From Brian Liskai
FREMONT, Ohio (May 22, 2021) – Fremont Speedway’s defending 410 track champion Nate Dussel and his George Dussel team have had their ups and downs this season, but they put it all together Saturday, May 22 on Gressman Powersports/Level Performance Night. After a poor heat race performance, Dussel’s crew went to work and it paid off as he held off DJ Foos and Cole Macedo in a thriller for his 26th career victory at “The Track That Action Built.”
“It’s been a frustrating year. I feel like we just can’t quite find the drive this car had. I don’t know if it’s tires or what. These guys worked their tails off…we changed everything after that heat…you saw how terrible we were. Night and day difference. Holding off DJ (Foos)…he’s been electric here. I know Bill and Cathy (Berrier) are watching at home because this is on The Cushion which is awesome. This is dedicated to them. They are going through hell. We just want them to know we are always thinking about them…although we aren’t there fighting beside them we are fighting with them with our prayers. Also Scott Gressman has been a huge supporter of George Dussel Racing for a really long time and Scott and Josh are people I consider close friends and it’s great to have them here tonight,” said Dussel beside his Northwest Installation/Industrial Movers, S&S Hauling and Excavating, Fausey Farms, JRC Transportation, Berrier Custom Fabrication, Kistler Engines, NuFarm, Al Davis Carpet, Real Geese Decoys, A Plus Auto Center, Box 7, Speedways Bar & Grille, DGGI, Wurtec, Wonderly Carpet Care, All Star Performance, Keizer Wheels, BRS, Kistler Racing Products backed #1.
The Fremont Federal Credit Union 305 Sprints put on two fantastic features – a make-up from the Pub 400 Night season opener and the regular night’s feature. In the make-up feature Fremont’s Dustin Stroup took advantage of a little mistake from race-long leader Logan Riehl to grab the lead on lap 18 and held off Alvin Roepke on a restart with just three laps to go to earn his third victory of the season and fifth career win.
“I just drove it as hard as I could down on the bottom on that restart. I knew exactly where he (Roepke) was going to be on the restart…this is his type of race track. So last couple of laps I just buried it down on the bottom. Then that last lap I saw him under me and I protected the bottom in three and four. Fremont wasn’t my best track…we did better at Attica, but we have something figured out here,” said Stroup of his Automatic Fire Protection, MLP Lawncare & Snow Removal, Vantage Branding, Level Performance, Advance Auto Parts #10x.
In the night’s regular feature, Roepke took the lead from Jamie Miller on lap eight and survived a couple of restarts to drive to his 10th career Fremont win.
“The car was pretty good all night. I think we had the wrong gear in that first feature. It’s neat to win on Level/Gressman night because we have a Dennis Level motor in this thing and my good buddy Joe Darmofal has been sponsoring race cars for 40 years and he’s here tonight. This motor was last rebuilt in 2017 and we freshened it up this year and it really helped. I’m so tickled pink to be in victory lane at Fremont Speedway,” said Roepke beside his Darmofal Racing/Fremont Auto Parts/NAPA backed #99.
Three time Burmeister Trophy Dirt Truck track champion Shawn Valenti has won twice already in 2021. But Saturday he had to work for his third and he had to start 11th and then battle with his teammate Jeff Babcock, finally taking the lead with just four laps to go to earn his 64th career Fremont win. He is just 12 victories away from tying Art Ball for the track’s all-time win lead.
“I tried to bide my time getting up through there and finally got some traffic opened up and was able to get a run on Jeffrey. Pretty awesome to race my teammate…I always know he’s going to race me clean. This truck has been good for all these years,” said Valenti beside his Best Performance Motorsports, A Plus Auto Center, Craig Miller Trucking, KS Sales & Service, Gressman Powersports, Dave Story Equipment, Speedways Bar and Grill backed #7B.
Dussel and Duane Zablocki brought the field to green for the 30 lap A-main for the Fort Ball Pizza Palace 410 Sprints with Dussel taking the lead. Just two laps in and the battle for second was entertaining involving John Ivy, DJ Foos and Zablocki. Following a quick caution, Dussel maintained his lead with Foos now moving into second and Cole Macedo taking third.
Dussel found the back of the field on lap nine and Foos and Macedo quickly closed. Macedo took second on lap 14 and drove to Dussel’s outside to challenge. With just eight laps to go, Macedo had a run on Dussel but a lapped car held up him and Dussel was able to lengthen his advantage. With six laps to go Dussel had a bit of a clear track and began to build a two second lead.
Meanwhile Foos rebounded and regained second on lap 26 and began to chew into Dussel’s lead. As they drove to the white flag Foos was a car length behind Dussel. Dussel hit his marks perfectly and took the win over Foos, Macedo, Zablocki and Stuart Brubaker.
In the make-up 305 A-main, pole-sitter Logan Riehl jumped into the early lead over Stroup, Valenti and Matt Foos. Riehl, last season’s rookie of the year, built a sizeable lead but cautions on laps four, nine and 10 kept the field close. The car on the move was 13th starter Roepke who had moved into third by lap 12.
With seven laps to go Riehl bobbled on the cushion in turn four and Stroup pounced, grabbing the lead with Roepke moving into second. Just as Stroup was set to enter lapped traffic with three laps to go a caution gave him a clear track. Roepke drove to Stroup’s inside on the restart but the leader was able to fend off the challenge. Roepke repeated the move after taking the white flag but Stroup blocked the line perfectly and drove to the win. Roepke, Foos, Jamie Miller and Riehl rounded out the top five.
In the regular 25-lap A-main for the Fremont Federal Credit Union 305 Sprints Miller grabbed the early lead over Roepke, Jimmy McGrath, Mike Keegan and Riehl. A caution on lap four bunched up the field and on the restart Roepke used his patented bottom line to drive into the lead. Roepke quickly built a two second lead by lap 12 with Miller, McGrath, Riehl and Stroup in pursuit.
A caution with 10 laps to go wiped out Roepke’s lead but gave him an open track which he used to his advantage to once again build a two second lead with five laps to go. Miller and McGrath put on a battle for second, trading the spot several times. Roepke drove to the win over McGrath, Miller, Stroup and a charging Brandon Moore.
Dustin Keegan and Cory Ward brought the field to green for the 20-lap A-main for the Burmeister Trophy Dirt Trucks with Keegan taking the lead while Steve Sabo drove into second. Sabo took the lead a circuit later bringing Jim Holcomb into second with Ward, Kyle Lagrou and Dan Henning in pursuit.
Lagrou moved into second on lap seven just as the caution flew. On the restart Sabo maintained the lead with a great battle for second involving Lagrou, Holcomb, Babcock and Jamie Miller. Babcock took third on lap nine and drove into second a lap later. With nine laps to go there were battles throughout the field with Sabo trying to hold off Babcock while Miller, Holcomb and Valenti battled for third.
Babcock took the lead on lap 12 just before a debris caution. On lap 14 after another caution restart, Valenti took third and a lap later drove into second. Valenti edged Babcock for the lead on lap 16 just before a caution. On the restart Valenti was able to pull away for the win over Babcock, Miller, Holcomb and Lagrou.
Fremont Speedway
Fremont, Ohio
Saturday, May 22, 2021
410 Sprints – Fort Ball Pizza Palace
Qualifying
1.18-Cole Macedo, 13.044; 2.1-Nate Dussel, 13.168; 3.9Z-Duane Zablocki, 13.236; 4.35-Stuart Brubaker, 13.244; 5.23-Chris Andrews, 13.274; 6.16-DJ Foos, 13.291; 7.27s-John Ivy, 13.348; 8.12-Kyle Capodice, 13.520; 9.7T-Troy Vaccaro, 13.618; 10.14-Chad Wilson, 13.651; 11.2L-Landon Lalonde, 13.916; 12.20-Danial Burkhart, 14.628; 13.88N-Frank Neil, 14.637; 14.29-Zeth Sabo, 14.693; 15.312-Jim Linder, 99.999; 16.2+-Brian Smith, 99.999;
Heat 1, Group A – (8 Laps)
1. 16-DJ Foos[1] ; 2. 23-Chris Andrews[2] ; 3. 35-Stuart Brubaker[3] ; 4. 27s-John Ivy[5] ; 5. 1-Nate Dussel[4] ; 6. 12-Kyle Capodice[6] ; 7. 7T-Troy Vaccaro[7] ; 8. 312-Jim Linder[8]
Heat 2, Group B – (8 Laps)
1. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[3] ; 2. 18-Cole Macedo[4] ; 3. 2L-Landon Lalonde[1] ; 4. 2+-Brian Smith[8] ; 5. 14-Chad Wilson[2] ; 6. 88N-Frank Neil[6] ; 7. 29-Zeth Sabo[7] ; 8. 20-Danial Burkhart[5]
A-Main 1 – (30 Laps)
1. 1-Nate Dussel[1] ; 2. 16-DJ Foos[4] ; 3. 18-Cole Macedo[7] ; 4. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[2] ; 5. 35-Stuart Brubaker[6] ; 6. 2+-Brian Smith[5] ; 7. 27s-John Ivy[3] ; 8. 12-Kyle Capodice[9] ; 9. 2L-Landon Lalonde[10] ; 10. 23-Chris Andrews[8] ; 11. 88N-Frank Neil[12] ; 12. 14-Chad Wilson[11] ; 13. 29-Zeth Sabo[14] ; 14. 7T-Troy Vaccaro[13] ; 15. 20-Danial Burkhart[16] ; 16. 312-Jim Linder[15]
Hard Charger: 18-Cole Macedo +4
305 Sprints – Fremont Federal Credit Union
Qualifying
1.10X-Dustin Stroup, 13.946; 2.X-Mike Keegan, 14.023; 3.28-Shawn Valenti, 14.034; 4.26-Jamie Miller, 14.037; 5.X15-Kasey Ziebold, 14.063; 6.36-Seth Schneider, 14.159; 7.21-Larry Kingseed JR, 14.218; 8.12F-Matt Foos, 14.312; 9.1H-Zeth Sabo, 14.335; 10.32-Bryce Lucius, 14.416; 11.5Jr-Jimmy McGrath Jr, 14.432; 12.Z10-Brandon Moore, 14.457; 13.97-Kyle Peters, 14.493; 14.5-Kody Brewer, 14.594; 15.19R-Steve Rando, 14.601; 16.99-Alvin Roepke, 14.640; 17.20i-Kelsey Ivy, 14.703; 18.34-Jud Dickerson, 14.888; 19.9R-Logan Riehl, 14.982; 20.6-Jimmie Ward, 15.106; 21.18X-Bobby Distel, 15.125; 22.3X-Brandon Riehl, 15.254; 23.75-Jerry Dahms, 15.707; 24.3V-Chris Verda, 99.999;
Heat 1, Group A – (8 Laps)
1. 26-Jamie Miller[1] ; 2. 10X-Dustin Stroup[4] ; 3. 28-Shawn Valenti[2] ; 4. 12F-Matt Foos[7] ; 5. X-Mike Keegan[3] ; 6. X15-Kasey Ziebold[5] ; 7. 21-Larry Kingseed JR[6] ; 8. 34-Jud Dickerson[8]
Heat 2, Group B – (8 Laps)
1. 5Jr-Jimmy McGrath Jr[1] ; 2. Z10-Brandon Moore[5] ; 3. 36-Seth Schneider[4] ; 4. 1H-Zeth Sabo[3] ; 5. 5-Kody Brewer[7] ; 6. 32-Bryce Lucius[2] ; 7. 97-Kyle Peters[6] ; 8. 20i-Kelsey Ivy[8]
Heat 3, Group C – (8 Laps)
1. 99-Alvin Roepke[3] ; 2. 19R-Steve Rando[4] ; 3. 9R-Logan Riehl[2] ; 4. 6-Jimmie Ward[1] ; 5. 18X-Bobby Distel[5] ; 6. 3V-Chris Verda[8] ; 7. 3X-Brandon Riehl[6] ; 8. 75-Jerry Dahms[7]
B-Main 1 – (10 Laps)
1. X15-Kasey Ziebold[1] ; 2. 21-Larry Kingseed JR[4] ; 3. 3V-Chris Verda[3] ; 4. 97-Kyle Peters[5] ; 5. 3X-Brandon Riehl[6] ; 6. 34-Jud Dickerson[7] ; 7. 20i-Kelsey Ivy[8] ; 8. 75-Jerry Dahms[9] ; 9. 32-Bryce Lucius[2]
A-Main 1 – (25 Laps)
1. 99-Alvin Roepke[3] ; 2. 5Jr-Jimmy McGrath Jr[2] ; 3. 26-Jamie Miller[1] ; 4. 10X-Dustin Stroup[7] ; 5. Z10-Brandon Moore[8] ; 6. 9R-Logan Riehl[4] ; 7. 12F-Matt Foos[11] ; 8. 28-Shawn Valenti[6] ; 9. 19R-Steve Rando[9] ; 10. 1H-Zeth Sabo[12] ; 11. 18X-Bobby Distel[15] ; 12. 97-Kyle Peters[19] ; 13. 5-Kody Brewer[14] ; 14. 3X-Brandon Riehl[20] ; 15. X-Mike Keegan[5] ; 16. 36-Seth Schneider[10] ; 17. 3V-Chris Verda[18] ; 18. X15-Kasey Ziebold[16] ; 19. 6-Jimmie Ward[13] ; 20. 21-Larry Kingseed JR[17]
Hard Charger: 97-Kyle Peters +7
Dirt Trucks – Burmeister Trophy
Heat 1 – (8 Laps)
1. 7B-Shawn Valenti[5] ; 2. 7X-Dana Frey[1] ; 3. 5s-Bradley Stuckey[3] ; 4. 4s-Keith Sorg[4] ; 5. 23m-Brad Mitten[8] ; 6. 33A-Brian Arnold[2] ; 7. 28-Cody Laird[6] ; 8. 27-Calob Crispen[7]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps)
1. 1-Jeff Babcock[6] ; 2. 17x-Dustin Keegan[5] ; 3. 32-Kevin Phillips[2] ; 4. 93B-Bryce Black[4] ; 5. 77-Steven Pocock[1] ; 6. 69-Jeff Warnick[3]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps)
1. 4M-Jamie Miller[7] ; 2. 16-Jim Holcomb[2] ; 3. P51-Cory Ward[1] ; 4. 14T-Cody Truman[5] ; 5. 55-DJ Mestrey[6] ; 6. 9H-Deven McEwan[4] ; 7. 83-Butch Latte[3]
Heat 4 – (8 Laps)
1. 32H-Dan Hennig[5] ; 2. 26-Kyle Lagrou[1] ; 3. 6-Steve Sabo[6] ; 4. 8S-Brandon Stuckey[3] ; 5. 7H-JT Horn[4] ; 6. 911-Cory McCaughey[7] ; 7. 20-Caleb Shearn[2]
B-Main 1 – (10 Laps)
1. 23m-Brad Mitten[1] ; 2. 33A-Brian Arnold[5] ; 3. 28-Cody Laird[9] ; 4. 27-Calob Crispen[12] ; 5. 7H-JT Horn[4] ; 6. 55-DJ Mestrey[3] ; 7. 83-Butch Latte[10] ; 8. 9H-Deven McEwan[7] ; 9. 77-Steven Pocock[2] ; 10. 20-Caleb Shearn[11] ; 11. 911-Cory McCaughey[8] ; 12. 69-Jeff Warnick[6]
A-Main 1 – (20 Laps)
1. 7B-Shawn Valenti[11] ; 2. 1-Jeff Babcock[7] ; 3. 4M-Jamie Miller[10] ; 4. 16-Jim Holcomb[4] ; 5. 26-Kyle Lagrou[5] ; 6. 32H-Dan Hennig[6] ; 7. 7X-Dana Frey[12] ; 8. 17x-Dustin Keegan[1] ; 9. P51-Cory Ward[2] ; 10. 23m-Brad Mitten[17] ; 11. 28-Cody Laird[19] ; 12. 14T-Cody Truman[15] ; 13. 5s-Bradley Stuckey[9] ; 14. 32-Kevin Phillips[8] ; 15. 8S-Brandon Stuckey[16] ; 16. 93B-Bryce Black[14] ; 17. 27-Calob Crispen[20] ; 18. 6-Steve Sabo[3] ; 19. 33A-Brian Arnold[18] ; 20. 4s-Keith Sorg[13]
Pub 400 Night
Make-Up A
305 Sprints – Fremont Federal Credit Union
A-Main 1 – (25 Laps)
1. 10X-Dustin Stroup[3] ; 2. 99-Alvin Roepke[13] ; 3. 12F-Matt Foos[7] ; 4. 26-Jamie Miller[12] ; 5. 9R-Logan Riehl[1] ; 6. 28-Shawn Valenti[2] ; 7. X-Mike Keegan[5] ; 8. Z10-Brandon Moore[15] ; 9. 36-Seth Schneider[14] ; 10. X15-Kasey Ziebold[4] ; 11. 19R-Steve Rando[6] ; 12. 32-Bryce Lucius[11] ; 13. 18X-Bobby Distel[16] ; 14. 6-Jimmie Ward[17] ; 15. 21-Larry Kingseed JR[9] ; 16. 5-Kody Brewer[8] ; 17. 1H-Zeth Sabo[10] ; 18. 3V-Chris Verda[18]