By: Ron Burt
Another Fremont Speedway Jim Ford annual weekend has come and gone and as usual it was full of exciting sprint car racing both Friday and Saturday at “the track action built”.
Kalib Henry was unstoppable at Fremont Speedway Friday, Sept. 13. The Sacramento, Calif. Driver started the 17th Annual Jim Ford Classic weekend by winning the June Ohio Sprint Speedweek $10,000 feature that had been halted due to rain with 32 laps remaining. He followed up by claiming the regular Ti-22 Performance FAST On Dirt feature. In the make-up feature Henry took the lead from Tim Shaffer on lap 25, survived contact with a lapped car with just two laps to go to get the victory over Cale Thomas, Shaffer, Cap Henry and Zeth Sabo. It was his fourth win of the year at the speedway.
In the night’s regular 30-lap feature Henry jumped into the lead at the drop of the green from his outside front row starting spot. He built a sizable lead until Chris Andrews moved into second on lap five and began closing. Andrews stayed right with Henry and drove inside on a couple of restarts following cautions. Henry was just too smooth and drove to his fifth win of the year at Fremont and the night’s sweep. Andrews, Cap Henry, Thomas and Shaffer rounded out the top five.
The Burmeister Trophy Dirt Trucks ran double features. In the first Kent Brewer drove to his first win of the year. Shawn Valenti drove to his sixth truck win of the year at Fremont getting the 2nd truck feature Friday. The 305 sprints were off.
Cap Henry wrote his name in the Fremont Speedway record books Saturday, Sept. 14, winning the 17th Annual Jim Ford Classic. Henry’s third win of the season at “The Track That Action Built” was worth $20,000. He also added another $10,000 in bonus money by leading all 40-laps. Kalib Henry second was a disappointment after having won both features at Fremont the previous evening. Craig Mintz rallied from a crash the previous evening to finish third with Trey Jacobs and Stuart Brubaker rounding out the top five.
In the first of the two 305 sprint features, Jamie Miller took the lead from Seth Schneider on lap six and drove to his fourth win of the season at Fremont over Dustin Stroup, Dustin Dinan, Jimmy McGrath and Logan Riehl. The 2nd 305 sprint feature was won by Dustin Stroup. He was able to hold off McGrath’s challenges to take his third win of the year at Fremont. It was his fifth overall victory of 2024 and his 12 career win at the track. McGrath, Dinan, Riehl and TJ Michael rounded out the top five.
Up north at Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, Adam Lantz earned his second consecutive $1,000 Papa Boiler Dominator Super Stock Spectacular win, and third overall, Saturday night at Oakshade Raceway. Lantz joins Gregg DeTray and Jeff Foks Jr. as the only three-time winners of the event. Foks settled for second with Jarrett Rendel edging out Chane Stuckey for third. Cody Stetten finished fifth.
Ryan Davis went on to pick up his seventh sportsman feature win of the year at Oakshade. Ian Palmer and Jesse Jones got by Smith to finish second and third respectively with Smith ending up fourth. Jeff Robertson rounded out the top five finishers.
In the feature, Eric Carr showed the way the way the first half. Ryan Okuley passed a couple cars to move up to second. Okuley began to put the pressure on Carr for the race lead, but Carr ended up falling off the pace with just two laps remaining which allowed Okuley to go on to his second consecutive A Main feature win. Ken Wells, Jason Deshler, Gavin Stambaugh and James Stamper were the rest of the top five finishers. Until next week, keep your wheels down. Ron out!
