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From
Front to Back to Front, Schacht Sweeps at Midvale
Midvale,
Ohio (June 3, 2018) – Bob
Schacht showed that he was the car to beat throughout Saturday’s
McInturf Realty Twin 50s presented by Patrick Miller Photography,
but getting to victory lane was by no means the easiest of tasks
once the green flag for each flew.
The Mooresville,
North Carolina veteran driver shattered the track record in
qualifying with a fast time of 14.473 seconds and the top six redraw
went in his favor after pulling the number one pill for the first
50-lap feature. Schacht
accelerated into the lead over 2017’s Jennerstown Speedway finale
winner J.P. Crabtree III until a caution was displayed 17 laps in.
Crabtree, making
his first start of 2018, challenged Schacht on the restart.
Motoring to the inside into turn
two, Crabtree slightly nudged Schacht, who was forced to take a
higher exit out of the turn. As
they approached turn three, even
more contact was made which was enough to send Crabtree around.
Schacht pitted to
repair damage to the right front and Crabtree, minus a rear bumper
cover, stayed out but went to the rear of the field, handing the
lead to 2014 SCSCS champion JJ Pack.
However, it was two-time Midvale Speedway winner Kevin Kromer
that took advantage on the restart and powered into the lead for the
next few circuits.
It
was setting up to be a spitting image of a spirited battle for the
top spot from a few years ago on the 3/10-mile oval nearing halfway,
as Kromer and Pack dueled for the position.
Meanwhile, both Schacht and Crabtree were making their way
toward the front again. By
lap 35, Schacht caught and passed both Pack and Kromer and his No.
75 Engineered Components / Bob Schacht Motorsports Chevrolet held on
the rest of the way for win number two of 2018.
“Last year we
broke in the first race, but I went home after Dominion and I
studied the race track,” Schacht
said in victory lane. “I
watched every YouTube thing that was on Midvale, the bumps and stuff
like that, how people raced. I
like this race track. It’s
a good racey race track.”
Schacht also
announced that all of his winnings from the night will be generously
donated to cancer survivor Kevin Kromer’s Mission R.A.C.E.R.
foundation.
Brent Nelson made a
late race charge to within two car lengths of Schacht and finished
runner-up, while Crabtree rounded out the podium.
Kromer finished fourth while Ron Langdon, all the way from
Long Island, New York ended up fifth in his No. 17 National
Appliance / Langdon’s Automotive Chevrolet.
Pack exited the race track during a yellow with less than 10
laps to go and was done for the night with a leak in the rear of his
No. 90 JP Racing Chevrolet.
For the second
feature, Schacht had a little more work to do from the beginning
after drawing the sixth starting position.
Nelson started from the pole and led the first five laps in
his No. 80 Airtek Inc. / Steam Turbine Services / Precision Auto
Collision / Atkinson Welding Chevrolet.
Behind
the Petersburg, West Virginia racer, Crabtree and Schacht were
patiently yet rapidly coming up fast on his rear bumper.
Crabtree took the lead and held a comfortable margin for a
number of laps until a red flag was displayed on lap 18 when Denver,
North Carolina’s Larry Wilcox expired an engine on the backstretch
and made a hard impact with the turn three wall.
Wilcox climbed out under his own power, but the No. 66 Denise
Wilcox Real Estate Agent with Sellstate Select / ETGI / Daddy K's
BBQ Chevrolet was much worse for the wear.
By this time,
Schacht was up to second but elected to restart on the inside lane
behind Crabtree. Nelson
chose the outside and tried to make the line work, but Crabtree and
Schacht surged ahead.
In a similar
circumstance to the first feature, contact was made, this time in
turn four, sending Crabtree around.
Schacht was sent to the rear for the altercation, but quickly
maneuvered toward the top spot and passed Nelson before the race
crossed the halfway mark.
Despite
a stoppage with 20 laps remaining and one more challenge from
Crabtree, Schacht cruised his way to become the first driver in
SCSCS history to win three consecutive races.
The Muncie, Indiana
driver stopped the No. 42 USA Tire / J.R.'s Landscaping / Stagger
Pros / Support The Troops / Don Gnat Racing Ford on the frontstretch
following the checkered flag and the runner-up climbed out to have a
word with Schacht. There
was some disagreement between each driver regarding what had ensued.
“The first race
was my fault,” Schacht admitted.
“I didn’t figure he was going to slow down that much
right in the middle of the corner like he did and I got into him.
I’ll take the blame or whatever you want to call it for
that one there, but this last time he just kept trying to block me
on the bottom. I got up
in there and he just came down and then in the next corner I ran
into him.”
“I just got
spun,” Crabtree briefly explained.”
“That’s all there is to it.
I’m the leader and I’m protecting the bottom.
I left the outside for him, but I guess he can’t do that so
it’s whatever. We’ll
move on to the next one and go at it some more.”
Nelson concluded a
fairly satisfying night with a third place finish.
“We were close,
but the car got tight on me,” the 2016 Midvale winner noted.
“The longer we ran, before the end of the first race, the
car just wouldn’t turn. The
second race we made a little bit of an adjustment.
The car was good until about halfway; same thing.
I didn’t loosen it up enough.”
20-year-old series
newcomer Edward Adams III from Front Royal, Virginia turned in an
impressively respectable fourth place run in the No. 16 IceBoxx
Customs / JP Racing Toyota. Walnutport,
Pennsylvania’s Kromer rounded out the top five in his No. 77
Lehigh Valley Cancer Institute / Mission R.A.C.E.R. / Warren Pallet
/ K2 Motorsports Chevrolet.
The Super Cup Stock
Car Series teams have their tightest turnaround of the season with
the next set of 50-lap features in less than two weeks at Kingsport
Speedway in Tennessee. Due
to the inaugural festivities being washed out a year ago, many will
be seeing the 3/8-mile banked oval for the first time.
“I’ve never
been there, so it will be a new experience for all of us,” Schacht,
who will enter the event with a commanding point lead after his hot
start to 2018, commented. “We’ll
go home and try to fix the body up and everything, work on the car
some more, and be ready for Kingsport.”
Nelson sits second
in the standings and although mainly unscathed from Midvale, there
was some cosmetic damage sustained from hard racing, which he
suspects will be a similar story at the “Concrete Jungle” on
Friday, June 15.
“We’ve got a
little bit of work to do to get it ready for Kingsport,” Nelson
said. “We’re going
to have to put a right side on it.
The nose may stay. We
may just patch it up and take it like it is because I understand
Kingsport is a pretty tight little bullring and I’m sure there’s
going to be some more carnage down there.
We’ll come out of there and get it dressed and ready to go
to Jennerstown (on Saturday, July 7).”
Please visit the
official web site at www.supercupstockcarseries.com
and the Super Cup Stock Car Series Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram
for continued updates leading into the next event as well as
throughout the season.
Twin 50 No. 1:
1 75 Bob Schacht
2
80 Brent Nelson
3
42 JP Crabtree
4
77 Kevin Kromer
5 17 Ron Langdon
6 16 Edward Adams III
7 99 Mike Potter
8 35 Bill Ashton
9 18 Jeff Zillweger
10 3 Jason Schue
11 90 JJ Pack
12 66 Larry Wilcox
13 22 Marc Jones
Pole - 75
Lap Leaders -
75, 77, 90
Most Laps - 75
Halfway - 90
Hard Charger -
99
Twin 50 No. 2
1
75 Bob Schacht
2 42 JP Crabtree
3 80 Brent Nelson
4 16 Edward Adams III
5 77 Kevin Kromer
6 35 Bill Ashton
7 17 Ron Langdon
8 99 Mike Potter
9 3 Jason Schue
10 22 Marc Jones
11 18 Jeff Zillweger
12 66 Larry Wilcox
13
90 JJ Pack
Pole - N/A
Lap Leaders -
80, 42, 75
Most Laps - 75
Halfway - 75
Hard Charger -
35, 22
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