By Brian Liskai,Jan Dunlap photo
WAYNESFIELD, Ohio (Saturday, June 23, 2012) – Sprint car drivers are, by definition, highly competitive. This can lead to them pushing themselves too hard at times.
Such has been the case for Broken Arrow, Oklahoma’s Stevie Smith.
Though he is a veteran of many years of racing, 2012 brought a new team and many challenges for Smith. One of his goals was to get his 200th career victory. He admits it’s been a struggle to get to that magical number. But, his team has worked hard, and Saturday, it paid off as Smith passed race-long leader Cap Henry with eight laps to go to take night #2 of the University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions’ 30th Annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek at Waynesfield Raceway Park.
“These guys have worked so hard. I need to thank everybody. Chris Luck started this team and kept it going and of course we have Chad and Jen Clemens and Renee North…we have the whole crew. We got Brian Bloomfield and Sparky and Kyle Luetters…it’s just a big crew…a big family. John Anthony is helping us this weekend and a lot of Brian’s family like Ed Haudenschild…it’s just a great group of people,” said Smith beside his CJB Motorsports/Digital Delivery Network Inc./Spectro Oils backed #19.
“I was just a little tight in the beginning. I had to keep telling myself ‘you need to calm down’ because I’m on the verge of tearing something up every night just trying to get this first win for this team. It’s not my style to get into this many bumps and bangs but I’ve been doing it…it’s been all on my own. Now we have our first win with the CL Motorsports team and we’re going to build off of that,” added Smith of his 17th career UNOH All Star victory. “That 54 car has been pretty darn fast and that team has been working hard and he’s getting hard to beat.”
For Henry, who led the first 36 laps of the Ohio Sprint Speedweek opener the previous night at Attica Raceway Park, only to get caught up when a lapped car flipped in front of him, possibly taking away his first All Star win, once again leading much of the race and coming home second was a bit of redemption.
“I was just trying so hard, especially knowing Stevie was behind me. I knew he had a good car when I got him at the start, but in traffic I knew it was going to be tough,” said Henry beside his Stanton Mopar/FK Rods/Lucas Oil backed #54. “This definitely helps heal some of the wounds from last night. I was having flash backs with 30 laps in. I thought ‘here we go again,” but it was a good night…I can accept this.”
Three-time and defending UNOH All Star champion Tim Shaffer waged a race long battle with Paul McMahan, Byron Reed, Bryan Sebetto and Sam Hafertepe Jr. before claiming the third finishing position.
“That was a really awesome race. To slide back and forth was fun. My guys gave me a really good car tonight…we really felt good tonight,” said Shaffer beside his Aaron Call/Janet Holbrook owned, Kistler Engines/Kistler Racing Products backed #83. “Hopefully we’re getting back on track. We’ll take a third place….it’s going to be a tough week and we have a lot of tough competition…the kids are getting faster.
Smith and Henry, the later breaking Smith’s two year old Waynesfield qualifying record earlier in the evening, would pace the field to the green on the fast bullring. Right away, you somehow knew the race was going to be decided by these two as Smith led the opening lap by a nose before Henry blasted by. The huge crowd was also treated to a fantastic battle for third between Paul McMahan, Byron Reed, Sam Hafertepe, Bryan Sebetto, Greg Wilson and Shaffer.
Henry would pull away slightly and encountered heavy lapped traffic by the fifth circuit. The race would grind to a half on lap eight when Craig Mintz, Dale Blaney and Lee Jacobs tangled in turn two with Blaney ending up on his side. Blaney and Mintz would retire pit side while Jacobs rejoined the field after repairs.
On the restart, Henry had four lapped cars separating him from Smith with McMahan, Reed, Sebetto, Shaffer and Wilson in tow. Henry would fly away on the restart while Smith had to negotiate the four lapped machines. Henry would again catch the rear of the field on lap 15, but Smith could not close as McMahan, Reed, Shaffer, Sebetto and Hafertepe waged a tremendous battle for third.
Henry would continue to dice and slice his way through traffic, but by the 27th circuit, Smith was closing with McMahan, Hafertepe, Shaffer and Sebetto also narrowing the gap. As the field raced into turns one and two after completing the 31st lap, Smith dove under Henry to grab the lead down the back stretch. Shaffer would drive into third on lap 34 with Hafertepe and Sebetto continuing to apply pressure.
Smith was able to drive his Black Bandit machine any where on the track, and pulled away for the win while Henry would come home second, with Shaffer, Hafertepe and Sebetto rounding out the top five.
Waynesfield Raceway Park – 6/23/2012
UNOH Night
All Star Circuit of Champions (45 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Qualifying – Kistler Engines
1. 54-Cap Henry, 10.363; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr., 10.364; 3. 19-Stevie Smith, 10.410; 4. 89G-David Gravel, 10.541; 5. 5R-Byron Reed, 10.566; 6. 71AU-Ryan Davis, 10.570; 7. 45-Paul McMahan, 10.575; 8. W20-Greg Wilson, 10.580; 9. 24H-Bryan Sebetto, 10.601; 10. 83-Tim Shaffer, 10.610; 11. 11N-Ed Neumeister, 10.631; 12. 29-Rob Chaney, 10.675; 13. 55-Brad Bowman, 10.687; 14. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 10.722; 15. 9X-Brandon Martin, 10.748; 16. O-Lee Jacobs, 10.753; 17. 46AU-Stuart Williams, 10.754; 18. O9-Craig Mintz, 10.766; 19. 53-Phil Gressman, 10.768; 20. 2-Dale Blaney, 10.782; 21. D4-Danny Holtgraver, 10.800; 22. 5T-Travis Philo, 10.806; 23. 14W-Chad Wilson, 10.833; 24. 4-Danny Smith, 10.866; 25. 2M-Dallas Hewitt, 10.867; 26. 3L-Mike Linder, 10.873; 27. 97-Dean Jacobs, 10.876; 28. 3-Pete Miller III, 10.905; 29. 4K-Kody Kinser, 10.930; 30. 22-Cole Duncan, 10.931; 31. 22B-Ryan Broughton, 10.940; 32. 60C-Kory Crabtree, 10.950; 33. 17-Marty Perovich, 10.952; 34. 80-Trey Gustin, 10.984; 35. 45L-Brian Lay, 11.019; 36. 1X-Randy Hannagan, 11.037; 37. 30C-Lance Dewease, 11.075; 38. 1-Chad Blonde, 11.096; 39. 49-Shawn Dancer, 11.165; 40. 9W-Lance Webb, 11.382; 41. 35R-Ronnie Blair, 11.423; 42. 40-Caleb Helms, 11.547; 43. O6-Brandy Bower, 11.553; 44. 22D-Josh Davis, 11.748; 45. 40I-Mark Imler, 15.081
Heat 1 – Kears Speed Shop (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 5R-Byron Reed[5] ; 2. 46AU-Stuart Williams[2] ; 3. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[4] ; 4. D4-Danny Holtgraver[1] ; 5. 54-Cap Henry[6] ; 6. 30C-Lance Dewease[10] ; 7. 4K-Kody Kinser[8] ; 8. 55-Brad Bowman[3] ; 9. 17-Marty Perovich[9] ; 10. 35R-Ronnie Blair[11] ; 11. 2M-Dallas Hewitt[7] ; 12. 40I-Mark Imler[12]
Heat 2 – All Pro Aluminum Heads (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. O9-Craig Mintz[2] ; 2. 83-Tim Shaffer[4] ; 3. 5T-Travis Philo[1] ; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[6] ; 5. 22-Cole Duncan[8] ; 6. 35-Stuart Brubaker[3] ; 7. 71AU-Ryan Davis[5] ; 8. 1-Chad Blonde[10] ; 9. 40-Caleb Helms[11] ; 10. 80-Trey Gustin[9] ; 11. 3L-Mike Linder[7]
Heat 3 – Dragon Race Fuel (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 53-Phil Gressman[2] ; 2. 14W-Chad Wilson[1] ; 3. 9X-Brandon Martin[3] ; 4. 45-Paul McMahan[5] ; 5. 19-Stevie Smith[6] ; 6. 97-Dean Jacobs[7] ; 7. 11N-Ed Neumeister[4] ; 8. 22B-Ryan Broughton[8] ; 9. 45L-Brian Lay[9] ; 10. 49-Shawn Dancer[10] ; 11. O6-Brandy Bower[11]
Heat 4 – Kinsler Fuel Injection (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 29-Rob Chaney[4] ; 2. 89G-David Gravel[6] ; 3. 4-Danny Smith[1] ; 4. O-Lee Jacobs[3] ; 5. W20-Greg Wilson[5] ; 6. 60C-Kory Crabtree[8] ; 7. 22D-Josh Davis[11] ; 8. 1X-Randy Hannagan[9] ; 9. 9W-Lance Webb[10] ; 10. 3-Pete Miller III[7] ; 11. 2-Dale Blaney[2]
Dash – Outerwears Performance Products (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 19-Stevie Smith[1] ; 2. 54-Cap Henry[3] ; 3. 5R-Byron Reed[2] ; 4. 45-Paul McMahan[4] ; 5. 89G-David Gravel[6] ; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[5]
C-Main – Computer Man Inc. (10 Laps – Top 2 finishers transfer to the B-feature)
1. 40-Caleb Helms[4] ; 2. 35R-Ronnie Blair[3] ; 3. 22D-Josh Davis[6] ; 4. O6-Brandy Bower[5] ; 5. 9W-Lance Webb[2] ; 6. 40I-Mark Imler[7]
B-Main – MSD Ignition (12 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 2-Dale Blaney[5] ; 2. 35-Stuart Brubaker[4] ; 3. 97-Dean Jacobs[8] ; 4. 11N-Ed Neumeister[2] ; 5. 3L-Mike Linder[7] ; 6. 55-Brad Bowman[3] ; 7. 17-Marty Perovich[13] ; 8. 45L-Brian Lay[15] ; 9. 2M-Dallas Hewitt[6] ; 10. 1-Chad Blonde[18] ; 11. 30C-Lance Dewease[17] ; 12. 40-Caleb Helms[-] ; 13. 22B-Ryan Broughton[11] ; 14. 1X-Randy Hannagan[16] ; 15. 35R-Ronnie Blair[-] ; 16. 80-Trey Gustin[14] ; 17. 4K-Kody Kinser[10] ; 18. 60C-Kory Crabtree[12] ; 19. 71AU-Ryan Davis[1]
A-Main – University of Northwestern Ohio (40 Laps)
1. 19-Stevie Smith[1]; 2. 54-Cap Henry[2]; 3. 83-Tim Shaffer[9]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[6]; 5. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[8]; 6. 45-Paul McMahan[4]; 7. W20-Greg Wilson[7]; 8. 29-Rob Chaney[10]; 9. 5R-Byron Reed[3]; 10. 89G-David Gravel[5]; 11. 4-Danny Smith[22]; 12. D4-Danny Holtgraver[19]; 13. 97-Dean Jacobs[23]; 14. 9X-Brandon Martin[13]; 15. 53-Phil Gressman[17]; 16. 5T-Travis Philo[20]; 17. 46AU-Stuart Williams[15]; 18. 14W-Chad Wilson[21]; 19. 35-Stuart Brubaker[12]; 20. O-Lee Jacobs[14]; 21. 22-Cole Duncan[24]; 22. 11N-Ed Neumeister[11]; 23. 2-Dale Blaney[18]; 24. O9-Craig Mintz[16]
Hard Charger: 4-Danny Smith[+11]
©2011 – Results Provided by: Computer Man Inc. Fremont, OH
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