From Brian Liskai
FREMONT, Ohio – Can anyone beat Tim Shaffer?
That is the question the sprint car world is asking.
Since July 31, the Aliquippa, Pa. driver has won every race he has competed in except a two – a third with the World of Outlaws in Missouri and a DNF at the Front Row Challenge. Friday on All Pro Cylinder Heads night, the opening night of the two-day Jim Ford Classic at Fremont Speedway, “The Steel City Outlaw” scored his 14th victory of 2010 with the O’Reilly Auto Parts All Star Circuit of Champions and his 19th win overall of the season. Since winning the Knoxville Nationals, Shaffer has remained unbeaten, winning his last three features in a row.
Shaffer, who now has 33 career All Star wins to move into 14th on the series’ all-time victory list, just one win behind Rickey Hood and four away from Steve Kinser, took the lead on lap 19 and never looked back. The victory locks up the 2010 All Star championship, Shaffer’s second in a row.
“It’s just been a great couple of months. We’ve got an incredible team. The CH Motorsports, J&J, Kistler Engines, VRP Shocks…everybody that works on this team at home and on the road…it’s just been a blast,” said Shaffer beside his Aaron Call, Janet Holbrook owned machine.
“It’s amazing…when you can have a group of people come together like we have here…it’s everybody doing their job and giving me a great car to drive and I’m having a lot of fun doing it,” continued Shaffer beside his JRC Transportation, Technique Roofing, Kistler Racing Products backed #83. “We’re running with confidence…we’ve got a great car and great people behind us.”
To give some incentive for someone to defeat Shaffer, Fremont Speedway Promoter Rich Farmer with help from John Horn of JLH General Contractor has put up a $2,500 bounty on Shaffer if one of the drivers who finished in the top 20 in points at Fremont Speedway can win Saturday’s $10,000 to win feature event.
In the Fremont Fence Dirt Truck feature, Castalia, Ohio’s Dan Hennig took the lead on lap five and held off a late race challenge from Steve Endicott to claim the $1,000 prize, his third victory of the season at Fremont.
“I saw Steve up on top and I thought ‘stay on the bottom, I’m fast down here.’ There was just no grip up top for me,” said Hennig beside his Haunted Hydro, Liberty Tax Service, York Fabrication, Riedy’s Auto World backed #32h.
In the Fremont Federal Credit Union 305 Sprints, 16-year-old Paige Polyak took the lead on lap four and survived several caution laps to claim her second career feature.
“I was a little worried. The motor was smoking…I kept an eye on the oil gauge and it stayed above 40 so I stayed out there,” said Polyak beside her Meggitt Powder Coating, Electric Circle H backed #27. “I have to thank Jaime, my dad and mom, Lisa, my sister Kelsey, my brother, Logan and everyone who helps out.”
In the 30-lap 410 sprint feature, pole sitter Kyle Sauder jumped into the lead at the drop of the green with Brandon Martin, Phil Gressman, Shaffer and Bill Rose in tow. Sauder would pull away slightly, but a caution for a Brad Haudenschild spin on lap seven would bunch up the field. On the restart, Shaffer would move around Gressman and challenge Martin for second as Sauder again pulled away. The car on the move was Byron Reed who had moved from his 16th starting spot to sixth. But, a flat left front tire would stop his charge on lap 10, as he stopped on the front stretch to bring out the caution.
Again on the restart Sauder would pull away with Martin battling with Shaffer for second while Kevin Lee made a great move to blast from eighth to fourth in one lap. Sauder stayed about four car lengths ahead of Martin and Shaffer until lap 16 when Shaffer would take second. Sauder would hit lapped traffic on lap 18, allowing Shaffer to close. Shaffer made a daring move in turn three as Sauder got caught up in lapped traffic. Shaffer dove to the bottom and passed two lapped machines and Sauder for the lead exiting turn four.
Shaffer would pull away as Sauder ran comfortably in second with Martin battling Gressman, Lee and Bill Rose for third. With eight laps remaining, Gressman would take third. The car on the move now was Dale Blaney who started 18th and had moved into sixth with three laps remaining. The running order with three to go was Shaffer, Sauder, Gressman, Rose, David Gravel and Blaney. Shaffer would cruise to his 7th career Fremont win over Sauder, Gressman, Rose and Blaney.
“It doesn’t matter if it pays $150,000 or $20 we come to win every night and we know everyone is going to give us their best shot,” said Shaffer.
Sauder was excited about his runner-up finish.
“He (Shaffer) has done this a little more than I have. I’ve been out of this for five years…got back in it Memorial Day. I’ll take second to him any day. Dave Jessup and my dad worked their butts off tonight,” said Sauder beside his AAA, Lonestar Pawn Shop, Brookview Auto backed 7K. “They gave me the opportunity to come out here and run and I think I showed we can get it done. It’s been an awesome year. Hopefully we can finish out strong and build for next year.”
Gressman has made a habit of finishing in the top three with the All Stars this season.
“We get another crack at them tomorrow night. We were tight most of the race but at the end of the race it started to free up some. Tomorrow’s a long race…50 laps…so we’ll see what happens,” said Gressman beside his Genzman Racing, G&C Construction, Ludwig Propane backed #53.
In the 20-lap dirt truck feature, Bob Dible would take the initial lead over Art Ball, Hennig and James Kepling. Ball would drive under Dible for the lead on lap three, with Hennig taking second a lap later. Hennig would drive around Ball into the lead on lap five with Kepling, Steve Endicott, Dible and Chuck Roelle in tow.
The caution would fly for Loren Schwochow who was leaking fluids on the track on lap seven with the running order Hennig, Ball, Kepling, Endicott and Paul Brown Jr. Ball would challenge Hennig on the restart while Kepling had his hands full with Brown and Endicott. Following a caution on lap 10 for Andy Keegan, Endicott would drive into second on the restart and begin pressuring Hennig.
Hennig would not move off the bottom of the track as several times Endicott raced to his outside. Hennig would pull away slightly the last two laps to take the win with Endicott, Kepling, Tim Bowen and Steve Sabo rounding out the top five.
Rookie Jason Keckler would power into the lead of the 305 sprint feature, but would spin in turn two on the second lap to hand the lead to Dan Hammond with Polyak, Roger Shammo, Josh Muntz and Dustin Stroup in tow. On the restart, Polyak would drive to Hammond’s outside to grab the lead.
Polyak would encounter lapped traffic by the 13th circuit, but had a comfortable lead as Hammond ran solidly in second with a great battle for third between Shammo, Muntz and Jimmy Colvin. John Ivy would stop with a flat tire on lap 13, bringing out the caution and giving Polyak a clear track with a lapped machine between herself and Hammond.
On the restart, D.J. Foos, Paul Weaver and Zack Kramer would tangle in turn three. On the ensuing restart, Polyak would power away with a clear track ahead as Hammond continued to run comfortably in second with Colvin moving into third and bringing Dustin Dinan into fourth. While the top two ran unchallenged, the battle for third between Colvin and Dinan was a dandy as soon 2010 track champion Stuart Brubaker made it a three car race. Dinan and Colvin would get together on lap 20, ending Dinan’s run as Brubaker also clipped him, bringing his race to an end.
Polyak would pull away the final five laps for the victory over Hammond, Colvin, Jack Trevino and Nate Dussel.
Fremont Speedway – 9/17/2010
All Pro Cylinder Heads Night
O’Reilly Auto Parts All Star Circuit of Champions (38 Cars)
Qualifying – Kistler Engines
1. 9X-Brandon Martin, 12.419; 2. 20X-Craig Mintz, 12.452; 3. 53-Phil Gressman, 12.507; 4. 83-Tim Shaffer, 12.532; 5. 10-Brad Haudenschild, 12.577; 6. 7C-Tim Hunter, 12.591; 7. D4-Danny Holtgraver, 12.598; 8. O4-Cap Henry, 12.626; 9. 7K-Kyle Sauder, 12.629; 10. 6-Bill Rose, 12.643; 11. 1X-Matt Linder, 12.657; 12. 28V-Shawn Valenti, 12.658; 13. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 12.675; 14. 89G-David Gravel, 12.708; 15. W20-Greg Wilson, 12.709; 16. 3J-Kevin Lee, 12.714; 17. 16-Bryan Sebetto, 12.716; 18. 5R-Byron Reed, 12.755; 19. 24H-Lee Jacobs, 12.768; 20. 2-Dale Blaney, 12.781; 21. 14H-Todd Heller, 12.807; 22. 22-Cole Duncan, 12.834; 23. X-Mark Keegan, 12.874; 24. 2+-Brian Smith, 12.877; 25. 97-Dean Jacobs, 12.906; 26. 312-Mike Linder, 12.910; 27. O-Brandon Wimmer, 12.949; 28. 4M-Jamie Miller, 12.999; 29. 9Z-Duane Zablocki, 13.016; 30. 47-Caleb Helms, 13.032; 31. 6F-Bob Felmlee, 13.147; 32. 12-Jarred Ridge, 13.184; 33. 40-Mark Imler, 13.195; 34. 27-Scott Euler, 13.259; 35. 11N-Ed Neumeister, 13.411; 36. 26W-Cody White, 13.415; 37. 26-Ryan French, 14.372; 38. 60-Jody Keegan, NT
Heat 1 – Heat 1 (10 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 16-Bryan Sebetto; 2. 9X-Brandon Martin; 3. 7K-Kyle Sauder; 4. 14H-Todd Heller; 5. 97-Dean Jacobs; 6. 40-Mark Imler; 7. 26-Ryan French; 8. 10-Brad Haudenschild; 9. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild; 10. 9Z-Duane Zablocki
Heat 2 – Bell Racing Products (10 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 5R-Byron Reed; 2. 89G-David Gravel; 3. 22-Cole Duncan; 4. 6-Bill Rose; 5. 312-Mike Linder; 6. 20X-Craig Mintz; 7. 7C-Tim Hunter; 8. 47-Caleb Helms; 9. 27-Scott Euler; 10. 60-Jody Keegan
Heat 3 – Heat 3 (10 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. X-Mark Keegan; 2. 24H-Lee Jacobs; 3. 53-Phil Gressman; 4. W20-Greg Wilson; 5. 1X-Matt Linder; 6. O-Brandon Wimmer; 7. 6F-Bob Felmlee; 8. D4-Danny Holtgraver; 9. 11N-Ed Neumeister
Heat 4 – Heat 4 (10 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 2-Dale Blaney; 2. 28V-Shawn Valenti; 3. 83-Tim Shaffer; 4. O4-Cap Henry; 5. 2+-Brian Smith; 6. 3J-Kevin Lee; 7. 4M-Jamie Miller; 8. 26W-Cody White; 9. 12-Jarred Ridge
B-Main – (12 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 20X-Craig Mintz; 2. 10-Brad Haudenschild; 3. D4-Danny Holtgraver; 4. 3J-Kevin Lee; 5. 4M-Jamie Miller; 6. 7C-Tim Hunter; 7. O-Brandon Wimmer; 8. 6F-Bob Felmlee; 9. 47-Caleb Helms; 10. 40-Mark Imler; 11. 27-Scott Euler; 12. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild; 13. 26W-Cody White; 14. 11N-Ed Neumeister; 15. 26-Ryan French
A-Main – (30 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 83-Tim Shaffer[4]; 2. 7K-Kyle Sauder[1]; 3. 53-Phil Gressman[3]; 4. 6-Bill Rose[5]; 5. 2-Dale Blaney[18]; 6. 89G-David Gravel[9]; 7. 3J-Kevin Lee[14]; 8. 20X-Craig Mintz[11]; 9. 28V-Shawn Valenti[8]; 10. W20-Greg Wilson[10]; 11. D4-Danny Holtgraver[13]; 12. 97-Dean Jacobs[23]; 13. O4-Cap Henry[6]; 14. 1X-Matt Linder[7]; 15. 24H-Lee Jacobs[17]; 16. 5R-Byron Reed[16]; 17. 16-Bryan Sebetto[15]; 18. 22-Cole Duncan[20]; 19. X-Mark Keegan[21]; 20. 312-Mike Linder[24]; 21. 10-Brad Haudenschild[12]; 22. 14H-Todd Heller[19]; 23. 9X-Brandon Martin[2]; 24. 2+-Brian Smith[22]
Hard Charger: 2-Dale Blaney[+13]
Fremont Federal Credit Union – 305 Sprints (32 Cars)
Heat 1 – Heat 1 (8 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. M28-Josh Muntz; 2. 9-Jimmy Colvin; 3. 10S-Roger Shammo; 4. 5X-Dustin Dinan; 5. 83X-Nate Reeser; 6. 8J-Jess Stiger; 7. 1M-Mike Moore; 8. 72C-Ross Moore
Heat 2 – Bell Racing Products (8 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 51-Brad Bowman; 2. 67M-Matt Ferrell; 3. 80-Jake Trevino; 4. 94-John Ivy; 5. 1-Nate Dussel; 6. 1W-Paul Weaver; 7. 19R-Steve Rando; 8. 5-Jordon Ryan
Heat 3 – Heat 3 (8 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 10X-Dustin Stroup; 2. 40-Bobby Clark; 3. 22D-Dan Hammond; 4. 71-Bill Kraylek; 5. 81KH-Zack Kramer; 6. 55-Benny Bowman; 7. 12-Brett Lane; 8. 3B-Tim Bottles
Heat 4 – Heat 4 (8 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 27-Paige Polyak; 2. 11F-D.J. Foos; 3. 25-Jason Keckler; 4. 35-Stuart Brubaker; 5. 53-Phil Gressman; 6. 48-Mike Burkin; 7. 39M-Matt Merrill; 8. 87-Brad Reiter
B-Main – (10 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 1-Nate Dussel; 2. 1W-Paul Weaver; 3. 81KH-Zack Kramer; 4. 83X-Nate Reeser; 5. 19R-Steve Rando; 6. 39M-Matt Merrill; 7. 48-Mike Burkin; 8. 5-Jordon Ryan; 9. 12-Brett Lane; 10. 1M-Mike Moore; 11. 72C-Ross Moore; 12. 87-Brad Reiter; 13. 8J-Jess Stiger; 14. 3B-Tim Bottles; 15. 55-Benny Bowman
A-Main – (25 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 27-Paige Polyak[4]; 2. 22D-Dan Hammond[3]; 3. 9-Jimmy Colvin[11]; 4. 80-Jake Trevino[10]; 5. 1-Nate Dussel[17]; 6. 67M-Matt Ferrell[8]; 7. 10S-Roger Shammo[5]; 8. 25-Jason Keckler[2]; 9. 51-Brad Bowman[12]; 10. 10X-Dustin Stroup[7]; 11. 71-Bill Kraylek[15]; 12. 83X-Nate Reeser[20]; 13. 5X-Dustin Dinan[13]; 14. 35-Stuart Brubaker[16]; 15. 94-John Ivy[14]; 16. 40-Bobby Clark[9]; 17. 1W-Paul Weaver[18]; 18. 81KH-Zack Kramer[19]; 19. 11F-D.J. Foos[1]; 20. M28-Josh Muntz[6]
Hard Charger: 1-Nate Dussel[+12]
Fremont Fence Co. Dirt Trucks w\Stocks (33 Trucks)
Heat 1 – Heat 1 (7 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 33-Brian Arnold; 2. 17-Bob Dible; 3. O-Andy Keegan; 4. 18W-Cory Ward; 5. 56-Alex Weichman; 6. 99-Art Howey Jr.; 7. P51-Paul Brown Jr.; 8. 22J-Josh Kiser; 9. 8KB-Kent Brewer
Heat 2 – Bell Racing Products (7 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 8-Steve Endicott; 2. 4X-Brian Sorg; 3. O1-Art Ball; 4. 92-Loren Schwochow; 5. 23M-Brad Mitten; 6. 52G-Stacey Gazarek; 7. 30-Dave Gibbs; 8. 52-Charlie Gringerich
Heat 3 – Heat 3 (7 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 7B-Tim Bowen; 2. 5JR-Jimmy Mcgrath Jr.; 3. 21K-James Kepling; 4. 6-Linda Sabo; 5. 16-Steve Sabo; 6. 99X-Gene Potridge; 7. 9-Roger Inks; 8. 6R-Dan Roepke Jr.
Heat 4 – Heat 4 (7 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 3R-Chuck Rolle; 2. 32H-Dan Hennig; 3. 25-Mike Tezek; 4. 36X-Dustin Keegan; 5. 84-Tony Siferd; 6. 5-Jim Mcgrath; 7. 71-Craig Holland; 8. 4S-Keith Sorg
B-Main – (10 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 56-Alex Weichman; 2. 16-Steve Sabo; 3. P51-Paul Brown Jr.; 4. 99-Art Howey Jr.; 5. 30-Dave Gibbs; 6. 4S-Keith Sorg; 7. 9-Roger Inks; 8. 99X-Gene Potridge; 9. 71-Craig Holland; 10. 6R-Dan Roepke Jr.; 11. 84-Tony Siferd; 12. 8KB-Kent Brewer; 13. 52G-Stacey Gazarek; 14. 5-Jim Mcgrath; 15. 23M-Brad Mitten; 16. 52-Charlie Gringerich; 17. 22J-Josh Kiser
A-Main – (20 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 32H-Dan Hennig[6]; 2. 8-Steve Endicott[5]; 3. 21K-James Kepling[4]; 4. 7B-Tim Bowen[12]; 5. 16-Steve Sabo[18]; 6. P51-Paul Brown Jr.[19]; 7. 18W-Cory Ward[13]; 8. 33-Brian Arnold[10]; 9. 17-Bob Dible[1]; 10. 3R-Chuck Rolle[3]; 11. 56-Alex Weichman[17]; 12. 4X-Brian Sorg[7]; 13. 25-Mike Tezek[8]; 14. 36X-Dustin Keegan[16]; 15. O1-Art Ball[2]; 16. 99-Art Howey Jr.[20]; 17. 92-Loren Schwochow[14]; 18. 5JR-Jimmy Mcgrath Jr.[9]; 19. O-Andy Keegan[11]; 20. 6-Linda Sabo[15]
Hard Charger: 16-Steve Sabo[+13]