Shaffer Opens Ford Classic at Fremont with Win; Weaver Dominates 305s; Valenti Scores 8th Truck Win
FREMONT, Ohio – When leader Caleb Griffith got into the backstretch wall and flipped with eight laps to go, Tim Shaffer was there to capitalize and went on to score the opening night win at Fremont Speedway for the 12th Annual Jim and Joanne Ford Classic.
The lap prior, Griffith made a fantastic move in turn two to regain the lead from Shaffer as they battled in heavy lapped traffic. But, flying down the backstretch Griffith got into the guard rail and flipped violently into turn three. He walked away uninjured, with Shaffer taking the lead. Shaffer, a four-time and defending Ford Classic winner, drove away the final eight laps for his 19th career victory at “The Track That Action Built” on All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Night featuring the FAST 410 Sprint Series.
“Cody Jacobs and I have a lot of time together and I want to keep it that way. He knows what to fix if I come in and look at him wrong. We work great together. Ron Gorby and his guys…hats off to them. They maintenance the car and got it ready for us and here we are,” said Shaffer beside his Howard Johnsons of Lima/Indy Race Parts/Fast Signs backed #G1.
“Cody gave me a great car where I could run the bottom. The cushion up top was ferocious…to run that thing for 30 laps…if he (Griffith) could do it he deserved to win that thing. Back in the day, I’d be up there too. We worked on getting our car good on the bottom or middle so we could move around and I think that’s what happened in lapped traffic. He (Griffith) was pretty much committed to running up there and it probably shook him up a little bit when we got by him,” added Shaffer in the Engine Pro Victory Lane.
Fremont’s Paul Weaver dominated the Fremont Federal Credit Union 305 sprint feature for his fourth victory of the season at Fremont. The $1,000 payday was his 51st career win at the track, placing him eighth on the all-time win list.
“I thought a couple of lapped cars were trying to wreck me. I guess you’re just paranoid when you’re leading,” said Weaver beside his B&B Drain Service/Hampshire Racing Engines/Adkins Motorsports/M&L Excavating/Schiets Motorsports/Miller Rigging/Weaver Performance Center backed #1W.
Fostoria, Ohio’s Shawn Valenti bobbled on the last corner of the last lap in the dirt truck feature but was able to hold off Kent Brewer for his eighth feature win of the year. It was Valenti’s 54th career win at the track, tying him with Hall of Famer Herbie Robinson for sixth on the track’s all-time win list.
“To be able to climb the ladder and be tied with Herbie and be up there with the greats is pretty amazing. That last lap I threw it in there too hard and it took off up the race track and it was wide open after that and jumped the cushion and held on. That caution with three to go…I got over the cushion and Kent (Brewer) got under me. It’s not every day you get a do-over in racing. We caught a break there. Thanks to the Babcocks for everything they do for me and Best Performance Motorsports, Craig Miller Trucking, Gressman Powersports and A Plus Auto Center said Valenti.
Kelsey Ivy and Brandon Long brought the field to green for the 30-lap Fort Ball Pizza Palace 410 Sprint A-main but it was third starter Griffith who shot into the lead. Griffith pulled away as Ivy held second over Long, Shaffer, Travis Philo, and Cale Conley.
Griffith’s lead was 2.7 second by lap five as Ivy maintained second over Shaffer, Philo, Conley, Long, and Byron Reed. It was near disaster for Griffith as he prepared to race into lapped traffic as DJ Foos and Stuart Brubaker tangled right in front of him but he avoided the incident. On the restart, Griffith again pulled away as Shaffer took second with Ivy trying to hold off Philo and Conley for third.
Nate Dussel stopped on the track with 10 laps scored to bring out the caution. Griffith again rocketed away on the restart over Shaffer and Ivy as Reed, Conley, and Philo battled for fourth. Ivy was forced to retire from the fray on lap 13 with front hub issues as the caution flew. Again when the green flew so did Griffith, opening a 1.4 second lead with 12 laps to go over Shaffer who had his hands full with Reed.
Heavy lapped traffic awaited the leaders with 10 laps to go and Shaffer used it to drive into the lead as they crossed the line to complete lap 22. Griffith drove back to the front exiting turn two but disaster struck as he prepared to enter turn three. With Shaffer no in the lead he was able to pull away from Reed as Conley and Philo battled for third.
Shaffer took the checkers with room to spare over Reed, Conley, Philo, and Long.
Weaver and last week’s winner Alvin Roepke brought the field to green for the 25 lap 305 A-main with Weaver gaining the advantage over Roepke, Mike Keegan, Valenti and Matt Foos. Zeth Sabo stopped with seven laps in just as Weaver was finding the back of the pack.
On the restart, Bobby Clark stopped but when the green came back out Weaver checked out and held a two-second lead over Roepke by lap 12. Meanwhile Valenti, Foos, and Keegan were entertaining as they battled for third. With eight laps to go Weaver’s lead was 3.8 seconds but he encountered heavy lapped traffic.
Weaver made great moves to slice through traffic and never lost a tick to Roepke. In fact, with five laps to go Weaver had put three lappers between himself and Roepke as Valenti and Foos continued to battle hard for third.
Weaver lapped up to 11th place as he took the checkers over Roepke, Valenti, Foos and Ricky Peterson.
Dustin Keegan and Dan Hennig brought the field to green for the 20 lap Burmeister Trophy Dirt Truck feature with Hennig grabbing the lead over Jeff Ward, Keegan and Valenti. Hennig maintained the lead until the caution flew on lap five for Jamie Miller. On the restart Valenti drove around Hennig to take the lead with Ward, John Brooks, Keegan and Kent Brewer battling hard for third. Brooks was able to drive into second on lap eight with Brewer moving into third.
As Valenti maintained the lead, Brooks and Brewer ran side by side over the next seven laps with Brewer finally taking the spot before Ben Clapp brought out the caution with six laps to go. Following a caution on the restart, when the green flew again, Valenti had his hands full with Brewer as the pair raced side by side. When Valenti got over the cushion in turn two on lap 17, it looked like Brewer would drive to his second win. But, a multi-truck crash brought a halt to the action and put Valenti back in front.
Valenti was able to hold off Brewer but on the last corner of the last lap again bobbled on the cushion but Brewer couldn’t capitalize. Valenti took the checkers over Brewer, Brooks, Ward and Cory McCaughey.
Fremont Speedway will wrap up the 2019 season with the 12th Annual Jim and Joanne Ford Classic featuring a $10,000 to win 40-lap feature for the FAST 410 Sprint Car Series on Kear’s Speed Shop Night. Kear’s will also hand out nearly $10,000 worth of products to celebrate their 50th anniversary. The 305 sprints and dirt trucks will battle for $1,000 to win their respective features.
Those unable to take in the action in person can watch it all live on PPV at http://www.speedshifttv.com.
For more information go to www.fremontohspeedway.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FremontSpeedway or on Twitter https://twitter.com/FremontSpeedway.
For more information on the FAST 410 Sprint Car Series go to www.fastondirt.com
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Fremont Speedway
Friday, Sept. 20, 2019
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads
Jim Ford Night #1 FAST Series
[*] Starting position
410 Sprints – Fort Ball Pizza Palace
Qualifying
1.5T-Travis Philo, 12.680; 2.33W-Caleb Griffith, 12.871; 3.02-Brandon Long, 12.946; 4.20I-Kelsey Ivy, 12.969; 5.066-Trey Jacobs, 12.982; 6.1-Nate Dussel, 13.021; 7.27K-Brad Lamberson, 13.054; 8.35-Stuart Brubaker, 13.066; 9.G1-Tim Shaffer, 13.067; 10.68G-Tyler Gunn, 13.068; 11.1st-Gary Taylor, 13.072; 12.81-Lee Jacobs, 13.083; 13.22M-Dan McCarron, 13.141; 14.3C-Cale Conley, 13.148; 15.13-Brandon Matus, 13.150; 16.5r-Byron Reed, 13.187; 17.9X-Ricky Peterson, 13.215; 18.97-Max Stambaugh, 13.219; 19.k4-Chad Kemenah, 13.265; 20.23-Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.283; 21.18J-RJ Jacobs, 13.285; 22.22B-Ryan Broughton, 13.319; 23.22s-Brandon Spithaler, 13.335; 24.16-DJ Foos, 13.360; 25.14-Chad Wilson, 13.361; 26.22-Cole Duncan, 13.386; 27.J4-John Garvin, 13.400; 28.8M-TJ Michael, 13.499; 29.2L-Landon LaLonde, 13.508; 30.19-Paige Polyak, 13.551; 31.5-Jordan Harble, 13.552; 32.4-Cap Henry, 13.606; 33.3-Jac Haudenschild, 14.050; 34.33-Brent Matus, 14.216;
Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 4 to A)
1. 22M-Dan McCarron[1] ; 2. G1-Tim Shaffer[2] ; 3. 5T-Travis Philo[4] ; 4. 066-Trey Jacobs[3] ; 5. 9X-Ricky Peterson[5] ; 6. 18J-RJ Jacobs[6] ; 7. 14-Chad Wilson[7] ; 8. 3-Jac Haudenschild[9] ; 9. 2L-Landon LaLonde[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 4 to A)
1. 3C-Cale Conley[1] ; 2. 68G-Tyler Gunn[2] ; 3. 33W-Caleb Griffith[4] ; 4. 1-Nate Dussel[3] ; 5. 22-Cole Duncan[7] ; 6. 97-Max Stambaugh[5] ; 7. 19-Paige Polyak[8] ; 8. 22B-Ryan Broughton[6] ; 9. 33-Brent Matus[9]
Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 4 to A)
1. 1st-Gary Taylor[2] ; 2. 13-Brandon Matus[1] ; 3. 02-Brandon Long[4] ; 4. k4-Chad Kemenah[5] ; 5. 22s-Brandon Spithaler[6] ; 6. J4-John Garvin[7] ; 7. 5-Jordan Harble[8] ; 8. 27K-Brad Lamberson[3]
Heat 4 (8 Laps, top 4 to A)
1. 5r-Byron Reed[1] ; 2. 81-Lee Jacobs[2] ; 3. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[4] ; 4. 35-Stuart Brubaker[3] ; 5. 23-Hunter Schuerenberg[5] ; 6. 16-DJ Foos[6] ; 7. 8M-TJ Michael[7] ; 8. 4-Cap Henry[8]
B-Main 1 (10 Laps, top 3 to A)
1. 9X-Ricky Peterson[1] ; 2. 22s-Brandon Spithaler[2] ; 3. 3-Jac Haudenschild[7] ; 4. 18J-RJ Jacobs[3] ; 5. J4-John Garvin[4] ; 6. 5-Jordan Harble[6] ; 7. 14-Chad Wilson[5] ; 8. 2L-Landon LaLonde[9] ; 9. 27K-Brad Lamberson[8]
B-Main 2 (10 Laps, top 3 to A)
1. 22-Cole Duncan[1] ; 2. 16-DJ Foos[4] ; 3. 23-Hunter Schuerenberg[2] ; 4. 4-Cap Henry[8] ; 5. 97-Max Stambaugh[3] ; 6. 19-Paige Polyak[5] ; 7. 8M-TJ Michael[6] ; 8. 22B-Ryan Broughton[7] ; 9. 33-Brent Matus[9]
A-Main 1 (30 Laps)
1. G1-Tim Shaffer[9] ; 2. 5r-Byron Reed[8] ; 3. 3C-Cale Conley[6] ; 4. 5T-Travis Philo[4] ; 5. 02-Brandon Long[2] ; 6. 68G-Tyler Gunn[10] ; 7. 22M-Dan McCarron[5] ; 8. 9X-Ricky Peterson[17] ; 9. 13-Brandon Matus[11] ; 10. 22s-Brandon Spithaler[19] ; 11. k4-Chad Kemenah[15] ; 12. 22-Cole Duncan[18] ; 13. 81-Lee Jacobs[12] ; 14. 33W-Caleb Griffith[3] ; 15. 066-Trey Jacobs[13] ; 16. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[1] ; 17. 23-Hunter Schuerenberg[22] ; 18. 3-Jac Haudenschild[21] ; 19. 35-Stuart Brubaker[16] ; 20. 1-Nate Dussel[14] ; 21. 16-DJ Foos[20] ; 22. 1st-Gary Taylor[7]
Hard Charger: 9x-Ricky Peterson +9
305 Sprints – Fremont Federal Credit Union
Qualifying
1.X-Mike Keegan, 13.345; 2.99-Alvin Roepke, 13.350; 3.8C-Matt Foos, 13.386; 4.12-Kyle Capodice, 13.456; 5.5Jr-Jimmy McGrath Jr, 13.473; 6.1W-Paul Weaver, 13.520; 7.7-Shawn Valenti, 13.563; 8.46AU-Stuart Williams, 13.566; 9.3V-Chris Verda, 13.625; 10.97-Kyle Peters, 13.634; 11.2-Ricky Peterson, 13.639; 12.25-Jason Keckler, 13.647; 13.77I-John Ivy, 13.647; 14.7M-Brandon Moore, 13.660; 15.4*-Tyler Street, 13.664; 16.8-Bobby Clark, 13.671; 17.5M-Mike Moore, 13.690; 18.26-Jamie Miller, 13.717; 19.3X-Brandon Riehl, 13.793; 20.19R-Steve Rando, 13.794; 21.36-Seth Schneider, 13.813; 22.75-Jerry Dahms, 13.894; 23.9-Logan Riehl, 13.934; 24.X15-Kasey Ziebold, 13.972; 25.1H-Zeth Sabo, 14.032; 26.09-Justin Adams, 14.112; 27.21-Larry Kingseed, 14.559;
Heat 1 – (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 7-Shawn Valenti[2] ; 2. X-Mike Keegan[4] ; 3. 77I-John Ivy[5] ; 4. 12-Kyle Capodice[3] ; 5. 97-Kyle Peters[1] ; 6. 8-Bobby Clark[6] ; 7. 1H-Zeth Sabo[9] ; 8. 3X-Brandon Riehl[7] ; 9. 75-Jerry Dahms[8]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 46AU-Stuart Williams[2] ; 2. 2-Ricky Peterson[1] ; 3. 99-Alvin Roepke[4] ; 4. 5Jr-Jimmy McGrath Jr[3] ; 5. 7M-Brandon Moore[5] ; 6. 19R-Steve Rando[7] ; 7. 5M-Mike Moore[6] ; 8. 09-Justin Adams[9] ; 9. 9-Logan Riehl[8]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 25-Jason Keckler[1] ; 2. 1W-Paul Weaver[3] ; 3. 8C-Matt Foos[4] ; 4. 36-Seth Schneider[7] ; 5. 4*-Tyler Street[5] ; 6. 26-Jamie Miller[6] ; 7. 3V-Chris Verda[2] ; 8. X15-Kasey Ziebold[8] ; 9. 21-Larry Kingseed[9]
B-Main 1 – (10 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 19R-Steve Rando[2] ; 2. 26-Jamie Miller[3] ; 3. 8-Bobby Clark[1] ; 4. 1H-Zeth Sabo[4] ; 5. 3X-Brandon Riehl[7] ; 6. 9-Logan Riehl[11] ; 7. 09-Justin Adams[8] ; 8. 21-Larry Kingseed[12] ; 9. 75-Jerry Dahms[10] ; 10. 5M-Mike Moore[5] ; 11. 3V-Chris Verda[6] ; 12. X15-Kasey Ziebold[9]
A-Main 1 – (25 Laps)
1. 1W-Paul Weaver[1] ; 2. 99-Alvin Roepke[2] ; 3. 7-Shawn Valenti[5] ; 4. 8C-Matt Foos[3] ; 5. 2-Ricky Peterson[8] ; 6. X-Mike Keegan[4] ; 7. 7M-Brandon Moore[14] ; 8. 12-Kyle Capodice[10] ; 9. 26-Jamie Miller[17] ; 10. 77I-John Ivy[9] ; 11. 19R-Steve Rando[16] ; 12. 4*-Tyler Street[15] ; 13. 97-Kyle Peters[13] ; 14. 5Jr-Jimmy McGrath Jr[11] ; 15. 36-Seth Schneider[12] ; 16. 1H-Zeth Sabo[19] ; 17. 25-Jason Keckler[7] ; 18. 46AU-Stuart Williams[6] ; 19. 8-Bobby Clark[18] ; 20. 3X-Brandon Riehl[20]
Hard Charger: 26-Jamie Miller +8
Dirt Trucks – Burmeister Trophy
Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 8KB-Kent Brewer[1] ; 2. 23m-Brad Mitten[2] ; 3. 36M-Cory McCaughey[4] ; 4. 67-Ben Clapp[7] ; 5. 16-Jim Holcomb[10] ; 6. 4s-Keith Sorg[8] ; 7. 32-Kevin Phillips[9] ; 8. 65R-Jeremy Ernsberger[6] ; 9. 0H-Derek Halka[5] ; 10. 5-Blake Smith[3]
Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 1-John Brooks[3] ; 2. 83-Noah Wagner[1] ; 3. 26-John Ivy[2] ; 4. 32H-Dan Hennig[9] ; 5. 9-Curt Inks[6] ; 6. 7X-Dana Frey[8] ; 7. 25-Bryce Black[7] ; 8. 14T-Cody Truman[4] ; 9. 1X-Brad Keckler[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 7B-Shawn Valenti[3] ; 2. 33-Jeff Ward[1] ; 3. 5JR-Jamie Miller[8] ; 4. 17x-Dustin Keegan[2] ; 5. 0-Andy Keegan[5] ; 6. 99-Gene Potridge[6] ; 7. 5s-Brandon Stuckey[9] ; 8. 75-Adam Dible[7] ; 9. 11-Austin Gibson[4]
B-Main 1 (10 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 4s-Keith Sorg[1] ; 2. 32-Kevin Phillips[4] ; 3. 7X-Dana Frey[2] ; 4. 1X-Brad Keckler[11] ; 5. 99-Gene Potridge[3] ; 6. 14T-Cody Truman[8] ; 7. 5s-Brandon Stuckey[6] ; 8. 75-Adam Dible[9] ; 9. 5-Blake Smith[13] ; 10. 11-Austin Gibson[12] ; 11. 65R-Jeremy Ernsberger[7] ; 12. 25-Bryce Black[5] ; 13. 0H-Derek Halka[10]
A-Main 1 (20 Laps)
1. 7B-Shawn Valenti[3] ; 2. 8KB-Kent Brewer[10] ; 3. 1-John Brooks[7] ; 4. 33-Jeff Ward[4] ; 5. 36M-Cory McCaughey[8] ; 6. 23m-Brad Mitten[11] ; 7. 5JR-Jamie Miller[12] ; 8. 16-Jim Holcomb[13] ; 9. 4s-Keith Sorg[16] ; 10. 9-Curt Inks[14] ; 11. 67-Ben Clapp[6] ; 12. 17x-Dustin Keegan[1] ; 13. 26-John Ivy[5] ; 14. 1X-Brad Keckler[19] ; 15. 32-Kevin Phillips[17] ; 16. 7X-Dana Frey[18] ; 17. 99-Gene Potridge[20] ; 18. 32H-Dan Hennig[2] ; 19. 0-Andy Keegan[15] ; 20. 83-Noah Wagner[9]
Hard Charger: 8KB-Kent Brewer +8
Sources: Brian Liskai/Fremont Speedway PR