Saturday, July 2, 2011
By Brian Liskai

FREMONT, Ohio – Phil Gressman’s late car owner De Genzman provided the fireworks on Independence Day weekend Saturday at Fremont Speedway. As Gressman held off a hard-charging Greg Wilson to score his first 410 sprint win of the season on Beck Oil Night at “The Track That Action Built,” lightening would streak across the sky.

“I’ve struggled here like no tomorrow. We bought a new car at end of last year and took it to Lawrenceburg and Findlay…we had some high hopes for that devil. And then to run good at the outlaw race over to Attica…we just didn’t want to give up on it. We finally had to put a fork in it and get the old car back out and try and get back to the basics and regroup. I think my car owner (Marilyn Genzman) was happier than I was. She walked in the shop today and seen us working on that and said ‘thank God.’ 

“Even though we won a race this year at Attica, my car owner is a hall-of-famer here (De Genzman) and he was my best friend. This is where he loved to race and this is for him and Marilyn…this is the one we wanted. Not to take anything away from Attica but he’s in the hall of fame here for a reason,” said Gressman beside his Ludwig Propane/Level Performance/Kear’s Speed Shop backed #53.

Bradner, Ohio’s Nate Dussel wasn’t even sure if he could race his 305 sprint Saturday as he got a bad sunburn working earlier. But, he toughed it out and would lead all 25 laps to score his sixth career victory.

“I would have been extremely disappointed if we wouldn’t have been here tonight. About six hours ago I told Mike (his brother) he was going to drive this because my back got so burnt…it got real dry today and it felt like there were spiders crawling all over my back…it was miserable,” said Dussel beside his Berrier Fabrications, Dussel Welding, Kistler Racing Products backed machine. “We’ve been struggling here…to get a win tonight is huge. Hopefully this will get us rolling.”

Fremont’s John Ivy overcame a 360-spin after leading the first 17 laps of the Fremont Fence Dirt Truck feature and retook the lead on the white flag lap and went on to score his 30th career victory at Fremont Speedway.

“I think the driver got a little bit too excited and went in there way to hard. At least this thing had enough horsepower to spin it around. Thank God for yellows I’m glad I didn’t cause that one,” said grinning Ivy. “I thought I was going to stay in front of him (Bob Dible) until I pulled my stunt down there, but then we got lucky and got a yellow and gave me a second chance. Charlie and these boys have been working on this thing hard and I’ve been in this position before and did the same thing but at least it worked out for us tonight.”

With Gressman’s win and top five runs by Dean Jacobs and Byron Reed, the battle for the $10,000 top prize for the Kistler Racing Products FAST (Fremont Attica Sprint Title) Championship Series has really gotten interesting. Bryan Sebetto averted a potentially disastrous night at Attica on Friday, crashing early but making repairs and scoring a top 10 run to maintain a small advantage atop the standings. He struggled at Fremont early but came back to score a 9th place finish to stay in the thick of things for the FAST title.

Brad Haudenschild and Dean Jacobs would lead the field to the green in the Fort Ball Pizza Palace 410 sprint feature with Jacobs taking the initial lead with third starting Gressman sliding into second. Jacobs and Gressman would race side-by-side over the first five laps before Gressman would drive under Jacobs exiting turn four to take the lead on lap 7. Behind those two there was a tremendous battle on for third between Haudenschild, Mike Linder, Greg Wilson, Sebetto and Reed.

Gressman was able to pull away slightly with Jacobs comfortably in second while Linder took third on lap 8. Sebetto would spin on lap 11 to bring out the caution with the running order Gressman, Jacobs, Linder, Wilson, Haudenschild, Reed, Duane Zablocki and 12th starter Todd Heller. On the restart Wilson would muscle his way into third and immediately pressured Jacobs for the runner-up spot. 

Wilson, who charged from 19th to second last week at Fremont, would take second on lap 14 with Jacobs, Linder, Reed and Zablocki in tow. With 18 laps in, Wilson was beginning to close on Gressman as they raced into lapped traffic. With six laps to go Wilson was literally on the rear bumper of Gressman, but nipped an infield barrier exiting turn two and lost valuable ground. It looked like that bobble would allow Gressman to pull away for the lead, but a Brad Bowman spin with two laps remaining, gave Wilson one more shot at “the Ohio Gas Man.”

Gressman would duck to the bottom in turns one and two on the restart, taking Wilson’s line away while Jacobs and Reed battled hard for third. After taking the white flag, Wilson would tuck right in on Gressman’s rear bumper down the back stretch and when Gressman went to the bottom of three and four, Wilson jumped to the cushion and Gressman slid up as the two made contact coming to the checkered. Gressman would win by half a car over Wilson, with Jacobs, Reed and Linder rounding out the top five.

“I just kept getting free there at the end. I didn’t want to see a caution, I wanted to use the lapped cars to benefit me if I could and what do you know…a caution with two to go and here we go again.” said Gressman in the Engine Pro Victory Lane.

In the 25 lap Fremont Federal Credit Union 305 Sprint main, outside front row starter Dussel would take the lead at the drop of the green with fellow front row starter Jimmy Colvin in second and Paul Weaver, Caleb Griffith, Bobby Clark and Zack Kramer in tow. Dussel would cruise around the bottom, pulling away while Weaver, Griffith and Kramer pressuring Colvin for second. Ninth-starter Paige Polyak got in the thick of the battle by lap six.

The first caution would fly on lap 12 when Roger Shammo spun right in front of the leaders who were racing into lapped traffic. On the restart Dussel would use the clear track to pull away while Colvin, Weaver, Griffith, Kramer and Polyak continued their tremendous battle for second. Matt Merrill would flip in turn four on lap 14 to bring the race to a halt. 

The restart running order was Dussel, Colvin, Weaver, Polyak, Kramer, Griffith, Dean Jacobs, Clark and Dustin Stroup. Weaver would slide around Colvin the next lap and set out after Dussel. Polyak would move into third on lap 16 and with six laps remaining, caught Weaver who could not make up ground on leader Dussel. Polyak would drive under Weaver on lap 21, but she could not reel in Dussel either as he went on to his sixth career Fremont win. Polyak, Weaver, Kramer and Colvin would round out the top five.

Pole-sitter Ivy would grave the lead at the drop of the green for the 15-lap dirt truck main with Brad Mitten battling Steve Endicott, Bob Dible and Cory Ward for second. Dible would take the runner-up spot on lap three with the caution flying for a Jeff Wank spin on lap three. Ivy and Dible would run nose to tail on the restart with Mitten battling with Ward, Endicott, Dan Hennig, Art Ball and Steve Sabo for third. A caution for debris on lap five would bunch up the field, but once again Ivy maintained the lead with Dible continuing to hound him. 

As Ivy and Dible ran bumper to bumper for the lead, Hennig would take third on lap eight with Ball moving into fourth. Ivy would hit lapped traffic by the 12th circuit with Dible continuing to race right on his rear deck lid while Hennig, Ball and Ward were locked in a tough race for third. As the field raced into turns three and four coming down to complete the 17th lap, Ivy would get sideways and do a 360-spin with Dible and Hennig getting by as Ivy fell back in line in third.

The caution would fly soon later for a Dan Roepke Jr. spin, allowing Ivy to close back to Dible and Hennig. On the ensuing restart, Dible seemed to have some sort of mechanical problem as he slowed allowing Hennig and Ivy to pass. But only after they got one lap in a multi-truck pile-up would bring the caution back out, setting up a two lap dash to the finish.

On the restart Ivy would dive under Hennig as they raced side-by-side down the back stretch. Ivy would have the slight advantage at the white flag while Hennig hoped for one more shot with Dible, Ball, Ward and Sabo battling for third. Ivy would pull away slightly the final two laps for the win with Hennig, Dible, Ball and Ward rounding out the top five.

Fremont Speedway will be back in action Saturday, July 9 for Fisher Performance Night with the 410 and 305 sprints and dirt trucks in action.

Reserved seats are still available for the Oct. 15 World of Outlaws visit. Check the track’s website at www.fremontohspeedway.com for the seating chart to see what seats are still available.

Fremont Speedway - 7/2/2011
Beck Oil Night
Fort Ball Pizza Palace 410 Sprints (21 Cars)

[#]-Starting Position
Qualifying - Kistler Engines
1. 96AU-Bruce White, 13.13; 2. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.21; 3. 312-Mike Linder, 13.28; 4. 5R-Byron Reed, 13.30; 5. 97-Dean Jacobs, 13.35; 6. 53-Phil Gressman, 13.45; 7. 16-Bryan Sebetto, 13.47; 8. 10-Brad Haudenschild, 13.49; 9. 51C-Roger Campbell, 13.54; 10. 9Z-Duane Zablocki, 13.57; 11. O9-Craig Mintz, 13.58; 12. 14H-Todd Heller, 13.61; 13. 2+-Brian Smith, 13.61; 14. 3T-Johnny Beaber, 13.64; 15. 51-Brad Bowman, 13.68; 16. O-Chris Andrews, 13.71; 17. 60-Jody Keegan, 13.74; 18. 22T-Miranda Throckmorton, 13.81; 19. 57X-Andrew Palker, 14.16; 20. 11H-Shawn Hubler, 15.16; 21. 27-Scott Euler, 99.00

Heat 1 - Heat 1 (8 Laps - Top 7 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 2+-Brian Smith[2] ; 2. 16-Bryan Sebetto[4] ; 3. O-Chris Andrews[1] ; 4. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[3] ; 5. 5R-Byron Reed[5] ; 6. 57X-Andrew Palker[7] ; 7. 96AU-Bruce White[6] 

Heat 2 - Heat 2 (8 Laps - Top 7 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 60-Jody Keegan[1] ; 2. 97-Dean Jacobs[5] ; 3. 3T-Johnny Beaber[2] ; 4. O9-Craig Mintz[3] ; 5. 10-Brad Haudenschild[4] ; 6. W20-Greg Wilson[6] ; 7. 11H-Shawn Hubler[7] 

Heat 3 - Heat 3 (8 Laps - Top 7 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 51-Brad Bowman[2] ; 2. 22T-Miranda Throckmorton[1] ; 3. 53-Phil Gressman[5] ; 4. 312-Mike Linder[6] ; 5. 51C-Roger Campbell[4] ; 6. 14H-Todd Heller[3] ; 7. 27-Scott Euler[7] 

Dash - R & R (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 10-Brad Haudenschild[1] ; 2. 97-Dean Jacobs[4] ; 3. 53-Phil Gressman[3] ; 4. 312-Mike Linder[6] ; 5. 5R-Byron Reed[5] ; 6. 16-Bryan Sebetto[2] 

A-Main -  (30 Laps)
1. 53-Phil Gressman[3]; 2. W20-Greg Wilson[8]; 3. 97-Dean Jacobs [2]; 4. 5R-Byron Reed[5]; 5. 312-Mike Linder[4]; 6. 14H-Todd Heller[12]; 7. O9-Craig Mintz[11]; 8. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[10]; 9. 16-Bryan Sebetto[6]; 10. 2+-Brian Smith[13]; 11. 51-Brad Bowman[15]; 12. O-Chris Andrews[16]; 13. 96AU-Bruce White[7]; 14. 57X-Andrew Palker[19]; 15. 27-Scott Euler[21]; 16. 60-Jody Keegan[17]; 17. 51C-Roger Campbell[9]; 18. 22T-Miranda Throckmorton[18]; 19. 10-Brad Haudenschild[1]; 20. 11H-Shawn Hubler[20]; 21. 3T-Johnny Beaber[14]

Hard Charger: 14H-Todd Heller[+7]

Fremont Federal Credit Union 305 Sprints (28 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position

Heat 1 - Heat 1 (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 1W-Paul Weaver[1] ; 2. 19R-Steve Rando[2] ; 3. 40-Caleb Griffith[8] ; 4. 25-Jason Keckler[3] ; 5. 94-John Ivy[5] ; 6. 4M-Jamie Miller[10] ; 7. 10S-Roger Shammo[9] ; 8. 11F-D.J. Foos[7] ; 9. 8J-Jess Stiger[6] ; 10. 55-Jim Cushing[4] 

Heat 2 - Heat 2 (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 1-Nate Dussel[1] ; 2. 9-Jimmy Colvin[2] ; 3. 27-Paige Polyak[3] ; 4. 8K-Bobby Clark[6] ; 5. 1X-Lee Jacobs[4] ; 6. 5-Dustin Dinan[8] ; 7. 36-Seth Schneider[7] ; 8. 5R-Jordan Ryan[5] 

Heat 3 - Heat 3 (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 35-Stuart Brubaker[1] ; 2. 8B-Zack Kramer[4] ; 3. 717-Dean Jacobs[7] ; 4. 39-Matt Merrill[2] ; 5. 22D-Dan Hammond[6] ; 6. 10X-Dustin Stroup[8] ; 7. M28-Josh Muntz[5] ; 8. 10-Josh Harrison[3] ; 9. 30-Adam Ollom[9] 

B-Main - Computer Man Inc. (10 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 5-Dustin Dinan[2] ; 2. 10X-Dustin Stroup[3] ; 3. 4M-Jamie Miller[1] ; 4. 10S-Roger Shammo[4] ; 5. 11F-D.J. Foos[7] ; 6. M28-Josh Muntz[6] ; 7. 36-Seth Schneider[5] ; 8. 8J-Jess Stiger[10] ; 9. 5R-Jordan Ryan[8] ; 10. 30-Adam Ollom[11] ; 11. 10-Josh Harrison[9] 

A-Main -  (25 Laps)
1. 1-Nate Dussel[2]; 2. 27-Paige Polyak[9]; 3. 1W-Paul Weaver[4]; 4. 8B-Zack Kramer[5]; 5. 9-Jimmy Colvin[1]; 6. 40-Caleb Griffith[3]; 7. 717-Dean Jacobs[8]; 8. 10X-Dustin Stroup[17]; 9. 8K-Bobby Clark[6]; 10. 1X-Lee Jacobs[15]; 11. 94-John Ivy[13]; 12. 5-Dustin Dinan[16]; 13. 25-Jason Keckler[10]; 14. 19R-Steve Rando[11]; 15. 22D-Dan Hammond[14]; 16. 10S-Roger Shammo[19]; 17. 11F-D.J. Foos[20]; 18. 35-Stuart Brubaker[7]; 19. 4M-Jamie Miller[18]; 20. 39-Matt Merrill[12]

Hard Charger: 10X-Dustin Stroup[+9]

Fremont Fence Dirt Trucks (23 Trucks)
[#]-Starting Position

Heat 1 - Heat 1 (8 Laps - Top 12 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 4X-Brian Sorg[3] ; 2. 8KB-Kent Brewer[2] ; 3. O9-Jeff Wank[1] ; 4. 16-Steve Sabo[8] ; 5. 5JR-Jimmy McGrath Jr.[5] ; 6. 9-Curt Inks[6] ; 7. 4S-Keith Sorg[4] ; 8. 99X-Gene Potridge[7] 

Heat 2 - Heat 2 (8 Laps - Top 12 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 17-Bob Dible[3] ; 2. O1-Art Ball[8] ; 3. 23M-Brad Mitten[5] ; 4. 8-Steve Endicott[7] ; 5. 36X-Dana Frey[2] ; 6. 30-Dave Gibbs[6] ; 7. 88-Dan Roepke Jr.[4] 

Heat 3 - Heat 3 (8 Laps - Top 12 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 32H-Dan Hennig[3] ; 2. OO-John Ivy[6] ; 3. 18W-Cory Ward[1] ; 4. 56-Alex Wiechman[5] ; 5. 99-Art Howey Jr.[7] ; 6. 115-Ben Good[2] ; 7. 6-Linda Sabo[4] 

A-Main -  (20 Laps)
1. OO-John Ivy[1]; 2. 32H-Dan Hennig[8]; 3. 17-Bob Dible[4]; 4. O1-Art Ball[6]; 5. 18W-Cory Ward[5]; 6. 16-Steve Sabo[7]; 7. 23M-Brad Mitten[2]; 8. 8-Steve Endicott[3]; 9. 4S-Keith Sorg[19]; 10. 99-Art Howey Jr.[15]; 11. 4X-Brian Sorg[9]; 12. 115-Ben Good[18]; 13. 88-Dan Roepke Jr.[20]; 14. 56-Alex Wiechman[12]; 15. 5JR-Jimmy McGrath Jr.[13]; 16. 9-Curt Inks[16]; 17. 30-Dave Gibbs[17]; 18. 36X-Dana Frey[14]; 19. O9-Jeff Wank[11]; 20. 99X-Gene Potridge[22]; 21. 5-Jim McGrath[23]; 22. 8KB-Kent Brewer[10]; 23. 6-Linda Sabo[21]

Hard Charger: 4S-Keith Sorg[+10]

©2011 - Results Provided by: Computer Man Inc. Fremont, OH