By Tyler Altmeyer
Fremont, Ohio (September 18, 2015) – Fremont Speedway is a special place for Tim Shaffer. The “Steel City Outlaw” entered action on Friday night with 14-career main event victories at the Fremont, Ohio venue, with nine of those occurring during UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions competition. The Aliquippa, Pennsylvania native can now officially add one more to each of those categories; capturing the 30-lap, Jim Ford Classic opening night victory on Friday, September 18, worth $3,000. The UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions triumph was the 56th of Tim Shaffer’s career, passing Cole Duncan on lap 28 to secure himself back in victory lane.
“Scott Gressman gave me a great engine and my guys gave me a great car; just a great program all night” said Tim Shaffer, “I can’t say enough about the people that help me. I don’t know what it is about (Fremont Speedway). It’s always just a fun place to race. Things worked out great tonight.”
Pole-sitter Sheldon Haudenschild surged ahead to an early advantage, leading the first 12 caution-free circuits with 2015 Fremont Speedway champion Byron Reed in tow. Contact between Haudenschild and the lapped-car of Caleb Griffith initiated the event’s first yellow flag. Griffith would slow to a stop on the front stretch with front-end damage, ultimately slowing the entire field. Haudenschild would remain on point with Byron Reed and Cole Duncan restarting just behind the Southern Pacific Farms, #93.
Sheldon Haudenschild brought the grid back to life with 12 laps in the books. The Wooster, Ohio native kept command of the feature field until lap 22; spinning on the edge of the banking in turn one. Byron Reed would also get collected by a spinning Haudenschild, leaving control to Lockbourne, Ohio’s Cole Duncan.
Green flag conditions returned to the speedway, but only for a short stint. Chad Kemenah, who was racing in the third position, spun between turns one and two on lap 23. The field would try again with Duncan still on point, followed by a fifth-starting Tim Shaffer and the #1ST of Gary Taylor.
The final eight laps of the 30-lap main event remained caution-free with Duncan setting the early pace on the top-side of the speedway. Tim Shaffer was able to apply pressure to the race leader by lap 27, eventually working underneath Duncan at the exit of turn four on lap 28. Cole Duncan slipped over the banking in turn four, leaving the racing surface wide open for the former UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions titlist. Tim Shaffer led the final few circuits and captured the $3,000 payday. Cole Duncan would hang on to finish second, followed by Lee Jacobs, Cap Henry and Gary Taylor. Henry earned his top-five performance after starting on the outside of row eight.
“Yea, that is a hard one to swallow” said Cole Duncan, “I screwed up a little bit in turns one and two. Tim (Shaffer) got up beside me a little bit and I tried to get the lead back. I got back up on the cushion there in turns three and four and got up over of it. Regardless, we still have a lot of confidence heading into tomorrow. I owe all of this to my crew. I can’t thank them enough.”
The UNOH All Star victory was Tim Shaffer’s second of the 2015 season. The western Pennsylvania veteran will enter the 8th annual Jim Ford Classic finale on Saturday, September 19, fifth in the current UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions standings.
The 8th annual Jim Ford Classic weekend featuring the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions will continue on Saturday evening, September 19, back at the Fremont Speedway in Fremont, Ohio. The Jim Ford Classic finale will feature a 50-lap main event, awarding a top prize of $10,000. Dale Blaney is the defending champion, sweeping the doubleheader weekend in 2014.
In addition, the 4th annual Fremont Speedway “Kick-It For Childhood Cancer” kickball game will take shape at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, rain or shine. Teams planning to participate should arrive on speedway grounds by 9:30 a.m. to register. The annual Fremont Speedway Queens Contest, beginning at 2 p.m., and post-race concert are also on the Saturday agenda.
Gates are scheduled to open at 4 p.m on Saturday at Fremont Speedway, with racing slated for 7 p.m., sharp. A Sunday rain date will be used for Saturday if necessary. Gates will swing open on Sunday at 2 p.m., followed by racing at 5:30 p.m. Please visit Fremont Speedway live on the web for further details regarding the entire weekend schedule; www.fremontohspeedway.net.
Contingency Awards/Results – Fremont Speedway – Friday, September 18, 2015
Entrants: 37
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Caleb Helms – 12.475 seconds
Kistler Racing Products Heat #1: Tim Shaffer
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Byron Reed
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Sheldon Haudenschild
Kistler Engines Heat #4: Travis Philo
JE Pistons Dash: Sheldon Haudenschild
Daido Engine Bearings Main Event Winner: Tim Shaffer
MSD A-Main 3rd Place Finisher: Lee Jacobs
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 10th Place Finisher: Danny Holtgraver
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 15th Place Finisher: Christopher Bell
Qualifying
1.40-Caleb Helms, 12.475; 2.1st-Gary Taylor, 12.493; 3.22-Cole Duncan, 12.602; 4.5T-Travis Philo, 12.677; 5.59-Danny Holtgraver, 12.717; 6.94-Ryan Smith, 12.744; 7.57X-Andrew Palker, 12.757; 8.1-Dale Blaney, 12.794; 9.45-Tim Shaffer, 12.796; 10.49-Tanner Thorson, 12.813; 11.16-Stuart Brubaker, 12.855; 12.7C-Caleb Armstrong, 12.867; 13.81-Lee Jacobs, 12.904; 14.3J-Trey Jacobs, 12.906; 15.93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 12.909; 16.10H-Chad Kemenah, 12.923; 17.8M-TJ Michael, 12.924; 18.5K-Adam Kekich, 12.928; 19.38K-Brad Haudenschild, 12.961; 20.W20-Greg Wilson, 12.964; 21.8-DJ Foos, 12.986; 22.89-Cody Darrah, 12.997; 23.O9-Christopher Bell, 13.006; 24.2+-Brian Smith, 13.027; 25.5-Byron Reed, 13.027; 26.97-Dean Jacobs, 13.045; 27.19-Chris Andrews, 13.059; 28.55-Tyler Gunn, 13.064; 29.53-Cap Henry, 13.104; 30.40DD-Nate Dussel, 13.134; 31.33M-Caleb Griffith, 13.162; 32.O8-Dan Kuriger, 13.290; 33.9-Jordan Ryan, 13.435; 34.4-Danny Smith, 13.517; 35.76-David Jones, 13.700; 36.40i-Mark Imler, 13.798; 37.7-Joe Swanson, 13.988;
Heat 1, Group A – (10 Laps)
- 45-Tim Shaffer[2] ; 2. 10H-Chad Kemenah[1] ; 3. 1-Dale Blaney[3] ; 4. 57X-Andrew Palker[4] ; 5. 8M-TJ Michael[5] ; 6. 89-Cody Darrah[7] ; 7. 55-Tyler Gunn[9] ; 8. 19-Chris Andrews[8] ; 9. 8-DJ Foos[6] ; 10. O8-Dan Kuriger[10]
Heat 2, Group B – (10 Laps)
- 5-Byron Reed[1] ; 2. 38K-Brad Haudenschild[2] ; 3. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[4] ; 4. 97-Dean Jacobs[5] ; 5. 33M-Caleb Griffith[6] ; 6. 9-Jordan Ryan[7] ; 7. 3J-Trey Jacobs[3] ; 8. 4-Danny Smith[8] ; 9. 7-Joe Swanson[9]
Heat 3, Group C – (10 Laps)
- 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[2] ; 2. 81-Lee Jacobs[3] ; 3. 94-Ryan Smith[4] ; 4. 53-Cap Henry[7] ; 5. 2+-Brian Smith[6] ; 6. O9-Christopher Bell[5] ; 7. 40DD-Nate Dussel[8] ; 8. 5K-Adam Kekich[1] ; 9. 40i-Mark Imler[9]
Heat 4, Group D – (10 Laps)
- 5T-Travis Philo[1] ; 2. 22-Cole Duncan[2] ; 3. 1st-Gary Taylor[3] ; 4. 59-Danny Holtgraver[5] ; 5. W20-Greg Wilson[8] ; 6. 49-Tanner Thorson[6] ; 7. 16-Stuart Brubaker[7] ; 8. 76-David Jones[9] ; 9. 40-Caleb Helms[4]
Dash 1 – (8 Laps)
- 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[1] ; 2. 5-Byron Reed[3] ; 3. 1st-Gary Taylor[8] ; 4. 22-Cole Duncan[7] ; 5. 45-Tim Shaffer[5] ; 6. 81-Lee Jacobs[9] ; 7. 59-Danny Holtgraver[10] ; 8. 38K-Brad Haudenschild[4] ; 9. 5T-Travis Philo[6] ; 10. 10H-Chad Kemenah[2]
B-Main 1 – (12 Laps)
- 40-Caleb Helms[1] ; 2. 49-Tanner Thorson[2] ; 3. 16-Stuart Brubaker[3] ; 4. O9-Christopher Bell[8] ; 5. 8-DJ Foos[6] ; 6. 3J-Trey Jacobs[4] ; 7. 89-Cody Darrah[7] ; 8. 9-Jordan Ryan[13] ; 9. 55-Tyler Gunn[10] ; 10. 19-Chris Andrews[9] ; 11. 76-David Jones[15] ; 12. 40i-Mark Imler[16] ; 13. 7-Joe Swanson[17] ; 14. O8-Dan Kuriger[12] ; 15. 40DD-Nate Dussel[11] ; 16. 5K-Adam Kekich[5] ; 17. 4-Danny Smith[14]
A-Main 1 – (30 Laps)
- 45-Tim Shaffer[5] ; 2. 22-Cole Duncan[4] ; 3. 81-Lee Jacobs[6] ; 4. 53-Cap Henry[16] ; 5. 1st-Gary Taylor[3] ; 6. 1-Dale Blaney[11] ; 7. 97-Dean Jacobs[15] ; 8. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[1] ; 9. W20-Greg Wilson[20] ; 10. 59-Danny Holtgraver[7] ; 11. 94-Ryan Smith[13] ; 12. 5T-Travis Philo[9] ; 13. 49-Tanner Thorson[22] ; 14. 10H-Chad Kemenah[10] ; 15. O9-Christopher Bell[24] ; 16. 5-Byron Reed[2] ; 17. 16-Stuart Brubaker[23] ; 18. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[12] ; 19. 57X-Andrew Palker[14] ; 20. 8M-TJ Michael[17] ; 21. 40-Caleb Helms[21] ; 22. 38K-Brad Haudenschild[8] ; 23. 89-Cody Darrah[25] ; 24. 2+-Brian Smith[19] ; 25. 33M-Caleb Griffith[18]
Those seeking additional information regarding the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions should visit the official online home of the UNOH All Stars at www.allstarsprint.com. Series updates and breaking news will be posted regularly on the official Twitter account of the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions: https://twitter.com/ASCoC. Find full text results from each and every UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions event here: www.allstarsprint.com/schedule/.
About the All Star Circuit of Champions:
All Star Enterprises, LLC, wholly owned by Tony Stewart, d/b/a the All Star Circuit of Champions, is a winged sprint car series. The All-Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series is one of the oldest traveling 410 sprint car organizations and is a staple of grassroots, open-wheel racing. Formed in 1970 by Bud Miller, the series has largely been considered the first ‘outlaw’ Sprint Car organization of the modern era. After a 10 year stint as owner of the All Stars, Miller passed control of the series to Bert Emick in 1980; a reign that would continue through 2002. Guy Webb then purchased the series from Emick in the summer of 2002 and served as the series President for the next 12 years. Motorsports entrepreneur Tony Stewart agreed to terms with Guy Webb to become the sole owner of the original winged sprint car tour in January of 2015. The 2015 schedule includes 54 events in Ohio (29), Pennsylvania (14), Florida (5), Michigan (3), Indiana (1), New York (1) and Wisconsin (1).