Blaney scores 84th career All Star win, takes advantage of Shaffer’s misfortune

All Star Circuit of Champions ascoc 2011 2012
All Star Circuit of Champions ascoc 2011 2012

By Brian Liskai

ROSSBURG, OH (10-1-2011) – It looked like Tim Shaffer was
finally going to break his All Star Circuit of Champions drought at Eldora
Speedway Saturday on University of Northwestern Ohio Night. But when Rob
Chaney tumbled late in the race, Shaffer and Terry McCarl got together
trying to avoid the crash and spun. This handed the lead to Blaney who had
troubles of his own with a motor that just wouldn’t take off on restarts,
but was good enough to take him to the victory, his 84th career All Star
win.

“We kind of got lucky. Shaffer was probably going to win. When Chaney
filliped Shaffer and McCarl got together and Shaffer spun. They put him on
the tail for being involved in the crash…it was a judgment call,” said
Blaney beside his Ti22 Performance backed machine.

“My car didn’t take off at all on the start until the gate by turn three.
We have a mag problem or something. On that last restart I was just
fortunate no one behind me could get around…the motor just wouldn’t take
off,” added Blaney. “It feels good to get a win at Eldora again…it’s been a
couple of years.”

Shaffer would come back to finish seventh and claim the $20,000 prize for
winning the All Star Circuit of Champion’s Ohio Region points. Shaffer, who
won the $10,000 Great Plaines Region points, also padded his National point
lead.

“We came up on Chaney’s crash so quickly…and we both weren’t sure where he
was going. You just have to make a decision on where to go and we both went
low and I clipped the rear of his (McCarl) car and spun. It was just one of
those deals. Dang I wanted to win an All Star race at Eldora…I’ve won three
or four World of Outlaw races there, but I really wanted this one,” said
Shaffer beside his Aaron Call/Janet Holbrook owned machine.

“It’s great we won the All Star’s Ohio deal…it’s a nice reward for the hard
work my guys put into this team,” continued Shaffer whose #83 carries
Kistler Engines/Kistler Racing Products sponsorship.

Blaney and Randy Hannagan would lead the field to the green with Hannagan
taking the lead. But third starting Shaffer and fourth starting Brad Sweet
clearly had the cars to beat. Shaffer would grab the early lead with Sweet
applying constant pressure to “The Steel City Outlaw.” But, Sweet’s
challenge would end with about 10 laps to go when he retired with
mechanical woes.

It looked like Shaffer would drive away with the win, but Chaney got upside
down in turn 1 with seven laps to go, and as Terry McCarl tried to avoid
Chaney, he and Shaffer got together with Shaffer spinning. That gave the
lead to Blaney who cruised to the win over Hannagan, who also finished
second in the NRA Sprint Invaders’ feature, Danny Smith (up from 12th),
David Gravel and Dustin Daggett.

Blaney’s 84th career All Star win – his eighth of 2011 – moves him closer
to all-time series win leader Kenny Jacobs who has 98.

For Hannagan, it was a great night at Tony Stewart’s Big E. He would also
finish second in the NRA Sprint Invaders feature.

“I felt good at the start and that’s when I knew I was a sitting duck.
Usually if you’re tight at the beginning of the race here, you’re pretty
good at the end. I was good early and new I was going to be in trouble
late. The car just got loose at the end. But, for having only run a handful
of 410 shows this year, we’ve had pretty good results. Hopefully we can do
a little more of that next year and get into victory lane,” said Hannagan
beside his Central Valley Meat Company/Kenny’s Components/Gaerte Engines
backed machine.

Eldora Speedway – 10/1/2011

All Star Circuit of Champions (29 Cars)

[#]-Starting Position

Qualifying – Kistler Engines

1. 22H-Randy Hannagan, 13.076; 2. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.128; 3. 2-Dale Blaney,
13.225; 4. 89G-David Gravel, 13.235; 5. 83-Tim Shaffer, 13.294; 6. 7-Darren
Long, 13.308; 7. 45-Rob Chaney, 13.310; 8. O4-Cap Henry, 13.312; 9.
2M-Dustin Dagget, 13.320; 10. 7K-Kyle Sauder, 13.326; 11. 4-Danny Smith,
13.374; 12. 78-Todd Kane, 13.387; 13. D4-Danny Holtgraver, 13.424; 14.
22-Cole Duncan, 13.454; 15. 97-Dean Jacobs, 13.547; 16. W20-Greg Wilson,
13.582; 17. 34-Luke Hall, 13.595; 18. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.598; 19.
7C-Phil Gressman, 13.603; 20. 55-Terry McCarl, 13.611; 21. O-Lee Jacobs,
13.644; 22. 11N-Ed Neumeister, 13.732; 23. 6M-Dallas Hewit, 14.019; 24.
3-Pete Miller III, 14.109; 25. 60-Kory Carbtree, 14.371; 26. 2X-Nathan
Skaggs, 14.433; 27. 92-Sam Ashworth, 14.452; 28. 5T-Travis Philo, 14.612;
29. 27-Scott Euler, 14.804

Heat 1 – Kears Speed Shop (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the
A-feature)

1. W20-Greg Wilson[1] ; 2. 7K-Kyle Sauder[3] ; 3. 45-Rob Chaney[4] ; 4.
22H-Randy Hannagan[6] ; 5. 89G-David Gravel[5] ; 6. D4-Danny Holtgraver[2]
; 7. 7C-Phil Gressman[7] ; 8. 5T-Travis Philo[10] ; 9. 60-Kory Carbtree[9]
; 10. 11N-Ed Neumeister[8]

Heat 2 – All Pro Heads (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)

1. O4-Cap Henry[4] ; 2. 34-Luke Hall[1] ; 3. 83-Tim Shaffer[5] ; 4. 22-Cole
Duncan[2] ; 5. 49-Brad Sweet[6] ; 6. 55-Terry McCarl[7] ; 7. 2X-Nathan
Skaggs[9] ; 8. 27-Scott Euler[10] ; 9. 4-Danny Smith[3] ; 10. 6M-Dallas
Hewit[8]

Heat 3 – MSD Ignition (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)

1. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[1] ; 2. 97-Dean Jacobs[2] ; 3. 2M-Dustin
Dagget[4] ; 4. 2-Dale Blaney[6] ; 5. O-Lee Jacobs[7] ; 6. 78-Todd Kane[3] ;
7. 3-Pete Miller III[8] ; 8. 92-Sam Ashworth[9] ; 9. 7-Darren Long[5]

Dash – Outerwears Performance Products (6 Laps, finishing order determined
first 6 starting positions of A-feature

1. 2-Dale Blaney[2] ; 2. 22H-Randy Hannagan[3] ; 3. 83-Tim Shaffer[4] ; 4.
49-Brad Sweet[5] ; 5. 89G-David Gravel[1] ; 6. 45-Rob Chaney[6]

B-Main – University of Northwestern Ohio (12 Laps – Top 6 finishers
transfer to the A-feature)

1. 7-Darren Long[1] ; 2. 4-Danny Smith[2] ; 3. 7C-Phil Gressman[3] ; 4.
3-Pete Miller III[6] ; 5. 60-Kory Carbtree[7] ; 6. 2X-Nathan Skaggs[8] ; 7.
5T-Travis Philo[10] ; 8. 92-Sam Ashworth[9] ; 9. 27-Scott Euler[11] ; 10.
11N-Ed Neumeister[4] ; 11. 6M-Dallas Hewit[5]

A-Main – (30 Laps)

1. 2-Dale Blaney[1]; 2. 22H-Randy Hannagan[2]; 3. 4-Danny Smith[12]; 4.
89G-David Gravel[5]; 5. 2M-Dustin Dagget[8]; 6. 7K-Kyle Sauder[9]; 7.
83-Tim Shaffer[3]; 8. D4-Danny Holtgraver[13]; 9. 55-Terry McCarl[20]; 10.
7-Darren Long[11]; 11. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[18]; 12. W20-Greg
Wilson[16]; 13. 22-Cole Duncan[14]; 14. 97-Dean Jacobs[15]; 15. 3-Pete
Miller III[22]; 16. 34-Luke Hall[17]; 17. 45-Rob Chaney[6]; 18. 49-Brad
Sweet[4]; 19. O-Lee Jacobs[21]; 20. 78-Todd Kane[10]; 21. O4-Cap Henry[7];
22. 60-Kory Carbtree[23]; 23. 7C-Phil Gressman[19]; 24. 2X-Nathan
Skaggs[24]

Hard Charger: 55-Terry McCarl[+11]