(Video Highlight from SpeedShiftTV.com)
Tom Myers (8/31/2019) In previous years, the Brad Doty race has been held on a weeknight and, because of work, I never get to go. This year’s edition was an All Star sanction on a Saturday night on the Labor Day weekend so I could actually go to it! I was really looking forward to this race and it didn’t disappoint, being one of the best races so far this season.
I wasn’t expecting any rain, the forecast was great……that is, up until race time. On our way west to the track the sky started clouding up. You gotta be kidding me! When we arrived at about 4:45, the sky started spitting raindrops and the wind picked up coming from the north, cooling the air considerably. Thankfully, the skies held off and the sprinkles eventually stopped. However, the breeze kept blowing and it was blowing right into the stands. That made for a dusty evening but who cares, the racing was great.
Jac Haudenschild and Tim Shaffer
There were 37 cars on hand, including a few fresh faces like Carson Short driving the 23 car, Hunter Schurenburg in the Swindell 39 car, and part time racer Caleb Helms in his own 17xl numbered car. Buddy Kofoid, Paige Polyak, Gio Scelzi, Parker Price Miller, Jac Haudenschild and Chad Kemenah were also on hand along with the All Star regulars and the always tough Attica and Fremont racers. Tim Shaffer was in the pits driving the 1G car for the 2nd straight evening. Tim had a strong first outing the previous evening finishing second to Aaron Reutzel in last night’s feature. The track announcer stated that Cody Jacobs is still wrenching for Tim and that makes great sense because they are a dynamite combination, for sure.
The track was tacky and smooth to start the night and stayed that way through the heats and dashes and B main but really widened out and became really racy after the first few laps of the A.
Tim Shaffer
The fastest time was Cap Henry with a 12.562 and he was followed by Justin Peck with a 12. 568. Kofoid, McMahon, Shaffer, Polyak, Scelzi, Schuerenburg, Reed and Eliason rounded out the top 10 timers. The heats were 10 laps with the top 5 going to the A and the top 2 going to the dashes. The first finish was in the order they started. Eliason first, followed by Polyak, McMahon, Peck and Philo. R.J. Jacobs got together with D.J. Foos and R.J. ended up backing it into the turn 4 exit fence. He was okay. Ryan Broughton flipped his car in turn 2 as his right rear dug in too much. He was okay but done for the evening. The heat 2 finish was a strong looking Kofoid coming from 3rd to the front, followed by Shaffer, Griffith, Henry and Dussel. In heat 3 the finish was PPM, followed by Dale Blaney, Mintz, a 6th starting Kemenah and Reed. Brandon Spithaler also dug in a right rear and flipped in this heat. He would return for the B main. The last heat was very interesting because Aaron Reutzel was starting in 7th position and it would be hard for him to advance on this tacky track. Helms took the lead at the start but Brock Zearfoss was too strong and passed Helms on the 2nd or 3rd lap. Scelzi was pressuring Helms and they made contact in turn 4 with Helms shooting straight into the turn 4 exit wall, nose first. He decelerated rather quickly with a loud thud. Thankfully he was okay but was done for the night. After a lengthy fence repair the heat resumed. Scelzi had a flat after the contact with Helms and had to start at the tail. This is what Reutzel needed as he moved up to 2nd at the checkers. The finish was Zearfoss, Reutzel, Schuerenburg, Haudenschild and Gee.
After the Dashes and B mains, the feature lineup was set. Tim Shaffer grabbed the win in his dash and started on the pole with the other dash winner Buddy Kofoid outside row 1. Row 2 was Zearfoss and Reutzel with PPM and Henry in row 3. The All Star point chase is really heating up between Reutzel and Blaney..just 2 points separated them coming into this race. Reutzel seems to win or have bad luck and Blaney has quietly been very consistent all year. Tonight would continue that trend. Looks like it will be a real tight point battle to the end, just like a few years ago when Kemenah beat Blaney for the championship at the last race…..by finishing in front of him one or two positions in the last A main!
Brock Zearfoss celebrates his win with Brad Doty
When the green flag flew for the A, Shaffer grabbed the lead after he and Kofoid traded slide jobs on the first lap. However, Griffith hits the barrier in turn 4. He restarted at the tail. On the complete restart, Shaffer grabbed the lead again and extended his lead as the running order was Shaffer, Kofoid, and Ruetzel not far behind. Scelzi spun on lap 4 and went to the work area. When racing resumed, Shaffer kept the lead but was not able to pull away. Around lap 8 or so Kofoid caught Shaffer and then after a few slide jobs back and forth, Buddy passed Tim for the race lead. On lap 12 Foos and Philo got together bringing out the yellow. When racing resumed, the order was Kofoid, Shaffer, Reutzel, Zearfoss, Henry and Blaney and PPM. Kofoid kept the lead at the restart but Reutzel passed Shaffer and then set sail for Kofoid, with Reutzel passing Kofoid for the lead on lap 18. At this point Zearfoss started moving up, passing Shaffer and then Kofoid. At one point all of the top 5 cars were in the same turn battling, that is how close it was at times. On lap 23 Zearfoss got up to Ruetzel and the two exchanged the lead a few times before the yellow came out for Reutzel, who broke entering turn 1. Zearfoss inherited the lead and on the restart drove away for the win. Shjaffer got back by Kofoid for 2nd but couldn’t catch Brock. Blaney finished 4th and regained the point lead and fifth went to Parker Price Miler. Wow, what a great race!
Congratulations to Brock Zearfoss for winning the Doty! He was all smiles with the Brad Doty replica helmet and the checkered flag in hand while he stood next to Brad Doty on the horse track at attica Raceway Park!
Thank you Attica, for a great evening and thank you All Star Circuit of Champions! See you tomorrow at Wayne County for the Pete Jacobs Memorial with a $12,000 to win top prize!
Contingency Awards/Results: Attica Raceway Park - August 31, 2019:
Event: Ohio Logistics Brad Doty Classic presented by Racing Optics
Entries: 37
C&R Racing All Star Warm-Ups: Aaron Reutzel - 12.785 seconds
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Cap Henry - 12.562 seconds
R&R Racewear Heat #1 presented by Ford Performance: Cory Eliason
R&R Racewear Heat #2 presented by All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads: Buddy Kofoid
R&R Racewear Heat #3 presented by Hunt Brothers Pizza: Parker Price-Miller
R&R Racewear Heat #4 presented by Mobil 1: Brock Zearfoss
Callies Dash #1 presented by JE Pistons: Tim Shaffer
Priority Aviation Dash #2 presented by Fatheadz Eyewear: Buddy Kofoid
JEGS B-Main presented Classic Ink USA Screenprinting Winner: Gio Scelzi
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Brock Zearfoss
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Greg Wilson (+8)
Cometic Gasket Most A-Main Laps Led: Brock Zearfoss (26, 29-40)
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: TJ Michael
(Lincoln Electric, MSD Performance, Fatheadz Eyewear, Rayce Rudeen Foundation, Cometic Gasket: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)
Qualifying
Group (A)
1. 70X-Justin Peck, 12.569; 2. 13-Paul McMahan, 12.677; 3. 19-Paige Polyak, 12.724; 4. 26-Cory Eliason, 12.802; 5. 5T-Travis Philo, 12.833; 6. 23-Carson Short, 13.110; 7. 18J-RJ Jacobs, 13.180; 8. 22B-Ryan Broughton, 13.209; 9. 16-DJ Foos, 13.241; 10. 40-George Hobaugh, 13.429
Group (B)
1. 4-Cap Henry, 12.562; 2. 11N-Buddy Kofoid, 12.640; 3. G1-Tim Shaffer, 12.704; 4. 33W-Caleb Griffith, 12.826; 5. W20-Greg Wilson, 12.945; 6. 81-Lee Jacobs, 13.002; 7. 1-Nate Dussel, 13.034; 8. 57X-Andrew Palker, 13.120; 9. 1st-Gary Taylor, 13.192
Group (C)
1. 5R-Byron Reed, 12.783; 2. O9-Craig Mintz, 12.837; 3. 11-Dale Blaney, 12.910; 4. 71P-Parker Price-Miller, 12.935; 5. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 13.007; 6. K4-Chad Kemenah, 13.044; 7. O7-Gerard McIntyre, 13.151; 8. 20i-Kelsey Ivy, 13.688; 9. 91-Cale Thomas, ---
Group (D)
1. 71-Gio Scelzi, 12.731; 2. 39-Hunter Schuerenberg, 12.738; 3. 17xl-Caleb Helms, 12.830; 4. 70-Brock Zearfoss, 12.934; 5. 99-Skylar Gee, 12.948; 6. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 13.008; 7. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 13.011; 8. 9Z-Duane Zablocki, 13.354; 9. 8M-TJ Michael, 13.458
Heat #1 - Group (A) (10 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 26-Cory Eliason [1]; 2. 19-Paige Polyak [2]; 3. 13-Paul McMahan [3]; 4. 70X-Justin Peck [4]; 5. 5T-Travis Philo [5]; 6. 16-DJ Foos [9]; 7. 23-Carson Short [6]; 8. 40-George Hobaugh [10]; 9. 22B-Ryan Broughton [8]; 10. 18J-RJ Jacobs [7]
Heat #2 - Group (B) (10 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [3]; 2. G1-Tim Shaffer [2]; 3. 33W-Caleb Griffith [1]; 4. 4-Cap Henry [4]; 5. 1-Nate Dussel [7]; 6. 81-Lee Jacobs [6]; 7. W20-Greg Wilson [5]; 8. 57X-Andrew Palker [8]
Heat #3 - Group (C) (10 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 71P-Parker Price-Miller [1]; 2. 11-Dale Blaney [2]; 3. O9-Craig Mintz [3]; 4. K4-Chad Kemenah [6]; 5. 5R-Byron Reed [4]; 6. O7-Gerard McIntyre [7]; 7. 20I-Kelsey Ivy [8]; 8. 22-Brandon Spithaler [5]
Heat #4 - Group (D) (10 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 70-Brock Zearfoss [1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [7]; 3. 39-Hunter Schuerenberg [3]; 4. 3-Jac Haudenschild [6]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee [5]; 6. 71-Gio Scelzi [4]; 7. 8M-TJ Michael [9]; 8. 17XL-Caleb Helms [2]; 9. 9Z-Duane Zablocki [8]
Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. G1-Tim Shaffer [2]; 2. 70-Brock Zearfoss [1]; 3. 71P-Parker Price-Miller [3]; 4. 19-Paige Polyak [4]; 5. 70X-Justin Peck [5]
Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [2]; 3. 4-Cap Henry [3]; 4. 11-Dale Blaney [4]; 5. 26-Cory Eliason [5]
B-Main (12 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer
1. 71-Gio Scelzi [1]; 2. W20-Greg Wilson [2]; 3. 16-DJ Foos [5]; 4. O7-Gerard McIntyre [4]; 5. 8M-TJ Michael [7]; 6. 22-Brandon Spithaler [9]; 7. 81-Lee Jacobs [3]; 8. 23-Carson Short [6]; 9. 9Z-Duane Zablocki [12]; 10. 18J-RJ Jacobs [13]; 11. 57X-Andrew Palker [10]; 12. 20I-Kelsey Ivy [8]
A-Main (40 Laps)
1. 70-Brock Zearfoss [3]; 2. G1-Tim Shaffer [1]; 3. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [2]; 4. 11-Dale Blaney [8]; 5. 71P-Parker Price-Miller [5]; 6. 26-Cory Eliason [10]; 7. O9-Craig Mintz [14]; 8. 4-Cap Henry [6]; 9. 70X-Justin Peck [9]; 10. 3-Jac Haudenschild [15]; 11. 5R-Byron Reed [17]; 12. 33W-Caleb Griffith [13]; 13. 13-Paul McMahan [11]; 14. W20-Greg Wilson [22]; 15. 16-DJ Foos [23]; 16. 71-Gio Scelzi [21]; 17. O7-Gerard McIntyre [24]; 18. 39-Hunter Schuerenberg [12]; 19. K4-Chad Kemenah [16]; 20. 1-Nate Dussel [20]; 21. 19-Paige Polyak [7]; 22. 99-Skylar Gee [19]; 23. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 24. 5T-Travis Philo [18] Lap Leaders: Tim Shaffer (1-10), Buddy Kofoid (11-18), Aaron Reutzel (19-25), Brock Zearfoss (26), Aaron Reutzel (27, 28), Brock Zearfoss (29-40)