By Tyler Altmeyer
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (June 22, 2016) – Kyle Larson earned his second Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket victory of 2016 during round six on Wednesday evening, June 22, at Atomic Speedway. Larson used traffic to his advantage to garner the win, taking command over race leader Sheldon Haudenschild on lap 21. From there, the Elk Grove, California, native cruised ahead and led the last ten circuits to score the $5,000 top prize. It was a fourth career Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions victory for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star, his first at Atomic Speedway. Larson is the first repeat winner of the 34th edition of Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket.
“My crew has been working their tails off all week,” said Kyle Larson. “Paul Silva actually found some things wrong with our car and fixed them overnight. It really made a world of difference. I can’t thank him enough for allowing me to come out here and have some fun this week. It’s pretty cool to come out here and be competitive against a field like this.”
Kyle Larson started third on the feature grid, maintaining third in the running order at the completion of lap one. After surviving a four lap battle with Tim Shaffer for the third spot, Larson moved on and started his chase toward the front.
By lap 14, Larson worked around Cole Duncan for second, utilizing the high side of turns one and turn and the low side of turns three and four. Heavy traffic started to come into play for race leader Sheldon Haudenschild by lap 18, allowing Larson to close a near two second gap. Larson made his winning move on lap 21, driving under the Wooster, Ohio, native near the apron of turn three. Despite heavy pressure by Cole Duncan, Sheldon Haudenschild held on to finish second, followed by Duncan, Tim Shaffer, and Randy Hannagan.
“I honestly didn’t think I’d be up here as a winner tonight” explained Kyle Larson in victory lane. “I can’t thank you fans enough for coming out tonight. That race was a lot of fun. We were really fast all night long and the track really gets good when it widens out and slicks off like that. I was able to get by Sheldon there in traffic. The track was starting to take a little bit of rubber. I was able to find it before Sheldon (Haudenschild). Happy to be back here in victory lane. Already excited to return.”
Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket will continue with round seven on Friday evening, June 24, at the Limaland Motorsports Park in Lima, Ohio. The high paced quarter-mile will kick off the final weekend of Ohio Sprint Speedweek competition for the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions, ending officially on Saturday night, June 25, at the Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. Limaland did not host an Ohio Sprint Speedweek event during the 2015 season, losing a battle to Mother Nature.
Limaland Motorsports Park will open gates at 4:00 pm on Friday night, June 24. The Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions drivers meeting will be conducted at 6, followed by hot laps at 6:30. Those seeking additional news and information should visit Limaland Motorsports Park live on the Web at www.limaland.com.
Contingency Awards/Results – Atomic Speedway – Wednesday, June 22, 2016:
Event: Ohio Sprint Speedweek Night #6
EMi Driver’s Meeting: 48 Entries
State Water Heaters Warm-Ups: Randy Hannagan – 12.106 seconds
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Sheldon Haudenschild – 12.005 seconds
Kistler Racing Products Heat #1: Jamie Veal
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Tim Shaffer
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Caleb Helms
Kistler Racing Products Heat #4: Cole Duncan
JE Pistons Dash: Cole Duncan
Daido Engine Bearings Main Event Winner: Kyle Larson
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Travis Philo
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 5th Place Finisher: Randy Hannagan
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 10th Place Finisher: Rico Abreu
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 15th Place Finisher: T.J. Michael
(Lincoln Electric, Daido Engine Bearings, MSD Performance, Outback Steakhouse; Need decal to qualify for contingency award)
Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions
Cometic Ohio Sprint Speedweek
Atomic Speedway
Chillicothe, OH
Wednesday June 22, 2016
A-Main (30 Laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson[3]; 2. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[2]; 3. 22-Cole Duncan[1]; 4. 49-Tim Shaffer[4]; 5. 11N-Randy Hannagan[12]; 6. 91-Cale Thomas[5]; 7. 21-Cap Henry[7]; 8. 71-Jamie Veal[6]; 9. 17W-Bryan Clauson[8]; 10. 24-Rico Abreu[14]; 11. 11K-Kraig Kinser[15]; 12. 5T-Travis Philo[22]; 13. 10H-Chad Kemenah[11]; 14. 48-Danny Dietrich[16]; 15. 8M-T.J. Michael[13]; 16. 1-Dale Blaney[25]; 17. 4X-Jimmy Stinson[10]; 18. 59N-Bryan Nuckles[23]; 19. 09X-Carson Macedo[17]; 20. A67-Brandon Wimmer[24]; 21. 60-Kory Crabtree[21]; 22. 57X-Andrew Palker[18]; 23. 4S-Danny Smith[26]; 24. 81-Lee Jacobs[27]; 25. 70-Danny Holtgraver[19]; 26. 71M-Paul May[20]; 27. 40-Caleb Helms[9]
B-Main (12 Laps): 1. 60-Kory Crabtree[1]; 2. 5T-Travis Philo[2]; 3. 59N-Bryan Nuckles[4]; 4. A67-Brandon Wimmer[5]; 5. 26-Tayler Malsam[3]; 6. 1-Dale Blaney[7]; 7. 4S-Danny Smith[12]; 8. 35-Stuart Brubaker[6]; 9. 97-Dean Jacobs[9]; 10. 41X-Dominic Scelzi[15]; 11. 17-Josh Baughman[10]; 12. 7C-Taylor Ferns[8]; 13. 22D-Josh Davis[14]; 14. O7-Jacob Wilson[13]; 15. 49H-Bradley Howard[11]; 16. 40I-Mark Imler[16]
C-Main (10 Laps): 1. 41X-Dominic Scelzi[3]; 2. 40I-Mark Imler[1]; 3. 81-Lee Jacobs[4]; 4. 51-Roger Campbell Jr[2]; 5. 12-Daniel Harding[11]; 6. 9J-Jesse McCreary[6]; 7. 25AU-Jack Lee[10]; 8. O8-Brandon Conkel[8]; 9. 35M-Wes McGlumphy[12]; 10. O6-Brandy Bower[7]; 11. 83X-Nate Reeser[9]; 12. AUS96-Andrew Caruana[13]; 13. 3FX-Dean Kester[5]; 14. 37-Mark Coleman[14]
Dash (6 Laps): 1. 22-Cole Duncan[1]; 2. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[3]; 3. 57-Kyle Larson[5]; 4. 49-Tim Shaffer[2]; 5. 91-Cale Thomas[8]; 6. 71-Jamie Veal[4]; 7. 21-Cap Henry[6]; 8. 17W-Bryan Clauson[7]
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Jamie Veal[2]; 2. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[4]; 3. 21-Cap Henry[3]; 4. 8M-T.J. Michael[5]; 5. 09X-Carson Macedo[7]; 6. 60-Kory Crabtree[1]; 7. A67-Brandon Wimmer[10]; 8. 5T-Travis Philo[6]; 9. 26-Tayler Malsam[8]; 10. 25AU-Jack Lee[12]; 11. 59N-Bryan Nuckles[9]; 12. 37-Mark Coleman[11]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps): 1. 49-Tim Shaffer[1]; 2. 57-Kyle Larson[3]; 3. 17W-Bryan Clauson[4]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu[6]; 5. 57X-Andrew Palker[2]; 6. 17-Josh Baughman[8]; 7. 35-Stuart Brubaker[5]; 8. 97-Dean Jacobs[7]; 9. 35M-Wes McGlumphy[12]; 10. O8-Brandon Conkel[11]; 11. 4S-Danny Smith[9]; 12. 3FX-Dean Kester[10]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps): 1. 40-Caleb Helms[2]; 2. 91-Cale Thomas[5]; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah[4]; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser[3]; 5. 70-Danny Holtgraver[7]; 6. 7C-Taylor Ferns[6]; 7. 49H-Bradley Howard[8]; 8. O7-Jacob Wilson[9]; 9. AUS96-Andrew Caruana[12]; 10. 81-Lee Jacobs[10]; 11. 83X-Nate Reeser[11]; 12. 1-Dale Blaney[1]
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Cole Duncan[2]; 2. 4X-Jimmy Stinson[1]; 3. 11N-Randy Hannagan[3]; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich[4]; 5. 71M-Paul May[5]; 6. 41X-Dominic Scelzi[9]; 7. 12-Daniel Harding[12]; 8. 22D-Josh Davis[6]; 9. 40I-Mark Imler[7]; 10. O6-Brandy Bower[11]; 11. 51-Roger Campbell Jr[8]; 12. 9J-Jesse McCreary[10]
Qualifications (2 Laps): 1. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 12.005; 2. 17W-Bryan Clauson, 12.173; 3. 21-Cap Henry, 12.189; 4. 71-Jamie Veal, 12.210; 5. 60-Kory Crabtree, 12.272; 6. 57-Kyle Larson, 12.311; 7. 8M-T.J. Michael, 12.344; 8. 5T-Travis Philo, 12.345; 9. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 12.406; 10. 09X-Carson Macedo, 12.408; 11. 26-Tayler Malsam, 12.443; 12. 59N-Bryan Nuckles, 12.470; 13. 48-Danny Dietrich, 12.496; 14. 57X-Andrew Palker, 12.497; 15. A67-Brandon Wimmer, 12.498; 16. 11N-Randy Hannagan, 12.524; 17. 49-Tim Shaffer, 12.546; 18. 91-Cale Thomas, 12.557; 19. 22-Cole Duncan, 12.560; 20. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 12.564; 21. 24-Rico Abreu, 12.569; 22. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 12.620; 23. 40-Caleb Helms, 12.652; 24. 1-Dale Blaney, 12.736; 25. 7C-Taylor Ferns, 12.742; 26. 4X-Jimmy Stinson, 12.770; 27. 97-Dean Jacobs, 12.779; 28. 17-Josh Baughman, 12.791; 29. 70-Danny Holtgraver, 12.802; 30. 49H-Bradley Howard, 12.805; 31. 71M-Paul May, 12.831; 32. 37-Mark Coleman, 12.832; 33. 4S-Danny Smith, 12.903; 34. O7-Jacob Wilson, 12.938; 35. 22D-Josh Davis, 12.977; 36. 40I-Mark Imler, 12.980; 37. 51-Roger Campbell Jr, 13.045; 38. 41X-Dominic Scelzi, 13.057; 39. 81-Lee Jacobs, 13.079; 40. 3FX-Dean Kester, 13.082; 41. 9J-Jesse McCreary, 13.082; 42. O6-Brandy Bower, 13.091; 43. O8-Brandon Conkel, 13.192; 44. 83X-Nate Reeser, 13.218; 45. 25AU-Jack Lee, 13.264; 46. 12-Daniel Harding, 13.321; 47. 35M-Wes McGlumphy, 13.322; 48. AUS96-Andrew Caruana, 13.510