Saldana Puts On Clinic at Eldora Speedway for All Star Win
ROSSBURG, OH (4-26-08) by Bryan Autullo – All Star PR Director The O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions live by the motto “You never know who is going to win an All Star race.” Tonight at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, OH the field of cars could not have been more surprising and had fans buzzing about who might win this one. With the early cancellation of the World of Outlaws event at Husets Speedway and then the rain out of Knoxville Speedway, several Outlaw teams high tailed it East to compete with the All Stars under sunny skies in Western Ohio. Surprise entries included Donny Schatz, Joey Saldana, Tony Bruce Jr., Chad Kemenah, Chad Hillier, Darryn Pittman, Steve and Kraig Kinser, and NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne. With the All Stars turning in a strong showing of their own, the car count reached 37 making for a full night of exciting racing action in front of a good Eldora crowd. Randy Hannagan won the O’Reilly All Star Dash, picking up 6 points oward the season championship points. Paul May was second followed by Brian Ellenberger, Rob Chaney, Paul McMahan, and Lance Dewease.
Heat race action on the fast half mile high banked speedway were full of slide jobs and breath taking action as the cushion got closer to the concrete barrier with each lap. Joey Saldana and Chad Blonde ran above the cushion flirting with the fence and finding the traditional fast way around the speedway. Bill Rose got upside down on the backstretch in Heat #2 putting an end to his evening. Heat races were won by Saldana, Dean Jacobs, Paul May, and Paul McMahan.
With such a stellar field in the house, the B-main was stacked with talent as Steve Kinser started on the pole along side of Dale Blaney. Kinser shot out to the lead and went wire to wire in the 12 lap affair. Blaney would finish second followed by Chad Blonde and Chad Hillier who took the final transfer spot into the A-main.
The redraw for the Top 6 positions put Paul McMahan on the pole next to Darryn Pittman with Donny Schatz and Ed Lynch Jr. lined up on row two. The third row consisted of Joey Saldana and Kenny Jacobs seeking his 99th career All Star win.
Saldana took the lead from Pittman on lap 6 and dominated the field as Schatz and Pittman battled for second place in the non-stop 30 lap event. Saldana had the KKR #9 hooked up winning by nearly half a lap over the competition and lapping up to 5th place as he was on Kemenah’s bumper at the checkered flag. At the midway point of the event, Saldana reminded his boss Kasey Kahne why he hired him as he blew past Kahne putting him a lap down. Saldana masterfully negotiated traffic picking off cars one by one as he tried to lap the entire field.
Pittman and Schatz battled back and forth for second as Steve Kinser snuck into the mix taking over the fourth position as McMahan slipped back to round out the top five. The track was fast and smooth and made for plenty of great “Eldora slide jobs” throughout the night.
All Star points leader Lance Dewease struggled a bit throughout the evening and would have allowed Blaney and Hannagan to gain valuable points, but both had mechanical problems and exited the race early along with Dewease.
O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions
Eldora Speedway (4-26-08)
Qualifying - Kistler Engines
1. 9-Joey Saldana, 13.419; 2. 2L-Ed Lynch Jr., 13.485; 3. 59-Kenny
Jacobs, 13.545; 4. 0-Paul Mcmahan, 13.592; 5. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.594;
6. 21-Darryn Pittman, 13.660; 7. 24H-Rob Chaney, 13.726; 8. 5W-Lucas
Wolfe, 13.739; 9. 11-Steve Kinser, 13.761; 10. B20-Butch Schroeder,
13.771; 11. 2M-Dustin Daggett, 13.797; 12. 2-Dale Blaney, 13.808; 13.
20E-Brian Ellenberger, 13.823; 14. 6-Bill Rose, 13.864; 15. 28-Brian
Paulus, 13.878; 16. 91-Kasey Kahne, 13.880; 17. 8K-Chad Kemenah, 13.892;
18. 1X-Randy Hannagan, 13.942; 19. 71M-Paul May, 13.942; 20. 30C-Lance
Dewease, 13.957; 21. 83-Phil Gressman, 13.964; 22. 7K-Dean Jacobs,
13.976; 23. 11B-Brock Mayes, 13.979; 24. W20-Greg Wilson, 14.072; 25.
5B-Chad Blonde, 14.081; 26. 16-Lee Stark, 14.111; 27. 84-Jimmy Stinson,
14.122; 28. 9X-Kevin Huntley, 14.136; 29. 11M-Brandon Martin, 14.155;
30. 5H-Chad Hillier, 14.162; 31. 18-Tony Bruce Jr., 14.214; 32. 11N-Ed
Neumeister, 14.355; 33. 56R-Ryan Myers, 14.605; 34. 1-Kent Wolters,
14.948; 35. 1A-Mark Aldrich, 15.296; 36. 23-Aaron Mcfadden, 16.769; 37.
20-Kraig Kinser, 99.000;
Heat 1 - All Pro Heads
1. 9-Joey Saldana; 2. 8K-Chad Kemenah; 3. 83-Phil Gressman; 4. 15-Donny
Schatz; 5. 20E-Brian Ellenberger; 6. 5B-Chad Blonde; 7. 11-Steve Kinser;
8. 20-Kraig Kinser; 9. 56R-Ryan Myers; 10. 11M-Brandon Martin;
Heat 2 - Engler Machine & Tool
1. 7K-Dean Jacobs; 2. 1X-Randy Hannagan; 3. B20-Butch Schroeder; 4.
2L-Ed Lynch Jr.; 5. 21-Darryn Pittman; 6. 5H-Chad Hillier; 7. 16-Lee
Stark; 8. 1-Kent Wolters; 9. 6-Bill Rose;
Heat 3 - Hoosier Racing Tire
1. 71M-Paul May; 2. 59-Kenny Jacobs; 3. 2M-Dustin Daggett; 4. 24H-Rob
Chaney; 5. 28-Brian Paulus; 6. 18-Tony Bruce Jr.; 7. 84-Jimmy Stinson;
8. 1A-Mark Aldrich; 9. 11B-Brock Mayes;
Heat 4 - Hank's Performance Products
1. W20-Greg Wilson; 2. 0-Paul Mcmahan; 3. 30C-Lance Dewease; 4. 91-Kasey
Kahne; 5. 5W-Lucas Wolfe; 6. 2-Dale Blaney; 7. 23-Aaron Mcfadden; 8.
11N-Ed Neumeister; 9. 9X-Kevin Huntley;
Dash - O'Reilly Auto Parts
1. 1X-Randy Hannagan; 2. 71m-Paul May; 3. 20E-Brian Ellenberger; 4.
24H-Rob Chaney; 5. 0-Paul Mcmahan; 6. 30c-Lance Dewease;
B-main - University of Northwest Ohio
1. 11-Steve Kinser; 2. 2-Dale Blaney; 3. 5B-Chad Blonde; 4. 5H-Chad
Hillier; 5. 84-Jimmy Stinson; 6. 20-Kraig Kinser; 7. 16-Lee Stark; 8.
11M-Brandon Martin; 9. 9X-Kevin Huntley; 10. 18-Tony Bruce Jr.; 11.
1-Kent Wolters; 12. 56R-Ryan Myers; 13. 1A-Mark Aldrich; 14. 23-Aaron
Mcfadden; 15. 11N-Ed Neumeister; 16. 11B-Brock Mayes;
A-main - MSD Ignition Starting Position [X]
1. 9-Joey Saldana[5]; 2. 21-Darryn Pittman[2]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz[3]; 4.
11-Steve Kinser[11]; 5. 0-Paul Mcmahan[1]; 6. 8K-Chad Kemenah[16]; 7.
59-Kenny Jacobs[6]; 8. 24H-Rob Chaney[7]; 9. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[8]; 10.
28-Brian Paulus[14]; 11. 91-Kasey Kahne[15]; 12. B20-Butch Schroeder[9];
13. 2L-Ed Lynch Jr.[4]; 14. 2M-Dustin Daggett[10]; 15. W20-Greg
Wilson[22]; 16. 7K-Dean Jacobs[21]; 17. 5B-Chad Blonde[23]; 18. 5H-Chad
Hillier[24]; 19. 20E-Brian Ellenberger[13]; 20. 1X-Randy Hannagan[17];
21. 71M-Paul May[18]; 22. 30C-Lance Dewease[19]; 23. 83-Phil
Gressman[20]; 24. 2-Dale Blaney[12]; |
O'Reilly Auto Parts is excited to be affliated with the All Star Circuit of Champions and so many other great racing associations throughout all of our market areas. All of these sanctioning bodies celebrate the racers and put O'Reilly Auto Parts deep in the grass roots of racing. These racers and fans are our customers and we are pleased to serve them in our stores. From our roots as a single store in 1957 to our current size of over 3,337 locations and still growing. Stop by on your way to the track. 
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.