Justin Peck goes wire-to-wire at Sharon Speedway for Buckeye Cup triumph
HARTFORD, Ohio (May 1, 2021) – Justin Peck has certainly found his stride in the Buckeye State, as the Monrovia, Indiana-native scored his second FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory of the 2021 season, doing so during Sharon Speedway’s annual Buckeye Cup on Saturday, May 1. Peck, driver of the Buch Motorsports No. 13 entry, led every circuit of the 30-lap contest to solidify his $6,000 payday, ultimately withstanding pressure from Cole Duncan and Dave Blaney before stretching his legs to a near-straightaway advantage. Impressive enough, Peck is now two for two in the Buckeye State this season during All Star championship points competition, knocking down his first during Attica’s Spring Nationals on Saturday, April 3.
Peck’s Buckeye Cup triumph also bumped his overall All Star win total to three, earning his first during a start at Macon Speedway in Macon, Illinois, on June 10, 2017. In addition, Peck remains in control of the All Star championship standings, holding down an 18-point lead over Ian Madsen.
“We just keep working. That’s the name of the game. We keep working and we keep getting better,” an elated Justin Peck said in Sharon Speedway victory lane, driver of the Coastal Race Parts, The Tree Center, No. 13 sprint car. “I tried to lose that race there pretty early on by running the top and smacking the wall. I actually knocked the ladder out of the car before we even got ten laps in. I just had to smarten up a little bit after that. I knew we had a fast race car. I just needed to finish the race.”
Working the very edge of Sharon Speedway’s smooth, but slick racing surface, Peck set the early tone, using his front row starting position to jump to an early advantage over Hunter Schuerenberg, Cole Duncan, Dave Blaney, and Ian Madsen.
Soon forced to rely on all available grooves and not just the top, Peck’s first and only hold up appeared in the form of traffic, stacking up quickly and eventually interfering with the leader for the first time on lap 11.
Although Peck did his best to navigate slower cars, a hornets nest was brewing behind him in the form of a fast closing Cole Duncan and smooth sailing Dave Blaney, each reeling in the Hoosier with every lap. With Duncan working the middle and Blaney working the bottom, the duo finally caught the tail tank of Peck by lap 16, now with no lappers between them and all separated by less than a second.
Despite a few brake checks in traffic, and continuous pressure from Duncan and Blaney, Peck prevailed, creating distance among the back markers and stretching his legs to almost a second. By lap 22, Peck had pushed his gap to three lappers between himself and Duncan.
With Peck now nowhere to be found, Duncan would have to settle for second, followed by Ian Madsen, Zeb Wise, and Bill Balog. Dave Blaney, who was battling in the third position at the time the final checkers flew, was eventually disqualified for missing the scales at the conclusion of the main event; he was scored 25th.
“We were able to put a whole night together,” Peck continued. “We qualified good enough tonight where we just had to transfer through our heat race to make the dash. And that’s the name of the game. You need to put yourself in a position early and start up front in these things. We fine tune things as the night goes on. I can’t thank everyone enough. It’s been a dream to drive for these guys.”
Hopping back across the Pennsylvania state line, Tri City Raceway Park in Franklin, Pennsylvania, will conclude the weekend’s agenda with a Sunday night showstopper on May 2. Ending a near-four year hiatus at the Venango County venue, the All Stars last visited Tri City on July 23, 2017, with the “Steel City Outlaw” Tim Shaffer scoring the victory; Sunday’s return will award a $6,000 payday.
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Contingency Awards/Results: Sharon Speedway – Saturday, May 1, 2021
Event: Buckeye Cup
Entries: 41
C&R Racing Hot Laps: Dave Blaney – 15.004
Dixie Vodka Fast Qualifier: Zeb Wise – 15.266
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: Dave Blaney
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Hunter Schuerenberg
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Skylar Gee
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Bill Balog
Kistler Racing Products Heat #5 Winner: Lee Jacobs
Kear’s Speed Shop Dash #1 Winner: Justin Peck
Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Dash #2 Winner: Cole Duncan
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting & Embroidery B-Main Winner: Carl Bowser
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Greg Wilson
FloRacing A-Main Winner: Justin Peck
Hercules Tire A-Main Hard Charger: Paul McMahan (+15)
Qualifying
Group (A)
1. 10-Zeb Wise, 15.266; 2. 26-Cory Eliason, 15.821; 3. 10B-Dave Blaney, 15.895; 4. 5K-Adam Kekich, 15.927; 5. 11B-Carl Bowser, 15.944; 6. 42-Sye Lynch, 16.106; 7. O7-Lucas Wolfe, 16.477; 8. 23-Darren Pifer, 16.615; 9. 33-Brent Matus, 16.862
Group (B)
1. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 15.679; 2. 97-Gary Taylor, 15.728; 3. 11-Ian Madsen, 15.769; 4. 22C-Cole Duncan, 15.797; 5. 5-Paul McMahan, 15.971; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr., 16.173; 7. W20-Greg Wilson, 16.295; 8. 20B-Cody Bova, 17.143
Group (C)
1. 3C-Cale Conley, 15.795; 2. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 16.398; 3. 28-Skylar Gee, 16.573; 4. 21BP-Brinton Marvel, 16.825; 5. 6-Bob Felmlee, 17.132; 6. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau, 17.223; 7. 47-Brett Brunkenhoefer, 99.980; 8. 55s-Matt Sherlcok, 99.990
Group (D)
1. 13-Justin Peck, 15.408; 2. 4-Cap Henry, 15.927; 3. 17B-Bill Balog, 15.958; 4. 12-Darin Gallagher, 16.160; 5. 13M-Brandon Matus, 16.270; 6. O8-Dan Kuriger, 16.290; 7. 21N-Frankie Nervo, 16.735; 8. 8M-TJ Michael, 16.764
Group (E)
1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 15.961; 2. 7k-Dan Shetler, 16.442; 3. 81-Lee Jacobs, 16.564; 4. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr., 16.583; 5. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 16.666; 6. 29-Michael Bauer, 16.667; 7. 40-George Hobaugh, 16.972; 8. 33W-Caleb Griffith, 22.194
Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 10B-Dave Blaney [2]; 2. 10-Zeb Wise [4]; 3. 26-Cory Eliason [3]; 4. 42-Sye Lynch [6]; 5. 11B-Carl Bowser [5]; 6. 5K-Adam Kekich [1]; 7. O7-Lucas Wolfe [7]; 8. 33-Brent Matus [9]; 9. 23-Darren Pifer [8]
Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [4]; 2. 11-Ian Madsen [2]; 3. 22C-Cole Duncan [1]; 4. 97-Gary Taylor [3]; 5. W20-Greg Wilson [7]; 6. 5-Paul McMahan [5]; 7. 20B-Cody Bova [8]; 8. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [6]
Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 28-Skylar Gee [2]; 2. 3C-Cale Conley [4]; 3. 22-Brandon Spithaler [3]; 4. 6-Bob Felmlee [5]; 5. 21BP-Brinton Marvel [1]; 6. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau [6]; 7. 47-Brett Brunkenhoefer [7]
Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 17B-Bill Balog [2]; 2. 13-Justin Peck [4]; 3. 4-Cap Henry [3]; 4. 12-Darin Gallagher [1]; 5. O8-Dan Kuriger [6]; 6. 8M-TJ Michael [8]; 7. 21N-Frankie Nervo [7]; 8. 13M-Brandon Matus [5]
Heat #5 – Group (E) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 81-Lee Jacobs [2]; 2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [4]; 3. 29-Michael Bauer [6]; 4. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr. [1]; 5. 7K-Dan Shetler [3]; 6. 40-George Hobaugh [7]; 7. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [5]; 8. 33W-Caleb Griffith [8]
Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 13-Justin Peck [1]; 2. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [3]; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [4]; 4. 10-Zeb Wise [2]; 5. 10B-Dave Blaney [6]; 6. 28-Skylar Gee [5]
Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 22C-Cole Duncan [2]; 2. 11-Ian Madsen [1]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog [3]; 4. 3C-Cale Conley [4]; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs [5]; 6. 97-Gary Taylor [6]
B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 11B-Carl Bowser [2]; 2. 5K-Adam Kekich [1]; 3. O8-Dan Kuriger [3]; 4. 5-Paul McMahan [7]; 5. W20-Greg Wilson [4]; 6. 40-George Hobaugh [9]; 7. 7K-Dan Shetler [5]; 8. O7-Lucas Wolfe [11]; 9. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [16]; 10. 21BP-Brinton Marvel [6]; 11. 8M-TJ Michael [8]; 12. 20B-Cody Bova [14]; 13. 23-Darren Pifer [20]; 14. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [12]; 15. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau [10]; 16. 33W-Caleb Griffith [19]; 17. 33-Brent Matus [18]; 18. 21N-Frankie Nervo [13]; 19. 47-Brett Brunkenhoefer [15]; 20. 13M-Brandon Matus [17]
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 13-Justin Peck [1]; 2. 22C-Cole Duncan [2]; 3. 11-Ian Madsen [4]; 4. 10-Zeb Wise [7]; 5. 17B-Bill Balog [6]; 6. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [3]; 7. 81-Lee Jacobs [10]; 8. 4-Cap Henry [14]; 9. 5-Paul McMahan [24]; 10. 26-Cory Eliason [13]; 11. 97-Gary Taylor [12]; 12. 3C-Cale Conley [8]; 13. 42-Sye Lynch [17]; 14. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [5]; 15. O8-Dan Kuriger [23]; 16. 11B-Carl Bowser [21]; 17. 29-Michael Bauer [16]; 18. 28-Skylar Gee [11]; 19. 6-Bob Felmlee [20]; 20. 5K-Adam Kekich [22]; 21. 8M-TJ Michael [25]; 22. 22-Brandon Spithaler [15]; 23. 12-Darin Gallagher [18]; 24. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr. [19]; 25. 10B-Dave Blaney [9] Lap Leaders: Justin Peck (1-30)
2021 All Star Circuit of Champions Winners:
1. Screven Motor Speedway, Georgia (January 29, 2021): Donny Schatz
2. Screven Motor Speedway, Georgia (January 30, 2021): Aaron Reutzel
3. East Bay Raceway Park, Florida (February 2, 2021): Donny Schatz (2)
4. Volusia Speedway Park, Florida (February 3, 2021): Logan Schuchart
5. Volusia Speedway Park, Florida (February 4, 2021): Carson Macedo
6. Attica Raceway Park, Ohio (April 3, 2021): Justin Peck
7. Virginia Motor Speedway, Virginia (April 15, 2021): Tony Stewart
8. Williams Grove Speedway, Pennsylvania (April 16, 2021): Kyle Larson
9. Port Royal Speedway, Pennsylvania (April 17, 2021): Logan Wagner
10. Bedford Speedway, Pennsylvania (April 18, 2021): Anthony Macri
11. Sharon Speedway, Pennsylvania (May 1, 2021): Justin Peck (2)
2021 All Star Circuit of Champions Driver Standings (as of 5/1/21):
1. Justin Peck – 832
2. Ian Madsen – 814
3. Cory Eliason – 776
4. Zeb Wise – 774
5. Tyler Courtney – 764
6. Hunter Schuerenberg – 738
7. Bill Balog – 714
8. Cap Henry – 690
9. Kyle Reinhardt – 668
10. Lucas Wolfe – 660
About the All Star Circuit of Champions:
All Star Enterprises, LLC, wholly owned by Tony Stewart, d/b/a the All Star Circuit of Champions, is a winged sprint car series. The All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series is one of the oldest traveling 410 sprint car organizations and is a staple of grassroots, open-wheel racing. Formed in 1970 by Bud Miller, the series has largely been considered the first ‘outlaw’ Sprint Car organization of the modern era. Motorsports entrepreneur Tony Stewart agreed to terms with Guy Webb to become the sole owner of the original winged sprint car tour in January of 2015.
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Sources: Tyler Altmeyer/FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 PR
Photo Credit: Chad Warner