Mark Smith Takes Home Bear TrophyCLEARFIELD, PA (6-15-08) by Bryan Autullo – All Star PR Director
The O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions rounded out their three day weekend tour of Central Pennsylvania on Father's Day with an appearance at Tim Bainey’s Central PA Speedway, also known as The Big Track to the local fans. This was the first appearance of winged 410 sprint cars at the speedway and only the second event under the direction of Bainey who recently took over promotion of the track.
A unique feature of The Big Track is the big hill along the backstretch and turns three and four where fans line up in campers and pickup trucks and have a great vantage point to view the race, grill some food, and socialize with friends. Another unique feature is the large Bear Trophy carved out of a log and weighing in around 50 pounds. This will be a conversation piece for all future winners at Central PA Speedway.
Paul McMahan nearly swept the night as he set the track record in qualifying, won his heat, won the All Star dash, and led a good portion of the A-main event before mechanical failure on lap 20 ended his night. The Central PA demons continue to haunt the All Star series when visiting the Keystone State.
The redraw for the top 6 positions put Mark Smith on the pole with McMahan on the outside. Greg Hodnett and Randy Hannagan lined up on row two. Alan Cole and Lance Dewease were lined up on row three. When the green dropped, McMahan shot out to the lead, but the red flew on lap two for Jimmy Seger flipping off the top of turn one. On the restart it was McMahan, Smith, Hannagan, Hodnett, and Dewease.
McMahan would lead again until lap four when the caution flew for Brandon Martin who spun in turn four. McMahan got a great restart and was pulling away from the field when Fred Rahmer broke on the backstretch ending his night. Mark Smith got around McMahan on the restart and started to run away until he got a little too high in turn one on lap 15 giving McMahan the opportunity to get back to the lead.
Disaster struck on lap 20 as McMahan broke while leading by several car lengths over Greg Hodnett. When the caution flew for the slowing Rick Ferkel owned #0 car, several teams began to have tire wear issues. Alan Cole stopped in turn four with a flat right rear. At the same time, All Star points leader Lance Dewease also changed a tire negating his 5th place run. Fourth place running Greg Wilson and Brandon Martin also pulled in with flat right rear tires.
Lining up for the restart on lap 20 was Hodnett, Mark Smith, Hannagan, Blaney, and Stevie Smith. Mark Smith got another great restart and got by Hodnett and drove to the checkers with Hodnett in tow and Blaney crossing the line third. Hannagan and Stevie Smith rounded out the Top 5. Smith would pull into victory lane with a flat right rear tire as well.
Heat races were won by McMahan, Rahmer, and Ellenberger. The Dash was won by McMahan followed by Hannagan, Dewease, Hodnett, Wilson, and Rahmer.
Central PA Speedway (6-15-08) – All Star Circuit of Champions Results
Qualifying: 1. 0 - Paul Mcmahan 13.698
2. 1x - Randy Hannagan 13.750
3. 22 - Greg Hodnett 13.793
4. 30c - Lance Dewease 13.837
5. 7m - Mark Smith 13.844
6. 35 - Alan Cole 13.844
7. 2 - Dale Blaney 13.942
8. 19 - Stevie Smith 13.946
9. 4 - Rod George 14.040
10. w20 - Greg Wilson 14.075
11. 51 - Fred Rahmer 14.075
12. 11e - Mike Erdley 14.095
13. 20e - Brian Ellenberger 14.109
14. 11m - Brandon Martin 14.309
15. 72 - Jimmy Seger 14.393
16. 16 - Lee Stark 14.604
17. 56r - Ryan Myers 14.678
18. 17 - Mike Deener 15.710
Heat 1: McMahan, Wilson, Mark Smith, Erdley, Stark
Heat 2: Rahmer, Stevie Smith, Dewease, Hannagan, Martin, Myers
Heat 3: Ellenberger, Hodnett, George, Seger, Cole, Deener
A-main: Mark Smith, Greg Hodnett, Dale Blaney, Randy Hannagan, Stevie Smith, Brian Ellenberger, Lance Dewease, Brandon Martin, Rod George, Greg Wilson, Mike Erdley, Lee Stark, Ryan Myers, Paul McMahan, Alan Cole, Mike Deener, Fred Rahmer, Jimmy Seger |
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.