FREMONT, Ohio (Saturday, May 24, 2014) – Caleb Griffith held off Dale Blaney to claim his first career victory with the University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions Saturday at Fremont Speedway. Griffith led all 30 laps and got some help from lapped traffic for his second win of the season at Fremont on Kear’s Speed Shop Night. It is his sixth career win at “The Track That Action Built.”
Griffith looked like he had the race completely in his hands until he raced into lapped traffic with eight laps to go. That allowed Blaney, who started 12th after having to replace the rear end and motor in his machine, to close. Griffith, from nearby Castalia, Ohio, raced to the outside of a lapped car but could not complete the pass. Fortunately for Griffith the lapped car was running the bottom groove where Blaney was and it prevented him from getting by
“I asked where he (Blaney) was on that last red and they said fifth or sixth and we were just kind of hanging out. We weren’t that good but not really that bad either. Stuart Brubaker is my favorite race car driver because he raced right next to me for like five laps. I was like ‘whew this is good,’” said Griffith beside his Al Davis Carpet/McDonald’s Restaurant/JLH General Contractor/Shelluke’s Bar/Crown Battery/Fremont Fence/B&L Plumbing/Griff’s Engines backed #40DD.
“This feels pretty good especially after we were pretty fast that All Star race the Friday night of the Jim Ford Classic last year but it didn’t pan out. This is pretty cool for the team,” concluded Griffith in the Engine Pro Victory Lane.
For Blaney, the second place run was a good points night for the four time UNOH All Star champion.
“We qualified well and before we took the green in the heat I thought the rear-end broke and it was actually the motor so we changed the rear-end and found the motor was broke so we changed the motor too. We got it done and made the most out of it,” said Blaney beside his Kennedy Cattle/Ti22 Performance/Penske Shocks backed #14k. “We was coming. I got to him but I just couldn’t do anything the last eight laps. I think I had a right rear tire going down and I was just sliding around. It’s cool to see Caleb win his first one and D.J. run good.”
D.J. Foos would record his best finish of the season with a third place run.
“This isn’t a win but it’s like a win for our team right now. We’ve been struggling all year and to run third to these guys… I’ll take it any day,” said Foos beside his Genzman Racing/Ludwig Propane/Level Performance backed #53.
Griffith and Gary Taylor would pace the field for the 30-lap feature with Griffith gaining the advantage over third starter Foos, Taylor and Dean Jacobs. After one lap was completed James McFadden would do a 360 spin as the caution flew. On the restart Griffith led Foos, Taylor, Jacobs, Cole Duncan, McFadden, Brady Bacon and Brian Lay.
On lap three Craig Mintz and Lay would get together for another caution. On the restart Griffith now led Foos, Dean Jacobs, Taylor, Duncan, McFadden, Bacon and Blaney. Blaney would move into sixth on lap five as Griffith pulled away from Foos with Taylor and Dean Jacobs locked in a great battle for third.
The red would bring a halt to the action on lap 10 as Danny Holtgraver got upside down. He was uninjured. On the restart Griffith continued to lead Foos, Taylor, Dean Jacobs and Blaney when the red flew again on lap 11 when Byron Reed tipped over in turn four. The restart order was Griffith, Foos, Taylor, Dean Jacobs, Blaney, McFadden, Duncan and Chris Andrews. The car on the move was Lee Jacobs who started 24th and had worked his way to 11th.
As Griffith raced away from Foos, Taylor had his hands full with Blaney who would move into third on lap 14. Blaney would battle with Foos for second over the next three laps before taking the runner-up spot on lap 18. With 10 laps to go, Griffith had caught the back of the pack and they were racing side by side which allowed Blaney to close quickly. The lapped cars were giving Griffith and Blaney fits as Foos ran a comfortable third over Taylor, Duncan, McFadden and Lee Jacobs.
As they took the white flag, Blaney stuck the nose of his car under Griffith but a lapped car blocked his advance. Griffith would race the outside groove to perfection to take the win over Blaney, Foos, McFadden and Taylor.
Fremont Speedway – 5/24/2014
UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions (35 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Qualifying – Kistler Engines
1. O9-Craig Mintz, 12.195; 2. 40DD-Caleb Griffith, 12.246; 3. 14K-Dale Blaney , 12.324; 4. 77X-Wayne Johnson, 12.337; 5. 49-Cole Duncan, 12.350; 6. 45L-Brian Lay, 12.351; 7. 53-D.J. Foos, 12.391; 8. 1ST-Gary Taylor, 12.406; 9. 97-Dean Jacobs, 12.419; 10. 99-Brady Bacon, 12.457; 11. 57X-Andrew Palker, 12.461; 12. 40-Caleb Helms, 12.491; 13. 5R-Byron Reed, 12.502; 14. 80-Trey Gustin, 12.545; 15. 3G-James McFadden, 12.592; 16. 16-Chris Andrews, 12.676; 17. 21-Dallas Hewitt, 12.732; 18. 45-Tim Shaffer, 12.760; 19. 10-Carl Bowser, 12.772; 20. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 12.776; 21. O7X-Dain Naida, 12.790; 22. 39M-Matt Merrill, 12.812; 23. 24H-Brandon Wimmer, 12.834; 24. 2+-Brian Smith, 12.896; 25. 63-Chad Kemenah, 12.897; 26. 60K-Jody Keegan, 12.907; 27. 5T-Travis Philo, 12.959; 28. 5K-Adam Kekich, 13.017; 29. 9Z-Duane Zablocki, 13.030; 30. 10H-Danny Holtgraver, 13.151; 31. 9W-Jac Haudenschild, 13.173; 32. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.175; 33. 9X-Rob Chaney, 13.309; 34. 55-Brad Bowman, 13.349; 35. 81-Lee Jacobs, 13.383
Heat 1 – Kear’s Speed Shop (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 97-Dean Jacobs[4] ; 2. 9X-Rob Chaney[9] ; 3. O7X-Dain Naida[1] ; 4. 21-Dallas Hewitt[2] ; 5. 49-Cole Duncan[5] ; 6. 63-Chad Kemenah[7] ; 7. 5R-Byron Reed[3] ; 8. O9-Craig Mintz[6] ; 9. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[8]
Heat 2 – All Pro Aluminum Heads (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 45-Tim Shaffer[2] ; 2. 99-Brady Bacon[4] ; 3. 45L-Brian Lay[5] ; 4. 10H-Danny Holtgraver[8] ; 5. 40DD-Caleb Griffith[6] ; 6. 39M-Matt Merrill[1] ; 7. 60K-Jody Keegan[7] ; 8. 55-Brad Bowman[9] ; 9. 80-Trey Gustin[3]
Heat 3 – Dragon Race Fuels (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 24H-Brandon Wimmer[1] ; 2. 57X-Andrew Palker[4] ; 3. 3G-James McFadden[3] ; 4. 53-D.J. Foos[5] ; 5. 9W-Jac Haudenschild[8] ; 6. 10-Carl Bowser[2] ; 7. 81-Lee Jacobs[9] ; 8. 5T-Travis Philo[7]
Heat 4 – Kinsler Fuel Injections (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 35-Stuart Brubaker[2] ; 2. 2+-Brian Smith[1] ; 3. 16-Chris Andrews[3] ; 4. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[8] ; 5. 1ST-Gary Taylor[5] ; 6. 77X-Wayne Johnson[6] ; 7. 40-Caleb Helms[4] ; 8. 5K-Adam Kekich[7]
Dash – Donovan Engineering (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 40DD-Caleb Griffith[2] ; 2. 1ST-Gary Taylor[1] ; 3. 53-D.J. Foos[3] ; 4. 49-Cole Duncan[4] ; 5. 97-Dean Jacobs[5] ; 6. 45L-Brian Lay[6]
B-Main – MSD Ignitions (12 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 14K-Dale Blaney [2] ; 2. O9-Craig Mintz[1] ; 3. 81-Lee Jacobs[15] ; 4. 5R-Byron Reed[5] ; 5. 40-Caleb Helms[4] ; 6. 77X-Wayne Johnson[3] ; 7. 10-Carl Bowser[7] ; 8. 63-Chad Kemenah[9] ; 9. 55-Brad Bowman[14] ; 10. 80-Trey Gustin[6] ; 11. 5T-Travis Philo[11] ; 12. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[13] ; 13. 39M-Matt Merrill[8] ; 14. 5K-Adam Kekich[12] ; 15. 60K-Jody Keegan[10]
A-Main – (30 Laps)
1. 40DD-Caleb Griffith[1]; 2. 14K-Dale Blaney [12]; 3. 53-D.J. Foos[3]; 4. 3G-James McFadden[9]; 5. 1ST-Gary Taylor[2]; 6. 81-Lee Jacobs[24]; 7. 49-Cole Duncan[4]; 8. 16-Chris Andrews[10]; 9. 99-Brady Bacon[7]; 10. 97-Dean Jacobs[5]; 11. 57X-Andrew Palker[8]; 12. 21-Dallas Hewitt[14]; 13. 24H-Brandon Wimmer[18]; 14. 45-Tim Shaffer[15]; 15. O9-Craig Mintz[11]; 16. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[22]; 17. 2+-Brian Smith[19]; 18. 9X-Rob Chaney[23]; 19. O7X-Dain Naida[17]; 20. 35-Stuart Brubaker[16]; 21. 9W-Jac Haudenschild[21]; 22. 10H-Danny Holtgraver[20]; 23. 5R-Byron Reed[13]; 24. 45L-Brian Lay[6]
Hard Charger: 81-Lee Jacobs[+18]