Cap Henry Claims Jim & Joanne Ford Classic Opener All Star A-Main At Fremont Speedway Friday

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – FREMONT, OH – Forced to chase race-long leader and polesitter, Ian Madsen, for the first 26 circuits, it was a true test of patience and persistence for Republic, Ohio’s Cap Henry on Friday evening at Fremont Speedway, and with a little help from slower traffic, the now three-time Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 main event winner in 2020 was able to sneak by the Baughman-Reutzel Motorsports entry and score the Jim and Joanne Ford Classic Opener at the “Track That Action Built” for a $5,000 payday.

“This has been a real good year for us,” Cap Henry explained in Fremont Speedway victory lane, driver of the Lane Racing/Beer Barrel Bourbon/No. 4 sprint car. “My guys keep working on this thing and they keep making it better and better. This thing was a little bit of a handful at times, but I was confident in my team’s decision making. I’m just so proud of this whole race team. Nobody ever gives up. We can say we won another one at Fremont.”

Although a bridesmaid for over half of the non-stop, 35-lap program, Henry, who started third on the feature grid, was in a position to pounce the entire distance, never allowing Madsen to stretch his legs on Fremont’s slick, yet tricky surface. By lap 12, Madsen found himself amongst a gaggle of slower cars, ultimately giving Henry an opportunity to show his nose on lap 14. Despite missing the opportunity to overtake, Henry kept his focus, continuing on without allowing more than one lapped car to separate himself from the leader for the next 14 circuits.

Seemingly in control, Madsen’s reign at the top of the leaderboard would falter on lap 27, as a slower car would hold up the familiar No. 17 allowing Henry to capitalize. With the aforementioned lapped car forcing Madsen to enter turn one off of his preferred line at the bottom of the speedway, the door was open for Henry, eventually driving underneath Madsen before winning a drag race at the exit of turn two.

Forced to settle for fourth at the final checkers, Madsen would also get overtaken by Cole Duncan and Cory Eliason, who battled for much of the 35-lap contest, exchanging third and fourth on six occasions before settling into second and third, respectively. Shane Stewart, who started fourth, would cross the line fifth.

“As soon as we got into traffic, I knew I was going to have to search around to see what we could find to be better than Ian (Madsen),” Henry continued. “Turn two kind made the difference for us tonight. Ian was pretty committed to what he had to do and we were able to get down and get a run.”

Although earning a podium finish, Rudeen Racing’s Cory Eliason still trails Aaron Reutzel, who finished eighth during the Jim and Joanne Ford Classic Opener, by 64 markers entering the season finale on Saturday. Considering Reutzel still has feature provisionals available, the championship is all but settled.

What’s Next:
The Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 will conclude the 2020 season, officially, with the Jim and Joanne Ford Classic Finale at Fremont Speedway on Saturday, October 10. The two-day headliner will award a $10,000 top prize.

Contingency Awards/Results: Fremont Speedway – October 9, 2020:
Event: Jim and Joanne Ford Classic Opener
Entries: 45
C&R Racing Warm-Ups: Aaron Reutzel – 14.500
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Christopher Bell – 14.584
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: Ryan Ruhl
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Cale Conley
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Cap Henry
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Craig Mintz
Kistler Racing Products Heat #5 Winner: Shane Stewart
Computer Man C-Main Winner: Cole Macedo
Kear’s Speed Shop Dash #1 Winner: Ian Madsen
Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Dash #2 Winner: Max Stambaugh
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting & Embroidery B-Main Winner: Christopher Bell
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: John Ivy
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Cap Henry
Hercules Tire A-Main Hard Charger: Christopher Bell (+10)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 11n-Christopher Bell, 14.584; 2. 5-Byron Reed, 14.738; 3. O7-Bill Balog, 14.742; 4. 5R-Ryan Ruhl, 14.787; 5. 8M-TJ Michael, 14.854; 6. 15k-Chad Kemenah, 15.003; 7. 23-Cole Macedo, 15.047; 8. 28-Tim Shaffer, 15.191; 9. 33W-Caleb Griffith, 15.435

Group (B)
1. 71H-Max Stambaugh, 14.860; 2. W20-Greg Wilson, 14.993; 3. 3J-Trey Jacobs, 15.085; 4. 3C-Cale Conley, 15.125; 5. 13-Paul McMahan, 15.166; 6. 15-Mitch Harble, 15.328; 7. 11-Zeb Wise, 15.342; 8. 77I-John Ivy, 15.438; 9. 5QB-Quentin Blonde, 15.970

Group (C)
1. 22C-Cole Duncan, 14.620; 2. 26-Cory Eliason, 14.806; 3. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 14.921; 4. 4-Cap Henry, 14.982; 5. 70-Cale Thomas, 15.011; 6. 14W-Chad Wilson, 15.118; 7. 81-Lee Jacobs, 15.425; 8. 21j-Jeffrey Neubert, 16.083; 9. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 99.000

Group (D)
1. 17-Ian Madsen, 14.781; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 14.860; 3. O9-Craig Mintz, 14.955; 4. 2L-Landon Lalonde, 15.359; 5. 22B-Ryan Broughton, 15.516; 6. 47-Todd King, 15.646; 7. 27Z-Zane DeVault, 15.732; 8. 4T-Josh Turner, 16.359; 9. 55m-McKenna Haase, 30.948

Group (E)
1. 1-Nate Dussel, 15.168; 2. 16-DJ Foos, 15.187; 3. 71-Shane Stewart, 15.242; 4. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 15.270; 5. 9Z-Duane Zablocki, 15.317; 6. 5T-Travis Philo, 15.490; 7. 99-Skylar Gee, 15.633; 8. 19-Paige Polyak, 15.701; 9. 28M-Conner Morrell, 15.808

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 5R-Ryan Ruhl [1]; 2. 5-Byron Reed [3]; 3. 8M-TJ Michael [5]; 4. 33W-Caleb Griffith [9]; 5. O7-Bill Balog [2]; 6. 11N-Christopher Bell [4]; 7. 15K-Chad Kemenah [6]; 8. 23-Cole Macedo [7]; 9. 28-Tim Shaffer [8]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 3C-Cale Conley [1]; 2. 3J-Trey Jacobs [2]; 3. 71H-Max Stambaugh [4]; 4. W20-Greg Wilson [3]; 5. 13-Paul McMahan [5]; 6. 77I-John Ivy [8]; 7. 15-Mitch Harble [6]; 8. 5QB-Quentin Blonde [9]; 9. 11-Zeb Wise [7]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 4-Cap Henry [1]; 2. 26-Cory Eliason [3]; 3. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [2]; 4. 22C-Cole Duncan [4]; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs [7]; 6. 70-Cale Thomas [5]; 7. 14W-Chad Wilson [6]; 8. 3-Jac Haudenschild [9]; 9. 21J-Jeffrey Neubert [8]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. O9-Craig Mintz [2]; 2. 17-Ian Madsen [4]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel [3]; 4. 22B-Ryan Broughton [5]; 5. 2L-Landon Lalonde [1]; 6. 47-Todd King [6]; 7. 27Z-Zane DeVault [7]; 8. 4T-Josh Turner [8]; 9. 55M-McKenna Haase [9]

Heat #5 – Group (E) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 71-Shane Stewart [2]; 2. 1-Nate Dussel [4]; 3. 35-Stuart Brubaker [1]; 4. 16-DJ Foos [3]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee [7]; 6. 5T-Travis Philo [6]; 7. 9Z-Duane Zablocki [5]; 8. 19-Paige Polyak [8]; 9. 28M-Conner Morrell [9]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 17-Ian Madsen [1]; 2. 4-Cap Henry [4]; 3. 26-Cory Eliason [2]; 4. 22C-Cole Duncan [6]; 5. 1-Nate Dussel [5]; 6. 8M-TJ Michael [3]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 71H-Max Stambaugh [2]; 2. 71-Shane Stewart [1]; 3. O9-Craig Mintz [4]; 4. 3C-Cale Conley [3]; 5. 5R-Ryan Ruhl [6]; 6. 5-Byron Reed [5]

C-Main (10 Laps) – Top 2 Transfer
1. 23-Cole Macedo [1]; 2. 3-Jac Haudenschild [5]; 3. 5QB-Quentin Blonde [3]; 4. 11-Zeb Wise [7]; 5. 4T-Josh Turner [4]; 6. 28M-Conner Morrell [8]; 7. 55M-McKenna Haase [10]; 8. 21J-Jeffrey Neubert [9]; 9. 28-Tim Shaffer [6]; 10. 19-Paige Polyak [2]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 11N-Christopher Bell [1]; 2. 13-Paul McMahan [3]; 3. 81-Lee Jacobs [5]; 4. 99-Skylar Gee [6]; 5. 77I-John Ivy [8]; 6. 23-Cole Macedo [16]; 7. 70-Cale Thomas [7]; 8. 14W-Chad Wilson [12]; 9. 5T-Travis Philo [9]; 10. 15-Mitch Harble [14]; 11. 27Z-Zane DeVault [15]; 12. 47-Todd King [10]; 13. 9Z-Duane Zablocki [13]; 14. 2L-Landon Lalonde [4]; 15. 3-Jac Haudenschild [17]; 16. O7-Bill Balog [2]; 17. 15K-Chad Kemenah [11]

A-Main (35 Laps)
1. 4-Cap Henry [3]; 2. 22C-Cole Duncan [7]; 3. 26-Cory Eliason [5]; 4. 17-Ian Madsen [1]; 5. 71-Shane Stewart [4]; 6. O9-Craig Mintz [6]; 7. 71H-Max Stambaugh [2]; 8. 87-Aaron Reutzel [14]; 9. 3C-Cale Conley [8]; 10. 1-Nate Dussel [9]; 11. 11N-Christopher Bell [21]; 12. 8M-TJ Michael [11]; 13. 3J-Trey Jacobs [13]; 14. W20-Greg Wilson [17]; 15. 99-Skylar Gee [24]; 16. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [15]; 17. 16-DJ Foos [18]; 18. 13-Paul McMahan [22]; 19. 70-Cale Thomas [26]; 20. 35-Stuart Brubaker [16]; 21. 81-Lee Jacobs [23]; 22. 5-Byron Reed [12]; 23. 11-Zeb Wise [25]; 24. 22B-Ryan Broughton [20]; 25. 5R-Ryan Ruhl [10]; 26. 33W-Caleb Griffith [19] Lap Leaders: Ian Madsen (1-26), Cap Henry (27-35)