Fan Notes from All Stars at Sharon

Sharon Speedway (Tom Myers) 5/5/2018 – We arrived around 5:30 and the track was parking cars on the old asphalt part of the track in turns 3 and 4. The regular grass parking area behind the grandstands was very wet, so kudos to the track for having a plan to help the fans keep their vehicles out of the mud.

Because of the weather, this was the first race held at Sharon this season and I was wondering what the new dirt that was put down would be like. Well, it was red dirt. That surprised me. I was hoping that the track would stay tacky and not be so abrasive on the tires.

There were 43 sprint cars in the pits, a really good car count. Notable visitors joining the All Star regulars were Tony Stewart, Josh Baughman, Tim Shaffer and Rico Abreu. In additional to the sprints there was a modified class so that was good only having 2 classes. The track looked smooth with plenty of moisture. When hot laps got underway however, the track started to get dusty right away. It will take the track a few shows to figure out what the new surface needs I am sure.

After time trials, I went to go buy a bottle of water. The lines were very long and slow at the food stand so I walked around and saw two drinking fountains……and they were shut off. I then went to the ice cream line where they sold water as well and that line was long and slow. The beer line had just cleared out so I went up to the girl there and asked if I could buy bottled water, which was in a fridge right behind her with pop and Gatorade. I mean, right behind her. She just had to turn around and grab one. I had money. She said that she couldn’t sell me water because they only sold beer at her cash register. Really? That was not cool at all. GGrrrrrr. So, I waited until after the heat races and tried again…sprinting to the concession stand right after the last heat…to get there before the large line formed. I was successful! Woohoo!

Sye Lynch There were 5 heats scheduled, with the top 4 going to the A main. Chad Kemenah timed quickest followed by Carson Macedo, John Garvin, Carl Bowser, Cole Duncan, Dave Blaney, Jack Sodeman Jr., Travis Philo and Aaron Reutzel. The heats were mostly follow the leader as the track was slicking off. Spithaler, Garvin, Kemenah and Blaney were the top 4 in heat 1. It was good to see John Garvin racing well. He has really improved and was pretty fast this evening. Bowser won heat 2 followed by Baughman, Macedo and Jac Haudenschild. It was hard to pass. Reutzel won heat 3 riding around the bottom followed by Rico, Duncan, and Sodeman Jr.. Tony Stewart won heat 4 followed by Zimbardi, Shaffer and Dan Shetler. In heat 5, Sye Lynch made a great move around the outside of turns 1 and 2 on the first lap to come up from the back and grab second. George Harbough won it followed by Lynch, Price-Miller and Paul McMahan.

The sun was going down by the time they had the dash draw. At first, I thought the PA system was making weird noises because I was now hearing a loud, squeaky sound sort of like one of those wide rubber belts used on old farm equipment. You know, they would hook the belt up to an old John Deere tractor on one end and the farm equipment on the other end and it would squeak, like a pulley needing oil or something. SQUEAK, squeak, SQUEAK, squeak, over and over again. I later realized that the noise I was hearing were the spring peepers sounding off from the rather large puddle in the middle of the track infield. No doubt the steel roof over the grandstand amplified their sound. Ha Ha. Only in Ohio!

The track crew started to water around the top and that was a good move because that really helped the racing later on. The two dash races got us Reutzel on the pole with Bowser alongside. Aryton Olsen found something up top in the B main and he was coming forward along the top around everyone until he banged the guardrail in turn 1 and that stopped his march to the front. The A main guys must have been watching because some of them would utilize the top groove right from the start.

Aaron Reutzel won his first All Star show Saturday at Sharon Speedway At the start, the track seemed racier as some were riding the rim and making passes….something that was not possible earlier. Reutzel grabbed the lead and pretty much held it to the finish, man is he fast. He used the top as well as the bottom later in the race as the top went away. Macedo was following Reutzel hard all race long but couldn’t get close enough to make a pass. Jac Haudenschild came from 16th to finish third! Jac was really riding it high and was passing a lot of cars by using his momentum around the top. That was fun to watch. There was a restart on lap 6 because Garvin had spun out in turn 2. On this restart, Jac got a big run down the back stretch and passed Kemenah. As he was passing Chad, Jac threaded it between two other cars in front of him, one of them being Baughman, who then flipped, collecting Cole Duncan. Both were okay. It looked like Baughman touched tires with someone, but I couldn’t tell who it was because there were 3 cars all racing for one spot it seemed.

During the ensuing red, Kemanah and a few others had to go pitside, giving up good track position. The running order was Reutzel, Macedo, Stewart, Bowser, PPM, Jac, Abreu, Spithaler, Hobaugh, Blaney and Shaffer. As the race resumed, Jac got around PPM, Bowser and Stewart for third. At the finish it was Reutzel, Macedo, and Haudeschild, followed by PPM and Stewart. Most of the cars had moved down to the middle or low groove by the end of the race searching for any traction that was left. That was a good race and Reutzel’s first All Star win. It won’t be his last. Thank you All Stars and Sharon Speedway. The track widened out and we saw a good race and were heading home at 10:30.