PORT ROYAL, PA (Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013) By Brian Liskai – Don Kreitz Jr. didn’t forget how to get around Port Royal Speedway. The Sinking Springs driver hadn’t won at Port Royal Speedway in nearly four years. But, he led all but three laps to earn his third Tuscarora 50 which was worth $13,200 as he led 47 of the 50 laps.
It was the second University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions victory of 2013 for Kreitz who took a series win in April at Williams Grove Speedway. Kreitz now has eight career UNOH All Star wins.
Kreitz dominated the race, starting second and jumping into an easy lead and extending it as the first half of the race wore on.
“Davey (Brown) had this thing locked down tonight. That thing in clean air was unbelievable, said Kreitz of his Henry R. Sherman Builders/Kreitz Oval Track Parts/RV Workshop.com/Schannauer #69k.
Kreitz was in clean air…a lot. He took the lead from Ryan Smith coming out of turn 4 to complete lap 1 and by lap 6 had built a straightaway lead.
The race was divided into two 25-lap segments. While Kreitz dominated at the front, all eyes were on Brian Montieth as he charged from dead last – 24th. Montieth was flying inches from the fence and took eighth from Friday night’s winner Greg Hodnett on lap 13 and blew by Cap Henry for seventh two laps later. He continued his assault, driving by Danny Holtgraver on lap 19 and dispatching Lance Dewease for fourth on lap 22.
At the half-way point, crews were allowed to make changes but no one could touch Kreitz when the green flew again as he again opened up a straightaway advantage over Smith and Montieth by lap 30.
It appeared the race was over but Kreitz struggled in lapped traffic which allowed Smith and Kreitz to close.
“Well, the first time I got to lapped traffic I tried to roll around them,” said Kreitz who was also the Tuscarora 50 champion in 1993 and 1999. “I got one but I couldn’t do anything. The second time, I would kind of hang in the middle and couldn’t do anything.”
Montieth seized the opportunity, crushing the cushion to shoot by Smith in turn two on lap 37 and ripped past Kreitz coming out of turn four on the same lap. But, the experienced Kreitz wasn’t done. He got by the lapped car and chased down Montieth. Kreitz moved up a lane, hit the middle and split Montieth and a lapped car entering turn three on lap 40 and opened up a big lead a lap later.
“We changed the car a little bit at the break and when I saw Montieth go by my heart sank a bit. Once I wiped my tears away I figured I needed to pick up the pace. We were lucky to get by him,” said Kreitz. “We’re just so excited to be here in victory lane. When we came here, we didn’t think it would be possible.”
Danny Dietrich stormed from his 15th-place starting spot to take second from Montieth on lap 42. He looked to be cutting into Kreitz’s lead until the caution came out on lap 45 for Blane Heimbach. Kreitz was too good on the restart and pulled away for the win.
“We were really, really fast. We got to second and I thought we could make a run on him until the caution came out. We ran really hard but when the race went back green the tires sealed over. We had a good car and 15th to second…we’ll take it,” said Dietrich of his Gary Kauffman Racing #48 with sponsorship from Sandoe’s Fruit Market/Racers Used Parts Warehouse/Mark Bell Trucking/Drop of Ink Tattoo and Body Piercing/Mortiz Machine Repairs/Hickory Run Orchards.
“We were really, really fast. Us and the 21 (Montieth) came up through there. I think we could’ve won this thing. We were using the fence to get the car straight. If it gets you to the front, that’s what you have to do. I’m glad it’s in one piece. We wanted to win, but we’ll take coming from 15th,” added Dietrich.
Montieth would come home third.
“Honestly, this place, I don’t like being that high. But what are you going to do? Starting back where we started, I’ll definitely take it,” said Montieth beside his Premier Auto Works/Auto Locator/Beer Hill Gang/Hanover Toyota/Bricker’s/Golf Cart Services/Pancho’s Racing Products/All Star Performance/Triple X Race Co. backed #21.
With his fifth place finish, Lance Dewease locked up the UNOH All Star’s Eastern Region championship and its $20,000 payday. Dewease also took the regional title in 2011.
The point battle for the UNOH All Star’s national and Ohio Region titles are heating up with just three races remaining in 2013. The series heads to Fremont Speedway for a double-header on Friday and Saturday before wrapping up the season at Eldora Speedway on Oct. 12.
Go to www.allstarsprint.com for more information.
Port Royal Speedway – 9/7/2013
UNOH Night
All Star Circuit of Champions (40 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Qualifying – Kistler Engines
1. 83-Tim Shaffer, 16.827; 2. 45-Danny Holtgraver, 17.067; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 17.086; 4. 69K-Don Krietz Jr., 17.150; 5. 2-Dale Blaney, 17.252; 6. 69-Ryan Smith, 17.288; 7. 39-Greg Hodnett, 17.309; 8. 747-Davey Sammons, 17.367; 9. 2T-T.J. Stutts, 17.397; 10. 56-Nate Snyder, 17.445; 11. 54-Cap Henry, 17.471; 12. O7 I-Cliff Brian, 17.503; 13. 15-Adam Wilt, 17.562; 14. 19-Stevie Smith, 17.572; 15. 27-Lance Dewease, 17.643; 16. 55-Mike Wagner, 17.695; 17. 1Z-Brian Leppo, 17.706; 18. 21-Brian Montieth, 17.781; 19. 44-Rodney Westhafer, 17.792; 20. 75-Nicole Bower, 17.810; 21. 8H-Keith Kauffman, 17.852; 22. 48-Danny Dietrich, 17.898; 23. 98-Doug Esh, 17.925; 24. 80-Trey Gustin, 17.928; 25. 5-Dylan Cisney, 17.945; 26. O-Rick Lafferty, 17.957; 27. 11-Mike Erdley, 17.959; 28. 99M-Kyle Moody, 17.969; 29. 12-Blane Heimbach, 18.104; 30. 7-Chad Layton, 18.183; 31. 20-Ryan Taylor, 18.188; 32. 1A-Jacob Allen, 18.205; 33. 27H-Lucas Wolfe, 18.251; 34. 40-Caleb Helms, 18.263; 35. 19M-Brent Marks, 18.306; 36. 25-Jimmy Seger, 18.453; 37. O7-Mark Coldren, 18.701; 38. 25B-Tyler Bear, 18.979; 39. 55Z-Mark Zimmerman, 19.634; 40. 33-Curt Stroup, 99.999
Heat 1 – Kears Speed Shop (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 15-Adam Wilt[1] ; 2. 83-Tim Shaffer[4] ; 3. 2-Dale Blaney[3] ; 4. 2T-T.J. Stutts[2] ; 5. 12-Blane Heimbach[8] ; 6. 1Z-Brian Leppo[5] ; 7. 8H-Keith Kauffman[6] ; 8. 5-Dylan Cisney[7] ; 9. 27H-Lucas Wolfe[9] ; 10. O7-Mark Coldren[10]
Heat 2 – All Pro Aluminum Heads (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 19-Stevie Smith[1] ; 2. 69-Ryan Smith[3] ; 3. 45-Danny Holtgraver[4] ; 4. 7-Chad Layton[8] ; 5. 48-Danny Dietrich[6] ; 6. 56-Nate Snyder[2] ; 7. O-Rick Lafferty[7] ; 8. 21-Brian Montieth[5] ; 9. 40-Caleb Helms[9] ; 10. 25B-Tyler Bear[10]
Heat 3 – Dragon Race Fuel (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 27-Lance Dewease[1] ; 2. 54-Cap Henry[2] ; 3. 39-Greg Hodnett[3] ; 4. 98-Doug Esh[6] ; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4] ; 6. 44-Rodney Westhafer[5] ; 7. 19M-Brent Marks[9] ; 8. 11-Mike Erdley[7] ; 9. 20-Ryan Taylor[8] ; 10. 55Z-Mark Zimmerman[10]
Heat 4 – Kinsler Fuel Injection (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 55-Mike Wagner[1] ; 2. 69K-Don Krietz Jr.[4] ; 3. 1A-Jacob Allen[8] ; 4. 747-Davey Sammons[3] ; 5. 25-Jimmy Seger[9] ; 6. 75-Nicole Bower[5] ; 7. O7 I-Cliff Brian[2] ; 8. 99M-Kyle Moody[7] ; 9. 80-Trey Gustin[6]
B-Main – MSD Ignition (12 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 1Z-Brian Leppo[3] ; 2. 56-Nate Snyder[1] ; 3. 44-Rodney Westhafer[5] ; 4. 21-Brian Montieth[4] ; 5. 19M-Brent Marks[16] ; 6. O7 I-Cliff Brian[2] ; 7. 8H-Keith Kauffman[7] ; 8. O-Rick Lafferty[10] ; 9. 75-Nicole Bower[6] ; 10. 99M-Kyle Moody[12] ; 11. 5-Dylan Cisney[9] ; 12. 80-Trey Gustin[8] ; 13. 11-Mike Erdley[11] ; 14. 40-Caleb Helms[15] ; 15. 27H-Lucas Wolfe[14] ; 16. 25B-Tyler Bear[18] ; 17. 55Z-Mark Zimmerman[19] ; 18. O7-Mark Coldren[17] ; 19. 20-Ryan Taylor[13]
A-Main – University of Northwestern Ohio (30 Laps)
1. 69K-Don Krietz Jr.[2]; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich[15]; 3. 21-Brian Montieth[24]; 4. 69-Ryan Smith[1]; 5. 27-Lance Dewease[5]; 6. 54-Cap Henry[7]; 7. 83-Tim Shaffer[4]; 8. 39-Greg Hodnett[12]; 9. 55-Mike Wagner[9]; 10. 45-Danny Holtgraver[6]; 11. 98-Doug Esh[16]; 12. 1S-Logan Schuchart[10]; 13. 15-Adam Wilt[3]; 14. 5-Dylan Cisney[25]; 15. 7-Chad Layton[18]; 16. 44-Rodney Westhafer[23]; 17. 747-Davey Sammons[13]; 18. 19-Stevie Smith[8]; 19. 25-Jimmy Seger[20]; 20. 2T-T.J. Stutts[14]; 21. 12-Blane Heimbach[17]; 22. 1A-Jacob Allen[19]; 23. 56-Nate Snyder[22]; 24. 1Z-Brian Leppo[21]; 25. 2-Dale Blaney[11]
Hard Charger: 21-Brian Montieth[+21]