By Brian Liskai
CHILLICOTHE, OH (7-1-11) – Dale Blaney knows you have to be
ready to take advantage when opportunity comes knocking. The Hartford, Ohio
did just that when Tim Shaffer would spin while leading Friday’s “Night the
Stars Come Out” event at KC Raceway. Blaney would make the most of his
second chance and would held off a charging David Gravel for his 81st
career win with the O’Reilly Auto Parts All Star Circuit of Champions and
his second straight at KC, having won the Ohio Sprint Speedweek show the
previous week.
Blaney and Shaffer would pace the field to the green with “The Low Rider”
taking the lead. Cole Duncan would jump the cushion and flip soon after,
collecting Pete Miller III, Jim Neir and Danny Smith. After a lap seven
restart for a stalled Jac Haudenschild, Shaffer would challenge Blaney for
the next seven circuits. A slide job in turn one on lap eight would move
“The Steel City Outlaw” into the lead.
Rob Chaney and Cap Henry began to close in on Shaffer and Blaney, but on
lap 18 Chaney would jump the cushion and went spinning off turn two.
Shaffer would pull away on the restart, but on lap 20 something appeared to
happen to his Aaron Call/Janet Holbrook machine as he spun on the back
stretch. The two-time and defending All Star champion would take his
Kistler Engines backed car to the capable hands of crew chief Brian Kemenah
and the team was able to make repairs as Shaffer rejoined the field at the
tail.
The caution would fly on lap 23 for Miller as Henry’s great run ended with
engine woes. That prompted a fuel stoppage. On the restart Shaffer had
already picked off five cars on his charge back to the front.
Blaney would rim-ride back into the lead with 2010 Ohio Sprint Speedweek
champion David Gravel closing. After taking the white flag, Gravel would
dive under Blaney, but the three-time All Star champ would maintain the
lead and go on to the victory over the DDR Motorsports machine of Gravel,
the Crone Lumber #4k of Cody Kinser and the All Star Plumbing and Heating
machine of Greg Wilson, who once again charged from the back of the pack –
17th to fourth – while Shaffer would rebound for a fifth place run.
“We had a really good car but Tim was a little bit better than I was. I
really don’t know what happened to him…sometimes you get lucky and
sometimes you don’t. It would have been awful hard to get back by
him…sometimes it just works out,” said Blaney beside his George Fisher
Racing, Ti22 Performance backed #2.
For Gravel, he hopes the second place run gets the monkey off his team’s
back.
“We’ve been fast all along but we just can’t put a night together.
Hopefully we can keep the ball rolling now,” said Gravel beside his P&M
Transportation, IGA Hometown Wheels, My Basement Doctor backed #89G.
For young Kody Kinser it was his best ever All Star finish.
“We always run real well here. It was a crazy race but it’s always like
that here…things happen fast. Dad (Kelly) had this car as one of those cars
to beat when he drove and I’m just trying to get it back to that
reputation,” said Kinser beside his Kinser Timbler backed #4k.
KC Raceway – 7/1/2011
All Star Circuit of Champions (29 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Qualifying – Kistler Engines
1. 89G-David Gravel, 11.580; 2. D4-Danny Holtgraver, 11.737; 3. 22-Cole
Duncan, 11.874; 4. 2-Dale Blaney, 11.881; 5. 83-Tim Shaffer, 11.919; 6.
45-Rob Chaney, 11.980; 7. O4-Cap Henry, 11.982; 8. 4K-Kody Kinser, 12.027;
9. 6-Jac Haudenschild, 12.052; 10. 78-Todd Kane, 12.082; 11. 4-Danny Smith,
12.085; 12. OO-Jim Nier, 12.085; 13. 1Z-Jessica Zemken, 12.109; 14.
12-Jared Ridge, 12.115; 15. 11N-Ed Neumeister, 12.124; 16. 6X-Nick Nabor,
12.135; 17. w20-Greg Wilson, 12.149; 18. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 12.260;
19. 7-Darren Long, 12.320; 20. 3-Pete Miller III, 12.425; 21. 11D-Bryce
Dickson, 12.452; 22. 41-Randy Fink, 12.666; 23. 4X-Eddie Slone, 12.777; 24.
O6-Brandy Bower, 13.122; 25. 2N-Nathan Skaggs, 13.240; 26. 3F-Rick Frayley,
13.525; 27. A79-John Shewbrooks, 14.656; 28. X-Jeb Lowder, 99.999; 29.
9J-Jesse McCreary, 99.999
Heat 1 – Kears Speed Shop (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the
A-feature)
1. 6X-Nick Nabor[1] ; 2. 1Z-Jessica Zemken[2] ; 3. 2-Dale Blaney[5] ; 4.
O4-Cap Henry[4] ; 5. 78-Todd Kane[3] ; 6. 89G-David Gravel[6] ; 7. 7-Darren
Long[7] ; 8. 2N-Nathan Skaggs[9] ; 9. 41-Randy Fink[8] ; 10. X-Jeb
Lowder[10]
Heat 2 – All Pro Heads (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. w20-Greg Wilson[1] ; 2. 4-Danny Smith[3] ; 3. 12-Jared Ridge[2] ; 4.
83-Tim Shaffer[5] ; 5. 4K-Kody Kinser[4] ; 6. 3-Pete Miller III[7] ; 7.
D4-Danny Holtgraver[6] ; 8. 9J-Jesse McCreary[10] ; 9. 3F-Rick Frayley[9] ;
10. 4X-Eddie Slone[8]
Heat 3 – MSD Ignition (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[1] ; 2. 6-Jac Haudenschild[4] ; 3. OO-Jim
Nier[3] ; 4. 45-Rob Chaney[5] ; 5. 11N-Ed Neumeister[2] ; 6. 22-Cole
Duncan[6] ; 7. O6-Brandy Bower[8] ; 8. 11D-Bryce Dickson[7] ; 9. A79-John
Shewbrooks[9]
Dash – Outerwears Performance Products (6 Laps, finishing order determined
first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 2-Dale Blaney[2] ; 2. 83-Tim Shaffer[4] ; 3. 45-Rob Chaney[1] ; 4.
O4-Cap Henry[5] ; 5. 89G-David Gravel[3] ; 6. 22-Cole Duncan[6]
B-Main – University of Northwestern Ohio (12 Laps – Top 6 finishers
transfer to the A-feature)
1. D4-Danny Holtgraver[1] ; 2. 7-Darren Long[2] ; 3. 11D-Bryce Dickson[3] ;
4. 2N-Nathan Skaggs[7] ; 5. 4X-Eddie Slone[5] ; 6. O6-Brandy Bower[6] ; 7.
9J-Jesse McCreary[11] ; 8. 41-Randy Fink[4] ; 9. 3F-Rick Frayley[8] ; 10.
A79-John Shewbrooks[9] ; 11. X-Jeb Lowder[10]
A-Main – O’Reilly Auto Parts (40 Laps)
1. 2-Dale Blaney[1]; 2. 89G-David Gravel[5]; 3. 4K-Kody Kinser[7]; 4.
w20-Greg Wilson[17]; 5. 83-Tim Shaffer[2]; 6. 1Z-Jessica Zemken[13]; 7.
78-Todd Kane[9]; 8. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[18]; 9. D4-Danny
Holtgraver[11]; 10. 12-Jared Ridge[14]; 11. 11D-Bryce Dickson[21]; 12.
2N-Nathan Skaggs[24]; 13. 11N-Ed Neumeister[15]; 14. 6X-Nick Nabor[16]; 15.
4X-Eddie Slone[22]; 16. O6-Brandy Bower[23]; 17. O4-Cap Henry[4]; 18.
3-Pete Miller III[20]; 19. 45-Rob Chaney[3]; 20. 7-Darren Long[19]; 21.
6-Jac Haudenschild[8]; 22. 22-Cole Duncan[6]; 23. 4-Danny Smith[10]; 24.
OO-Jim Nier[12]
Hard Charger: w20-Greg Wilson[+13]