Holtgraver Earns First UNOH All Star Win To Open Ohio Sprint Speedweek at Attica; Missler Gets Last Lap Late Model victory
By Brian Liskai
(Attica, OH) When race-long leader Cap Henry slid backwards off turn four trying to avoid a flipping car with just four laps to go, Danny Holtgraver was there to take advantage. The Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania resident held off Craig Mintz and Bryan Sebetto the last four laps to score his first University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions victory at Attica Raceway Park to kick off the 30th Annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek Friday night.
Holtgraver, the 2010 Lernerville Speedway champion, earned $6,000 for the victory on Ohio Caterpillar/Kistler Racing Engines Night, as engine builder Paul Kistler added an extra $1,000 because the winner had a Kistler Engine under the hood.
“I was shaken that last restart…I didn’t know what to do. I knew the top was good down here (in turns three and four) and Mintz is unbelievable here and Sebetto on the high side. I just didn’t know what to do. I just did the same thing I did the whole race and it paid off,” said Holtgraver beside his Kargo Quality Cars and Trucks, Alternative Power Source, DKW Transport backed machine.
“I think it would have been a good race…that sucks for him. That’s a tough break…he was good. But I think we could have made it interesting,” added Holtgraver about Cap Henry’s misfortune. “This is unbelievable…to get this first All Star win at Attica …there’s some of the greatest race cars in the world out here every week.”
For Mintz, who has three wins this season at Attica , including a last lap All Star victory in April, second was a great finish after starting 15th.
“We went out to qualify like the 35th car (out of 41) and the race track slowed down quite a bit. Qualifying is very important when you with the All Stars. We made a pretty good show out of it. There were a lot of slide jobs and lot of bumping and banging for an open wheel race car,” said Mintz beside his Real Geese Decoys, R2C Filters, Kistler Engines, Ti22 Performanced backed #09.
“Danny was just too good on the bottom…I don’t think I had anything for him. We had a couple of things break on the race car but no excuses…that D4 car was fast. This GF1 car…we will keep working on it and get it faster,” added Mintz of his Wasserman Construction, Design Graphics Group, Erie Shore Propane machine.
Sebetto ran in the top three nearly the entire 40 laps, but struggled to find a balance in each corner with the car.
“I had to have my car free enough to roll the cushion in three and four but it was too free for me to roll the top where I felt like I was good in one and two. So I had to get the wing all the way back then I could roll one and two really nice but I was having to run the thing so deep into three trying to make momentum. I got the wing all the way back and I was just too tight in three and four and kept plowing through the cushion,” explained Sebetto beside his Crown Battery, JLH General Contractor, Hammer Pallets backed car.
“Congrats to Danny and Craig…that was a fun race. I would have loved to have seen no red flag…there were cars every where. A great night for the Hammer team and a good start to speed week,” added Sebetto of his Meggitt Powder Coating, R3 Nutrition, Gressman Powersports, OC Shocks, Keizer Wheels backed machine.
In the Summit Racing Equipment UMP DIRTCar Late Models, three time track champion Ryan Missler broke a nearly two year long winless slump with a last lap, last corner pass of John Mayes Jr. to score a very close win – by just .081 seconds. It was his eighth career late model victory at Attica .
“I thought I forgot where this place was,” said Missler in the Engine Pro Victory Lane . “I was trying to save my tires and let those guys race in front of me. I was waiting for lapped traffic…I just put the hammer down the last five laps and that top side was good.”
“I have to thank everyone who helps me. Jerry Huff makes this possible. Dave Gullick and his son Chase, my wife, my in-laws, Quality Welding, Taze D.J. Service, King Industrial Supply, York Fabrication, Handi Grafix, Crave Energy Drink, Terry McConnel Excavating, TNT Farms, SCS Gear Box, Level Performance, J&H Concrete, Twin Lakes Golf Course…it takes a lot of help to do this,” added Missler.
Henry would set a blistering pace, encountering heavy lapped traffic by the eighth circuit, allowing Sebetto and Smith to close. But, Chad Blonde and Andrews would spin in separate incidents to give Henry a clear track. Again when the green came back out, Henry set sail, with Sebetto battling Smith for second while Smith moved into four and Chaney, Dean Jacobs, Reed, Mintz and Holtgraver giving chase.
Again, just as Henry would catch the rear of the field, the caution would fly for Tim Shaffer, who spun and would go pitside with front end damage. Henry would fly away on the restart while Sebetto and Smith continued their torrid battle for second with Smith, Jacobs, Chaney, Mintz and Holtgraver trying to keep pace. Smith would take the second spot on lap 17 with the caution flying again on lap 19 for a multi-car incident involving Mike Linder, Travis Philo, David Gravel, Brian Lay, Brandon Martin and Duane Zablocki.
When the green came back out, Henry was still able to pull away while Stevie Smith, Sebetto, Danny Smith, Jacobs, Mintz and Holtgraver raced hard for second. As they exited turn four, it was three wide for fourth with Jacobs doing a; 360 spin, bringing out the caution.
At the half-way point it was Henry over Stevie Smith, Sebetto, Mintz, Holtgraver and Danny Smith. Henry would hold a four car length lead as Smith tried to hold off Sebetto and a closing Mintz and Holtgraver. With 25 laps scored, Sebetto, Mintz and Holtgraver were locked in a heated battle for third.
As the laps began clicking off, Stevie Smith was slowly reeling Henry in as Sebetto, Mintz and Holtgraver continued their entertaining battle for third. With eight laps to go, Stevie Smith had caught Henry and as he tried to make the pass enterting turn one, got side ways, dropping back to fifth.
Henry would encounter heavy lapped traffic with six circuits to go as Holtgraver drove around Sebetto for second with Mintz in fourth, Stevie Smith fifth and 18th starter Dale Blaney sixth. With five laps to go, Holtgraver and Sebetto had caught Henry. As they raced into turn three, Gravel would flip right in front of Henry who had no place to go and flew off the top side of the track backwards into the catch fence. No damage was done to the car, but Henry, who lead all 36 laps, had to go to the tail, giving the lead to Holtgraver.
On the restart, Holtgraver stayed glued to the bottom groove with Mintz running the middle and Sebetto blasting the top cushion with Stevie Smith there to pounce. On each of the last four laps, Mintz would drive to Holtgraver’s outside, but could not make the pass.
Holtgraver would go on to take the close win – his first ever at Attica – over Mintz, Sebetto, Stevie Smith and Dale Blaney.
After running several laps side by side for the lead, Chance would have a slight advantage to lead lap 10 with Mayes still racing to his outside while Missler and Babcock raced side by side for third. Babcock would actually take second on lap 14 only to see Mayes retake the spot a lap later with Babock returning the favor on the next circuit.
With seven laps to go, Chance, Babock, Mayes and Missler were putting on a whale of a show with Mayes taking second on lap 19 and immediately racing to Chance’s outside for the lead. Mayes would take the top spot with four laps to go as Chance continued to run to his inside while Missler went to the top shelf to make it a tremendous three car battle. Missler would take second with two laps remaining and as they took the white flag, raced to Mayes’ outside.
Mayes and Missler would race side by side down the back stretch and through turns three and four. As they raced to the checkered flag, Missler would rocket off the high side and take the victory by .081 seconds over Mayes, Babcock, Miller and Chance.
Attica Raceway Park will be back in action Friday, July 6 with the O’Reilly Auto Parts 410 Sprints, Summit Racing Equipment UMP Late Models, Fremont Fence 305 Sprints and the Bob’s Machine Shop/BMS Engines Dirt Trucks in action. General admission will be just $10 and there will be $1 hot dogs and 50-cent popcorn.
For more information go to www.atticaracewaypark.com
Attica Raceway Park - 6/22/2012
Ohio Caterpillar/ Kistler Engines Night
All Star Circuit of Champions (41 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Qualifying - Kistler Engines
1. W20-Greg Wilson, 12.818; 2. 60K-Jody Keegan, 12.894; 3. 5R-Byron Reed, 12.922; 4. 54-Cap Henry, 12.961; 5. 9X-Brandon Martin, 12.967; 6. 29-Rob Chaney, 12.988; 7. 19-Stevie Smith, 13.016; 8. 24H-Bryan Sebetto, 13.022; 9. 1-Chad Blonde, 13.048; 10. 4-Danny Smith, 13.061; 11. 22-Cole Duncan , 13.084; 12. 97-Dean Jacobs, 13.089; 13. D4-Danny Holtgraver, 13.159; 14. 89G-David Gravel, 13.234; 15. O9-Craig Mintz, 13.237; 16. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 13.274; 17. 83-Tim Shaffer, 13.295; 18. 45L-Brian Lay, 13.349; 19. 4K-Kody Kinser, 13.351; 20. 2-Dale Blaney, 13.353; 21. 5T-Travis Philo, 13.359; 22. 3L-Mike Linder, 13.376; 23. 40-Caleb Helms, 13.382; 24. 9Z-Duane Zablocki, 13.408; 25. 45-Paul McMahan, 13.408; 26. 16-Chris Andrews, 13.409; 27. 3-Pete Miller III, 13.427; 28. 55-Brad Bowman, 13.428; 29. 17-Marty Perovich, 13.509; 30. O-Lee Jacobs, 13.541; 31. 46AU-Stuart Williams, 13.545; 32. 53-Phil Gressman, 13.602; 33. 14W-Chad Wilson , 13.608; 34. 11N-Ed Neumeister, 13.649; 35. 12-Jared Ridge, 13.751; 36. 2+-Brian Smith, 14.026; 37. 71AU-Ryan Davis , 14.031; 38. 98-Robert Robenalt, 14.918; 39. 69-Scott Curren, 99.997; 40. 73-Joe Armbruster, 99.998; 41. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. , 99.999
Heat 1 - Kears Speed Shop (10 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 5T-Travis Philo[1] ; 2. 83-Tim Shaffer[2] ; 3. D4-Danny Holtgraver[3] ; 4. 9X-Brandon Martin[5] ; 5. 1-Chad Blonde[4] ; 6. 45-Paul McMahan[7] ; 7. W20-Greg Wilson [6] ; 8. 17-Marty Perovich[8] ; 9. 14W-Chad Wilson [9] ; 10. 71AU-Ryan Davis [10]
Heat 2 - All Pro Aluminum Heads (10 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 3L-Mike Linder[1] ; 2. 4-Danny Smith[4] ; 3. 89G-David Gravel[3] ; 4. 29-Rob Chaney[5] ; 5. 16-Chris Andrews[7] ; 6. 45L-Brian Lay[2] ; 7. O-Lee Jacobs[8] ; 8. 60K-Jody Keegan[6] ; 9. 11N-Ed Neumeister[9] ; 10. 98-Robert Robenalt[10]
Heat 3 - Dragon Race Fuel (10 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 40-Caleb Helms[1] ; 2. 19-Stevie Smith[5] ; 3. O9-Craig Mintz[3] ; 4. 5R-Byron Reed[6] ; 5. 22-Cole Duncan [4] ; 6. 4K-Kody Kinser[2] ; 7. 46AU-Stuart Williams[8] ; 8. 3-Pete Miller III[7] ; 9. 12-Jared Ridge[9] ; 10. 69-Scott Curren[10]
Heat 4 - Kinsler Fuel Injection (10 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[1] ; 2. 2-Dale Blaney[2] ; 3. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[5] ; 4. 97-Dean Jacobs[4] ; 5. 54-Cap Henry[6] ; 6. 53-Phil Gressman[8] ; 7. 35-Stuart Brubaker[3] ; 8. 55-Brad Bowman[7] ; 9. 73-Joe Armbruster[10] ; 10. 2+-Brian Smith[9]
Dash - Outerwears Performance Products (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 54-Cap Henry[2] ; 2. 29-Rob Chaney[3] ; 3. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[1] ; 4. 19-Stevie Smith[4] ; 5. 5R-Byron Reed[6] ; 6. 1-Chad Blonde[5]
B-Main - MSD Ignition (12 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 60K-Jody Keegan[2] ; 2. W20-Greg Wilson [1] ; 3. 45L-Brian Lay[4] ; 4. 55-Brad Bowman[8] ; 5. 3-Pete Miller III[7] ; 6. 17-Marty Perovich[9] ; 7. 53-Phil Gressman[12] ; 8. 46AU-Stuart Williams[11] ; 9. 4K-Kody Kinser[5] ; 10. 45-Paul McMahan[6] ; 11. 73-Joe Armbruster[20] ; 12. 11N-Ed Neumeister[14] ; 13. 14W-Chad Wilson [13] ; 14. 69-Scott Curren[19] ; 15. 98-Robert Robenalt[18] ; 16. O-Lee Jacobs[10] ; 17. 12-Jared Ridge[15] ; 18. 35-Stuart Brubaker[3] ; 19. 71AU-Ryan Davis [17] ; 20. 2+-Brian Smith[16]
A-Main - University of Northwestern Ohio (40 Laps)
1. D4-Danny Holtgraver[10]; 2. O9-Craig Mintz[15]; 3. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[3]; 4. 19-Stevie Smith[4]; 5. 2-Dale Blaney[18]; 6. 4-Danny Smith[7]; 7. 55-Brad Bowman[24]; 8. 29-Rob Chaney[2]; 9. 22-Cole Duncan [8]; 10. 40-Caleb Helms[21]; 11. 5R-Byron Reed[5]; 12. 1-Chad Blonde[6]; 13. W20-Greg Wilson [12]; 14. 97-Dean Jacobs[9]; 15. 16-Chris Andrews[23]; 16. 5T-Travis Philo[19]; 17. 54-Cap Henry[1]; 18. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[22]; 19. 89G-David Gravel[14]; 20. 60K-Jody Keegan[13]; 21. 45L-Brian Lay[17]; 22. 3L-Mike Linder[20]; 23. 9X-Brandon Martin[11]; 24. 83-Tim Shaffer[16]
Hard Charger: 55-Brad Bowman[+17]
Summit Racing Equipment Late Models (30 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Heat 1 - Nitro Black Performance by Engine Pro (8 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 15B-Mike Bores[1] ; 2. 1N-Casey Noonan[4] ; 3. 48-John Bores[6] ; 4. 99-Steve Sabo[2] ; 5. 59-Larry Bellman[5] ; 6. 23-Mike Hudson [7] ; 7. 151-Jason Hinton[3] ; 8. 46-Brandon Perkins[8]
Heat 2 - Summit Racing Equipment (8 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 91-Rusty Schlenk[2] ; 2. 51-Devin Shiels[1] ; 3. O1-Justin Chance[3] ; 4. 92-Cody Scott[8] ; 5. X3-Dan Wallace[7] ; 6. 30-Nate Potts[6] ; 7. 40-Wayne Maffett Jr.[4] ; 8. O3-Jim Gingery[5]
Heat 3 - Ultra Shield Race Products (8 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 1-Jeff Babcock[2] ; 2. 50Y-Ryan Missler[3] ; 3. 34-Ky Harper[4] ; 4. O6-Kyle Perry[1] ; 5. 36-Matt Irey[7] ; 6. 21-Larry Kingseed[6] ; 7. 101-Chester Fitch[5]
Heat 4 - Bell Racing Products (8 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 3-Matt Miller[4] ; 2. 29-Rocky Owens[2] ; 3. 69-John Mayes Jr.[1] ; 4. 5M-Ryan Markham[6] ; 5. 71-Dave Hornikel[5] ; 6. 12-Michael Stiltner Jr.[3] ; 7. 5H-Ernie Haynes[7]
B-Main - Computer Man Inc. (10 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. X3-Dan Wallace[2] ; 2. 71-Dave Hornikel[4] ; 3. 36-Matt Irey[3] ; 4. 30-Nate Potts[6] ; 5. 5H-Ernie Haynes[12] ; 6. 21-Larry Kingseed[7] ; 7. 40-Wayne Maffett Jr.[10] ; 8. 46-Brandon Perkins[13] ; 9. 151-Jason Hinton[9] ; 10. 23-Mike Hudson [5] ; 11. 101-Chester Fitch[11] ; 12. 12-Michael Stiltner Jr.[8] ; 13. 59-Larry Bellman[1] ; 14. O3-Jim Gingery[14]
A-Main - (25 Laps)
1. 50Y-Ryan Missler[6]; 2. 69-John Mayes Jr.[2]; 3. 1-Jeff Babcock[3]; 4. 3-Matt Miller[8]; 5. O1-Justin Chance[1]; 6. 91-Rusty Schlenk[5]; 7. 34-Ky Harper[4]; 8. 51-Devin Shiels[9]; 9. 5M-Ryan Markham[16]; 10. 15B-Mike Bores[11]; 11. 92-Cody Scott[14]; 12. X3-Dan Wallace[17]; 13. 29-Rocky Owens[10]; 14. 71-Dave Hornikel[18]; 15. 1N-Casey Noonan[12]; 16. 48-John Bores[7]; 17. 30-Nate Potts[20]; 18. O6-Kyle Perry[15]; 19. 99-Steve Sabo[13]; 20. 36-Matt Irey[19]
Hard Charger: 5M-Ryan Markham[+7]
©2012 - Results Provided by: Computer Man Inc. Fremont, OH