FREMONT, OH (9-15-12) By Brian Liskai– Tim Shaffer was sick of finishing second and third. The Aliquippa, Pa. driver took out his frustrations on the field at Fremont Speedway Saturday, dominating the last half of the 50-lap Jim Ford Classic Presented by Ludwig Propane to claim the $10,000 pay day.
The win was Shaffer’s 12th career victory at “The Track That Action Built,” and his sixth win of 2012 with the University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions. Shaffer, who leads the series’ national points with just one race left, now has 51 career UNOH All Star victories. Shaffer is aiming to become only the third driver in series’ history to win four straight championships. He is also inching closer to Dale Blaney for the Ohio region championship.
“This feels so good. It’s been awhile. This year it seems like we’ve run seconds and thirds which is not a bad year. But, you want to win…you’re used to winning, it just feels great,” said Shaffer beside his Aaron Call/Janet Holbrook owned #83.
“It was just one of those nights…it was my night and it worked out. My hats off to my guys and this CH Motorsports team. I have great owners and a great crew and it’s really fun to be back up here,” said Shaffer about his Kistler Engines/VRP Shocks backed machine. “We have just kept working harder and harder at it. It feels great…it feels back like it used to be. It just takes time for people to work together and gel together.”
“I really love running this place because it changes throughout the night and you have to move around. It seems to fall in my hands. For the fans this is a great race track and Farmer (Rich, promoter) and the guys did a great job of prepping the track,” added Shaffer in the Engine Pro Victory Lane.
Current Fremont point leader Craig Mintz, who broke bones in his hands earlier in the week in a non-racing related incident, would drive from his 12th starting position to end up second.
“I like the track like this. When it gets black and slick you have to pedal it and it makes for great racing. We didn’t have anything for the 83 car. These guys behind me…Real Geese Decoys/Keller Chevrolet/Erie Shore Propane/R2C Filters/Kistler Engines/Ti22/Wasserman Construction…all these guys help out,” said Mintz.
“My hand is thumping pretty good right now but when you end up on the front stretch it makes the pain go away,” added Mintz.
Danny Holtgraver of Pittsburgh, Pa. has been one of the hottest UNOH All Star drives of late, and he would bring his Kargo Quality Cars/Alternative Power Source/DKW Transport machine home in third.
“This is the first time I’ve ever been standing up here talking to you after a feature at Fremont. We will take it. We had a heck of a race going there for a long time…it was fun,” said Holtgraver.
In the 50-lap UNOH All Star feature, Dean Jacobs and Shaffer would bring the field to the green with Jacobs getting the jump. Shaffer, Brad Bowman, Byron Reed, Stevie Smith, Holtgraver, Chris Andrews and Bryan Sebetto would be in pursuit. With three laps in, Smith would spin in turn three to bring out the caution with the running order now Jacobs, Shaffer, Reed, Bowman, Holtgraver, Sebetto, Andrews and Mintz.
Jacobs would pull away slightly when the green reappeared, but Shaffer would track him down and began applying pressure by lap six. But, Danny Smith would stop in turn four with engine problems to bring the yellow back out. Again on the restart Jacobs would pull away from Shaffer with Reed having his hands full with a charger Sebetto while Holtgraver, Andrews, and Mintz waged a terrific battle for fourth.
Sebetto would take the third position on lap 14 as Shaffer began closing on Jacobs. By lap 16, Shaffer and Jacobs were racing side-by-side in turns three and four as Reed rebounded to regain third from Sebetto. As they completed lap 17, Shaffer would drive under Jacobs in turns one and two to take the lead.
By lap 20, Shaffer raced into lapped traffic as now Jacobs had his hands full with Sebetto for second. Sebetto would grab the runner-up spot on lap 21 and two laps later, Holtgraver would blast under Jacobs for third, bringing Andrews and Mintz with him. At the half-way point Shaffer held a four car length lead over Sebetto with Holtgraver, Andrews, Mintz and Cap Henry in pursuit. Over the next four laps the crowd was treated to a fantastic battle for third between Andrews, Holtgraver, Mintz and Henry.
On lap 29, Holtgraver would drive under Sebetto to take the second spot and with 19 laps to go, Mintz would follow suit to take third. Meanwhile, Shaffer was steadily picking off lapped cars and lengthening his lead. The battle for third was still intense involving Mintz, Sebetto, Andrews, Henry and 19th starter Dale Blaney.
The caution would fly on lap 37 for Caleb Helms who stopped on the outside of turn three. Shaffer had three lapped cars separating him from Holtgraver. On the restart, Mintz would drive under Holtgraver to take second and started to close on Shaffer. Stuart Brubaker would bring out the final caution on lap 40.
On the ensuing restart, Shaffer only had one lapped car between him and Mintz with Holtgraver, Sebetto, Andrews and Blaney in tow. With a clear track, Shaffer was able to pull away from Mintz as Holtgraver ran comfortably in third while Sebetto, Blaney and Andrews continued to race hard four fourth.
Shaffer drove away to the win over Mintz, Holtgraver, Blaney and Andrews.
It was the sixth appearance of the University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions for 2012 at Fremont Speedway and the 105th by the series at the track in its series.
Please Click Read more for Full Results. . .
Fremont Speedway – 9/15/2012
Ludwig Propane Night
UNOH All Star 410 Sprints (29 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Qualifying – Kistler Engines
1. 55-Brad Bowman, 12.856; 2. D4-Danny Holtgraver, 12.932; 3. 83-Tim Shaffer, 12.933; 4. 53-Phil Gressman, 12.944; 5. O9-Craig Mintz, 12.952; 6. 89G-David Gravel, 12.961; 7. 97-Dean Jacobs, 12.973; 8. 5R-Byron Reed, 12.975; 9. 19-Stevie Smith, 12.984; 10. 40-Caleb Helms, 12.985; 11. 24H-Bryan Sebetto, 12.995; 12. 16-Chris Andrews, 13.013; 13. 60K-Jody Keegan, 13.043; 14. O-Chris Bell, 13.050; 15. 45-Paul McMahan, 13.050; 16. 4-Danny Smith, 13.081; 17. 7K-Cole Duncan, 13.098; 18. 54-Cap Henry, 13.105; 19. 2-Dale Blaney , 13.122; 20. 3L-Mike Linder, 13.131; 21. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 13.133; 22. 29-Rob Chaney, 13.192; 23. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.195; 24. 11X-Brandon Martin, 13.255; 25. 8-Mike Lutz, 13.257; 26. 2+-Brian Smith, 13.277; 27. 70-Derek Hager, 13.341; 28. O8-Dan Kurriger, 13.595; 29. 5K-Adam Kekich, 99.000
Heat 1 – Kear’s Speed Shop (10 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 60K-Jody Keegan[2] ; 2. 40-Caleb Helms[3] ; 3. 4-Danny Smith[1] ; 4. 55-Brad Bowman[6] ; 5. 97-Dean Jacobs[4] ; 6. 29-Rob Chaney[8] ; 7. 53-Phil Gressman[5] ; 8. 2-Dale Blaney [7] ; 9. 8-Mike Lutz[9] ; 10. O8-Dan Kurriger[10]
Heat 2 – All Pro Cylinder Heads (10 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. O-Chris Bell[2] ; 2. 7K-Cole Duncan[1] ; 3. 5R-Byron Reed[4] ; 4. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[3] ; 5. D4-Danny Holtgraver[6] ; 6. W20-Greg Wilson[8] ; 7. 3L-Mike Linder[7] ; 8. O9-Craig Mintz[5] ; 9. 2+-Brian Smith[9] ; 10. 5K-Adam Kekich[10]
Heat 3 – Dragon Race Fuels (10 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 54-Cap Henry[1] ; 2. 45-Paul McMahan[2] ; 3. 19-Stevie Smith[4] ; 4. 11X-Brandon Martin[8] ; 5. 16-Chris Andrews[3] ; 6. 83-Tim Shaffer[6] ; 7. 89G-David Gravel[5] ; 8. 35-Stuart Brubaker[7] ; 9. 70-Derek Hager[9]
Dash – Outerwears Performance Products (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 97-Dean Jacobs[1] ; 2. 83-Tim Shaffer[3] ; 3. 55-Brad Bowman[5] ; 4. 5R-Byron Reed[2] ; 5. 19-Stevie Smith[4] ; 6. D4-Danny Holtgraver[6]
B-Main – MSD Ignititions (12 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 2-Dale Blaney [4] ; 2. O9-Craig Mintz[2] ; 3. 89G-David Gravel[3] ; 4. 53-Phil Gressman[1] ; 5. 3L-Mike Linder[5] ; 6. 35-Stuart Brubaker[6] ; 7. 2+-Brian Smith[8] ; 8. 8-Mike Lutz[7] ; 9. O8-Dan Kurriger[10] ; 10. 70-Derek Hager[9] ; 11. 5K-Adam Kekich[11]
A-Main – (50 Laps)
1. 83-Tim Shaffer[2]; 2. O9-Craig Mintz[12]; 3. D4-Danny Holtgraver[6]; 4. 2-Dale Blaney [19]; 5. 16-Chris Andrews[9]; 6. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[8]; 7. 54-Cap Henry[18]; 8. W20-Greg Wilson[23]; 9. 89G-David Gravel[13]; 10. 11X-Brandon Martin[24]; 11. 5R-Byron Reed[4]; 12. 45-Paul McMahan[15]; 13. 97-Dean Jacobs[1]; 14. O-Chris Bell[14]; 15. 55-Brad Bowman[3]; 16. 7K-Cole Duncan[17]; 17. 29-Rob Chaney[22]; 18. 3L-Mike Linder[20]; 19. 60K-Jody Keegan[10]; 20. 35-Stuart Brubaker[21]; 21. 40-Caleb Helms[7]; 22. 19-Stevie Smith[5]; 23. 53-Phil Gressman[11]; 24. 4-Danny Smith[16]
Hard Charger: 2-Dale Blaney [+15]