Brent Marks, CJB Motorsports Win Governors Reign Opener At Eldora For $10K All Star Payday

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – ROSSBURG, OH – The first-ever Governors Reign at Eldora Speedway may lack live spectators, but open wheel fans from around the world witnessed history on Tuesday evening at The Big E, as Myerstown, Pennsylvania’s Brent Marks drove his way to Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory lane to secure the opening night win of the inaugural Governors Reign worth $10,000, broadcast exclusively on FloRacing.

Marks, driver of the CJB Motorsports/M&M Painting and Construction/BAPS Auto Paint and Supply/Eagle Hotel/No. 5 sprint car, started fourth on the A-Main grid and marched his way to the front by lap ten, eventually out dueling Kasey Kahne Racing’s James McFadden in a slide job after slide job battle from lap ten through lap 12. Although the former Outlaw and current Williams Grove Speedway championship contender was able to put McFadden by the wayside, Marks was later forced to deal with an ill handling race car, as apparent front-end damage plagued the familiar No. 5 with less than five circuits to navigate.

Despite a late charge by Kerry Madsen, nearly pulling even with the CJB Motorsports entry with just two circuits remaining, and a string of three consecutive cautions including a red flag incident on lap 21, Marks held strong, ultimately crossing under the final checkers to nail down a third-ever All Star Circuit of Champions victory, his first since 2015.

The “Madman” Kerry Madsen held on to finish second at Eldora Speedway, followed by Shane Stewart, a hard-charging Logan Schuchart who advanced 17 positions, and Kyle Larson Racing’s Carson Macedo.

“I was just trying to hold on there at the end,” Brent Marks said on the Eldora Speedway victory lane stage. “I hit a pretty big clump of mud at one point and I think it messed up my steering a little bit. It honestly felt like something could have been broken. At that point, I was just trying to hang on.

“I’m really confident heading into tomorrow, but I think we’ll have a little bit of a different track surface,” Marks continued. “I can’t thank my team enough. Everyone works so hard and I appreciate what they do. Hopefully we can come back here and do it again.”

What’s Next:
Eldora Speedway’s first-ever Governors Reign will continue on Wednesday evening, September 23, with a second, full Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 program, this time awarding a $52,000 payday. Although fans will not be permitted to attend as the result of Covid-19 restrictions, FloRacing, the official media partner and online broadcast provider of the All Stars and Eldora Speedway, will be on hand to capture all of the action live.

Contingency Awards/Results: Eldora Speedway – September 22, 2020:
Event: Governors Reign Opener
Entries: 48
C&R Racing Warm-Ups: Cory Eliason – 13.025
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: David Gravel – 12.599 *NTR
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: David Gravel
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Joey Saldana
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Sammy Swindell
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Donny Schatz
Kistler Racing Products Heat #5 Winner: Gio Scelzi
Computer Man C-Main Winner: Kraig Kinser
Kear’s Speed Shop Dash #1 Winner: Kerry Madsen
Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Dash #2 Winner: James McFadden
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting & Embroidery B-Main Winner: Sheldon Haudenschild
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Brock Zearfoss
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Brent Marks
Hercules Tire A-Main Hard Charger: Logan Schuchart (+17)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 41-David Gravel, 12.599; 2. 1a-Jacob Allen, 12.736; 3. 71-Shane Stewart, 12.770; 4. 2M-Kerry Madsen, 12.800; 5. 17s-Sheldon Haudenschild, 12.835; 6. 57-Kyle Larson, 12.881; 7. 41S-Dominic Scelzi, 12.959; 8. 11-Zeb Wise, 13.078; 9. 5T-Travis Philo, 13.088; 10. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 13.095

Group (B)
1. 2-Carson Macedo, 12.878; 2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 12.968; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 12.973; 4. 12n-Joey Saldana, 12.978; 5. 49-Brad Sweet, 12.991; 6. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 12.998; 7. 83-Spencer Bayston, 13.003; 8. 69-Brady Bacon, 13.011; 9. 28-Tim Shaffer, 13.030; 10. 72-Daryn Pittman, 13.067

Group (C)
1. 14P-Parker Price-Miller, 12.766; 2. 9-James McFadden, 12.848; 3. 39-Sammy Swindell, 12.875; 4. 21B-Christopher Bell, 12.945; 5. 17-Ian Madsen, 12.963; 6. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 13.046; 7. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.140; 8. 3C-Cale Conley, 13.171; 9. 70-Cale Thomas, 13.199; 10. 15k-Chad Kemenah, 13.276

Group (D)
1. 5-Brent Marks, 12.935; 2. 17A-Austin McCarl, 12.972; 3. 14-Tim Kaeding, 12.989; 4. 15-Donny Schatz, 12.992; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.023; 6. 39M-Anthony Macri, 13.027; 7. 17B-Bill Balog, 13.092; 8. 67-Buddy Kofoid, 13.182; 9. 99-Skylar Gee, 13.373

Group (E)
1. 21-Brian Brown, 12.958; 2. 26-Cory Eliason, 12.975; 3. 24-Rico Abreu, 12.990; 4. 18-Gio Scelzi, 13.012; 5. 13-Paul McMahan, 13.117; 6. 10-Dave Blaney, 13.123; 7. 22C-Cole Duncan, 13.309; 8. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.319; 9. 4-Cap Henry, 13.351

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 41-David Gravel [4]; 2. 71-Shane Stewart [2]; 3. 57-Kyle Larson [6]; 4. 2M-Kerry Madsen [1]; 5. 1A-Jacob Allen [3]; 6. 17S-Sheldon Haudenschild [5]; 7. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [7]; 8. 11K-Kraig Kinser [10]; 9. 11-Zeb Wise [8]; 10. 5T-Travis Philo [9]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 12N-Joey Saldana [1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [2]; 3. 2-Carson Macedo [4]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [5]; 5. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [3]; 6. 3-Jac Haudenschild [6]; 7. 72-Daryn Pittman [10]; 8. 83-Spencer Bayston [7]; 9. 28-Tim Shaffer [9]; 10. 69-Brady Bacon [8]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 39-Sammy Swindell [2]; 2. 21B-Christopher Bell [1]; 3. 14P-Parker Price-Miller [4]; 4. 9-James McFadden [3]; 5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [6]; 6. 17-Ian Madsen [5]; 7. 3C-Cale Conley [8]; 8. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [7]; 9. 70-Cale Thomas [9]; 10. 15K-Chad Kemenah [10]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 15-Donny Schatz [1]; 2. 14-Tim Kaeding [2]; 3. 17A-Austin McCarl [3]; 4. 5-Brent Marks [4]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5]; 6. 39M-Anthony Macri [6]; 7. 17B-Bill Balog [7]; 8. 67-Buddy Kofoid [8]; 9. 99-Skylar Gee [9]

Heat #5 – Group (E) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 18-Gio Scelzi [1]; 2. 26-Cory Eliason [3]; 3. 21-Brian Brown [4]; 4. 13-Paul McMahan [5]; 5. 4-Cap Henry [9]; 6. W20-Greg Wilson [8]; 7. 22C-Cole Duncan [7]; 8. 10-Dave Blaney [6]; 9. 24-Rico Abreu [2]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 2M-Kerry Madsen [2]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [1]; 3. 18-Gio Scelzi [5]; 4. 39-Sammy Swindell [3]; 5. 21-Brian Brown [6]; 6. 12N-Joey Saldana [4]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 9-James McFadden [1]; 2. 5-Brent Marks [2]; 3. 41-David Gravel [3]; 4. 14P-Parker Price-Miller [4]; 5. 2-Carson Macedo [6]; 6. 71-Shane Stewart [5]

C-Main (10 Laps) – Top 2 Transfer
1. 11K-Kraig Kinser [2]; 2. 83-Spencer Bayston [1]; 3. 28-Tim Shaffer [7]; 4. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [4]; 5. 70-Cale Thomas [9]; 6. 67-Buddy Kofoid [5]; 7. 11-Zeb Wise [8]; 8. 99-Skylar Gee [10]; 9. 5T-Travis Philo [12]; 10. 69-Brady Bacon [11]; 11. 10-Dave Blaney [3]; 12. 24-Rico Abreu [6]; 13. 15K-Chad Kemenah [13]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 17S-Sheldon Haudenschild [2]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart [4]; 3. 1A-Jacob Allen [1]; 4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [5]; 5. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [3]; 6. 3-Jac Haudenschild [8]; 7. 17-Ian Madsen [7]; 8. 39M-Anthony Macri [9]; 9. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [11]; 10. 4-Cap Henry [6]; 11. 72-Daryn Pittman [12]; 12. 17B-Bill Balog [13]; 13. 3C-Cale Conley [14]; 14. 83-Spencer Bayston [16]; 15. 11K-Kraig Kinser [15]; 16. W20-Greg Wilson [10]; 17. 22C-Cole Duncan [17]

A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 5-Brent Marks [4]; 2. 2M-Kerry Madsen [1]; 3. 71-Shane Stewart [11]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart [21]; 5. 2-Carson Macedo [10]; 6. 1A-Jacob Allen [22]; 7. 9-James McFadden [2]; 8. 14P-Parker Price-Miller [8]; 9. 57-Kyle Larson [16]; 10. 15-Donny Schatz [3]; 11. 18-Gio Scelzi [5]; 12. 49-Brad Sweet [18]; 13. 14-Tim Kaeding [15]; 14. 21-Brian Brown [9]; 15. 26-Cory Eliason [14]; 16. 21B-Christopher Bell [12]; 17. 41-David Gravel [6]; 18. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [23]; 19. 39-Sammy Swindell [7]; 20. 17-Ian Madsen [24]; 21. 13-Paul McMahan [19]; 22. 17A-Austin McCarl [17]; 23. 17S-Sheldon Haudenschild [20]; 24. 87-Aaron Reutzel [13]; 25. 12N-Joey Saldana [25] Lap Leaders: James McFadden (1-9), Brent Marks (10), James McFadden (11), Brent Marks (12-30)