QUEBEC, Canada (7-4-11) By Brian Liskai – Daryn Pittman took advantage of a
late race restart after race-long leader Fred Rahmer crashed, to sneak past
Dale Blaney and win his fourth career O’Reilly Auto Parts All Star Circuit
of Champions event Monday at Autodrome Granby.
With six laps to go Rahmer was attempting to lap Daniel Lampron when they
touched and that sent Rahmer flipping into the turn one wall. That handed
the lead to the series’ national and Ohio region point leader Dale Blaney.
On the restart Blaney would slip up slightly in turn three and Pittman was
there to pounce.
“When you’re sitting in second you have nothing else to lose. At the
beginning of the race my car was so bad I thought ‘wow I’m going to be
lucky to salvage a top five out of this. But it just kept getting better
and better as the race went on and we kind of closed back up on Dale…you
know if I was running third I probably wouldn’t have ever tried that. But,
when you’re sitting second with two to go and the top looked awful good
down there…I didn’t have a clue if it would stick or not. I thought ‘what
the hell, if I lose two spots what’s the difference between second and
fifth…it’s all the same so we just go for the win,” said Pittman beside his
Lelands.com, Pasquariello’s, Rider Racing Engines backed #27.
“We aren’t out of this points deal yet…wins are what we needed. It was a
great team effort. Shawn’s been working his butt off and I have my old crew
chief that I’ve worked with for seven years in Australia here tonight…it’s
great to get back to victory lane with him on our side,” added Pittman, who
sits in the All Star’s Eastern Region points battle behind Lance Dewease,
Blaney and Tim Shaffer.
The night got off to an ominous start as Jack Sodeman Jr. flipped violently
in Kistler Engines qualifying. Sodeman was taken to the local hospital.
After two heat races, the dash was cancelled due to curfew limitations and
the feature event was pushed out.
Rahmer would jump out to a commanding lead with Blaney in tow. Rahmer would
pull away on the fast race track as Blaney had his hands full with Pittman,
David Gravel and Tim Shaffer. Disaster struck for Rahmer on lap 24 when he
made contact with Lampron entering turn one, sending Rahmer crashing hard
into the wall. Rahmer, who ironically crashed while leading at Autodrome
last year, was taken to the hospital to be checked out.
On the restart Blaney held the lead with Pittman looking for an opportunity
to pass. Pittman would sling around Blaney entering turn three and take the
lead. Pittman, who won an All Star event earlier this year, would lead the
rest of the way. Blaney would gain valuable points in the hunt for the
$20,000 All Stars Eastern Region point’s championship with his second place
run. Gravel, Shaffer and Eastern Region points’ leader Dewease would round
out the top five.
Autodrome Granby – 7/4/2011
All Star Circuit of Champions (20 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Qualifying – Kistler Engines
1. 51-Fred Rahmer, 15.551
2. 83-Tim Shaffer, 15.711
3. 27-Pittman Daryn, 15.731
4. 2-Dale Blaney, 15.735
5. 1Z-Jessica Zemken, 15.822
6. 89G-David Gravel, 15.873
7. D4-Danny Holtgraver, 15.898
8. 30C-Lance Dewease, 15.910
9. 83H-Cap Henry, 15.937
10. 8B-Alain Bergeron, 16.114
11. 1-Stevie Smith, 16.175
12. 15C-Anthony Cain, 16.529
13. 3-Pete Miller III, 16.535
14. 28FM-Steve Poirier, 16.740
15. 25-Michael Parent, 17.061
16. 52L-Daniel Lampron, 17.176
17. 29-Dick Spadaro, 17.580
18. 87-George Suprick III, 99.990
19. 44-Frank Cozze, 99.990
20. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr., nt
Heat 1 – Kears Speed Shop (8 Laps – Top 10 finishers transfer to the
A-feature)
1. 51-Fred Rahmer[6]
2. 1-Stevie Smith[1]
3. 83H-Cap Henry[2]
4. 1Z-Jessica Zemken[4]
5. 27-Pittman Daryn[5]
6. D4-Danny Holtgraver[3]
7. 25-Michael Parent[8]
8. 3-Pete Miller III[7]
9. 29-Dick Spadaro[9]
10. 44-Frank Cozze[10]
Heat 2 – All Pro Heads (8 Laps – Top 10 finishers transfer to the
A-feature)
1. 2-Dale Blaney[5]
2. 83-Tim Shaffer[6]
3. 30C-Lance Dewease[3]
4. 89G-David Gravel[4]
5. 15C-Anthony Cain[1]
6. 52L-Daniel Lampron[8]
7. 8B-Alain Bergeron[2]
8. 28FM-Steve Poirier[7]
A-Main – O’Reilly Auto Parts (40 Laps)
1. 27-Pittman Daryn[2]
2. 2-Dale Blaney[4]
3. 89G-David Gravel[5]
4. 83-Tim Shaffer[6]
5. 30C-Lance Dewease[8]
6. D4-Danny Holtgraver[7]
7. 1-Stevie Smith[11]
8. 1Z-Jessica Zemken[3]
9. 44-Frank Cozze[19]
10. 8B-Alain Bergeron[10]
11. 15C-Anthony Cain[12]
12. 51-Fred Rahmer[1]
13. 25-Michael Parent[15]
14. 52L-Daniel Lampron[16]
15. 3-Pete Miller III[13]
16. 83H-Cap Henry[9]
17. 87-George Suprick III[18]
18. 29-Dick Spadaro[17]
19. 28FM-Steve Poirier[14]
20. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr.[20]
Hard Charger: 44-Frank Cozze[+10]