Philo Wins the battle, Spithaler Wins the War

Travis Philo. (Action Photo)

By Aaron Fry
A brisk fall night at Atomic Speedway just south of Chillicothe, Ohio was the scene of the final race of the year for the Ti22 Performance FAST On Dirt tour last night. It was Travis Philo of Waterville, Ohio racing to the lead in a hurry from his outside front row starting spot. He then went on to a convincing win over for tour champion and many time track champion, Cole Duncan with Chris Windom completing the podium. However, the backdrop of the entire night was Evans City, Pennsylvania’s Brandon Spithaler, capping off the 2023 championship worth $15,000.

A fantastic field of 35 sprint cars were on hand, splitting ARP Fasteners qualifying into two flights, led by Chris Windom and Cole Duncan. Preliminary heat races were won by Skylar Gee, Ayrton Gennetten, Ronnie Blair and Conner Morrell. The pair of MSD Ignition B-Mains were won by Creed Kemenah and Keith Baxter. The six preliminary events ran through with only one yellow flag!

On the start of the 30-lap main, Philo wasted no time rocketing to the lead, but two early yellows on laps 2 and 6 would slow the pace. Once under green on lap 7, some of the most talented drivers in the nation reeled off 23 consecutive green flag laps on a very technical Atomic Speedway surface. Philo was well in command but Cole Duncan did reel him in through the middle and later stages after starting 7th. Windom held onto third with Gee and Gennetten rounding out the top 5. The balance of the top 10 included Thiel, Morrell, the race’s hard charger, Ricky Peterson, then Cale Stinson and Zane DeVAult.

The FAST On Dirt staff would like to thank Atomic Speedway and their staff, along with all the tracks and their staffs, who hosted tour events this year. It was another highly successful tour and we look forward to 2024 and even more growth. In addition, we extend a thank you to our marketing partners, our race teams and the many many race fans. Our banquet will be held on Saturday evening, December 30th in Chillicothe, Ohio. Watch for details to be announced later this week.

BOX SCORE

Atomic Speedway
Alma, OH
Saturday, October 7, 2023
35 Entries

ARP Fasteners Qualifying
Flight A: 1. 4-Chris Windom 11.796, 2. 5T-Trvis Philo 11.937, 3. 99-Skylar Gee 12.011, 4. 6z-Zane DeVault 12.106, 5. 22-Brandon Spithaler 12.129, 6. A79-Gary Taylor 12.258, 7. 25R-Jordan Ryan 12.258, 8. 19G-Ayrton Gennetten 12.328, 9. 70-Henry Malcuit 12.463, 10. 15K-Creed Kemenah 12.485, 11. 00H-Hunter Lynch 12.721, 12. 17-Reece Saldana 12.901, 13. 23Jr-Jack Sodeman Jr 13.091, 14. 33$-Shane O’Baniion 13.688, 15. 2x-Gage Etgen 13.931, 16. 00-Anthony Gaskins 14.188, 17. 21J-Jaylynn Montgomery 14.400, 18. 5-Jeremy Weaver [NT]

Flight B: 1. 22-Cole Duncan 11.854, 2. 97-Scotty Thiel 12.011, 3. 24D-Danny Sams III 12.281, 4. 19-Trey Jacobs 12.337, 5. 40-Jusstin Clark 12.369, 6. 81-Lee Jacobs 12.398, 7. 35-Blair 12.448, 8. 28M-Morrell 12.492, 9. 2-Ricky Peterson 12.789, 10. 15-Mitch Harble 12.811, 11. 4-Danny Smith 12.900, 12. 4x-Cale Stinson 12.954, 13. 83x-Nate Reeser 12.961, 14. 59-Bryan Nuckles 12.961, 15. 1B-Keith Baxter 13.017, 16. 13-Van Gurley Jr 13.769, 17. 45-Monty Ferriera 14.167

NAPA of Fremont – Heat 1: 1. 99-Gee[3] ; 2. 25R-Ryan[1] ; 3. 4-Windom[4] ; 4. 22-Spithaler[2] ; 5. 7-Malcuit[5] ; 6. 00H-Lynch[6] ; 7. 23JR-Sodeman[7] ; 8. 2x-Etgen[8] ; 9. 21J-Montgomery[9]

MadTree Brewing – Heat 2: 1. 19G-Gennetten[1] ; 2. 6z-DeVault[3] ; 3. 5T-Philo[4] ; 4. A79-Taylor[2] ; 5. 15K-Kemenah[5] ; 6. 33$-O’Banion[7] ; 7. 17-Saldana[6] ; 8. 00-Gaskins[8]

Outsider’s Merchandise & Apparel – Heat 3: 1. 35-Blair[1] ; 2. 22-Duncan[4] ; 3. 40-Clark[2] ; 4. 2-Peterson[5] ; 5. 4-Smith[6] ; 6. 1B-Baxter[8] ; 7. 24D-Sams III[3] ; 8. 83x-Reeser[7] ; 9. 45-Ferreira[9]

Elizabeth Gardner Photography – Heat 4: 1. 28M-Morrell[1] ; 2. 97-Thiel[4] ; 3. 4x-Stinson[6] ; 4. 59-Nuckles[7] ; 5. 19-T.Jacobs[3] ; 6. 15-Harble[5] ; 7. 81-L.Jacobs[2] ; 8. 13-Gurley[8]

MSD Ignitions – B Main 1: 1. 15K-Kemenah[2] ; 2. 70-Malcuit[1] ; 3. 00H-Lynch[3] ; 4. 23JR-Sodeman[5] ; 5. 17-Saldana[6] ; 6. 33$-O’Banion[4] ; 7. 2x-Etgen[7] ; 8. 21J-Montgomery[9] ; 9. 00-Gaskins[8]

MSD Ignitions – B Main 2: 1. 1B-Baxter[3] ; 2. 15-Harble[4] ; 3. 19-T.Jacobs[2] ; 4. 45-Ferriera[9] ; 5. 24D-Sams[5] ; 6. 13-Gurley[8] ; 7. 4-Smith[1] ; 8. 83x-Reeser[7] ; 9. 81-L.Jacobs[DNS]

Ti22 Performance – A Main: 1. 5T-Philo[2] ; 2. 22-Duncan[7] ; 3. 4-Windom[3] ; 4. 99-Gee[1] ; 5. 19-Gennetten[4] ; 6. 97-Thiel[6] ; 7. 28M-Morrell[5] ; 8. 2-Peterson[15] ; 9. 4x-Stinson[12] ; 10. 6z-DeVault[10] ; 11. 35-Blair[8] ; 12. 1B-Baxter[18] ; 13. 59-Knuckles[16] ; 14. 25R-Ryan[9] ; 15. 22-Spithaler[13] ; 16. A79-Taylor[14] ; 17. 00H-Lynch[21] ; 18. 40-Clark[11] ; 19. 15-Harble[20] ; 20. 70-Malcuit[19] ; 21. 19-T.Jacobs[22] ; 22. 15K-Kemenah[17]

E A Home Supply – Hard Charger: Ricky Peterson +7

All Star Performance – Hard Luck: Trey Jacobs