By Brian Liskai
WILMOT, WI (July 21, 2012) – After having missed the last
two University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions events
due to mechanical issues with his team’s tow vehicle, Dale Blaney was
chomping at the bit to get back behind the wheel of his Ti22 Performance
machine.
Blaney, a three time UNOH All Star champion, dominated the early portions
of the “Outlaw Sprintacular” co-sanctioned UNOH All Stars/Bumper to Bumper
IRA Outlaw Sprint Series event Saturday at Wilmot Raceway. “The Low Rider”
then had to hold off three time UNOH All Star Champion and current series’
point leader Tim Shaffer and IRA champion Bill Balog in the closing laps to
score the win.
It was Blaney’s 7th UNOH All Star win of 2012 and the 91st of his career,
moving him to within seven victories of tying hall-of-famer Kenny Jacobs
for the series’ all-time win lead.
“I blew the rust off…it’s seems like it’s been three weeks since I ran
last,” joked Blaney. “Seriously, I hung around David Gravel the last two
races and watched. I think some times when you can just watch what other
racers are doing; it can help make you a better driver.”
“We have been good just about every race this year. We were dominant most
of the race, but the last couple of laps in traffic was a challenge. We got
a little tight with two or three to go and the middle where I had been
running blew off so I had to search around and try to get around traffic,”
added Blaney.
The event was the first of the UNOH All Star’s annual Thunder Through the
Plains, which features nine races and carries a $10,000-to-win point fund
as part of the series’ Great Plains Region.
Shaffer, who had won the last two UNOH All Star events in New York, would
settle for second.
“I started complaining because we didn’t win tonight and then I remembered
we have been really good the last month. We have new personnel this year
and that has put a lot of weight on me. But, Dave Lawrence and James
Chambers are busting their butts and we are really starting to communicate
well. I’ll gladly shoulder more responsibilities with the team when we are
running well…we are having a lot of fun,” said Shaffer of his Aaron
Call/Janet Holbrook Motorsports owned machine.
“I heard a lot of negative stuff about this track…it was fantastic. The
track was very racy. It was like any other track…it changed during the
course of the feature and you had to move around and look for a better
groove. Hats off to Dale and George (Fisher, crew chief). They have been
together a long time and they work very well together. They had the better
car tonight,” added Shaffer beside his Kistler Engines, VRP Shocks backed
#83. “What a great atmosphere at this place. The attitudes from the fans
were awesome. We stayed a long time after the races to talk to the fans.
There’s something to build on here…I hope we can come back a lot more.”
Balog, who has won the last four IRA championships and has scored two of
his series leading 9 feature events in 2012 at Wilmot, would earn the
feature’s “hard-charger” honor by blasting his eighth starting spot to
finish third.
“That was cool…it was a lot of fun,” said Balog, who hails from Brookfield,
Wisconsin. “We blew a motor last night and it was our second one…we were
done. I called a friend who had a fresh Shaver motor and convinced him to
let us borrow it. Finishing third to Dale Blaney and Tim Shaffer…heck, they
have won the Kings Royal and Knoxville Nationals between them…it doesn’t
get much better than that.”
“We race here a lot and the All Star guys…most have never seen this place,
so we had an advantage. But, they showed why they are some of the best in
the business,” added Balog beside his Buesser Concrete, Hoeft Builders,
Gleason Equipment backed #17B. “Lapped traffic was crazy tonight. It seemed
like we were in traffic in the first lap. That makes it fun and
challenging.”
Twenty-four drivers would accept the green flag for the 35-lap main event
with UNOH All Star series drivers dominating the first four rows, holding
down six of the top eight positions. Blaney, who sat on the pole, would
outgun David Gravel, who had two runner-up finishes in the last pair of All
Star events, to take the early lead. Shaffer had started in the third
position and darted past Gravel for the second spot before the completion
of lap two.
The lead duo of Blaney and Shaffer would check out on the field while Cap
Henry would work by Gravel for the third position prior to the first
caution which appeared for a spin by Wilmot Raceway regular Rusty Egan on
lap 10. Egan would loop his ride again moments later forcing the second
caution of the contest.
When the green reappeared, Blaney would again show the way as Shaffer
worked past lapped cars while trying to close the gap on the leader. Balog
began to use his knowledge of the track to pick off positions, working past
Paul McMahan and Gravel to reach the fourth spot.
The pace would be slowed again on lap 21 when Marty Perovich came to a halt
on the track. Four more laps went into the books before the first and only
red flag of the event occurred when 2011 Wilmot Raceway champion Tommy
Sexton flipped his mount heading into turn one. Sexton would emerge from
his battered machine unhurt but the incident negated a solid top 10 showing
for the popular local racer.
Under the red-flag, series officials allowed the pit crews to head
trackside to add additional fuel and make adjustments for the final 10
laps.
The rest of the race would pass without any further interruption as Blaney
negotiating through lapped traffic with Shaffer staying within striking
distance.
Meanwhile, fourth running Balog brought the capacity crowd to their feet as
he worked the high line. After taking the white flag, Balog would sweep
past Henry for third and then make a daring attempt to get by Shaffer off
the final turn. That effort would fall just short with Blaney taking the
win by two car lengths over Shaffer who narrowly edged out Balog. Henry
would settle for fourth followed by IRA regular Mike Reinke, who scored his
second straight top five in IRA action.
Gravel and McMahan finished sixth and seventh respectively, while IRA
Series regular Phillip Mock earned eighth. Perovich and Mike Kertscher
would comprise the top 10 finishers.
Wilmot Raceway – 7/21/2012
All Star Circuit of Champions (38 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Qualifying – Kistler Engines
1. 89G-David Gravel, 13.143; 2. 2-Dale Blaney, 13.183; 3. 54-Cap Henry,
13.302; 4. 83-Tim Shaffer, 13.387; 5. 17-Marty Perovich, 13.421; 6. O2-Mike
Reinke, 13.457; 7. 45-Paul McMahan, 13.570; 8. 17B-Bill Balog, 13.701; 9.
1M-Phil Mock, 13.754; 10. 56-Ryan Irwin, 13.828; 11. 68-Dave Uttech,
13.838; 12. 4K-Kris Spitz, 13.849; 13. 80K-Mike Kertscher, 13.872; 14.
50-Rusty Egan, 13.872; 15. 9-Raymond Hensley, 13.911; 16. 79-Korey Weyant,
13.954; 17. 3-Scott Young, 13.961; 18. 53W-Bill Wirth, 14.057; 19.
2W-Scotty Neitzel, 14.087; 20. 23-Russel Borland, 14.090; 21. O1-Chris
Dodd, 14.098; 22. 83D-Tommy Sexton, 14.100; 23. 8A-Nick Alden, 14.103; 24.
7-Scott Uttech, 14.123; 25. 41-Dennis Spitz, 14.132; 26. 94-Brandon Thone,
14.134; 27. 95-Billy Warren, 14.181; 28. 11-Darrell Dodd, 14.271; 29.
43-Jereme Schroeder, 14.281; 30. 5H-Patrick Haynes, 14.418; 31. 14AJ-Wayne
Modjeski, 14.435; 32. 14-Kenny Haynes, 14.538; 33. 12-Mike Decker, 14.705;
34. 20R-Robbie Pribnow, 14.790; 35. 38-Allen Hafford, 14.914; 36. 25-Steve
Muth, 15.062; 37. 71-Chad Tessman, 15.583; 38. 28B-Matt Bolin, 15.751
Heat 1 – Kears Speed Shop (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the
A-feature)
1. 80K-Mike Kertscher[3] ; 2. 17-Marty Perovich[5] ; 3. 89G-David Gravel[6]
; 4. 43-Jereme Schroeder[8] ; 5. 1M-Phil Mock[4] ; 6. 3-Scott Young[2] ; 7.
12-Mike Decker[9] ; 8. 41-Dennis Spitz[7] ; 9. 71-Chad Tessman[10] ; 10.
O1-Chris Dodd[1]
Heat 2 – All Pro Aluminum Heads (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the
A-feature)
1. 2-Dale Blaney[6] ; 2. 83D-Tommy Sexton[1] ; 3. O2-Mike Reinke[5] ; 4.
53W-Bill Wirth[2] ; 5. 50-Rusty Egan[3] ; 6. 94-Brandon Thone[7] ; 7.
20R-Robbie Pribnow[9] ; 8. 5H-Patrick Haynes[8] ; 9. 28B-Matt Bolin[10] ;
10. 56-Ryan Irwin[4]
Heat 3 – Dragon Race Fuels (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the
A-feature)
1. 54-Cap Henry[6] ; 2. 2W-Scotty Neitzel[2] ; 3. 45-Paul McMahan[5] ; 4.
9-Raymond Hensley[3] ; 5. 8A-Nick Alden[1] ; 6. 68-Dave Uttech[4] ; 7.
14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[8] ; 8. 95-Billy Warren[7] ; 9. 38-Allen Hafford[9]
Heat 4 – Kinsler Fuel Injection (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the
A-feature)
1. 83-Tim Shaffer[6] ; 2. 7-Scott Uttech[1] ; 3. 23-Russel Borland[2] ; 4.
17B-Bill Balog[5] ; 5. 79-Korey Weyant[3] ; 6. 14-Kenny Haynes[8] ; 7.
4K-Kris Spitz[4] ; 8. 11-Darrell Dodd[7] ; 9. 25-Steve Muth[9]
Dash – Outerwears Performance Products (6 Laps, finishing order determined
first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 2-Dale Blaney[3] ; 2. 89G-David Gravel[2] ; 3. 83-Tim Shaffer[5] ; 4.
O2-Mike Reinke[1] ; 5. 54-Cap Henry[4] ; 6. 17-Marty Perovich[6]
B-Main – MSD Ignition (12 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 68-Dave Uttech[2] ; 2. 56-Ryan Irwin[1] ; 3. 3-Scott Young[4] ; 4.
14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[11] ; 5. 4K-Kris Spitz[3] ; 6. 14-Kenny Haynes[12] ; 7.
5H-Patrick Haynes[10] ; 8. 11-Darrell Dodd[9] ; 9. 12-Mike Decker[13] ; 10.
20R-Robbie Pribnow[14] ; 11. 94-Brandon Thone[7] ; 12. 25-Steve Muth[16] ;
13. 71-Chad Tessman[17] ; 14. 38-Allen Hafford[15] ; 15. 28B-Matt Bolin[18]
A-Main – University of Northwestern Ohio (35 Laps)
1. 2-Dale Blaney[1]; 2. 83-Tim Shaffer[3]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog[8]; 4. 54-Cap
Henry[5]; 5. O2-Mike Reinke[4]; 6. 89G-David Gravel[2]; 7. 45-Paul
McMahan[7]; 8. 1M-Phil Mock[9]; 9. 17-Marty Perovich[6]; 10. 80K-Mike
Kertscher[10]; 11. 56-Ryan Irwin[11]; 12. 9-Raymond Hensley[14]; 13.
79-Korey Weyant[15]; 14. 68-Dave Uttech[12]; 15. 23-Russel Borland[19]; 16.
53W-Bill Wirth[17]; 17. 7-Scott Uttech[22]; 18. 2W-Scotty Neitzel[18]; 19.
14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[24]; 20. 43-Jereme Schroeder[23]; 21. 83D-Tommy
Sexton[20]; 22. 8A-Nick Alden[21]; 23. 50-Rusty Egan[13]; 24. 3-Scott
Young[16]
Hard Charger: 17B-Bill Balog[+5]