FREMONT, Ohio — Kalib Henry was unstoppable at Fremont Speedway on Friday night.
The Sacramento, Calif., driver started the 17th annual Jim Ford Classic weekend out by winning the June Ohio Sprint Speedweek $10,000 feature that had been halted due to rain with 32 laps remaining.
He followed up by claiming the regular Ti-22 Performance FAST On Dirt feature on Kistler Engines Night.
In the make-up feature Henry took the lead from Tim Shaffer on lap 25, survived contact with a lapped car with just two laps to go to earn the win over Cale Thomas, Shaffer, Cap Henry and Zeth Sabo. It was his fourth win of the year at “The Track That Action Built.”
“That’s two weeks in a row I had to kind of get aggressive with a lapper. Really did not mean to do that but when you’re racing for the win and the lapped cars are there…he was kind of all over the place and I needed to get by him. I knew it was going to be a demanding race track. I just needed to hit my marks and wait for a mistake and get a run. Kevin (Osmolski, crew chief) gave me a bad ass race car. Thank you Doc and Rebecca for everything,” said Henry.
In the night’s regular 30-lap feature Henry jumped into the lead at the drop of the green from his outside front row starting spot. He built a sizeable lead until Chris Andrews moved into second on lap five and began closing. Andrews stayed right with Henry and actually drove to his inside on a couple of restarts following cautions. But, Henry was just to smooth and drove to his fifth win of the year at Fremont and the night’s sweep. Andrews, Cap Henry, Thomas and Shaffer rounded out the top five.
“Hats off to the track crew….they gave us a hell of a track all night. I love these big curbs especially when there’s two lanes and you can race hard on it. That was a lot of fun. Last week Cap was on the front row and you can’t spot a guy that good that spot. I started on the front row next to him and I just needed to get out front and I knew we had a chance. Kevin has given me such a great race car and I’m excited for tomorrow. This is a race we circled on our calendar heavily all year,” said Henry.
The Burmeister Trophy Dirt Trucks ran double features. In the first Kent Brewer drove to his first win of the year, the eighth of his career at the track over Shawn Valenti, Steve Miller (from 19th), Keith Sorg and Dave Golembiewski.
In the second feature Cody Laird led the first three laps before Valenti took control. Brewer pressured Valenti several laps before experiencing mechanical issues with just two laps to go. Valenti drove to his sixth truck win of the year at Fremont over Sorg, Laird, Golembiewski and Todd Warnick. It is Valenti’s 80th career win at the track, putting him just one behind Paul Weaver atop the all-time win list.
The finishes:
First feature (35 laps): 1. 101-Kalib Henry[4]; 2. 23-Cale Thomas[6]; 3. 49X-Tim Shaffer[1]; 4. 33W-Cap Henry[5]; 5. 29-Zeth Sabo[7]; 6. 22-Cole Duncan[15]; 7. 9-Trey Jacobs[13]; 8. 5T-Travis Philo[10]; 9. 19-TJ Michael[19]; 10. 35-Stuart Brubaker[12]; 11. 7N-Darin Naida[17]; 12. 21-Larry Kingseed Jr[24]; 13. 47-Todd King[16]; 14. 1-Nate Dussel[23]; 15. 22S-Brandon Spithaler[11]; 16. 14-Sean Rayhall[8]; 17. 28M-Conner Morrell[3]; 18. 5AU-Brock Hallett[2]; 19. 15K-Creed Kemenah[9]; 20. 29M-Logan McCandless[14]; 21. 32-Bryce Lucius[22]; 22. 60-Jordyn Charge[20]; 23. 17-Dylan Norris[21]; 24. 2-Ricky Peterson[18]
Second feature (30 laps): 1. 101-Kalib Henry[2]; 2. 15C-Chris Andrews[3]; 3. 33W-Cap Henry[1]; 4. 23-Cale Thomas[7]; 5. 49X-Tim Shaffer[12]; 6. 35-Stuart Brubaker[4]; 7. 9-Trey Jacobs[11]; 8. 19-TJ Michael[18]; 9. 4D-Zane DeVault[5]; 10. 5E-Bobby Elliott[14]; 11. 7M-Brandon Moore[9]; 12. 1-Nate Dussel[21]; 13. 47-Todd King[19]; 14. 5T-Travis Philo[24]; 15. 12-Luke Griffith[20]; 16. 22S-Brandon Spithaler[8]; 17. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek[16]; 18. 01-Bryan Sebetto[15]; 19. 13-Van Gurley Jr[23]; 20. 21-Larry Kingseed Jr[13]; 21. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[22]; 22. 27-Jamie Miller[6]; 23. 22-Cole Duncan[17]; 24. (DNS) 14-Sean Rayhall