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Tri-State Outlook
by Duane Hancock
The Ohio weather has finally turned nice, knock on
wood, on race nights. Well, at least last weekend it
was nice for the most part. Last weekend it was a trip
to Attica on Friday night for an All Star make-up and
a complete regular show. Plus, radio duties in the
booth for the first time this season. Saturday, it was
off to Waynesfield Motor Sports Park for my first ever
visit to the facility.
Friday, 32 410's, 9 out of the top 10 in All Star
points, and 36 30's were in the pits for the regular
show. With a long night of racing on tap, the Attica
crew was in a hurry to get thing a moving. A
mid-afternoon rain storm tried to slow the progress
but to no avail as the Attica crew was ready for
action. They say the 3rd time is a charm and it was
the 3rd attempt to get the prelim night of the Spring
Nationals, for the All Stars, in the books. While most
A Mains are ran in the dark, the All Star make-up A
Main the 1st thing on the card. Dean Jacobs and Dale
Blaney paced the field. As the green flew, Bruce
Robenalt spun on the start. Restart, Blaney blast to
the lead. With a pretty heavy track, Blaney was on a
rail. Lap 11, the race was slowed for Bryan Scott
stopping on the track. Restart, Brian Ellenberger
spins, Brandon Martin tags him, doing a slight roll.
Restart, its all Dale Blaney. The only thing slowing
Dale was a spin by Brian Paulus on lap 21. The former
All Star champ was hooked up and was trying to keep
his fairly hot streak a rollin. Blaney lead wire to
wire in the 30 lapper to take the $3000 paycheck. Rob
Chaney, Jacobs, Greg Wilson, and Caleb Griffith
rounded out the top 5. That was just the start of the
night. Could dale go 2 for 2 and take home 6g, could
Caleb Griffith repeat a great run like in the 1st A,
or could Greg Wilson get back on track at Attica? A
few of the All Star regulars had engine problems in
the 1st A and scratched for the night. They were Brock
Mayes, Craig Mintz, and Brian Paulus. The 305 heats
were ran 1st to allow the 410s a break and a chance to
work on their rides a little. I'll cover that action
later. The 410 heats ran off with no major incidents
and featured some good races and passing. The only
caution was for a Bruce Robenalt spin on the start of
heat 4. Poor Bruce had excellent starting spots his
1st two races and spun both times. Paul Weaver,
Blaney, Dean Jacobs, and Gus Wasson took the heat
wins. Heat 3 featured 3 Jacobs, Kenny, Lee, and Dean.
They put on a great race and the slide job Lee put on
dad Kenny will be talked about for a while. Good
racing. Rob Chaney ran away with the 410 B. The
regular A Main of the night was also a 30 lap event.
Byron Reed and Caleb Griffith paced the field on this
one. This A Main was a dandy. A great battle upfront
on several occasions. Lap, 13 Brandon Martin's bad
luck roars is head again as he slows on the track.
Reed gets a good restart but, Caleb looks strong and
very fast. Shane Stewart and Wilson work towards the
front as well. With 8 to go, Caleb has a bulls eye and
Reed's tail tank and is ready for battle. Caleb is
running the cushion looking for room to pass. Lap 26,
Caleb jumps Byron's tire going into turn 1 but flys
pass him on the outside. Wait, the yellow waves just
seconds after the pass for Paul Weaver stopping on the
top of the track. Reed gets the lead back. Man, Caleb
made an awesome move. Restart, Caleb flys on the
outside of turn 1 again, OUCH, too hard this time,
falling off the track. Rob Chaney slams the turn 4
wall as the yellow is flying for Caleb's trek off turn
1. You have to give Caleb credit for going balls out
but too darn bad he went from actually leading for a
second to about 15th. The last 4 laps, it was all
Byron Reed. Stewart, Wilson, Wasson, and Dean Jacobs
rounded out the top 5.
The always tuff 305s once again provided some good
racing. Their only incident in the heats was BJ
Haudenschild and Ryan Dickey colliding in turn 2
during heat 3. Pretty heavy damage to their racers.
Andy Shammo, Kevin Lee, Dustin Keegan, and Bryan
Sebetto took the heat wins. Once again 2 B Mans were
ran for the 305s. I personally like this idea. Only 2
car transfer from each but it breaks the field up and
gives everyone a fair shot. You don't see many guys go
from 20th to 4th in 8 to 0 laps in a 20 car B Main, so
why not make them 10 car B's to give everyone a fair
shake? Good idea guys. Mark Pridemore and Matt Lucius
took the B wins. The 25 lap A Main was a good one.
Many year 305 vet, Bill Kraylek took the early lead.
Kraylek and Bryan Sebetto were at battle quickly. Lap
6 was a dead even heat for the lead. Lap 7, Sebetto
takes the top spot. Sebetto gains a little margin over
the field and is hopes he can maintain it. Bryan has
been running upfront most of 07 so far and looks to
keep it that way. Another 305 driver having a great
season, Andy Shammo is moving to the front as Sebetto
maintains his lead. Can Andy get Bryan, or is Bryan
too strong? The A Main is running off green to
checkered, so lapped traffic is getting heavy. This
night was all Sebetto. Bryan takes the win over
Shammo, Dustin Dinan Cap Henry, and Brad Bowman. It
was Brad's 1st gig in the 66L machine. It was a very
long night of racing but a good one. Plenty of heat
race action and some good battles in the mains.
Saturday, after I found the little spot on the map
of where the heck Waynesfield is, it was off to the
races. I have wanted to get to WMS all of last year
and this year so far but never made it until now.
After a personal invite from fellow Hoser and WMS PR
Man, Blake, I knew I had to make the trip. Once in the
gates, I knew I would like the racing. A high banked
1/4 mile oval with enough room for 3 wide racing. The
track looked pretty wet as well. This just happened to
be the 1st ever visit of the NRA sprints to WMS as
well as the 1st ever winged sprint car race at
Waynesfield. 34 winged sprints were pit side. A great
turn out and a first visit by many, so I didn't feel
too bad. Plus, this place seems to have a very
friendly staff. All staff members that I ran into made
you feel welcome to be there. Even got a few seconds
with Andy James, the new promoter over there, before
his busy night was in full force. During the hot laps,
I took in the action from the infield, just to check
things out and shoot up some pics. A very racy little
joint it is. Turns 3 and 4 and the entire front
stretch has a huge guardrail for a wall, while 1 and 2
and the back stretch is all open. The track started to
blacken up quickly but don't worry, the track crew
isn't afraid to do some maintenance during the night.
The heat race action was very good. Plenty of passing
and close side by side battles. Oh yeah, there was a
very high rim ridin groove, a middle, and a fair
bottom groove. Luke Hall's night ended quickly as he
blew a head gasket in hot laps. Phil Gressman, Mike
Dussel, Dale Blaney, and Mike Brecht took the heat
wins. Only 1 heat winner was from the front row.
Darren Long tagged the turn 3 wall hard in heat 2,
ending his night. In heat 3, Andrew Bowsher and Jared
Horstman was fighting for 3rd when Bowsher caught
Horstman's right rear off 4 and flipped. 2 B Mains
were on tap. Note, 1st B was pushed off at 8:44 PM.
The heats started right at 7:30 for all 3 divisions
and B were on the track by 9, good deal. That was with
just a little track work too. Kirk Jeffries and my ole
buddy Kent Wolters took the B Main wins. Some major
track work took place before the A but it was still a
few minutes before 10 when the A pushed off. There was
about 20 minutes of down time and it really did help
the track. Did anyone really think it would? No, but
tell you what it did make the track a 2 1/2 to 3
groove track for the A Main. If the track is anywhere
close to where is was Saturday night for the Speedweek
show, it will be a barn burner and a must see! Mike
Dussel took the lead at the start of the 25 lap
contest. Rim riding Mike Brecht went too hot into turn
3 on lap 7, fighting for the top spot, and took a big
tumble. After the clean-up the battle was on. Dussel
was strong but Gressman and Blaney were on the move. 1
high, 1 low, and 1 in between. An excellent 3 car
battle. As the lap were winding down, traffic was
getting heavy and the battle upfront was side by side.
Dussel is holding his own but he is getting heavy
pressure from Gressman and Blaney. The last 5 laps was
more than likely the best ever to date in an NRA 360
race. 3 cars just all out fighting for the lead.
Gressman bounces off the turn 4 rail but still never
lets of the hammer. Lap 23, Gressman takes over on the
high side. Blaney and Dussel try to counter on the
bottom. 3 wide with 1 1/2 to go. Coming to the white,
Gressman slides just a little low to protect his spot
but somehow Blaney slips past to lead lap 24. Gressman
puts it on the rim in 1 and 2 to try and shot back
around, Dussel is still strong on the low side.
Checkered in hand coming into turn 4, it is still any
of the top 3's race. All 3 get a great run off 4,
Blaney nips Gressman and Dussel by just a few feet for
the win. For real, it was the closest to a 3 way photo
finish I think I have ever seen. The official top 5,
Blaney, Gressman, Dussel, Mike Miller, and Tim
Allison. An excellent race. I highly recommend
everyone to pay a visit to Waynesfield Motor Sports
Park soon. Plus, the place is still a work in
progress. Andy and crew want to continue to improve
the track and the racing. All 3 divisions were over
just minutes after 11. I got to my car at 11:09. Now,
there is a few things that still need worked on. The
track is very racy but the facilities is fairly small.
The main grandstand probably holds 1000 to 1500
people, maybe a few more. I am no bean counter on
seating capacity. Point is, its smaller than most of
our local tracks. A new section of stands will be
complete before Speedweek. This will help a ton for
the Speedweek fans. The pit grandstands is decent size
and is very nice. It will hold many of the over flow
crowd that buys a pit pass. Also, there is a little
area for lawn chairs. The restrooms are very small. I
heard some port of johns are on the way for the big
Speedweek show. Trust me, those few minor things are
nothing compared to the racing that this place can
produce. It was an excellent show and has the making
to be every week. I for sure 100% will be back, maybe
even this Saturday night. I can tell you this, if you
like quick shows, great action, and great racing, you
missed it last week. Plus, its only $10 on a regular
show, and remained the same price for the NRA show. I
can see this place making a good name for itself in a
hurry once people take in a show for there. I have
heard about it for over a year and heard it was a good
racy joint but had no idea what I had been missing if
the racing is anywhere near what it was last week.
UPCOMING:
THURSDAY
USAC Gas City IN
FRIDAY
AVSS & IMSA Toledo
NRA Limaland Motor Sports Park
SATURDAY
NRA Eldora
IMSA Jones MI
USAC Sprints and Midgets ORP in Indy
SUNDAY
KISS Kokomo IN
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