Reed scores Fremont FAST win

Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013
by Brian Liskai

FREMONT, Ohio – It wasn’t pretty. That’s how Byron Reed felt about his victory Saturday at Fremont Speedway.

The Monclova, Ohio driver took the lead at the drop of the green and never was seriously challenged as he went on to score his second win of the season in the Fort Ball Pizza Palace 410 Sprints. It was the 25th of his career at “The Track That Action Built,” moving him into a tie with Tim Sabo for 17th on the track’s all-time win list.

“I don’t know what that looked like. I didn’t feel like it was one of my prettiest wins…I didn’t feel like I did that good of a job. I’m sure someone had to be on me because I wasn’t doing very well with the lapped cars,” said Reed beside his Crown Battery backed #5. “It was a workout tonight but I like tracks like this. Usually I don’t like leading but today it wasn’t a bad place to be.”

Defending track champion Craig Mintz would come home second and will stretch lead in the $10,000-to-win Kistler Racing Products FAST (Fremont Attica Sprint Title) Championship Series with a just a few races to go.

“We left too much on the table early in the season. I’ll take wins…it’s okay. One of my goals was to win the FAST points and Fremont points but it’s getting tough…nearly impossible for the FAST points. We’re going to need some help for the Fremont championship…we’re going to keep trying,” said Reed. “Fremont’s just a fun place to come to. It’s a great atmosphere…the fans are really into it. It’s a good place to be on a Saturday night.”

And just like the previous week, Bradner, Ohio’s Nate Dussel was locked in a great battle in the Fremont Federal Credit Union 305 Sprint feature. After a side-by-side fight with Alvin Roepke from lap 8 to lap 19, Dussel was finally able to slide into the lead and went on to score his fifth win of the season at Fremont. It is the 10th overall win of 2013 for Dussel who owns five victories at Attica Raceway Park as well. It was the 12th career win at Fremont for Dussel who flipped his car doing victory donuts.

“About every time I pull in here one of the track guys asks if I’m going to do donuts if I win. I told them it’s been too wet to do donuts….I found that out tonight,” joked Dussel of his Berrier Fabrication/Kylynn Mfg./Gressman Powersports/Dussel Welding/Conrad Transport/Kistler Racing Products backed machine.

“This is absolutely unbelievable. It’s sweet to get it done in front of all the fans. Alvin did a hell of a job racing me hard and clean,” added Dussel. “I want to thank Scott (Gressman). He’s done so much for my career..I just can’t thank him enough. I have to thank Tommy Dussel and Bill Berrier and his family.”

The win really tightens up the point battle for the JLH General Contractor FAST Championship Series title.

In the AAA Ohio Auto Club Dirt Trucks, Woodville, Ohio’s Dan Roepke Jr. held off John Ivy the last half of the race to score his first win of the season at Fremont. It was the seventh win of his career at the track.

“I didn’t know who was behind me but I wanted to see this thing go flag to flag with being able to start up front. I heard Johnny back there but I wasn’t going to give him any room…that’s for sure,” said Roepke beside his Perkins Tree Service/Johnny’s Electric backed #88. “I have to thank Dennis Level. We blew a motor last week and he got one back together. I want to thank my dad and Adam for helping get this thing back together.”

In the Computer Man Sports Compacts Grand Rapids, Ohio’s Brandon Myers held off challenges from Amanda Shammo to score his third win of the season. It is the fifth of his career at Fremont.

“I have to thank my grandpa for all he does and grandma for letting him do it. I have to thank mom and dad for all their support,” said Myers beside his BG Radiator/Mark Shultz Signs/R&R Repair/Loren Sautter backed #32.

In the 30-lap 410 sprint feature, Reed and Broc Martin would bring the field to the green but Jody Keegan would spin on the back stretch necessitating a complete restart. Martin had gotten the edge on Reed on the initial start and when the green flew again Reed was more aggressive and took the lead.

The caution would fly on lap three for a Max Stambaugh spin with the running order Reed, Martin, Mintz, Dean Jacobs, D.J. Foos, Duane Zablocki and Andrew Palker. On the restart Reed would pull away as Martin now had his hands full with Mintz. The caution would fly on lap six for another Stambaugh spin. And again Reed rocketed away when the green reappeared. Reed would catch lapped traffic by the 11th circuit but Martin and Mintz could not close. Behind the lead trio was a great battle for fourth between Jacobs, Foos, Zablocki and Travis Philo.

But, Philo would smack into the soft wall in turn four on lap 12, ending his run. Reed once again pulled away when the green came back out with Martin, Mintz, Jacobs, Foos, Zablocki and Bryan Sebetto in tow. At the half-way point Reed held a six car length lead over Martin, Mintz, Jacobs, Sebetto and Zablocki.

Reed would find lapped traffic again with 10 laps to go but Martin and Mintz couldn’t take advantage to close with Jacobs, Zablocki, Sebetto and Chris Andrews in tow. With five laps to go, Martin seemed to lose the handle on his car as Mintz took over second. Two laps later Jacobs took the third spot and with two laps to go Zablocki moved into fourth.

While Reed had difficulties with lapped cars, no one was there to challenge as he went on to the win over Mintz, Jacobs, Zablocki and Martin.

T.J. Michael and Alvin Roepke would bring the 305 sprints to the green for their 25-lap feature. Michael would grab the lead but Roepke kept racing to his outside as Dussel moved into third followed by Paul Weaver, Jordan Ryan and Dustin Dinan. Roepke drove into the lead on lap three and the leaders quickly moved into heavy lapped traffic by the sixth circuit.

Ryan would smack the front stretch wall on lap six bringing out the caution. The restart order was Roepke, Michael, Dussel, Weaver, Dinan and Dean Jacobs. Dussel would move into second on lap eight and closed on Roepke as Michael was locked in a spirited battle with Weaver for third. Roepke and Dussel raced side by side around the track over the next few laps before Michael’s motor expire don lap 12 as Steve Rando and Seth Schneider spun to avoid the stalled machine.

When the green reappeared Roepke and Dussel continued their fantastic battle with Weaver, Jacobs and Dinan staying within striking distance. Dinan would smack the turn two wall on lap 15 ending his run. Roepke would get a fantastic restart and maintain his lead over Dussel with Weaver, Jacobs and Tyler Gunn giving chase.

With seven laps to go Dussel drove to Roepke’s outside and the duo continued their side-by-side dance for the lead with Weaver, Jacobs, Gunn and John Ivy within striking distance. Dussel would finally get around Roepke for the lead with five laps to go as they raced into lapped traffic again. Weaver would take second on lap 23 but couldn’t close on Dussel who drove to the win. Weaver, Roepke, Jacobs and Ivy would round out the top five.

Dan Roepke and Jeff Ward brought the field to the green for the 20 lap feature for the dirt trucks with Roepke gaining the advantage. As Roepke pulled away from Ward a torrid battle ensued for third between Matt Foos, John Ivy, Kent Brewer, Shawn Valenti and Art Ball. Ivy would take third on lap three with Valenti moving into fourth with five laps scored. Just as Roepke had built a huge lead Willie Keegan would lose a wheel on lap seven to bring out the caution.

A lap and another caution for a tangle involving Brewer and Cory McCaughey. On the ensuing restart Ward would spin. The restart running order with 12 laps remaining was Roepke, Ivy, Valenti, Foos, Ball and Dustin Keegan. Ball would spin on lap 11 and when the green flew Ivy was glued to Roepke’s rear bumper.

Following the final caution on lap 13, the last seven laps became the Roepke, Ivy and Valenti show as that trio pulled away from Dustin Keegan, Brian Melnek and Andy Keegan. Roepke would not budge from the bottom groove and went on to the win over Valenti, Ivy, Dustin Keegan and Andy Keegan.

Taylor Holland and Chevy Farmer brought the field to the green for the Computer Man Sports Compacts. But it was third starter Myers who jumped into the lead over Amanda Shammo, Holland, Andrew Schroeder and Brandon Leighton. Leighton and Schroeder would move into third and fourth by lap two. And with four laps in, Shammo was pressuring Myers for the lead.

Myers was able to hold on for the win over Shammo, Evan Patynko, McKenzie Biddle and Holland.

Fremont Speedway will be back in action Saturday, Aug. 10 for the Tim Hogan’s Dalton Georgia Carpet 360-305 sprint challenge. The dirt trucks and sports compacts will also be in action.

For more information go to www.fremontohspeedway.com

Fremont Speedway – 8/3/2013
Gressman Power Sports \ Level Performance Night

Fort Ball Pizza Palace 410 Sprints (28 Cars)

[#]-Starting Position

Qualifying – Fricker’s Restaurant/Callie’s Performance

1. O9-Craig Mintz, 12.600; 2. 53-DJ Foos, 12.633; 3. 24H-Bryan Sebetto, 12.634; 4. 9Z-Duane Zablocki, 12.646; 5. 16-Chris Andrews, 12.768; 6. 97-Dean Jacobs, 12.778; 7. 40DD-Caleb Griffith, 12.865; 8. 83M-Broc Martin, 12.885; 9. 5R-Byron Reed, 12.936; 10. 312-Mike Linder, 12.942; 11. 57X-Andrew Palker, 12.978; 12. 5T-Travis Philo, 12.998; 13. 60-Jody Keegan, 13.001; 14. 2+-Brian Smith, 13.012; 15. 22-Cole Duncan, 13.013; 16. 45L-Brian Lay, 13.023; 17. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 13.106; 18. O-Phil Gressman, 13.109; 19. 17-Scott Euler, 13.114; 20. 96AU-Bruce White, 13.216; 21. 46AU-Stuart Williams, 13.234; 22. 7C-Max Stambaugh, 13.268; 23. 11-Shawn Hubler, 13.316; 24. 92-Sam Ashworth, 13.423; 25. 23D-Devon Dobie, 13.700; 26. 787-Jimmy Pooler, 14.026; 27. 97X-Rodney Hurst, 14.507; 28. 50B-Mike Burns, .000

Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 45L-Brian Lay[1] ; 2. O9-Craig Mintz[6] ; 3. 312-Mike Linder[3] ; 4. 60-Jody Keegan[2] ; 5. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[5] ; 6. 7C-Max Stambaugh[8] ; 7. 23D-Devon Dobie[9] ; 8. 50B-Mike Burns[10] ; 9. 40DD-Caleb Griffith[4] ; 10. 17-Scott Euler[7]

Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 35-Stuart Brubaker[1] ; 2. 2+-Brian Smith[2] ; 3. 57X-Andrew Palker[3] ; 4. 83M-Broc Martin[4] ; 5. 53-DJ Foos[6] ; 6. 11-Shawn Hubler[8] ; 7. 96AU-Bruce White[7] ; 8. 787-Jimmy Pooler[9] ; 9. 16-Chris Andrews[5]

Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 22-Cole Duncan[2] ; 2. O-Phil Gressman[1] ; 3. 5T-Travis Philo[3] ; 4. 5R-Byron Reed[4] ; 5. 97-Dean Jacobs[5] ; 6. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[6] ; 7. 46AU-Stuart Williams[7] ; 8. 92-Sam Ashworth[8]

B-Main – Computer Man Inc. (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 16-Chris Andrews[2] ; 2. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[1] ; 3. 40DD-Caleb Griffith[3] ; 4. 46AU-Stuart Williams[6] ; 5. 7C-Max Stambaugh[7] ; 6. 96AU-Bruce White[5] ; 7. 23D-Devon Dobie[10] ; 8. 92-Sam Ashworth[9] ; 9. 11-Shawn Hubler[8] ; 10. 97X-Rodney Hurst[12] ; 11. 50B-Mike Burns[13] ; 12. 787-Jimmy Pooler[11] ; 13. 17-Scott Euler[4]

A-Main – (30 Laps)
1. 5R-Byron Reed[1]; 2. O9-Craig Mintz[6]; 3. 97-Dean Jacobs[3]; 4. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[4]; 5. 83M-Broc Martin[2]; 6. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[11]; 7. 16-Chris Andrews[12]; 8. 45L-Brian Lay[16]; 9. 40DD-Caleb Griffith[13]; 10. 22-Cole Duncan[15]; 11. 2+-Brian Smith[14]; 12. 53-DJ Foos[5]; 13. 35-Stuart Brubaker[17]; 14. 46AU-Stuart Williams[19]; 15. 57X-Andrew Palker[8]; 16. 312-Mike Linder[7]; 17. 5T-Travis Philo[9]; 18. O-Phil Gressman[18]; 19. 7C-Max Stambaugh[20]; 20. 60-Jody Keegan[10]

Hard Charger: 45L-Brian Lay[+8]

Fremont Federal Credit Untion 305 Sprints (22 Cars)

[#]-Starting Position

Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 10 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 39-Dean Jacobs[2] ; 2. 4X-Bobby Clark[1] ; 3. 1W-Paul Weaver[3] ; 4. 1-Nate Dussel[7] ; 5. 36-Seth Schneider[4] ; 6. 8I-John Ivy[5] ; 7. 25-Jason Keckler[6] ; 8. 9-Jimmy Colvin[8]

Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 10 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 6-Dustin Dinan[1] ; 2. 5R-Jordan Ryan[5] ; 3. 47-Brett Lane[2] ; 4. 8M-T.J Michael[7] ; 5. 4K-Chris Nagy[6] ; 6. 11G-Luke Griffith[4] ; 7. 26-Ryan French[3]

Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 10 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. OO-Alvin Roepke[2] ; 2. 68G-Tyler Gunn[4] ; 3. 83X-Nate Reeser[3] ; 4. 22D-Dan Hammond[5] ; 5. 7P-Brandon Moore[1] ; 6. 10S-Roger Shammo[7] ; 7. 19R-Steve Rando[6]

A-Main – (25 Laps)
1. 1-Nate Dussel[4]; 2. 1W-Paul Weaver[3]; 3. OO-Alvin Roepke[2]; 4. 39-Dean Jacobs[7]; 5. 8I-John Ivy[16]; 6. 68G-Tyler Gunn[9]; 7. 9-Jimmy Colvin[22]; 8. 83X-Nate Reeser[12]; 9. 4X-Bobby Clark[8]; 10. 25-Jason Keckler[19]; 11. 10S-Roger Shammo[18]; 12. 7P-Brandon Moore[15]; 13. 22D-Dan Hammond[10]; 14. 36-Seth Schneider[13]; 15. 47-Brett Lane[11]; 16. 11G-Luke Griffith[17]; 17. 4K-Chris Nagy[14]; 18. 6-Dustin Dinan[6]; 19. 8M-T.J Michael[1]; 20. 19R-Steve Rando[21]; 21. 5R-Jordan Ryan[5]; 22. 26-Ryan French[20]

Hard Charger: 9-Jimmy Colvin[+15]

AAA Auto Club Dirt Trucks (28 Trucks)

[#]-Starting Position

Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 88-Dan Roepke Jr.[9] ; 2. 7-Dana Frey[2] ; 3. 16-Steve Sabo[1] ; 4. O1-Art Ball[3] ; 5. 99H-Art Howey Jr.[4] ; 6. 115-Ben Good[5] ; 7. 37-Eric Devanna[7] ; 8. 3G-Jimmy McGrath Jr.[8] ; 9. 71-Chris Hicks[10] ; 10. 18W-Cory Ward[6]

Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 7B-Shawn Valenti[4] ; 2. 2-Matt Foos[1] ; 3. 45-Brian Melnek[6] ; 4. 8KB-Kent Brewer[7] ; 5. 95-Keith Sorg[2] ; 6. 5-Jim McGrath[9] ; 7. 6-Linda Sabo[3] ; 8. 99X-Gene Potridge[8]

Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. OO-John Ivy[3] ; 2. D1-Dustin Keegan[6] ; 3. 36M-Cory McCaughey[4] ; 4. 18-Jeff Ward[7] ; 5. P51-Willie Keegan[8] ; 6. 79-Andrew Lutman[1] ; 7. 1S-James Saam[2] ; 8. 10-Roger Inks[9] ; 9. O-Andy Keegan[5]

B-Main – Computer Man Inc. (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. O-Andy Keegan[11] ; 2. 115-Ben Good[1] ; 3. 23M-Brad Mitten[13] ; 4. 37-Eric Devanna[4] ; 5. 5-Jim McGrath[2] ; 6. 3G-Jimmy McGrath Jr.[7] ; 7. 99X-Gene Potridge[8] ; 8. 71-Chris Hicks[10] ; 9. 10-Roger Inks[9] ; 10. 1S-James Saam[6] ; 11. 18W-Cory Ward[12] ; 12. 79-Andrew Lutman[3]

A-Main – (20 Laps)
1. 88-Dan Roepke Jr.[1]; 2. 7B-Shawn Valenti[6]; 3. OO-John Ivy[8]; 4. D1-Dustin Keegan[7]; 5. O-Andy Keegan[16]; 6. 45-Brian Melnek[9]; 7. 5-Jim McGrath[18]; 8. 95-Keith Sorg[14]; 9. 8KB-Kent Brewer[4]; 10. O1-Art Ball[5]; 11. 2-Matt Foos[3]; 12. 3G-Jimmy McGrath Jr.[20]; 13. 36M-Cory McCaughey[10]; 14. 115-Ben Good[17]; 15. 18-Jeff Ward[2]; 16. 37-Eric Devanna[19]; 17. 7-Dana Frey[12]; 18. 99H-Art Howey Jr.[13]; 19. 16-Steve Sabo[11]; 20. P51-Willie Keegan[15]

Hard Charger: O-Andy Keegan[+11]

Computer Man Compacts (10 Cars)

[#]-Starting Position

A-Main – (12 Laps)
1. 32-Brandon Myers[3]; 2. 14-Amanda Shammo[7]; 3. 7P-Evan Patynko[6]; 4. 34S-McKenzie Biddle[5]; 5. 711-Taylor Holland[1]; 6. 99-Eric Pocock[4]; 7. 22-Brandon Leighton[8]; 8. 29-Chevy Farmer[2]; 9. 3-Andy Earnhart[10]; 10. 23-Andrew Schroeder[9]

Hard Charger: 14-Amanda Shammo[+5]