By T.J. Buffenbarger
HARTFORD, Ohio (September 2, 2022) — Cap Henry scored one of the biggest victories of his sprint car career Saturday night at Sharon Speedway winning the Lou Blaney Memorial/Sharon Nationals with the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1.
The box score shows Henry leading all 35-laps in route to victory, but does not tell the entire story with Henry having to take the lead back from Rico Abreu after losing the top spot just before the halfway point of the 35-lap feature, then having to hold off Brent Marks during the closing stages through heavy lapped traffic to pick up the $12,000 top prize.
Henry and his Lane Racing team went back to some old tricks to help their performance on slick racetracks leading into the weekend at Sharon.
“We have been struggling really bad in the slick all year and especially the past two weeks,” said Henry. “This is actually the car that we won our first ever All Star race with back in 2019. We pulled it out of the weeds. I’m just super proud of my guy’s Zack, AJ, Brett, and Jim. Everybody worked so hard at this. There were some trying weeks there and even in time trials tonight some stuff didn’t go our way. I’m just really appreciate everybody’s hard work.”
The win was Henry’s second of the year with the All Stars and 8th of his career with the series.
Abreu and Henry on the front row with Abreu leading into turn on with Henry on his back bumper during the initial attempt to start the feature when the caution appeared before a single lap could be completed when Giovanni Scelzi got sideways and collected Lee Jacobs in turn one. Scelzi’s car was unable to continue while Jacobs team was able to make repairs to join the back of the field for the restart.
The second attempt to start the main saw Cap Henry take the lead with Rico Abreu and Justin Peck behind him. Peck began to pressure Abreu for the second position on the second lap. Lap three saw Marks into the top five, then pressuring Hunter Schuerenberg for fourth.
10 laps into the event Henry in heavy traffic as Marks go by Peck for third position and started pressuring Abreu for second. By Lap 14 a three-car race for the lead developed as Abreu closed in on Henry with Marks coming with him.
Abreu executed a slide job in turn one on lap 16 to take the lead from Henry. Hendry crossed over and the pair made contact going into turn three. Abreu went to the top while Henry went to the bottom with Henry retaking the lead before the start finish line.
Further back in the field Peck drove back into third with 20 laps complete and passed Abreu for second on lap 22. Three laps later Abreu drove back around Peck and started to close on Henry again for the lead.
Friday night’s feature winner at Sharon, Brent Marks, drove around Peck for third with seven laps to go in turn two, then with four laps to go got by Abreu for second and started to pursue Henry for the lead. Abreu continued to challenge Marks for second which allowed Henry to drive away for the victory. Marks, Abreu, Schuerenberg , and Justin Peck rounded out the top five.
Afterwards Henry knew he needed to get by Abreu right after he lost the lead.
“I knew I had one shot at it there and I actually rode his left here for a second coming down the back stretch,” said Henry of his close call with Abreu racing for the lead. “I just was really hoping when we got into three and four there that he would try and drift back cross and get to the top and I genuinely just parked that thing on the bottom, and it was good enough to get back by. Lap traffic with the track and kind of abrasive there was getting tricky. I was okay if I stayed my own air, but when I get back on (Lee Jacobs) bumper there it really caused me a lot of problems.
Henry understood one of the hottest sprint car drivers in the country was on his back bumper again in Marks but tried to stay cool to hit his marks on the slick racing surface.
“I tried to really pace myself those last couple of laps there just to not get tight and missed the bottom. We stole one from Brent at the beginning of the year, and I knew he would he’d like to steal one back, so I was just trying to make sure I didn’t let it happen.”
Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1
Lou Blaney Memorial / Sharon Nationals
Sharon Speedway
Hartford, Ohio
Friday, September 2, 2022
Dixie Vodka Qualifying
1. 13-Justin Peck, 14.715[5]
2. 24-Rico Abreu, 14.876[8]
3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 14.896[3]
4. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 14.921[1]
5. 11-Anthony Macri, 14.960[13]
6. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 15.225[29]
7. 29-Logan McCandless, 15.259[7]
8. 42-Sye Lynch, 15.265[35]
9. 19M-Brent Marks, 15.314[18]
10. 26-Zeb Wise, 15.326[37]
11. 4-Cap Henry, 15.349[23]
12. 2-AJ Flick, 15.356[14]
13. 10B-Dale Blaney, 15.419[31]
14. 9-Kasey Kahne, 15.452[21]
15. 81-Lee Jacobs, 15.507[2]
16. 28M-Conner Morrell, 15.549[19]
17. 10-Dave Blaney, 15.557[32]
18. 5-Jeremy Weaver, 15.630[11]
19. 17-Jordan Thomas, 15.641[30]
20. 19-Chris Windom, 15.645[17]
21. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 15.657[28]
22. 17B-Bill Balog, 15.679[27]
23. 97-Greg Wilson, 15.699[25]
24. 46-Michael Bauer, 15.756[15]
25. 22-Cole Duncan, 15.759[40]
26. 13M-Brandon Matus, 15.771[9]
27. 40-George Hobaugh Jr, 15.865[10]
28. 08-Danny Kuriger, 15.884[26]
29. 22S-Brandon Spithaler, 15.920[12]
30. 23-Darren Pifer, 15.922[16]
31. 11J-David Kalb Jr, 16.024[38]
32. 18K-Arnie Kent, 16.026[24]
33. 11B-Carl Bowser, 16.067[34]
34. 6-Bob Felmlee, 16.100[20]
35. 33-Brent Matus, 16.267[39]
36. 5K-Adam Kekich, 16.311[36]
37. 32V-Vivian Jones, 16.421[6]
38. 86-Michael Lutz Jr, 16.657[4]
39. 47-Brett Brunkenhoefer, 16.847[22]
40. 20B-Cody Bova, 21.084[33]
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 24-Rico Abreu[1]
2. 13-Justin Peck[4]
3. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[3]
4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[2]
5. 81-Lee Jacobs[6]
6. 40-George Hobaugh Jr[8]
7. 13M-Brandon Matus[7]
8. 29-Logan McCandless[5]
9. 32V-Vivian Jones[9]
10. 86-Michael Lutz Jr[10]
CSI Shocks Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 19M-Brent Marks[1]
2. 2-AJ Flick[2]
3. 11-Anthony Macri[4]
4. 19-Chris Windom[6]
5. 28M-Conner Morrell[3]
6. 46-Michael Bauer[7]
7. 22S-Brandon Spithaler[8]
8. 5-Jeremy Weaver[5]
9. 23-Darren Pifer[9]
10. 6-Bob Felmlee[10]
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 4-Cap Henry[1]
2. 9-Kasey Kahne[2]
3. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[4]
4. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[5]
5. 17B-Bill Balog[6]
6. 97-Greg Wilson[7]
7. 17-Jordan Thomas[3]
8. 47-Brett Brunkenhoefer[10]
9. 08-Danny Kuriger[8]
10. 18K-Arnie Kent[9]
Mobil 1 Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 26-Zeb Wise[1]
2. 10-Dave Blaney[3]
3. 10B-Dale Blaney[2]
4. 11J-David Kalb Jr[6]
5. 42-Sye Lynch[4]
6. 22-Cole Duncan[5]
7. 11B-Carl Bowser[7]
8. 33-Brent Matus[8]
9. 5K-Adam Kekich[9]
10. 20B-Cody Bova[10]
Elliotts Custom Trailers and Carts Dash (6 Laps)
1. 24-Rico Abreu[2]
2. 4-Cap Henry[1]
3. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[3]
4. 13-Justin Peck[8]
5. 19M-Brent Marks[7]
6. 26-Zeb Wise[6]
7. 11-Anthony Macri[5]
8. 42-Sye Lynch[4]
Classic Ink USA B-Main (12 Laps)
1. 97-Greg Wilson[3]
2. 40-George Hobaugh Jr[6]
3. 5-Jeremy Weaver[2]
4. 22-Cole Duncan[5]
5. 46-Michael Bauer[4]
6. 29-Logan McCandless[1]
7. 11B-Carl Bowser[10]
8. 17-Jordan Thomas[7]
9. 47-Brett Brunkenhoefer[12]
10. 08-Danny Kuriger[13]
11. 33-Brent Matus[11]
12. 6-Bob Felmlee[18]
13. 5K-Adam Kekich[15]
14. 23-Darren Pifer[14]
15. 18K-Arnie Kent[17]
16. 32V-Vivian Jones[16]
17. 86-Michael Lutz Jr[19]
18. 20B-Cody Bova[20]
19. 13M-Brandon Matus[8]
20. 22S-Brandon Spithaler[9]
Tezos A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 4-Cap Henry[2]
2. 19M-Brent Marks[5]
3. 24-Rico Abreu[1]
4. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[3]
5. 13-Justin Peck[4]
6. 10B-Dale Blaney[13]
7. 26-Zeb Wise[6]
8. 2-AJ Flick[9]
9. 9-Kasey Kahne[10]
10. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[14]
11. 11-Anthony Macri[7]
12. 10-Dave Blaney[11]
13. 42-Sye Lynch[8]
14. 97-Greg Wilson[21]
15. 19-Chris Windom[15]
16. 81-Lee Jacobs[18]
17. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[16]
18. 17B-Bill Balog[20]
19. 11J-David Kalb Jr[17]
20. 40-George Hobaugh Jr[22]
21. 5-Jeremy Weaver[23]
22. 22-Cole Duncan[24]
23. 28M-Conner Morrell[19]
24. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[12]