BREWERTON, N.Y. (July 18, 2012) By Brian Liskai- Don't look now, but three time and defending University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions titlest Tim Shaffer is on a roll. "The Steel City Outlaw" scored his third series victory of the season Wednesday at Brewerton Speedway, holding off a hard-charging David Gravel. It was the first ever visit by the UNOH All Stars to Brewerton Speeedway and the first time 410 winged sprint cars have competed at "The D-Shaped Dirt Demon" in its long and storied history.
The win in front of a standing-room-only crowd gives Shaffer a slight lead in the UNOH All Star's National points standings, and inches him closer to Daryn Pittman for the series' Eastern Region points lead. It is Shaffer's 48th career UNOH All Star victory, leaving him only five wins away from tying Frank Kerr for fifth on the series all-time win list. Three time series champion Dale Blaney was unable to race due to mechanical issues with the team's tow vehicle.
Shaffer led all 30 laps aboard his Aaron Call/Janet Holbrook Motorsports #83, but Watertown, Connecticut's David Gravel and Pittsboro, Indiana's Daryn Pittman didn't make it easy for the veteran from Aliquippa, Pa.
"It was a handful tonight with guys all around me," Shaffer said beside his Kistler Engines, J&J Auto Racing, VRP Shocks backed machine.
"Hats off to my guys, Dave Lawrence and James Chambers. There is just the three of us out here, doing what it takes to get up front. They did a great job on the track, they gave us a top and a bottom where ever we needed to run," added Shaffer
Shaffer would actually lose the lead briefly to Pittman as he had to avoid disaster when a lapped car slowed dramatically in front of him late in the race. But the caution would fly, handing him back the top spot. Then, on the last lap, Gravel would get a run on Shaffer, but lapped cars would prevent Gravel from taking the lead.
"Lapped cars presented a huge challenge. It was fun racing with Shaffer. He was good on the bottom in one and two and I was good up top and we both ran the same line in three and four. On the last lap I got a great run out of two, but when we got to three there were three lapped cars there and I had no place to go. I got by them and it was a drag race to the checkers and I came up just a little short. After our horrible Ohio Speedweek, this goes a long way to turning our team around for the Thunder Through the Plains. I'm excited to get back to racing with the All Stars," said Gravel beside his Musco Fuels, P&M Transportation, JRC Transportation, Model Craft, IGA Hometown Wheels backed #89G
Daryn Pittman would come home third in his Heffner Racing, Lelands.com, Pasquariello's, Rider Racing Engines #27.
Shaffer and Gravel would bring the 24 car starting field to the green with Shaffer grabbing the early lead. With five laps scored, Shaffer had built a quarter straightaway lead as Gravel, Pittman, Shawn Donath and Cap Henry gave chase. By lap 10, Shaffer and Gravel were in a tight battle for the lead as they also fought traffic. Pittman, Henry and Donath stayed close.
A caution on laps 13 and 14 slowed the pace just before the halfway point.
Shaffer avoided disaster on lap 19 as he had to get hard on the brakes for a car that got out of shape in front of him in turn one. That allowed Pittman to shoot by, but a yellow came out at the same time, allowing Shaffer to maintain the lead.
On the restart, Shaffer blasted away from the field. But, with nine laps to go, Shaffer bobbled in turn one, allowing Pittman and Gravel to close quickly. The trio raced hard through traffic before one last caution with six laps to go, putting Gravel, Pittman, Henry and Tony Stewart right with Shaffer.
With a clear track, Shaffer would dive to the bottom on the restart. But, his quick pace would put him in traffic on the final lap, and Gravel threw everything he had at Shaffer. The lapped cars would help Shaffer fend off Gravel as the duo had a drag race to the checkers. Pittman would come home third with Stewart and Cap Henry - who would celebrate his 22nd birthday the next day - rounding out the top five. Justin Barger would earn the "hard-charger" honor by driving from his 15th starting spot to a sixth place finish with UNOH All Star regular Paul McMahan, Greg Hodnett, Danny Smith and Donath rounding out the top 10.
Brewerton Speedway - 7/18/2012 All Star Circuit of Champions (24 Cars) [#]-Starting Position Qualifying - Kistler Engines 1. 89G-David Gravel, 12.828; 2. 27-Daryn Pittman, 12.844; 3. 45-Paul McMahan, 12.884; 4. 83-Tim Shaffer, 12.903; 5. 54-Cap Henry, 12.928; 6. 33-Shawn Donath, 13.039; 7. 14-Tony Stewart, 13.164; 8. 17-Marty Perovich, 13.323; 9. 39-Greg Hodnett, 13.352; 10. 1Z-Jessica Zemken, 13.368; 11. 99L-Larry Wight, 13.437; 12. 45H-Chuck Hebing, 13.456; 13. 4-Danny Smith, 13.481; 14. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.519; 15. 5-Justin Barger, 13.572; 16. 87-George Suprick, 13.589; 17. O7-Mark Coldren, 14.038; 18. 49-Bob Howard, 14.119; 19. 42W-Rick Wilson, 14.120; 20. 19-Colby Womer, 14.200; 21. 25-Michael Parent, 14.311; 22. 15AW-April Wilson, 14.372; 23. 1A-Jacob Allen, 14.399; 24. 29-Dick Spadaro, 15.162 Heat 1 - Kears Speed Shop (8 Laps - Top 9 finishers transfer to the A-feature) 1. 4-Danny Smith[2] ; 2. 14-Tony Stewart[4] ; 3. 83-Tim Shaffer[5] ; 4. 1Z-Jessica Zemken[3] ; 5. 89G-David Gravel[6] ; 6. 87-George Suprick[1] ; 7. 15AW-April Wilson[8] ; 8. 42W-Rick Wilson[7] Heat 2 - All Pro Aluminum Heads (8 Laps - Top 9 finishers transfer to the A-feature) 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[2] ; 2. 27-Daryn Pittman[6] ; 3. 17-Marty Perovich[4] ; 4. 99L-Larry Wight[3] ; 5. 1A-Jacob Allen[8] ; 6. 54-Cap Henry[5] ; 7. O7-Mark Coldren[1] ; 8. 19-Colby Womer[7] Heat 3 - Dragon Race Fuel (8 Laps - Top 9 finishers transfer to the A-feature) 1. 5-Justin Barger[2] ; 2. 39-Greg Hodnett[4] ; 3. 49-Bob Howard[1] ; 4. 45-Paul McMahan[6] ; 5. 45H-Chuck Hebing[3] ; 6. 33-Shawn Donath[5] ; 7. 25-Michael Parent[7] ; 8. 29-Dick Spadaro[8] Dash - Outerwears Performance Products (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature 1. 83-Tim Shaffer[2] ; 2. 89G-David Gravel[4] ; 3. 45-Paul McMahan[3] ; 4. 33-Shawn Donath[1] ; 5. 54-Cap Henry[5] ; 6. 27-Daryn Pittman[6] A-Main - University of Northwestern Ohio (30 Laps) 1. 83-Tim Shaffer[1]; 2. 89G-David Gravel[2]; 3. 27-Daryn Pittman[6]; 4. 14-Tony Stewart[7]; 5. 54-Cap Henry[5]; 6. 5-Justin Barger[15]; 7. 45-Paul McMahan[3]; 8. 39-Greg Hodnett[9]; 9. 4-Danny Smith[13]; 10. 33-Shawn Donath[4]; 11. 99L-Larry Wight[11]; 12. 1Z-Jessica Zemken[10]; 13. 1S-Logan Schuchart[14]; 14. 17-Marty Perovich[8]; 15. 25-Michael Parent[21]; 16. 42W-Rick Wilson[19]; 17. 87-George Suprick[16]; 18. 15AW-April Wilson[22]; 19. O7-Mark Coldren[17]; 20. 19-Colby Womer[20]; 21. 49-Bob Howard[18]; 22. 1A-Jacob Allen[23]; 23. 45H-Chuck Hebing[12]; 24. 29-Dick Spadaro[24] Hard Charger: 5-Justin Barger[+9] |