By Mike Leone
(Hartford, OH)…After nearly a week of rain, Mother Nature blessed Sharon Speedway with a beautiful day as the 96th anniversary season opened on Saturday night ushering in the new ownership team of Dave Blaney, Ryan Blaney, and Will Thomas III. Celebrating in the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply Victory Lane in the Bala Management “Super Series” event on Barris Supply and Ohio Intra Express Night were A.J. Flick (Hovis Auto & Truck Supply “410” Sprint Cars), Chris Schneider (Gibson Insurance Agency Pro Stocks), and Garrett Calvert (Alcon Mechanical Econo Mods).
A.J. Flick had won 30 times throughout the region since his last Sharon Speedway victory on August 6, 2022. That victory drought ended on Saturday night as the fourth starting Flick passed central Pa. invader Ryan Smith on lap three and led the rest of the way in the 30-lap Hovis Auto & Truck Supply “410” Sprint Car opener.
“I haven’t been in front of these fans here in quite a while,” acknowledged the 32-year-old Apollo, Pa. driver. “This is a hell of a field of cars so to be standing here on the frontstretch means a lot. We were so good here in 2022 then they changed the tires. I don’t know what it is about this place, but when it slicks off it gets so hard for us. We’ve been really working on our program and really found something last year at Lernerville’s ‘Steel City Stampede’, and every time we’ve put it in the car, we’ve been fast. Ryan (Smith) and Tim Shaffer are so good. Ryan gave me a clean lane up there and he didn’t have to, and if he didn’t it wouldn’t have been dirty.”
Flick’s fifth career Sharon victory was worth $4,000 and came in his Ferguson Heating & Air Conditioning/Worthington Steel/Chernaga Construction/Moon Township Ford/Mahle Pistons-sponsored #2 by 2.412 seconds. Smith, who has two career Sharon victories, was second after leading the first two laps and earned $2,000. National Sprint Car Hall of Famer, Tim Shaffer, who has been fast throughout the region in recent weeks since stepping into Michael Dutcher’s #17GP, went sixth to third. Pole-sitter Carl Bowser dropped to fourth at the finish. Ohio standout Cole Duncan raced from 13th to 5th.
Jared Zimbardi, a longtime “360” standout, was sixth. Brandon Spithaler came all the way out of the last chance B main and raced his way from 21st to 7th to earn the $100 Summit Racing Equipment Hard Charger gift card. Michael Bauer was eighth over Friday night’s Tri-City Raceway Park winner Ricky Peterson. Brandon Matus rounded out the top 10. Flick was fastest overall in qualifying against the star-studded 37-car field with a lap of 13.729. Heat winners were Jack Sodeman, Jr., Bauer, Zimbardi, and Leyton Wagner. Spithaler garnered the last chance B main victory.
Chris Schneider took the opening night honors in the Pro Stocks for his first Sharon win since July 22, 2023. Schneider passed Steve D’Apolito on lap 11 and led the duration over the final 10 laps of the 20-lap Gibson Insurance Agency feature for the $550 payday.
“I’ve missed this place and really love the red clay,” expressed the 46-year-old Lower Burrell, Pa. standout. “It’s a 3/8-mile with not too much banking and has multiple grooves- this place is always great. We took a little longer than we’d like tonight in this Pro Stock feature- maybe we’re all rusty from not racing much. We built both Steve (D’Apolito) and Curt’s (Bish) cars. I would have loved to see Steve win as Curt won last night (Lernerville Speedway). He (D’Apolito) left me a little too much room on the bottom and hit that rut and I had to take the lane.”
Schneider moved into a tie for eighth place on the all-time Stock Car win list following his 19th career victory, which came by 1.457 seconds in his ICA Mechanical/Butler Truck Parts/It’s All Clean Mobile Pressure Washing/A&K Farms/Hot Dog Guys/Chuck’s Auto Shop-sponsored #55. Paul Davis came all the way from 18th to finish 2nd after passing D’Apolito on lap 19. D’Apolito was third after leading the first 10 circuits.
Jason Fosnaught was fourth over Bobby Whitling. Mike Miller advanced halfway to the front from his 12th starting spot to 6th at the checkered flag. Jonathan Koteles also gained six spots with a seventh-place finish. Curt J. Bish was eighth as Larry Kugel and Jordan Perkins completed the top 10. Heat race winners over the 19-car field were Whitling and Schneider.
Garrett Calvert scored the victory in the 20-lap Alcon Mechanical Econo Mod feature. Like Flick, Calvert started fourth and assumed the lead on lap 12 after race-long leader Brendan Warner spun. With more than a full field of cars, Calvert earned $600 for his third career victory, which came in the D&F Precision Machining/Great Lakes Speed Shop/955 Automotive/Martin Dynamics/Chad’s Ring & Pinion-sponsored #12x.
“This track had a little bit of character tonight,” stated the 27-year-old Cochranton, Pa. victor. “I want to apologize to Brendan (Warner). We came out of the turn three wide and there were some holes and didn’t mean to get into him.”
Jacob Eucker, who owns 16 career Econo Mod wins at Sharon, was 2.333 seconds behind Calvert at the finish after starting fifth. Bryan Wagner had a great run in third after starting ninth. Warner came back from his spin to finish fourth over Cody Stronghart. Robert Simmons beat out Dennis Dellinger by just 0.210 seconds for sixth to earn the $100 Performance Bodies & Parts gift card for being the “Nosed Out” contingency winner. Don Watson, Seth Brenot, and Derek Tessean completed the top 10. Heat winners over the 25-car field were Stronghart, Eucker, and Calvert.
Coming up next Saturday (May 17), the “410” Sprint Cars are back for another $4,000 to-win Bala Management “Super Series” event. They will be joined by the first appearances of the non-wing RUSH Sprint Cars and the RUSH Sportsman Modifieds. Pit passes go on sale at 4 p.m. with general admission gates opening at 5. Warmups begin at 6:30 p.m. followed by heat race action. General admission is just $15, while senior citizens are $13, and kids 13 and under are free. Pit passes are $35.
Tickets are available for the May 24 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car event through World Racing Group at https://mpv.tickets.com/?agency=WRG_SNG_MPV&orgid=52711&pid=9489416. Camping permits are available at the following link: https://www.simpletix.com/e/rv-trailer-tent-camping-2025-tickets-199070
Hovis Auto & Truck Supply “410” Sprint Cars (30 laps, $4,000 to-win): 1. 2-A.J. FLICK[4]; 2. 6D-Ryan Smith[1]; 3. 17GP-Tim Shaffer[6]; 4. 11-Carl Bowser[5]; 5. 22D-Cole Duncan[13]; 6. 35-Jared Zimbardi[8]; 7. 32B-Brandon Spithaler[21]; 8. 46-Michael Bauer[3]; 9. 98-Ricky Peterson[20]; 10. 13-Brandon Matus[9]; 11. 08-Danny Kuriger[11]; 12. 8-Billy Dietrich[15]; 13. 49X-Trey Jacobs[16]; 14. 38-Leyton Wagner[7]; 15. 67-JJ Loss[17]; 16. 3V-Chris Verda[24]; 17. 16-Jim Morris[19]; 18. 15T-Ryan Turner[23]; 19. 15-Mitch Harble[18]; 20. 47L-Dusty Larson[14]; 21. 10-Dale Blaney[12]; 22. 7K-Dan Shetler[22]; 23. 3-John Jerich[10]; 24. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr[2]
DNQ for the feature: 83X-Nate Reeser, 5-Jeremy Weaver, 21-Bryan Salisbury, 33-Brent Matus, 4W-Eric L Williams, 3B-Joe Butera, 76-Davey Jones, 47-Brett Brunkenhoefer, 5K-Adam Kekich, 21P-Carmen Perigo Jr, 81-Rayce Jacobs, 6-Bob Felmlee, 10J-Curt Jones.
Gibson Insurance Agency Pro Stocks (20 laps, $550 to-win): 1. 55-CHRIS SCHNEIDER[5]; 2. 3-Paul Davis[18]; 3. 84-Steve D’Apolito[2]; 4. 25-Jason Fosnaught[4]; 5. 7W-Bobby Whitling[6]; 6. 51-Michael Miller[12]; 7. 2K-Jonathan Koteles[13]; 8. 29-Curt J Bish[3]; 9. 0-Larry Kugel[11]; 10. 13J-Jordan Perkins[16]; 11. 97-Tony Bruno[19]; 12. 44-Jacob Wheeler[9]; 13. 1K-Cody Koteles[8]; 14. 14-Scott Stiffler[1]; 15. 7-Coleton Longwell[7]; 16. 1-Rusty Wheeler[10]; 17. 81J-Jason Jones[14]; 18. 11S-Jamie Scharba[15]. DNS: 12M-Scott Malone.
Alcon Mechanical Econo Mods (20 laps, $600 to-win): 1. 12C-Garrett Calvert[4]; 2. 64-Jacob Eucker[5]; 3. 56-Bryan Wagner[9]; 4. 12*-Brendan Warner[2]; 5. 36-Cody Stronghart[6]; 6. 4RJ-Robert Simmons[14]; 7. 17-Dennis Dellinger[11]; 8. 71A-Don Watson[15]; 9. 31-Seth Brenot[17]; 10. 10-Derek Tessean[19]; 11. 17D-Alan Dellinger[1]; 12. 83-Jeremy Double[10]; 13. 26X-Carter Bidwell[8]; 14. 55H-Chas Wolbert[7]; 15. 14-Dan McEwen[3]; 16. 16C-Amelia Clay[13]; 17. 44R-Gary Robinson II[18]; 18. 212-Luciano Deforest[23]; 19. 8-Jonathan Davis[16]. DNS: 89C-Travis Carothers, 7-Coleton Longwell, 51-Brian Lacey, 15-Eric Nellis II, 25-Chris Peterson, 8B-Brian Toto.
Sharon Speedway is owned by the Dave Blaney, Ryan Blaney, and Will Thomas III and is a 3/8-mile dirt track located on Custer-Orangeville Road in Hartford, Ohio near the intersection of Routes 7 & 305. For more information, check out the website at www.sharonspeedway.com or call 330-772-5481. Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sharonspeedway and follow us on X (formerly known as Twitter) @sharonspdwy.