FREMONT, Ohio – After a fantastic 2019 season that saw him claim a pair of championships, D.J. Foos was struggling in 2020.
But about a month ago he and the Burmeister Racing team started to gain momentum.
It came to a head Saturday at Fremont Speedway, as the Fremont, Ohio driver led all 30 laps to score his first win of the season on Pub 400 Night.
“Wrecks kept happening right in front of us and a million yellow flags and Cole (Macedo) is a gasser and I kept expecting a slider in one and two. I kept driving it in there harder and harder…I made so many mistakes there towards the end. There’s one thing I’ve learned this year…you can never take a win for granted. It feels so good to win,” said Foos in victory lane.
“These guys on this team don’t give up. The Burmeisters have been doing this for 60 years and there’s a reason for it. I’m so grateful to be sitting in this car and race every weekend. Mikey, LJ, Rollie, Sharon, Justin….everyone does so much for us like Paul Kistler, Doug Berryman and all our great sponsors,” added Foos.
Foos and Trey Jacobs brought the field to green for the 30-lap Fort Ball Pizza Palace 410 Sprint A-main, with Foos gaining the advantage over Cole Macedo, Jacobs, Stuart Brubaker, RJ Jacobs, Dean Jacobs and TJ Michael.
A caution on lap five kept the field close as Brubaker had moved into third.
Following back-to-back cautions on lap eight and nine, Foos got tremendous restarts and pulled away from Macedo who had his hands full with ninth starter Nate Dussel with Brubaker and Dean Jacobs battling for fourth.
Foos entered heavy lapped traffic at the half-way point and Macedo and Dussel closed with Dean Jacobs taking fourth.
With 10 laps to go Foos made a fantastic move in lapped traffic and began to pull away until Josh Turner tipped over right in front of the entertaining battle for second involving Macedo, Dussel and Dean Jacobs.
After another caution on the ensuing restart, Foos pulled away again when the green reappeared but a caution with six laps remaining gave Macedo and Dussel another shot.
Foos was too good when the green fell and he drove away to his 16th career victory at Fremont, with Dussel taking second on the white flag lap. Macedo, Dean Jacobs and Brian Smith rounded out the top five.
Fremont, Ohio’s Paul Weaver is having one of the greatest seasons in his long history of racing and he added to his accomplishments Saturday in the Fremont Federal Credit Union 305 Sprints.
Weaver jumped into the lead at the drop of the green of the 25-lap feature from his outside front row starting spot and never looked back, claiming his sixth win of the season at “The Track That Action Built.”
Weaver now has 13 total victories in 2020, including seven wins at Attica Raceway Park.
Saturday’s triumph was the 57th of his career at Fremont and puts him seventh on the track’s all-time win list.
“Things are just going our way when it comes to pill draws. You keep putting me on the front row and it makes it hard to lose. I want to thank Pam and Steve Brown, Russ Adkins, definitely Bob Hampshire and Dave Rice,” said Weaver.
Brandon Moore and Weaver paced the field for the 25 lap 305 A-main with Weaver taking the initial lead over Moore, Jamie Miller, Alvin Roepke, Kyle Capodice and Mike Keegan.
A caution after two laps were scored slowed Weaver’s march to the checkers and when the green reappeared he drove away while Miller took second with Roepke taking third on lap five.
Weaver encountered heavy lapped traffic by lap eight but Miller could not close. A caution with 12 laps in put Miller and Roepke right on Weaver’s tail but the veteran again pulled away until another caution on lap 14.
When the green came back out Weaver built his lead once again as Miller and Roepke exchanged the runner-up spot lap after lap with Seth Schneider moving into fourth.
No one was going to catch Weaver as he drove to the win over Roepke, Miller, Schneider and Moore.
In a caution filled – 10 yellow flags in 20 laps – Burmeister Trophy Dirt Truck feature, Fostoria, Ohio’s Shawn Valenti took charge on lap seven, survived numerous restarts and drove to his fourth win of the season.
It was Valenti’s 59th career win at Fremont, putting him fifth on the track’s all-time win list, only one win away from tying John Ivy and Mark Keegan for third.
“To be up there in wins with those guys is pretty amazing. I have to thank the Babocks. When we unloaded this thing we weren’t that good and actually had to have some parts brought in and change a leaf spring that went bad. A pretty amazing group of guys with John Brooks and Chris…they bust their butts on this thing too,” said Valenti.
In the crash-filled dirt truck A-main, Cory McCaughey grabbed the lead at the drop of the green and maintained the top spot the first six circuits. Valenti used a restart to take the lead on lap seven and despite numerous cautions, would build big leads.
A caution with three laps to go wiped out a nearly six second lead for Valenti.
Valenti would not be denied, driving to the victory over McCaughey, Jamie Miller, Dana Fry and Kent Brewer.