Camargo, IL (6-5-09) by Kelly Brown - Public Relations Director – As the O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions veterans, and Lernerville Speedway pros assessed the track tonight, one word kept coming up and that was fast. Prior to the feature ,tonight’s winner and 1993 Lernerville track champion Tim Shaffer was quoted saying it was the fastest he had seen the track in at least 15 years. In fact in qualifying Ed Lynch Jr. was just a few tenths off of the track record. With all of the high speed action throughout the night it made for some exhilarating race action when the Green Flag fell on tonight’s main event.

On the restart with 10 laps recorded, it was Shaffer, Hodnett, Felmlee, Kasey Kahne, and Fred Rahmer crossing over the start line in the top-five. The green flag was short lived though as the yellow flew almost immediately when the 25 of Justin Henderson spun in Turn 2. When the Green Flag was unfurled again Shaffer shot out to the lead, but Kahne got a jump and waged quite a battle with Felmlee and Hodnett as they traded second, third and fourth several times. When the dust settled Felmlee regained the second position with Hodnett and Kahne in tow.

Lap 16 saw the Yellow Flag fly for the third time of the evening when Doug Esh’s 39 sprint slowed on the backstretch and came to a stop. When the field took the green again it was Hodnett who got a jump and re-took the second position. The Red Flag would bring racing action to a stop when a promising night for Rookie-of-the-Year points leader Ryan Bunton came to an end as his racing machine got airborne. It halted what looked to be a strong night for the Midwest All Star graduate, as he had made a last lap slide job in the B-main just to make it to the feature event. He would walk away from the incident.

When racing action resumed, Shaffer did not miss a beat, leaping out into the lead. The battle for third was on with Kahne and Felmlee trading the spot back and forth several times. With the laps running down Greg Hodnett made a daring move past Shaffer to take the lead using lapped traffic to his advantage. As the duo darted in and out of traffic, it was a dog fight to see who would win the event.

With three laps remaining Shaffer saw his final chance to take the victory at his home track. Shaffer deviated from the high line he had run all night, threading the needle in a bonsai move between two lapped cars to retake the lead.  Hodnett tried to battle back, but it was too late. With the Checkered Flag unfurled it was Shaffer taking it first with Hodnett, Felmlee, Fred Rahmer, and Mark Smith rounding out the top-five.

This was Shaffer’s second victory of the season; his first came in the season opener at Ocala Speedway in Florida. This is his thirteenth All Star career win. This was also his second All Star win at Lernerville Speedway and his eighth win in a 410 sprint car at his home track.

The All Star Circuit of Champions is back in action tomorrow night at for a landmark first trip to Elkins Speedway in West Virginia. For the most up to date information on the All Star Circuit of Champions bookmark www.allstarsprint.com on your computer.  

Top Three Quotes

Winner Tim Shaffer – “It was one of those deals at the end, do or die. I had to make something happen. I made it though and the rest is history.”

Second Place Greg Hodnett – “We just got into traffic. I got by Tim once and then he got back around me. It was a clean race, nobody ran into each other or anything. We were just hoping to be one spot further ahead… We were in a good position there to get the lead. Unfortunately I screwed up in two, Tim got by me, and I could not chase him down.”

Third Place Bob Felmlee – “It was an awesome night. Hodnett slid by me, I slid him back. Then Kasey slid by me and I got him back. Everyone did a great job with the car tonight, I have to thank everyone involved with the team…I am happy to run up front. It has been a tough year and this almost like a win here. We hope we can keep going this way. Our goal is to do better at bigger shows, so tonight was a good night.”