By Brian Liskai
ATTICA, Ohio – Shannon Babb is making the 2012 UMP DIRTcar Summer Nationals Hell Tour championship come down to the last night of the 28-race event. The Moweaqua, Ill. Driver scored his second win in the last three days, taking the lead from race-long leader Frank Heckenast Jr. on a restart with just two laps to go Friday at Attica Raceway Park.
Babb, the 2005, 2006 and 2011 Sumer Nationals champion, rolled into Attica hot last year, taking the victory, his fifth in a row on route to winning nine features during the month of racing. This year, his Attica victory on Summit Racing Equipment/Central Ohio Farmers Night, was his fourth on the Hell Tour and takes his Summer Nationals career total to 75 victories.
Heckenast, Babb and Ryan Unzicker battled side-by-side nearly the last half of the 40-lap feature.
“Frank was probably going to win that one. But when that last caution flew, I drove under him and thought I had him but the caution came back out. On the next restart, he went down to block and I drove to the high side and it worked. That was fun racing with Frank and Ryan (Unzicker). We have been hot this last week, but Brian Shirley has been consistent and deserves to win the championship,” said Babb beside his Petroff Towing/Donley Trucking/All Star Performance/Performance Rod 7 Custom/Hoosier Tire backed #18.
Attica was the 27th stop (only one cancellation) with one race to go, Saturday at Oakshade. The tour had 28 races over 32 days coving eight different states.
Not to be outdone, the Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals made their 27th stop on the tour at Attica with Taylor Cook, formerly of the Toledo, Ohio, but now calling Stanley, N.C. home, leading all 20 laps for his first tour victory.
“It was a long haul up here, but this makes it worth it to get a win in front of a lot of my family and friends. I have to thank my dad and everyone who helps like Lynn Nyler Racing Engines, Wix Filters and Shelley and Mark Advertising,” said Cook in the Engine Pro Victory Lane.
In the Fremont Fence 305 Sprint feature, defending division track champion Nate Dussel grabbed the lead from Jason Keckler on lap 8, then got passed by John Ivy on a lap 19 restart, had to battle with Ivy and D.J. Foos before regaining the lead with five laps to go, and then held off Foos for his second victory of the season at Attica.
“Johnny (Ivy) got me on a restart last week at Fremont. I’ve finished second too many times and I wasn’t going to let that happen again. The car was just great,” said Dussel beside his Berrier Fabrication, Kylynn Mfg., Jeff’s Bar & Grill, Kistler Racing Products, Dussel Welding, Conrad Transport backed #1.
Unzicker and Heckenast would bring the field of 22 to the green for the 40-lap late model feature with Heckenast grabbing the lead while Unzicker held second with sixth starter Scott James blasting into third with Babb and Shirley rounding out the top five. Babb would drive under James for third on lap three while Heckenast pulled away from Unzicker.
After a spirited battle with Unzicker, Babb would drive into second on lap seven, but could not close on Heckenast. Unzicker would catch Babb and the two would continue their battle for the runner-up soot while Jon Henry had moved into fourth, with James, Jeep Van Wormer and Shirley in tow.
But, when Heckenast caught lapped traffic on lap 13, Babb and Unzicker began to close. At the halfway point, Heckenast’s lead was gone and he was forced to fend off repeated challenges from Babb and Unzicker as the trio sliced and diced through traffic. Heckenast caught a break with 10 laps to go as the first caution of the event flew for Matt Miller who lost a drive shaft.
With a clear track now, Heckenast blasted around the top on the restart, but Babb hounded the leader on the bottom with Unzicker racing the middle groove. It only took one lap for the three car battle up front to resume as Heckenast, Babb and Unzicker raced three wide for the lead.
With three laps to go, the caution flew and on the restart, Babb dove to Heckenast’s inside in turns one and two and exited with the lead. Unfortunately the caution flew for a slowing Shirley, who did not stop and retained his fourth running position. This time on the restart, Heckenast went to the bottom to block Babb, but the Moweaqua Missile drove to the top side and around Heckenast for the lead.
As Babb, Heckenast and Unzicker raced to the white, it was still anyone’s victory as they continued to race side by side. Coming to the checkered, Babb would edge Unzicker, Heckenast, Shirley and Henry.
In the UMP Modified 20 lap feature, Cook and Brett Miller would bring the field to the green, but before a lap could be recorded Corey Bevard would stop to bring out the caution. On the second attempt at the start, a multi-car pileup brought about a third try to start the race.
This time the field was able to get a lap in before another caution for Nick Rosselit, with the running order Cook, Bill Keeler, Miller, Kody Weisner, Terry Hull and Eddie Shaner.
When the green reappeared, the race finally found a rhythm with Cook pulling away out front with a good battle for second between Keeler, Weisner, Hull and Miller. Weisner would take second on lap six with Hull moving into third a lap later. Hull and Weisner would battle side by side over the next four laps before Hull would take second on lap 11.
Cook would race smooth on the bottom to continue to lead unchallenged as he raced into lapped traffic on the 13th circuit. Hull would begin to inch closer when the caution flew on lap 16 for Collin Thirlby. But, the young Cook was up to the challenge and hit his marks the last four laps to take the win. Hull, Derrick Noffsinger, Miller and Ryan Odette would round out the top five.
Jason Keckler and Zack Kramer would bring the 305 sprints to the green of their 25-lap feature with Keckler driving into the lead while fourth starter Nate Reeser grabbed second with Dussel racing to his inside and Kramer back to fourth. Dussel would take second on the next circuit, dropping Reeser to third with Kramer, John Ivy and Caleb Griffith in tow. Griffith would blast into third on lap three and closed on Dussel.
Meanwhile Keckler had pulled away slightly as now Dussel, Griffith and Ivy waged a tremendous battle for second. A caution on lap six would bunch up the field and on the restart, Keckler had his hands full with Dussel. Dussel would drive high around Keckler on lap eight to grab the lead with Ivy in third, Griffith back to fourth and 12th starter D.J. Foos into fifth. Griffith would drive into third on lap 11 and take the runner-up spot a lap later.
A Jim Taddeo spin on lap 12 would put Griffith right on Dussel’s rear bumper, but helped Dussel who was just getting ready to catch lapped traffic. On the restart Dussel would blast away at the top cushion while Griffith now had to deal with Ivy for second with Foos up to fourth.
Griffith would spin in turn two on lap 16, handing Ivy the runner-up spot with Foos into third while Keckler, Stuart Brubaker and Dustin Dinan in tow. The final caution would fly on lap 18 for a Jeremy Duposki spin with the running order Dussel, Ivy, Foos, Keckler, Dinan, Brubaker, Jimmy Colvin and Kramer.
On the restart, Ivy would drive under Dussel as they raced side by side down the back stretch. Ivy would actually lead lap 19 before Dussel would drive to his outside in turns one and two to regain the top spot. Ivy and Foos would make it a three car battle for the lead with five circuits remaining with Dinan moving into fourth followed by Keckler, Brubaker, Colvin and Dustin Stroup.
Dussel flirted with disaster several times, slamming the big cushion hard in turn four, but was able to gather it back up and continue to lead. Foos would take second on lap 21, but could not get a good run under Dussel to grab the lead. Dussel would drive to his fifth career Attica win with Foos, Ivy, Brubaker and Dinan rounding out the top five.
Attica Raceway Park will be back in action Friday, July 20 for Christmas in July presented by Smith Family Foods and Quality Welding. It will be a Kistler Racing Products Fremont Attica Sprint Title (FAST) Championship Series event for the 410 and 305 sprints with the UMP Late Models also in action.
For more information go to www.atticaracewaypark.com
Attica Raceway Park – 7/13/2012
Central Ohio Farmers/ Summit Racing Equipment Night
Summit Racing Equipment Late Models (54 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Heat 1 – Nitro Black Performance by Engine Pro (10 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 18-Shannon Babb[1] ; 2. 81-Scott James[2] ; 3. 5M-Ryan Markham[3] ; 4. 1S-Rusty Schlenk[11] ; 5. 92-Cody Scott[9] ; 6. 27-Nick Bartels[4] ; 7. 27H-Ken Hahn[7] ; 8. 71-Dave Hornikel[8] ; 9. 69-John Mayes Jr[6] ; 10. 83-Tim Sabo[5] ; 11. O3-Jim Gingery[10]
Heat 2 – Summit Racing Equipment (10 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[1] ; 2. 55-Jeep Van Wormer[3] ; 3. 6M-Dona Marcoullier[4] ; 4. 88-Andrew Reaume[2] ; 5. OO7-Rick Bond[7] ; 6. 36-Matt Irey[9] ; 7. X3-Dan Wallace[10] ; 8. 5H-Ernie Haynes[8] ; 9. 48B-John Bores[5] ; 10. 21-Larry Kingseed[6] ; 11. OO-Chris Keller[11]
Heat 3 – Ultra Shield Race Products (10 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 3S-Brian Shirley[2] ; 2. 25-Jason Feger[1] ; 3. 7L-Jerry Lierly[5] ; 4. 75-Dusty Moore[4] ; 5. 15B-Mike Bores[3] ; 6. 20J-Jerry Bowersock[10] ; 7. 40M-Wayne Maffett Jr[7] ; 8. 29-Rocky Owens[6] ; 9. 30J-Kathy Jarvis[8] ; 10. 151-Jason Hinton[9]
Heat 4 – Bell Racing Products (10 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 24-Ryan Unzicker[1] ; 2. 50Y-Ryan Missler[2] ; 3. 1B-Jeff Babcock[3] ; 4. 2-Justin Chance[5] ; 5. 81JR-Jason Riggs[9] ; 6. 34-Ky Harpere[8] ; 7. 555-Justin Coulter[4] ; 8. 71E-Pat Ehlert[10] ; 9. O6-Kyle Perry[6] ; 10. 56-BJ Gregory[7]
Heat 5 – Heat 5 (10 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 15H-Jon Henry[2] ; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard[1] ; 3. 77M-Jason McBride[3] ; 4. 51S-Devin Shiels[4] ; 5. 29K-Garrett Krummert[5] ; 6. 1N-Casey Noonan[6] ; 7. 30-Nate Potts[10] ; 8. 99-Steve Sabo[9] ; 9. 3-Matt Miller[7] ; 10. O1-Brandon Perkins[8]
C-Main – Computer Man Inc (10 Laps – Top 2 finishers transfer to the b-feature)
1. 27-Nick Bartels[1] ; 2. 20j-Jerry Bowersock[2] ; 3. x3-Dan Wallace[4] ; 4. 29-Rocky Owens[7] ; 5. 1n-Casey Noonan[3] ; 6. 89-Mike Spatola[15] ; 7. 99-Steve Sabo[8] ; 8. o1-Brandon Perkins[13] ; 9. o6-Kyle Perry[10] ; 10. 151-Jason Hinton[12] ; 11. 71-Dave Hornikel[6] ; 12. 555-Justin Coulter[5]
C-Main – Computer Man Inc. (10 Laps – Top 2 finishers transfer to the B-feature)
1. 30-Nate Potts[5] ; 2. 34-Ky Harpere[2] ; 3. 3-Matt Miller[10] ; 4. 40m-Wayne Maffett Jr[4] ; 5. 27h-Ken Hahn[3] ; 6. 69-John Mayes Jr[8] ; 7. 71e-Pat Ehlert[7] ; 8. 21-Larry Kingseed[11] ; 9. 56-BJ Gregory[12] ; 10. o3-Jim Gingery[13] ; 11. 5h-Ernie Haynes[6] ; 12. 36-Matt Irey[1]
B-Main – Computer Man Inc. (12 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 1s-Rusty Schlenk[1] ; 2. 88-Andrew Reaume[2] ; 3. 2-Justin Chance[4] ; 4. 75-Dusty Moore[3] ; 5. 29k-Garrett Krummert[10] ; 6. 81jr-Jason Riggs[9] ; 7. 92-Cody Scott[6] ; 8. 20j-Jerry Bowersock[13] ; 9. 51s-Devin Shiels[5] ; 10. 30-Nate Potts[12] ; 11. oo7-Rick Bond[7] ; 12. 27-Nick Bartels[11] ; 13. 15b-Mike Bores[8] ; 14. 34-Ky Harpere[14]
A-Main – (40 Laps)
1. 18-Shannon Babb[3]; 2. 24-Ryan Unzicker[1]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[2]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 5. 15H-Jon Henry[5]; 6. 81-Scott James[6]; 7. 1-Brandon Sheppard[10]; 8. 77M-Jason McBride[15]; 9. 50Y-Ryan Missler[9]; 10. 25-Jason Feger[8]; 11. 1S-Rusty Schlenk[16]; 12. 55-Jeep Van Wormer[7]; 13. 89-Mike Spatola[19]; 14. 5M-Ryan Markham[11]; 15. 6M-Dona Marcoullier[12]; 16. 88-Andrew Reaume[17]; 17. 7L-Jerry Lierly[13]; 18. 2-Justin Chance[18]; 19. 3-Matt Miller[20]; 20. 1B-Jeff Babcock[14]; 21. 15B-Mike Bores[21]; 22. 27-Nick Bartels[22]
Hard Charger: 77M-Jason McBride[+7]
Fremont Fence 305 Sprints (23 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Heat 1 – Nitro Black Performance by Engine Pro (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 35-Stuart Brubaker[1] ; 2. 4X-John Ivy[2] ; 3. 40-Caleb Griffith[7] ; 4. 25-Jason Keckler[3] ; 5. 19R-Steve Rando[6] ; 6. 10X-Dustin Stroup[8] ; 7. 36-Seth Schneider[4] ; 8. 5R-Jordan Ryan[5]
Heat 2 – Summit Racing Equipment (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 9-Jimmy Colvin[1] ; 2. 1-Nate Dussel[5] ; 3. 68G-Tyler Gunn[4] ; 4. 4M-Jamie Miller[2] ; 5. 39-Matt Merrill[8] ; 6. 72C-Ross Moore[6] ; 7. 22D-Dan Hammond[7] ; 8. 8J-Jess Stiger[3]
Heat 3 – Ultra Shield Race Products (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 5-Dustin Dinan[2] ; 2. 11F-D.J. Foos[5] ; 3. 8B-Zack Kramer[7] ; 4. 83X-Nate Reeser[3] ; 5. 4T-Jim Taddeo[1] ; 6. 13D-Jeremy Duposki[6] ; 7. 6L-Talon Stephens[4]
A-Main – (25 Laps)
1. 1-Nate Dussel[3]; 2. 11F-D.J. Foos[12]; 3. 4X-John Ivy[5]; 4. 35-Stuart Brubaker[10]; 5. 5-Dustin Dinan[6]; 6. 9-Jimmy Colvin[11]; 7. 10X-Dustin Stroup[16]; 8. 25-Jason Keckler[1]; 9. 68G-Tyler Gunn[9]; 10. 36-Seth Schneider[19]; 11. 19R-Steve Rando[13]; 12. 8B-Zack Kramer[2]; 13. 22D-Dan Hammond[20]; 14. 8J-Jess Stiger[22]; 15. 83X-Nate Reeser[4]; 16. 72C-Ross Moore[17]; 17. 4T-Jim Taddeo[15]; 18. 40-Caleb Griffith[8]; 19. 39-Matt Merrill[14]; 20. 13D-Jeremy Duposki[18]; 21. 6L-Talon Stephens[21]; 22. 4M-Jamie Miller[7]
Hard Charger: 11F-D.J. Foos[+10]
Summit Racing Equipment Modifieds (20 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Heat 1 – Nitro Black Performance by Engine Pro (8 Laps – Top 7 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 21-Taylor Cook[1] ; 2. 20K-Bill Keeler[5] ; 3. 31J-Ray Jackson[4] ; 4. K9-Scott Gerdeman[3] ; 5. 29-Gary Pope[6] ; 6. 55S-Zachary Schroeder[2] ; 7. 71E-Pat Ehlert[7]
Heat 2 – Summit Racing Equipment (8 Laps – Top 7 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 47-Collin Thirlby[2] ; 2. o1-Ryan Odette[3] ; 3. 1-Kody Weisner[6] ; 4. 8X-Brett Miller[7] ; 5. 15-Nick Katterhenry[5] ; 6. I1-Tom Ordway[4] ; 7. 55H-Jeremy Hoenie[1]
Heat 3 – Ultra Shield Race Products (8 Laps – Top 7 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger[3] ; 2. 67-Eddie Shaner[2] ; 3. 40-Terry Hull[4] ; 4. 8C-Corey Bevard[6] ; 5. 47R-Nick Rosselit[5] ; 6. 6-Dave Sibberson[1]
A-Main – (25 Laps)
1. 21-Taylor Cook[1]; 2. 40-Terry Hull[6]; 3. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger[5]; 4. 8X-Brett Miller[2]; 5. o1-Ryan Odette[11]; 6. I1-Tom Ordway[17]; 7. 20K-Bill Keeler[3]; 8. K9-Scott Gerdeman[8]; 9. 47R-Nick Rosselit[15]; 10. 71E-Pat Ehlert[19]; 11. 55H-Jeremy Hoenie[20]; 12. 47-Collin Thirlby[9]; 13. 15-Nick Katterhenry[14]; 14. 1-Kody Weisner[4]; 15. 67-Eddie Shaner[7]; 16. 6L-Eddie Shaner[18]; 17. 31J-Ray Jackson[10]; 18. 55S-Zachary Schroeder[16]; 19. 8C-Corey Bevard[12]; 20. 29-Gary Pope[13]
Hard Charger: I1-Tom Ordway[+11]
©2012 – Results Provided by: Computer Man Inc. Fremont, OH