(Tom Myers) FAN NOTES FROM ATTICA RACEWAY PARK ALL STAR SPRINTS…FIRST POINT RACE OF 2016, 4/15/2016
It was a beautiful day and a much needed weather change as Attica hosted the re-scheduled spring opener for the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint cars. The anticipation has been building, and with three races in a row for the series, this weekend has turned into a big one.
As we got seated, the air was warm enough, but there was a gentle breeze blowing steadily in our faces and you just knew it was going to get cold as the evening progressed. To be expected in April around here. The track looked smooth and had plenty of moisture to start the evening.
There were forty 410 sprints on hand, a nice car count. Some of those in attendance were Bill Rose, Brandon Spithaler, Carson Macedo driving the Real-Geese sponsored 09x, Ryan Smith, Tim Shaffer in the Ruzdik 49, Tyler Courtney, Cap Henry, and DJ Foos...along with the anticipated All Star guys and some of the locals.... It was good to see Bryon Sebetto out there in hot laps. He is a good racer and fun to watch. This year, he has a ride set up for twenty or so events.
T.J. Michael and Travis Philo were top two timers in first time trial group. Macedo and Courtney were tops in group two. Cap Henry, in the Coomer 21, broke something or came out of gear while timing. He had a good time, but was never a factor after that....Cole Duncan, in the family 22 car, had a good time on his first lap…. just like Henry. But he also broke on his second TT lap. He was done for the evening. Danny Holtrgaver, in the blue 70 car this year, got over the cushion in turn 4 of his green flag TT lap and hit the front fence. He returned to competition later in the evening. Duncan and Caleb Griffith were the top two timers in TT group 3. Dale Blaney and Tim Shaffer were tops in TT group 4. Macedo and Blaney were the overall first and second fastest. Heat 1 finished up with Lay and Sebetto one and two. Heat two was bad for Kraig Kinser as that was the culmination of a night to forget for him. Kraig was pretty loose in time trials and then in his heat, Stuart Brubaker upset his car on the cushion exiting turn 4. Brubaker's Burmeister 16 mount then took a hard left back across the track and into Kraig as he exited low off of turn 4. Kraig took a few tumbles and was done for the evening. Caleb Helms and Ryan Smith finished 1 and 2 in heat two. Lee Jacobs and Byron Reed finish on top of heat 3 in that order. Heat 4 was fun, as the track was slicking off now. Sheldon Haud had the lead but spun in the middle of turn 3 to hand the lead to Dale Blaney, who had moved up from third. Haud kept it going and finished second.
At that point, the track was drying out considerably…and we still had the late model heats, 305 sprint heats, the 410 b main, the 410 dash and two b mains each for the late models and the 305 sprints! In the 410 dash, Dale got the jump and won it with Lee Jacobs second and Chad Kemenah 3rd.
When the feature finally got started, it was really slick, with the track starting to take rubber. Surprisingly, the feature was racy for the first half of it. Dale got out into the lead and Lee Jacobs pressured him for a while with no success. Then Chad Kemenah got by Jacobs and got on Dale's bumper. Chad passed Dale and then Dale passed Chad back. They exchanged the lead another time or two and this really brought the crowd to life.
Man…that was fun to watch! Dale then managed to stay in front the rest of the way. At this point, it was halfway or more through the feature and the rubber was really laying down...as a result, the track turned into a one groove around the bottom track and the passing pretty much came to an end.
A good start to the season up north and it looks like some of the younger guys will provide plenty of exciting moments this season. Now on to Wayne County Speedway!