Brian Liskai
FREMONT, Ohio (Sept. 15, 2023) – It was déjà vu at Fremont Speedway Friday, Sept. 15 to kick off the 16th Annual Jim and Joanne Ford Classic with the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1. Danny Dietrich executed a last-corner, last lap pass to win the series’ Ohio Sprint Speedweek event in June at the track. Neptune City, New Jersey’s Kyle Reinhardt drove around Parker Price Miller on the last corner of the last lap to take the $6,000 win Friday by just .093 seconds on Madison Motors Night.
It was Reinhardt’s first ever Fremont win and only his second All Star victory coming in the series’ 135th visit to “The Track That Action Built.” Reinhardt and Price Miller battled side by side and exchanged the feature lead several times over the last two thirds of the race. Price Miller led laps 1-13 with Reinhardt holding the point on lap 14 only to see Price Miller back out front on lap 15. Reinhardt regained the lead from laps 16 through 26 before Price Miller in heavy lapped traffic drove back into the lead to set up the last lap excitement.
Price Miller raced home in second followed by Tim Shaffer, Kerry Madsen and Zeth Sabo rounding out the top five.
“I knew I had a great car right from the start. We made some passes in the dash…me and Bryan always talk about it…you have to be in the dash to put yourself in a position to win one of these races. Everyone is so good and getting two spots in the dash was huge and I got two guys right at the start and that’s what made my race. I could just wait and try to be patient behind Parker. I know he’s always been good here. It was a fun race and I was just trying to bide my time and wait until we got into lapped traffic and it worked out perfect for me. But the lapped cars were just about as fast as we were and I just basically handed it back to him. I just had to get up on the wheel and I saw the white flag and I just put it all out there. I got real balled up in one and two and he stumbled on the bottom and gave me just enough to get around him,” said Reinhardt of his Bryan Grove Racing/Canton Erectors/Starrett Service/Premier Pallet/Coors Banquet Beer/Capital Renegade/Baker Transportation/Huff Concrete No. 45.
Kokomo, Indiana’s Price Miller felt he just chose the wrong line the last lap.
“We were really good. I felt like we were just as good as Kyle…we were both really good and you need that to put on a race like that. I kind of changed my line a lot once he got around me. I knew if I stayed with him once we hit lapped traffic it would get dicey and I got by him and I don’t know if I should have just run the top in three and four or what. When you are in that situation….the first thing that comes in your mind you do…you don’t have time to really think out here. Just chose the wrong decision. It doesn’t get much better than to race your buddy like that. Kyle and I are good friends. To go wheel to wheel with him and race clean and fight for a win is really cool,” said Price Miller beside his Chalk Stix/Epoxy Co./Elite Wings/High Performance Lubricants/Hills Racing backed No. 9P.
Shaffer, a four time All Star champion, has many wins at Fremont Speedway and his third place finish has the “Steel City Outlaw” fired up for Saturday’s Jim and Joanne Ford finale.
“We had Kevin come on board tonight to be a crew chief and what a difference. To be able to communicate with someone who is on the same page it makes it easier to get where you need to be,” said Shaffer beside the Rudzik Excavating/Precision Overhead Garage Door/Centerline Boring/Smith Titanium backed No. 49x.
Jim and Joanne Ford Classic
Fremont Speedway
Fremont, Ohio
Friday, September 15, 2023
Hercules Tire Qualifying
1. 55-Kerry Madsen, 12.444[40]
2. 26-Zeb Wise, 12.501[25]
3. 49X-Tim Shaffer, 12.577[42]
4. 50YR-JJ Hickle, 12.588[15]
5. 42-Sye Lynch, 12.602[1]
6. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 12.678[10]
7. 32B-Dale Blaney, 12.718[33]
8. 45-Kyle Reinhardt, 12.726[34]
9. 99-Skylar Gee, 12.744[17]
10. 32-Bryce Lucius, 12.761[44]
11. 5-Byron Reed, 12.804[43]
12. 29X-Zeth Sabo, 12.815[29]
13. 16-DJ Foos, 12.836[39]
14. 97-Brandon Spithaler, 12.841[37]
15. 23-Cale Thomas, 12.872[12]
16. 9P-Parker Price Miller, 12.898[3]
17. 5T-Travis Philo, 12.914[41]
18. 29-Carl Bowser, 12.923[28]
19. 33W-Cap Henry, 12.957[18]
20. 1-Nate Dussel, 12.968[30]
21. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 12.977[2]
22. 09-Craig Mintz, 12.994[23]
23. 12-Brian Lay, 13.021[27]
24. 19-Trey Jacobs, 13.024[35]
25. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek, 13.036[21]
26. 4-Chris Windom, 13.039[5]
27. 81-Lee Jacobs, 13.084[8]
28. 70-Kraig Kinser, 13.092[6]
29. X-Mike Keegan, 13.102[22]
30. 28M-Conner Morrell, 13.184[16]
31. 15C-Chris Andrews, 13.197[32]
32. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.201[11]
33. 61-Tyler Shullick, 13.220[9]
34. 40-Justin Clark, 13.253[13]
35. 4T-Josh Turner, 13.258[20]
36. 21-Larry Kingseed Jr, 13.263[36]
37. 22-Cole Duncan, 13.268[26]
38. 15K-Creed Kemenah, 13.292[19]
39. 22M-Dan McCarron, 13.412[31]
40. 2+-Brian Smith, 13.478[7]
41. 90-Jeffrey Neubert, 13.667[24]
42. 98-Robert Robenalt, 13.815[4]
43. 75-Jerry Dahms, 13.957[14]
44. 8M-TJ Michael, 59.999[38]
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 9P-Parker Price Miller[1]
2. 4-Chris Windom[3]
3. 42-Sye Lynch[4]
4. 35-Stuart Brubaker[2]
5. 81-Lee Jacobs[5]
6. 70-Kraig Kinser[6]
7. 61-Tyler Shullick[7]
8. 2+-Brian Smith[8]
9. 98-Robert Robenalt[9]
CSI Shocks Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[1]
2. 99-Skylar Gee[2]
3. 50YR-JJ Hickle[4]
4. 23-Cale Thomas[3]
5. 33W-Cap Henry[5]
6. 28M-Conner Morrell[6]
7. W20-Greg Wilson[7]
8. 40-Justin Clark[8]
9. 75-Jerry Dahms[9]
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 09-Craig Mintz[1]
2. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek[3]
3. 26-Zeb Wise[4]
4. 12-Brian Lay[2]
5. X-Mike Keegan[5]
6. 22-Cole Duncan[7]
7. 4T-Josh Turner[6]
8. 15K-Creed Kemenah[8]
9. 90-Jeffrey Neubert[9]
Kistler Racing Products Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 45-Kyle Reinhardt[1]
2. 29X-Zeth Sabo[2]
3. 1-Nate Dussel[5]
4. 29-Carl Bowser[3]
5. 32B-Dale Blaney[4]
6. 19-Trey Jacobs[6]
7. 22M-Dan McCarron[9]
8. 15C-Chris Andrews[7]
9. 21-Larry Kingseed Jr[8]
Mobil 1 Heat Race #5 (8 Laps)
1. 49X-Tim Shaffer[1]
2. 5-Byron Reed[3]
3. 55-Kerry Madsen[4]
4. 16-DJ Foos[5]
5. 97-Brandon Spithaler[6]
6. 8M-TJ Michael[8]
7. 32-Bryce Lucius[2]
8. 5T-Travis Philo[7]
Elliotts Custom Trailers and Carts Dash (6 Laps)
1. 9P-Parker Price Miller[1]
2. 09-Craig Mintz[2]
3. 42-Sye Lynch[3]
4. 45-Kyle Reinhardt[6]
5. 49X-Tim Shaffer[5]
6. 55-Kerry Madsen[8]
7. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[7]
8. 29X-Zeth Sabo[9]
9. 26-Zeb Wise[10]
10. 50YR-JJ Hickle[4]
Computer Man C-Main (8 Laps)
1. 15C-Chris Andrews[2]
2. 21-Larry Kingseed Jr[6]
3. 40-Justin Clark[3]
4. 2+-Brian Smith[5]
5. 90-Jeffrey Neubert[7]
6. 75-Jerry Dahms[9]
7. 98-Robert Robenalt[8]
DNS: 5T-Travis Philo
DNS: 15K-Creed Kemenah
Classic Ink USA B-Main (12 Laps)
1. 32-Bryce Lucius[2]
2. 33W-Cap Henry[4]
3. 32B-Dale Blaney[1]
4. 70-Kraig Kinser[8]
5. 97-Brandon Spithaler[3]
6. 81-Lee Jacobs[5]
7. 22-Cole Duncan[10]
8. 19-Trey Jacobs[7]
9. X-Mike Keegan[6]
10. 28M-Conner Morrell[9]
11. 8M-TJ Michael[11]
12. 15C-Chris Andrews[16]
13. 61-Tyler Shullick[13]
14. W20-Greg Wilson[12]
15. 21-Larry Kingseed Jr[17]
16. 4T-Josh Turner[14]
17. 22M-Dan McCarron[15]
Tezos A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 45-Kyle Reinhardt[4]
2. 9P-Parker Price Miller[1]
3. 49X-Tim Shaffer[5]
4. 55-Kerry Madsen[6]
5. 29X-Zeth Sabo[8]
6. 26-Zeb Wise[9]
7. 4-Chris Windom[14]
8. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[7]
9. 09-Craig Mintz[2]
10. 42-Sye Lynch[3]
11. 99-Skylar Gee[11]
12. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek[13]
13. 5-Byron Reed[12]
14. 35-Stuart Brubaker[19]
15. 33W-Cap Henry[22]
16. 70-Kraig Kinser[24]
17. 23-Cale Thomas[17]
18. 32B-Dale Blaney[23]
19. 32-Bryce Lucius[21]
20. 1-Nate Dussel[15]
21. 29-Carl Bowser[18]
22. 12-Brian Lay[20]
23. 16-DJ Foos[16]
24. 50YR-JJ Hickle[10]