Bayston Holds Back Duncan & Shaffer For First-Ever All Star Sprint Win

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – ATTICA, OH – For Lebenon, Indiana’s Spencer Bayston, it took just 15 winged sprint car starts to park himself in victory lane, earning the HD Supply Spring Nationals finale victory worth $5,000 over a stout Arctic Cat All Star field at Attica Raceway Park.

Bayston, pilot of the Kevin Swindell-owned/Swindell Speed Lab/No. 39, outperformed 46 other Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions entries that were signed-in on Saturday night at the home of “Ohio’s Finest Racing,” eventually charging forward from seventh on the main event grid to secure his position on top of the feature podium. Cole Duncan finished second during the 40-lap program, followed by Tim Shaffer, Dale Blaney, and defending Arctic Cat All Star champion Chad Kemenah.

“Holy crap, we’re in victory lane here at Attica Raceway Park,” Spencer Bayston said. “I didn’t even know how to get to victory lane or where to go. I drove on to the front stretch, but I figured out pretty quick that was wrong. This place is absolutely packed. A big ‘thanks’ to all of the fans for coming out here tonight. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it.”

Pole-sitter Cole Duncan took command during the drop of the initial green flag, leading Shawn Dancer and California native Carson Macedo by the flag stand for the first time. The Lockbourne, Ohio, native maintained the top spot during the first seven circuits, ultimately surrendering the point position to Carson Macedo on lap eight. It took Macedo two attempts to get around Duncan, eventually using a textbook slide job between turns three and four to officially take command. Utilizing the very topside of the speedway, Macedo cruised out in front of the field for the next five circuits, but mechanical woes on lap 14 halted any winning potential.

From that point forward, Bayston was the man in charge; already climbing from the inside of row four to seize third on lap six, and moving into second on lap 11. After inheriting the top spot, Bayston opened his command immediately, and did so without any distractions. The former USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year hit traffic for the first time just beyond the halfway mark, but still maintained a three second advantage, eventually increasing his command to four seconds by lap 30.

A late-race caution on lap 33 would stack the field one last time, but a clear groove and clean air proved to be too much of an advantage for Bayston; crossing under the final checkers with a two second advantage ahead of Cole Duncan and the “Steel City Outlaw” Tim Shaffer.

“We were getting through traffic pretty clean there. I wasn’t really sure who was behind me. I could feel the rubber starting to build, so I just tried to be as conservative as I could with my tires,” Bayston said. “I can’t thank Kevin and Jordan Swindell, as well as my parents, enough for this opportunity. They have done so much with this program. This is going to be a fun year.”

One week from today, the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions will conclude their April tour of The Buckeye State with a visit to the Wayne County Speedway near Orrville, Ohio, on Saturday, April 22. It will be the first of four Wayne County Speedway appearances by “America’s Series” in 2017, one of which during the upcoming edition of Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket, as well as the second running of the Pete Jacobs Memorial worth $10,000 on Sunday, September 3. Next Saturday’s Wayne County Speedway showcase will be the first official event of the 2017 season for “Orrville’s Historic Oval;” the 57th visit by the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions since 1970.

Wayne County Speedway will open gates at 3:00pm on Saturday, April 22. Qualifying time trials are scheduled to hit the speedway at 6:00pm, followed by an entire Arctic Cat All Star program complete with heat races and respective main events. Those interested in learning more should visit Wayne County Speedway live on the Web at www.waynecountyspeedway.com.

Contingency Awards/Results: Attica Raceway Park- Saturday, April 15, 2017:
HD Supply Spring Nationals
EMi Driver’s Meeting: 47 Entries
State Water Heaters Warm-Ups: Tim Shaffer (12.531 seconds)
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Tyler Esh (12.635 seconds)
Ford Performance Heat #1: Shawn Dancer
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Spencer Bayston
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Jordan Ryan
Kistler Racing Products Heat #4: Chris Andrews
JE Pistons Dash #1: Cole Duncan
JE Pistons Dash #2: Carson Macedo
Classic Ink USA B-Main: Caleb Helms
Daido Engine Bearings Main Event Winner: Tim Shaffer (3rd)
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Ryan Smith (+18)
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 5th Place Finisher: Chad Kemenah
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 10th Place Finisher: Thomas Meseraull (11th)
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 15th Place Finisher: Max Stambaugh
(Lincoln Electric, Daido Engine Bearings, MSD Performance, Outback Steakhouse: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)

Qualifying
1.35-Tyler Esh, 12.635; 2.10H-Chad Kemenah, 12.694; 3.45L-Brian Lay, 12.701; 4.39-Spencer Bayston, 12.768; 5.22C-Cole Duncan, 12.830; 6.49x-Tim Shaffer, 12.847; 7.3G-Carson Macedo, 12.891; 8.49-Shawn Dancer, 12.900; 9.5R-Byron Reed, 12.909; 10.22B-Ryan Broughton, 12.979; 11.23-DJ Foos, 13.018; 12.17-Caleb Helms, 13.056; 13.16-Chris Andrews, 13.084; 14.9Z-Duane Zablocki, 13.106; 15.3J-Trey Jacobs, 13.151; 16.5T-Travis Philo, 13.172; 17.9M-Jordan Ryan, 13.183; 18.33M-Max Stambaugh, 13.195; 19.81-Lee Jacobs, 13.225; 20.95-Hunter Mackison, 13.257; 21.22-Brandon Spithaler, 13.267; 22.8M-TJ Michael, 13.283; 23.11N-Dale Blaney, 13.312; 24.7-Shawn Valenti, 13.327; 25.60-Jody Keegan, 13.356; 26.5-Jordan Harble, 13.370; 27.7C-Caleb Armstrong, 13.375; 28.8J-Jess Stiger, 13.380; 29.5K-Adam Kekich, 13.381; 30.8-Dean Jacobs, 13.429; 31.35s-Stuart Brubaker, 13.442; 32.13-Brandon Matus, 13.456; 33.59-Ryan Smith, 13.481; 34.6M-Jac Haudenschild, 13.499; 35.9C-Roger Campbell, 13.505; 36.9X-Thomas Meseraull, 13.626; 37.60K-Kory Crabtree, 13.670; 38.4H-Tracy Hines, 13.700; 39.15H-Mitch Harble, 13.712; 40.4-Brian Smith, 13.739; 41.1080-Jordan Mackison, 13.754; 42.59N-Bryan Nuckles, 13.865; 43.9-Ryan Linder, 13.888; 44.22M-Dan McCarron, 14.034; 45.51-John Garvin, 14.580; 46.49H-Bradley Howard, 14.741; 47.33-Brent Matus, 14.863;

Heat 1, Group A – (10 Laps)
1. 49-Shawn Dancer[3] ; 2. 45L-Brian Lay[4] ; 3. 6M-Jac Haudenschild[8] ; 4. 35s-Stuart Brubaker[7] ; 5. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[2] ; 6. 8M-TJ Michael[5] ; 7. 4H-Tracy Hines[10] ; 8. 9-Ryan Linder[11] ; 9. 9C-Roger Campbell[9] ; 10. 49H-Bradley Howard[12] ; 11. 33M-Max Stambaugh[1] ; 12. 60-Jody Keegan[6]

Heat 2, Group B – (10 Laps)
1. 39-Spencer Bayston[2] ; 2. 10H-Chad Kemenah[3] ; 3. 3G-Carson Macedo[5] ; 4. 22C-Cole Duncan[1] ; 5. 22B-Ryan Broughton[6] ; 6. 35-Tyler Esh[4] ; 7. 17-Caleb Helms[7] ; 8. 8-Dean Jacobs[10] ; 9. 8J-Jess Stiger[9] ; 10. 1080-Jordan Mackison[12] ; 11. 3J-Trey Jacobs[8] ; 12. 15H-Mitch Harble[11]

Heat 3, Group C – (10 Laps)
1. 9M-Jordan Ryan[1] ; 2. 49x-Tim Shaffer[4] ; 3. 23-DJ Foos[2] ; 4. 11N-Dale Blaney[6] ; 5. 5R-Byron Reed[3] ; 6. 81-Lee Jacobs[5] ; 7. 59-Ryan Smith[9] ; 8. 13-Brandon Matus[8] ; 9. 4-Brian Smith[10] ; 10. 22M-Dan McCarron[11] ; 11. 51-John Garvin[12] ; 12. 5-Jordan Harble[7]

Heat 4, Group D – (10 Laps)
1. 16-Chris Andrews[4] ; 2. 22-Brandon Spithaler[1] ; 3. 5T-Travis Philo[3] ; 4. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[6] ; 5. 9X-Thomas Meseraull[8] ; 6. 95-Hunter Mackison[2] ; 7. 7-Shawn Valenti[5] ; 8. 5K-Adam Kekich[7] ; 9. 59N-Bryan Nuckles[10] ; 10. 33-Brent Matus[11] ; 11. 60K-Kory Crabtree[9]

Dash 1 – (4 Laps)
1. 22C-Cole Duncan[2] ; 2. 9M-Jordan Ryan[3] ; 3. 49x-Tim Shaffer[4] ; 4. 39-Spencer Bayston[5] ; 5. 10H-Chad Kemenah[1]

Dash 2 – (4 Laps)
1. 3G-Carson Macedo[2] ; 2. 49-Shawn Dancer[4] ; 3. 16-Chris Andrews[1] ; 4. 45L-Brian Lay[3] ; 5. 22-Brandon Spithaler[5]

C-Main 1 – (10 Laps)
1. 60K-Kory Crabtree[2] ; 2. 22M-Dan McCarron[9] ; 3. 4H-Tracy Hines[3] ; 4. 51-John Garvin[10] ; 5. 9C-Roger Campbell[1] ; 6. 49H-Bradley Howard[11] ; 7. 33-Brent Matus[12] ; 8. 9-Ryan Linder[8] ; 9. 4-Brian Smith[5] ; 10. 15H-Mitch Harble[4] ; 11. 59N-Bryan Nuckles[7] ; 12. 1080-Jordan Mackison[6] ; 13. 3J-Trey Jacobs[13]

B-Main 1 – (12 Laps)
1. 17-Caleb Helms[2] ; 2. 81-Lee Jacobs[4] ; 3. 33M-Max Stambaugh[3] ; 4. 8M-TJ Michael[6] ; 5. 60-Jody Keegan[8] ; 6. 35-Tyler Esh[1] ; 7. 7-Shawn Valenti[7] ; 8. 60K-Kory Crabtree[15] ; 9. 5K-Adam Kekich[11] ; 10. 59-Ryan Smith[14] ; 11. 5-Jordan Harble[9] ; 12. 95-Hunter Mackison[5] ; 13. 22M-Dan McCarron[16] ; 14. 8-Dean Jacobs[12] ; 15. 13-Brandon Matus[13] ; 16. 8J-Jess Stiger[10]

A-Main 1 – (40 Laps)
1. 39-Spencer Bayston[7] ; 2. 22C-Cole Duncan[1] ; 3. 49x-Tim Shaffer[5] ; 4. 11N-Dale Blaney[14] ; 5. 10H-Chad Kemenah[9] ; 6. 5T-Travis Philo[12] ; 7. 59-Ryan Smith[25] ; 8. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[15] ; 9. 16-Chris Andrews[6] ; 10. 45L-Brian Lay[8] ; 11. 9X-Thomas Meseraull[20] ; 12. 5R-Byron Reed[17] ; 13. 17-Caleb Helms[21] ; 14. 9M-Jordan Ryan[3] ; 15. 33M-Max Stambaugh[23] ; 16. 35s-Stuart Brubaker[16] ; 17. 22B-Ryan Broughton[18] ; 18. 8M-TJ Michael[24] ; 19. 49-Shawn Dancer[4] ; 20. 9-Ryan Linder[26] ; 21. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[19] ; 22. 3G-Carson Macedo[2] ; 23. 23-DJ Foos[11] ; 24. 22-Brandon Spithaler[10] ; 25. 6M-Jac Haudenschild[13] ; 26. 81-Lee Jacobs[22] Lap Leaders: Cole Duncan [1-7]; Carson Macedo [8-13]; Spencer Bayston [14-40]

2017 Arctic Cat All Star Point Standings (4/15/2017):
1. Chad Kemenah: 968
2. Caleb Armstrong: 888
3. Caleb Helms: 836
4. Ryan Smith: 782
5. Donny Schatz: 742
6. Max Stambaugh: 728
7. T.J. Michael: 726
8. Tim Shaffer: 716
9. Danny Dietrich: 702
10. David Gravel: 696