Caleb Griffith Puts Himself In Championship Contention After Earning Feature Win
By Brian Liskai – Fremont Speedway Public Relations
(Fremont, OH) While he is only 25 years old Caleb Griffith of Sandusky has been racing a long time. He would be the first to admit when he was younger and things didn’t go his way, he would lose his cool and it would have an impact on how he finished races. However, on Saturday at Fremont Speedway, he showed his racing maturity, not losing his cool when he was passed for the lead and then stormed back around four time UNOH All Star Champion Tim Shaffer with four laps to go to claim the 410 sprint feature win.
Griffith’s first 410 win at Fremont Speedway came on Vision Quest Hall of Fame Night. Prior to the racing, 12 individuals were inducted into the track’s hall of fame.
Griffith jumped into the lead early with Shaffer taking over on the second circuit. But then on lap 9 Griffith would blast under Shaffer and execute a slide job in turns three and four to regain the lead. As he raced into lapped traffic, Shaffer would use one of the back markers as a pick to regain the lead on lap 19, but Griffith didn’t give up and executed another slider for the lead on lap 26 and went on to his fourth career Fremont win. It was the first victory for Griffith in the Fort Ball Pizza Palace 410 Sprints and gives him valuable points as he chases the Kistler Racing Products FAST (Fremont Attica Sprint Title) Championship Series title and its $10,000 reward.
“I got a good start…the first lap was decent. I rolled it down in this end and it was way loose and I about blowed it off the end. I was like ‘yeah we’re done.’ So Byron (Reed) gets by me and it takes a little while for me to get calmed down. I have the winged yanked back early and I’m thinking ‘this isn’t good.’ I looked at Tim’s (Shaffer) wing under the caution and he hasn’t even moved it yet. He’s running the bottom and I’m not real good off the one and two end but I just keep waiting and it got to the point where I could slide him and he passed me back. I was like ‘shoot…keep your mo(mentum) up, keep your mo up don’t get flustered.’ I’ve been there before and blew it off the end. I don’t know how close the slider was but I was going for the win,” said Griffith in the Engine Pro Victory Lane beside his Al Davis Carpet/Crown Battery/McDonald’s Restaurant/Young’s Batter Mix/Griff’s Engines backed machine.
“I have to thank Al Davis, Vic…they stuck with me last year when I got hurt. They had to take Chris (Bell) down to Little Rock and race a little bit to get their fix. I have to thank all the sponsors. I know everyone says it, but we really couldn’t do this without their help and support,” added Griffith beside the Tackle Box 2/Meggitt Farms/E-Z Shop/B&L Heating/Fremont Roofing/Fremont Athletic Supply/Ross’ Lawn care backed sprinter. “I’ve been waiting for this since 04. For a long time I’ve had a love hate relationship with this place…I just loved to hate it but this makes up for a lot that.”
Griffith and Justin Henderson would bring the field to the green in the 30-lap feature for the Kistler Racing Products F.A.S.T. (Fremont/Attica Sprint Title) Championship Title with Griffith getting the advantage as third starter Tim Shaffer would drive into second. Shaffer would race under Griffith for the lead on the second circuit as Byron Reed moved into third with Henderson, Paige Polyak, Cap Henry and D.J. Foos in pursuit. Chris Andrews would spin on lap 4 to slow the race pace with the running order Shaffer, Reed, Griffith, Henderson, Polyak, Henry, Foos, Brian Smith, Craig Mintz and Greg Wilson. When the green reappeared, Shaffer would stick to his bottom groove as Griffith pulled his top wing back and shot to the outside of Reed for second.
On lap seven Smith would tangle with Henry, with Smith flipping in turn one, but exiting his broken machine without injury. On the restart Griffith raced to Shaffer’s outside but couldn’t complete the pass for the lead. But on the next lap Griffith blasted in under Shaffer in turns three and four and slid up in front to take the lead. Griffith could not shake Shaffer as Reed, Foos, Henderson and Wilson gave chase. At the half way point, Griffith continued to lead with Shaffer and Reed within striking distance as Foos was starting to close.
Griffith raced into lapped traffic on lap 19 and Shaffer quickly moved in and used a back-marker as a pick to drive into the lead. Shaffer would continue to lead as Griffith calmly worked his way through traffic with Reed, Foos, Wilson, Mintz and Holtgraver trying to stay close. With five laps to go Griffith was right on Shaffer’s rear bumper and again would execute nearly an identical move as he did prior to take the lead in turns three and four. Griffith was able to hold off Shaffer for the win Foos taking third on the last lap while Reed and Wilson rounded out the top five.
Night #10 Kistler Racing Products F.A.S.T. Championship Series presented by KS Sales & Service
Fremont Speedway – 6/8/13 – 410 Sprints (31 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Qualifying
1. 40-Caleb Helms, 13.037; 2. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.097; 3. 45-Danny Holtgraver, 13.142; 4. 54-Cap Henry, 13.158; 5. O9-Craig Mintz, 13.210; 6. 16-Chris Andrews, 13.277; 7. 5R-Byron Reed, 13.298; 8. 27P-Paige Polyak, 13.317; 9. 83-Tim Shaffer, 13.323; 10. O-Justin Henderson, 13.332; 11. 40DD-Caleb Griffith, 13.400; 12. 53-DJ Foos, 13.443; 13. 2+-Brian Smith, 13.501; 14. 5T-Travis Philo, 13.658; 15. 7C-Max Stambaugh, 13.693; 16. 55-Brad Bowman, 13.721; 17. 45L-Brian Lay, 13.780; 18. 14H-Todd Heller, 13.842; 19. 9Z-Duane Zablocki, 13.860; 20. 83M-Broc Martin, 13.864; 21. 312-Mike Linder, 13.940; 22. 46AU-Stuart Williams, 13.998; 23. 9-Dean Jacobs, 14.002; 24. 60K-Jody Keegan, 14.206; 25. 22T-Miranda Throckmorton, 14.508; 26. 7-Troy Kingan, 14.530; 27. 96M-Josh Mohr, 15.336; 28. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 99.000; 29. 24H-Bryan Sebetto, 99.100
Heat 1 (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 2+-Brian Smith[2] ; 2. 55-Brad Bowman[1] ; 3. O-Justin Henderson[3] ; 4. 54-Cap Henry[5] ; 5. 5R-Byron Reed[4] ; 6. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[7] ; 7. 22T-Miranda Throckmorton[9] ; 8. 46AU-Stuart Williams[8] ; 9. 35-Stuart Brubaker[10] ; 10. 40-Caleb Helms[6]
Heat 2 8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 45L-Brian Lay[1] ; 2. 40DD-Caleb Griffith[3] ; 3. 5T-Travis Philo[2] ; 4. O9-Craig Mintz[5] ; 5. 27P-Paige Polyak[4] ; 6. W20-Greg Wilson[6] ; 7. 9-Dean Jacobs[8] ; 8. 83M-Broc Martin[7] ; 9. 7-Troy Kingan[9]
Heat 3 (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 7C-Max Stambaugh[2] ; 2. 83-Tim Shaffer[4] ; 3. 53-DJ Foos[3] ; 4. 45-Danny Holtgraver[6] ; 5. 60K-Jody Keegan[8] ; 6. 16-Chris Andrews[5] ; 7. 312-Mike Linder[7] ; 8. 96M-Josh Mohr[9] ; 9. 14H-Todd Heller[1]
B-Main (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. W20-Greg Wilson[2] ; 2. 16-Chris Andrews[3] ; 3. 40-Caleb Helms[1] ; 4. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[5] ; 5. 9-Dean Jacobs[9] ; 6. 83M-Broc Martin[6] ; 7. 14H-Todd Heller[4] ; 8. 46AU-Stuart Williams[8] ; 9. 35-Stuart Brubaker[13] ; 10. 312-Mike Linder[7] ; 11. 22T-Miranda Throckmorton[10] ; 12. 7-Troy Kingan[11] ; 13. 96M-Josh Mohr[12]
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 40DD-Caleb Griffith[1]; 2. 83-Tim Shaffer[3]; 3. 53-DJ Foos[9]; 4. 5R-Byron Reed[5]; 5. W20-Greg Wilson[12]; 6. O9-Craig Mintz[6]; 7. 45-Danny Holtgraver[8]; 8. 54-Cap Henry[7]; 9. O-Justin Henderson[2]; 10. 55-Brad Bowman[16]; 11. 40-Caleb Helms[11]; 12. 45L-Brian Lay[17]; 13. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[18]; 14. 27P-Paige Polyak[4]; 15. 16-Chris Andrews[13]; 16. 9-Dean Jacobs[19]; 17. 5T-Travis Philo[14]; 18. 7C-Max Stambaugh[15]; 19. 60K-Jody Keegan[20]; 20. 2+-Brian Smith[10]
Hard Charger: W20-Greg Wilson[+7]