From Brian Liskai – (7-10-10)- Brad Sweet is living his
dream of driving a race car for a living thanks to Kasey Kahne. The Grass
Valley, California driver is showing why Kahne picked him to drive one of
his sprint cars, as he dominated the O’Reilly Auto Parts All Star Circuit
of Champion’s race at West Virginia Motor Speedway Saturday night.
Sweet, piloting the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, Auto Value Parts Stores, Sage
backed #49, drove into the lead at the drop of the green for the Governor’s
Cup event. He set a blistering pace on the 5/8th mile track, lapping nearly
up to fifth place.
“Hats off to the guys, they gave me an awesome car tonight. I knew I had to
get out front early and get the clean air. Then it was just a matter of
working through the lapped traffic. The car was just so good it made it so
easy. I could put it any where I wanted to go on the race track,” said
Sweet, who has two All Star wins in 2010.
“I tried not to overdue it in traffic and put myself in a bad position.
Kasey Kahne Racing is having a lot of success this year…we have built a
great team with Joey (Saldana) and Paul (McMahan) on the World of Outlaw
tour and the success they’ve had and we’ve gotten some good runs as well,”
added Sweet.
Defending All Star champion Tim Shaffer and Vienna, W. Va. son Cale Conley
tried to keep pace with Sweet, but just could not catch him even as he
encountered lapped traffic by lap 3 of the 25-lap affair. With Sweet off
and running in the lead and current All Star point leader Shaffer
comfortably in second, early in the race the battle was for third between
Conley and young Cole Duncan. With 15 laps in the books it looked like
Shaffer might be catching Sweet, but once clear of some traffic, Sweet
again pulled away to a half a straight away lead in a race that went
non-stop.
“Brad had a great car and he did a great job. He got the jump on the start
and I knew I was in trouble. He was rolling around there good and we were
just a little bit too loose. Hey, it’s part of racing and I’m glad we ran
second. He just did a great job of getting through traffic,” said Shaffer
beside his Aaron Call/Janet Holbrook owned Technique Roofing backed #83.
“It was great to be back to this track…it’s been awhile since I’ve been
here. Hats off to the crew here for getting this track prepped up nice.”
For Conley, his third place run in front of his home-state crowd was
rewarding.
“The guys who finished in front of me are guys you would definitely want to
get beat by if you had to get beat by anyone. I’m glad to be here racing in
front of everybody from West Virginia…I wish I could have won tonight. My
grandma’s birthday is tomorrow and I know she’s up in the crowd,” said
Conley beside his All Star Performance, Health Bridge Imaging, Conley
Energy backed #3c. “I ran out of talent a little bit in lapped traffic…I
just couldn’t get around lapped guys like the front two guys could. I maybe
needed to be a little more aggressive. I was having fun out there. This is
a big race track…probably the fastest one I’ve ever been on.”
For more information go to www.allstarsprint.com
Qualifying – Kistler Engines
1. 83-Tim Shaffer, 17.210
2. 3C-Cale Conley, 17.334
3. 49-Brad Sweet, 17.348
4. W20-Greg Wilson, 17.390
5. 22-Cole Duncan, 17.430
6. 56R-Ryan Myers, 17.447
7. 45-Rob Chaney, 17.497
8. 89G-David Gravel, 17.519
9. 3-Pete Miller III, 17.691
10. O4-Cap Henry, 17.724
11. 12-Jared Ridge, 17.746
12. 6-Bill Rose, 17.780
13. 2+-Brian Smith, 17.794
14. 78L-Kirk Jeffries, 18.022
15. 30-Wayne McPeek, 18.122
16. 15H-Mitch Harble, 18.330
17. 22D-Josh Davis, 18.425
18. 5H-Jordan Harble, 19.733
19. 41-Randy Fink, 21.762
Heat 1 – MSD Ignition
1. 83-Tim Shaffer
2. 45-Rob Chaney
3. W20-Greg Wilson
4. O4-Cap Henry
5. 2+-Brian Smith
6. 15H-Mitch Harble
7. 41-Randy Fink
Heat 2 – Kear’s Speed Shop
1. 89G-David Gravel
2. 78L-Kirk Jeffries
3. 3C-Cale Conley
4. 12-Jared Ridge
5. 22-Cole Duncan
6. 22D-Josh Davis
Heat 3 – All Pro Heads
1. 49-Brad Sweet
2. 6-Bill Rose
3. 30-Wayne McPeek
4. 56R-Ryan Myers
5. 3-Pete Miller III
6. 5H-Jordan Harble
Dash – Rubbn’ Repair
1. W20-Greg Wilson
2. 49-Brad Sweet
3. 3C-Cale Conley
4. 56R-Ryan Myers
5. 83-Tim Shaffer
6. 22-Cole Duncan
A-Main – O’Reilly Auto Parts (25 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 49-Brad Sweet[2]
2. 83-Tim Shaffer[1]
3. 3C-Cale Conley[5]
4. W20-Greg Wilson[6]
5. 89G-David Gravel[8]
6. 22-Cole Duncan[4]
7. 45-Rob Chaney[7]
8. 6-Bill Rose[12]
9. 56R-Ryan Myers[3]
10. O4-Cap Henry[10]
11. 12-Jared Ridge[11]
12. 3-Pete Miller III[9]
13. 78L-Kirk Jeffries[14]
14. 2+-Brian Smith[13]
15. 15H-Mitch Harble[16]
16. 30-Wayne McPeek[15]
17. 5H-Jordan Harble[18]
18. 41-Randy Fink[19]
19. 22D-Josh Davis[17]