by Jacob Hord, @HordRaceWatcher Photo: Jacob Hord
After three straight Saturday races to start the season, thanks to Mother Nature, Attica finally got to race on it’s normal Friday night slot. Twenty-six 410 machines and 31 305’s made the call to the ⅓ mile oval, and as always, there was no disappointment.
When feature time came, it was Nate Dussel and Brandon Spithaler who led the field to the green flag of the 30 lap event. Birthday boy Dussel got off to a great start and held the early lead over Spithaler. By lap four, it was about a .700 second lead, and Dussel was holding it steady. It only took a few laps for Spithaler to start closing on Dussel.
By lap eight, Spithaler took four tenths out of Dussel’s lead, and after a brief but heavy battle, Spithaler got the best of Dussel for good on lap 10. It didn’t take long for Spithaler to get into traffic, but that didn’t matter as he kept stretching his lead. A lap 12 yellow would get Spithaler out of traffic and into clean air.
“We felt good out front, and clean air helped. We were pretty good in traffic, too, which helped us by Dussel,” Spithaler said.
On the restart, Dussel bobbled, allowing both Cole Macedo and Cap Henry by into second and third respectively. The .971 second lead for Spithaler over Macedo grew to 1.818 seconds before another yellow flag flew on lap 21.
Spithaler took the restart slow, and got away from Macedo, putting almost a second between them. With five circuits remaining, Spithaler had a 1.932 second lead, and looked to be cruising to the win, but the caution came out on lap 28 for third place running Dussel, who came to a stop.
The restart got wild. Spithaler bobbled a little bit, which allowed Macedo to stay right on his bumper. With two laps to go, Macedo slid Spithaler for the lead and possible win, but Spithaler countered right back and reclaimed the lead. Macedo had a run going down the backstretch on the final lap, but Spithaler ran the perfect defensive line, and held off Macedo for his first career Attica win.
“I tried to stay smooth on all the restarts. I didn’t want to see that last caution come out, because I knew it would give someone a chance to make a divebomb– and they did, but we beat them back to the flag,” the race winner said.
Spithaler added: “I felt like I let the car hang a little coming off of four on that last restart, and I figured he [Cole Macedo] would be right there. As soon as I caught a glimpse of him, I opened my entry up into turn one, crossed him back over, and slid him back in three and four. We crossed back one more time, and was able to beat him back to the flag.”
Macedo was almost able to steal this one from Spithaler for his first Attica win, but couldn’t quite pull it off.
“I was searching the entire race,” said Macedo. “I felt like I was stagnate for a majority of the race behind him [Spithaler]. So I tried something different and I think I found the right lane, but was just a little too short and a little too late. I’m glad I could give my guys a good finish, though.”
Brandon Spithaler is no stranger to victory lane in the Western Pennsylvania region, and the former All Star regular has been making the over three hour haul to Attica more and more the last couple of years. It paid off in a big way Friday night.
“It feels great to add my name to the Attica winners list. Whether it was a good idea or a bad idea, we would always come here to race the money shows and wouldn’t race many local shows. We’ve run decently and been competitive with the locals in those money shows, so we figured we’d come out here today since no one was running in our area, and we pulled one off,” concluded Spithaler.
305 Feature: With Paul Weaver starting in the back of the field, the 305 feature race was wide-open for anyone to win. Zeth Sabo knew he had a great car, saw the opportunity, and didn’t let it go to waste.
It was a Riehl brother front row coming to green, and Logan got the better of Brandon on the start. A quick yellow on lap two for a spinning (with assistance) Chris Verda, who was running fourth at the time, was the first of many stoppages this race. Fifth-starting Sabo had already made his way up to second at this point.
After two restarts, Sabo found himself in position to snatch the lead from Riehl. He did just that on lap eight, right before a caution came out. Sabo got the pass completed in time, and was able to hold on to the lead.
Caution after caution, restart after restart, no one had anything for Sabo. It was simply his night. A two lap dash after a red flag probably made Sabo nervous, especially with the 26 machine of Jamie Miller climbing the leaderboard, but again, it was Sabo’s night. He scored his first ever sprint car win over Miller and Riehl, becoming the second different 305 winner at Attica this year.
Late Models: Talking about late models, weird for me, I know. I promise I’m not sick, but I do promise you that the late model feature dropped my jaw as I watched in amazement. Ryan Markham, Rusty Schlenk, and Matt Irey were three wide for the lead for a majority of the race, with Doug Drown and Devin Shiels lurking just behind them. Just when it seemed like Schlenk had it won, lapped traffic got in the way, bringing Markham and Irey right back to his bumper.
More three-wide racing ensued for the lead, but Markham made the race-winning move as Schlenk and Irey touched on the final lap, giving Markham the gap he needed to pick up the win. I’m not joking when I say it was one of the best races I’ve ever seen. Do yourself a favor and watch a replay, you won’t be disappointed.
410 Feature Finish, 30 Laps: 1. Brandon Spithaler, 2. Cole Macedo, 3. Cap Henry, 4. Henry Malcuit, 5. Stuart Brubaker, 6. Trey Jacobs, 7. Byron Reed, 8. Greg Wilson, 9. Chris Andrews, 10. Dean Jacobs, 11. Gary Taylor, 12. Skyler Gee, 13. John Ivy, 14. DJ Foos, 15. Cale Conley, 16. Ricky Peterson, 17. Wyatt Zimmerman, 18. Duane Zablocki, 19. Nate Dussel, 20. Jordan Ryan.
305 Feature Finish, 25 Laps: 1. Zeth Sabo, 2. Jamie Miller, 3. Logan Riehl, 4. Steve Rando, 5. Kody Brewer, 6. Luke Griffith, 7. Jim McGrath Jr., 8. Matt Foos, 9. Kasey Ziebold, 10. Paul Weaver, 11. Brandon Moore, 12. Mike Keegan, 13. Bryce Lucius, 14. Mike Moore, 15. Judson Dickerson, 16. Tyler Shullick, 17. Chris Verda, 18. Larry Kingseed Jr., 19. Brandon Riehl, 20. Garrett Craine, 21. Seth Schneider, 22. Rich Farmer.