By Jacob Hord, @HordRaceWatcher
It had been eight long years since the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series visited the Fremont Speedway at the Sandusky County Fairgrounds. It was worth the wait. Forty-eight 410 sprint cars signed in to take home the inaugural Rick Ferkel Tribute win, and the fans packed the stands on the blustery Memorial Day evening.
World of Outlaws points leader David Gravel was quickest in qualifying with a 12.282 second lap time. Gravel went on to win the first heat race and the dash. Carson Macedo, Brock Zearfoss, and Sheldon Haudenschild won their respective heat races with Luke Griffith, and Zeth Sabo winning the CMain and Last Chance Showdown.
Outlaw point leader Gravel, and Fremont Speedway point leader Cale Thomas paced the field to the green flag. But it was the Macedo brothers, Carson and Cole, who were the beneficiaries of good starts. Older brother Carson went third to first, as Cole went fifth to fourth on lap one before the yellow flag came out for Zeth Sabo. So it was Carson Macedo, David Gravel, Cale Thomas, Cole Macedo, and Donny Schatz as your new top five.
On the restart, Cole Macedo got by Thomas for the third spot. By lap four Carson Macedo’s lead was up to 1.568 seconds, as the top five stretched themselves out. The lead grew to 1.798 seconds on lap five before the leader got into lapped traffic. The lead grew to 2.2 seconds, but then was cut to 1.8 seconds as Cole Macedo took a shot at Gravel for second. On lap eight, the caution would come out again for Parker Price-Miller.
The green came back out and was immediately replaced by the red flag as Sterling Cling flipped, collecting Joel Myers Jr. and Stuart Brubaker. Gravel was able to stay a little closer to Macedo on the restart, but couldn’t take the lead, despite a run down the front scratch on lap ten. The red came back out for Cling on lap ten.
There was no change on the ensuing restart. Macedo’s lead was 1.634 seconds on lap 13 and up to 2.1 seconds on lap 14. But, the red flag came out again, this time for Zane DeVault going big in turns three and four. On this restart, it was the North Pole Nightmare Bill Balog, who started P17, challenging Cale Thomas for the fourth spot. Macedo grew his lead to 1.592 seconds at the halfway point, lap 17. The yellow came out once again, this time for Brandon Spithaler, who came to a stop after contact with DJ Foos.
Another restart, and it was another good one for Macedo. His lead grew from 1.094 seconds on lap 21 to 1.896 seconds on lap 25, but your leader was now in traffic. Gravel cut Macedo’s lead to 1.235 seconds on lap 27, but then Macedo started gaining again through traffic. Macedo’s lead was 1.790 seconds with two laps to go, but there would be one more caution, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.
On the final restart, it was all Carson Macedo. Neither Gravel nor the younger Macedo had anything for the Jason Johnson Racing driver. It was Carson Macedo’s second Outlaw win of the season, his first since the early season swing through Texas. Gravel with a championship-worthy P2 run on a night where it would have been easy to be caught up in someone else’s business, and Cole Macedo nabbed his first career Outlaw podium at his home away from home–the same track he won his first All Star race.