Dewease Captures Coors Light Attica Spring Clash ATTICA, OH (4-5-08) by Bryan Autullo - O'Reilly All Star Director of Public Relations The O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions kicked off the second leg of the 2008 racing season at Attica Raceway Park with Lance Dewease getting a victory on Ohio soil – very wet, saturated soil. If you were to fly over Seneca County, the Attica Fairgrounds would be the only piece of land you’d find that wasn’t under water this evening as nearby Bellevue was under a “state of emergency” for flooding. The Attica crew did a remarkable job of getting the track in racing condition for the 42 cars that came out to brave the chilly weather and kick off the 2008 Ohio racing season.
Heat race action was dicey as the track surface developed some ruts and the drivers had to find their way around the holes to get to the front. The elbows were up and the drivers looked more like bull riders, but amazingly there were very few on track incidents for the first night out since last fall for many of these guys. Heat races were won by Rob Eyler, Rod George, Caleb Griffith, and Brian Paulus who was attempting to shake the gremlins who have haunted him with each visit to Attica.
Mike Linder won the B-main over Kenny Jacobs, Butch Schroeder, and young 17 year old Cap Henry who made his first start with the All Stars. Henry is a regular in the 305 division at Attica and looked impressive running with the big guns.
The A-main action started off furious right from the initial green flag with cars running 3 and 4 wide, slide jobs through the rough spots, making breathtaking passes, and keeping the fans on the edge of their seats.
The caution flew on lap one for Cap Henry who had to get out of the throttle as cars bunched up in turn two. On the restart the wild action resumed with Brian Ellenberger, Lee Jacobs, and Lance Dewease racing each other like it was the last lap. Ellenberger got sideways in turn three, dug in, and barrel rolled into a mud bog bringing out the first red flag of the evening.
Again, the racing was intense as Jacobs and Dewease battled through lap 6 as cautions slowed the action for Rob Eyler and then Rod George on the restart. Dewease led Randy Hannagan to the restart and nearly collected the pylon and then Hannagan at the flag stand but the two continued as hard charging Byron Reed was on a mission to the front.
At the half way point, Reed took the lead from Dewease after the two exchanged slide jobs and passes, but Reed showed Dewease the way around the track where he holds the past 3 championships.
On lap 22, third running Hannagan hooked a rut in turn three and got sideways bringing out the final caution. As the cars were lining up, leader Reed ducked into the work area for a ruptured o-ring in the fuel line, handing the lead back to Dewease. “A 20 cent part cost us $5000 tonight,” said car owner Sam Reed.
Dewease rocketed away from the field on the restart as Greg Wilson, Dean Jacobs, and Dale Blaney battled for position behind him. Blaney shot into second place and tried to chase down Dewease as Jacobs edged out Wilson on the final circuit. Rounding out the Top 5 was Ed Lynch Jr.
"The track was changing every lap. You'd find a groove and a lap later it would change so you had to adapt. That's where experience comes in," said Dewease beside his Advance Development Services sponsored #30c. "My hats off to the track crew here. They could have gave up and called this race, but they kept working at it and we got to put on a show for these great fans."
Blaney, who is never happy with a runner up spot aboard the George Fisher Racing entry, was glad to make it through the night without any damage to the car. "We don't seem to start so good. We just hung around and tried to keep the car in one piece and finish and here we are in second."
Third place finisher Dean Jacobs seemed to enjoy the rodeo style of racing. "I love racing on heavy, rough tracks...that was a lot of fun, but it was definitely tiring."
Attica Raceway Park (4-5-08)
O'Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions
Qualifying - Kistler Engines
1. 20E-Brian Ellenberger, 12.692; 2. 30C-Lance Dewease, 12.751; 3. 6F-Bob Felmlee, 12.760; 4. 16-Lee Jacobs, 12.789; 5. 1X-Randy Hannagan, 12.790; 6. 5R-Byron Reed, 12.796; 7. 2-Dale Blaney, 12.804; 8. 7K-Dean Jacobs, 12.812; 9. 59-Kenny Jacobs, 12.848; 10. W20-Greg Wilson, 12.878; 11. 11B-Brock Mayes, 12.891; 12. 24H-Rob Chaney, 12.910; 13. 48S-Andy Shammo, 12.939; 14. 2L-Ed Lynch, 12.946; 15. X-Mark Keegan, 12.960; 16. 6-Mike Dussel, 12.963; 17. 98-Bruce Robenalt, 12.980; 18. 4-Rod George, 12.984; 19. O-Paul McMahan, 12.986; 20. 56R-Ryan Myers, 12.998; 21. 5A-Rob Eyler, 13.013; 22. 23-Ben Rutan, 13.069; 23. 12-Caleb Griffith, 13.086; 24. 28-Brian Paulus, 13.119; 25. 83-Phil Gressman, 13.124; 26. 16S-Lee Stark, 13.148; 27. 22-Cole Duncan, 13.191; 28. 312-Mike Linder, 13.192; 29. 28H-Hud Horton, 13.202; 30. 60-Jody Keegan, 13.208; 31. 11M-Brandon Martin, 13.211; 32. 15C-Chris Andrews, 13.256; 33. 27-Scott Euler, 13.330; 34. 91-Aaron Middaugh, 13.456; 35. B20-Butch Schroeder, 13.503; 36. O4-Cap Henry, 13.563; 37. 1W-Paul Weaver, 13.582; 38. 51-Aaron Higgins, 13.668; 39. 2H-Tim Hunter, 13.802; 40. 81-Craig Folmar, 13.843; 41. 10-David Harrison, 15.549
Heat 1 - All Pro Heads
1. 5A-Rob Eyler; 2. 20E-Brian Ellenberger; 3. 98-Bruce Robenalt; 4. 1X-Randy Hannagan; 5. 83-Phil Gressman; 6. 48S-Andy Shammo; 7. 59-Kenny Jacobs; 8. 1W-Paul Weaver; 9. 28H-Hud Horton; 10. 27-Scott Euler; 11. 10-David Harrison
Heat 2 - Engler Machine & Tool
1. 4-Rod George; 2. W20-Greg Wilson; 3. 2L-Ed Lynch; 4. 5R-Byron Reed; 5. 30C-Lance Dewease; 6. 91-Aaron Middaugh; 7. 51-Aaron Higgins; 8. 16S-Lee Stark; 9. 60-Jody Keegan; 10. 23-Ben Rutan
Heat 3 - Hoosier Tire
1. 12-Caleb Griffith; 2. O-Paul McMahan; 3. 2-Dale Blaney; 4. 6F-Bob Felmlee; 5. 11B-Brock Mayes; 6. 11M-Brandon Martin; 7. X-Mark Keegan; 8. B20-Butch Schroeder; 9. 22-Cole Duncan; 10. 2H-Tim Hunter
Heat 4 - Hank's Performance Products
1. 28-Brian Paulus; 2. 56R-Ryan Myers; 3. 24H-Rob Chaney; 4. 7K-Dean Jacobs; 5. 16-Lee Jacobs; 6. 312-Mike Linder; 7. 6-Mike Dussel; 8. 81-Craig Folmar; 9. O4-Cap Henry; 10. 15C-Chris Andrews
Dash - O'Reilly Auto Parts
1. 6F-Bob Felmlee; 2. 20E-Brian Ellenberger; 3. 1X-Randy Hannagan; 4. 2-Dale Blaney; 5. 30C-Lance Dewease; 6. 5R-Byron Reed
B-main - University of Northwestern Ohio
1. 312-Mike Linder; 2. 59-Kenny Jacobs; 3. B20-Butch Schroeder; 4. O4-Cap Henry; 5. 15C-Chris Andrews; 6. 6-Mike Dussel; 7. 60-Jody Keegan; 8. 16S-Lee Stark; 9. 51-Aaron Higgins; 10. 22-Cole Duncan; 11. 1W-Paul Weaver; 12. 11M-Brandon Martin; 13. X-Mark Keegan; 14. 28H-Hud Horton; 15. 2H-Tim Hunter; 16. 81-Craig Folmar; 17. 27-Scott Euler; 18. 48S-Andy Shammo; 19. 23-Ben Rutan; 20. 10-David Harrison
A-main - MSD Ignition -- Starting Position [X]
1. 30C-Lance Dewease[4]; 2. 2-Dale Blaney[7]; 3. 7K-Dean Jacobs[8]; 4. W20-Greg Wilson[9]; 5. 2L-Ed Lynch[13]; 6. 6F-Bob Felmlee[6]; 7. 16-Lee Jacobs[2]; 8. B20-Butch Schroeder[23]; 9. 1X-Randy Hannagan[3]; 10. O-Paul McMahan[16]; 11. 24H-Rob Chaney[12]; 12. 83-Phil Gressman[21]; 13. 11B-Brock Mayes[10]; 14. 56R-Ryan Myers[17]; 15. O4-Cap Henry[24]; 16. 5R-Byron Reed[5]; 17. 12-Caleb Griffith[19]; 18. 4-Rod George[15]; 19. 28-Brian Paulus[20]; 20. 59-Kenny Jacobs[11]; 21. 5A-Rob Eyler[18]; 22. 98-Bruce Robenalt[14]; 23. 20E-Brian Ellenberger[1]; 24. 312-Mike Linder[22]
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The All Stars are one of the premier sprint car sanctioning bodies in the USA. It is owned by Illinois businessman, and now in their 30th year of operation, the All Stars take pride in their reputation of providing highly competitive, fair, exciting racing for outlaw sprint cars with many different winners in a year. About 400 drivers participate in All Star races yearly in front of an average of 5,000 spectators per event. Currently 40+ races are scheduled in numerous states, such as Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee, Nebraska, West Virginia, and Kansas. 
Ohio Sprint Speedweek proves to be one of the most competitive weeks in racing during the 2010 All Star season. Tough battles happened in the 2010 Ohio Sprint Speedweek season, as it included nine straight nights of racing action in the buckeye state, it challenged the best of the best, but young David Gravel- DDR Motorsports was crowned the 2010 champion.