ATTICA, Ohio – In a caution-filled opening night 410 sprint feature which saw two early leaders spin, Missouri’s Hunter Schuerenberg navigated through traffic and held off a late-race charge to score his first Attica Raceway Park victory.
Schuerenberg inherited the lead of the Callie’s Performance Products 410 sprint feature on lap 15 when leader Trey Jacobs spun and held off a late race charge by his friend Zach Hampton for the 30-lap win.
The triumph for Schuerenberg came aboard the Vermeer Motorsports/TK Concrete/Maxim Trucking/Roof Bolt Transport/Eddie Gilstrap Motors/Logan Contracting/Titan Machinery backed No. 55.
“It was just of those kinds of race tracks if your leading you can’t afford to make a mistake. As wide as the place was I knew someone in second was probably pressuring the hell out of me. If you caught lapped traffic then you were forced to try and slide across that race track and give the guy behind you some room,” Schuerenberg said. “I knew he was back there…I was just trying to slow the pace down enough so we didn’t have to get into lapped traffic real hard. I probably could have run the car a little bit harder but when three guys ahead of you make a mistake … I wasn’t going to give the race away.
“I think that was Zach (Hampton) that ran second and that’s pretty cool. He and I are buddies. That kid is the hardest working dude in sprint car racing right now. He’s coming along quite well and to know he ran second is pretty cool. Happy to get win No. 1 with Vermeer Motorsports,” he added.
Chad Wilson and Cole Macedo brought the field to green for the 30-lap 410 sprint feature but a three car tangle necessitated another start which saw another spin followed by a green and another caution.
When the race finally started, Macedo jumped into the lead over Trey Jacobs, Schuerenberg, Wilson, Ricky Peterson, Hampton and Chris Andrews.
Macedo spun on lap two handing the lead to Jacobs. Jacobs set a blistering pace, racing into lapped traffic by the sixth circuit with Schuerenberg, Peterson, Hampton and Andrews in pursuit.
A spin on lap seven gave Jacobs a clear track and he pulled away. Jacobs once again found heavy lapped traffic by the 12th circuit but another caution gave him a clear track.
By the half-way point Jacobs had built a nice lead over Schuerenberg, Peterson, Hampton, Andrews, Cole Duncan, Nate Dussel and John Ivy.
But disaster truck for Jacobs as he jumped the cushion in turns three and four to bring out the caution and handing the lead to Schuerenberg. On the restart another caution flew which brought about a fuel stoppage. The race would go caution free for the final half.
When the green came back out Schuerenberg could not shake Hampton, who had grabbed second from Peterson. Meanwhile a tremendous battle shaped up for fourth with Dussel, Andrews and Duncan.
With five laps to go, Schuerenberg was struggling behind a lapped car, but was content not to push the issue as Hampton never showed him his nose.
Schuerenberg was finally able to dispose of the lapper and drove to the win over Hampton, Peterson, Andrews and Dussel.
In arguably the best feature of the night, five-time and defending Fremont Fence 305 sprint car track champion Paul Weaver used lapped traffic to take the lead at the white flag and held off a last ditch challenge from Steve Rando to earn his 57th career class victory.
It was Weaver’s 60th total win at the track, including three in the 410 sprint class, making him the all-time career winner at Attica.
“I caught him (Rando), he pulled away, I caught him, he pulled away and it just played out on the last lap or he probably would have got me back,” said Weaver. “I might have passed Mark Keegan (for all time wins) but Mark Keegan is the best. When he walks in the pits everyone knows that. It’s a shame I didn’t have a lot of opportunities to run 410s. I’m just trying to keep the fun in racing.”
Rando tried a last corner dive in an effort to get the top spot back, but Weaver held his line and drove to the win.
Rando, Jamie Miller, Zeth Sabo and Brandon Moore rounded out the top five.
Ryan Markham led all 25 laps to win the Propane.com/Dirt Nerds Podcast UMP Late Model A Main over Rusty Schlenk, Collin Shipley, a charging Casey Noonan, and defending late model track titlist Devin Shiels.
The finish:
1. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [8]; 2. 35H-Zach Hampton [5]; 3. 2-Ricky Peterson [3]; 4. 23-Chris Andrews [10]; 5. 1-Nate Dussel [13]; 6. 22-Cole Duncan [9]; 7. 16-D.J. Foos [19]; 8. 27S-John Ivy [12]; 9. 18-Cole Macedo [2]; 10. 97-Gary Taylor [6]; 11. 35-Stuart Brubaker [23]; 12. 3C-Cale Conley [24]; 13. 4T-Josh Turner [20]; 14. 3J-Trey Jacobs [4]; 15. 98-Clinton Boyles [16]; 16. 14-Chad Wilson [1]; 17. 20B-Cody Bova [7]; 18. 18J-R.J. Jacobs [17]; 19. 40I-Mark Imler [18]; 20. 12-Kyle Capodice [21]; 21. 33W-Caleb Griffith [15]; 22. 71H-Ryan Ruhl [11]; 23. 16B-Zane DeVault [14]; 24. 7-Dylan Kingan [22].