ATTICA- It was a gorgeous afternoon to kick off the Ohio dirt track season. Attica Raceway Park swung open the gates and fans and racers poured in. Twenty-four 410 machines, 32 305’s and 20 late models took to the track to start the season at the ⅓ mile oval.
When it came to be feature time, the sun was behind the grandstands, and the breeze had picked up, making for a chilly feature. Chad Wilson and Cole Macedo paced the field to the green flag, and when the green flew, it was Macedo to the point as Wilson fell to fourth. Before the first lap could be completed though, the caution came out for an incident involving Zane DeVault, Clinton Boyles, and Dylan Kingan. A lucky break for Wilson.
On the second attempt, Macedo again took to the point followed by Trey Jacobs, but again, a yellow negated the start. Third time the charm? Not so much. Macedo and Jacobs went 1-2 again, but a spinning Gary Taylor would make a fourth attempt at the start necessary.
Finally, on the fourth start, a lap was completed with Macedo leading Jacobs, Hunter Schuerenberg and Wilson. On the second circuit though, Macedo went off the top side of turns three and four, bringing out the yellow once again and handing the race lead to Trey Jacobs. On the ensuing restart, Jacobs took the lead and Ricky Peterson entered his name into the mix, getting up to third place as Schuerenberg closed in on Jacobs in lapped traffic on lap five.
Lap seven brought another caution, but it did get the 3J machine back in clean air. Jacobs held a comfortable lead over Schuerenberg, as Zach Hampton started to look sporty in fourth. Lapped traffic by lap 10 allowed Schuerenberg to close in on Jacobs once again. Schuerenberg threw a slider at Jacobs on lap 12, but a caution would have negated any pass.
The race got back underway with Jacobs back in clean air for two laps until another caution brought the field back together on lap 14. This restart saw Jacobs hold a comfortable one second lead over Schuerenberg, which grew in lapped traffic.
Lap 16 is when the race changed in Schuerenberg’s favor. Jacobs had a big lead in traffic, but like Macedo, drove off the top side of turns three and four, handing the lead to Schuerenberg and promoting Peterson and Hampton to second and third respectively. This also brought out an open red flag.
“Trey [Jacobs] looked like he was running a pretty hard pace, and I thought as slick as it’s been all day, it has to go away eventually,” said Schuerenberg. “ I just ran my own race and didn’t try too hard to be right at the leader’s back bumper.”
Schuerenberg added: “I tried to keep myself within a straightaway of the leader, so that if we got to lapped traffic, I could close the gap and do something or wait for Trey to make a mistake, which is what happened.”
Schuerenberg held serve on the restart, while Hampton made his way by Peterson for second. Schuereberg was cruising with ten laps to go, but with seven to go, he was in traffic and Hampton ws closing quickly.
“I tried to slow the pace up enough so that I wouldn’t have to make that long drive across the racetrack,” Schuerenberg said about working through lapped traffic. “By doing that, you set the guy in second place up to have enough momentum to get by you. I wanted to keep that from happening.”
They both were working their way through lapped traffic, Hampton was within striking distance on the final lap. Hampton threw a slider at Schuerenberg to try and steal a win, but it wasn’t quite enough, as Schuerenberg held on to claim his first Attica Raceway Park victory. Hampton and Peterson rounded out the podium
“It came down to not making mistakes,” Schuerenberg said. “I feel like I could have pushed a little bit harder those last ten laps, but when you’re leading and you push hard and make a mistake, you look pretty silly. I just tried to play that game of ‘You’re going to have to take it from me,’” he added
“It’s hard to say if we had anything for Hunter,” said runner-up Zach Hampton. “We were coming up on some pretty heavy lapped traffic, but in clean air, I don’t think we had anything for him. In dirty air, we were on an even playing field. With a few more laps, the lapped cars could have played out right and we may have had something for him.”
Schuerenberg has spent the past two weeks in Pennsylvania with good results, and a win in Ohio has him feeling good about the upcoming All Star Circuit of Champions season. “We have a lot of momentum right now. I think we had the car to beat at Lincoln [PA], and felt good at Port Royal. We can go back to the notebook on nights we don’t feel that great and not be lost.”
305 Feature Steals the Show:
The 305 division has produced many good races, and tonight was a great one to start off the year. Kyle Peters and Steve Rando paced the field to green and it was Rando who led the field after a complete restart. Insert Paul Weaver. Weaver started sixth, but had made his way up to second by a lap three caution. Rando almost lost the lead to Weaver on the restart, but was able to hold the fifteen-time winner in 2020 off
Rando had a comfortable gap to Weaver as he ripped the top, but his line would have to change in lapped traffic, which Rando reached on lap 10. This allowed Weaver to show Rando a nose on Lap 12, but Rando was still able to hang on in traffic. By lap 15, Rando was pulling away again after making it through traffic, but more traffic lurked ahead. With five laps to go, it was game-on between Rando and Weaver as they sliced and diced through traffic
“He [Steve Rando] was a little bit better but I knew if we got into lapped traffic, anything could happen,” said Weaver. “We gained on him, and he would pull away.”
Coming to the white flag, Weaver threw a slider in turns three and four for the lead; and it stuck. Rando came right back in turns one and two in a one-lap heavyweight bout. Rando wasn’t able to make that slide stick, but he still had a good run down the backstretch and lined up for a run to the checkered flag, but it wasn’t enough. Weaver picked up his first win of the year and his 60th career Attica win in a stellar race
“If it would have been two to go instead of one, he might have gotten me back,” Weaver added. “When the leader is right there, you never give up. I felt like Rando may have been better with a clear track, but I could hang with him and that put me in the position in the end,” said race-winner Weaver.
410 Feature Finish, 30 Laps: 1) Hunter Schuerenberg, 2) Zach Hampton, 3) Ricky Peterson, 4) Chris Andrews, 5) Nate Dussel, 6) Cole Duncan, 7) DJ Foos, 8) John Ivy, 9) Cole Macedo, 10) Gary Taylor, 11) Stuart Brubaker, 12) Cale Conley, 13) Josh Turner, 14) Trey Jacobs, 15) Clinton Boyles, 16) Chad Wilson, 17) Cody Bova, 18) RJ Jacobs, 19) Mark Imler, 20) Kyle Capodice, 21) Caleb Griffith, 22) Ryan Ruhl, 23) Zane DeVault, 24) Dylan Kingan.
305 Feature Finish, 25 Laps: 1) Paul Weaver, 2) Steve Rando, 3) Jamie Miller, 4) Zeth Sabo, 5) Brandon Moore, 6) Shawn Valenti, 7) Kody Brewer, 8) Jimmy McGrath Jr., 9) Logan Riehl, 10) Kyle Peters, 11) Chris Verda, 12) Luke Griffith, 13) Larry Kingseed Jr., 14) Seth Schneider, 15) Rich Farmer, 16) Kasey Ziebold, 17) Justin Lusk, 18) Jerry Dahms, 19) Kasey Jedrzejek, 20) Matt Foos.