FREMONT, Ohio – Fremont Speedway’s defending 410 sprint car track champion Nate Dussel and his George Dussel team have had their ups and downs this season, but they put it all together Saturday on Gressman Powersports/Level Performance Night.
After a poor heat race performance, Dussel’s crew went to work and it paid off as he held off D.J. Foos and Cole Macedo in a thriller for his 26th victory Fremont Speedway.
“It’s been a frustrating year. I feel like we just can’t quite find the drive this car had. I don’t know if it’s tires or what. These guys worked their tails off…we changed everything after that heat…you saw how terrible we were. Night and day difference. Holding off D.J. (Foos)…he’s been electric here. I know Bill and Cathy (Berrier) are watching at home because this is on The Cushion which is awesome. This is dedicated to them. They are going through hell. We just want them to know we are always thinking about them…although we aren’t there fighting beside them we are fighting with them with our prayers. Also Scott Gressman has been a huge supporter of George Dussel Racing for a really long time and Scott and Josh are people I consider close friends and it’s great to have them here tonight,” said Dussel.
Dussel and Duane Zablocki brought the field to green for the 30 lap A-main for the Fort Ball Pizza Palace 410 Sprints with Dussel taking the lead. Just two laps in and the battle for second was entertaining involving John Ivy, DJ Foos and Zablocki. Following a quick caution, Dussel maintained his lead with Foos now moving into second and Cole Macedo taking third.
Dussel found the back of the field on lap nine and Foos and Macedo quickly closed. Macedo took second on lap 14 and drove to Dussel’s outside to challenge. With just eight laps to go, Macedo had a run on Dussel but a lapped car held up him and Dussel was able to lengthen his advantage. With six laps to go Dussel had a bit of a clear track and began to build a two second lead.
Meanwhile Foos rebounded and regained second on lap 26 and began to chew into Dussel’s lead. As they drove to the white flag Foos was a car length behind Dussel. Dussel hit his marks perfectly and took the win over Foos, Macedo, Zablocki and Stuart Brubaker.
The Fremont Federal Credit Union 305 Sprints put on two fantastic features – a make-up from the Pub 400 Night season opener and the regular night’s feature. In the make-up feature Fremont’s Dustin Stroup took advantage of a little mistake from race-long leader Logan Riehl to grab the lead on lap 18 and held off Alvin Roepke on a restart with just three laps to go to earn his third victory of the season and fifth career win.
In the night’s regular feature, Roepke took the lead from Jamie Miller on lap eight and survived a couple of restarts to drive to his 10th career Fremont win.
Three time Burmeister Trophy Dirt Truck track champion Shawn Valenti has won twice already this year, but Saturday he had to work for his third and he had to start 11th and then battle with his teammate Jeff Babcock. He finally took the lead with four laps to go to earn his 64th career Fremont win. He is 12 victories away from tying Art Ball for the track’s all-time win lead.