From Brian Liskai
Mercer, PA — (Saturday, Aug. 24, 2013) — Danny Holtgraver had one of the worst two weeks of his young racing career just a few weeks ago. Mechanical issues and bad racing luck had his team down. But, when the University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions headed to Mercer Raceway Park Saturday for the 24th Annual Western Pennsylvania Sprint Car Championship, the confidence returned to the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania driver.
Holtgraver used lapped traffic to make a last lap pass of Andrew Palker to steal his third UNOH All Star win of the season. Holtgraver has raced at Mercer five times in 2013 and has won all five features including an All Star victory early in July.
“Boy did this team need that. After the Thunder Through the Plains and Knoxville Nationals we were all kind of beat up. This is a huge win for us,” said Holtgraver beside his Canton Erectors/Berlin Natural Bakery/Classic Ink/DKW Transport/Kistler Engines/J&J Auto Racing backed #45. “When we got into heavy lapped traffic Andrew had trouble getting around them and I didn’t that was the difference.”
For Palker, who recently wrapped up his second consecutive track championship at the NAPA Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio, the last lap pass was heart-breaking. He also won Friday night at Lernerville Speedway.
“Lapped traffic screwed me. One guy decided he wanted to race me. I slid him and he would slide me back. Lapped cars aren’t supposed to do that. It’s just very frustrating. I had a great car and to lose because of that…oh well I guess we’ll take second and try again next week,” said Palker beside his Kistler Racing Products/Kistler Engines/King Inspection Services/Albreight Trucking/J&J Auto Racing/Weld Wheels backed #57x. “I can’t thank Paul Kistler enough for the great engine.”
Current UNOH All Star national and Ohio region point leader Dale Blaney would charge from his seventh starting spot to a third place finish.
“We just weren’t in a good position all night. We went out next to last qualifying and I didn’t lay down a very good lap so I had to start seventh in the feature. Palker and Holtgraver had a heck of a race…I had the best seat in the house to watch it. I just don’t run that good here for some reason. We’ll take third and look forward to Attica next weekend,” said Blaney beside his Ti22 Performance/GF1 Chassis backed #2.
Holtgraver and Palker would bring the field to green for the 30-lap feature with Holtgraver gaining the advantage. But, Palker would rim-ride to the front on lap two with Holtgraver, Tim Shaffer, Cole Duncan, Blaney, Paige Polyak, Lee Jacobs and Trey Gustin in tow.
Palker would pull away slightly as Holtgraver and Shaffer ran comfortably in second and third while Duncan and Blaney were locked in a great battle for fourth. But the caution would fly on lap 10 for Scott Priester who hit the guardrail on turn 3.
On the restart Palker had a couple of lapped machines insulating him from Holtgraver so he was able to open up a lead. But, another caution just two laps later would bunch up the field, putting Holtgraver right on Palker’s rear bumper. But, the West Salem, Ohio resident used the clean air to pull away again as Shaffer challenged Holtgraver for second with Blaney moving into fourth.
The final 18 laps would tick off without any further interruptions. That meant Palker and company had to contend with lapped traffic. As Palker, Holtgraver, Shaffer and Blaney picked their way through traffic, Holtgraver tried high and low to get pas Palker but nothing seemed to work. With just a few laps remaining Holtgraver got a break. He and Palker got by a pair of cars fighting for position and it appeared they might not reach the next couple of cars to put them a lap down before the end of the race. That opened up the bottom line for Holtgraver who threw caution to the wind as he tried to regain the lead.
Holtgraver inched closer and closer to Palker in the waning laps. He dove low entering turn one on the final lap and got next to Palker who was riding the rim. Holtgraver got a nose ahead of Palker coming off turn two and pulled away as they raced toward turn three. Palker slid a little high and got his right rear over the edge of the speedway, ensuring Holtgraver would enter the final turn uncontested.
Holtgraver was able to slide into the lead in turns three and four and drive to the win over Palker, Blaney, Shaffer and Duncan.
The UNOH All Stars will head to Attica Raceway Park in Attica, Ohio for a double header Friday and Saturday, Aug. 30 and 31 and then head to the NAPA Wayne County Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 1.
For more information go to www.allstarsprint.com
All Star Circuit of Champions (28 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Qualifying – Kistler Engines
1. 57X-Andrew Palker, 13.606; 2. 45-Danny Holtgraver, 13.727; 3. 81P-Paige Polyak, 13.987; 4. 40-Caleb Helms, 14.004; 5. 22-Cole Duncan, 14.040; 6. 83-Tim Shaffer, 14.049; 7. 80-Trey Gustin, 14.091; 8. 2-Dale Blaney, 14.116; 9. 81-Lee Jacobs, 14.123; 10. 5K-Adam Kekich, 14.158; 11. 10-Carl Bowser, 14.262; 12. 56-Ralph Spithaler, 14.395; 13. 7-Eric Williams, 14.400; 14. 15-Scott Priester, 14.422; 15. 23S-Russ Sansosti, 14.426; 16. 94-Jack Sodeman Jr., 14.478; 17. 54-Cap Henry, 14.610; 18. 38-Dennis Wagner, 14.615; 19. O8-Dan Kuriger, 14.633; 20. 13-Brandon Matus, 14.656; 21. 52-Jim Shuster, 14.748; 22. O-Andy McKisson, 14.821; 23. 66-Chris Best, 14.954; 24. 33-Brent Matus, 15.297; 25. 49-Bob Howard, 15.368; 26. 49H-Brad Howard, 15.560; 27. 74-John McCracken, 16.595; 28. 1R-Gale Ruth, 99.999
Heat 1 – Kears Speed Shop (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 94-Jack Sodeman Jr.[1] ; 2. 57X-Andrew Palker[6] ; 3. 7-Eric Williams[2] ; 4. O-Andy McKisson[8] ; 5. 80-Trey Gustin[4] ; 6. 49-Bob Howard[9] ; 7. 5K-Adam Kekich[3] ; 8. 40-Caleb Helms[5] ; 9. O8-Dan Kuriger[7]
Heat 2 – All Pro Aluminum Heads (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 54-Cap Henry[1] ; 2. 2-Dale Blaney[4] ; 3. 45-Danny Holtgraver[6] ; 4. 15-Scott Priester[2] ; 5. 10-Carl Bowser[3] ; 6. 22-Cole Duncan[5] ; 7. 13-Brandon Matus[7] ; 8. 66-Chris Best[8] ; 9. 49H-Brad Howard[9]
Heat 3 – Dragon Race Fuel (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 38-Dennis Wagner[1] ; 2. 23S-Russ Sansosti[2] ; 3. 81-Lee Jacobs[4] ; 4. 83-Tim Shaffer[5] ; 5. 56-Ralph Spithaler[3] ; 6. 81P-Paige Polyak[6] ; 7. 52-Jim Shuster[7] ; 8. 74-John McCracken[9] ; 9. 33-Brent Matus[8]
Dash – Outerwears Performance Products (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 45-Danny Holtgraver[2] ; 2. 57X-Andrew Palker[4] ; 3. 83-Tim Shaffer[1] ; 4. 22-Cole Duncan[6] ; 5. 81P-Paige Polyak[3] ; 6. 80-Trey Gustin[5]
B-Main – MSD Ignition (12 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 40-Caleb Helms[1] ; 2. 5K-Adam Kekich[2] ; 3. 13-Brandon Matus[4] ; 4. 33-Brent Matus[7] ; 5. 66-Chris Best[6] ; 6. 52-Jim Shuster[5] ; 7. 49H-Brad Howard[8] ; 8. 74-John McCracken[9]
A-Main – University of Northwestern Ohio (30 Laps)
1. 45-Danny Holtgraver[1]; 2. 57X-Andrew Palker[2]; 3. 2-Dale Blaney[7]; 4. 83-Tim Shaffer[3]; 5. 22-Cole Duncan[4]; 6. 81-Lee Jacobs[8]; 7. 81P-Paige Polyak[5]; 8. 56-Ralph Spithaler[10]; 9. 10-Carl Bowser[9]; 10. 94-Jack Sodeman Jr.[16]; 11. O-Andy McKisson[21]; 12. 80-Trey Gustin[6]; 13. 5K-Adam Kekich[12]; 14. 54-Cap Henry[17]; 15. 40-Caleb Helms[11]; 16. 23S-Russ Sansosti[15]; 17. 7-Eric Williams[13]; 18. 38-Dennis Wagner[18]; 19. 66-Chris Best[22]; 20. 49-Bob Howard[24]; 21. 33-Brent Matus[23]; 22. 52-Jim Shuster[20]; 23. 15-Scott Priester[14]; 24. 13-Brandon Matus[19]
Hard Charger: O-Andy McKisson[+10]