ROSSBURG, OH — (April 4th, 1998) — Kenny Jacobs decimated the field in the All Star sprint 30-lap feature Saturday night at Eldora Speedway. The win for Jacobs was his second All Star win of the season, and it was his first time back racing since a back injury earlier this season.
“The track was really, really nice. I don’t know the last time I was this fast here,” Jacobs recalled, standing alongside the Hughes Wheel and Axle J&J and being congratulated by engine builder Bob Kriner. “I never lifted the throttle except once or twice going by lapped cars. I’m still hurtin’ a little bit and I told Barry (Jackson, crewchief) after the heat that he’s got to make it really nice because I’m running out of energy and can barely hang onto the steering wheel, and boy he did his job.”
With Dean Jacobs on the ButlerBuilt Hot Seat pole and K. Jacobs alongside, K. Jacobs jumped out to an immediate lead in the high groove, stretching out his advantage over D. Jacobs, Jeff Shepard and Tyler Walker. K. Jacobs was in lapped traffic by lap four, but continued to push his lead out to a quarter lap running the high groove, pushing his Chevy engine to the limit.
Meanwhile, fourth runner Jeff Shepard was then passed by Walker, who began closing on D. Jacobs. By lap nine, Saldana also got Shepard and also closed on Walker. Two laps later Walker and Saldana were side by side for third, with Saldana grabbing that spot on lap 12.
The red flew on lap 14 for a hard end-over-end flip entering turn one, by Steve Suever after he rode over a wheel. Suever was transported to Coldwater Hospital with a possible head injury.
When action resumed, K. Jacobs led over D. Jacobs and Saldana, with Walker fourth and Shepard fifth, followed by Don Droud Jr., Ed Lynch Jr. Frankie Kerr, Brooke Tatnell and Joe Gaerte. Kenny Jacobs built another huge lead before it wes erased by Walker’s stop on the frontstretch, dropping him from fifth on lap 21. It was a high speed easy drive for the leader the rest of the way, as Saldana finally got around D. Jacobs for second on lap 23 after stalking him for two laps. Shepard also got past the fading Jacobs on lap 26 with the final rundown K. Jacobs by a half lap over Saldana, Shepard, D. Jacobs and Kerr. The top ten was filled in by Tatnell, Gaerte, Lynch, Huntley and Danny Smith.
The United Expressline heat fell to Saldana, whose quick time of 12.978 seconds was a new all-time Eldora track record, eclipsing Mark Kinser’s 12.980 mark set exactly one year ago. The Southwest Expressline heat fell to Greg Wilson, the Southwest Glass heat was won by Todd Kane and the United Specialties heat went to Brett Mann. Shepard won the Commercial Truck & Trailer Dash with Kevin Huntley the United Expressline B Main winner. Craig Dollansky flipped violently through the turn one catch fence after an aborted start in heat two. He was okay. Byron Reed hit the front stretch wall head-on exiting turn four at full speed during heat three. He was transported to a local hospital on a backboard for a checkup and treatment of several broken leg bones.
Time Trials: 1. Joey Saldana, Mox 17, 12.978 (NTR); 2. Ed Lynch, Jr., Lynch 2L, 12.999; 3. Tyler Walker, Air Sep 35, 13.003; 4. Jeff Shepard, Double L 4J, 13.005; 5. Kenny Jacobs, Hughes 94, 13.057; 6. Craig Dollansky, Stanton 75, 13.129; 7. Dean Jacobs, Ashworth 92, 13.179; 8. Joe Gaerte, Holbrook 8H, 13.209; 9. Frankie Kerr, Shoff 23s, 13.280; 10. Brooke Tatnell, RE Tech 7K, 13.301; 11. Byron Reed, B&S 5, 13.331; 12. Brett Mann, Mann 19, 13.342; 13. Jason Dukes, Brown 99, 13.402; 14. Jeff Mitrisin, Sereg 5J, 13.404; 15. Jim Nier, Nier 00, 13.424; 16. Keith Kauffman, Johnson U2, 13.460; 17. Brian Paulus, P&P 28, 13.474; 18. Jimmy Stinson, Spectrum 84, 13.495; 19. Sarah Fisher, Fisher 9, 13.516; 20. Butch Schroeder, Gottschalk 17, 13.516; 21. Danny Smith, Smith 4, 13.534; 22. Greg Wilson, Hampshire 63, 13.544; 23. Todd Kane, Spectrum 60, 13.588; 24. Don Droud Jr., DOCC 1BK, 13.620; 25. Kevin Huntley, Daugherty 7, 13.694; 26. Steve Suever, Suever 36s, 13.706; 27. Al Schmidt, Schmidt 25s, 13.709; 28. Nick Naber, G&N 6, 13.742; 29. Leonard Lee, Lee 16L, 13.756; 30. Bill Bailey, Bailey 28, 13.766; 31. Tim Allison, Lotz 11x, 13.905; 32. Judi Bates, Mourar 121, 13.993; 33. Brian Crisp, Crisp 1c, 14.029; 34. Brian Carlson, SC Motorsports 18, 14.084; 35. Tracy Hoover, Hall 9, 14.103; 36. Brian Smith, Smith 2+, 14.118; 37. Scott Jones, Jones 13, 14.144; 38. Dan Brettnacher, Brettnacher 33, 14.451; 39. Kent Wolters, Wolters 12, 14.480; 40. Chris Simon, Simon 24c, 14.643; 41. Terry Chesak, Chesak 29, 14.886; 42. Jeremy Minton, Minton 13, 14.962; 43. Mark Aldrich, Aldrich 1a, 15.026; 44. Jon Trudeau, Trudeau 23, 15.372; 45. Tom Davies, Davies 44, 23.260; 46. Dave Freed, Freed 8F, NT.
United Expressline Heat (8 laps): 1. Saldana 2. D. Smith 3. Paulus 4. Kerr 5. K. Jacobs 6. Huntley 7. Lee 8. Chesak 9. Crisp 10. Dukes 11. Davies, DNS 12. Jones, DNS.
Southwest Expressline Heat (8 laps): 1. Wilson 2. Tatnell 3. Lynch 4. Stinson 5. Suever 6. Mitrisin 7. Bailey 8. Brettnacher 9. Carlson 10. Dollansky 11. Minton, DNS 12. Freed, DNS.
Southwest Glass Heat (8 laps): 1. Kane 2. Walker 3. D. Jacobs 4. Schmidt 5. Wolters 6. Hoover 7. Aldrich 8. Reed 9. Nier 10. Fisher 11. Allison, DNS.
United Specialties Heat (8 laps): 1. Mann 2. Shepard 3. Droud 4. Gaerte 5. Naber 6. B. Smith 7. Bates 8. Simon 9. Trudeau 10. Kauffman 11. Schroeder, DNS.
Commercial Truck & Trailer Dash: (4 laps): 1. Shepard 2. Saldana 3. K. Jacobs 4. Lynch 5. D. Jacobs 6. Kerr.
United Expressline B Main (12 laps): 1. Huntley 2. Mitrisin 3. Kauffman 4. Lee 5. Dukes 6. Bailey 7. Bates 8. Carlson 9. Chesak 10. Crisp 11. Jones 12. Aldrich 13. Brettnacher 14. Trudeau 15. B. Smith 16. Hoover 17. Simon 18. Allison 19. Nier, DNS 20. Schroeder, DNS.
A Main (30 laps): 1. K .Jacobs 2. Saldana 3. Shepard 4. D. Jacobs 5. Kerr 6. Tatnell 7. Gaerte 8. Lynch 9. Huntley 10. D. Smith 11. Paulus 12. Mann 13. Droud 14. Lee 15. Wolters 16. Walker 17. Naber 18. Suever 19. Wilson 20. Kauffman 21. Mitrisin 22. Stinson 23. Schmidt 24. Kane.
All Star Sprint Points: 1. Kenny Jacobs 280; 2. Jeff Shepard 277; 3. Joey Saldana 256; 4. Frankie Kerr 243; 5. Dean Jacobs 237; 6. Kevin Huntley 231; 7. Keith Kauffman 221; 8. Danny Smith 226; 9. Dan Brettnacher 191; 10. Judi Bates 189.