By Aaron Fry
Findlay, Ohio’s Bryce Lucius drove a methodical race through traffic, chasing down leader Michael Bauer, taking the lead on lap 24. The 2023 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Rookie of the Year went on to lead the final 7 laps to pick up his first career FAST On Dirt win Saturday night at Muskingum County Speedway near Zanesville, Ohio.
A rainy and overcast morning, coupled with chilly April temperatures, undoubtedly held down the car count and fan attendance. Fortunately, the day unfolded with ideal spring racing weather and 122 cars across 6 classes that included no less than 27 Honest Abe Roofing FAST On Dirt winged 410 sprint cars, presented by Ti22 Performance.
The three qualifying groups were paced by Mitch Harble, A.J. Flick and Henry Malcuit with Malcuit overall quick timer, the only car under the 14 second mark, with a fast lap at 13.954. Heat races saw Michael Bauer winning Patriot Capital Financial heat race 1. Cole Duncan raced to the win in JLT Enterprises heat 2 and Lucius foreshadowing things to come by claiming All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads heat 3. Tim Shaffer was unable to take the green in his heat race but would win the 10 lap Victory Fuel B-Main.
The 30-lap main event saw Malcuit and Bauer on the front row with Lucius and Duncan in row 2 and A.J. Flick and Mitch Harble in row 3. At the drop of the flagman’s green, Malcuit jumped to the lead and led until lap seven when he and Bauer hit the start finish line in a near dead heat for the lead. Bauer would go on to a comfortable lead for the next 14 laps while Malcuit, Lucius, Duncan and Flick put on a high-speed tango for the podium spots. As this action unfolded, one of 2 current National Sprint Car Hall of Famer’s in the field was on the march from his 16th starting spot. Tim Shaffer, in the Michael Dutcher Motorsports 17GP was on the charge.
Bauer appeared to have victory in his grasp. Lucius, in the STP Motorsports 32, would close on the leader, but Bauer was able to keep a lapped car between them until the program’s first caution flag of the entire evening finally flew with 21 laps completed. A single lap was completed when front straight contact sent Kory Crabtree’s nose wing down the race track, bringing out the only other caution.
The green flew for the last restart with 8 laps remaining. Bauer’s lead was gone and so was the lapped car that had been between he and the rest of the pack. Clearly the quicker car in the late stages, Lucius wasted no time and took the lead working lap 24 and drove the STP Motorsports, Lucius Trucking, Jocko’s Sprint Parts, Truck Worx of Ohio, Big Red Truck Wash #32 to his first FAST On Dirt win. A.J. Flick, in the Indy Race Parts 71 was very fast at the end and with a few more laps, would have given Lucuis a challenge, but he would settle for runner-up honors with Shaffer, in the Dutcher 17GP getting all the was from 16th to 3rd to complete the podium and take Hard Charger of the night honors with cash from Helms & Sons Construction of Findlay, Ohio.
Michael Bauer later said his tires never fired again the same after that first caution flag. The dejected driver of the Shannon Bauer, Mobile Bail Bonds, Wildwood Collision, Berrier Family #46 settled for 4th place with 2019 tour champion Cole Duncan rounding out the top 5. The balance of the top 10 were Malcuit, 2020 tour champion Tyler Gunn, Jordan Ryan, Ricky Peterson and Jacob Begenwald.
Next up for the Honest Abe Roofing FAST On Dirt tour is this weekend’s Pennsylvania twin-bill. Friday night, the teams will visit the Tri City Raceway Park in Franklin on Friday night, May 2nd. A day later, the Michael’s Mercer Raceway presented by Sunbelt Rentals will play host to the stars and cars of FAST on Saturday, May 3rd!
BOX SCORE
Ti22 Performance Qualifying
Group 1: 1. 15-Mitch Harble 14.078, 2. 46-Michael Bauer 14.116, 3. 3J-Jacob Begenwald 14.246, 4. 11c-Kory Crabtree 14.254, 5. 98-Ricky Peterson 14.593, 6. 33$-Shane O’Banion 14.805, 7. 11M-Nathen McDowell 15.127, 8. 1s-James Saam 15.844, 9. 3M-Billy Morris 16.816
Group 2: 1. 71-A.J. Flick 14.118, 2. 17GP-Tim Shaffer 14.120, 3. 22-Cole Duncan 14.156, 4. 68G-Tyler Gunn 14.208, 5. 4-Danny Smith 14.421, 6. 79-Chris Miller 14.571, 7. 1MC-Wayne McPeek 14.850, 8. 59-Bryan Nuckles 14.858, 9. 86-Michael Lutz 99.999
Group 3: 1. 70-Henry Malcuit 13.954, 2. 5-Jeremy Weaver 14.278, 3. 32-Bryce Lucius 14.369, 4. 25R-Jordan Ryan 14.430, 5. 9H-Lance Heinberger 14.701, 6. 1B-Keith Baxter 14.972, 7. 56N-Nash Gierke 15.206, 8. 85-Dustin Feller15.682, 9. 00-Anthony Gaskins 99.999
Patriot Capital Financial – Heat 1: 1. 46-Bauer[1] ; 2. 11c-Crabtree[3] ; 3. 15-Harble[4] ; 4. 98-Peterson[5] ; 5. 3J-Begenwald[2] ; 6. 33$-O’Banion[6] ; 7. 11M-McDowell[7] ; 8. 1s-Saam[8] ; 9. 3M-Morris[9]
JLT Enterprises – Heat 2: 1. 22-Duncan[2] ; 2. 68G-Gunn[3] ; 3. 71-Flick[4] ; 4. 4-Smith[5] ; 5. 59-Nuckles[8] ; 6. 79-Miller[6] ; 7. 1MC-McPeek[7] ; 8. 17GP-Shaffer[1] ; 9. 86-Lutz[DNS]
All Pro Cylinder Heads – Heat 3: 1. 32-Lucius[2] ; 2. 25R-Ryan[3] ; 3. 5-Weaver[1] ; 4. 70-Malcuit[4] ; 5. 1B-Baxter[6] ; 6. 9H-Heinberger[5] ; 7. 56-Gierke[7] ; 8. 85-Feller[8] ; 9. 00-Gaskins[9]
Victory Fuel – B Main: 1. 17GP-Shaffer[1] ; 2. 9H-Heinberger[4] ; 3. 79-Miller[2] ; 4. 33$-O’Banion[3] ; 5. 1MC-McPeek[6] ; 6. 56-Gierke[7] ; 7. 00-Gaskins[11] ; 8. 1s-James Saam[8] ; 9. 85-Dustin Feller[9] ; 10. 3M-Billy Morris[10] ; 11. 11M-McDowell[DNS] ; 12. 86-Lutz[DNS]
Honest Abe Roofing FAST A-Main: 1. 32-Lucius[3] ; 2. 71-Flick[5] ; 3. 17GP-Shaffer[16] ; 4. 46-Bauer[2] ; 5. 22-Duncan[4] ; 6. 70-Malcuit[1] ; 7. 68G-Gunn[8] ; 8. 25R-Ryan[9] ; 9. 98-Peterson[11] ; 10. 3J-Begenwald[13] ; 11. 4-Smith[12] ; 12. 5-Weaver[10] ; 13. 59-Nuckles[14] ; 14. 15-Harble[6] ; 15. 79-Miller[18] ; 16. 1MC-McPeek[20] ; 17. 33$-O’Banion[19] ; 18. 11c-Crabtree[7] ; 19. 9H-Heinberger[17] ; 20. 1B-Baxter[15]
Helms & Sons Construction of Findlay – Hard Charger: 17GP – Tim Shaffer +13
Helms & Sons Excavating of Findlay – Hard Luck: 9H – Lance Heinberger