By Brian Liskai
LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. (10-9-10) – Tim Shaffer put an
exclamation point on his unbelievable 2010 season, winning the Hoosier Fall
Classic at Lawrenceburg Speedway Saturday, Oct. 9. Shaffer, who had already
wrapped up his second straight O’Reilly Auto Parts All Star Circuit of
Champions title, took the lead on lap 24 and went on to score his 16th
series feature and 21st overall victory of 2010.
“This year has just been a fantastic year, it seems like everything is
going right. But tonight…I’ll tell you they made me earn it tonight,” said
Shaffer beside his Aaron Call, Janet Holbrook owned machine.
“We just kept getting better and better…we were a little too tight early
which is we wanted to be. Brian (Kemenah, crew chief) and the guys did a
great job with this car…it just kept getting faster through the night,”
continued Shaffer beside his VRP Shocks, Kistler Engines, J&J Racing,
Kistler Racing Products backed #83.
“This is the best year I’ve ever had…it’s been so much fun It’s just
amazing when you put a great team together what you can do,” concluded
Shaffer. “I hate to see this year coming to an end.”
Bill Balog and Cale Conley paced the field to the green in the 30-lap
feature, with Conley grabbing the lead. The action would grind to a half
after one lap when David Gravel and Shaffer banged wheels on the back
stretch resulting in Gravel getting upside down. On the restart Conley
would continue to lead over Balog, Shaffer, Kyle Sauder and Cole Duncan.
The leaders would find the back of the field by lap eight on the fast 3/8th
mile and it became a three car battle between Conley, Balog and Shaffer.
Balog would duck under Conley for the lead on lap 9 as Sauder drove to the
outside of Shaffer for third and would take second a lap later. The
caution would fly on lap 11 for a stalled Brandon Wimmer. Balog had a
lapped machine between himself and Sauder with Shaffer third, Conley and
Dale Blaney rounding out the top five.
On the restart Ronnie Blair made contact with another car and stopped with
a broken front end. That brought out a red flag fuel stop with the running
order Balog, Sauder, Shaffer, Conley, Blaney and Duncan. On the ensuing
restart, Sauder would blast to the outside of Balog to take the lead, with
Shaffer stalking in third and Blaney grabbing fourth.
The final caution would fly on lap 17 for a Caleb Helms spin. On the
restart, Shaffer began to make his move, driving under Balog for second.
Sauder continued to drive against the cushion as Shaffer held steady around
the bottom and slowly began to reel the leader in as Balog ran third and
Blaney in fourth. The car on the move was Dean Jacobs, as the Seeling team
had put together a new J&J chassis and he had worked his way from his 20th
starting spot to fifth with 10 laps to go.
As the Sauder raced into heavy lapped traffic, Shaffer continued to make up
ground. Shaffer shot under Sauder exiting turn two on lap 24 for the lead.
Shaffer would continue to pick his way through traffic while Sauder road
comfortably in second and Balog third. Meanwhile Blaney and Jacobs waged a
tremendous battle for fourth with Jacobs gaining the position on lap 26.
Shaffer would go on to the victory over Sauder, Balog, Jacobs and Blaney.
However, Balog failed to go to the scales after the feature and was
disqualified, giving Jacobs third.
For Sauder, who had taken several years off of racing and came back in
June, it continued a strong comeback.
“If it was a 25 lap race I think we might have had it. Hats off to Tim,
he’s had a great year. To run second to him is nothing to hang my head
about,” said Sauder beside his Dave Jessup racing machine.
“I’ve got to thank Dave Jessup, Rick Comer, Triple A, Bob Someral Tire,
Brookville Auto Parts…everybody on the car for giving me a chance to come
back to racing and the good Lord for giving me the talent to run up front
as much as I do and to come back the way I did,” continued Sauder.
For Jacobs the race from the back to the front was something he has become
accustomed to this summer.
“We’re not happy with our early effort tonight…it’s been that way a lot
this year. It’s not the fault of the race car…we got a new car and it’s
really nice. I just didn’t race it qualifying where it needed to be and the
result was a bad qualifying time. But, we got it good when it counted so
we’re happy with third,” said Jacobs beside his Midwest Towing and
Recovery, NAPA Truck and Auto Center backed #97.
“With this new J&J and Paul Kistler working on the engines and with Joe and
Matt working on the thing and getting what we need I think the wins are
going to come,” added Jacobs. “This really gives us a good incentive to
start over again next year. It just keeps getting better and better with
this deal. I’m really looking forward to next year and getting out and
winning some races.
Qualifying – Kistler Engines
1. 83-Tim Shaffer, 11.965; 2. 89G-David Gravel, 12.019; 3. 6F-Bob Felmlee,
12.036; 4. 4-Cole Duncan, 12.054; 5. 3C-Cale Conley, 12.089; 6. 17B-Bill
Balog, 12.092; 7. 2-Dale Blaney, 12.101; 8. 7K-Kyle Sauder, 12.197; 9.
53-Phil Gressman, 12.229; 10. 35-Ronnie Blair, 12.238; 11. 7C-Tim Hunter,
12.288; 12. 6-Bill Rose, 12.342; 13. O4-Cap Henry, 12.420; 14. 47-Caleb
Helms, 12.455; 15. W20-Greg Wilson, 12.456; 16. 12-Jared Ridge, 12.526; 17.
4K-Kody Kinser, 12.530; 18. O-Brandon Wimmer, 12.560; 19. 5-Byron Reed,
12.590; 20. 97-Dean Jacobs, 12.606; 21. 60C-Kory Crabtree, 12.872; 22.
99-Tom Busch, 12.902; 23. 2+-Brian Smith, 13.092; 24. 28H-Hud Horton,
13.149; 25. 5V-Matt Vandervere, 13.473
Heat 1 – MSD Ignition (8 Laps – Top 10 Transfer)
1. 2-Dale Blaney; 2. 83-Tim Shaffer; 3. 12-Jared Ridge; 4. 35-Ronnie Blair;
5. 4-Cole Duncan; 6. 5-Byron Reed; 7. 99-Tom Busch; 8. 5V-Matt Vandervere;
9. O4-Cap Henry
Heat 2 – Kear’s Speed Shop (8 Laps – Top 10 Transfer)
1. 7C-Tim Hunter; 2. 7K-Kyle Sauder; 3. 4K-Kody Kinser; 4. 47-Caleb Helms;
5. 89G-David Gravel; 6. 3C-Cale Conley; 7. 97-Dean Jacobs; 8. 2+-Brian
Smith
Dash – Rubbn’ Repair (6 Laps – Top – Transfer)
1. 6F-Bob Felmlee; 2. 89G-David Gravel; 3. 3C-Cale Conley; 4. 83-Tim
Shaffer; 5. W20-Greg Wilson; 6. 6-Bill Rose
B-Main – University of Northwestern Ohio (12 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 6F-Bob Felmlee; 2. 17B-Bill Balog; 3. 53-Phil Gressman; 4. 6-Bill Rose;
5. W20-Greg Wilson; 6. O-Brandon Wimmer; 7. 60C-Kory Crabtree; 8. 28H-Hud
Horton
A-Main – O’Reilly Auto Parts (30 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 83-Tim Shaffer[6]; 2. 7K-Kyle Sauder[8]; 3. 97-Dean Jacobs[20]; 4.
2-Dale Blaney[7]; 5. W20-Greg Wilson[15]; 6. 3C-Cale Conley[2]; 7. 4K-Kody
Kinser[17]; 8. 53-Phil Gressman[9]; 9. 5-Byron Reed[19]; 10. 6F-Bob
Felmlee[4]; 11. 6-Bill Rose[12]; 12. 7C-Tim Hunter[11]; 13. 12-Jared
Ridge[16]; 14. 28H-Hud Horton[24]; 15. 47-Caleb Helms[14]; 16. 2+-Brian
Smith[23]; 17. 99-Tom Busch[22]; 18. 4-Cole Duncan[5]; 19. 35-Ronnie
Blair[10]; 20. O-Brandon Wimmer[18]; 21. 60C-Kory Crabtree[21]; 22. 5V-Matt
Vandervere[25]; 23. 89G-David Gravel[3]; 24. O4-Cap Henry[13]; 25. 17B-Bill
Balog[1]