By Kelly Brown
The number of shopping days until Christmas may be quickly dwindling, but the O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions are taking you back to the end of August. After a thrilling roll through the plains states, the All Stars would remain out west for three events. The first two would feature a warm-up feature and an inaugural event which would feature 55 laps of racing action around I-55 Raceway that could only be won by an ironman. The third would feature a challenge unlike any other at Southern Iowa Speedway.
The night before the Ironman
On the first night of racing at I-55 Raceway Craig Dollansky held off countless charges to take the victory. Dollansky took the point from the pole position leading the race early on grabbing the lead in Turn 1. Jason Myers and Donny Schatz would follow right on his tail. When Dollansky first encountered traffic on Lap 6 he was able to easily hold on to the lead, but the second place battle heated up. Schatz and Meyers would fight tooth-and-nail over the next part of the race. Schatz would get an edge on Lap 12 and pick up the second position and began his march to the front. On Lap 15 Schatz would use lapped traffic to attempt to take the top spot, but Dollansky muscled back at the line to hold on to the lead. On the following lap Schatz would take the top spot as the two split a lapped car.
The first and only caution period of the event was on Lap 19. When the field restarted Schatz sprinted out to the lead, leaving Meyers and Dollansky to battle for second. With ten laps to go Jason Sides would join the battle as he got around Meyers for the third position. With six laps to go Schatz was in heavy traffic trying to defend his lead. These lapped cars allowed both Dollansky and Sides to close on him. On Lap 25 Dollansky would get a run going off of Turn 4, nearly taking the top spot away. On the following lap he took the lead in turns one and two from Schatz as Sides joined the fray and the trio ran side-by-side. With the White Flag unfurled the trip had one Lap to decide it. At the line it would be Dollansky getting the edge over Sides and Schatz, Myers and Daryn Pittman would round out the Top-five.
55-Laps Strong
Night two featured a race that was 55 laps around 55 Speedway, and it truly took an ironman and a little luck to make it to Victory Lane. At the drop of the Green Flag Jason Meyers jetted out to the lead going into the first two turns of the marathon event, but the race would not stay green for long as Lance Dewease slowed on track bringing out the Yellow Flag causing a complete restart of the event. This moved Craig Dollansky to the pole position and when the race resumed he got a jump going into Turn 1 taking the lead with his teammate Saldana who started fourth quickly sliding his way into the second position. The Kasey Kahne racing teammates had the field covered the whole event, with Dollansky leading early on, working his way through lapped traffic beginning on Lap 6. Joey Saldana would spend the first eighteen laps of the event in his tire tracks as they weaved their way through lapped traffic. On Lap 19 is when Saldana made his move. After Dollansky was held up by a lapped car, Saldana closed and used a textbook slide job coming off of turn four to take the lead. Saldana would never look back keeping an iron fist on the top spot for the final 27 laps of the race. Throughout the rest of the race Saldana would have to contend with lapped traffic allowing Dollansky to close on his teammate, but he would never be close enough to steal back the top spot. With the Checkered Flag looming after a grueling 55 Laps, Saldana would take the victory with Dollansky, Danny Lasoski, Donny Schatz and Jason Sides rounding out the top-5.
The Front Row Challenge
Southern Iowa Speedway features one of the most unique events on the All Star calendar: The Front Row Challenge. It was no surprise as the evening began, it was record setting as Lance Dewease set a new event record during qualifying with a lap of 15.231 around the 1/2-mile semi-banked clay oval. After the heat races were finished a brief downpour hit the track, drenching its surface and causing event officials to eliminate the “King of the Hill” match races. Swindell got the honor of starting from the pole position by virtue of a draw. The front row starters Swindell and Joey Saldana refused the “Front Row Challenge” citing the track conditions after the rain as to why they turned the challenge down. Once Swindell got the lead on the drop of the Green Flag, he never let it go leading all 25 laps of the night’s main event. Daryn Pittman’s racing machine came to a stop on the back stretch on lap six causing the first Yellow Flag of the night.
Wayne Johnson made a valiant effort in the opening laps making his way from fourteenth to the top-ten in just six laps, but when the caution flag flew on Lap 6 he also retired from the event. When the Green Flag flew Saldana got up beside Swindell for a brief moment on the restart, but Swindell held strong. In their tire tracks were Donny Schatz, Craig Dollansky, and Cale Conley. Just as the leaders first encountered lapped traffic on Lap 16 the Yellow Flag flew when Tyler Walker’s 24t went up in smoke and almost simultaneously Johnny Herrera came to a stop on the track. With nine laps left the field took the green one last time, but Swindell had established himself in the top spot so long, he was not letting it go. Dollansky slid under Schatz after the final restart to move his way into the top-three. At the Checkered Flag it was Swindell picking up the win with Saldana, Dollansky, Schatz, and Dewease rounding out the top-five.
With the month of August coming to a conclusion, there would only be one more exciting month of race action as the All Stars looked towards the Hoosier Fall Classic and other notable events during the month of September. Next up will be a triple header weekend that took the All Stars from Pennsylvania and across Ohio. Stay tuned as the O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions look back on another fast and furious season of racing action.
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