Eldora Speedway (Video Highlights from DirtVision.com)
7/14/21
Eldora Speedway
Rossburg, OH
Jokers Wild
WoO
57 cars
Two groups of qualifying saw the top 40 qualifiers locked into four heats. The remaining 17 were scheduled for two non-qualifiers with the top four moving on from that to fill in the back row of the heats.
Kerry Madsen (17th car out to time) set quick time in the first group and overall with a lap of 12.757 seconds on the high banks. Aaron Reutzel (25th car out) was second quick, followed by Ian Madsen (3rd), Brian Brown (2nd) and Brad Sweet (13th). Paul McMahan (18th car out) was quickest in the second group, followed by Carson Macedo (27th), Brock Zearfoss (6th), David Gravel (10th) and Sheldon Haudenschild (20th). Bradley Ashford failed to get a time in with the first group.
Non-Qualifier #1 (started): 1. Danny Dietrich 48 (2) 2. Derek Hagar 9JR (1) 3. Shawn Dancer 49D (5) 4. Greg Wilson 97 (4) / 5. Harli White 11N (3) 6. John Carney II 7 (6) 7. Bryce Schmitt 18s (7) 8. Bradley Ashford 4x (8) DNS – Paige Polyak 19P
The 8-lapper took the top four to the back of heats one and two. Dietrick led the distance. On lap seven, Schmitt contacted the turn four wall, bringing the caution. The lead four remained the same, but Wilson had to fend off White for the final transfer.
Non-Qualifier #2 (started): 1. Kyle Reinhardt 91 (1) 2. Henry Malcuit 70m (2) 3. Dan McCarron 22m (3) 4. Carson Short 70 (4) 5. Jordan Ryan 25R (5) 6. Nate Reeser 83x (6) DNS – Marcus Dumesny 47N, Jason Sides 7s
Mostly a single-file affair.
Heat one (started): 1. K. Madsen 14 (1) 2. I. Madsen 49x (2) 3. Sweet 49 (3) 4. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (4) 5. Cory Eliason 26 (5) / 6. Wayne Johnson 2c (6) 7. Spencer Bayston 11 (7) 8. Joey Saldana 12N (10) 9. CJ Leary 55V (8) 10. Dietrich (11) 11. Hunter Schuerenberg 55 (9) 12. Dancer (12)
8-lap heats took the top five to the A and the top two to the Dash. No one was catching the Madsen brothers in this one. The best racing was back in the pack between Bayston and Saldana. Bayston won the previous night at Attica with the WoO, but would head to the B with Saldana, making his first start since Volusia.
Heat two (started): 1. Brown 21 (2) 2. Reutzel 83 (1) 3. Daryn Pittman 39 (3) 4. Donny Schatz 15 (5) 5. Tyler Courtney 7BC (7) / 6. Logan Schuchart 1s (10) 7. Bill Balog 17B (4) 8. Wilson (12) 9. Ryan Smith 6 (9) 10. Sye Lynch 42 (6) 11. Hagar (11) 12. DJ Foos 29 (8)
Reutzel influenced Brown up the track on the start, but by the time a lap was complete, Brown had returned the favor, and took the lead for good. He took off from there. Courtney was able to move up into a transfer that was held by Balog early. Wilson climbed to eighth, coming from the last transfer in the NQ to qualify for the B.
Heat three (started): 1. McMahan 5 (1) 2. Zearfoss 3z (2) 3. S. Haudenschild 17 (3) 4. Rico Abreu 24 (4) 5. Brent Marks 19m (6) / 6. Gio Scelzi 18 (7) 7. Jac Haudenschild 22 (5) 8. Jacob Allen 1a (9) 9. Parker Price-Miller 19 (8) 10. Tim Shaffer 28 (10) 11. McCarron (12) 12. Reinhardt (11)
McCarron spun before a lap could be completed. Abreu contacted S. Haudenschild from behind in turn two. Sheldon took exception under the yellow. Once green, McMahan took off ahead of Zearfoss, Abreu and S. Haudenschild. McMahan pulled away and won going away. The battle was on for third, however, and S. Haudenschild worked his way back by Abreu for third.
Heat four (started): 1. Macedo 41 (1) 2. Gravel 2 (2) 3. Zeb Wise 10 (6) 4. James McFadden 9 (4) 5. Dave Blaney 10B (5) / 6. Anthony Macri 71 (8) 7. Kraig Kinser 11K (10) 8. Justin Peck 13 (9) 9. Short (11) 10. Kyle Larson 57 (3) 11. Lachlan McHugh 101 (7) DNS – Malcuit
Macedo led Gravel, Larson and McFadden early. Larson would shell a driveline three laps in. The restart saw Macedo ahead of Gravel, McFadden, Wise and Macri in the Indy Race Parts #71. Blaney was persistent and worked over Macri for the final transfer spot on lap five. Wise did the same with McFadden, shooting under him on the last lap to claim third.
C main (started): 1. Shaffer (1) 2. Lynch (2) / 3. Hagar (5) 4. Reinhardt (6) 5. McHugh (4) 6. Dancer (7) 7. Foos (8) 8. McCarron (3) 9. Ryan (9) 10. White (10) 11. Reeser (11) 12. Carney II (12) 13. Ashford (13) DNS – Dietrich, Schuerenberg, Malcuit, Schmitt
The 10-lapper took the top two to the back of the B. The top two remained unchanged, though Hagar applied some pressure for the final transfer.
Dash (started): 1. Brown (4) 2. McMahan (1) 3. Zearfoss (2) 4. K. Madsen (6) 5. Gravel (8) 6. Macedo (3) 7. Reutzel (5) 8. I. Madsen (7)
The 6-lapper set the first eight starting spots in the feature. Brown was impressive in storming by the front row going down the backstretch on lap one. He pulled away for a convincing win. Gravel was the big advancer outside of Brown.
B main (started): 1. Larson (2) 2. Scelzi (6) 3. Schuchart (4) 4. Bayston (7) / 5. Kinser (10) 6. Peck (14) 7. Macri (5) 8. Short (17) 9. Wilson (11) 10. Leary (13) 11. Allen (12) 12. Saldana (9) 13. Shaffer (16) 14. Lynch (18) 15. Balog (1) 16. Johnson (3) 17. J. Haudenschild (8) 18. Smith (15) DNS – Price-Miller
The 12-lapper took the top four the feature. Scelzi was late for staging and docked a row. Larson jumped out to an early lead over Schuchart, Balog and Scelzi before Smith came to a stop after one lap. Scelzi jumped into third on the restart, and Bayston came sixth to fourth. Shaffer spun two laps in. J. Haudenschild retired at the same time. Larson led Schuchart, Scelzi, Bayston and Balog back to green. Scelzi moved up another spot, and Bayston took third from Schuchart on lap four. Balog slowed with a collapsed wing side panel. It would be a problem for a few drivers. On the restart, Schuchart got back by Bayston for third. Kinser made a late charge, but was one spot short, causing him to take a provisional.
A main (started): 1. Macedo (6) 2. Brown (1 ) 3. Gravel (5) 4. K. Madsen (4) 5. Reutzel (7) 6. I. Madsen (8) 7. Abreu (14) 8. Marks (18) 9. McMahan (2) 10. Larson (21) 11. Sweet (9) 12. S. Haudenschild (10) 13. Schatz (15) 14. Scelzi (22) 15. Bayston (24) 16. Pittman (11) 17. Wise (12) 18. Schuchart (23) 19. Zearfoss (3) 20. Kinser (25, prov.) 21. McFadden (16) 22. Courtney (19) 23. Eliason (17) 24. Hafertepe (13) 25. Blaney (20)
The 25-lapper paid $10,000 to win. Macedo had an exceptional start, going from sixth to the lead right away ahead of Brown, K. Madsen, McMahan and Zearfoss. Reutzel moved from sixth to fourth after a caution on lap two. By lap six, he was by K. Madsen for third. Macedo was pulling away and entered lapped traffic on lap ten. At the halfway point, his lead was 2.5 seconds over Brown. On lap 14, K. Madsen worked back by Reutzel for third. McFadden slowed and exited with eight to go. That caution negated passes by K. Madsen for second and Gravel for fourth. McMahan had a wing side panel folding, but he maintained. Gravel shot into fourth again once the green fell. Schuchart had wing problems as well, slowing with three to go. Macedo pulled away the last few laps to win, followed by Brown, and Gravel, who passed K. Madsen on the final go-around. Larson was the hard-charger.