ATTICA, Ohio – Apparently getting married in the key to getting your first win at Attica Raceway Park.
Cale Conley and Kyle Peters both got married since last fall and both scored their first wins at Attica on Saturday.
Conley scored the victory in the 410 sprints while Peters earned his first ever sprint car win in the 305 division. Doug Drown, though married for awhile, used a late race pass for his 25th career win at Attica in the late model feature on Murphy Tractor & Equipment/UBS Financial Services/Construction Equipment & Supply/Advanced Drainage Systems Night.
All three features came down to the final hand full of laps in front of a huge crowd for the lid-lifter at Attica.
Conley, aboard the Dave Jessup owned Merchant Services Ltd., Brookville Auto Parts backed machine, took the lead of the Callie’s Performance Products 410 Sprint A-main on lap two, lost it to two-time Attica champion Chris Andrews on lap eight and then drove back into the lead on lap 17.
The 26-year-old driver nearly gave up the victory with two laps to go when he caught a rut and nearly spun. He was able to hang on for his first Attica victory.
“Right at the start I thought it felt pretty good. That was a wild first few laps and then he (Andrews) passed it and I thought well we aren’t doing something right. But I stayed right there with him so I thought I’ll just stay with this and he’ll hit that rut and make a mistake and he did. This is like a bucket list win. Attica is unreal. I’ve raced a lot of different types of cars and different people and have been very fortunate but this is one of the toughest by far. And to do it with Dave and Brian (Kemenah) and everybody that’s helped and I have my wife and little baby here so this is the most special win I’ve had,” Conley said.
“I have no idea how I saved that with two to go. You just shut your eyes and just step on it and that’s what we do for 30 laps. This place is so tough…we had a choice tonight to go to Atomic or here…we missed races here last year and used provisionals. It means so much to get a win here and it’s going to be a huge confidence booster going into the All Star races coming up,” Conley added.
Shawn Dancer and Conley brought the field to green for the 30-lap 410 sprint feature with Dancer gaining the advantage. Dancer pulled a big wheelie on the second circuit, allowing Conley to take the top spot with Andrews grabbing second a lap later. Andrews quickly pressured Conley, driving to his outside lap after lap. Action ground to a halt on lap six when Caleb Griffith and Max Stambaugh tangled with Griffith taking a nasty looking flip though he was uninjured.
On the restart Andrews again drove to Conley’s outside and took the lead on lap eight. A circuit later and Mitch Harble took a wild ride to bring the action to a halt and he too was not injured. When the green flew Andrews and Conley ran nose to tail and pulled away as Travis Philo took third from Dancer. At the half way point Conley had begun to close on Andrews utilizing the extreme low side of the track with Philo, Cap Henry, Dancer and 12th starting Buddy Kofoid in tow.
Conley made the winning move exiting turn four on lap 17, driving under Andrews back into the lead. Conley hit lapped traffic with 10 laps to go and Andrews closed with Philo, Henry, Kofoid and Dancer giving chase. Just when it appeared Conley had the field covered, he caught a rut while battling a lapped car and got completely sideways but was able to gather it back up and hold onto the lead.
Conley drove to the win over Andrews, Kofoid, Philo and Henry.
Drown took the lead from race-long leader Matt Irey with a move exiting turn four on lap 22 of the 25 lap A-main for the Summit Racing Equipment UMP Late Models, and held off two big challenges by Irey to score his 25th career Attica win.
“I don’t know under that yellow (at the halfway point) I didn’t keep the tires warm enough because obviously I was really leaning on it getting in. I had to keep the car straight on that stuff and it would really drive up off. Everyone else when they got in the crumbs it was hard to keep your tires under you because they would fill up and just spin. Matt was bad ass all night. Hats off to him. He was hitting those ruts and that allowed me to catch up. Once my tires got a little heat in them this thing really sat down and started digging. I give Matt a lot of credit. He could have very easily drove in there and slid me and stuffed me. But we respect each other and put on a great race for these fans. This is my favorite race track,” said Drown.
Last year Peters scored four runner-up finishes in 305 sprint action, even losing one on the last lap. Saturday it looked like he might have to settle for another second place run in the Fremont Fence 305 Sprint feature as lapped traffic and nearly getting collected in a crash when a lapped car caught a big rut and got into him. Then throw in challenges by veteran Jamie Miller, who scored 11 wins in 2018 and Peters overcame huge obstacles for his first career victory.
“I got luck. I got held up by a lapped car and Jamie got by me and I was able to cross him over. I never saw him again but thank God. This is awesome. This is the first race as a married man…if I had known this I would have married her a long time ago,” Peters said.