Blaney Gets Last Lap Pass For 86th All Star Win To Open HS Supply Spring Nationals
By Brian Liskai
(Attica, OH) Dale Blaney is nearly unflappable behind the wheel of a sprint car. He is patient, smooth and consistent and that paid off as he passed Craig Mintz after taking the white flag and went on to score his 86th career victory with the University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions to open up the 21st Annual HD Supply Spring Nationals at Attica Raceway Park Friday night.
For Blaney, a three time All Star champion, it was his second series’ win of 2012 and vaults him into the National and Ohio Region points lead. It was also his second straight win at Attica , where he now has 15 career triumphs, moving him into a tie with Todd Kane for fifth on the track’s all-time win list. Blaney has now won four of the last seven Spring National features at “ Ohio ’s Finest Racing” venue.
“When Joey got off the track trying to get through traffic, I knew we had a shot…the car just kept getting better and better. George (Fisher, owner) and Troy (Psurny) had the car great once again. We’ve been good all year,” said Blaney beside his Ti22 Performance backed machine. “I was good on the bottom and middle. I just had to be patient and wait for traffic. When I got to Craig, I knew I was just a little better than him…it’s a shame, because he drives one of these George Fisher built cars, but we’ll take a first and second.”
Blaney was running fifth when race-long leader Joey Saldana slipped over the cushion of turns three and four while trying to negotiate his way through traffic while battling six-time Attica champion Byron Reed. Saldana slipped back to fifth while Reed now had his hands full with Mintz with Dustin Daggett and Blaney battling for third. Mintz would grab the lead on lap 21 with Blaney moving into third the next circuit, bringing Saldana into fourth. Blaney would grab second on lap 24 and quickly closed on Mintz. As they raced into lapped traffic, Saldana had regrouped and was closing in on the top sports. As Mintz took the white flag, Blaney dove under him entering turn one and slid up and front and went on to the victory.
“We’ve been so close on a few of these All Star races. Dale was just a little better than we were. But, we’ll take a second and look forward to getting after them tomorrow,” said Mintz beside his Design Graphics Group, Reel Geese Decoys, R2C Filters, Ti22 backed #09. “To race with Dale and Joey and Byron like that….that gives me a lot of confidence.”
For Saldana, he accepted the blame and seemed very determined to redeem himself.
“Last year I screwed up here and spun in the heat and we had to fight our way back all night for a top three run. I messed up in lapped traffic and I’m going to work my tail off tomorrow for my guys. My sons Spring Break was this week in Florida and they weren’t too happy to have to come here, so I have to get them a trophy this weekend,” said Saldana beside his Kasey Kahne Racing, Great Clips #9.
It was a star-studded field at Attica Friday, including several World of Outlaw teams and NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers Kasey Kahne and Tony Stewart.
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Attica Raceway Park – 4/6/2012
HD Supply Night
University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions Sprints (48 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Heat 1 – Kear’s Speed Shop (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 54-Cap Henry[4] ; 2. 14-Tony Stewart[2] ; 3. 9-Joey Saldana[5] ; 4. 16-Chris Andrews[1] ; 5. 49-Brad Sweet[6] ; 6. 5T-Travis Philo[10] ; 7. 20E-Brian Ellenberger[3] ; 8. 3L-Mike Linder[9] ; 9. 94-Jack Sodeman Jr.[7] ; 10. 35M-Wes McGlumphy[12] ; 11. 55-Brad Bowman[8] ; 12. 2+-Brian Smith[11]
Heat 2 – All Pro Aluminum Heads (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 83-Tim Shaffer[1] ; 2. 53-Phil Gressman[3] ; 3. 89G-David Gravel[2] ; 4. 19-Stevie Smith[6] ; 5. 5R-Byron Reed[5] ; 6. OS-Glenn Styres[10] ; 7. 7K-Kyle Sauder[4] ; 8. 45L-Brian Lay[9] ; 9. 3-Pete Miller III[8] ; 10. 40-Caleb Helms[7] ; 11. 21-Andre Layfield[12] ; 12. 2MH-Dalas Hewitt[11]
Heat 3 – Dragon Race Fuel (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. D4-Danny Holtgraver[1] ; 2. 63-Chad Kemanah[3] ; 3. 1X-Randy Hannagan[2] ; 4. 45-Paul McMahan[4] ; 5. 2M-Dustin Daggett[5] ; 6. 2-Dale Blaney[6] ; 7. 4-Danny Smith[10] ; 8. 9X-Brandon Martin[9] ; 9. W20-Greg Wilson [8] ; 10. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[7] ; 11. 9J-Jesse McCreary[11]
Heat 4 – Kinsler Fuel Injection (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 44W-Austin Wheatley[1] ; 2. 60K-Jody Keegan[4] ; 3. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[2] ; 4. O9-Craig Mintz[5] ; 5. O-Lee Jacobs[7] ; 6. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[3] ; 7. 70-Brad Haudenschild[9] ; 8. 35-Stuart Brubaker[10] ; 9. 5-Kasey Kahne[6] ; 10. 7X-Jamie Collard[8] ; 11. 91-Aaron Middaugh[11]
Outerwear’s Performance Products Dash – (10 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 9-Joey Saldana[1] ; 2. 2M-Dustin Daggett[2] ; 3. O9-Craig Mintz[4] ; 4. 5R-Byron Reed[3] ; 5. 49-Brad Sweet[5] ; 6. 19-Stevie Smith[6]
C-Main (10 Laps – Top 2 finishers transfer to the B-feature)
1. 4-Danny Smith[1] ; 2. 2+-Brian Smith[3] ; 3. 35-Stuart Brubaker[2] ; 4. 2MH-Dalas Hewitt[4] ; 5. 91-Aaron Middaugh[6] ; 6. 21-Andre Layfield[8] ; 7. 12-Jarred Ridge[-] ; 8. 9J-Jesse McCreary[5]
B-Main – MSD Ignition (12 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 2-Dale Blaney[1] ; 2. 5-Kasey Kahne[2] ; 3. 7K-Kyle Sauder[3] ; 4. 55-Brad Bowman[9] ; 5. 3-Pete Miller III[10] ; 6. 4-Danny Smith[19] ; 7. 45L-Brian Lay[14] ; 8. 5T-Travis Philo[17] ; 9. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[5] ; 10. 7X-Jamie Collard[12] ; 11. 3L-Mike Linder[13] ; 12. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[8] ; 13. OS-Glenn Styres[18] ; 14. 20E-Brian Ellenberger[4] ; 15. 70-Brad Haudenschild[16] ; 16. W20-Greg Wilson [11] ; 17. 94-Jack Sodeman Jr.[6] ; 18. 40-Caleb Helms[7] ; 19. 9X-Brandon Martin[15] ; 20. 2+-Brian Smith[20]
UNOH A-Main – (30 Laps)
1. 2-Dale Blaney[11]; 2. O9-Craig Mintz[3]; 3. 9-Joey Saldana[1]; 4. 5R-Byron Reed[4]; 5. 5-Kasey Kahne[12]; 6. 49-Brad Sweet[5]; 7. 45-Paul McMahan[8]; 8. 83-Tim Shaffer[20]; 9. 63-Chad Kemanah[14]; 10. 2M-Dustin Daggett[2]; 11. 19-Stevie Smith[6]; 12. 1X-Randy Hannagan[17]; 13. D4-Danny Holtgraver[21]; 14. 16-Chris Andrews[19]; 15. 53-Phil Gressman[10]; 16. 89G-David Gravel[16]; 17. 54-Cap Henry[7]; 18. 14-Tony Stewart[15]; 19. 55-Brad Bowman[24]; 20. 7K-Kyle Sauder[13]; 21. 60K-Jody Keegan[9]; 22. 44W-Austin Wheatley[22]; 23. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[18]; 24. O-Lee Jacobs[23]