ATTICA, Ohio — Reigning All Star Circuit of Champions title winner Tyler Courtney kicked off the new season with a dominant performance on night one of the Core & Main Spring Nationals Friday night at Attica Raceway Park.
Driving the Clauson Marshall Racing No. 7, Courtney led the final 11 circuits of the Attica opener to secure the $6,000 payday, out dueling fellow full-timer Justin Peck in an all-out slider slugfest between laps 28 and 30.
It was Courtney’s 10th All Star victory.
Starting third on the feature grid, Courtney was a surefire contender early, moving his way into second beyond Craig Mintz just after a caution on lap 10.
At the time, Monrovia, Indiana’s Justin Peck was the race leader, utilizing the pole position via dash victory to sail his way to the point. The aforementioned caution led into a long stretch of green flag racing forcing Peck to deal with traffic. Despite his ability to maneuver through slower cars, using Attica’s outer curb to maintain momentum, Courtney hung tough, keeping the Buch Motorsports entry within reach.
A caution on lap 28 would give Peck a break, but the slowdown was just what Courtney needed. The ensuing restart turned into a battle almost instantly, as Courtney made a bid for the lead on back-to-back laps, actually sliding ahead of Peck twice before he would return the favor.
A final slider on lap 30 finally broke the cycle for Courtney, diving through turns three and four to slide up in front of Peck by the exit of the corner.
Unfortunately for Peck, in an attempt to drive back underneath the Clauson Marshall Racing entry, he spun resulting in a caution.
From that point forward, it was all Tyler Courtney, driving on to win with Greg Wilson and Craig Mintz in tow.
“I just let it go. I was coming across and I felt like I gave him a chance to go or not go and he chose to go. I’m sure he’s upset about it, but it was just a racing deal to me. I’d never want to crash anyone to win the race…we didn’t touch at all. It is what it is, but I’m not going to let it ruin our night,” Courtney said. “It’s been a pretty incredible last year or so, but we just gotta keep going. It’s been a pretty slow start for us this season, but hopefully the weather cooperates and we can get racing every weekend for the rest of the summer.”
Devin Shiels won the late model feature.
The finish:
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [3]; 2. 97-Greg Wilson [4]; 3. O9-Craig Mintz [2]; 4. 7-Scott Bogucki [6]; 5. 11-Parker Price Miller [8]; 6. 17B-Bill Balog [22]; 7. 4-Cap Henry [15]; 8. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [7]; 9. 13-Justin Peck [1]; 10. 18-Cole Macedo [10]; 11. 26-Cory Eliason [20]; 12. 9K-Kevin Thomas Jr. [5]; 13. 21H-Brady Bacon [9]; 14. 5T-Travis Philo [14]; 15. 10-Zeb Wise [11]; 16. 14-Chad Kemenah [17]; 17. 28-Tim Shaffer [12]; 18. 3J-Trey Jacobs [16]; 19. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [13]; 20. 19-Chris Windom [21]; 21. 3C-Cale Conley [19]; 22. 35-Stuart Brubaker [18]; 23. 22-Brandon Spithaler [24]; 24. 22C-Cole Duncan