by Jacob Hord, @HordRaceWatcher
GLSS 360 Feature: It’s not about how hard you fall, but how you get back up. That was the case for Cole Macedo and Ray Brooks Racing after a difficult Speedweek. They got a new car together with a 360 motor in it for Saturday night’s GLSS event at Fremont Speedway, and all the hard work paid off nicely as Macedo was the class of the field after getting by Danny Sams early in the race.
Dustin Daggett led the field early on in the 25 lap feature event, with Macedo and Danny Sams battling hard for second as the yellow came out in the first corner for Robert Robenalt. This warranted a complete restart, and this time, it was Sams who got the jump on Daggett and Macedo. Macedo got by Daggett on lap two and the race was on for the top spot. Sams had a .621 second lead on lap four, which got cut nearly in half by the next time the Florida native crossed the line on lap five. Lap five is when Macedo would make his move for the lead, and win. Macedo slid Sams in turns three and four and took the lead.
Sams held tough, though. He was able to get under Macedo in turns three and four, but the 18 machine was able to power around the outside and get a good run down the front stretch. Macedo held a 1.075 lead on lap eight as he got into heavy lapped traffic. Macedo added another seven tenths of a second to his lead before a lap ten yellow wiped the lead out, but also put Macedo in clean air.
Macedo got a great restart over Sams and Brad Lamberson and built up a 2.903 second lead by lap 12 as another yellow came out. It was the same story on this restart, with Macedo gapping Sams by 1.654 seconds on the first lap after the restart. Navigating through lapped traffic, Macedo built his lead up to 5.355 seconds, over a straightaway over Sams, Lamberson, Max Stambaugh, and Daggett, who were putting on a show for the rest of the top five.
The final restart came after a lapped car stopped, and left Sams nowhere to go, running into the back of the stopped car and bending Sams front wing. Macedo had no issue on the lap 21 restart, and easily took the win over Sams and Lamberson by 3.861 seconds.
“I felt really good there,” said Macedo. “At the beginning of the night, I felt terrible in the thing. The difference between the 360 and 410 is way more than I remember. It’s way down on horsepower, and I had to run the car differently. Steven [Linder] got the car really good for the feature and I felt really good, and I guess I had a six second lead. We all did our jobs tonight, and I felt like we were fast every time we hit the track. We have some good momentum for the upcoming weeks– we have some big racing coming up. I’m happy with our team, and I can’t thank everyone for their hard work tonight with two cars.”
AFCS 305 Feature: After watching Cole Macedo dominate the GLSS 360 feature, Paul Weaver (probably) thought to himself, “Well, I can do that.” That’s just what he did, too, during the 25 lap AFCS 305 Feature Saturday night.
It was Paul Weaver and Alvin Roepke that led the field to the green flag, with Weaver getting the jump over Roepke, Steve Rando, Kasey Jedrzejek, and Jamie Miller, but a yellow flag for Tyler Shullick meant that it would all have to be done again. Weaver again got the jump over the same crew, with Miller and Jedrzejek swapping places as the yellow would fly again, this time for Bobby Foster. On the ensuing restart, Miller was able to get to the third spot as Weaver and Roepke separated themselves from the pack.
Weaver built up a 1.484 second lead by lap five, as Miller and Jedrzejek were battling hard for third. Miller would solidify his spot by lap seven. Heavy traffic was in Weaver’s lap by lap nine, but he had built a 3.250 second lead and added another quarter- second to that lead by lap 12 as he negotiated through the lappers.
Weaver grew his lead to 5.162 seconds by lap 17, but that was wiped out as the yellow flag flew. Roepke and Miller battled on the restart, which allowed Weaver to slip away to a 1.514 second lead before another quick yellow came out. Weaver was content to watch Rando battled Miller for third, and then Rando battle battle Roepke for second and was able to breeze away to his seventh win of the year, and his second at Fremont over Rando and Roepke.