FREMONT, Ohio — Craig Mintz literally had a heavy right foot Saturday at Fremont Speedway.
The Gibsonburg, Ohio, driver, a three-time track champion, broke his foot earlier in the week and didn’t even know if he could race this weekend.
But race he did, taking the lead from Chris Andrews with just four laps to go and driving to his second consecutive 410 sprint win at “the third-mile track.
“We didn’t even know if we were going to be able to race tonight. My guys busted their tails to get me comfortable in the car. Chris (Hartsel) has made some big changes to this car….stuff I have never done and it’s working,” Mintz said. “Rich (Witte), my dad and everyone have never given up. My wife and kids were finally here to see us get a win tonight. I’ll tell you racing with Chris Andrews was fun. It just shows everyone you can race each other hard and you don’t have to tear up each other’s stuff.”
It was the 16th career win at Fremont for Mintz and it gets him closer to Cole Macedo in the track’s point standings for the Fort Ball Pizza Palace 410 Sprints.
Zeth Sabo finished second, with Nate Dussell, Andrews and Macedo rounding out the top five.
Paul Weaver put on a dominant performance in the Fremont Federal Credit Union 305 Sprints. He led all 25 laps and only a couple of cautions would slow his march to his fourth win of the season at Fremont. Weaver now has 68 career wins at the track, placing him third on the all-time win list.
Jeff Babcock survived a caution-filled Burmeister Trophy Dirt Truck A-main to score his second consecutive win, the third of his career at the track. It wasn’t easy as Babcock battled with Jamie Miller through the first 13 laps which had nine cautions. In fact Miller led a couple of laps as the pair raced side by side, lap after lap. Mechanical issues forced Miller out of the race with two laps to go and Babcock drove to the win.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 09-Craig Mintz[4] ; 2. 29-Zeth Sabo[1] ; 3. 1-Nate Dussel[8] ; 4. 23-Chris Andrews[2] ; 5. 18-Cole Macedo[6] ; 6. 5T-Travis Philo[7] ; 7. 7N-Darin Naida[3] ; 8. 22M-Dan McCarron[5] ; 9. 5-Byron Reed[9] ; 10. 33W-Caleb Griffith[15] ; 11. 28M-Conner Morrell[21] ; 12. 7T-Troy Vaccaro[14] ; 13. 12G-Corbin Gurley[12] ; 14. 5J-Jake Hesson[22] ; 15. 14H-Zane DeVault[11] ; 16. 49I-John Ivy[18] ; 17. 16-DJ Foos[10] ; 18. 14-Ben Varner[19] ; 19. 98-Robert Robenalt[24] ; 20. 22-Ryan Broughton[13] ; 21. 75-Jerry Dahms[17] ; 22. 10-Justin Adams[16]