From Tyler Altmeyer
ORRVILLE, Ohio (April 21, 2018) – For the first time during his illustrious career, the “Steel City Outlaw” Tim Shaffer is an Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 main event winner at Wayne County Speedway. The Aliquippa, Pa., native, who bumped his career win total to 62 during All Star competition, earned his $5,000 payday in fantastic fashion, battling forward from the outside of row four to track down race-long leader, Chad Kemenah, with just nine circuits remaining. Shaffer’s performance, his second All Star victory of the 2018 season, also earned him the MSD Performance Hard Charger Award for advancing the most positions.
All Star main event pole-sitter, Carson Macedo, who also worked around Kemenah during the later laps of the 30-lap program, finished second at “Orrville’s Historic Oval,” followed by Chad Kemenah, Parker Price-Miller, and Spencer Bayston.
“That was a blast tonight. What a car we had,” Tim Shaffer said in Wayne County Speedway victory lane. “Cody Jacobs gave me a great car here tonight. We wanted this one bad. We always seemed to struggle when we came here, but tonight was different. We started eighth, but just kept on going.”
Shaffer’s march to the front started immediately, advancing into a top-five position early and knocking on the door for a podium spot just before the main event’s first and only caution appeared on lap 11. The single-file restart was just the ticket for the driver of the Demyan-Rudzik Racing/Rudzik Excavating/No. 49X sprint car, moving around Parker Price-Miller for third by the completion of lap 11, then overtaking Carson Macedo for second on lap 12.
In the meantime, Hunter Racing’s Chad Kemenah, who led from the drop of the green flag, was beginning to gain a slight advantage over Shaffer. The six-time and defending All Star champion found himself in heavy traffic by lap 17 which gave Shaffer the opportunity he needed to close the gap. By lap 20, Shaffer was within striking distance, making his first official bid for the top spot on lap 22 with a textbook slider through turns three and four. The bid for the lead worked, solidifying Shaffer’s position at the top of the running order.
Just two circuits later, Macedo was also able to work by Chad Kemenah, now setting his aim for the “Steel City Outlaw.” Although closing the gap to just over one second, Macedo’s hourglass ran empty, crossing under the final checkers 1.28 seconds behind the Demyan-Rudzik Racing entry.
“On that restart, I tried to go to the top and that is when [Tim Shaffer] got by us,” Macedo said, driver of the Lucas Oil/Slade Shock Technology/Tarlton & Sons/No. 3G sprint car. “I thought I was maybe going to have something for him at the end, but hats off to those guys. They did a really good job here tonight.”
“I just had to be patient,” Shaffer explained. “I was really racing hard, but I wanted to give myself a chance to win. I just had to be careful with the lapped cars that were starting to stack up in front of me. We just had to nail down smart laps and be there at the end. It feels good to beat these guys here tonight.”
The Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 will have one weekend off before returning to competition on Friday and Saturday, May 4-5, with a pair of programs in Western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. Tony Stewart’s All Stars will invade the historic Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., on Friday, May 4, followed by a visit to the state-of-the-art Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio, on Saturday, May 5. Each program will award a $5,000 top prize.
Additional news and information regarding the upcoming visits to Lernerville Speedway and Sharon Speedway will be posted in the near future. For now, fans are encouraged to visit Lernerville Speedway and Sharon Speedway on the Web at www.lernerville.com and www.sharonspeedway.com.
Contingency Awards/Results: Wayne County Speedway – Saturday, April 21, 2018:
2018 Wayne County Speedway Opener
EMi Driver’s Meeting: 32 entries
State Water Heaters Warm-Ups: Aaron Reutzel – 14.461 seconds
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Spencer Bayston – 13.808 seconds
Ford Performance Heat #1: Carl Bowser
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Carson Macedo
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Bryan Sebetto
Mobil 1 Heat #4: Parker Price-Miller
JE Pistons Dash #1: Carson Macedo
Wix Filters Dash #2: Chad Kemenah
Classic Ink USA B-Main: Tyler Esh
Daido Engine Bearings Main Event Winner: Tim Shaffer
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Tim Shaffer (+7)
(Lincoln Electric, Daido Engine Bearings, MSD Performance: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)
Qualifying
Group (A)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 14.039; 2. 7K-Cale Conley, 14.488; 3. 81-Lee Jacobs, 14.548; 4. 98-Carl Bowser, 14.618; 5. 5T-Travis Philo, 14.6236; 6. 17-Cole Duncan, 14.809; 7. 23-Nick Patterson, 14.841; 8. D12-Jason Dolick, 14.882
Group (B)
1. 49x-Tim Shaffer, 14.0387; 2. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 14.114; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 14.213; 4. 3G-Carson Macedo, 14.258; 5. 51-John Garvin, 14.816; 6. 11-Max McGhee, 14.822; 7. 95-Hunter Mackison, 14.901; 8. 9M-Jordan Ryan, 14.959
Group ( C )
1. 13-Bryan Sebetto, 14.414; 2. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr., 14.624; 3. 71-Ayrton Olsen, 14.631; 4. 1080-Jordan Mackison, 14.685; 5. 19-Mitch Harble, 14.96; 6. 46-Michael Bauer, 15.065; 7. 22B-Ryan Broughton, 15.104; 8. 16-Danny Mumaw, —
Group (D)
1. 39-Spencer Bayston, 13.808; 2. 4-Parker Price-Miller, 14.173; 3. 45-Trevor Baker, 14.444; 4. 70-Dave Blaney, 14.515; 5. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 14.594; 6. 35-Tyler Esh, 14.608; 7. 38K-Brad Haudenschild, 14.66; 8. 23B-Chase Baker, 15.323
Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 98-Carl Bowser [1]; 2. 81-Lee Jacobs [2]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 4. 5T-Travis Philo [5]; 5. 7K-Cale Conley [3]; 6. 17-Cole Duncan [6]; 7. 23-Nick Patterson [7]; 8. D12-Jason Dolick [8]
Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 3G-Carson Macedo [1]; 2. 10H-Chad Kemenah [2]; 3. 3-Jac Haudenschild [3]; 4. 49X-Tim Shaffer [4]; 5. 51-John Garvin [5]; 6. 11-Max McGhee [6]; 7. 95-Hunter Mackison [7]; 8. 9M-Jordan Ryan [8]
Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 13-Bryan Sebetto [4]; 2. 1080-Jordan Mackison [1]; 3. 71-Ayrton Olsen [2]; 4. 22B-Ryan Broughton [7]; 5. 19-Mitch Harble [5]; 6. 16-Danny Mumaw [8]; 7. 46-Michael Bauer [6]; 8. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr. [3]
Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 4-Parker Price-Miller [3]; 2. 70-Dave Blaney [1]; 3. 39-Spencer Bayston [4]; 4. 45-Trevor Baker [2]; 5. 22-Brandon Spithaler [5]; 6. 35-Tyler Esh [6]; 7. 38K-Brad Haudenschild [7]; 8. 23B-Chase Baker [8]
Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 3G-Carson Macedo [1]; 2. 39-Spencer Bayston [3]; 3. 81-Lee Jacobs [4]; 4. 98-Carl Bowser [5]; 5. 1080-Jordan Mackison [2]
Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 10H-Chad Kemenah [1]; 2. 4-Parker Price-Miller [3]; 3. 70-Dave Blaney [2]; 4. 49X-Tim Shaffer [5]; 5. 13-Bryan Sebetto [4]
B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 35-Tyler Esh [1]; 2. 11-Max McGhee [4]; 3. 17-Cole Duncan [3]; 4. 95-Hunter Mackison [8]; 5. 16-Danny Mumaw [5]; 6. D12-Jason Dolick [10]; 7. 23-Nick Patterson [7]; 8. 23B-Chase Baker [12]; 9. 46-Michael Bauer [9]
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 49X-Tim Shaffer [8]; 2. 3G-Carson Macedo [1]; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah [2]; 4. 4-Parker Price-Miller [4]; 5. 39-Spencer Bayston [3]; 6. 81-Lee Jacobs [5]; 7. 3-Jac Haudenschild [12]; 8. 13-Bryan Sebetto [10]; 9. 87-Aaron Reutzel [11]; 10. 70-Dave Blaney [6]; 11. 1080-Jordan Mackison [9]; 12. 5T-Travis Philo [15]; 13. 7K-Cale Conley [17]; 14. 22-Brandon Spithaler [18]; 15. 98-Carl Bowser [7]; 16. 45-Trevor Baker [14]; 17. 19-Mitch Harble [22]; 18. 51-John Garvin [19]; 19. 17-Cole Duncan [23]; 20. 35-Tyler Esh [21]; 21. 11-Max McGhee [20]; 22. 71-Ayrton Olsen [13]; 23. 22B-Ryan Broughton [16]; 24. 95-Hunter Mackison [24] Lap Leaders: Chad Kemenah (1-21), Tim Shaffer (22-30)