Greg Wilson Captures Speedweek Victory at Famed Eldora Speedway!
Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket Continues Sunday at Waynesfield
By Tyler Altmeyer – All Star Circuit of Champions
Contact: altmeyer119@gmail.com
Rossburg, Ohio (June 20th, 2015) – Benton Ridge, Ohio’s Greg Wilson earned the 33rd Annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket main event victory at the Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio on Saturday night, June 20th. For Wilson, it was his second UNOH All Star victory of the 2015 season and his first at ‘The Big E’ in 2015. The former two-time UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions titleholder started the 30-lap, $5,000-to-win main event on the inside of row number three. Wilson made the winning pass with 14 laps in the books at Eldora Speedway; surviving two red flag incidents and heavy doses of lapped traffic to earn top honors during round two of Ohio Sprint Speedweek.
“This is as tough as it gets” said Greg Wilson, “I’m about choked up in tears…I’m a blessed dude…we come in and had a little issue…Tony Stewart is one hell of a man and he made some issues better…I told him we were going to win so I could bring my kids up on this stage…I couldn’t do it without all of the help from my sponsors.”
Full-time UNOH All Star competitor Danny Holtgraver and NASCAR star Kasey Kahne would lead the 26 car field to the ‘green’ at Eldora Speedway. Holtgraver, in the familiar Phoenix Racing ‘59’ sprinter, held the top spot for the first three circuits before red flag conditions hit the speedway for Fairland, Indiana’s Cale Thomas. When racing resumed, Holtgraver continued his torrid pace. The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native navigated traffic on the outside ‘cushion’ but would eventually lose command to former UNOH All Star champion, Greg Wilson, with 14 laps in the books. Wilson used the very bottom lane of Eldora’s wide surface to weave through traffic. Unfortunately, red flag conditions would return to the speedway for Attica Speedweek winner, Dale Blaney. Blaney was racing in the runner-up position and on the charge after Greg Wilson for a second consecutive Speedweek victory. The CH Motorsports no. 1 machine would lose a left rear wheel with seven laps remaining; resulting in contact with the outside wall.
Greg Wilson would lead the field back to green flag conditions and that is where he would stay; holding off 20-time World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion, Steve Kinser, and Wooster, Ohio’s Sheldon Haudenschild. It was a second consecutive third place performance for Haudenschild; finishing third at Attica Raceway Park one night ago.
“I knew (Steve) was going to have some clean air” said Wilson regarding the last restart, “I actually moved up and pulled the wing back… I just got lucky…I watched that man in his prime and he’s the baddest son of a gun to ever drive a sprint car… It’s just awesome to win at Eldora, especially during Speedweek…hopefully we can keep the ball rolling.”
“I knew he wasn’t going to get off the bottom” Kinser said, “I was kind of surprised because he kind of pulled up… If he had pulled about a little bit more I would have moved to the bottom… I would have had a better chance… But, I kind of overworked my tires at the end.”
There were 41 UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions sprint cars signed in at ‘The Big E’ on Saturday evening. The Speedweek roster was split into five qualifying groups with all drivers qualifying against those in their respective heat race. Cale Thomas, Dustin Daggett, Dale Blaney, Ryan Ruhl, and Ryan Smith each earned fast time awards during their group qualifying efforts, with Dale Blaney earning the fastest time of the night overall. His official time was 13.733 seconds around the Eldora Speedway half-mile. Cale Thomas, Greg Wilson, Ryan Smith, and James McFadden rounded out the top-five fastest qualifiers, overall.
Five 8-lap heat races were contested with the top four finishers transferring to the 30-lap main event. Cole Duncan, Bryan Clauson, Roger Crockett, Kasey Kahne, and Danny Holtgraver each earned dominating heat race victories at ‘The Big E.’ Danny Holtgraver was the evening’s dash winner; securing the pole position for the $5,000-to-win, 30-lap main event. All preliminary competition would come to a conclusion after seventeen-year-old Cale Thomas picked up the 12-lap B-main victory. A solid recovery for Thomas after getting upside-down during heat race competition.
The 33rd Annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket schedule will now move forward to the Waynesfield Raceway Park in Waynesfield, Ohio for a Sunday night visit on June 21st. The 1/3 mile dirt oval will host round three of the 2015 edition of Speedweek. The defending UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions titleholder Dale Blaney picked up the Ohio Sprint Speedweek victory at Waynesfield Raceway Park in 2014. Australian invader Jamie Veal finished second, with ‘The Wild Child’ Jac Haudenschild rounding out the evening’s podium. Bixby, Oklahoma’s Shane Stewart charged from 23rd to finish fourth at Waynesfield in 2014, followed by Ohio native Travis Philo.
Pit gates are scheduled to open at 1PM at Waynesfield Raceway Park, with main gates scheduled to open at 4PM. Hot laps will tentatively fire off at 5:30PM. To learn more about round three of Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket, visit the official online home of Waynesfield Raceway Park; www.waynesfieldmotorsportspark.com.
Full Results – Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket – Round 2 – Eldora Speedway – Saturday, June 20th, 2015:
Qualifying
1.1-Dale Blaney, 13.733; 2.91-Cale Thomas, 13.734; 3.W20-Greg Wilson, 13.778; 4.94-Ryan Smith, 13.838; 5.3G-James McFadden, 13.840; 6.2M-Dustin Daggett, 13.877; 7.35AU-Jamie Veal, 13.898; 8.93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.902; 9.17-Josh Baughman, 13.909; 10.16X-Ryan Ruhl, 13.933; 11.17W-Bryan Clauson, 13.944; 12.48-Danny Dietrich, 13.945; 13.70-Roger Crockett, 14.011; 14.71m-Paul May, 14.044; 15.9P-Parker Price-Miller, 14.117; 16.89-Cody Darrah, 14.117; 17.49-Cole Duncan, 14.119; 18.11-Steve Kinser, 14.129; 19.5T-Travis Philo, 14.136; 20.59-Danny Holtgraver, 14.147; 21.16-Stuart Brubaker, 14.150; 22.45-Tim Shaffer, 14.176; 23.21-DJ Foos, 14.180; 24.5AU-Danny Reidy, 14.267; 25.33M-Caleb Griffith, 14.269; 26.1st-Gary Taylor, 14.302; 27.40-Caleb Helms, 14.327; 28.49K-Kasey Kahne, 14.343; 29.19-Chris Andrews, 14.344; 30.16M-Jac Haudenschild, 14.344; 31.9x-Rob Chaney, 14.357; 32.81-Lee Jacobs, 14.372; 33.4-Danny Smith, 14.395; 34.35R-Ronnie Blair, 14.402; 35.10H-Chad Kemenah, 14.429; 36.57X-Andrew Palker, 14.434; 37.O5-Brad Loyet, 14.439; 38.55F-Taylor Ferns, 14.446; 39.99-Brady Bacon, 14.541; 40.15H-Mitch Harble, 14.548; 41.11N-Randy Hannagan, 99.991;
Heat 1, Group A – (8 Laps)
1. 49-Cole Duncan[5] ; 2. 71m-Paul May[1] ; 3. W20-Greg Wilson[3] ; 4. 1st-Gary Taylor[6] ; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs[8] ; 6. 17-Josh Baughman[2] ; 7. 91-Cale Thomas[4] ; 8. 4-Danny Smith[9] ; 9. 9x-Rob Chaney[7]
Heat 2, Group B – (8 Laps)
1. 17W-Bryan Clauson[2] ; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich[1] ; 3. 2M-Dustin Daggett[4] ; 4. 89-Cody Darrah[5] ; 5. 35AU-Jamie Veal[3] ; 6. 21-DJ Foos[6] ; 7. O5-Brad Loyet[8] ; 8. 33M-Caleb Griffith[7]
Heat 3, Group C – (8 Laps)
1. 70-Roger Crockett[1] ; 2. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[2] ; 3. 1-Dale Blaney[4] ; 4. 3G-James McFadden[3] ; 5. 40-Caleb Helms[6] ; 6. 5T-Travis Philo[5] ; 7. 10H-Chad Kemenah[7] ; 8. 11N-Randy Hannagan[8]
Heat 4, Group D – (8 Laps)
1. 49K-Kasey Kahne[1] ; 2. 11-Steve Kinser[3] ; 3. 16X-Ryan Ruhl[4] ; 4. 16M-Jac Haudenschild[5] ; 5. 57X-Andrew Palker[7] ; 6. 35R-Ronnie Blair[6] ; 7. 55F-Taylor Ferns[8] ; 8. 5AU-Danny Reidy[2]
Heat 5, Group E – (8 Laps)
1. 59-Danny Holtgraver[2] ; 2. 16-Stuart Brubaker[1] ; 3. 45-Tim Shaffer[5] ; 4. 94-Ryan Smith[4] ; 5. 9P-Parker Price-Miller[3] ; 6. 99-Brady Bacon[7] ; 7. 19-Chris Andrews[6] ; 8. 15H-Mitch Harble[8]
Dash 1 – (6 Laps)
1. 59-Danny Holtgraver[4] ; 2. 49K-Kasey Kahne[1] ; 3. 11-Steve Kinser[5] ; 4. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[3] ; 5. W20-Greg Wilson[2] ; 6. 17W-Bryan Clauson[6] ; 7. 1-Dale Blaney[10] ; 8. 48-Danny Dietrich[12] ; 9. 70-Roger Crockett[8] ; 10. 16-Stuart Brubaker[7] ; 11. 71m-Paul May[9] ; 12. 49-Cole Duncan[11]
B-Main 1 – (12 Laps)
1. 91-Cale Thomas[1] ; 2. 35AU-Jamie Veal[2] ; 3. 9P-Parker Price-Miller[4] ; 4. 17-Josh Baughman[3] ; 5. 5T-Travis Philo[5] ; 6. 10H-Chad Kemenah[15] ; 7. 21-DJ Foos[6] ; 8. 5AU-Danny Reidy[7] ; 9. 99-Brady Bacon[19] ; 10. 33M-Caleb Griffith[8] ; 11. O5-Brad Loyet[17] ; 12. 40-Caleb Helms[9] ; 13. 19-Chris Andrews[10] ; 14. 57X-Andrew Palker[16] ; 15. 81-Lee Jacobs[12] ; 16. 35R-Ronnie Blair[14] ; 17. 4-Danny Smith[13] ; 18. 11N-Randy Hannagan[21] ; 19. 55F-Taylor Ferns[18] ; 20. 9x-Rob Chaney[11] ; 21. 15H-Mitch Harble[20]
A-Main 1 – (30 Laps)
1. W20-Greg Wilson[5] ; 2. 11-Steve Kinser[3] ; 3. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[4] ; 4. 17W-Bryan Clauson[6] ; 5. 45-Tim Shaffer[15] ; 6. 89-Cody Darrah[17] ; 7. 3G-James McFadden[18] ; 8. 59-Danny Holtgraver[1] ; 9. 49K-Kasey Kahne[2] ; 10. 10H-Chad Kemenah[23] ; 11. 48-Danny Dietrich[8] ; 12. 35AU-Jamie Veal[22] ; 13. 70-Roger Crockett[9] ; 14. 71m-Paul May[11] ; 15. 9P-Parker Price-Miller[21] ; 16. 16X-Ryan Ruhl[14] ; 17. 49-Cole Duncan[12] ; 18. 16-Stuart Brubaker[10] ; 19. 17-Josh Baughman[24] ; 20. 40-Caleb Helms[26] ; 21. 1st-Gary Taylor[16] ; 22. 1-Dale Blaney[7] ; 23. 2M-Dustin Daggett[13] ; 24. 94-Ryan Smith[20] ; 25. 91-Cale Thomas[19] ; 26. 16M-Jac Haudenschild[25]
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Current Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket Point Standings (Top-10 as of June 20th): 1. Sheldon Haudenschild – 288; 2. Greg Wilson – 282; 3. Kasey Kahne – 272; 4. Parker Price-Miller – 262; 4. Jamie Veal – 262; 4. Cody Darrah – 262; 7. Dale Blaney – 256; 8. Chad Kemenah – 246; 9. Caleb Helms – 240; 10. Gary Taylor – 234
Those seeking additional information regarding the 33rd Annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket should visit the official online home of the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions atwww.allstarsprint.com. Updates and breaking news regarding Speedweek and the All Stars will be posted regularly on the official Twitter account of the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions:https://twitter.com/ASCoC