By T.J. Buffenbarger
Attica, OH – (March 30, 2013) – Dale Blaney used patience in lapped traffic and great late race restarts to win Saturday night’s UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions feature during the HD Supply Spring Nationals at Attica Raceway Park.
The victory capped off an evening when Dale’s brother Dave won a sprint car feature at Port Royal earlier in the evening. Blaney held off a charging Sheldon Haudenschild for the victory.
“I’m not sure if we have won at different places during the same day, but not lately. I actually feel better for him winning than us because he’s starting to run more sprint car races,” said Blaney. “(Attica) can change so much throughout a race I had to be patient. Then when we got the lead George (Fisher) told me (Sheldon) Haudenschild was coming. We made some adjustments and the car was awesome after that last restart.”
Shaffer and Blaney started on the front row for the 40-lap feature event. Blaney took the lead at the start and led the first lap with Cap Henry moving around Caleb Helms for second. With one lap complete Brady Bacon spun in turn one and brought out the caution flag. Bacon was able to rejoin the tail of the field.
During the restart Henry was able to get a run through turns three and four and passed Blaney for the lead. Blaney looked to the bottom in turns one and two to regain the spot, but could not make the pass. Henry continued to lead with Blaney and Helms in tow as they approached slower traffic. On lap 11 Blaney opened up some distance between himself and Helms and started to catch Henry.
Blaney and Henry continued to battle back and forth for the lead. Further back in the field Sheldon Haudenschild, who started ninth, moved into the top five around the halfway point. Haudenschild disposed of Shaffer, Hannagan, and Helms to move up to third spot.
Then while working lap 24 Henry got held up by a lapped car and allowed Blaney to take the lead. Henry got his front bumper hooked to Duane Zablocki and spun in turn one to bring out the caution flag.
Blaney continued to lead during the restart while Haudenschild tried motoring around the top to keep pace. Then on lap 33 several cars stacked up and damaged Travis Philo’s front end. Henry had nowhere to go, caught wheel, and flipped on the frontstretch. Henry emerged from the car uninjured.
Then on the restart with seven laps to go Blaney was able to open a half straightaway lead he would never relinquish. Haudenschild held on for second while Hanngan, Shaffer, and Craig Mintz from 16th starting spot finished fifth.
Henry was the fastest qualifier over the 32 car field with a lap of 12.705 seconds around the 1/3-mile oval. Mintz, Barnes, Justin Henderson, and Bryan Sebetto won heat race events. Shaffer won the dash while Bacon won the “B” Feature.
Blaney: 5th Spring Nationals victory since 2007.
UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions
HD Supply Spring Nationals
Attica Raceway Park – Attica, OH
Saturday March 30, 2013
Unofficial results…
Qualifications:
1. 54 Cap Henry 12.705 94.451 mph
2. 35 Stuart Brubaker 12.908 92.966 mph
3. 2 Dale Blaney 12.942 92.721 mph
4. 66 Randy Hannagan 12.962 92.578 mph
5. 83 Tim Shaffer 12.974 92.493 mph
6. 29 Cole Duncan 12.992 92.365 mph
7. 40 Caleb Helms 12.996 92.336 mph
8. 99 Brady Bacon 13.023 92.145 mph
9. 4 Danny Smith 13.082 91.729 mph
10. 97 Phil Gressman 13.083 91.722 mph
11. 93 Sheldon Haudenschild 13.103 91.582 mph
12. 2M Dustin Daggett 13.108 91.547 mph
13. 5 Byron Reed 13.141 91.317 mph
14. 9B Jamie Barnes 13.165 91.151 mph
15. 53 D.J. Foos 13.219 90.778 mph
16. 45 Danny Holtgraver 13.259 90.505 mph
17. O9 Craig Mintz 13.274 90.402 mph
18. 94 Jack Sodeman, Jr. 13.353 89.867 mph
19. 57X Andrew Palker 13.381 89.679 mph
20. 24H Bryan Sebetto 13.381 89.679 mph
21. 5T Travis Philo 13.403 89.532 mph
22. 27P Paige Polyak 13.467 89.107 mph
23. 7K Chad Blonde 13.493 88.935 mph
24. 0 Justin Henderson 13.372 89.740 mph
25. 9x Brandon Martin 13.429 89.359 mph
26. 9Z Duane Zablocki 13.446 89.246 mph
27. 40G Caleb Griffith 13.483 89.001 mph
28. 55 Brad Bowman 13.535 88.659 mph
29. 80 Trey Gustin 13.581 88.359 mph
30. 46au Stuart Williams 13.630 88.041 mph
31. 16 Chris Andrews 13.674 87.758 mph
32. 7 Troy Kingan NT 0.000 mph
Heat Race #1 (10 Laps): 1. Craig Mintz, 2. Cap Henry, 3. Tim Shaffer, 4. Danny Smith, 5. Byron Reed, 6. Trey Gustin, 7. Paige Polyak, 8. Andrew Palker (First five finishers transfers to the “A” Main)
Heat Race #2 (10 Laps): 1. Jayme Barnes, 2. Phil Gressman, 3. Caleb Griffith, 4. Stuart Brubaker, 5. Travis Philo, 6. Stuart Williams, 7. Cole Duncan, 8. Jack Sodeman, Jr. (First five finishers transfers to the “A” Main)
Heat Race #3 (10 Laps): 1. Justin Henderson, 2. Jac Haudenschild, 3. Dale Blaney, 4. Chad Blonde, 5. Caleb Helms, 6. Chris Andrews, 7. Brandon Martin, 8 D.J. Foos. (First five finishers transfers to the “A” Main)
Heat Race #4 (10 Laps): 1. Bryan Sebetto, 2. Duane Zablocki, 3. Randy Hannagan, 4. Dustin Daggett, 5. Brad Bowman, 6. Danny Holtgraver, 7. Brady Bacon, 8. Troy Kingan. (First five finishers transfers to the “A” Main)
Dash (4 Laps): 1. Tim Shaffer, 2. Dale Blaney, 3. Caleb Helms, 4. Cap Henry, 5. Stuart Brubaker, 6. Randy Hannagan. (Finish determined the first three rows of the “A” Feature)
B-Main (12 Laps): 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Cole Duncan, 3. Danny Holtgraver, 4. Brandon Martin, 5. Paige Polyak, 6. D.J. Foos, 7. Jack Sodeman, Jr., 8. Chris Andrews, 9. Stuart Williams, 10. Trey Gustan, 11. Andrew Palker, 12. Troy Kingan. (First four finishers transfer to the “A” Feature)
A-Main (40 Laps): 1. Dale Blaney, 2. Sheldon Haudenschild, 3. Randy Hannagan, 4. Tim Shaffer, 5. Craig Mintz, 6. Danny Smith, 7. Caleb Helms, 8. Brandon Martin, 9. Chad Blonde, 10. Cole Duncan, 11. Bryan Sebetto, 12. Byron Reed, 13. Caleb Griffith, 14. Justin Henderson, 15. Danny Holtgraver, 16. Stuart Brubaker, 17. Dustin Daggett, 18. Brad Bowman, 19. Brady Bacon, 20. Cap Henry, 21. Travis Philo, 22. Duane Zablocki, 23. Jayme Barnes, 24. Phil Gressman.