Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – ATTICA, OH – No better place to be when hunting a second consecutive Series title, “Sunshine” Tyler Courtney and Clauson Marshall Racing activated their 2022 Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 points season with a victory at Attica Raceway Park in Attica, Ohio, scoring the first night of the annual Core & Main Spring Nationals on Friday, April 15.
Courtney, the 2021 All Star champion, simultaneously earning Rookie of the Year honors for his impressive feat, led the final 11 circuits of the Attica opener to secure the $6,000 payday, out dueling fellow full-timer, Justin Peck, in an all-out slider slugfest between laps 28 and 30.
The Indianapolis, Indiana, native is now a ten-time All Star Circuit of Champions winner over the course of his young winged career, accomplishing victories in nine different states.
Starting third on the feature grid, Courtney was a surefire contender early, moving his way into second beyond Craig Mintz just after a caution on lap ten. At the time, Monrovia, Indiana’s Justin Peck was the race leader, utilizing the pole position via dash victory to sail his way to the point. The aforementioned caution led into a long stretch of green flag racing forcing Peck to deal with heavy traffic. Despite his ability to maneuver through slower cars, using Attica’s outer curb to maintain momentum, Courtney hung tough, keeping the Buch Motorsports entry within reach.
A caution on lap 28 would give Peck a break, but the slowdown was just what Courtney needed. The ensuing restart turned into a battle almost instantly, as Courtney made a bid for the lead on back-to-back laps, actually sliding ahead of Peck twice before he would return the favor. A final slider on lap 30 finally broke the cycle for Courtney, diving through turns three and four to slide up in front of Peck by the exit of the corner. Unfortunately for Peck, in an attempt to drive back underneath the Clauson Marshall Racing entry, he spun resulting in a caution.
From that point forward, it was all Tyler Courtney, driving on to win with Greg Wilson and Craig Mintz in tow.
“I just let it go. I was coming across and I felt like I gave him a chance to go or not go and he chose to go. I’m sure he’s upset about it, but it was just a racing deal to me. I’d never want to crash anyone to win the race…we didn’t touch at all. It is what it is, but I’m not going to let it ruin our night,” Tyler Courtney said of his battle for the lead. “It’s been a pretty incredible last year or so, but we just gotta keep going. It’s been a pretty slow start for us this season, but hopefully the weather cooperates and we can get racing every weekend for the rest of the summer.”
UP NEXT:
The Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 will continue the Core & Main Spring Nationals weekend with a second $6,000-to-win program on Saturday, April 16.
Contingency Awards/Results: Attica Raceway Park | April 15, 2022:
Event: Core & Main Spring Nationals
Kistler Racing Products Pill Draw | Entries: 49
Nunzi’s Advertising Hot Laps: Kyle Reinhardt | 13.317
Dixie Vodka Fast Qualifier: Brady Bacon | 13.239
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #1 Winner: Hunter Schuerenberg
Competition Suspension Inc Heat #2 Winner: Justin Peck
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #3 Winner: Tyler Courtney
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Greg Wilson
Kistler Racing Products Heat #5 Winner: Craig Mintz
Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Dash Winner: Justin Peck
Classic Ink USA B-Main Winner: Cory Eliason
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Jordan Ryan
Tezos A-Main Winner: Tyler Courtney (2)
Hercules Tires A-Main Hard Charger: Bill Balog (+16)
Carquest Perseverance Award: Cole Duncan
Qualifying
Group (A)
7-Scott Bogucki, 13.246; 2. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.394; 3. 4-Cap Henry, 13.409; 4. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 13.545; 5. 19-Chris Windom, 13.771; 6. 9Z-Duane Zablocki, 13.833; 7. 23-Chris Andrews, 14.082; 8. 99-Skylar Gee, 14.112; 9. 8M-TJ Michael, 14.275; 10. O7-Bradley Howard, NT
Group (B)
11-Parker Price Miller, 13.325; 2. 13-Justin Peck, 13.332; 3. 3J-Trey Jacobs, 13.715; 4. 5T-Travis Philo, 13.947; 5. 14R-Sean Rayhall, 13.972; 6. 22C-Cole Duncan, 13.982; 7. 8-Zach Ames, 13.987; 8. 25R-Jordan Ryan, 13.995; 9. 14H-Zane DeVault, 14.045; 10. 12G-Corbin Gurley, 14.233
Group (C)
21H-Brady Bacon, 13.239; 2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 13.252; 3. 26-Cory Eliason, 13.505; 4. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 13.517; 5. 3C-Cale Conley, 13.955; 6. 70M-Henry Malcuit, 14.031; 7. 12C-Kyle Capodice, 14.038; 8. 4S-Tyler Street, 14.073; 9. 101-Cale Thomas, 14.140; 10. 14Z-Wyatt Zimmerman, 14.442
Group (D)
9K-Kevin Thomas Jr., 13.637; 2. 28-Tim Shaffer, 13.646; 3. 97-Greg Wilson, 13.768; 4. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 13.828; 5. 71H-Max Stambaugh, 13.875; 6. 16-DJ Foos, 14.040; 7. 5-Byron Reed, 14.120; 8. 4X-Danny Smith, 14.259; 9. 75-Jerry Dahms, 15.299; 10. 40-Logan Fenton, NT
Group (E)
18-Cole Macedo, 13.532; 2. 10-Zeb Wise, 13.571; 3. O9-Craig Mintz, 13.754; 4. 14-Chad Kemenah, 13.825; 5. 29-Zeth Sabo, 13.842; 6. 17B-Bill Balog, 13.971; 7. 33W-Caleb Griffith, 14.047; 8. 2-Ricky Peterson, 14.256; 9. O1-Anthony D’Alessio, 14.768
Heat 1 (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
55-Hunter Schuerenberg [1]; 2. 7-Scott Bogucki [4]; 3. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [3]; 4. 4-Cap Henry [2]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee [8]; 6. 19-Chris Windom [5]; 7. 9Z-Duane Zablocki [6]; 8. 23-Chris Andrews [7]; 9. 8M-TJ Michael [9]; 10. O7-Bradley Howard [10]
Heat 2 (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
13-Justin Peck [1]; 2. 11-Parker Price Miller [4]; 3. 5T-Travis Philo [3]; 4. 3J-Trey Jacobs [2]; 5. 25R-Jordan Ryan [8]; 6. 22C-Cole Duncan [6]; 7. 14H-Zane DeVault [9]; 8. 14R-Sean Rayhall [5]; 9. 12G-Corbin Gurley [10]; 10. 8-Zach Ames [7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
7BC-Tyler Courtney [1]; 2. 22-Brandon Spithaler [3]; 3. 21H-Brady Bacon [4]; 4. 3C-Cale Conley [5]; 5. 70M-Henry Malcuit [6]; 6. 26-Cory Eliason [2]; 7. 4S-Tyler Street [8]; 8. 101-Cale Thomas [9]; 9. 12C-Kyle Capodice [7]; 10. 14Z-Wyatt Zimmerman [10]
Heat 4 (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
97-Greg Wilson [2]; 2. 28-Tim Shaffer [1]; 3. 9K-Kevin Thomas Jr. [4]; 4. 35-Stuart Brubaker [3]; 5. 16-DJ Foos [6]; 6. 5-Byron Reed [7]; 7. 4X-Danny Smith [8]; 8. 75-Jerry Dahms [9]; 9. 40-Logan Fenton [10]
Heat 5 (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
O9-Craig Mintz [2]; 2. 10-Zeb Wise [1]; 3. 18-Cole Macedo [4]; 4. 14-Chad Kemenah [3]; 5. 17B-Bill Balog [6]; 6. 33W-Caleb Griffith [7]; 7. 29-Zeth Sabo [5]; 8. 2-Ricky Peterson [8]; 9. O1-Anthony D’Alessio [9]
Dash (6 Laps)
13-Justin Peck [4]; 2. O9-Craig Mintz [1]; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [5]; 4. 97-Greg Wilson [2]; 5. 9K-Kevin Thomas Jr. [3]; 6. 7-Scott Bogucki [8]; 7. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [7]; 8. 11-Parker Price Miller [10]; 9. 21H-Brady Bacon [9]; 10. 18-Cole Macedo [6]
C-main (10 Laps) – Top 2 Transfer
23-Chris Andrews [2]; 2. 14R-Sean Rayhall [1]; 3. 101-Cale Thomas [3]; 4. 12G-Corbin Gurley [7]; 5. 2-Ricky Peterson [4]; 6. 8M-TJ Michael [8]; 7. O7-Bradley Howard [13]; 8. 8-Zach Ames [11]; 9. 75-Jerry Dahms [5]; 10. O1-Anthony D’Alessio [9]; 11. 12C-Kyle Capodice [6]; 12. 14Z-Wyatt Zimmerman [12]; 13. 40-Logan Fenton [10]
B-main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
26-Cory Eliason [1]; 2. 19-Chris Windom [2]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog [3]; 4. 22C-Cole Duncan [8]; 5. 25R-Jordan Ryan [4]; 6. 99-Skylar Gee [7]; 7. 14H-Zane DeVault [13]; 8. 16-DJ Foos [6]; 9. 33W-Caleb Griffith [9]; 10. 70M-Henry Malcuit [5]; 11. 5-Byron Reed [10]; 12. 4S-Tyler Street [14]; 13. 9Z-Duane Zablocki [11]; 14. 14R-Sean Rayhall [17]; 15. 23-Chris Andrews [16]; 16. 29-Zeth Sabo [12]; 17. 4X-Danny Smith [15]
A-main (40 Laps)
7BC-Tyler Courtney [3]; 2. 97-Greg Wilson [4]; 3. O9-Craig Mintz [2]; 4. 7-Scott Bogucki [6]; 5. 11-Parker Price Miller [8]; 6. 17B-Bill Balog [22]; 7. 4-Cap Henry [15]; 8. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [7]; 9. 13-Justin Peck [1]; 10. 18-Cole Macedo [10]; 11. 26-Cory Eliason [20]; 12. 9K-Kevin Thomas Jr. [5]; 13. 21H-Brady Bacon [9]; 14. 5T-Travis Philo [14]; 15. 10-Zeb Wise [11]; 16. 14-Chad Kemenah [17]; 17. 28-Tim Shaffer [12]; 18. 3J-Trey Jacobs [16]; 19. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [13]; 20. 19-Chris Windom [21]; 21. 3C-Cale Conley [19]; 22. 35-Stuart Brubaker [18]; 23. 22-Brandon Spithaler [24]; 24. 22C-Cole Duncan [23] Lap Leaders: Craig Mintz (1-4), Justin Peck (5-29), Tyler Courtney (30-40)