Stevie Smith finds victory lane again at Attica

[Kyle]

Report By Scott Hall

ATTICA, OH - It was experience over youth Friday night at Attica Raceway Park in the Haulmark All Star sprint car 40 lap A main feature. It was night one of the Attica Spring Nationals and Stevie Smith, the veteran, prevailed over the youthful Craig Mintz. Mintz led the first 27 laps until Smith moved by in lapped traffic.

"Wow. They gave me a good race car," Smith recalled, standing beside his RAACE machine. "I'm a bit rusty since I sat out a year and a half. Janet's track was nice tonight. There were three lanes. It was nice to have a track you could pass on. I just had a fun time cruising behind the wheel."

"I got a lapped traffic lesson from Stevie Smith there," Mintz recalled. "I have to thank Dick Sabo for a great race car. I had the car to catch him but dont know if I could have got back by him," he recalled of his late race charge to catch up to the leader.

With Dean Jacobs and Mintz leading the pack to the green flag, it was Mintz jumping out to a big lead before the only caution of the race flew on lap five for a Jason Dukes spin. Dean Jacobs was second now ahead of Paul May.
Once the green came back out, Mintz lead over May, who got around Jacobs after the restart. S. Smith was battling with Danny Smith, and those two put on a battle before seventh starting S. Smith drove around both D. Smith and May for second on lap 16.

Smith began reeling in Mintz and lapped traffic slowed the leader's progress. By lap 25 Smith had the leader in his sights, and finally drove around the leader coming off turn four to lead lap 28.

Smith pulled away until he drifted high off the backstretch on lap 31, allowing Mintz to pull back up on his bumper. But Smith wove his way through lapped traffic for the win.

Mintz rode home second, with sixth starting Chad Kemenah third and Dale Blaney fourth. D. Smith completed the top five. May was sixth, followed by Kenny Jacobs, Mark Keegan, Bobby Clark and John Ivy.

The Crown Battery heat fell to Jac Haudenschild, the B&B Products heat went to Brock Mayes, the Engler Machine and Tool heat was won by Mike Lutz and the TP Wings heat fell to Bobby Clark. Brandon Martin won the Outerwears Pre-filters C Main. The University of Northwestern Ohio B Main went to Mark Keegan. Kemenah was the Huggins Cams Fast Time qualifier and Dale Blaney won the Haulmark Dash. Byron Reed took a wild ride, flipping down the backstretch in heat three. Despite extensive damage to his machine, Reed was uninjured. Cameron Dodson and Ryan Coniam were also flip victims in the B main.

In the limited late model 18 lap main, it looked like last week's feature winner Mike Marteney of Bellevue, Ohio, would make it two in a row as the field had a one-lap shootout due to a caution on lap 17. However, Marteney suffered mechanical difficulties coming down for the checkered, allowing former ARP track champion Larry Kingseed to claim the win over Mike Bores, who started 18 and was celebrating his 19th birthday. Jim Gingery was third with Tim Sabo and Art Ball rounding out the top five.

Huggins Cams Time Trials: 1. Chad Kemenah, Harble 15k, 11.728; 2. Dale Blaney, Fisher 2x, 11.795; 3. Danny Smith, Smith 4, 11.813; 4. Kenny Jacobs, Hunter 2, 11.861; 5. Craig Mintz, Sabo 8s, 11.906; 6. Dean Jacobs, Webb 51, 11.932; 7. Byron Reed, B&S 5, 11.943; 8. Stevie Smith, Smith 19, 12.005; 9. Paul May, May 71m, 12.057; 10. Todd Hestor, Middleswarth 7m, 12.099; 11. Rob Chaney, SC Racing 9x, 12.112; 12. Mark Keegan, Keegan X, 12.118; 13. John Ivy, Carousel 5i, 12.129; 14. Jason Dukes, Kirian K, 12.140; 15. Bill Rose, Rose 6, 12.160; 16. Randy Hannagan, THR 1x, 12.172; 17. Jac Haudenschild, Elden 22, 12.185; 18. David Harrison, Ludwig 10, 12.215; 19. Jesse Hockett, KKI 9, 12.230; 20. Greg Wilson, Hampshire 63, 12.255; 21. Tim Hunter, Stanley 12, 12.268; 22. Brock Mayes, Brock Mtspts. 11B, 12.273; 23. Mike Lutz, Chiappelli 98, 12.283; 24. Bobby Clark, Clark 8, 12.286; 25. Tony Elliott, Pullins 29, 12.287; 26. Andrew Palker, Palker 57x, 12.327; 27. Todd Kane, Kane 78, 12.362; 28. Mike Linder, James 3, 12.371; 29. Ryan Coniam, Bancon 46, 12.400; 30. Jeremy Campbell, Campbell 10c, 12.417; 31. Bruce Robenalt, Robenalt 98, 12.455; 32. Ed Neumeister, Neumeister 11n, 12.465; 33. Shane Helms, Helms 40, 12.578; 34. Lee Jacobs, Burmeister 16, 12.589; 35. Cameron Dodson, Dodson 37, 12.621; 36. Brandon Martin, Martin 11m, 12.659; 37. Bryan Sebetto, Becker 7B, 12.659; 38. Bob Bennett, Acme 3, 12.661; 39. Cody Geldart, Geldart 6, 12.664; 40. Jody Keegan, Keegan 60, 12.673; 41. Matt Lucius, Lucius & Ludwig 1a, 12.682; 42. Mike Brecht, Hammons m20, 12.750; 43. Caleb Griffith, Ludwig 12, 12.778; 44. Chuck Wilson, Wilson 31, 12.795; 45. Tony Beaber, Toth 3T, 12.817; 46. Ron Blair, RB 35, 12.934; 47. Barry Ruble, Ruble 63r, 12.969; 48. Doug Berryman, Funston 67, 13.050; 49. Ricky Ferkel, Ferkel 0, 13.065; 50. Jamie Martin, Martin 15m, 13.238; 51. Aaron Middaugh, Middaugh 91, 13.405; 52. Danny Mumaw, Mumaw 16x, 15.395.

Crown Battery Heat (8 laps): 1. Haudenschild 2. May 3. Mintz 4. Kemenah 5. Sebetto 6. Ivy 7. Ferkel 8. Helms 9. Lucius 10. Hunter 11. Elliott 12. Coniam 13. Beaber.

B&B Products Heat (8 laps): 1. Mayes 2. Harrison 3. Blaney 4. Hestor 5. D. Jacobs 6. Palker 7. Campbell 8. L. Jacobs 9. Blair 10. Brecht 11. J. Martin 12. Dukes 13. Bennett.

Engler Machine & Tool Heat (8 laps): 1. Lutz 2. Chaney 3. D. Smith 4. Rose 5. Robenalt 6. Hockett 7. Griffith 8. Dodson 9. Geldart 10. Ruble 11. Middaugh 12. Reed 13. Kane.

TP Wings Heat (8 laps): 1. Clark 2. G. Wilson 3. S. Smith 4. Hannagan 5. K. Jacobs 6. Linder 7. B. Martin 8. M. Keegan 9. C. Wilson 10. J. Keegan 11. Neumeister 12. Mumaw 13. Berryman.

Haulmark Dash (6 laps): 1. May 2. D. Jacobs 3. K. Jacobs 4. Kemenah 5. D. Smith 6. Blaney.

Outerwears Pre-filters C Main (10 laps): 1. B. Martin 2. J. Keegan 3. Bennett 4. Geldart 5. Griffith 6. Brecht 7. Blair 8. J. Martin 9. Lucius 10. C. Wilson 11. Ferkel 12. Middaugh 13. Mumaw 14. Ruble 15. Beaber 16. Berryman (DNS).

University of Northwestern Ohio B Main (15 laps): 1. M. Keegan 2. Ivy 3. Dukes 4. Hockett 5. Hunter 6. Elliott 7. Kane 8. Linder 9. Palker 10. L. Jacobs 11. Griffith 12. B. Martin 13. Campbell 14. Helms 15. Bennett 16. Geldart 17. J. Keegan 18. Neumeister 19. Coniam 20. Dodson.

A Main (40 laps): 1. Stevie Smith 2. Craig Mintz 3. Chad Kemenah 4. Dale Blaney 5. Danny Smith 6. Paul May 7. Kenny Jacobs 8. Mark Keegan 9. Bobby Clark 10. John Ivy 11. Rob Chaney 12. Randy Hannagan 13. Greg Wilson 14. Todd Hestor 15. Jac Haudenschild 16. Brock Mayes 17. David Harrison 18. Jesse Hockett 19. Bill Rose 20. Brian Sebetto 21. Mike Lutz 22. Jason Dukes 23. Bruce Robenalt 24. Dean Jacobs.
Lap Leaders: Craig Mintz 1-27, Stevie Smith 28-40.

Limited Late Models:

Tin Lizzy Collision Heat 1: Chester Fitch (101); 2. Larry Kingseed (21); 3. John Mayes Jr. (69); 4. Ryan Missler (50); 5. Jim Gingery (03); 6. Curtis Deisenroth (82); 7. Michael Stiltner (12); 8. Matt Potts (29); 9. Bobby Michaels (12m); 10. Nate Potts (30); 11. Jamie Reed (18) DNS.

Griff's Engines Heat 2: 1. Mike Marteney (45); 2. John Bores (48); 3. Steve Sabo (16); 4. Tim Sabo (9s); 5. Art Ball (01); 6. Bill Clapp Jr. (4d); 7. Luke Bieri (9b); 8. Jim Kear (02); 9. Brandon Perkins (88); 10. Mike Bores (15b)

A-Main (18 laps): 1. Larry Kingseed (start 13); 2. Mike Bores (start 20); 3. Jim Gingery (start 3); 4. Tim Sabo (start 2); 5. Art Ball (start 10); 6. Mike Marteney (start 11); 7. John Bores (start 12); 8. John Mayes Jr. (start 6); 9. Jamie Reed (start 21); 10. Bobby Michaels (start 17); 11. Ryan Missler (start 9); 12. Steve Sabo (start 5); 13. Chester Fitch (start 1); 14. Curtis Deisenroth (start 8); 15. Michael Stiltner (start 13); 16. Bill Clapp Jr. (start 7); 17. Luke Bieri (start 14); 18. Nate Potts (start 19); 19. Brandon Perkins (DNS); 20. Matt Potts (DNS); 21. Jim Kear (DNS)