ATTICA, Ohio – Craig Mintz got revenge on Dale Blaney Friday at Attica Raceway Park.
Last month, Blaney passed Mintz on the last lap for an All Star win at Attica, but this time, it was Mintz who got around Blaney with three laps remaining to take his second win of the season on Sutton Bank Night at Ohio’s Finest Racing speed plant.
Mintz and Blaney battled each other throughout the 30-lap feature which was part of the Kistler Racing Products FAST (Fremont Attica Sprint Title) Championship Series and its season-ending $10,000 championship. Mintz led the opening lap, but Blaney grabbed the lead from laps 2-13. Mintz drove by for the top spot on lap 14 and led until lap 24 when Blaney drove under him in heavy lapped traffic exiting turn four. Blaney, who has two wins at Attica in 2012, would lead from laps 24-27 when Mintz used lapped traffic to grab the lead and went on to his 7th career victory at ARP.
Ironically, Blaney has often said he would rather be running second late in a race in lapped traffic as the leader has to pick the line and the second place car can then capitalize. Mintz did just that!
“It was kind of reversed roles on the All Star show. I can’t take anything away from Dale…he had a very good car, but when you’re racing like we were and I was in second, I could see where the lapped cars go and he moved up a little bit. I saw he was a little faster on the bottom so I figured we’d put our car down there and see if its any better and it was,” said Mintz beside his Reel Geese Decoys, R2C Filters, Erie Shore Propane, Design Graphics Group, Keller Chevrolet, Walby Construction, KS Sales and Service backed machine.
“One of our goals this year was to win another FAST championship (he won the first series title in 2009). We struggled the past couple of years but I’ll tell you what, these GF1 Race Cars (designed by Blaney’s car owner George Fisher)…you can’t take anything away from them,” added Mintz in the Engine Pro Victory Lane.
“I have to thank my Dad, Kevin, Brad, Hoagie, my uncle Earl, my fiancée…she’s not here tonight so she will probably shoot me later but she will get over it,” joked Mintz.
In the Summit Racing Equipment UMP Late Models, Ada, Ohio’s Jon Henry is proving his 14-win season in 2011 was no fluke. The Steel Driver passed Cody Scott on lap five and survived a late race caution to take his second win of the season at Attica and second straight, as he posted a victory at Fremont last Saturday. It was Henry’s 11th career Attica super late model win.
“This car is awesome. I can basically put it any where I want to. We tried some stuff tonight…we were just experimenting a little bit. I have to get the slick program a little bit better and I think we did pretty good tonight. My Dad, Randy, John and Casey…these guys help me put this car together…it helps me a lot having them and all these Dirty Dozen members and Fultz Fabrications. I really appreciate everything they do for me. All these fans out here…it’s good to be back in victory lane. We have three wins now and a second…that’s pretty good. We parked that other car (last year’s) in the corner and got this one out…I think we’re going to stick with this one awhile,” said Henry adding thanks to sponsors JLH General Contractor, William H. Bass Trucking, Reproductive Assistance, Truman Quarter Horses, Re-Deck of Northwest Ohio, Home Savings and Loan, Mike and Sheila Keller, Ron Spencer Real Estate, Automated Transport, Lehman & Lehman, Norada Lanes and APC – the Dirty Dozen.
When Fremont, Ohio’s D.J. Foos took Attica’s Fremont Fence 305 Sprint championship in 2010, he was nearly untouchable, at one point winning four features in a row and five overall at the track that year. Well, don’t look now, but he’s doing it again. Foos led all 25 laps – it wasn’t easy, as Paul Weaver applied heavy pressure as they raced into heavy lapped traffic the final seven laps – to score his fourth win of the season at Attica. If you are keeping score, that’s four out of six races Foos has won. It was his fifth overall in 2012 as he scored a win at Fremont, and his 14th career win at Attica to move him into sixth all-time for the division.
Foos would use the extreme high line to pull away at times, but when he hit traffic and was forced to try other lines…well, he wasn’t nearly as fast.
“I was horrible off the top. I just like to run the top around here because all it is is a big go-kart race. You just keep it nice and straight. When I can’t run the top I’m horrible,” said Foos beside his Buckshot Farms, Pit Stop Carryout, JLH General Contractor, Automatic Fire Protection, Tender Turn Car Wash, Crown Battery, Level Performance backed #11F. “I never saw Paul (Weaver) but if I would have I don’t know what would have happened…I probably would have gassed her up a little more. This is really great to be where we are right now…but in racing, tomorrow or next week we could come out and do absolutely horrible. So we’re just going to feed off of this right now and hopefully maintain,”
Mintz and Blaney would lead the 22-car field to the green for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 410 Sprint 30-lap feature with Mintz grabbing the lead while Blaney and Brian Smith raced to his inside. Blaney would drive under Mintz for the lead on lap two with Smith moving into second the following lap. Blaney, Smith and Mintz would continue to battle until lap 6 when Jody Keegan would spin to bring out the caution. The restart running order was Blaney, Smith, Mintz, Jared Ridge, Byron Reed, Lee Jacobs, Brandon Martin, Critter Malone, Todd Heller and 14th starter Dean Jacobs.
When the green came back out, Smith, who won the very first FAST race at Attica in 2009, was locked into a “David verses Goliath” battle as his used chassis, old motor and used tires tried to take the lead from Blaney with Mintz ready to pounce. Smith’s phenomenal run came to an end on lap 9 as he bounced upside down exiting turn four. Now it was Blaney leading Mintz, Ridge, Reed and Martin. Mintz would use the restart to drive to Blaney’s outside to challenge as that duo pulled away from a heated battle between Ridge and Reed. But it would come to a halt on lap 12 when Mike Linder made hard contact with the outside barrier in turn four.
On the ensuing restart, Mintz would again pressure Blaney and would finally take the top spot on lap 14, but he could not shake Blaney who stayed within striking distance.
Meanwhile Ridge, Reed, Martin, Dean Jacobs and Chris Andrews entertained the crowd in their war for third.
With seven laps to go, Mintz and Blaney, who had pulled away slightly from the rest of the field, raced into lapped traffic. Blaney would use the lapped cars to drive under Mintz exiting turn four to grab the lead on lap 24 while Ridge, Reed and a charging Andrews continued to battle for third.
Mintz didn’t panic…he stayed close to Blaney and then used a lapped car as a pick and drove around Blaney for the lead again with two laps to go. Blaney would continue to race to Mintz’ inside, but could not get the pass as Mintz went on to the victory with Blaney, Andrews, Ridge and 13th starting Bryan Sebetto rounding out the top five.
In the 25 lap late model feature, Curtis Deisenroth and Cody Scott would bring the field to the green, with Scott assuming the lead with Deisenroth racing to his inside while third place starter Henry right on their rear bumpers. Henry would grab second on lap 4 using the extreme bottom groove and immediately raced to Scott’s inside. Henry would drive under Scott exiting turn four coming down to complete the fifth circuit to take the lead. Henry would pull away slightly while 11th starter Rusty Schlenk was one of the few cars to use the high line to rocket into second by lap nine.
Schlenk methodically started to eat away at Henry’s lead as they raced into lapped traffic. A caution on lap 13 for a three car pile-up involving Ky Harper, Rob Anderzack and John Bores, would see Schlenk get caught up and spin trying to avoid the mess in turn three, moving him to the tail. On the restart, Larry Kingseed and Harper would spin in separate incidents. Now, with a clear track, Henry would rocket away from Scott with Deisenroth trying to hold off a charging Ryan Missler and Mike Bores.
Missler would use the high line to take second on lap 17 with Scott, Bores and Deisenroth in pursuit.. The final caution would fly on lap 19 for a Justin Chance spin with the running order Henry, Missler, Scott, Mike Bores and Dan Wallace. On the restart, Bores would drive beside Scott before they were past the restart cone and would be docked two positions at the end of the race.
Meanwhile, Henry, who had spent the entire race hugging the bottom, decided to try the middle groove and it worked to perfection as he pulled away the final five laps for the win. Missler, Wallace, Scott and Mike Bores (after being docked two spots for the restart mistake) would round out the top five.
In the 25-lap 305 sprint feature, Foos and Jimmy Colvin would bring the field to the green with Foos racing side by side with Colvin for the lead while John Ivy grabbed third. Foos and Colvin would wage a spirited battle for the top spot over the next nine laps until they got into lapped traffic on lap 8. Foos was able to pull away slightly from Colvin with Ivy battling Paul Weaver for third. Weaver would drive into second on lap 12.
As Foos and Weaver drove into traffic on lap 15 that was racing two and some times three wide in front of the leaders, Weaver closed quickly for the lead. Colvin, Caleb Griffith, Ivy and Dustin Dinan also made up ground on the lead pair. But once though the heavy traffic, Foos was able to pull away the final four laps to take the win over Weaver, Griffith, Colvin and Ivy.
Attica Raceway Park will be back in action Friday, May 18 for Merrill Lynch/All Pro Aluminum Heads Night. It will be a Kistler Racing Products FAST Championship Series night for the 410 sprints and the first FAST night of the year for the 305 sprints with the UMP late models also in competition. For more information go to www.atticaracewaypark.com.
Attica Raceway Park – 5/11/2012
Sutton Bank Night
O’Reilly Auto Parts 410 Sprints (25 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Heat 1 – Nitro Black Performance by Engine Pro (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 16-Chris Andrews[4] ; 2. O-Lee Jacobs[1] ; 3. 53-Phil Gressman[7] ; 4. 9X-Brandon Martin[6] ; 5. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[3] ; 6. 3-Mike Linder[5] ; 7. 35-Stuart Brubaker[2] ; 8. 3F-Rick Frahley[8]
Heat 2 – Summit Racing Equipment (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 2-Dale Blaney[1] ; 2. O9-Craig Mintz[4] ; 3. 14H-Todd Heller[2] ; 4. 2+-Brian Smith[6] ; 5. 97-Dean Jacobs[5] ; 6. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[3] ; 7. 5T-Travis Philo[7] ; 8. 55-Brad Bowman[8]
Heat 3 – Ultra Shield Race Products (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 12-Jarred Ridge[2] ; 2. 60-Jody Keegan[4] ; 3. 5R-Byron Reed[6] ; 4. 7-Critter Malone[1] ; 5. 14-Chad Wilson[3] ; 6. 45L-Brian Lay[8] ; 7. 1X-Matt Linder[7] ; 8. W20-Greg Wilson[5]
B-Main – Computer Man Inc. (10 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 35-Stuart Brubaker[1] ; 2. 5T-Travis Philo[2] ; 3. 55-Brad Bowman[5] ; 4. W20-Greg Wilson[6] ; 5. 1X-Matt Linder[3] ; 6. 3F-Rick Frahley[4]
A-Main – (30 Laps)
1. O9-Craig Mintz[1]; 2. 2-Dale Blaney[2]; 3. 16-Chris Andrews[9]; 4. 12-Jarred Ridge[4]; 5. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[13]; 6. 5R-Byron Reed[7]; 7. 97-Dean Jacobs[14]; 8. 53-Phil Gressman[12]; 9. 9X-Brandon Martin[8]; 10. W20-Greg Wilson[22]; 11. 7-Critter Malone[5]; 12. 35-Stuart Brubaker[19]; 13. 14H-Todd Heller[10]; 14. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[17]; 15. 14-Chad Wilson[15]; 16. 5T-Travis Philo[20]; 17. 55-Brad Bowman[21]; 18. O-Lee Jacobs[6]; 19. 60-Jody Keegan[11]; 20. 3-Mike Linder[16]; 21. 2+-Brian Smith[3]; 22. 45L-Brian Lay[18]
Hard Charger: W20-Greg Wilson[+12]
Summit Racing Equipment Late Models (25 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Heat 1 – Nitro Black Performance by Engine Pro (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 8-Rob Anderzack[1] ; 2. 2-Justin Chance[3] ; 3. 50Y-Ryan Missler[7] ; 4. 99M-John Mayers Jr.[4] ; 5. X3-Dan Wallace[6] ; 6. 5H-Ernie Haynes[2] ; 7. 1N-Casey Noonan[9] ; 8. 30-Nate Potts[8] ; 9. 42S-Bob Mayer[5]
Heat 2 – Summit Racing Equipment (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 92-Cody Scott[2] ; 2. 36-Matt Irey[3] ; 3. 91-Rusty Schlenk[7] ; 4. 2D-Curtis Deisenroth[1] ; 5. 34-Ky Harper[8] ; 6. O6-Kyle Perry[6] ; 7. 9C-Troy Cattarene[4] ; 8. 56G-BJ Gregory[5]
Heat 3 – Ultra Shield Race Products (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 15B-Mike Bores[2] ; 2. 15-Jon Henry[8] ; 3. 21-Larry Kingseed[1] ; 4. 27-Ken Hahn[3] ; 5. 51-Devin Shiels[6] ; 6. 99-Steve Sabo[4] ; 7. 48-John Bores[7] ; 8. 23C-Jeremy Canada[5]
B-Main – Computer Man Inc. (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 1N-Casey Noonan[4] ; 2. 5H-Ernie Haynes[1] ; 3. 99-Steve Sabo[3] ; 4. 9C-Troy Cattarene[5] ; 5. 48-John Bores[6] ; 6. 56G-BJ Gregory[8] ; 7. 30-Nate Potts[7] ; 8. 23C-Jeremy Canada[9] ; 9. 42S-Bob Mayer[10]
A-Main – (25 Laps)
1. 15-Jon Henry[3]; 2. 50Y-Ryan Missler[8]; 3. X3-Dan Wallace[13]; 4. 92-Cody Scott[2]; 5. 15B-Mike Bores[4]; 6. 1N-Casey Noonan[16]; 7. 2D-Curtis Deisenroth[1]; 8. 9C-Troy Cattarene[19]; 9. 5H-Ernie Haynes[17]; 10. 51-Devin Shiels[15]; 11. 91-Rusty Schlenk[11]; 12. 99-Steve Sabo[18]; 13. 21-Larry Kingseed[9]; 14. 2-Justin Chance[12]; 15. 27-Ken Hahn[6]; 16. 36-Matt Irey[5]; 17. 48-John Bores[20]; 18. 99M-John Mayers Jr.[7]; 19. 8-Rob Anderzack[10]; 20. 34-Ky Harper[14]
Hard Charger: 9C-Troy Cattarene[+11]
Fremont Fence 305 Sprints (26 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Heat 1 – Nitro Black Performance by Engine Pro (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 5-Dustin Dinan[7] ; 2. 40-Caleb Griffith[8] ; 3. 68G-Tyler Gunn[1] ; 4. 19R-Steve Rando[6] ; 5. 39M-Matt Merrill[9] ; 6. 10-Josh Harrison[3] ; 7. 72C-Ross Moore[5] ; 8. 6L-Talon Stephens[2] ; 9. 3B-Jeremy Duposki[4]
Heat 2 – Summit Racing Equipment (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 9-Jimmy Colvin[1] ; 2. 8K-Jon Ivy[3] ; 3. 10X-Dustin Stroup[4] ; 4. 4M-Jamie Miller[6] ; 5. 83X-Nate Reeser[8] ; 6. 13-Junior Felver[7] ; 7. 22D-Dan Hammond[2] ; 8. 94K-Kurt Huber[9] ; 9. 26-Ryan French[5]
Heat 3 – Ultra Shield Race Products (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 1-Nate Dussel[2] ; 2. 11F-D.J. Foos[7] ; 3. 1W-Paul Weaver[4] ; 4. 67M-Matt Ferrell[3] ; 5. 36-Seth Schneider[8] ; 6. 25-Jason Keckler[5] ; 7. 8J-Jess Stiger[1] ; 8. 5R-Jordan Ryan[6]
B-Main – Computer Man Inc. (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 13-Junior Felver[2] ; 2. 25-Jason Keckler[3] ; 3. 22D-Dan Hammond[5] ; 4. 94K-Kurt Huber[8] ; 5. 72C-Ross Moore[4] ; 6. 3B-Jeremy Duposki[10] ; 7. 8J-Jess Stiger[6] ; 8. 10-Josh Harrison[1] ; 9. 26-Ryan French[11] ; 10. 6L-Talon Stephens[7]
A-Main – (25 Laps)
1. 11F-D.J. Foos[1]; 2. 1W-Paul Weaver[9]; 3. 40-Caleb Griffith[7]; 4. 9-Jimmy Colvin[2]; 5. 8K-Jon Ivy[5]; 6. 5-Dustin Dinan[11]; 7. 4M-Jamie Miller[6]; 8. 39M-Matt Merrill[13]; 9. 10X-Dustin Stroup[12]; 10. 36-Seth Schneider[15]; 11. 1-Nate Dussel[10]; 12. 22D-Dan Hammond[18]; 13. 25-Jason Keckler[17]; 14. 83X-Nate Reeser[14]; 15. 72C-Ross Moore[20]; 16. 13-Junior Felver[16]; 17. 68G-Tyler Gunn[3]; 18. 94K-Kurt Huber[19]; 19. 67M-Matt Ferrell[8]; 20. 19R-Steve Rando[4]
Hard Charger: 1W-Paul Weaver[+7]
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