(Photo by Dean Yoder)
FREMONT, Ohio – After a hopeful National Sprint League race in Jacksonville, Ill. was cancelled due to inclement weather, it was time for more race tracks that were previously unknown to one Sikeston, Mo. racer. Hunter Schuerenberg made his first visits to Plymouth Speedway in Indiana and Fremont Speedway in Ohio over the weekend, all with the All Star Circuit of Champions. While the results weren’t ideal, Schuerenberg tackled the learning curve with the expectation to come away with new knowledge of different tracks and continue getting more comfortable in a winged sprint car.
Friday night at Plymouth, Schuerenberg encountered an extremely slick quarter mile in qualifying, but wasn’t deterred; a 14.544-second lap put him ninth quick out of 37 entries, and second in his heat race group. The top-four invert meant he’d take the heat green from inside row two. With five-time All Star champion Dale Blaney on the pole, Schuerenberg jumped out to second behind him. For much of the race, the order would remain that way, but star racer Rico Abreu snuck by to bump Schuerenberg from the dash transfer. Regardless, the third-place finish earned a transfer to the feature race.
The feature, however, wouldn’t be as kind to the Roof Bolt Express/Nolen Racing-sponsored driver. Starting 13th, Schuerenberg quickly slipped backwards. After falling as far as 22nd with just 11 laps in the books, he returned his No. 20N machine to the trailer, acknowledging that he missed the setup and didn’t want to cause an incident because of it.
Saturday night saw Schuerenberg tackle another new track. Fremont Speedway, known as “The Track That Action Built,” hosted 45 cars for preliminary action leading up to Sunday’s $10,000 to win main event. With over 40 cars present, the All Star rulebook calls for just one qualifying lap for each competitor. This greatly hurt Schuerenberg, who got too high in turn two on his lap, sliding over the banking and thus scoring just 33rd-quick with a 14.756. The time put him in the tenth and final starting spot for the first heat race. Moving to eighth on lap one, it looked like he may be able to move forward more, but wound up back in tenth by the end of the race.
Relegated to the C-Main, Schuerenberg started on the pole and won handily. Then, in the B-Main, he had a tall task ahead to make the feature: starting 15th with only the top four transferring. Though he guided his Rider-powered Mach 1 Chassis forward, it was not enough, getting to 12th before the green-to-checkered 12-lapper concluded.
Back at Fremont for Sunday, four more teams were in the pit area for a total of 49 All Star sprints. Schuerenberg again had qualifying tell the tale of the night, when his qualifying lap registered 34th on the charts at 13.651, a much faster track than on Saturday. Again starting 10th in heat race competition, he made leaps and bounds in the event, and at one point had reached all the way to the fourth and final transfer position, but fell back to fifth.
The qualifying time forced Schuerenberg to the C-Main again. There, he would rapidly get into second after starting fourth, with just the top two moving to the back of the B-Main. Poised to transfer, he held onto the second spot for much of the race, but was passed in the final corner to end his night.
That would be the last event of the weekend for Schuerenberg, who had originally planned to take a shot at the World of Outlaws on Monday night, Memorial Day, at Lawrenceburg Speedway, before rain washed the race out.
Schuerenberg would like to thank Roof Bolt Express, Nolen Racing, Mach 1 Chassis, Competition Suspension Inc., AFCO Racing, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Hinchman Racewear, Keizer Wheels, High Side Design, and Ron Gorby’s Howard Johnson, as well as all of his fans for their continued support.
Schuerenberg is next scheduled to compete on May 28 at St. Francois County Raceway in Farmington, Mo. and on May 29 at Randolph County Raceway in Moberly, Mo. in the National Sprint League “March Through Missouri” events, and on May 30 at Spoon River Speedway in Lewistown, Ill. with the Midwest Open Wheel Association, all in the No. 20N 410ci winged sprint entry.
Quick Results
May 22 – Plymouth, IN – 410ci Winged Sprint – Qualifying: 9th; Heat: 3rd (2); Feature: 24th (13)
May 23 – Fremont, OH – 410ci Winged Sprint – Qualifying: 33rd; Heat: 10th (10); C-Main: 1st (1); B-Main: 12th (15)
May 24 – Fremont, OH – 410ci Winged Sprint – Qualifying: 34th; Heat: 5th (10); C-Main: 3rd (4)
2015 Stats
15 races, 10 features, 1 win, 2 top fives, 6 top tens, 3 DNFs
Social Media
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Website: http://www.hunterpercent.com
Article Credit: Redbeard Promotions