Camargo, IL (1-30-09) by Kelly Brown - Public Relations Director – On the opening night for the O’Reilly All Star Series of Champions there was a chill in the Floridian air, but the blistering fast 410 sprint cars were able to warm up the night. Tim Shaffer turned out to be the hottest driver on the track as he began his 2009 season with the best seat in the house, in Victory Lane at Ocala Speedway.

Shaffer had a consistent night and it seemed as if he was lurking from the drop of the Green Flag, waiting for his chance to sneak his way into the top position.  He began the main event on the front row beside Greg Wilson and the two waged quite a battle throughout the evening. On the start Wilson, who started in the pole took the lead and retained the top position until the first caution came out for Danny Lasoski’s 33 car. Lasoski who was the fastest qualifier was quick, but his motor gave out just five laps into the event.

On the restart Wilson retained the lead while the cars behind him scrambled for position, but the race was slowed once again. On the eighth lap of the event the Red Flag came out for an incident in Turn 4 involving the cars of: Pat Cannon, Daron Clayton, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Randy Hannagan, and Bob Felmlee.

On the restart Greg Wilson, Tim Shaffer, Mark Smith, Stevie Smith and Daryn Pittman were lined up nose to tail, ready to race for the checkers. Unfortunately the race was slowed again on Lap 9 when Pat Cannon and Daron Clayton got together causing Cannon to spin.

When the Green Flag was displayed, Stevie Smith was on the gas pushing his way up to the third position. As the cars up front began catching lapped traffic, Shaffer was inching closer and closer to the bumper of Wilson. When Wilson got tight in Turn 4, Shaffer jumped at the opportunity slipping past Wilson into the lead. The duo spent the remaining laps of the race in a tight battle, but once Shaffer got ahead he did not look back.

Shaffer collected his twelfth All Star win and his third win during Winter Nationals Florida Speedweek. His two previous wins came in 2002 at East Bay Raceway Park.

The All Stars Circuit of Champions will be back on the dirt at Ocala Speedway for the second night of Winter Nationals Florida Speedweek, before moving on to Volusia Speedway Park for three nights of exhilarating racing.

Top Three Quotes:

3rd Place: Stevie Smith “I have to give my hand to Tim Shaffer he did a good job. I am so glad for my team these guys work really hard and I am happy to be a part of this team. I hope we can have a good year. We have a good race car and I am excited to drive it. Something happened to the handling, one of the break lines broke or I think we would have been up there right with them. I am glad to finish third, and am ready to rock and roll tomorrow night.

2nd Place: Greg Wilson “It is great coming down to Florida with this caliber of race cars and get my car up front where it belongs. I want to thank ESD Waste2Water, Inc.  here in Ocala for helping us out while we are down here. It is frustrating, I gave that one away I got a little tight in traffic and hopefully we will get them tomorrow. Last year we just could not put ourselves in position to win and I want to thank Joe Gaerte for doing our motors this winter. They seem to be strong. We have total confidence going into the rest of Speedweek, and hopefully we can leave here with a good attitude.”

1st Place: Tim Shaffer “Brian Kemenah and everybody back home, they worked together to give me a great car. This is a great situation we have and things are rolling our way. A lot of people came on board to help this year and every little bit helps. I had to be patient tonight; there were a lot of lapped cars. My car was good on the outside, I kept being patient and when Greg got tight off of four and we were able to get by. You have to have a great team around you; it makes everything a lot easier. We have a lot of races left this year, but this is a great way to start out.”