ATTICA, Ohio – While everyone else was running around the bottom, Travis Philo pulled his wing back and blasted away at Attica Raceway Park’s cushion Friday.
The move and adjustments his crew made paid off as the Waterville, Ohio driver blasted around race-long leader Jordan Ryan on the last corner of the last lap to earn his the 410 sprint victory on Steinle Chevrolet Buick of Clyde/Norwalk Concrete Night.
Philo’s margin of victory was .236 seconds and it was his ninth career win at Attica.
Jordan Ryan led the first 29.75 laps. He was challenged the first half of the race by Stuart Brubaker. With just eight laps to go, Ryan had pulled away from the field while Philo got around Brubaker for second. By lap 25, Philo had found the top side of the track and closed quickly on Ryan, setting him up for the last lap excitement.
“I was kicking myself the last five times I tried to run the bottom in three and four. I would get huge runs off of four but it was so hard to get slowed down and hit that bottom right. I knew the top was working…that’s where I passed all my cars coming off of four and getting into one. We tried a little bit different stuff tonight and I have to thank my dad and AJ Havens, Kayden Havens and their entire family. My dad busts his ass for us to be able to do this and I’m extremely appreciative,” said Philo.
Ryan finished second, with Cap Henry, Stuart Brubaker and Bryce Lucius rounding out the top five.
Devin Shiels, who has won the last three consecutive Dirt Nerds Podcast/Propane.com UMP Late Model track championships at Attica, began the season with a new car and the results were not something the Britton, Michigan driver was used to. Shiels and his team overcame the gremlins Friday at Attica, snatching the lead with just three laps to go to earn his 16th career victory at “Ohio’s Finest Racing” venue.
Three-time Fremont Fence 305 sprint champion Jamie Miller also blasted away at Attica’s high line, charging from his eighth starting spot to the lead by just lap six. The Fremont, Ohio driver earned his second Attica win of 2023 in dominating fashion, taking the checkers by nearly seven seconds for his 37thcareer victory at the track.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 5T-Travis Philo[6] ; 2. 25R-Jordan Ryan[1] ; 3. 33W-Cap Henry[4] ; 4. 35-Stuart Brubaker[3] ; 5. 32-Bryce Lucius[2] ; 6. 5-Byron Reed[11] ; 7. 23-Zeth Sabo[15] ; 8. 12J-Kasey Jedrzejek[14] ; 9. 2-Ricky Peterson[10] ; 10. 9-Trey Jacobs[7] ; 11. 5K-Adam Kekich[9] ; 12. 8M-TJ Michael[5] ; 13. 50YR-Ryan Ruhl[12] ; 14. 4*-Tyler Street[13] ; 15. 15C-Chris Andrews[8] ; 16. 17-Reece Saldana[18] ; 17. 75-Jerry Dahms[22] ; 18. 98-Robert Robenalt[19] ; 19. 12-Kyle Capodice[20] ; 20. 83M-Broc Martin[16] ; 21. 15-Mitch Harble[17] ; 22. 38-Leyton Wagner[21]