From Brian Liskai
Chillicothe, OH — (July 3, 2014) — Dale Blaney is running out of things to say about his race team. “The Low Rider” dominated Ohio Sprint Speedweek and continued that hot streak Thursday by earning his fourth straight University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions win at Atomic Speedway for the traditional “The Night the Stars Come Out” event.
Blaney, a four time and defending UNOH All Star champion, passed Tim Shaffer – another four time series champion – at the half-way point of Thursday’s feature and powered away for the victory. It is Blaney’s 105th career All Star win and the sixth of the season, equaling his total series wins of 2013.
“I don’t know what more I can say about the team Tony (Kennedy) has put together. George (Fisher, crew chief) and the guys have this thing so good…I’m very comfortable in the car and that gives me a lot of confidence,” said Blaney beside his Kennedy Cattle/Penske Shocks/Ti22 Performance/GF1 Chassis #14k.
“We’re approaching some big milestones and it’s only July third. I would like to get double digit wins with the All Stars (he had 12 All Star wins in 1995 and 17 in 1996 and got close with 9 series wins in 2008 and 2012) and I like how we’re rolling coming into some big races like the Doty and Royal,” continued Blaney who has 10 total wins this season including a World of Outlaws victory.
For Shaffer, leading the first 15 laps and finishing second was a huge confidence booster.
“I’m very happy with second and now I want to win even more. After speedweek I was down and was questioning myself. We just needed to start taking steps in the right direction. We qualified well and that gave me some confidence. We ran the heat well and that gave me more confidence and we got rolling in the dash and I got to race hard for a chance to win. Mentally I’m back where I should be and we’re going to win some races,” said Shaffer of his Bryan Grove Racing/Canton Erectors backed #45.
Young Travis Philo turned a lot of heads during Ohio Sprint Speedweek with several top five runs. The Waterville, Ohio driver would battle Shaffer early for the lead and would settle for a third place finish.
“That’s the best All Star finish I’ve had. I got a great start and battled with Shaffer and then we got to traffic and I saw that 14 car and I knew we were in trouble the way he’s been rolling. That was a blast and I’m learning a lot racing with those guys,” said Philo beside his Control Design Solutions/Kistler Racing Products/Banshee Graphics backed #5t.
Shaffer and Danny Holtgraver would bring the field to green for the 30-lap feature with Shaffer getting the upper hand. Philo would hound Shaffer with Holtgraver, Jimmy Stinson, Danny Smith and Jac Haudenschild in tow. It didn’t take long for 7th starter Blaney to work his way into the top three and at the half-way point he would drive into the lead.
The race went caution free until lap 26 when Haudenschild, who won the speedweek show at Atomic last week, spun after battling Lee Jacobs for fifth. Blaney would check out on the restart and drove to his fourth straight win. Shaffer, Philo, Holtgraver and Jacobs would round out the top five.
The UNOH All Stars head to the NAPA Auto Parts Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio Saturday. The event was added to the schedule after the speedweek event fell victim to rain last Monday. For more information go to www.allstarsprint.com.
Atomic Speedway – 7/3/2014
UNOH Night
All Star Circuit of Champions (31 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Qualifying – Kistler Engines
1. 55F-Taylor Ferns, 11.520; 2. 84-Jimmy Stinson, 11.737; 3. 5T-Travis Philo, 11.839; 4. 7C-Caleb Armstrong, 11.862; 5. 45-Tim Shaffer, 11.882; 6. 10H-Danny Holtgraver, 11.887; 7. 49-Cole Duncan, 11.901; 8. 4-Danny Smith, 11.946; 9. 9W-Jac Haudenschild, 11.971; 10. 14K-Dale Blaney, 11.973; 11. 22-Ryan Broughton, 12.016; 12. 81-Lee Jacobs, 12.079; 13. 63-Chad Kemenah, 12.081; 14. 4X-Eddie Slone, 12.119; 15. 40I-Mark Imler, 12.120; 16. 60C-Kory Crabtree, 12.156; 17. 57X-Andrew Palker, 12.181; 18. 40-Caleb Helms, 12.218; 19. 99-Todd Kane, 12.259; 20. 23-Jimmy Light, 12.355; 21. A97-Aaron Higgins, 12.421; 22. 41-Randy Fink, 12.492; 23. 25AU-Jack Lee, 12.563; 24. 92-Sam Ashworth, 12.582; 25. 59-Bryan Nuckles, 12.699; 26. 45C-Mark Coleman, 12.702; 27. 3F-Brandy Bower, 12.707; 28. 22D-Josh Davis, 12.798; 29. 83X-Nate Reeser, 12.911; 30. 3FX-Dean Kester, 13.774; 31. 2-Nathan Skaggs, 99.999
Heat 1 – Kears Speed Shop (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 9W-Jac Haudenschild[4] ; 2. 63-Chad Kemenah[3] ; 3. 57X-Andrew Palker[2] ; 4. 45-Tim Shaffer[5] ; 5. A97-Aaron Higgins[1] ; 6. 55F-Taylor Ferns[6] ; 7. 83X-Nate Reeser[8] ; 8. 59-Bryan Nuckles[7]
Heat 2 – All Pro Aluminum Heads (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 14K-Dale Blaney[4] ; 2. 40-Caleb Helms[2] ; 3. 84-Jimmy Stinson[6] ; 4. 10H-Danny Holtgraver[5] ; 5. 4X-Eddie Slone[3] ; 6. 41-Randy Fink[1] ; 7. 3FX-Dean Kester[8] ; 8. 45C-Mark Coleman[7]
Heat 3 – Dragon Racing Fuels (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 99-Todd Kane[2] ; 2. 5T-Travis Philo[6] ; 3. 22-Ryan Broughton[4] ; 4. 40I-Mark Imler[3] ; 5. 2-Nathan Skaggs[8] ; 6. 25AU-Jack Lee[1] ; 7. 3F-Brandy Bower[7] ; 8. 49-Cole Duncan[5]
Heat 4 – Kinsler Fuel Injection (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 81-Lee Jacobs[4] ; 2. 92-Sam Ashworth[1] ; 3. 23-Jimmy Light[2] ; 4. 22D-Josh Davis[7] ; 5. 4-Danny Smith[5] ; 6. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[6] ; 7. 60C-Kory Crabtree[3]
Dash – Howard Johnson Hotel – Lima, OH (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 45-Tim Shaffer[2] ; 2. 10H-Danny Holtgraver[1] ; 3. 84-Jimmy Stinson[3] ; 4. 5T-Travis Philo[4] ; 5. 4-Danny Smith[5] ; 6. 9W-Jac Haudenschild[6]
B-Main – MSD Ignition (12 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 49-Cole Duncan[3] ; 2. 60C-Kory Crabtree[4] ; 3. 55F-Taylor Ferns[1] ; 4. 25AU-Jack Lee[6] ; 5. 41-Randy Fink[5] ; 6. 59-Bryan Nuckles[7] ; 7. 45C-Mark Coleman[8] ; 8. 83X-Nate Reeser[10] ; 9. 3FX-Dean Kester[11] ; 10. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[2] ; 11. 3F-Brandy Bower[9]
A-Main – University of Northwestern Ohio (30 Laps)
1. 14K-Dale Blaney[7]; 2. 45-Tim Shaffer[1]; 3. 5T-Travis Philo[4]; 4. 10H-Danny Holtgraver[2]; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs[9]; 6. 49-Cole Duncan[12]; 7. 63-Chad Kemenah[10]; 8. 4-Danny Smith[5]; 9. 84-Jimmy Stinson[3]; 10. 60C-Kory Crabtree[15]; 11. 2-Nathan Skaggs[24]; 12. 4X-Eddie Slone[13]; 13. 55F-Taylor Ferns[11]; 14. 9W-Jac Haudenschild[6]; 15. 40-Caleb Helms[17]; 16. 57X-Andrew Palker[16]; 17. 22D-Josh Davis[23]; 18. 23-Jimmy Light[19]; 19. 92-Sam Ashworth[22]; 20. A97-Aaron Higgins[20]; 21. 99-Todd Kane[18]; 22. 40I-Mark Imler[14]; 23. 25AU-Jack Lee[21]; 24. 22-Ryan Broughton[8]
Hard Charger: 2-Nathan Skaggs[+13]