Casebolt takes American Ethanol win at Attica; Rando earns 305 victory; Valenti out-duels Keegan in trucks
ATTICA, Ohio – Richmond, Indiana’s Steve Casebolt maneuvered through traffic and hit his marks perfectly Friday, May 11 at Attica Raceway Park, leading all 40 laps of the Bilstein 40 to claim the American Ethanol Late Model Tour (AELMT) win worth $4,000.
Lindsey, Ohio’s Steve Rando survived a late race caution, leading all 25 laps of the Fremont Fence 305 Sprint feature for his fifth career Attica win. Fostoria, Ohio’s Shawn Valenti battled the entire 15 laps of the dirt truck feature with Dustin Keegan before recording his 15th career win at “Ohio’s Finest Racing” speed plant on Underground Utilities Inc. Night.
For Casebolt, it was his second career win at Attica and came during the first ever visit to the track by the AELMT.
“I just went out there and tried to hit my marks. I never saw any other cars. Obviously I led the whole thing but it was nerve-racking to try and hit those marks. It was razor thin out there without making a mistake and thankful we hung on for the win. I want to thank all these fans…it’s cold out here. I appreciate you all for coming out and all my guys back at the shop who do a great job,” said Casebolt beside his Sudz Car Wash, Cornett lighting, Billy Moyer Victory Race Cars, VP Race Fuels, JE Pistons backed #C9.
In the 305 sprint feature a caution with two laps to go erased a 1.3 second lead for Rando. However he executed a great restart and drove to the win.
“I was able to avert a couple of disasters. On that first caution I got in the back of Dustin Rall and I thought we were going to be done. If you look at the front the wing is all banged up. Luckily we kept going. And then Seth (Schneider) pulled off the race track and I almost got him. I was like ‘man I’m not suppose to be up here.’ But here we are on the horse track,’ Rando said beside his Davis Fabricators; North Coast Asphalt; North Coast Sealing; Garza Construction; Parkmount Wealthy; Attitudes Hair Salon, Gressman Powersports, Loadmaster Trailers backed #19R.
For 15 laps Shawn Valenti and Dustin Keegan ran side by side in the dirt truck feature. At one point the pair were literally tied at the start-finish line. When the checkers flew Valenti held on for the win.
“Dustin is a track champion at Fremont last year and he’s always a tough competitor and good, clean racer. I saw him every lap. He was rolling the bottom pretty good. It was just a matter of me hitting my marks at the top and trying to keep myself off the horse track,” said Valenti.
“I want to thank Adam Jones with A Plus Auto Center, Craig Miller Trucking, Best Performance Motorsports, Dave Story Equipment and Jeff Babcock for letting me race this thing,” Valenti added.
Casebolt and Dan Wallace brought the field to green for the 40-lap A-main with Casebolt gaining the advantage over Wallace, Jon Henry, Doug Drown , Logan Arntz, Matt Miller and Brandon Thirlby. Henry drove into second on lap three and was soon challenged by Drown as Casebolt began to pull away. Henry and Drown raced side by side over the next hand full of laps as Casebolt’s lead increased to 1.5 seconds with 15 laps scored.
Henry pulled off the track on lap 17 as Casebolt raced into heavy lapped traffic. Drown now had a challenge from 13th starter Ryan Markham for the runner-up spot with Arntz, Miller and Thirlby staying close.
The first caution flew on lap 24 wiping out Casebolt’s lead. On the restart Drown stayed close to the leader with Markham challenging as well. Markham and Drown made contact and spun while battling for second on lap 27, putting Arntz into the runner-up spot. When the green flew Casebolt hit his marks perfectly and again began pulling away as Arntz had his hands full with Miller to stole the second spot.
Casebolt steadily built his margin back to nearly 1.3 seconds with six laps to go as Miller and Arntz raced side by side for second with 15th starter Rusty Schlenk closing with Thirlby, defending AELMT champion Dona Marcoullier and Devin Shiels giving chase.
Casebolt was able to pull away for the win with Miller taking second and Schlenk with a last lap pass claiming the final podium position.
Kyle Peters, who led much of the early going a week ago at Attica, and Rando paced the field for the 25 lap 305 sprint feature. Rando jumped into the early lead with Peters locked in a great battle with Bobby Clark for the runner-up spot while Seth Schneider and Jamie Miller ran side by side for fourth. Rando’s lead was over three seconds when the caution flew for Schneider and Tyler Street on lap eight.
Rando now had his hands full with Clark when the green reappeared with Miller taking third followed by Peters, Paul Weaver and John Ivy. Rando raced into lapped traffic with a 1.5 second lead with 10 laps to go while Miller took second from Clark. Traffic held up Rando and Miller closed with five laps to go as Weaver drove around Clark into third.
Just as things were looking to get real interesting, Ivy would bring out the caution with two laps to go. Rando once again got an excellent restart and drove away from Miller for the win. Weaver, Clark and Kyle Capodice rounded out the top five.
Attica Raceway Park
Friday, May 11, 2018
UUI Night
American Ethanol Late Model Tour
Heat 1 (10 laps, top 3 to A): 1. C9-Steve Casebolt; 2. 21A-Logan Arntz; 3. 79-Nick Kurtz; 4. 4G-Kody Evans; 5. 1-Greg Gokey; 6. 8-Rob Anderzack; 7. 44-Matt Shipley; 8. 10-Brett Miller; 9. 77-Steve Kester; 10. 30-Nate Potts
Heat 2 (10 laps, top 3 to A): 1. 12-Doug Drown; 2. 36-Matt Irey; 3. 51-Devin Shiels; 4. 87M-David Mielke; 5. RH21-Gregg Haskell; 6. 23V-Ryan VanderVeen; 7. 27H-Ken Hahn; 8. 7-Kevin Reeve; 9. 42-Chad Finley
Heat 3 (10 laps, top 3 to A): 1. 15-Jon Henry; 2. 6M-Dona Marcoullier; 3. 5M-Ryan Markham; 4. 15B-Mike Bores; 5. 20-Chad White; 6. 79M-Cory Maurice; 7. 4T-Andrew Terrill; 8. 7M-Brad Mann; 9. 50Y-Ryan Missler
Heat 4 (10 laps, top 3 to A): 1. 3-Matt Miller; 2. X3-Dan Wallace; 3. 13-JR Hotovy; 4. 18R-Chris Ross; 5. 23W-Brad Wade; 6. 69-Jeff Warnick; 7. 4-Jason Playter Jr.; 8. 185-DJ Miller; 9. 17X-Dustin Keegan
Heat 5 (10 laps, top 3 to A): 1. 2-Travis Stemler; 2. M14-Brandon Thirlby; 3. CJ1-Rusty Schlenk; 4. 21B-Rich Bell; 5. 27-Eric Spangler; 6. 39-Hillard Miller; 7. 11-Rachel Carpenter; 8. 16-Steve Sabo; 9. 69R-Doug Baird
Last Chance Qualifier #1 (top 2 to A): 1. 27-Eric Spangler; 2. 4G-Kody Evans; 3. 18R-Chris Ross; 4. 79M-Cory Maurice; 5. RH21-Gregg Haskell; 6. 7-Kevin Reeve; 7. 30-Nate Potts; 8. 4-Jason Playter Jr.; 9. 44-Matt Shipley; 10. 16-Steve Sabo.
Last Chance Qualifier #2 (top 2 to A): 1. 87M-David Mielke; 2. 21B-Rich Bell; 3. 8-Rob Anderzack; 4. 77-Steve Kester; 5. 27H-Ken Hahn; 6. 7M-Brad Mann; 7. 11-Rachel Carpenter; 8. 69-Jeff Warnick; 9. 20-Chad White; 10. 17x-Dustin Keegan.
Last Chance Qualifier #3 (top 2 to A): 1. 15B-Mike Bores; 2. 1-Greg Gokey; 3. 23V-Ryan VanderVeen; 4. 185-DJ Miller; 5. 10-Brett Miller; 6. 23W-Brad Wade; 7. 4T-Andrew Terrill; 8. 39-Hillard Miller; 9. 69R-Doug Baird; 10. P3-Jeff Robertson
A-Main (40 laps)
Starting position [*]
- C9-Steve Casebolt [1]; 2. 3-Matt Miller [9]; 3. CJ1-Rusty Schlenk [15]; 4. 21A-Logan Arntz [4]; 5. M14-Brandon Thirlby [6]; 6. 6M-Dona Marcoullier [8]; 7. 12-Doug Drown [5]; 8. 51-Devin Shiels [12]; 9. 2-Travis Stemler; [7] 10. 79-Nick Kurtz [11]; 11. 21B-Rich Bell [20]; 12. 36-Matt Irey [10]; 13. 5M-Ryan Markham [13]; 14. 1-Greg Gokey [21]; 15. 13-JR Hotovy [14]; 16. 87M-David Mielke [17]; 17. X3-Dan Wallace [2]; 18. 4G-Kody Evans [19]; 19. 23V-Ryan VanderVeen [22]; 20. 15B-Mike Bores [18]; 21. 27-Eric Spangler [16]; 22. 15-Jon Henry [3]
305 Sprints – Fremont Fence
Heat 1 – (8 Laps)
1. 26-Jamie Miller[2] ; 2. 25-Jason Keckler[1] ; 3. 4*-Tyler Street[7] ; 4. 1W-Paul Weaver[6] ; 5. 67M-Matt Ferrell[5] ; 6. Z10-Kevin Mingus[3] ; 7. 75-Jerry Dahms[4]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps)
1. 36-Seth Schneider[1] ; 2. 12-Kyle Capodice[4] ; 3. 8-Bobby Clark[6] ; 4. 7M-Brandon Moore[7] ; 5. 73-Joe Armbruster[2] ; 6. 09-Justin Adams[3] ; 7. 9R-Dustin Rall[5]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps)
1. 11G-Luke Griffith[1] ; 2. 77I-John Ivy[5] ; 3. 97-Kyle Peters[2] ; 4. 19R-Steve Rando[4] ; 5. 2F-Matt Foos[7] ; 6. 21-Dustin Stroup[6] ; 7. 47-Matt Lucius[3]
A-Main 1 – (25 Laps)
1. 19R-Steve Rando[2] ; 2. 26-Jamie Miller[8] ; 3. 1W-Paul Weaver[7] ; 4. 8-Bobby Clark[4] ; 5. 12-Kyle Capodice[3] ; 6. 7M-Brandon Moore[5] ; 7. 21-Dustin Stroup[18] ; 8. 2F-Matt Foos[15] ; 9. 97-Kyle Peters[1] ; 10. 25-Jason Keckler[10] ; 11. 73-Joe Armbruster[14] ; 12. 47-Matt Lucius[21] ; 13. 11G-Luke Griffith[12] ; 14. 09-Justin Adams[17] ; 15. Z10-Kevin Mingus[16] ; 16. 77I-John Ivy[11] ; 17. 67M-Matt Ferrell[13] ; 18. 75-Jerry Dahms[19] ; 19. 36-Seth Schneider[6] ; 20. 4*-Tyler Street[9] ; 21. 9R-Dustin Rall[20]
Dirt Trucks –
Heat 1 – (8 Laps)
1. 4S-Keith Sorg[3] ; 2. 7B-Shawn Valenti[7] ; 3. 17X-Dustin Keegan[4] ; 4. P51-Paul Brown Jr[2] ; 5. 33A-Brian Arnold[5] ; 6. 1H-Zeth Sabo[6] ; 7. 26-Kyle Lagrou[8] ; 8. 2-Neil Arnold[9] ; 9. 5S-Brad Stuckey[1]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps)
1. 33W-Jeff Ward[3] ; 2. 36M-Cory McCaughey[7] ; 3. 49X-Brad Keckler[1] ; 4. 16-Jim Holcomb[4] ; 5. 83-Noah Wagner[2] ; 6. 67-Ben Clapp[6] ; 7. 32H-Dan Hennig[8] ; 8. 11-Austin Gibson[5]
A-Main 1 – (15 Laps)
1. 7B-Shawn Valenti[3] ; 2. 17X-Dustin Keegan[1] ; 3. 36M-Cory McCaughey[2] ; 4. 4S-Keith Sorg[5] ; 5. 1H-Zeth Sabo[11] ; 6. 33A-Brian Arnold[9] ; 7. 83-Noah Wagner[10] ; 8. 67-Ben Clapp[12] ; 9. P51-Paul Brown Jr[4] ; 10. 26-Kyle Lagrou[13] ; 11. 16-Jim Holcomb[8] ; 12. 2-Neil Arnold[15] ; 13. 33W-Jeff Ward[7] ; 14. 49X-Brad Keckler[6] ; 15. 5S-Brad Stuckey[17] ; 16. 11-Austin Gibson[16] ; 17. 32H-Dan Hennig[14]
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