By Jacob Hord, @HordRaceWatcher
While Hunter Schuerenberg and Paul Weaver took the 410 and 305 victories in exciting fashion, there are some other noteworthy things that occurred Saturday afternoon.
Zach Hampton Impresses Everyone: Coming in to Saturday, Zach Hampton had made three laps around Attica Raceway Park, and that was in 2019. He would finish third in his heat race, good enough to put him in the redraw for the 30 lap feature where Hampton would start fifth. Hampton bided his time and took advantage of mistakes by Cole Macedo and Trey Jacobs to get into third, and then on a Lap 16 restart, Hampton made his way by Ricky Peterson for second place and set his sights on leader Hunter Schuerenberg. Hampton got close in traffic, but just couldn’t get close enough until the last lap, where he slid Schuerenberg for a potential Cinderella win, but it didn’t stick and Hampton had to settle for a second place finish, which he was still ecstatic about.
“I put myself in position to start fifth and I decided before the race that I was going to take it easy and finish the race,” Hampton continued, “We had some speed and picked off some cars, and if we had a few more laps, we may have had something for Hunter, but I’m super thrilled to come home second.”
Hampton added: “I’m just happy to finish. I’ve run a lot of shows with the All Stars and Outlaws and haven’t gotten to run a whole lot of features. To finally get to put 30 good laps together, and finish, with a podium, I’m pumped.”
Heartbreak for Macedo and Jacobs: California transplant Cole Macedo and Wooster native Trey Jacobs were two of the fastest cars all day in Attica. They both held the lead during the feature, but ultimately suffered the same fate: going over the top of turns three and four while leading. It was a tough pill for both of them to swallow, but nonetheless, these two were quite impressive in their season debuts. Macedo ended up driving back up to ninth, while Trey drove back up to 14th. Don’t be surprised if these two are battling with each other for wins this year.
There’s Passing in Sprint Car Racing: Some heavy hitters were mired deep back in the field. Names like Nate Dussel, DJ Foos, Stuart Brubaker, and Cale Conley– the latter two making up the final row of the 24 car feature. Each one of those drivers went forward in the feature, which is a small victory when you start deep. Stuart Brubaker looked like he was driving angry after a heat race scuffle with Chris Andrews that tipped Brubaker over. Brubaker, Conley and Foos all went +12 to finish 11th and 12th respectively. Dussel turned his 13th starting spot into a fifth place, and almost a fourth place, finish as well. We also can’t forget our race winner Hunter Schuerenberg who went +8 as well. Also worth noting is Cole Macedo, who finished ninth after being sent to the tail early. Lots of forward moving cars in Attica.
First 410 Experience: Kyle Capodice made the leap to 410 racing this year after spending the last few years in the 305 class. His set of hotlaps/qualifying were his first in a 410. OhioDirt caught up with him before the action to talk about this season.
“We worked really hard throughout last year and this year to be able to financially afford this and we have a lot of good people behind us. My dad worked really hard and if it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t be in this position. I don’t know what to expect, I’m more anxious than anything. I just want to get on the track and make good solid laps and get seat time. I hope to have a good, solid year and get more comfortable in the car and hopefully we have good runs in the features by the end of the year. Seat time, seat time, and more seat time!”
Capodice would finish 20th in his first feature.
Quick Notes: While Paul Weaver and Steve Rando battled it out for the 305 win, a tip of the cap has to go to both Zeth Sabo and Brandon Moore, who finished fourth and fifth respectively. The 305 class is growing more competitive by the year
Attica has come under fire at times for starting 20 cars in the 410 feature, on Saturday, with 24 410’s in attendance, promoter John Bores decided to forgo the BMain and start all 24 cars in the feature.
This Saturday afternoon race may have been a test for Attica and other tracks about running day shows early in the season like Pennsylvania. This is the first day show I can remember in Northwest Ohio since Craig Mintz won at Fremont a few years back.
The 410 feature took over 45 minutes with nine cautions and a fuel stop on lap 16. Let’s hope that is a one-time occurrence and we’re back to quick, efficient shows next week.