From Mercer
It was a splendid homecoming for the two-time and defending champion of the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars, Tim Shaffer. The native of Aliquippa, PA, was just fifty minutes from his home when he was standing in victory lane. Surprise wins went to Alan Knepper in the Big Daddy’s Speed Center Modified Lites and to Dennis Wagner in the ti22 Performance Outlaw Sprint Warriors. Meanwhile, Rusty Moore tied a track record by capturing his thirteenth win of the season in the Precise Racing Products Stock Cars.
“Boy, they sure made me work for that one, huh,” said Shaffer after scoring the popular win. He had to search out a different line while hew was giving chase to early leader Daryn Pittman. We were pretty good there early, and I kept telling myself that we needed to find something different.” Shaffer explained, “if you follow the guy and run the same line he is, it makes it hard to get past.”
For his part, Pittman was disappointed. “We just got beat,” he said. “The car was probably good enough, but I started making mistakes.” He made no excuses, though. “You just don’t lead that many laps and fall back to third and blame anybody but yourself,” he said.
On the opposite end of the scale of emotions was runner-up David Gravel. “We were really coming there at the end,” he said. “I just wish that it was 35 or 40 laps.” Gravel explained that, in the late stages of the race, he had the wing back, and “the car was just awesome, it just sucks that we were second.” He gave the credit to his new crew chief of four races, Tyler Swank, and to Brian Kemenah, who had been giving the Gravel team a garage from which to work.
Daryn Pittman and Tim Shaffer led the field to the green for the All Star 30 lapper. Pittman fired first, and led the first lap, ahead of Danny Holtgraver, Rod George, David Gravel and Ed Lynch, Jr.
Shaffer was nipping at Pittman’s heels, though, as they entered lapped traffic on lap five. Shaffer looked to the inside of the leader as they were weaving their way past the slower cars, while Holtgraver remained within striking distance.
The action was slowed on lap 9 for a rare miscue by George, who spun off turn two while running fourth.
On the restart, Pittman and Shaffer got away cleanly, as did Holtgraver. Marty Muscles Perovich, in one of his final outings before returning home to Australia, moved up to fourth ahead of David Gravel.
There was a red flag on lap 11, when Lernerville Speedway track champion Carl Bowser flipped in turn four. he was unhurt, but the car was unable to return to the track.
Green flag conditions prevailed for two more laps, with Gravel passing Perovich for fourth as the only significant change at the front of the pack. On lap 13, though, Andy McKisson spun off the track at the inside of turn two.
On the restart, Pittman held the lead, but just one lap later, Shaffer got a full head of steam going down the back stretch. Shaffer dove to the inside and pulled alongside Pittman through the turns. Shaffer grabbed the lead coming off tiurn four and never looked back.
After the final caution, the man on the move was David Gravel. He lined up in fourth and methodically picked off cars when the racing resumed. When he reached second, he trailed the leader, Shaffer, by a full straightaway. In the waning laps, Gravel chopped into the lead, but Shaffer had more than enough cushion to preserve the win.
When the checkers fell, it was Shaffer over Gravel and Pittman. Danny Holtgraver recovered for fourth, after falling back to fifth while racing through lapped traffic. Dale Blaney rounded out the top five.
Danny Smith and Ed Lynch, Jr. finished sixth and seventh. Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Car points leader Bob Felmlee got eighth. Fred Rahmer and Aaron Ott, looking for a dry place to race, completed the top ten.
Fast timer for the 31 cars on hand was Gravel. Heat wins went to Ott, Perovich, and Bowser. The dash winner was Shaffer, while the B Main winner was Brian Ellenberger.
All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars:
1. 83-Tim Shaffer[1], 2. 89G-David Gravel[5], 3. 27-Daryn Pittman[2], 4. D4-Danny Holtgraver[4], 5. 2-Dale Blaney[8], 6. 4-Danny Smith[12], 7. 2L-Ed Lynch Jr.[7], 8. 6F-Bob Felmlee[10], 9. 51-Fred Rahmer[11], 10. 77-Aaron Ott[16], 11. 23-Jimmy Light[9], 12. 20E-Brian Ellenberger[19], 13. 7-Eric Williams[13], 14. 4G-Rod George[3], 15. Ox-Andy McKisson[21], 16. 15-Scott Priester[15], 17. 12-Jared Ridge[23], 18. 17-Marty Perovich[17], 19. 33-Brent Matus[24], 20. 5K-Adam Kekich[22], 21. 45-Rob Chaney[6], 22. 3-Pete Miller III[20], 23. 10-Carl Bowser[18], 24. O8-Dan Kuriger[14]. Hard Charger: 20E-Brian Ellenberger[+7].
All Stars Qualifying – Kistler Engines: 1. 89G-David Gravel, 13.591, 2. 83-Tim Shaffer, 13.614, 3. 45-Rob Chaney, 13.658, 4. 4G-Rod George, 13.729, 5. 27-Daryn Pittman, 13.746, 6. D4-Danny Holtgraver, 13.759, 7. 2L-Ed Lynch Jr., 13.807, 8. 2-Dale Blaney, 13.841, 9. 23-Jimmy Light, 13.865, 10. 6F-Bob Felmlee, 13.947, 11. 51-Fred Rahmer, 13.968, 12. 4-Danny Smith, 14.041, 13. 7-Eric Williams, 14.050, 14. O8-Dan Kuriger, 14.059, 15. 15-Scott Priester, 14.091, 16. 77-Aaron Ott, 14.096, 17. 17-Marty Perovich, 14.102, 18. 10-Carl Bowser, 14.108, 19. 20E-Brian Ellenberger, 14.132, 20. 3-Pete Miller III, 14.174, 21. Ox-Andy McKisson, 14.204, 22. 5K-Adam Kekich, 14.291, 23. 12-Jared Ridge, 14.447, 24. W20-Greg Wilson, 14.560, 25. O4-Cap Henry, 14.563, 26. 13-Brandon Matus, 14.599, 27. 96-Lindsay Enscoe, 14.707, 28. 33-Brent Matus, 14.821, 29. 2S-Francis Sesco, 99.999, 30. 22S-Brandon Spithaler, 99.999, 31. 1R-Gale Ruth, 99.999.
Heat 1 – Kears Speed Shop (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature): 1. 77-Aaron Ott[1], 2. 7-Eric Williams[2], 3. 6F-Bob Felmlee[3], 4. 4G-Rod George[5], 5. 2L-Ed Lynch Jr.[4], 6. 89G-David Gravel[6], 7. 20E-Brian Ellenberger[7], 8. 5K-Adam Kekich[8], 9. O4-Cap Henry[9], 10. 33-Brent Matus[10].
Heat 2 – All Pro Heads (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature): 1. 17-Marty Perovich[1], 2. O8-Dan Kuriger[2], 3. 83-Tim Shaffer[6], 4. 51-Fred Rahmer[3], 5. 27-Daryn Pittman[5], 6. 2-Dale Blaney[4], 7. 3-Pete Miller III[7], 8. 12-Jared Ridge[8], 9. 13-Brandon Matus[9], 10. 2S-Francis Sesco[10].
Heat 3 – MSD Ignition (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature): 1. 10-Carl Bowser[1], 2. 23-Jimmy Light[4], 3. 4-Danny Smith[3], 4. D4-Danny Holtgraver[5], 5. 45-Rob Chaney[6], 6. Ox-Andy McKisson[7], 7. 15-Scott Priester[2], 8. W20-Greg Wilson[8], 9. 96-Lindsay Enscoe[9], 10. 22S-Brandon Spithaler[10].
Dash – Outerwears Performance Products (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature: 1. 83-Tim Shaffer[1], 2. 27-Daryn Pittman[2], 3. 4G-Rod George[3], 4. D4-Danny Holtgraver[4], 5. 89G-David Gravel[5], 6. 45-Rob Chaney[6].
B-Main – University of Northwestern Ohio (12 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature): 1. 20E-Brian Ellenberger[2], 2. 15-Scott Priester[1], 3. 3-Pete Miller III[3], 4. 5K-Adam Kekich[4], 5. 33-Brent Matus[10], 6. 12-Jared Ridge[5], 7. 96-Lindsay Enscoe[9], 8. 1R-Gale Ruth[13], 9. W20-Greg Wilson[6], 10. 13-Brandon Matus[8], 11. O4-Cap Henry[7], 12. 22S-Brandon Spithaler[12], 13. 2S-Francis Sesco[11].
Big Daddy’s Speed Center Mofied Lites: