By Aaron Fry
(Fremont,Oh) – Despite threatening skies and an ominous forecast, Fremont Speedway officials bravely forged ahead with last night’s Ti22 Performance FAST program. With the help of the race teams, track official and series officials, nine heat races were completed in under an hour with the FAST 410 main event ready to push onto the speedway. Officially, there were 4 divisions racing on the night, but the fourth race was everyone involved racing against time and the incoming weather.
Only 18 race teams chose FAST at Fremont Speedway over the weather apps, but they were 18 very stout sprint cars. The overcast skies kept the race surface in great shape and the winged 410 wonders put on a driving clinic with 3 heats and a 30 lap main event running green to checkered.
ARP Fasteners qualifying groups were quick timed by Fremont regulars Travis Philo, D.J. Foos and Kyle Capodice. The NAPA of Fremont first heat race was won by Byron Reed while Brave Breed Rescue heat two was claimed by Stuart Brubaker. The third and final heat was sponsored by TheCushion.com and was won by current tour runner-up Lee Jacobs.
The NGK Spark Plugs redraw put Reed and Philo on the front row with Brubaker and Foos in row 2. The 30 lap feature roared to green with Philo grabbing the early lead and Reed in tow. The pair of black “five” cars would run 1-2 the entire distance, with Reed closing the gap a couple of times, but unable to do anything with Philo turning a nearly perfect 30 laps to claim the win. Despite the lack of position changes in the top 2, the racing through the field was phenomenal with multiple cars flirting with disaster or sliding off the top of the race track. The show of the main event was the tremendous battle within a battle as 1-2 in FAST points battled for the third spot through much of the race.
In just 7 minutes and 23 seconds, Philo lapped up to 10th place in scoring the win. Byron Reed had his best ever FAST run, closing the gap to just .649 of a second at the finish. Lee Jacobs prevailed in the battle with Nate Dussel for the third spot with D.J. Foos rounding out the top 5. The balance of the top 10 included Craig Mintz, Stuart Brubaker, Kyle Capodice, Ricky Peterson and hard charger of the event, John Ivy.
We’d like to reiterate the appreciation we have for all the race teams’ cooperation and the staff at Fremont Speedway for helping us push the program through. With a group effort, it was only one hour and one minute to complete 9 heat races AND the 30 lap FAST main event! We also want to thank the fans who showed up despite questionable conditions to support FAST and Fremont Speedway.
Next up for FAST is the 2 day weekend, August 27-28 at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway and Tri-City Raceway Park near Franklin, Pennsylvania. This will be the first time ever that FAST On Dirt will take their battles into the Keystone state! Mark your calendars and watch for a hotel special that fans are welcome to join in with as well.
Box Score
Ti22 Performance – FAST Sprint Cars
Fremont (OH) Speedway
Saturday, August 13, 2022
ARP Fasteners Qualifying
Group 1: 1. 5T-Travis Philo 12.322 2. 1-Nate Duseel 12.338 3. 5-Byron Reed 12.444 4. 9-Ricky Peterson 12.731 5. 49i-John Ivy 13.013 6. 98-Robert Robenalt 15.394
Group 2: 1. 16-D.J. Foos 12.442 2. 09-Craig Mintz 12.519 3. 14-Sean Rayhall 12.542 4. 35-Stuart Brubaker 12.559 5. 16c-Tyler Rankin 12.709 6. 10-Justin Adams 13.647
Group 3: 1. 12-Kyle Capodice 12.336 2. 81-Lee Jacobs 12.460 3. 15-Mitch Harble 12.624 4. 7N-Darin Naida 12.768 5. 7T-Troy Vaccaro 12.948 6. 14bv-Ben Varner 13.011
NAPA of Fremont – Heat 1: 1. 5-Reed[2] ; 2. 1-Dussel[3] ; 3. 9-Peterson[1] ; 4. 5T-Philo[4] ; 5. 49i-Ivy[5] ; 6. 98-Robenalt[6]
Brave Breed Rescue – Heat 2: 1. 35-Brubaker[1] ; 2. 09-Mintz[3] ; 3. 14-Rayhall[2] ; 4. 16c-Rankin[5] ; 5. 16-Foos[4] ; 6. 10-Adams[6]
TheCushion.com – Heat 3: 1. 81-Jacobs[3] ; 2. 12-Capodice[4] ; 3. 7N-Darin Naida[1] ; 4. 15-Harble[2] ; 5. 7T-Vaccaro[5] ; 6. 14bv-Varner[6]
Ti22 Performance FAST A-Main: 1. 5T-Philo[2] ; 2. 5-Reed[1] ; 3. 81-Jacobs[5] ; 4. 1-Dussel[7] ; 5. 16-Foos[4] ; 6. 09-Mintz[8] ; 7. 35-Brubaker[3] ; 8. 12-Capodice[6] ; 9. 9-Peterson[9] ; 10. 49i-John Ivy[14] ; 11. 16c-Rankin[12] ; 12. 7N-Naida[11] ; 13. 14-Rayhall[10] ; 14. 15-Harble[13] ; 15. 7T-Vaccaro[15] ; 16. 14bv-Varner[18] ; 17. 98-Robenalt[16] ; 18. 10-Adams[17]