ATTICA, Ohio – Brock Zearfoss took advantage when leader Aaron Reutzel suffered mechanical issues with 12 laps to go, driving to a $10,000 payday at Attica Raceway Park during the 31st Annual Ohio Logistics Brad Doty Classic Saturday for the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions.
It was Zearfoss’ biggest payday on All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Night. It was his third career All Star win – all coming this season – and the first checkers at Attica in the 125th appearance of the series at the track.
“This is bad ass. I’ve been talking Brad (Doty) I’ve wanted to come to this race for three of four years and finally had a chance to make it out this year and it got rained out (in July) and I’m just thankful Tony (Stewart) and the All Stars put this show together with Brad’s help. What an honor…Brad was a bad ass back in the day. It’s just an honor to win a race in his name,” said Zearfoss.
For the 40 lap All Star feature, Tim Shaffer and Buddy Kofoid brought the field to green, but Caleb Griffith would coast to a stop to necessitate a second start. When the green waved Shaffer, Kofoid, Zearfoss and Reutzel battled for the lead with Cap Henry within striking distance. Gio Scelzi would do a 360 spin with three laps scored to tighten the field. Shaffer pulled away slightly on the restart while Kofoid and Reutzel battled for second, trading sliders the next two laps.
With nine laps in, Kofoid had taken command of second closed quickly on Shaffer and the pair exchanged sliders with Kofoid taking the lad just as the caution flew for Travis Philo and D.J. Foos. When the green flew Reutzel grabbed second from Shaffer who had his hands full holding off Zearfoss. Kofoid began to inch away from Reutzel but lapped traffic loomed ahead.
Reutzel quickly closed the gap on Kofoid and threw a slider for the lead on lap 19. As the leaders battled into heavy lapped traffic on lap 22, the running order was Reutzel, Kofoid, Zearfoss, Shaffer, Dale Blaney, Henry and Parker Price-Miller. Zearfoss used the lapped cars to take second on lap 23 and closed on Reutzel, actually grabbing the lead by a nose on lap 26 only to see Reutzel return the favor the following circuit.
Reutzel’s car let out a puff of smoke on lap 28 as he coasted to a stop, handing the lead to Zearfoss. On the restart Shaffer battled Kofoid for second, taking the position on lap 30. Zearfoss pulled away to a 1.8 second lead with eight laps to go while Shaffer and Kofoid continued to battle for second with Blaney, Price-Miller and Henry in pursuit.
With three laps to go Zearfoss encountered lapped traffic but was able to move around and pick them off to drive to the win over Shaffer, Kofoid, Blaney and Price-Miller.
“Noisey (Shane Bowers) and Tye (Wolfgang) gave me a bad ass car here both nights,” Zearfoss said. “I wish we would have been able to start a little further toward the front last night…I think we might have had a chance to win that one too. It went our way tonight. It got real tight with Aaron there in traffic and I think we touched a little bit…going for the lead there that’s what you have to do. I don’t know what happened to him there but I saw him slow up. I can’t say enough about this team. It’s such an honor to drive for these guys…they’ve been busting their asses all year long. Earlier in the year I just wasn’t getting it done in the seat. They’ve been giving me great cars and I was messing up on the track. I’ve been working hard to get better.”
For the second consecutive night, four time All Star champion Tim Shaffer finished in the runner-up spot after leading the first 10 laps.
“We were too good too early,” Shaffer said. “Hats off to Ron Gorby and his wife who’s here tonight. They are having fun watching and that’s what it’s all about…having a good time. Cody Jacobs and Ron’s guys coming over to help and we’re all enjoying it. Zearfoss had a great car and could move around and that’s what it takes here. I had to re-learn how to do those slide jobs…these young kids do it all the time so I had to give it back to them. It was a lot of fun. As long as everyone races and respects each other it’s a pretty awesome deal and I feel like we had that tonight,” said Shaffer.
In the big picture, Reutzel’s misfortune coupled with Blaney’s fourth place finish moved Blaney back into command of the All Star points.
In the 305 feature, Alvin Roepke – ironically the 2002 Attica 410 track champion and 2002 Brad Doty Classic winner – took the lead with eight laps to go and drove to the $1,000 pay day. Roepke, who owns five 410 wins at the track, now has three 305 victories.
The finish:
1. 70-Brock Zearfoss [3]; 2. G1-Tim Shaffer [1]; 3. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [2]; 4. 11-Dale Blaney [8]; 5. 71P-Parker Price-Miller [5]; 6. 26-Cory Eliason [10]; 7. O9-Craig Mintz [14]; 8. 4-Cap Henry [6]; 9. 70X-Justin Peck [9]; 10. 3-Jac Haudenschild [15]; 11. 5R-Byron Reed [17]; 12. 33W-Caleb Griffith [13]; 13. 13-Paul McMahan [11]; 14. W20-Greg Wilson [22]; 15. 16-DJ Foos [23]; 16. 71-Gio Scelzi [21]; 17. O7-Gerard McIntyre [24]; 18. 39-Hunter Schuerenberg [12]; 19. K4-Chad Kemenah [16]; 20. 1-Nate Dussel [20]; 21. 19-Paige Polyak [7]; 22. 99-Skylar Gee [19]; 23. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 24. 5T-Travis Philo [18]