By Brian Liskai, Mike Campbell photo
LIMA, OH (6-24-11) By Brian Liskai – There’s just something special about
Ohio Sprint Speedweek at Limaland Motorsports Park. In 2010, David Gravel
would score his first win with the O’Reilly Auto Parts All Star Circuit of
Champions on route to the speedweek championship. On Friday, Archbold,
Ohio’s Kyle Sauder passed four time speedweek champion Dale Blaney on the
10th lap and then held off a big challenge from current speedweek point
leader Tim Shaffer late in the race to score his first career 410 sprint
and All Star win.
“All I can say is God is awesome. That man right there…Dave Jessup (car
owner)…he’s the man,” said Sauder beside his AAA, Terry Henricks
Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep, Lonestar Pawnshop, Rick Comer, Eagle Chassis backed
#7k.
“Six years off, a year and half back and I win my first 410 race and it’s
an All Star show on speedweek…how can it get any better than that,” added
Sauder who now has three wins at Limaland in 2011. “We struggled the last
couple of nights and we found what our problem was. That’s my line up there
(against the outside wall)…I ran it last week for 30 laps and 40 laps
tonight and here we are.”
Shaffer, a two-time and defending All Star champion, would make one little
bobble in turn two with two laps to go that may have cost him one final
shot at Sauder. But, the Aliquippa, Pennsylvania driver – known as “The
Steel City Outlaw” – would continue his streak throughout speedweek of not
finishing out of the top three with his second place run.
“My guys are doing a great job…my hats off to Kistler Engines, J&J
Chassis, VRP Shocks…everyone involved in this. Hats off to Kyle and
Dave…they did a great job. I tried and tried…just came up short,” said
Shaffer.
Danny Holtgraver, the 2010 Lernerville Speedway champion, would also come
on strong at the end of the race to finish third.
“That might as well been a win for me right there…this is
unbelieveable…I’ve never seen this race track before. My dad, Garth,
Robbie…they work their tails off every day this week,” said Holtgraver
beside his Buckeye Steering Products, Spinnwebbers Auto Sales backed D4.
Blaney and Shaffer would lead the field to the green with Blaney assuming
the lead. The caution would fly after just two laps with Kevin Lee and
Caleb Helms spinning on opposite ends of the track. On the restart Blaney
was able to pull away slightly from Shaffer as Holtgraver, Stevie Smith and
Sauder waged a tremendous battle for third. Sauder would take the third
spot on lap seven and quickly closed on Shaffer. Blaney would catch the
rear of the field by lap nine, allowing Shaffer and Sauder to close. Sauder
would drive around Shaffer into the runner-up spot just as the caution
would fly for a Phil Gressman spin right in front of the leaders in turn
four. On the restart Sauder would blast to the top side, just inches off
the concrete wall to take the lead coming down to complete the 10th lap.
Sauder would begin to put a little distance between himself and Blaney who
had his hands full with Shaffer as Holtgraver was locked in a great battle
with Smith, Gravel and Randy Hannagan for fourth. Jac Haudenschild would
spin in turn three on the 13 lap to give Sauder a clear track. He would
pull away on the restart with Blaney, Shaffer, Holtgraver, Gravel, Smith
and 14th place starter Jason Johnson in pursuit. Sauder would hit lapped
traffic at the half-way point, but masterfully picked his way through as
Blaney and Shaffer continued their side-by-side battle for second. Shaffer
would finally take second on lap 25 as Blaney began to fade, surrendering
third to Holdgraver two laps later.
The final caution of the event would come at lap 28 when Paul May coasted
to a stop in turn four. Sauder would have a lapped car between himself and
Shaffer on the restart and would pull away to a 7 car length advantage when
the green flew. However, once clear of the lap car Shaffer began eating
away at Sauder’s lead, picking up two-tenths of a second each lap until he
was right on the leader’s rear bumper with four laps remaining. Sauder
would not budge from his rim-riding line as Shaffer tried to work the
bottom. As Sauder took the white, Shaffer drove his machine in deep on the
bottom of turns one and two, losing his momentum as Sauder ran to the
checkered. Holtgraver would finish a comfortable third with Gravel and
Johnson rounding out the top five.
Limaland Motorsports Park – 6/24/2011
All-Star Curcuit of Champions (41 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Qualifying – Kistler Engines
1. 2-Dale Blaney, 11.363; 2. D4-Danny Holtgraver, 11.403; 3. 1-Stevie
Smith, 11.419; 4. 5R-Byron Reed, 11.426; 5. 83-Tim Shaffer, 11.511; 6.
45-Rob Chaney, 11.530; 7. 7K-Kyle Sauder, 11.565; 8. 3J-Kevin Lee, 11.610;
9. 35-Ronnie Blair, 11.615; 10. 89G-David Gravel, 11.640; 11. 22H-Randy
Hannagan, 11.644; 12. O4-Cap Henry, 11.646; 13. 40-Caleb Helms, 11.651; 14.
97-Dean Jacobs, 11.678; 15. 41-Jason Johnson, 11.705; 16. 22-Cole Duncan,
11.708; 17. 71-Paul May, 11.710; 18. 4-Danny Smith, 11.710; 19. O-Chris
Andrews, 11.749; 20. 312-Mike Linder, 11.752; 21. W20-Greg Wilson, 11.777;
22. 11X-Brandon Martin, 11.785; 23. 1Z-Jessica Zemken, 11.801; 24. 51-Brad
Bowman, 11.812; 25. 53-Phil Gressman, 11.817; 26. 91-Aaron Middaugh,
11.834; 27. 6-Jac Haudenschild, 11.867; 28. 10-Brad Haudenschild, 11.873;
29. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 11.926; 30. 7-Darren Long, 11.947; 31. 7C-Tim
Hunter, 11.979; 32. 60-Jody Keegan, 11.987; 33. 11D-Bryce Dickson, 12.020;
34. 34-Luke Hall, 12.107; 35. 12-Jarred Ridge, 12.108; 36. 3-Pete Miller,
12.127; 37. 96AU-Bruce White, 12.176; 38. 6Z-Zack Ames, 12.233; 39. 18-Todd
Heuerman, 12.680; 40. 69-Scott Curren, 12.783; 41. 7TW-Brandon Wimmer,
81.357
Kear’s Speed Shop Heat 1 – Heat 1 (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to
the A-feature)
1. 312-Mike Linder[1] ; 2. 3J-Kevin Lee[4] ; 3. 22-Cole Duncan[2] ; 4.
O4-Cap Henry[3] ; 5. 5R-Byron Reed[5] ; 6. 51-Brad Bowman[7] ; 7. 10-Brad
Haudenschild[8] ; 8. 3-Pete Miller[10] ; 9. 60-Jody Keegan[9] ; 10.
69-Scott Curren[11] ; 11. 7TW-Brandon Wimmer[6]
Al Pro Cylinder Heads Heat 2 – Heat 2 (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer
to the A-feature)
1. 71-Paul May[2] ; 2. W20-Greg Wilson[1] ; 3. 2-Dale Blaney[6] ; 4. 83-Tim
Shaffer[5] ; 5. 53-Phil Gressman[7] ; 6. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[8] ; 7.
35-Ronnie Blair[4] ; 8. 40-Caleb Helms[3] ; 9. 11D-Bryce Dickson[9] ; 10.
96AU-Bruce White[10]
MSD Ignitions Heat 3 – Heat 3 (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the
A-feature)
1. 11X-Brandon Martin[1] ; 2. 89G-David Gravel[4] ; 3. 4-Danny Smith[2] ;
4. 97-Dean Jacobs[3] ; 5. D4-Danny Holtgraver[6] ; 6. 45-Rob Chaney[5] ; 7.
7-Darren Long[8] ; 8. 34-Luke Hall[9] ; 9. 6Z-Zack Ames[10] ; 10. 91-Aaron
Middaugh[7]
Kinsler Fuel Injections Heat 4 – Heat 4 (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer
to the A-feature)
1. 1Z-Jessica Zemken[1] ; 2. 41-Jason Johnson[3] ; 3. 22H-Randy Hannagan[4]
; 4. 1-Stevie Smith[6] ; 5. 7K-Kyle Sauder[5] ; 6. O-Chris Andrews[2] ; 7.
6-Jac Haudenschild[7] ; 8. 18-Todd Heuerman[10] ; 9. 12-Jarred Ridge[9] ;
10. 7C-Tim Hunter[8]
Outerwears Performance Products Dash – R & R (6 Laps, finishing order
determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 2-Dale Blaney[1] ; 2. 1-Stevie Smith[3] ; 3. 83-Tim Shaffer[2] ; 4.
D4-Danny Holtgraver[4] ; 5. 5R-Byron Reed[6] ; 6. 7K-Kyle Sauder[5]
University of Northwestern Ohio B-Main – (12 Laps – Top 4 finishers
transfer to the A-feature)
1. 45-Rob Chaney[1] ; 2. O-Chris Andrews[4] ; 3. 6-Jac Haudenschild[7] ; 4.
40-Caleb Helms[3] ; 5. 51-Brad Bowman[5] ; 6. 7-Darren Long[10] ; 7.
34-Luke Hall[14] ; 8. 60-Jody Keegan[12] ; 9. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[9] ;
10. 11D-Bryce Dickson[13] ; 11. 18-Todd Heuerman[19] ; 12. 35-Ronnie
Blair[2] ; 13. 7C-Tim Hunter[11] ; 14. 91-Aaron Middaugh[6] ; 15. 12-Jarred
Ridge[15] ; 16. 96AU-Bruce White[17] ; 17. 69-Scott Curren[20] ; 18. 3-Pete
Miller[16] ; 19. 10-Brad Haudenschild[8]
O’Reilly Auto Parts A-Main – (40 Laps)
1. 7K-Kyle Sauder[6]; 2. 83-Tim Shaffer[3]; 3. D4-Danny Holtgraver[4]; 4.
89G-David Gravel[8]; 5. 41-Jason Johnson[14]; 6. 2-Dale Blaney[1]; 7.
1-Stevie Smith[2]; 8. 22H-Randy Hannagan[9]; 9. 4-Danny Smith[17]; 10.
W20-Greg Wilson[20]; 11. 11X-Brandon Martin[21]; 12. O4-Cap Henry[10]; 13.
22-Cole Duncan[15]; 14. 5R-Byron Reed[5]; 15. 45-Rob Chaney[11]; 16.
1Z-Jessica Zemken[22]; 17. 53-Phil Gressman[23]; 18. 3J-Kevin Lee[7]; 19.
71-Paul May[16]; 20. O-Chris Andrews[18]; 21. 6-Jac Haudenschild[24]; 22.
97-Dean Jacobs[13]; 23. 312-Mike Linder[19]; 24. 40-Caleb Helms[12]
Hard Charger: W20-Greg Wilson[+10]