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Ohio Speedweek: Weathering the Storm! |
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The Hurricane and Rain Couldn’t Derail Blaney’s Train STEWART, OH (6-25-08) by Bryan Autullo – All Star PR Director
The O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions made their first appearance of 2008 at Billy Jarrell’s Skyline Speedway in Stewart, OH to complete the second full night of racing during the UNOH Ohio Sprint Speedweek. The weather forecast produced more threats of rain which seems to be an ugly theme this week. A 20 minute delay during the B-main was easy to endure after the multi-day rain outs early in the week.
There were 52 cars on hand to compete for the All Star loot with $5000 on the line and a shot at a $50,000 bonus. Randy “The Hurricane” Hannagan won the Hilltop event and looked to have a legitimate shot at making it two in a row as the All Star “Pick 6” redraw put him on the front row once again – this time with Jimmy Nier to his outside. Brian Ellenberger and Dale Blaney made up row two and Todd Kane sat next to Aussie Ian Louden in row three.
At the green flag, Nier jumped to a quick lead, but Hannagan stayed on him with Blaney making things interesting in third. The caution flew on lap 3, and on the restart Nier held off the 1x for as long as he could, but by lap 8 Hannagan got past Nier to take the lead. Blaney got around Nier and set his sites on Hannagan, finally making the charge to the lead on lap 18 as Brian Smith moved into third.
At the mid-point of the 40 lapper, Blaney paced the field with Hannagan, Brian Smith, Craig Mintz and Nier in tow. As Blaney weaved through lapped traffic, Hannagan kept him in his sites as Brian Smith battled Mintz for third. Mintz finally took the spot away with 10 laps to go and set sail to challenge Hannagan for second. Danny Smith and Greg Wilson made their way into the Top 5 as Blaney cruised to victory on the wide and racy track. Hannagan finished second ahead of Mintz, B. Smith, and Wilson.
“I made a bad lap in qualifying, but we got better in the Dash,” said Blaney. “George worked on the car and told me to do my job driving it and not worry about it. I did and it was real good from about lap number 8 on.”
Blaney and Hannagan are the only two drivers with a shot at the $50,000 bonus with one win each going into Fremont. Blaney had one win last year going into Fremont and nearly pulled it off. “I did it last year at Fremont and Lima,” Blaney recalled. “You never know how we’re going to run early and how the pill draw will go. We’ll just go and do the best that we can and see what we’ve got.”
Heat races were won by Greg Wilson, Tim Shaffer, Brandon Martin, and Jimmy Stinson. Aussie Ian Louden won the O’Reilly All Star Dash. Lee Jacobs took the C-main win and Danny Smith cruised to a B-main victory.
Come out and watch the All Stars at Fremont Speedway on Thursday where we will see one of the largest car counts of the week. Visit www.ohiospeedweek.com <http://www.ohiospeedweek.com/> for information.
Skyline Speedway (6-25-08) - O'Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions
Qualifying - Kistler Engines
1 1W Paul Weaver - 11.942
2 1X Randy Hannagan
3 4 Danny Smith
4 22 Cole Duncan
5 O0 Jim Nier
6 20E Brian Ellenberger
7 96X Ian Louden
8 0 Todd Kane
9 O9 Craig Mintz
10 2 Dale Blaney
11 2H Tim Hunter
12 20X Brian Smith
13 20AU Troy Little
14 59 Kenny Jacobs
15 7A Dave Dickson
16 16S Lee Stark
17 18Y Josh Yenser
18 45 Tim Shaffer
19 98 Dan Shetler
20 22J Jimmy Stinson
21 W20 Greg Wilson
22 34 Luke Hall
23 91 Aaron Middaugh
24 OO1 Greg Mitchell
25 15C Chris Andrews
26 22D Josh Davis
27 30C Lance Dewease
28 24H Rob Chaney
29 5 Byron Reed
30 5B Chad Blonde
31 51 Aaron Higgins
32 7K Blake Feese
33 4K Kody Kinser
34 55 Dean Jacobs
35 28 Brian Paulus
36 40 Mark Imler
37 X Mark Keegan
38 83G Phil Gressman
39 11M Brandon Martin
40 28X Hud Horton
41 1S Wayne Mcpeek
42 16 Lee Jacobs
43 56R Ryan Myers
44 3C Cole Conley
45 11B Brock Mayes
46 60 Kory Crabtree
47 33S Keith Baxter
48 97 Todd King
49 96AU Bruce White
50 69 Scott Curren
51 22B Ben Gregg
52 9G Chad Goff
Heat 1 - All Pro Heads
1. W20-Greg Wilson; 2. 20AU-Troy Little; 3. 5-Byron Reed; 4. 11B-Brock Mayes; 5. O0-Jim Nier; 6. X-Mark Keegan; 7. 15C-Chris Andrews; 8. 1S-Wayne Mcpeek; 9. 4K-Kody Kinser; 10. 1W-Paul Weaver; 11. 18Y-Josh Yenser; 12. O9-Craig Mintz; 13. 96AU-Bruce White;
Heat 2 - Engler Machine & Tool
1. 45-Tim Shaffer; 2. 20E-Brian Ellenberger; 3. 83G-Phil Gressman; 4. 2-Dale Blaney; 5. 1X-Randy Hannagan; 6. 59-Kenny Jacobs; 7. 5B-Chad Blonde; 8. 34-Luke Hall; 9. 22D-Josh Davis; 10. 16-Lee Jacobs; 11. 69-Scott Curren; 12. 55-Dean Jacobs; 13. 60-Kory Crabtree;
Heat 3 - Hoosier Tire
1. 11M-Brandon Martin; 2. 7A-Dave Dickson; 3. 2H-Tim Hunter; 4. 91-Aaron Middaugh; 5. 96X-Ian Louden; 6. 98-Dan Shetler; 7. 4-Danny Smith; 8. 56R-Ryan Myers; 9. 30C-Lance Dewease; 10. 51-Aaron Higgins; 11. 33S-Keith Baxter; 12. 28-Brian Paulus; 13. 22B-Ben Gregg;
Heat 4 - Hank's Performance Products
1. 22J-Jimmy Stinson; 2. 20X-Brian Smith; 3. 0-Todd Kane; 4. 24H-Rob Chaney; 5. 3C-Cole Conley; 6. 22-Cole Duncan; 7. OO1-Greg Mitchell; 8. 16S-Lee Stark; 9. 7K-Blake Feese; 10. 40-Mark Imler; 11. 97-Todd King; 12. 28X-Hud Horton; 13. 9G-Chad Goff;
Dash - O'Reilly Auto Parts
1. 96X-Ian Louden; 2. 1X-Randy Hannagan; 3. 2H-Tim Hunter; 4. 0-Todd Kane; 5. 2-Dale Blaney; 6. 20E-Brian Ellenberger;
C-main - Outerwears Racing Accessories
1. 16-Lee Jacobs; 2. 56r-Ryan Myers; 3. 33s-Keith Baxter; 4. 1s-Wayne Mcpeek; 5. 97-Todd King; 6. 22b-Ben Gregg; 7. 9g-Chad Goff; 8. 40-Mark Imler; 9. 28x-Hud Horton; 10. 4k-Kody Kinser; 11. 55-Dean Jacobs; 12. 69-Scott Curren;
B-main - University of Northwestern Ohio
1. 4-Danny Smith; 2. O9-Craig Mintz; 3. 98-Dan Shetler; 4. 59-Kenny Jacobs; 5. 22D-Josh Davis; 6. 22-Cole Duncan; 7. 15C-Chris Andrews; 8. 51-Aaron Higgins; 9. 30C-Lance Dewease; 10. 16-Lee Jacobs; 11. 16S-Lee Stark; 12. 33s-Keith Baxter; 13. 34-Luke Hall; 14. 18y-Josh Yenser; 15. 56r-Ryan Myers; 16. 1s-Wayne Mcpeek; 17. 5b-Chad Blonde; 18. 1w-Paul Weaver;
A-main - MSD Ignition Starting Position [x]
1. 2-Dale Blaney[4]; 2. 1X-Randy Hannagan[1]; 3. O9-Craig Mintz[12]; 4. 20X-Brian Smith[8]; 5. W20-Greg Wilson[17]; 6. O0-Jim Nier[2]; 7. 4-Danny Smith[11]; 8. 45-Tim Shaffer[14]; 9. 20E-Brian Ellenberger[3]; 10. 20AU-Troy Little[9]; 11. 2H-Tim Hunter[7]; 12. 0-Todd Kane[5]; 13. 22J-Jimmy Stinson[16]; 14. 5-Byron Reed[20]; 15. 3C-Cole Conley[23]; 16. 83G-Phil Gressman[21]; 17. 11B-Brock Mayes[24]; 18. 11M-Brandon Martin[22]; 19. 96X-Ian Louden[6]; 20. 98-Dan Shetler[15]; 21. 24H-Rob Chaney[19]; 22. 59-Kenny Jacobs[13]; 23. 7A-Dave Dickson[10]; 24. 91-Aaron Middaugh[18];
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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.