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Ohio Speedweek Night Five: Tim Shaffer
celebrates his birthday a day late in Victory Lane at Fremont
Speedway
Camargo,
IL (6-27-09) – Some people may see aging as a negative, but to
others age is nothing but a number. While some believe you get
better with age like a fine bottle of wine. Tonight Tim Shaffer
proved just that as he overcame his 14th position starting spot,
methodically passing cars almost every circuit of the track in the
40 lap A main to take the victory at Fremont Speedway and the
$10,000 pay day that went along with it. Shaffer may have turned 42
yesterday, but there is no doubt the real celebration happened
tonight.
Shaffer,
who won the B main to make his way into tonight’s main event, put on
a clinic on how to execute passes on the 1/3-mile semi-banked oval
from the beginning of the event. Chad Blonde started from the pole
of the feature with Brock Mayes by his side. As the Green Flag was
unfurled Blonde had the edge rocketing towards Turn 1. Mayes, Duane
Zablocki, and Craig Mintz would quickly fall in line.
While
Blonde was setting a fast and furious pace at the front of the pack,
Shaffer was on the move picking up seven spots in just four laps. As
the field began to encounter lapped traffic on Lap 9, Blonde began
to fall into the clutches of Mayes and Mintz who were able to pull
up on him. Mayes was right on Blonde’s tail allowing Mintz to join
the fight. Mintz, who was the only driver who was hooked up on the
high side made his move on Lap 13 to take the second position. Once
he got into the second spot, he set his sights on the lead waging a
battle with Blonde which would see the duo race side-by-side for
four laps straight.
While
the cars up front were battling, Shaffer kept picking off cars and
had moved up to four by the 14th circuit of the course. On Lap 18
Mayes a daring move diving between Blonde and Mintz to take the
lead. It was short lived though as Mintz muscled his way back on the
following lap.
The
first caution of the night came out of Lap 20 when Daron Clayton
spun. On the restart Mintz would get the jump leaving Mayes and
Blonde in the clutches of Shaffer and a closing Stevie Smith. The
pack would catch up to the tail of the field again on Lap 25
allowing Mayes, Shaffer, and Smith to close. Mayes would take his
turn up front, when he used a lapped car as a pick to drive around
Mintz into the lead on Lap 27. Mayes would jet out to a slight lead
as second was up for the taking and three cars wanted it. Mintz,
Shaffer and Smith staged quite a battle as Smith drove under the 20x
car. Mintz would fight back in the outside line trying to retake the
spot.
The same
lapped traffic that had given Mayes the opportunity to take the lead
became his enemy as Shaffer caught up to him. On Lap 36, Shaffer
would make his move diving to the low side to take the lead. The
final caution flag flew on Lap 37 as David Harrison and Dale Blaney
tangled. As the cars idled around the track there was something
amiss on Mintz’s 20x car. While running fourth an oil fire would
erupt bringing out the Red Flag.
When the
Green Flag flew for the final time Shaffer drove out to a sizable
lead, with a clear track in his sight. At the line it was Shaffer
taking the Checkered Flag first with Mayes, Smith, Blonde, and Brad
Sweet rounding out the top-five.
This was
Shaffer’s second victory during Ohio Speedweek as he also won the
feature last Sunday at Millstream Speedway. Shaffer has 16 O’Reilly
Circuit of Champions career wins, with five coming so far this
season.
With his
third place finish Stevie Smith would win the Ohio Speedweek
Championship tonight. The point standings will be finalized
tomorrow. For updates visit
www.ohiospeeedweek.com or
www.allstarsprint.com
With a
grueling Ohio Speedweek in the books, the drivers and teams of the
O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions just have six day to
recuperate before traveling back to Ohio for a Friday night race at
KC Speedway on July 3rd and the series will be celebrating
independence day at the historic Terre Haute Action Track on the
following night July 4th. For more information visit
www.allstarsprint.com.
First Place Tim Shaffer
“This place always puts a great race on.
I'm so happy to be a part of this team. Brian (Kemenah, crew chief),
Janet (Holbrook, owner) and Aaron (Call, owner)...this whole
team...they did a great job all week...it's a tough week. I let them
down last night and I was determined not to do that tonight. You had
to be aggressive but patient tonight. I never thought we'd get up
through there. We got a great start and the lapped cars helped me
tonight...they hurt me last night so that's part of racing. We're
building a great team"
Second Place
Brock Mayes "I'm just
upset...three years in a row I've run second at this $10,000 to
win Speedweek show. If I had a few more cars in my shop a couple of those guys would have been helped off the track. There's no sense for lapped cars to be shown my wing three or four times. I get as many cars as Shaffer has in the shop I'll be pushing around like he does sometimes. Daniel, Keith and Davey and my dad are behind us. What you see is what we got. Every now and then we pick up a little something. Just a little heart broken, a little disgusted, a little upset right now. We've been running good here all year. I thought we had 'em. I didn't make the right decision I guess.”
Third Place
Stevie Smith "Tim Shaffer did a nice
job and he earned it...he started back there too. I just didn't get
the job done. I'm real proud of these guys. We won the points...
it's a shame they couldn't have had a little purse for that. After
seeing all these cars this week, I was pretty amazed. The fans were
really a big support for the Ohio Sprint Speedweek and they had a
lot of race cars. I think it's something that could really be built
up and I'd like to still be a part of it.”
Kistler Engines Qualifying Heat Finishes (Started) Kears Speed Shop Heat 2 – 10 Laps All Pro Heads Heat 3 – 10 Laps Outerwears Performance Products Heat 4 –
10 Laps Rubbin Repair Dash – 6 Laps University of Northwestern Ohio B Main –
12 Laps
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