Hartford, MI – (July 2, 2016) – Sheldon Haudenschild picking up the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions feature victory Saturday night at Hartford Motor Speedway. For Haudenschild his fourth feature victory of the season was especially memorable with his father Jac picking up a feature win at Wayne County Speedway on the same night.
For father and son, it was the first time they had won at different race tracks on the same night. Ironically Jac and Sheldon had just discussed if they had won on the same night before earslier in the week.
“We were just talking about that going through some old trophies,” said Haudenschild. “We were looking for a night that we may have won on the same night and couldn’t find any. Tonight now we know we’ve won on the same night, hopefully he got a trophy, and we can put them beside each other.”
While Haudenschild led every circuit of the 25-lap affair, it did not come easy with multiple restarts with the all-time winningest driver in series history, Dale Blaney, right behind him. Haudenschild though seemed confident with his car.
“(the cautions) gave Dale plenty of shots at me there. I didn’t really like seeing those restarts, but I was pretty good in clean air. So I just went from those restarts, tried hit my marks, and make the best laps I could,” said Haudenschild. “I could (Blaney) there on a couple of restarts. I knew if he couldn’t clear me and complete a slide job I’d have a pretty good run down the backstretch. The restarts were key and hitting our marks.
Haudenschild got the jump at initial start of the feature and pulled away until the red flag appeared for Andrew Palker getting upside down between turns one and two on lap five. Palker emerged from his car uninjured.
Blaney got a look under Haudenschild through turns one and two during the restart, but could not complete the pass as Haudenschild rocketed down the backstretch and pulled away. Behind them 12th starting Chad Kemenah moved into the fifth spot after that restart and stared to put pressure on Kraig Kinser for the fourth spot. Just as Haudenschild was about to start overtaking slower traffic the caution appeared on lap nine when Brad Lamberson stopped in turn three.
Blaney tried to get a run under Haudenschild during the restart but could not complete the pass in turns one and two again. Behind them Kemenah got a run under Kinser and raced back and forth with Kinser until taking over the fourth spot on lap 12.
By lap 14 Haudenschild began to encounter large groups of traffic racing side by side in front of him and allowed Blaney to close the gap. Haudenschild though quickly separated himself going three side on the outside of two slower cars that Blaney was not able to clear, but just as Haudenschild had gained that advantage the caution appeared again D.J. Foos slowing on the front stretch with damage to the right rear of his machine and collecting T.J. Michael in the process. Both drivers retired from the event in the infield.
On this restart Blaney did not even have the opportunity to make a bid for the lead as Haudenschild’s car took off during the restart and opened up a sizeable advantage. Just as it appeared Haudenschild would cruise to victory the caution appeared one more time for Lee Jacobs with front end damage in turn two.
The final restart saw Blaney unable to challenge for the lead, but was able to stay closer to Haudenschild. As the laps wound down though Haudenschild began to pull away. Behind them Danny Holtgraver and Kemenah were locked in a torrid race for the third spot swapping the position on each end of the race track until Kemenah took over the spot with two laps to go.
Up front though it was Haudenschild completing the family sweep of feature victories on Saturday over Blaney, Kemenah, Holtgraver, and Randy Hannagan.
Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions
Hartford Motor Speedway
Hartford, MI
Saturday July 2, 2016
A-Main (25 Laps): 1. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[1]; 2. 1-Dale Blaney[2]; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah[12]; 4. 11N-Randy Hannagan[6]; 5. 70-Danny Holtgraver[5]; 6. 11K-Kraig Kinser[4]; 7. 21-Cap Henry[3]; 8. 12-Daniel Harding[14]; 9. 2M-Dustin Daggett[13]; 10. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg[10]; 11. 60-Kory Crabtree[15]; 12. 11R-Chase Ridenour[11]; 13. 40-Caleb Helms[16]; 14. 23-Russel Borland[24]; 15. 17B-Bill Balog[8]; 16. 7C-Taylor Ferns[18]; 17. 10-Carl Bowser[21]; 18. 81-Lee Jacobs[20]; 19. 7K-Dallas Hewitt[9]; 20. 49H-Bradley Howard[25]; 21. 38-D.J. Foos[22]; 22. 8M-T.J. Michael[19]; 23. 71H-Brad Lamberson[7]; 24. 57X-Andrew Palker[17]; 25. 25M-Ken Mackey[23]
B-Main (12 Laps): 1. 10-Carl Bowser[1]; 2. 38-D.J. Foos[9]; 3. 25M-Ken Mackey[4]; 4. 23-Russel Borland[7]; 5. 51-Roger Campbell Jr[2]; 6. 35R-Ron Blair[6]; 7. 1A-Mark Aldrich[5]; 8. 49H-Bradley Howard[12]; 9. 19-Joe Kubiniec[3]; 10. 7-Joe Swanson[8]; 11. 1080-Jordan Mackison[10]; 12. 95-Hunter Mackison[11]
Dash (6 Laps): 1. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[1]; 2. 1-Dale Blaney[2]; 3. 21-Cap Henry[3]; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser[6]; 5. 70-Danny Holtgraver[7]; 6. 11N-Randy Hannagan[8]; 7. 71H-Brad Lamberson[4]; 8. 17B-Bill Balog[5]
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps): 1. 7K-Dallas Hewitt[1]; 2. 21-Cap Henry[4]; 3. 11R-Chase Ridenour[2]; 4. 12-Daniel Harding[6]; 5. 71H-Brad Lamberson[3]; 6. 10-Carl Bowser[5]; 7. 23-Russel Borland[7]; 8. 49H-Bradley Howard[8]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps): 1. 70-Danny Holtgraver[2]; 2. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[3]; 3. 11K-Kraig Kinser[4]; 4. 60-Kory Crabtree[5]; 5. 7C-Taylor Ferns[1]; 6. 25M-Ken Mackey[6]; 7. 7-Joe Swanson[7]; 8. 1080-Jordan Mackison[8]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps): 1. 17B-Bill Balog[2]; 2. 11N-Randy Hannagan[4]; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah[3]; 4. 40-Caleb Helms[6]; 5. 8M-T.J. Michael[1]; 6. 51-Roger Campbell Jr[5]; 7. 35R-Ron Blair[7]; 8. 95-Hunter Mackison[8]
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps): 1. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg[1]; 2. 1-Dale Blaney[4]; 3. 2M-Dustin Daggett[3]; 4. 57X-Andrew Palker[2]; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs[8]; 6. 38-D.J. Foos[7]; 7. 19-Joe Kubiniec[5]; 8. 1A-Mark Aldrich[6]
Qualifications (2 Laps): 1. 11N-Randy Hannagan, 16.873; 2. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 16.915; 3. 1-Dale Blaney, 16.934; 4. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 16.998; 5. 21-Cap Henry, 17.012; 6. 70-Danny Holtgraver, 17.177; 7. 71H-Brad Lamberson, 17.205; 8. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 17.285; 9. 17B-Bill Balog, 17.285; 10. 11R-Chase Ridenour, 17.287; 11. 7C-Taylor Ferns, 17.313; 12. 7K-Dallas Hewitt, 17.426; 13. 10-Carl Bowser, 17.475; 14. 8M-T.J. Michael, 17.527; 15. 51-Roger Campbell Jr, 17.534; 16. 2M-Dustin Daggett, 17.643; 17. 57X-Andrew Palker, 17.665; 18. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg, 17.669; 19. 40-Caleb Helms, 17.674; 20. 60-Kory Crabtree, 17.693; 21. 19-Joe Kubiniec, 17.738; 22. 12-Daniel Harding, 17.834; 23. 25M-Ken Mackey, 17.871; 24. 1A-Mark Aldrich, 17.940; 25. 35R-Ron Blair, 17.968; 26. 23-Russel Borland, 18.006; 27. 7-Joe Swanson, 18.104; 28. 38-D.J. Foos, 18.127; 29. 1080-Jordan Mackison, 18.314; 30. 95-Hunter Mackison, 18.380; 31. 49H-Bradley Howard, 18.510; 32. 19M-Brett Mann, 99.040; 33. 81-Lee Jacobs, 99.480