Wilson Capitalizes on Blaney's Misfortune at Fremont Speedway

FREMONT, OH (5-24-08) by Bryan Autullo - All Star Public Relations Director

The O'Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions returned to Fremont Speedway to find a packed house, a smooth, racy track, and 41 410 sprint cars looking for a piece of the All Star purse.  Two-time All Star Champion, Greg Wilson, would walk away with the $5000 winner's share in his pocket at the end of the night.  Wilson, who won the previous week at Fremont's regular weekly show, was prepared to get back to victory lane when the money and points were on the line.

"We have been struggling lately. We dug in and worked harder in the shop...my crew has put in a lot of hours and it finally paid off. I also talked a lot with my uncle Hamp (Bob Hampshire, former car owner for Wilson) and he helped us figure some stuff out and get my head screwed on straight," said Wilson in the Engine Pro Victory Lane.

Wilson was critical of the track conditions the previous week, but was sure to make note of the hard work that the new promoters put in this past week to make sure things were better when the All Stars rolled into town.

"Also hats off to Andy James and Rich Farmer (Fremont promoters). I was hard on them last week about the track conditions and they worked their tails off and gave us a fantastic, racy surface tonight. It is so great to win at Fremont in front of these great fans," Wilson added.

 At the drop of the green for the 40-lap main event, Dean Jacobs jumped into the lead with Dale Blaney and Kenny Jacobs in tow. Mike Linder, John Ivy, and Mark Keeganwere involved in a lap one incident that brought the field back for a complete restart. Dean Jacobs would rocket to the front once again, but Blaney drove to the bottom to steal the lead on lap two.

Blaney pulled out to a 10 car length lead while the Jacobs brothers would battle for second.  Wilson kept them both within sight. The red flag flew on lap 10 when Byron Reed got crossed up with another car and took and easy roll.  Reed's crew worked hard to get the car back out before the restart, but didn't quite make it.  When the green flew again, Blaney's car was on a rail as he rocketed around the speedway, putting the car anywhere he wanted it to go. Wilson ran his typical high groove and managed to get around both Jacobs brothers and into second place by lap 12.

Blaney was checking out and was mounting a straightaway lead with Wilson in second. Dean Jacobs and Brock Mayes battled for third. Then disaster struck for Blaney on lap 23 when Craig Mintz and Rob Chaney made contact on the front stretch right in front of the leader.  Blaney was hard on the brakes, but got into Chaney and somehow managed to continue on.  It did not appear that he had any damage to the car when the left rear tire began to go down. Blaney would have to go pitside for repairs, giving Wilson the lead, with Dean Jacobs, Mayes, David Harrison and Kenny Jacobs rounding out the top five.  Blaney was able to rejoin the field at the tail.

Wilson inherited the lead on the restart and a battle raged on for second between Dean Jacobs, Brock Mayes, 9th starting David Harrison and 10th starting Brandon Martin. Wilson would hit lapped traffic around lap 36, and on the tight speedway it allowed Dean Jacobs and Mayes to close the gap. Martin's run to the front was cut short on lap 37 with a broken drive line, but he made it into the infield and the green stayed out. Mayes would drive under Dean Jacobs on the final lap to take second.

At the finish line it was Wilson, Mayes, Dean Jacobs, Harrison and Randy Hannagan rounding out the top five.

"We really needed this. We have tried everything to get this thing turned around...we've gone through some changes in help...heck, I've even showed up to the track by myself. But we have Daniel Smith helping us and we're getting somewhere," said Mayes of his second place run beside the J&F Constructioned backed car.

For Dean Jacobs, a third place run at Fremont was a lot of fun.

"I screwed up in lapped traffic. I just couldn't get off turn two like everyone else. But hey, we'll take a third here. It's really fun to come to Fremont and run well," said Jacobs beside his American Architectual Glass sponsored car.

Points leader Lance Dewease, who won a World of Outlaws event the night before, broke a rear end in qualifying and struggled the rest of the night, but managed a 9th place finish keeping his commanding lead for the season Championship race.  The current points race is shaping up to have four teams battling for second place as they chase down Dewease as the series heads back to central PA in a couple of weeks.

Current Points as of 5-24-08:
1    30c    Lance Dewease    1730
2    2    Dale Blaney             1563
3    1x    Randy Hannagan    1559
4    w20    Greg Wilson        1548
5    0    Paul McMahan         1500
6    20e    Brian Ellenberger   1473
7    11m    Brandon Martin    1403
8    28    Brian Paulus            1384
9    11b    Brock Mayes        1364
10    56r    Ryan Myers        1262
11    16    Lee Stark            1140
12    6f    Bob Felmlee         1034
13    22    Greg Hodnett        935
14    51    Fred Rahmer        844
15    71m    Paul May            842

Current Rookie Points as of 5-24-08:
1    56r    Ryan Myers    232
2    16    Lee Stark        220
3    4n    Neil Shepherd    128
4    8h    Dustin Morgan    124
5    7m    Geoff Dodge    70

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
O'Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions - Fremont Speedway (5-24-08)

Qualifying - Kistler Engines

1. 83-Phil Gressman, 12.357; 2. 2-Dale Blaney, 12.364; 3. 20X-Brian Smith, 12.430; 4. 7K-Dean Jacobs, 12.525; 5. 59-Kenny Jacobs, 12.649; 6. O-Paul McMahan, 12.668; 7. 6-Mike Dussel, 12.679; 8. W20-Greg Wilson, 12.689; 9. 11B-Brock Mayes, 12.692; 10. 5-Byron Reed, 12.738; 11. 1X-Randy Hannagan, 12.787; 12. 10-David Harrison, 12.804; 13. 20E-Brian Ellenberger, 12.822; 14. 55-John Ivy, 12.893; 15. 1W-Paul Weaver, 12.899; 16. 91-Aaron Middaugh, 12.959; 17. O9-Craig Mintz, 13.038; 18. 48S-Andy Shammo, 13.071; 19. 12-Caleb Griffith, 13.075; 20. X-Mark Keegan, 13.092; 21. 56R-Ryan Myers, 13.095; 22. 30C-Lance Dewease, 13.108; 23. 11M-Brandon Martin, 13.112; 24. 1-Doug Berryman, 13.148; 25. 24H-Rob Chaney, 13.155; 26. 10S-Roger Shammo, 13.167; 27. 16S-Lee Stark, 13.174; 28. 16-Lee Jacobs, 13.184; 29. 15C-Chris Andrews, 13.188; 30. 5T-Travis Philo, 13.235; 31. 312-Mike Linder, 13.289; 32. 63-Roddy Bellbowen, 13.317; 33. 60-Jody Keegan, 13.345; 34. 27-Scott Euler, 13.355; 35. 59J-Kirk Jefferies, 13.358; 36. 22-Cole Duncan, 13.547; 37. 14H-Todd Heller, 13.680; 38. 48-Mike Burkin, 13.713; 39. 97-Todd King, 13.743; 40. 11-Josh Harrison, 14.091; 41. 9X-Kevin Huntley, 14.159

Heat 1 - All Pro Heads

1. O9-Craig Mintz; 2. 11B-Brock Mayes; 3. 59-Kenny Jacobs; 4. 20E-Brian Ellenberger; 5. 24H-Rob Chaney; 6. 83-Phil Gressman; 7. 56R-Ryan Myers; 8. 14H-Todd Heller; 9. 9X-Kevin Huntley; 10. 15C-Chris Andrews; 11. 60-Jody Keegan

Heat 2 - Engler Machine & Tool

1. 48S-Andy Shammo; 2. 30C-Lance Dewease; 3. 5-Byron Reed; 4. 55-John Ivy; 5. 2-Dale Blaney; 6. O-Paul McMahan; 7. 5T-Travis Philo; 8. 27-Scott Euler; 9. 10S-Roger Shammo; 10. 48-Mike Burkin

Heat 3 - Hoosier Tire

1. 12-Caleb Griffith; 2. 11M-Brandon Martin; 3. 1X-Randy Hannagan; 4. 6-Mike Dussel; 5. 312-Mike Linder; 6. 20X-Brian Smith; 7. 59J-Kirk Jefferies; 8. 16S-Lee Stark; 9. 97-Todd King; 10. 1W-Paul Weaver

Heat 4 - Hank's Performance Products

1. X-Mark Keegan; 2. 10-David Harrison; 3. W20-Greg Wilson; 4. 7K-Dean Jacobs; 5. 16-Lee Jacobs; 6. 22-Cole Duncan; 7. 1-Doug Berryman; 8. 63-Roddy Bellbowen; 9. 91-Aaron Middaugh; 10. 11-Josh Harrison

Dash - O'Reilly Auto Parts

1. 7K-Dean Jacobs; 2. W20-Greg Wilson; 3. 11B-Brock Mayes; 4. 2-Dale Blaney; 5. 5-Byron Reed; 6. 59-Kenny Jacobs

B-main - University of Northwestern Ohio

1. 83-Phil Gressman; 2. O-Paul McMahan; 3. 20X-Brian Smith; 4. 15C-Chris Andrews; 5. 22-Cole Duncan; 6. 10S-Roger Shammo; 7. 14H-Todd Heller; 8. 56R-Ryan Myers; 9. 27-Scott Euler; 10. 9X-Kevin Huntley; 11. 97-Todd King; 12. 5T-Travis Philo; 13. 60-Jody Keegan; 14. 63-Roddy Bellbowen; 15. 59J-Kirk Jefferies; 16. 11-Josh Harrison; 17. 48-Mike Burkin; 18. 16S-Lee Stark; 19. 1-Doug Berryman; 20. 91-Aaron Middaugh

A-main - MSD Ignition  Starting Position [#]

1. W20-Greg Wilson[6]; 2. 11B-Brock Mayes[5]; 3. 7K-Dean Jacobs[2]; 4. 10-David Harrison[9]; 5. 1X-Randy Hannagan[8]; 6. 20X-Brian Smith[12]; 7. 16-Lee Jacobs[22]; 8. 59-Kenny Jacobs[4]; 9. 30C-Lance Dewease[19]; 10. 2-Dale Blaney[1]; 11. X-Mark Keegan[18]; 12. O-Paul McMahan[13]; 13. 48S-Andy Shammo[16]; 14. 6-Mike Dussel[3]; 15. 15C-Chris Andrews[23]; 16. 20E-Brian Ellenberger[10]; 17. 11M-Brandon Martin[20]; 18. 55-John Ivy[14]; 19. O9-Craig Mintz[15]; 20. 24H-Rob Chaney[21]; 21. 12-Caleb Griffith[17]; 22. 5-Byron Reed[7]; 23. 312-Mike Linder[24