March 25
Mansfield Motor Speedway,
Mansfield, OH
Sanction: Unsanctioned special events (Triple Crown Spring Series) - $5,000
Information provided by: Track reports (last updated March 27, 10:26 am)
Schlenk earns $5,000 in Mansfield's return to dirt
Triple Crown Spring Series
- Rusty Schlenk
- Casey Noonan
- Corey Conley
- J.R. Gentry
- Larry Bellman
- Brad Mickley
- Robbie Metts
- Andrew Myers
- Doug Baird
- Dave Hornikel
- Doug Drown
- Matt Irey
- Craig Wolford
- Ryan Markham
presented by
Mike Campbell/campbellphoto.com
Winner Rusty Schlenk (cj1) battles Corey Conley (14) at Mansfield.
What won the race: Rusty Schlenk of McClure, Ohio, took the lead from Corey Conley of Wellsburg, W.Va., on the 13th lap, then held off Casey Noonan of Sylvania, Ohio, at Mansfield Motor Speedway for a $5,000 victory in the track's return to dirt. The fifth-starting Schlenk took the checkers 1.235 seconds ahead of Noonan in the 30-lapper.
Quotable: “Man, I can’t thank C.J. enough,” Schlenk said of chassis builder C.J. Rayburn. “He called me this winter and talked me into coming back (to the Rayburn fold), wanted me to pretty these cars up so we could sell him. Hopefully we did a little more than that tonight. We didn’t expect to get a $5,000 win this early in the season, but I knew we had a good car Thursday night at La Salle (during practice).”
Key notes: Besides Schlenk, Doug Drown and Corey Conley also led laps. ... Drown, who led laps 3-6, retired after six laps with a broken driveshaft. ... Conley finished third after leading laps 1-2 and 7-12. ... Ryan Markham, who won the previous night at Attica, was an early retiree with nosepiece damage. ... Mansfield Motor Speedway returned to dirt for the first time since 1998. … Under the direction of Cody Sommer, who also brought the VP Racing Fuels Gateway Dirt Nationals to fruition last December, Mansfield’s 4/10-mile oval was switched from asphalt to dirt. The event drew 6,000 fans. ... Action was delayed to rework the track surface. "We thought we had it where we wanted it and we didn't," Sommer told the Mansfield News-Journal. "No problem telling people that. We didn't have the track right. It was one of those decisions where you could put a band-aid on it and have a horrible experience with dust. But the decision was made to take our time, and we were taking a break to get it right."
On the move: Casey Noonan started ninth and finished second.
Winner's sponsors: Schlenk drove a new Rayburn Race Car powered by an ECR engine and sponsored by Buckeye Concrete Coatings, Dominator Race Products, Allstar Performance and Velocita.
Car count: 15
Heat race winners: Matt Irey, Corey Conley
Next series race: April 1, Mansfield Motor Speedway (Mansfield, OH) $5,000
Editor's note: Results and race details are unofficial.
