By: Ron Burt
Mother nature played havoc last weekend at several Midwest racetracks I cover. Two weeks in a row Oakshade was rained out but Lorain, Attica and Montpelier got their races in. Because of the county fair, Fremont changed their race date to Monday and will ran 305 Sprints and Vintage Race Cars. Races not covered here can be viewed on my Facebook page, Ohio Sports Blitz.
The big headline this week. Kody Swanson (last week’s Toledo Rollie Beale Classic winner) set a new world speed record for a USAC Silver Crown car during Friday afternoon’s qualifying at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. The California native’s time of 30.675 around the 1.25-mile paved oval was 146.699 mph, topping the former speed record for a Silver Crown car set by him in 2012 at Iowa Speedway at 146.212 mph. He broke Chris Windom’s nine-year-old series track record at WWT of 31.082 seconds and 144.778 mph, set in 2013. As a result, Swanson became the first driver to capture 40 career USAC Silver Crown poles. All eyes were on Swanson at the start of the 100-lap feature. He had never won the race and he’s currently on a win streak. The race had 5 different leaders all pressing each other from the green flag to the checker. Cautions helped Kody and with 25-laps to go he regained the lead and was able to hold off several challenges to get the win. Finishing behind Swanson was, Davey Hamilton Jr., Mario Clouser, Justin Grant, and Nathan Byrd. On Saturday evening the Bettenhausen 100 for Silver Crown Cars, at the Illinois State Fairgrounds was rained out and the make up day for this prestigious race will be October 15th.
At Lorain Raceway Park, the Midwest Supermodified Series had their season Championship. JJ Henesone one of the young guns, and 3rd generation driver grabbed his first Supermodified feature win in honor of his grandmother Nancy Henes, who the race is named after. Behind your race leader was 2nd A.J. Lesiecki and 3rd Kyle Edwards. Edwards from Bartlet, TN, finished 3rd but won his second MSS points championship in a row.
At Attica Raceway Park, Canadian Skylar Gee survived a restart with just two laps to go and drove to his first career 410 sprint car win. Gee led all 30 laps of 410 Sprints A-main, but it wasn’t easy as Tyler Gunn pressured him several times late in the race but when Gunn jumped the cushion and flipped in turn four with two laps to go, Gee had clear sailing, hitting his marks perfectly on the restart and driving to the victory worth $3,500. After tangling with Chris Andrews battling for fifth early, Attica point leader Cole Macedo came back to finish second ahead of DJ Foos who edged Tim Shaffer and Trey Jacobs. Macedo’s rally will add to his point lead for the 410 Attica Fremont Championship Series. In a caution-filled 25 lap UMP Late Model feature, Britton, Michigan’s Devin Shiels powered away to his fourth win of the season and 14th of his career at Attica, placing him 5th on the division’s all-time win list. The current Attica late model champion has not finished out of the top five all season at the speedway and has seven overall victories in 2022 at various tracks. Teenager Collin Shipley would get by Mike Bores on the last lap to steal second with BJ Gregory and Larry Bellman rounding out the top four. In 305 Sprint Action Jamie Miller, drove to his fourth win of the season at Attica. The win was Miller’s 35th career 305 victory at the track. Kody Brewer finished second with Matt Foos charging from 11th to third. Until next week, keep your wheels down. Ron out! ohiosportsblitz@yahoo.com
Panther JV Volleyball Stomp Pettisville!
Paulding volleyball traveled to Pettisville on Thursday August 25 for JV and varsity volleyball play.
Varsity lost in a close five sets! 28-26, 15-25, 27-25, 17-25, and 17-19
JV won in two with 26-24 and 25-22
Freshmen lost 25-27 and 22-25
Carlea Kuckuck led the team with 17 kills.
Katie Beckman wasn’t far behind with her 11 kills, 33 assists, and 2 aces!
Maci Kauser had 26 digs and an ace.
Aeylah Hitzeman stepped up in this match up and earned 6 kills, a blocking assist, and an ace.
“This loss was a hard one because we were so close! We didn’t play to our potential tonight. We had a lot of silly offensive errors all around. There were quite a few underclassmen that really stepped up tonight to help out the varsity,” commented Coach Colins. “Sophomores Aeylah Hitzeman and Brianna Bermejo did everything I needed them to do on the court. We just didn’t work as well as a team tonight. However, I did see a fight in my girls. Every other set, they really fought for their points. They didn’t give up an easy win. Pettisville just out worked us tonight. But we are going to put in some serious practice to prepare for Bryan on Monday!” Coach concluded.
