By Tyler Altmeyer
ROSSBURG, OH (June 17, 2017) – Dominating in every way possible on Saturday night at the World’s Greatest Dirt Track, the “Steel City Outlaw” Tim Shaffer launched the 35th edition of Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket in incredible fashion; leading all 30 laps around the Eldora Speedway half-mile to score the 57th Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions main event victory of his career, also claiming $5,000 in the process.
Shaffer not only conquered Eldora Speedway during main event competition, crossing under the final checkers 4.24 seconds ahead of the field, but the pilot of the Rudzik Excavating/Scoville Designs/VRP Shocks/No. 49X also set the fastest time of the night during qualifying time trials, won his respective heat race, and won his respective dash. Adding to his long list of career accomplishments, the Eldora Speedway victory was a first-ever for the Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, native during Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions competition.
“I’ve never won an All Star race [at Eldora Speedway], so this is great,” Tim Shaffer said in victory lane. “I can’t thank this team enough, and for allowing us to put this deal together. My guys worked their butts off tonight. Cody Jacobs does a great job with these race cars. We’ll move ahead and try to do it again tomorrow night.”
After being penalized one row due to being late to the staging area, St. Helena, California’s Rico Abreu made an impressive charge from 18th on the main event grid to finish second, earning the MSD Hard Charger award for his efforts. A total of three cautions aided Abreu during his way through the feature field, making his first appearance in a podium position on lap 26.
Cale Thomas, who chased Shaffer from the runner-up position for 22 circuits, was struck with mechanical woes on the final circuit, allowing Abreu to cross under the final checkers second in the running order. Travis Philo finished third after starting from the pole position, followed by Parker Price-Miller and Dave Blaney.
“This is the best track in the country,” Rico Abreu said. “The track is better now than it has ever been. It used to be that you had to pump up your balls to come here and run the top, but now you can run all the way across the surface; top, middle, bottom. Obviously, you can come here and pass cars. I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t win this. I made a mistake in my heat race and that put us behind.”
Mother Nature attempted to wash away competition on two separate occasions on Saturday night at Eldora Speedway, once just before dash action and once again just before the start of the Classic Ink USA B-main which caused a 44-minute rain delay.
The 2017 Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket schedule will make the transition from a high-banked half-mile to a high-banked third-mile on Sunday evening, June 18, as the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions prepare to invade Waynesfield Raceway Park in Waynesfield for round three of Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket.
Arguably the most exciting oval on the Ohio Sprint Speedweek campaign trail, Waynesfield Raceway Park hosted 47 entries during the 2016 visit, a field eventually defeated by Wooster, Ohio’s Sheldon Haudenschild. Haudenschild’s payday did not come easy, having to withstand constant pressure from NASCAR Cup Series star Kyle Larson and the “Steel City Outlaw” Tim Shaffer to earn the $5,000 winner’s share.
Waynesfield Raceway Park will open pit gates at 3:00pm on Sunday afternoon, June 18. Main gates will open at 5:00pm, followed by hot laps at 6:00pm and racing at 7:00pm. Those seeking additional news and notes should visit Waynesfield Raceway Park live on the Web at www.waynesfieldmotorsportspark.com.
Those who cannot attend Waynesfield Raceway Park can watch Ohio Sprint Speedweek competition live online via www.thecushion.com.
Contingency Awards/Results: Eldora Speedway – Saturday, June 17, 2017:
Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket
EMi Driver’s Meeting: 42 entries
State Water Heaters Warm-Ups: Tony Stewart – 14.042 seconds
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Tim Shaffer – 14.466 seconds
Ford Performance Heat #1: Tim Shaffer
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Dave Blaney
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Travis Philo
Daido Engine Bearings Heat #4: Parker Price-Miller
JE Pistons Dash #1: Travis Philo
Kistler Racing Products Dash #2: Tim Shaffer
Classic Ink USA B-Main: Andrew Palker
Daido Engine Bearings Main Event Winner: Tim Shaffer
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Rico Abreu (+16 )
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 5th Place Finisher: Dave Blaney
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 10th Place Finisher: Caleb Helms
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 15th Place Finisher: Cale Thomas (16th)
(Lincoln Electric, Daido Engine Bearings, MSD Performance, Outback Steakhouse: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)
Qualifying
Group (A)
1. 49x-Tim Shaffer, 14.466; 2. 17-Caleb Helms, 14.521; 3. 91-Cale Thomas, 14.557; 4. 11N-Dale Blaney, 14.679; 5. 49-Shawn Dancer, 14.942; 6. 57X-Andrew Palker, 14.983; 7. 27Z-Sean Zemunik, 15.374; 8. 1080-Jordan Mackison, 15.779; 9. 45-Trevor Baker, 15.834; 10. 83-Adam Cruea, 16.824; 11. 9-Ryan Linder, 99.99
Group (B)
1. 59-Ryan Smith, 14.944; 2. 14-Tony Stewart, 15.271; 3. 71m-Dave Blaney, 15.312; 4. 7K-Cale Conley, 15.412; 5. 12-Daniel Harding, 15.484; 6. 70-Tanner Thorson, 15.721; 7. 13-Brandon Matus, 15.857; 8. 97W-Mitchell Wormall, 15.94; 9. 51-John Garvin, 16.078; 10. 9C-Roger Campbell, 16.097; 11. 3FX-Dean Kester, 18.624
Group ( C )
1. 3G-Carson Macedo, 15.298; 2. 24-Rico Abreu, 15.544; 3. 5T-Travis Philo, 15.844; 4. 33M-Max Stambaugh, 15.994; 5. 92A-Sammy Walsh, 15.996; 6. 35-Tyler Esh, 16.116; 7. 39-Spencer Bayston, 16.19; 8. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 16.372; 9. 95-Hunter Mackison, 16.845; 10. 16-Matt Campbell, 99
Group (D)
1. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 15.112; 2. 9XX-Paul Nienhiser, 15.336; 3. A67-Brandon Wimmer, 15.43; 4. 2-Parker Price-Miller, 15.6; 5. 8M-TJ Michael, 15.961; 6. O7-Jacob Wilson, 16; 7. 12n-Cole Duncan, 16.087; 8. 7C-Caleb Armstrong, 16.138; 9. 81-Lee Jacobs, 16.272; 10. 33-Brent Matus, 16.714
Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 49X-Tim Shaffer [4]; 2. 11N-Dale Blaney [1]; 3. 91-Cale Thomas [2]; 4. 17-Caleb Helms [3]; 5. 49-Shawn Dancer [5]; 6. 57X-Andrew Palker [6]; 7. 27Z-Sean Zemunik [7]; 8. 1080-Jordan Mackison [8]; 9. 45-Trevor Baker [9]; 10. 83-Adam Cruea [10]
Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 71M-Dave Blaney [2]; 2. 7K-Cale Conley [1]; 3. 59-Ryan Smith [4]; 4. 14-Tony Stewart [3]; 5. 70-Tanner Thorson [6]; 6. 12-Daniel Harding [5]; 7. 13-Brandon Matus [7]; 8. 97W-Mitchell Wormall [8]; 9. 9C-Roger Campbell [10]; 10. 51-John Garvin [9]; 11. 3FX-Dean Kester [11]
Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 5T-Travis Philo [2]; 2. 3G-Carson Macedo [4]; 3. 33M-Max Stambaugh [1]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu [3]; 5. 35-Tyler Esh [6]; 6. 39-Spencer Bayston [7]; 7. 92A-Sammy Walsh [5]; 8. 22-Brandon Spithaler [8]; 9. 95-Hunter Mackison [9]
Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 2-Parker Price-Miller [1]; 2. A67-Brandon Wimmer [2]; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah [4]; 4. 9XX-Paul Nienhiser [3]; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs [9]; 6. 12N-Cole Duncan [7]; 7. 7C-Caleb Armstrong [8]; 8. O7-Jacob Wilson [6]; 9. 33-Brent Matus [10]; 10. 8M-TJ Michael [5]
Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 5T-Travis Philo [1]; 2. 91-Cale Thomas [2]; 3. 2-Parker Price-Miller [4]; 4. A67-Brandon Wimmer [3]; 5. 7K-Cale Conley [5]
Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 49X-Tim Shaffer [2]; 2. 11N-Dale Blaney [1]; 3. 3G-Carson Macedo [4]; 4. 17-Caleb Helms [5]; 5. 71M-Dave Blaney [3]
B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 57X-Andrew Palker [1]; 2. 27Z-Sean Zemunik [2]; 3. 12-Daniel Harding [3]; 4. 12N-Cole Duncan [12]; 5. O7-Jacob Wilson [10]; 6. 1080-Jordan Mackison [4]; 7. 92A-Sammy Walsh [9]; 8. 97W-Mitchell Wormall [7]; 9. 13-Brandon Matus [6]; 10. 39-Spencer Bayston [15]; 11. 22-Brandon Spithaler [16]; 12. 7C-Caleb Armstrong [14]; 13. 45-Trevor Baker [5]; 14. 95-Hunter Mackison [19]; 15. 9C-Roger Campbell [13]; 16. 51-John Garvin [11]; 17. 83-Adam Cruea [18]; 18. 33-Brent Matus [17]; 19. 8M-TJ Michael [8]; 20. 3FX-Dean Kester [20]; 21. 16-Matt Campbell [21]; 22. 9-Ryan Linder [22]
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 49X-Tim Shaffer [2]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu [18]; 3. 5T-Travis Philo [1]; 4. 2-Parker Price-Miller [5]; 5. 71M-Dave Blaney [10]; 6. 10H-Chad Kemenah [12]; 7. 59-Ryan Smith [11]; 8. 11N-Dale Blaney [4]; 9. 14-Tony Stewart [14]; 10. 17-Caleb Helms [8]; 11. 3G-Carson Macedo [6]; 12. A67-Brandon Wimmer [7]; 13. 12N-Cole Duncan [22]; 14. 12-Daniel Harding [23]; 15. 7K-Cale Conley [9]; 16. 91-Cale Thomas [3]; 17. 57X-Andrew Palker [21]; 18. 49-Shawn Dancer [17]; 19. 70-Tanner Thorson [16]; 20. 9XX-Paul Nienhiser [15]; 21. 35-Tyler Esh [19]; 22. 22-Brandon Spithaler [24]; 23. 33M-Max Stambaugh [13]; 24. 7C-Caleb Armstrong [25]; 25. 81-Lee Jacobs [20]; 26. O7-Jacob Wilson [26] Lad Leaders: Tim Shaffer [1-30]
Current Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket Point Standings (After June 17):
1. Tim Shaffer – 240
2. Rico Abreu – 236
3. Travis Philo – 234
4. Parker Price-Miller – 232
5. Chad Kemenah – 228
6. Ryan Smith – 226
7. Dale Blaney – 224
8. Caleb Helms – 220
9. Carson Macedo – 218
10. Cole Duncan – 214
Win Bonus Count presented by Cometic Gasket:
Tim Shaffer – 1 – Eldora Speedway
Current Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions Standings (June 17, 2017):
1. Chad Kemenah – 2440
2. Ryan Smith – 2228
3. Caleb Armstrong – 2224
4. Caleb Helms – 2202
5. Max Stambaugh – 2004
6. T.J. Michael – 1900
7. Brandon Spithaler – 1793
8. Brandon Matus – 1766
9. Tyler Esh – 1703
10. John Garvin – 1692