By Brian Liskai
DELEON SPRINGS, Fla. (Thursday, Feb. 13, 2014) – Joey Saldana usually spends the winter racing in Australia. This year, he opted to stay home and spend time with his family. It didn’t appear the layoff from racing had any effect on the Brownsburg, Indiana driver Thursday at Volusia Speedway Park.
Saldana led all 30 laps of the University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions sanctioned event aboard his Motter Equipment, Beltline Body Shop, Polaris, HE&M Saw, Speedway Engines backed #71m. However, Nashville, Tennessee’s Paul McMahan didn’t make it easy for “The Brownsburg Bullet,” closing to within a car length the last four laps of the feature.
But, Saldana kept his composure and drove to his 71st career UNOH All Star victory. He sits third in the series’ all-time win list. It was also his 10th career victory at Volusia Speedway Park.
After over an inch and half of rain fell Wednesday postponing the opener of the 43rd Annual DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit Racing Equipment, the drivers faced a lightening fast racing surface Thursday.
“To be honest, the car was faster than me. It was so fast I was just trying to hang on and not screw up,” said Saldana. “We just got the cars three weeks ago so this crew worked their tails off to get us here. The Speedway Engine ran extremely well. I have to thank Dan Motter for giving us what we need to come out here and race.”
“This is an early Valentine’s present for my wife Shannon,” added Saldana.
By virtue of winning the dash, Saldana would start on the pole of the feature event with four-time UNOH All Star champion Tim Shaffer along side. Saldana would rocket away from the field when the green flew with fourth place starter Danny Holtgraver shooting into second with Shaffer, McMahan and Donny Schatz in tow. Saldana would blast into lapped traffic by the fifth circuit on the tacky surface.
Something would break on the front of Steve Kinser’s mount on lap six and he would spin, with Holtgraver and Rico Abreu making contact. Holtgraver would report after the race the incident would result in a broken shock and loss of breaks. During the caution, Dave Blaney, who opened the All Star season earlier in the week with a win at Bubba Raceway Park, Abreu and Terry McCarl would exit the track.
On the ensuing restart Saldana would again pull away as Shaffer would grab second with Holtgraver also having his hands full with McMahan and Schatz. With 10 laps in the books Saldana would find lapped traffic again with his lead at over 2.5 seconds over Shaffer. By lap 13 the leaders were in heavy lapped traffic but Christopher Bell would coast to a stop at the half-way point, giving Saldana a clear track.
When the green reappeared McMahan was on the move, clearing Holtgraver for third and pressuring Shaffer for the runner-up spot. Saldana used this to his advantage and pulled away to another lead of over two seconds. McMahan would execute a slider on Shaffer in turns three and four on lap 23 to take second and quickly erased Saldana’s lead.
With four laps to go Saldana and McMahan raced into heavy lapped traffic, driving to Saldana’s inside in turn one with three circuits remaining. Once clear of the traffic, Saldana pulled away slightly and went on to the win.
McMahan would come home second followed by Shaffer, Schatz and Holtgraver.
“Today’s my anniversary and I thought Joey might let me and Jan have a great present,” joked McMahan beside his CJB Motorsports, All Star Performance, Ti22 Performance, Kistler Engines backed #51. “I have to wish my wife a happy anniversary. For past 10 years I’ve been coming to Florida to race during our anniversary without her. It’s also my crew chief Barry Jackson’s anniversary so this was a good night.”
“Setting quick time is the key…it determines so much on how your night is going to go. Fast time means track position. You have to get into the dash to improve your starting spot,” added McMahan who set quick time of the 43 cars to qualify.
Shaffer is starting the year strong with his new team, the Bryan Grove Racing #45, scoring a second Sunday at Bubba Raceway Park and now a third place finish at Volusia. Shaffer last won at Volusia – the old speedway – in 1996.
“This deal with Bryan Grove was a last minute deal. We have Cody Jacobs and James Chambers down here helping and they worked very hard over the past few weeks to get us to Florida,” said Shaffer beside his Canton Erectors backed #45.
The UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions will wrap up their Florida swing Thursday at Volusia.
Go to www.allstarsprint.com for more information Volusia Speedway Park – 2/13/2014
UNOH Night
All Star Circuit of Champions (43 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Qualifying – Kistler Engines
1. 51-Paul McMahan, 12.848; 2. 14K-Dale Blaney, 12.966; 3. 10H-Danny Holtgraver, 13.043; 4. 45-Tim Shaffer, 13.054; 5. 4-Cody Darrah, 13.091; 6. 1Z-Lucas Wolfe, 13.099; 7. 71M-Joey Saldana, 13.099; 8. 9-Daryn Pittman, 13.100; 9. 83-Tim Kaeding, 13.156; 10. 33-Danny Lasoski, 13.169; 11. 24-Terry McCarl, 13.193; 12. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 13.207; 13. 27-Greg Hodnett, 13.225; 14. 96-Bronson Maeschen, 13.228; 15. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.238; 16. 63-Chad Kemenah, 13.255; 17. 83X-Christopher Bell, 13.256; 18. 59-David Gravel, 13.282; 19. 24A-Rico Abreu, 13.286; 20. 29-Kerry Madsen, 13.299; 21. 9W-Jac Haudenschild, 13.313; 22. 1-Sammy Swindell, 13.319; 23. 98H-Dave Blaney, 13.319; 24. 11-Steve Kinser, 13.326; 25. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.330; 26. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.372; 27. 19M-Brent Marks, 13.384; 28. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 13.385; 29. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.405; 30. 17B-Steve Buckwalter, 13.456; 31. 77X-Wayne Johnson, 13.499; 32. 80-Trey Gustin, 13.507; 33. 7S-Jason Sides, 13.517; 34. 57X-Andrew Palker, 13.530; 35. HO7-Justin Henderson, 13.536; 36. 48-Danny Dietrich, 13.550; 37. 19-Klint Angelette, 13.614; 38. 20K-Thomas Kennedy, 13.647; 39. 40-Caleb Helms, 13.723; 40. 21K-Lou Kennedy, 13.788; 41. O7-Mark Coldren, 13.828; 42. 94-Brandon Thone, 14.831; 43. 1A-Jacob Allen, 99.999
Heat 1 – Kears Speed Shop (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 83X-Christopher Bell[2] ; 2. 27-Greg Hodnett[3] ; 3. 9W-Jac Haudenschild[1] ; 4. 83-Tim Kaeding[4] ; 5. 51-Paul McMahan[6] ; 6. 4-Cody Darrah[5] ; 7. W20-Greg Wilson[8] ; 8. 19-Klint Angelette[10] ; 9. O7-Mark Coldren[11] ; 10. 1S-Logan Schuchart[7] ; 11. 7S-Jason Sides[9]
Heat 2 – All Pro Aluminum Heads (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 1-Sammy Swindell[1] ; 2. 59-David Gravel[2] ; 3. 49-Brad Sweet[7] ; 4. 14K-Dale Blaney[6] ; 5. 1Z-Lucas Wolfe[5] ; 6. 96-Bronson Maeschen[3] ; 7. 20K-Thomas Kennedy[10] ; 8. 57X-Andrew Palker[9] ; 9. 94-Brandon Thone[11] ; 10. 33-Danny Lasoski[4] ; 11. 17B-Steve Buckwalter[8]
Heat 3 – Dragon Race Fuel (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 24A-Rico Abreu[2] ; 2. 98H-Dave Blaney[1] ; 3. 15-Donny Schatz[3] ; 4. 10H-Danny Holtgraver[6] ; 5. 71M-Joey Saldana[5] ; 6. 24-Terry McCarl[4] ; 7. 77X-Wayne Johnson[8] ; 8. HO7-Justin Henderson[9] ; 9. 40-Caleb Helms[10] ; 10. 19M-Brent Marks[7] ; 11. 1A-Jacob Allen[11]
Heat 4 – Kinsler Fuel Injection (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 29-Kerry Madsen[2] ; 2. 11K-Kraig Kinser[4] ; 3. 11-Steve Kinser[1] ; 4. 63-Chad Kemenah[3] ; 5. 45-Tim Shaffer[6] ; 6. 9-Daryn Pittman[5] ; 7. 48-Danny Dietrich[9] ; 8. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[7] ; 9. 21K-Lou Kennedy[10] ; 10. 80-Trey Gustin[8]
Dash – Computer Man Inc. (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 71M-Joey Saldana[2] ; 2. 45-Tim Shaffer[3] ; 3. 51-Paul McMahan[6] ; 4. 10H-Danny Holtgraver[5] ; 5. 1Z-Lucas Wolfe[4] ; 6. 14K-Dale Blaney[1]
B-Main – MSD Ignition (12 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 4-Cody Darrah[1] ; 2. 9-Daryn Pittman[2] ; 3. 19M-Brent Marks[7] ; 4. 24-Terry McCarl[4] ; 5. 77X-Wayne Johnson[11] ; 6. 96-Bronson Maeschen[5] ; 7. 48-Danny Dietrich[16] ; 8. 40-Caleb Helms[19] ; 9. 20K-Thomas Kennedy[18] ; 10. 57X-Andrew Palker[14] ; 11. 80-Trey Gustin[12] ; 12. W20-Greg Wilson[9] ; 13. 19-Klint Angelette[17] ; 14. 94-Brandon Thone[22] ; 15. O7-Mark Coldren[21] ; 16. HO7-Justin Henderson[15] ; 17. 1S-Logan Schuchart[6] ; 18. 33-Danny Lasoski[3] ; 19. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[8] ; 20. 17B-Steve Buckwalter[10] ; 21. 21K-Lou Kennedy[20] ; 22. 7S-Jason Sides[13] ; 23. 1A-Jacob Allen[23]
A-Main – University of Northwestern Ohio (30 Laps)
1. 71M-Joey Saldana[1]; 2. 51-Paul McMahan[3]; 3. 45-Tim Shaffer[2]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz[10]; 5. 10H-Danny Holtgraver[4]; 6. 4-Cody Darrah[11]; 7. 9-Daryn Pittman[12]; 8. 59-David Gravel[16]; 9. 11K-Kraig Kinser[8]; 10. 83-Tim Kaeding[7]; 11. 9W-Jac Haudenschild[19]; 12. 29-Kerry Madsen[18]; 13. 49-Brad Sweet[23]; 14. 27-Greg Hodnett[9]; 15. 63-Chad Kemenah[14]; 16. 19M-Brent Marks[24]; 17. 1-Sammy Swindell[20]; 18. 83X-Christopher Bell[15]; 19. 1Z-Lucas Wolfe[5]; 20. 11-Steve Kinser[22]; 21. 98H-Dave Blaney[21]; 22. 24A-Rico Abreu[17]; 23. 24-Terry McCarl[13]; 24. 14K-Dale Blaney[6]
Hard Charger: 49-Brad Sweet[+10]
©2014 – Results Provided by: Computer Man Inc. Fremont, OH