By Jacob Hord, @HordRaceWatcher
Finally, The Rock has returned to, I was able to go do sprint car things on a Saturday for the first time this season. Mother Nature has been torturing me on Saturdays so far. No big deal, it’s only the middle of May, right? Let’s take a look at what went on around the state of Ohio, and anywhere else I feel like talking about.
- Double Down Throwdown: No heat races at Fremont on Saturday night, just qualifying, inverts, and features for the AFCS Sprints and dirt trucks. Kasey Jedrzejek scored the first 410 feature in dominating fashion over Zeth Sabo and Darin Naida. Cap Henry took advantage of Kalib Henry’s misfortune of having a flat tire while up by 2.5 seconds and took home the second feature win over DJ Foos and Sean Rayhall. Jamie Miller and Seth Schneider scored the wins in the 305 division. I’m trying to block out what the trucks did, but both of those features ended, mercifully, with Shawn Valenti in victory lane.
- Jacobs Victorious at Wayne County: There may have been two members of the Jacobs family racing Saturday night (Treyand Rayce), but ultimately, it was Trey who came out on top at “The County.” Trey kept himself near the front for the first part of the feature, and when race leader Jordan Ryan broke a rocker arm in the engine, and Tyler Street had issues, Trey found himself at the helm of the race. Helm as in the lead, and not Caleb Helms, who finished second. According to Race Monitor, Jacobs ran a pretty consistent race and won by .7 seconds over Helms and Tyler Gunn. It was good for Jacobs first win of the season aboard his family-owned 3J machine.
- Blaney Tops Sharon Field: Stop me if you’ve ever heard this before: a Blaney won at Sharon Speedway. Dale, driving his brother Dave’s Red 10, at the track that Dave and son Ryan own. Blaney started second, and took the lead over Bobby Elliott on lap two and set sail. Brandon Spithaler did start to track Blaney down during the middle of the race, but got upside down in turn two. From there, Blaney set his groceries on the conveyer belt and checked out, winning by 3.5 seconds over Carl Bowser and Ricky Peterson.
- Cap Wins Again at Attica: I’m going out of order, it’s not that serious. Up against Mother Nature and 25 other AFCS 410 competitors, Cap Henry emerged victorious. Nate Dussel held the early lead over Bryan Sebetto and Justin Clark, but Cap was charging for the lead. Cap went third to first in one corner and that was that. He did have to endure a one lap shootout, but Cap was too good with a clear track and took the win over Dussel and Bryan Sebetto. Jimmy McGrath Jr took the win in the rain shortened 305 feature. You have to feel bad for Matt Foos, as he was looking to make a pass for the lead when the caution/checkered flag came out with four laps left. And then it didn’t rain. Yea.
QuickHits/Thoughts/Ramblings:
-I’ve seen seven late model features in 2025 and Rusty Schlenk has won every single one of them.
-I liked the format Fremont used on Saturday night. It kept the show moving along nicely and created a sense of urgency in the features since they were shortened. Sure, you give up some of that race development you get in the full features, but there was still plenty of action and drama in the features Saturday night. Plus, I got out of the track at a decent time.
-Seventh starting Mike Hathaway took the win at Colorado National Speedway in the wingless sprints feature. He took the lead on lap 16 and beat out Austyn Gossel for the win. (Thank you TJ Slideways for the obscure sprint car results)
-You have to feel for Garrett Bard at Port Royal. Dude ran the race of his life, fending off Danny Dietrich, just for Anthony Macri to turn the afterburners on and cross him over at the line to win by .007 seconds. That one will sting for Bard for a hot minute.
-Cap Henry spun on the first lap of feature one at Fremont on Saturday, ending his seven race podium streak to start the season. With his P8 and P1 runs on Saturday, his average finish increased from 1.86 to 2.44. I guess that’s still not terrible.
-Some notable good runs for drivers on Saturday included Bobby Elliott running P5 at Sharon in his debut at the track. Sean Rayhall nabbed his first podium of the season in feature two at Fremont. Darin Naida finished third and fourth in the twin features at Fremont. Caleb Helms was second in his season debut at Wayne County. And Zeth Sabo had his best run of the season so far with a P2 in feature one at Fremont.
-Shoutout to Sprint Car HOFer Danny Smith for picking up a heat race win at Butler Saturday night. Keith Sheffer Jr. swept the night in the 410 division.
-Max Stambaugh scored another GLSS 360 win at Limaland Friday night, winning his first Run for the Rabbit race.