Cole Duncan opens I-79 Summer Shootout with victory at Eriez Speedway

Cole Duncan opens I-79 Summer Shootout with victory at Eriez Speedway

Story By: Tyler Altmeyer/ASCOC

Photos By: Vince Vellella/ASCOC

ERIE, PA (July 21, 2017) – Utilizing patience and a late race restart, Lockbourne, Ohio’s Cole Duncan parked himself back in Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions victory lane, this time earning $5,000 at Eriez (PA) Speedway to officially open the 2017 edition of I-79 Summer Shootout weekend in Western Pennsylvania.

Duncan, who now owns two Arctic Cat All Star victories on the season, in turn elevating his career win total to three with “America’s Series,” took command officially on lap 20 of 30 and never looked back, the result of a strong move under race leader, Hunter Schuerenberg, between turns three and four just after a lap 20 restart. Aliquippa, Pennsylvania’s Tim Shaffer chased Duncan to the final checkers, followed by Schuerenberg, the “Kunkletown Kid” Ryan Smith and Spencer Bayston.

“I honestly cannot thank all of these guys enough,” Cole Duncan said in victory lane, pilot of the Helms Construction/Motorcity Auto Transport/No. 22. “This has been really cool. We are definitely having one helluva year, especially during this second part of the season. We were on the podium what seemed like 10 or 12 times this year, but just couldn’t get the job done. We’ve been doing so much better at placing ourselves in better positions. I’m just – man, I’m excited.”

Pole sitter Hunter Schuerenberg led the field to green on Friday night and kept command for the first 19 circuits, soon flanked by Cole Duncan, who started alongside Schuerenberg on the front row, just after the initial green. The duo survived one caution and two periods of heavy traffic during the first 19 circuits, neither creating much distraction as the pair navigated through lapped cars methodically.

After a failed attempt to get by Schuerenberg on a lap eight restart, Duncan tucked back in line and proceeded to follow Schuerenberg through traffic until the main event’s second and final caution appeared on lap 20, setting up another single-file restart. When green flag conditions returned, Duncan accelerated right to the tail tank of Schuerenberg and chased the Missouri native through turns one and two, ultimately setting up a slingshot move through corners three and four. Duncan was able to wedge himself between the bottom of the race track and Schuerenberg by the exit of turn four; this proved to be the winning move.

“I knew I was better in turns three and four,” Cole Duncan explained. “I screwed up on that first restart; I just didn’t get close enough to [Schuerenberg] to get a good run. I tried to time the second restart the best that I could. I put myself in perfect position off of turn two and when we entered turn three, he left just about a car length off of the bottom of the speedway. That is where our car seemed to shine all night. We jammed it right in there. I don’t think I used him up at all; I thought it was pretty clean. Hopefully we can make this happen again tomorrow and keep our success going.”

I-79 Summer Shootout weekend will continue on Saturday evening, July 22, at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway near Imperial, Pennsylvania. “Dirt’s Monster Half-Mile” will welcome the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions for the first and only time in 2017; the first official visit since August 2, 2015, when the “Low Rider” Dale Blaney scored his second ever Pittsburgh victory. The 2016 I-79 Summer Shootout visit to Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway was cut short due to Mother Nature.

Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway’s main gates are scheduled to open at 5:00pm with hot laps to follow at 6:00pm, sharp. The Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions will hit center stage at 7:00pm. For more information, such as camping availability and ticket prices, please visit Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway live on the Web at www.ppms.com.

Contingency Awards/Results: Eriez Speedway – Friday, July 21, 2017:
I-79 Summer Shootout: Round #1
EMi Driver’s Meeting: 38 Entries
State Water Heaters Warm-Ups: Dan Shetler – 13.800 seconds
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Hunter Schuerenberg – 13.936 seconds
Ford Performance Heat #1: Mike Bauer
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Ryan Smith
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Brandon Spithaler
Daido Engine Bearings Heat #4: Spencer Bayston
JE Pistons Dash #1: Hunter Schuerenberg
Kistler Racing Products Dash #2: Cole Duncan
Classic Ink USA B-Main: T.J. Michael
Daido Engine Bearings Main Event Winner: Cole Duncan
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Caleb Armstrong (+10)
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 5th Place Finisher: Ryan Smith
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 10th Place Finisher: Chad Kemenah
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 15th Place Finisher: Caleb Armstrong
(Lincoln Electric, Daido Engine Bearings, MSD Performance, Outback Steakhouse: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)

Qualifying
Group (A)
1. 8-Dean Jacobs, 14.048; 2. 35Z-Jared Zimbardi, 14.084; 3. 22C-Cole Duncan, 14.166; 4. 46-Michael Bauer, 14.247; 5. 23-Darren Pifer, 14.258; 6. 8M-TJ Michael, 14.287; 7. 33M-Max Stambaugh, 14.308; 8. 14-Tony Stewart, 14.386; 9. 55-Gary Kriess, 14.396; 10. 7K-Dan Shetler, 14.443

Group (B)
1. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.936; 2. O8-Dan Kuriger, 14.3037; 3. 59-Ryan Smith, 14.304; 4. 4N-Jim Morris, 14.464; 5. 5-Dylan Cisney, 14.468; 6. 87-Jason Barney, 14.578; 7. 9C-Roger Campbell, 14.599; 8. 22E-Ralph Engel, 14.816; 9. 4C-Paul Kish, 15.519; 10. 7W-Logan Wagner, 99

Group ( C )
1. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 14.196; 2. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 14.219; 3. 35-Tyler Esh, 14.299; 4. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr., 14.365; 5. 51-John Garvin, 14.385; 6. 5B-Justin Barger, 14.432; 7. 1080-Jordan Mackison, 14.546; 8. 13-Brandon Matus, 14.554; 9. 95-Hunter Mackison, 14.556

Group (D)
1. 49x-Tim Shaffer, 14.083; 2. 81-Lee Jacobs, 14.235; 3. 39-Spencer Bayston, 14.333; 4. D4-Danny Holtgraver, 14.383; 5. 17-Carson Macedo, 14.391; 6. 98-Carl Bowser, 14.445; 7. 33-Brent Matus, 14.857; 8. 7C-Caleb Armstrong, 14.937; 9. 126-Brian Salisbury, 15.112

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 46-Michael Bauer [1]; 2. 22C-Cole Duncan [2]; 3. 35Z-Jared Zimbardi [3]; 4. 8-Dean Jacobs [4]; 5. 14-Tony Stewart [8]; 6. 8M-TJ Michael [6]; 7. 33M-Max Stambaugh [7]; 8. 7K-Dan Shetler [10]; 9. 23-Darren Pifer [5]; 10. 55-Gary Kriess [9]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 59-Ryan Smith [2]; 2. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg [4]; 3. 4N-Jim Morris [1]; 4. 87-Jason Barney [6]; 5. 5-Dylan Cisney [5]; 6. 7W-Logan Wagner [10]; 7. O8-Dan Kuriger [3]; 8. 9C-Roger Campbell [7]; 9. 4C-Paul Kish [9]

Heat #3 – Group ( C ) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 22-Brandon Spithaler [4]; 2. 10H-Chad Kemenah [3]; 3. 35-Tyler Esh [2]; 4. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr. [1]; 5. 13-Brandon Matus [8]; 6. 5B-Justin Barger [6]; 7. 1080-Jordan Mackison [7]; 8. 51-John Garvin [5]; 9. 95-Hunter Mackison [9]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 39-Spencer Bayston [2]; 2. D4-Danny Holtgraver [1]; 3. 49X-Tim Shaffer [4]; 4. 17-Carson Macedo [5]; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs [3]; 6. 98-Carl Bowser [6]; 7. 7C-Caleb Armstrong [8]; 8. 33-Brent Matus [7]; 9. 126-Brian Salisbury [9]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg [1]; 2. 22-Brandon Spithaler [2]; 3. 39-Spencer Bayston [3]; 4. 10H-Chad Kemenah [5]; 5. 8-Dean Jacobs [4]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 22C-Cole Duncan [2]; 2. D4-Danny Holtgraver [3]; 3. 49X-Tim Shaffer [1]; 4. 46-Michael Bauer [4]; 5. 59-Ryan Smith [5]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 8M-TJ Michael [2]; 2. 23-Darren Pifer [1]; 3. 33M-Max Stambaugh [4]; 4. O8-Dan Kuriger [3]; 5. 7C-Caleb Armstrong [14]; 6. 5B-Justin Barger [6]; 7. 7K-Dan Shetler [7]; 8. 98-Carl Bowser [8]; 9. 1080-Jordan Mackison [9]; 10. 95-Hunter Mackison [10]; 11. 9C-Roger Campbell [11]; 12. 33-Brent Matus [13]; 13. 126-Brian Salisbury [15]; 14. 4C-Paul Kish [16]; 15. 22E-Ralph Engel [12]; 16. 7W-Logan Wagner [17]; 17. 51-John Garvin [5]; 18. 55-Gary Kriess [18]

A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 22C-Cole Duncan [2]; 2. 49X-Tim Shaffer [6]; 3. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg [1]; 4. 39-Spencer Bayston [5]; 5. 59-Ryan Smith [10]; 6. 17-Carson Macedo [15]; 7. 22-Brandon Spithaler [3]; 8. D4-Danny Holtgraver [4]; 9. 14-Tony Stewart [18]; 10. 10H-Chad Kemenah [7]; 11. 35Z-Jared Zimbardi [11]; 12. 8-Dean Jacobs [9]; 13. 5-Dylan Cisney [19]; 14. 33M-Max Stambaugh [23]; 15. 7C-Caleb Armstrong [25]; 16. 13-Brandon Matus [20]; 17. 35-Tyler Esh [12]; 18. 81-Lee Jacobs [17]; 19. O8-Dan Kuriger [24]; 20. 8M-TJ Michael [21]; 21. 4N-Jim Morris [13]; 22. 46-Michael Bauer [8]; 23. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr. [14]; 24. 87-Jason Barney [16]; 25. 23-Darren Pifer [22]

Current Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions Standings (July 21, 2017):
1. Chad Kemenah – 3546
2. Ryan Smith – 3274
3. Caleb Armstrong – 3250
4. Caleb Helms – 3146
5. Max Stambaugh – 2980
6. T.J. Michael – 2777
7. Brandon Spithaler – 2705
8. Tim Shaffer – 2666
9. Brandon Matus – 2622
10. Tyler Esh – 2619

Additional Arctic Cat All Star Series Info:
Those seeking additional information regarding the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions should visit its official online home at www.allstarsprint.com. Series updates and breaking news will be posted regularly on the official Twitter account of the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions: https://twitter.com/ASCoC. Find full text results from each and every event, as well as an up-to-date schedule, online at www.allstarsprint.com/schedule/.

About the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions:
All Star Enterprises, LLC, wholly owned by Tony Stewart, d/b/a the All Star Circuit of Champions, is a winged sprint car series. The All-Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series is one of the oldest traveling 410 sprint car organizations and is a staple of grassroots, open-wheel racing. Formed in 1970 by Bud Miller, the series has largely been considered the first ‘outlaw’ Sprint Car organization of the modern era. After a 10 year stint as owner of the All Stars, Miller passed control of the series to Bert Emick in 1980; a reign that would continue through 2002. Guy Webb then purchased the series from Emick in the summer of 2002 and served as the series President for the next 12 years. Motorsports entrepreneur Tony Stewart agreed to terms with Guy Webb to become the sole owner of the original winged sprint car tour in January of 2015.

About Arctic Cat:
The Arctic Cat brand is among the most widely recognized and respected in the recreational vehicle industry. The company designs, engineers, manufactures and markets all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), side-by-sides and snowmobiles, in addition to related parts, garments and accessories under the Arctic Cat® and Motorfist® brand names. Arctic Cat Inc.’s world headquarters is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. More information about Arctic Cat and its products is available at www.ArcticCat.com.