8/1/10
Schultz smokes Lorain County gets second MSA win of season
By Todd Ridgeway
MSA PR
There is only one thing to do when you are leading a late season tight point’s battle, dominate the
competition. With only a six point margin in Midwest Supermodified Association (MSA) points
between himself and the fourth points position it became clear that points leader ‘Charging’ Charlie
Schultz came into Lorain (OH) County Speedway on a mission. Schultz blistered the Lorain
pavement in qualifying with a fast timed lap of 12.393, and then coasted through his heat race
setting himself up for the 30 lap feature run from the inverted 12th starting spot. It may have taken
15 laps for Schultz to get on the point, but once there the MSA Ace set sail in his Advanced Auto
Parts May Motorsports trademark red No. 7 and was never contested easily securing his second
victory of 2010 leaving the field in the trail of his burnt methanol.
Young Brandon Fisher and two time 2010 winner Jon Henes brought the field down for the start of
the 30 lap event with 12 other open wheel, fire breathing winged Supermodifieds in tow. Fisher
immediately shot to the point on the start but just after the first lap was completed a caution would
fly when a handful of cars got bottled up in turn one and got turned around. On the restart, as the
field filed through turns one and two, Trent Stephens and Tim Ice, both top four points contenders,
would make contact setting up a very scary moment. Ice snapped around turned to face on coming
traffic and Stephens would drive right up the nose of Ice making heavy contact with the roll cage
and shearing the wing off of the bright red machine. Both cars sustained damage and Ice was done
for the evening, however, Stephens was able to get back to the pits and get some repairs to rejoin
the field at the tail. When the green was redisplayed Fisher would once again set sail from the point
with Henes and Jim Paller in tow. Laps started clicking off at a fast pace as Fisher started
stretching out his lead. From the back both Schultz and ‘Liquid’ Lou Cicconi, the other top four
points contender, where coming fast. At races mid point Schultz had gotten to Fisher trying the
outside on two different occasions until finally he was able to dive under the youngster going into
turn one and came off turn two down the backstretch completing the pass for the lead. By the time
the field got back to the flag stand it was clear, if Schultz does not break they will never catch him.
He never broke, bobbled, or any thing else as the horses of his Malcuit engine sailed to the win
taking the trademark double checkered flag from flagerman Chris Maji. Getting his best career MSA
finish Fisher nailed second and Henes hung onto third in a hard fought battle with Cicconi who
secured fourth as Denny Fisher rounded out the top five.
Between getting the first win of the year at the first race and then this one, a lot has happened for
Schultz, it has not been easy. “We had a pretty good car,” said Schultz. “When we unloaded we
where pretty decent. I had a pretty race able car in the heat race, but I knew I just needed a little
something extra if I was going to win tonight. So, we talked about it, and made one little change
there late just before lining up for the feature. This has just been one of those years. Thankfully
with the way the points are this year with the fast times and the heat races it rewards guys that
really go after it every time they are on the race track. This was a very good point’s night for us
tonight, we will take it and go on to the next one,” finished the happy winner and point’s leader.
Two time 2010 winner Henes came away with third and was happy as well. “We kind of struggled a
little bit. I blew a motor last weekend and we finally just got it in and got here at 5:30 today. They
gave us just a couple of practice laps to kind of shake it down but we where pretty bad. In
qualifying we just got a mediocre lap, but got a good starting spot and that is what it came down to
today. We didn’t have the greatest car, we had a good car, the guys work hard and we thrashed on
this car. You can’t be upset with a third place finish after going through what we went through to
get here,” finished Henes.
Second generation driver Brandon Fisher was all smiles in post race tech. “From the start I was not
sure what to expect from the car, we made some big adjustments before the start to try and get the
car to handle. Everything just clicked; from the drop of the green the car was just flawless. Charlie
just has that little extra on us; I was giving it everything she had. I could here someone back there
and then he was right next to me. The guys in shop do a tremendous job; they put a lot of hours in
on this car making sure everything is maintained very well. That gives me confidence. It’s been
falling together for us this year. This is a great start with momentum going into the next race. We
are just going to keep chipping away until I get that win,” finished a very happy runner up Fisher.
Randy Burch, Jack Smith, Stephens, Paller, and third generation Rookie driver Zach Gibson
completed the top ten. The 30 lap main event was slowed by just four caution flags. The two heat
race winners included Ice and Henes. With just three races left on the 2010 schedule it is coming
down to nail biting time, and although Schultz sets in the lead seat it is far from over and still
anyone’s game to win. Stay tuned and hang on.