By Brian Liskai
ATTICA, Ohio – Carson Macedo finally got the monkey off his back at Attica Raceway Park. The past couple of years the Lemoore, California driver looked on his way to an Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions feature win at “Ohio’s Finest Racing” speed plant only to have a mechanical issue. It all came together Saturday, Sept. 1 as he claimed the Dirt Classic Ohio victory in dominating fashion to close out the 2018 season at Attica Raceway Park on All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Night.
Macedo took the lead from Cale Thomas on lap two and then lost it to Craig Mintz – who ironically put Macedo in a second team car to come to Ohio a few years ago – in heavy lapped traffic on lap 9. He regained the lead on a restart on lap 10 only to see Mintz challenge again in lapped traffic at the half-way point. Once he cleared traffic, his only challenge would come with six laps to go on a restart. Macedo pulled away in the Tim and Cindy Norman, Joe Gaerte owned machine to score his fourth All Star win of 2018. It was his fifth career series win. It was Macedo’s second career win at Attica.
“This is one of the hardest places in the world to win at in my opinion. There’s so many good local guys…they have a lot of talent. We’ve been so fast here in previous All Star shows we’ve just had bad luck or things happen that set us back. To get the win for my guys, Joe Gaerte, Eric Slade with Slade Shocks, Tim and Cindy Norman and all my sponsors…it’s definitely a team effort. I have a blast driving their car and I’m looking forward to the rest of the All Star season,” Macedo said beside his Tarlton and Son, Southern Pacific Farms, Eagle Ignition Leads, Shepherd Chevrolet, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions backed machine.
“It was really cool to battle with Craig (Mintz). He gave me a shot out here in Ohio before anyone else did…he put me in a race car and allowed me to get some laps around these places and gave me seat time and confidence. I’m for ever grateful to him and his dad Les…they are awesome people,” added Macedo. “Thanks to all the fans…what a great turn out.”
For Thomas, who scored his first ever All Star win at Attica earlier in the year, a runner-up finish – while frustrating – was rewarding.
“Carson had the top rolling really good and congrats to that team. They have always been fast here. We had a fast car tonight. We were battling with Carson for the lead at the beginning and I kind of protected there…I knew he was going to slide me and I got in those ruts in one and bounced off the track. I thought I was going way back but luckily I kept it under me and kept going and fell back to fifth and picked guys off in lapped traffic. In those long runs I was really good. I didn’t need those restarts until that last one. I tried to scare him on the top and tried to get him all tight and he kind of did but he was jus really fast,” said Thomas beside his Engler Machine & Tool, Ohio Heating, Milhone Motorsports, Factory Kahne, Indy Race Parts, SFE Services, J&J Racing backed #91.
Friday night’s winner Tim Shaffer battled among the top five the entire 40 laps and came home third.
“In qualifying I really messed up. I didn’t run the car where I need to run and that’s all it takes…to be off a little bit. In the heat race I was just hoping to transfer but to get second and put us in the dash was a big help to put us back into a position to give us a chance. We just came up short tonight and were a little too snug. At the end of the day it was a good run,” said Shaffer of his Rudzik Excavating, RPM Chassis, FK Rod Ends, Smith Titanium backed machine.
It looked like former Attica champion Jamie Miller had his third Fremont Fence 305 win of the year in the books but when a lapped car tumbled in front of him and he spun off the high side of turn four it opened the door to the rest of the field. Fremont, Ohio’s Paul Weaver took advantage of a very rare mistake from John Ivy to take the lead with just three laps to go and drove to his fifth win of the year at Attica. The 2018 track champion now has 48 wins at Attica to sit atop the division all-time win list.
“Jamie Miller had us covered until he got in that deal. I couldn’t race the top and John (Ivy) was good up there. All I could hope for was he would make a mistake and he did when he slid off turn two. I always say some times it’s better to be lucky and we were very lucky tonight. It’s been a very good year,” said Weaver of his Hampshire Engines, M&L Excavating, Seagate Sandblasting, Miller Rigging, Weaver Performance Center, Schiets Motorsports backed #1W.
Macedo and Thomas brought the field to green for the 40 lap All Star feature with Thomas leading the first circuit over Macedo, Mintz, Lee Jacobs and Cap Henry. Thomas slid off the high side of the turn two exit on lap two and Macedo drove into the lead with Mintz, Jacobs and Henry in tow as Thomas fell back to fifth. With seven laps scored Macedo prepared to enter heavy lapped traffic and Mintz closed quickly.
Mintz drove under Macedo for the top spot on lap nine just before Stuart Brubaker tumbled while battling for sixth. On the restart Macedo executed a slider for the lead with a tremendous battle ensuing for third involving Jacobs, Thomas and Henry. Broc Martin spun with 11 laps scored and when the green flew so did Macedo, pulling away to a commanding lead over Mintz, Thomas, Jacobs, Henry and Shaffer.
By lap 17 Macedo had once again found the back of the field and that allowed Mintz to close again. But, Macedo held his composure and picked the lapped cars off and started to pull away with 14 laps to go. Mintz experienced some sort of mechanical issues by lap 30 and started to fall through the pack as Thomas took second with Shaffer up to third and Jacobs in fourth. With nine laps remaining Macedo had built his lead to nearly four seconds over Thomas.
Mintz would coast to a stop with six laps to go with the running order Macedo, Thomas, Shaffer, Jacobs and Henry. On the ensuing restart Macedo bobbled a little on the turn two cushion but Thomas could not take advantage. Macedo drove away for the win over Thomas, Shaffer, Jacobs, and Henry.
Matt Lucius and Jamie Miller brought the field to green for the 25-lap 305 A-main with Miller jumping into the lead and pulling away. Behind him though was a great battle involving Lucius, Ivy, Steve Rando and Weaver. Following a lap four caution for Shane Call, Miller again pulled away as Ivy moved into second though he had his hands full with Rando and Weaver.
Miller built up a substantial lead as he entered lapped traffic by the 10th circuit when disaster struck. Call would spin and tip over right in front of Miller who flew off the high side of turn four, handing the lead to Ivy. On the restart Ivy had to fend off several challenges from Rando and Weaver when the caution flew for fourth place running Tyler Street with 11 laps to go. When the green flew for the final time Ivy continued to lead with Weaver taking second on lap 17.
With three laps to go Ivy slipped off the high side of turn two and Weaver drove under for the lead and would go on to take the win over Ivy, Rando, Kyle Capodice and Bobby Clark.
The Attica Raceway Park awards banquet will be held Nov. 10 at the Attica Fairgrounds.
For more information go to www.atticaracewaypark.com or follow the track on Twitter @atticaracewyprk or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/atticaracewaypark and Instagram at attica_raceway_park.
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Attica Raceway Park
Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Night
Starting Position [*]
Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions
Qualifying
Group (A)
1. 3G-Carson Macedo, 12.450; 2. 4-Brock Zearfoss, 12.633; 3. 5T-Travis Philo, 12.665; 4. 70-Dave Blaney, 12.698; 5. 8M-TJ Michael, 12.712; 6. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 12.808; 7. 5R-Byron Reed, 12.931; 8. 49-Shawn Dancer, 13.296; 9. 22-Brandon Spithaler, NT
Group (B)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 12.315; 2. 71-Gio Scelzi, 12.363; 3. 16-Chris Andrews, 12.494; 4. 91-Cale Thomas, 12.629; 5. 23-DJ Foos, 12.713; 6. 22C-Cole Duncan, 12.771; 7. 57X-Andrew Palker, 13.023; 8. 4H-Tracy Hines, 13.033; 9. 46AU-Stuart Williams, 13.631
Group (C)
1. 35b-Stuart Brubaker, 12.295; 2. 13-Paul McMahan, 12.466; 3. 97-Broc Martin, 12.523; 4. O9-Craig Mintz, 12.610; 5. 49x-Tim Shaffer, 12.669; 6. 4K-Kody Kinser, 12.859; 7. 7K-Cale Conley, 12.895; 8. 20i-Kesley Ivy, 13.288
Group (D)
1. 11n-Parker Price-Miller, 12.270; 2. 81-Lee Jacobs, 12.455; 3. 4L-Cap Henry, 12.476; 4. 11-Ryan Smith, 12.572; 5. 97G-Hunter Schuerenberg, 12.628; 6. 35-Tyler Esh, 12.715; 7. 22M-Dan McCarron, 12.903; 8. 9Z-Duane Zablocki, 12.968
Heat #1 – Group (A) (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 5T-Travis Philo [2]; 2. 3G-Carson Macedo [4]; 3. 70-Dave Blaney [1]; 4. 4-Brock Zearfoss [3]; 5. 22-Brandon Spithaler [9]; 6. 10H-Chad Kemenah [6]; 7. 5R-Byron Reed [7]; 8. 49-Shawn Dancer [8]; 9. 8M-TJ Michael [5]
Heat #2 – Group (B) (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 91-Cale Thomas [1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 3. 71-Gio Scelzi [3]; 4. 16-Chris Andrews [2]; 5. 23-DJ Foos [5]; 6. 22C-Cole Duncan [6]; 7. 57X-Andrew Palker [7]; 8. 4H-Tracy Hines [8]
Heat #3 – Group (C) (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. O9-Craig Mintz [1]; 2. 49X-Tim Shaffer [5]; 3. 97-Broc Martin [2]; 4. 13-Paul McMahan [3]; 5. 35B-Stuart Brubaker [4]; 6. 7K-Cale Conley [7]; 7. 4K-Kody Kinser [6]; 8. 20I-Kesley Ivy [8]
Heat #4 – Group (D) (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 4L-Cap Henry [2]; 2. 81-Lee Jacobs [3]; 3. 11N-Parker Price-Miller [4]; 4. 97G-Hunter Schuerenberg [5]; 5. 35-Tyler Esh [6]; 6. 22M-Dan McCarron [7]; 7. 11-Ryan Smith [1]; 8. 9Z-Duane Zablocki [8]
Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 3G-Carson Macedo [1]; 2. O9-Craig Mintz [2]; 3. 49X-Tim Shaffer [3]; 4. 5T-Travis Philo [4]; 5. 11N-Parker Price-Miller [5]
Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 91-Cale Thomas [2]; 2. 81-Lee Jacobs [1]; 3. 4L-Cap Henry [4]; 4. 35B-Stuart Brubaker [3]; 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel [5]
B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 11-Ryan Smith [1]; 2. 22C-Cole Duncan [3]; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah [4]; 4. 8M-TJ Michael [2]; 5. 57X-Andrew Palker [9]; 6. 5R-Byron Reed [8]; 7. 7K-Cale Conley [5]; 8. 49-Shawn Dancer [13]; 9. 9Z-Duane Zablocki [10]; 10. 22M-Dan McCarron [6]; 11. 20I-Kesley Ivy [12]; 12. 4K-Kody Kinser [7]; 13. 4H-Tracy Hines [11]
A-Main (40 Laps)
1. 3G-Carson Macedo [1]; 2. 91-Cale Thomas [2]; 3. 49X-Tim Shaffer [5]; 4. 81-Lee Jacobs [4]; 5. 4L-Cap Henry [6]; 6. 71-Gio Scelzi [11]; 7. 5T-Travis Philo [7]; 8. 87-Aaron Reutzel [10]; 9. 13-Paul McMahan [14]; 10. 4-Brock Zearfoss [17]; 11. 11N-Parker Price-Miller [9]; 12. 22C-Cole Duncan [21]; 13. 11-Ryan Smith [23]; 14. 97G-Hunter Schuerenberg [16]; 15. 10H-Chad Kemenah [22]; 16. 23-DJ Foos [18]; 17. 16-Chris Andrews [15]; 18. 8M-TJ Michael [24]; 19. 22-Brandon Spithaler [20]; 20. O9-Craig Mintz [3]; 21. 70-Dave Blaney [13]; 22. 97-Broc Martin [12]; 23. 35-Tyler Esh [19]; 24. 35B-Stuart Brubaker [8]
Hard Charger: 11-Ryan Smith +10
305 Sprints – Fremont Fence
Heat 1 – (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 4*-Tyler Street[1] ; 2. 83-Shane Call[6] ; 3. 1J-Jeremy Shambaugh[2] ; 4. 47-Matt Lucius[4] ; 5. X-Mike Keegan[5] ; 6. 29-Kyle Farmer[7] ; 7. 28-Tad Peck[8] ; 8. 21-Larry Kingseed Jr[3]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps top 5 to A)
1. 26-Jamie Miller[2] ; 2. 77I-John Ivy[5] ; 3. 11G-Luke Griffith[1] ; 4. 1W-Paul Weaver[7] ; 5. 14-Luke Daugherty[4] ; 6. 75-Jerry Dahms[3] ; 7. 09-Justin Adams[8] ; 8. 7M-Brandon Moore[6]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 8-Bobby Clark[6] ; 2. 19R-Steve Rando[5] ; 3. 25-Jason Keckler[3] ; 4. 12-Kyle Capodice[1] ; 5. 4T-James Taddeo[7] ; 6. 88N-Frank Neill[4] ; 7. 1H-Zeth Sabo[2] ; 8. 61-Chuck May[8]
B-Main 1 – (10 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 29-Kyle Farmer[1] ; 2. 09-Justin Adams[5] ; 3. 75-Jerry Dahms[2] ; 4. 7M-Brandon Moore[9] ; 5. 88N-Frank Neill[3] ; 6. 1H-Zeth Sabo[6] ; 7. 28-Tad Peck[4] ; 8. 21-Larry Kingseed Jr[7] ; 9. 61-Chuck May[8]
A-Main 1 – (25 Laps)
1. 1W-Paul Weaver[6] ; 2. 77I-John Ivy[3] ; 3. 19R-Steve Rando[4] ; 4. 12-Kyle Capodice[9] ; 5. 8-Bobby Clark[7] ; 6. 4T-James Taddeo[15] ; 7. 11G-Luke Griffith[10] ; 8. 25-Jason Keckler[12] ; 9. X-Mike Keegan[13] ; 10. 7M-Brandon Moore[19] ; 11. 09-Justin Adams[17] ; 12. 4*-Tyler Street[5] ; 13. 29-Kyle Farmer[16] ; 14. 14-Luke Daugherty[14] ; 15. 1J-Jeremy Shambaugh[11] ; 16. 88N-Frank Neill[20] ; 17. 75-Jerry Dahms[18] ; 18. 26-Jamie Miller[2] ; 19. 47-Matt Lucius[1] ; 20. 83-Shane Call[8]
Hard Charger: 4T-James Taddeo +9