Wilson overcomes late cautions to win fourth race of season at Speedway
Greg Wilson survived five cautions during the final eight laps to claim his fourth Fremont Speedway win of the year Saturday on Fremont Federal Credit Union Night.
With his third-place finish, Gibsonburg's Craig Mintz wrapped up his fourth Fort Ball Pizza Palace 410 Sprint track championship. Fremont's DJ Foos held off a charging Alvin Roepke to earn his second victory of the season in the Fremont Federal Credit Union 305 Sprints.
Paul Weaver clinched his fourth division track title. Rookie Dave Gumby Jr. of Ottawa Lake, Michigan held off Jeff Babcock to score his second victory of the season in the Burmeister Trophy Dirt Trucks.
Fremont's Jamie Miller clinched his first ever division title with a third-place finish.
Wilson dominated much of the 30-lap 410 sprint feature, building nearly a four-second lead just past the halfway point. Late race cautions, including one with just two laps to go, kept the field close, but Wilson drove to his 17th career Fremont win over Foos, Mintz, 16th starter Cole Duncan and Jake Hesson.
“This place is so special to me," Wilson said. "I have a lot of mixed emotions. I’m thinking about Rick Eshleman. Him and I started racing at Limaland and Eldora and I’m glad I spent that hour with him earlier this year. You never know what people are going through and you never know what the big guy upstairs has planned for us.
"I feel so blessed to have my family by my side to be in the Seeling Motorsports car. I can’t thank Hercules Tires, Ohio Logistics and DNC Hydraulics enough for believing in me. We've been kind of up and down but when we come here, it’s home and hopefully we bring our A game next week when the Ford Classic is on the line."
For Mintz, the fourth track title is special as it came on the 50th anniversary of Johnny Auxter’s track title in 1972. Auxter was a mentor to Mintz.
“The last five or six weeks, the 16 (Foos) has qualified well and we struggled," Mintz said. "We have to get better early on. I love competing with DJ, there’s a mutual respect. Early on, we weren’t very good and we just kept getting a little better.
"At one point, I quit thinking about championships and wanted to win the thing. Three or four years ago we marked this on our calendar that this would be the last championship we were going after. We put every effort into this. If you think back, if it wasn’t for Auxter I probably wouldn’t be here.
"There were many fun nights with Johnny working on the car. It means a lot to me and this team and makes it extra special."
In the 25 lap 305 sprint feature, Foos took the lead from Kasey Jedrzejek on Lap 5 and then held off Roepke after a caution with just four laps remaining to score his 25th career Fremont win.
“I was kind of messing up that last restart," Foos said. "The car was getting really tight. My dad does a really good job on 305 cars and racing in general. I figured my car would be pretty good and it took off really well. So grateful to be in a Clark car, it’s been a dream for a long time to sit in a Clark owned car and I finally got the opportunity.
"This is a fun deal. Wish I could get a 410 win this year, always next week."
For Weaver, winning the track championship came down to avoiding disaster when a lapped car collected him early in the feature. Weaver was able to restart at the tail and drove to a ninth-place finish for the title.
“At least I finished the race and survived the night," Weaver said. "Early in my career we ran all over the place with the 360s. You had a lot of choices. Unless you have money for a 410, this is where you go to race and it’s worked out."
Several early cautions kept the field close in the 20-lap truck feature, with Jim Holcomb holding a narrow lead the first five circuits. Gumby took command, and Holcomb, Jeff Babcock, Jamie Miller and Ben Clapp battled for the runner-up spot until Babcock took second on lap 10.
Gumby and Babcock ran side by side the final five laps, with Gumby holding on for the win.
“I didn’t notice him (Babcock) until the last three laps when I saw him blow it into turn one and I was like, 'I gotta go,'" Gumby said.
Miller ran a conservative race to finish third and claim his first Fremont track title.
“I don’t like point racing," Miller said. "These championships aren’t easy to come by. I’ve been doing this for a long time and it’s my first one here. This is a tough division. Just to get one of these is quite an accomplishment."
Speedway is host Friday and Saturday to the 15th annual Jim and Joanne Ford Classic, with the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions. The dirt trucks will be split into two fields – odds and evens in points – for feature-only events with the All Stars on Friday and the 305 sprints Saturday.
There will be activities at the Sandusky County Fairgrounds as well.
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Foos captures second 305 win at Speedway this season
