FREMONT, Ohio — Tyler Courtney essentially wrapped up the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 title with his first Fremont Speedway victory to open the 15th annual Jim and Joanne Ford Classic.
Courtney led all 35 laps for his eighth All Star win of the season and the 16th series win of his career. By taking a green flag in qualifying on Saturday, “Sunshine” will score his second straight All Star title. His win aboard the Clauson/Marshall Racing No. 7bc was worth $6,000.
“I just kept moving the wing back and trying to get traction. Track stayed better tonight…better than it normally does and early in the night we were a little too tight but we didn’t want to free it up because this place just gets slicker as the night goes on. So just trying to stay a step ahead of it is tough. I think before this year and speedweek one of our best finishes here was like eighth or ninth so to come in here at speedweek and run two top fives and then show up here on finale weekend and get a win is just awesome. That’s a lot about my guys and how hard they work. In the off-season and throughout the year they keep making our program better,” Courtney said.
Second-place finisher Justin Peck came on strong the last half of the race.
“We got the fuel load burned down and got the wing back. I told my guys I was going to have to move around and if I can find a line that works I have a shot at the win. I really couldn’t find one…found a little bit of one there when we caught traffic but it seemed to go away pretty fast. Yesterday I said I wanted to finish two steps forward tonight and it was one so hopefully tomorrow we get that other step,” said Peck.
Cap Henry finished third and has scored a pair of podium finishes at Fremont since joining the Rich Farmer team.
“The past two races we’ve been in this I’ve just been trying to learn. The first week was really good and the second week was mediocre. Tonight we were decent but not as good as Tyler and Justin. I’m really proud of my guys, Rich and Sheldon and Zack and everyone involved with this 29x car and thankful for everyone that has stuck with me through all this the past few weeks,” said Henry.
The Burmeister Trophy Dirt Trucks ran two feature events, with the field split odds and evens in the track’s points.
In the first 15-lap feature Fremont’s 2022 track champion Jamie Miller took the lead from Shawn Valenti on lap four and drove to his sixth truck win of the season and the 37th overall win of his career at the track. Valenti, Dan Hennig, Brad Stuckey and Kent Brewer rounded out the top five.
In the second feature, Jeff Babcock and Dave Gumby Jr. battled side by side the first six laps before Gumby suffered mechanical issues. Babcock drove away to the win and after a tremendous battle for second, Chester Fitch secured the position with Brad Mitten, Keith Sorg and Dustin Keegan rounding out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [2]; 2. 13-Justin Peck [5]; 3. 29X-Cap Henry [1]; 4. 11-Cole Duncan [6]; 5. 29-Zeth Sabo [7]; 6. 16-DJ Foos [8]; 7. 49X-Cale Thomas [3]; 8. 19-Chris Windom [17]; 9. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [22]; 10. 5T-Travis Philo [13]; 11. 97-Greg Wilson [21]; 12. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [18]; 13. 18-Cole Macedo [4]; 14. 17B-Bill Balog [23]; 15. 1-Nate Dussel [24]; 16. 20B-Cody Bova [10]; 17. 3J-Trey Jacobs [12]; 18. 35-Stuart Brubaker [11]; 19. 5-Byron Reed [15]; 20. 4-Chris Andrews [25]; 21. 47BC-Emerson Axsom [16]; 22. 22M-Dan McCarron [20]; 23. 28M-Conner Morrell [19]; 24. 99-Skylar Gee [9]; 25. 26-Zeb Wise [14]