Hodnett captures another Port Royal Night Before Tuscarora 50 UNOH All Star win
PORT ROYAL, PA (Friday, Sept. 6, 2013) By Brian Liskai - There's just something about the University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions and Port Royal Speedway that brings out the best in Greg Hodnett.
Hodnett led all 30 laps Friday for the $5,000 victory in the Night Before The Tuscarora 50. It was his fourth career win in the event having also taken the Night Before checkers in 1998, 2002 and 2003. It was Hodnett's 16th career UNOH All Star win. The victory was the eighth of the season overall for Hodnett.
"We were lucky I guess. The cautions really worked out for us. We weren't very good in traffic so the cautions gave us clean air and the car reacted much better. We have some work to do for tomorrow to get the car better to be able to make passes. We need to put ourselves in a good position," said Hodnett beside his Trone Outdoor/Eagle Steel/Eagle Evergreens/Apple Chevrolet/Bricker's Fries/KTS/Macri Concrete/Energym backed #39.
Brian Leppo hasn't raced a lot this summer but once given the opportunity to drive the John Zemaitis owned Zemco Speed Equipment/Zemco Headers backed #1z, he has made the most of it. He would come home second Friday and is excited about Saturday's big race.
"I haven't raced a lot this summer but I was lucky enough to team up with John and Pee Wee and Tommy (Karl, crew chief) and I'm so thankful for the opportunity. We have been a little off this year and we made some changes to the car last night and it made it much better...I was able to drive it any where and manuever the car. I'm excited about Saturday," said Leppo. "You can't put Greg Hodnett on the front row and expect to beat him. He's just too good and doesn't make many mistakes."
Pittsburgh native Danny Holtgraver continued his solid performance with a third place finish. He had gotten around Leppo second but it was negated by a caution, putting Leppo back into the runner-up spot.
"I had gotten around Brian and the caution came out and they put him back in front of me and on the restart he went to the bottom and I couldn't get around him. I was worried about holding Shaffer off. That team has found something lately. We went out late in qualifying and got fifth quick which put us in a great position for the rest of the night. The car was good all night but toward the end of the race I was just okay. We have some work to do for tomorrow," said Holtgraver of his Bryan Grove/Rob Hunter owned #45 with Canton Erectors/Berlin Natural Bakery sponsorship.
Hodnett started second in the Night Before The Tuscarora 50 sprint car feature and drove into control over Brian Leppo when the green flag fell.
Only the first two laps were recorded when the first caution flag unfurled for a stopped Ryan Taylor in the first corner.
The next eight laps went non-stop with Hodnett opening up a straightaway over Leppo before the next caution occurred for a stopped Doug Esh.
Hodnett was trailed by Leppo, Danny Holtgraver, eighth starter Tim Shaffer and Dale Blaney for the restart.
Another lap was notched before another yellow unfurled, this time forcing a stoppage for refueling.
The restart saw Logan Schuchart surge to the front, making advances from his 17th starting spot to break into the top five with 12 laps to go.
And then another yellow slowed the pace for a stopped Brent Marks with 11 laps left.
Hodnett was nearly home free on the final lap when Caleb Helms laid his car over as he ran onto the front stretch, stopping the race short of the checkers.
The green-white-checkered restart saw Hodnett still easily in control for a cruise to the finish and victory that was his first of the season at the track and 33rd overall of his Port Royal career.
Leppo finished second followed by Holtgraver, Shaffer and Schuchart. After starting 10th, Blane Heimbach rode home sixth followed by Lance Dewease, TJ Stutts, Cap Henry and Chad Layton.
With his fourth place finish Shaffer, who has won the last four straight UNOH All Star championships, narrowed the gap between he and current series point leader Dale Blaney to just 15 points with only four races left in the season. With his 7th place finish Lance Dewease, the 2011 UNOH All Star Eastern Region champion, nearly locked up the $20,000 top prize for 2013 with just Saturday's Tuscarora 50 remaining in the points race.
Port Royal Speedway - 9/6/2013
All Star Circuit of Champions (39 Cars) [#]-Starting Position
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All Star Sprint Series
The All Stars are one of the premier sprint car sanctioning bodies in the USA. It is owned by an 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
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.
The All Stars are one of the premier sprint car sanctioning bodies in the USA. It is owned by an 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.