Indiana's Wise likes Ohio dirt tracks, earns win at Fremont
Angola, Indiana's Zeb Wise has taken a shine to Ohio dirt tracks.
The 19-year-old won his second Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions feature in the past 10 days, leading all 30 laps Sunday at Fremont Speedway on the third night of the 40th annual Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek.
For Wise, it marked his second career win at Fremont and his fourth career All Star win. It came on the inaugural Chuck and Shirley Kear Classic on Baumann Auto Group Night.
"I wanted to win an All Star show at Fremont Speedway for a long time," Wise said. "Ever since I started racing with the All Stars this is a track that always treated me well. To win in front of all these great fans, there’s so many people here.
"My car was so good. I don’t know how close Cap (Henry) was at the end but traffic got hairy. Guys were running both lanes and I couldn’t go where I wanted. My car was just good enough that it worked wherever I wanted."
Wise was worried after the dash.
"I didn’t think we had the car to win," he said. "(Henry) was the car to beat. Damn I love Ohio. We always run so good here."
Republic's Henry padded his point lead in the Speedweek standings with a second-place finish.
"We had a really good car," Henry said. "Unfortunately we didn’t have enough to beat the 10 car. We struggled for a while but we’re getting better."
Visalia, California’s Cory Eliason came on strong late to take third place.
"We struggled last night and dug ourselves a hole in qualifying but my guys worked hard," Eliason said. "We're gaining speed and it’s definitely tracks I don’t normally excel at. I want to get my guys a win this week. We’re putting ourselves in the right position to win."
At the drop of the green, Wise established himself as the car to beat, racing out to a commanding lead while the battle for second was entertaining, involving Henry and Kyle Reinhardt. Reinhardt slipped over the edge of turn four on Lap 6 and tipped over for the only stoppage of the 30-lap feature.
Craig Mintz got by Henry on lap eight for second, just after the restart while Wise pulled away. Wise hit heavy lapped traffic by lap 16 and Henry used it to regain second on Lap 18.
With 10 laps to go, Wise had a commanding two seconds lead over Henry, Eliason, Justin Peck and Mintz.
Wise got mired in traffic with two cars racing in front of him, but Henry had to contend with the same issue and couldn't close on the leader.
Seth Schneider grabbed the early lead in the Fremont Federal Credit Union 305 feature, after battling with Kelsey Ivy. Schneider soon had to contend with Kasey Jedrzejek and eighth-starter Paul Weaver.
The trio battled hard in lapped traffic and contact was made as Schneider went off turn three with a flat front tire. Weaver took command and drove away to his first win of the season at Fremont.
It’s the 65th career win at the track for the Fremont driver, which places him third on the all-time list.
“I feel bad about Seth," Schneider said. "I didn’t hear him outside of me. It was a racing deal. We had the car too tight. I’m wore out."
Speedway is host June 25 to Vision Quest Night with the All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads/Kistler Racing Products Attica Fremont Championship Series 410 Sprints, along with the Great Lakes Super Sprints 360 sprints and the 305 sprints. Fremont Speedway Hall of Fame induction ceremonies take place prior to the night’s racing.
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Eliason third at Speedway
