner; 6. 15A-Phil Ausra; 7. 95J-Jerry Bowersocks; 8. WD40-Dusty Moore; 9. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen; 10. 55T-Tom Ordway; 11. 2D-Curtis Deisenroth; 12. 27-Ken Hahn; 13. 60-Dale Glassford
B-Main #2 – Computer Man Inc. (10 Laps – Top 2 Transfer)
1. 1N-Casey Noonan; 2. 5H-Ernie Haynes; 3. 40-Wayne Maffett Jr.; 4. X3-Dan Wallace; 5. 12-Michael Stiltner II; 6. 84-Tim Sabo; 7. 99-Steve Sabo; 8. 49L-Matt Lindsey; 9. 48-John Bores; 10. 51-Devin Schiels; 11. 12M-Bobby Michaels; 12. 30-Nate Potts
A-Main – (30 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 12D-Doug Drown[2]; 2. 91-Rusty Schlenk[6]; 3. 55V-Jeep Vanwormer[10]; 4. 50Y-Ryan Missler[1]; 5. C9-Steve Casebolt[8]; 6. 15-Jon Henry[11]; 7. 5M-Ryan Markham[4]; 8. 1C-Wayne Chinn[13]; 9. 7-Matt Miller[14]; 10. 9R-Curtis Roberts[17]; 11. 23C-Jeremy Canada[3]; 12. 1N-Casey Noonan[18]; 13. 49-Brian Ruhlman[21]; 14. B4U-Brad Entiear[9]; 15. 1-Jeff Babcock[19]; 16. 5H-Ernie Haynes[20]; 17. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen[22]; 18. 21-Larry Kingseed[7]; 19. 16-Shawn Negangard[15]; 20. 3-Rick Delong[12]; 21. 15B-Mike Bores[16]; 22. 22-Greg Oakes[5]
Fremont Fence 305 Sprints
Heat 1 – Ultra Schield Race Products (8 Laps)
1. 35-Stuart Brubaker; 2. 1W-Paul Weaver; 3. 13-Junior Felver; 4. 10X-Dustin Stroup; 5. 27-Paige Polyak; 6. 25-Jason Keckler; 7. 8K-Zack Kramer
Heat 2 – Bell Racing (8 Laps)
1. 40-Bobby Clark; 2. 94-John Ivy; 3. 11F-D.J. Foos; 4. 312-Mike Linder; 5. M28-Josh Muntz; 6. 19R-Steve Rando; 7. 55-Benny Bowman
Heat 3 – Friendship Food Stores (8 Laps)
1. 51-Brad Bowman; 2. 39-Matt Merrill; 3. 1-Nate Dussel; 4. 41-Dustin Dinan; 5. 8J-Jess Stiger; 6. 22D-Dan Hammond; 7. 14-Chad Wilson
A-Main – (25 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 1W-Paul Weaver[8]; 2. 312-Mike Linder[1]; 3. 94-John Ivy[2]; 4. 1-Nate Dussel[12]; 5. 40-Bobby Clark[9]; 6. 51-Brad Bowman[3]; 7. 35-Stuart Brubaker[5]; 8. 41-Dustin Dinan[10]; 9. 8K-Zack Kramer[19]; 10. 11F-D.J. Foos[11]; 11. 13-Junior Felver[4]; 12. 10X-Dustin Stroup[6]; 13. 27-Paige Polyak[13]; 14. 19R-Steve Rando[17]; 15. 8J-Jess Stiger[15]; 16. 39-Matt Merrill[7]; 17. M28-Josh Muntz[14]; 18. 22D-Dan Hammond[16]; 19. 25-Jason Keckler[20]; 20. 14-Chad Wilson[18]
Computer Man Inc. Dirt Trucks
Heat 1 – Ultra Schield Race Products (8 Laps)
1. 8-Steve Endicott; 2. O1-Art Ball; 3. 18W-Cory Ward; 4. 39-Dwight Waltermier; 5. 4S-Keith Sorg; 6. 9-Roger Inks; 7. P51-Paul Brown Jr.
Heat 2 – Bell Racing (8 Laps)
1. 17-Bob Dible; 2. 32H-Dan Hennig; 3. 71-Craig Holland; 4. 84-Ron Kepling; 5. 33-Brian Arnold; 6. 56-Alex Weichman; 7. 4X-Brian Sorg; 8. 36X-Dustin Keegan
A-Main – (15 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 8-Steve Endicott[1]; 2. O1-Art Ball[5]; 3. 56-Alex Weichman[12]; 4. 18W-Cory Ward[3]; 5. 4X-Brian Sorg[14]; 6. 32H-Dan Hennig[6]; 7. 36X-Dustin Keegan[15]; 8. 33-Brian Arnold[10]; 9. 39-Dwight Waltermier[7]; 10. 4S-Keith Sorg[9]; 11. 17-Bob Dible[4]; 12. 84-Ron Kepling[2]; 13. P51-Paul Brown Jr.[13]; 14. 71-Craig Holland[8]; 15. 9-Roger Inks[11]
