FREMONT, Ohio — J.J. Hickle had an ace up his sleeve Saturday, June 24 at Fremont Speedway – crew chief Andy Potter.
Hickle, from Quilcene, Wash., grabbed the lead in the 410 sprint feature on lap 22 and drove to his first win at “The Track That Action Built” on Willie’s Sales & Service Toro Lawn Mower Night.
It was Hickle’s first win with the Seeling Motorsports team and comes under Potter, who has a habit of getting racers their first wins at Potter’s home track of Fremont Speedway.
Stuart Brubaker grabbed the early lead in the Fort Ball Pizza Palace 410 Sprint feature but Cap Henry, who came into the night leading the All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads/Kistler Racing Products Attica Fremont Championship Series presented by the Baumann Auto Group points, took the top spot on lap 14 and looked headed to his fifth win of the year at Fremont.
But a tangle with a lapped car with 13 to go gave Brubaker back the lead. Hickle pounced on a restart on lap 22 and held off Brubaker for the win.
“It was definitely a tough track tonight. You had to be on your A game every single lap and every single corner. I have to thank Andy Potter, AJ, Joe and Diane Seeling and everybody that supports this deal. This is our first win together and I’m really proud of this team,” said Hickle.
Fremont’s Paul Weaver stormed from his 10th starting spot to take the lead with 10 laps to go and then held off a charge from 17th starter Kasey Jedrzejek to earn his second Fremont Federal Credit Union 305 Sprint feature win of the year. Weaver now has 73 career wins at the track to sit third on the all-time win list.
Shawn Valenti showed why he is a four time Fremont dirt truck champion. While others were having a hard time navigating the ruts, Valenti cruised around the top side and drove to his first win of the season in the Burmeister Trophy Dirt Trucks. It wasn’t easy as Keith Sorg closed on the last lap with Valenti winning by only .194 seconds for his 74th career victory at the track. Valenti is now only two wins away from tying Art Ball atop the track’s all-time win list.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 97-JJ Hickle[2] ; 2. 35-Stuart Brubaker[1] ; 3. 1-Nate Dussel[3] ; 4. 11N-Harli White[8] ; 5. 5T-Travis Philo[17] ; 6. 7N-Darin Naida[9] ; 7. 22M-Dan McCarron[10] ; 8. X-Mike Keegan[19] ; 9. 83M-Broc Martin[13] ; 10. 5-Byron Reed[12] ; 11. 23-Zeth Sabo[7] ; 12. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[14] ; 13. 3V-Chris Verda[20] ; 14. 26W-Cody White[15] ; 15. 12-Brian Lay[23] ; 16. 98-Robert Robenalt[21] ; 17. 75-Jerry Dahms[22] ; 18. 8M-TJ Michael[4] ; 19. 99-Skylar Gee[11] ; 20. 33w-Cap Henry[5] ; 21. 15k-Creed Kemenah[16] ; 22. 15C-Chris Andrews[6] ; 23. 21-Larry Kingseed[18]