ATTICA, OH (4-9-11) By Brian Liskai – There’s just something about a long race that brings out the best in Dale Blaney. The Hartford, Ohio driver took the lead on lap 32 of the 40-lapImage HD Supply Spring Nationals at Attica Raceway Park Saturday and went on to his 77th career victory with the O”Reilly Auto Parts All Star Circuit of Champions.
Blaney dove under 6-time Attica track champion Byron Reed in turns one and two on lap 31 for the lead when Reed caught the cushion in turn two and flipped. On the restart, Blaney had the lapped machine of Jac Haudenschild between him and Paul McMahan, drove away for the victory, the 13th in his career at Attica.
“After last weekend we really struggled but we learned a lot. We came here tonight…it’s the same car but it acted totally different. It felt like a normal car…like I could actually race hard again,” said Blaney beside his Ti22 backed machine. “George (Fisher, owner) and Troy (Psurny, crew) had the car great. It’s been a long time since I won here. To beat these guys is pretty good. I had a really good starting spot so I didn’t want to kill my stuff the first 20 laps. I hated to see Byron go by because he’s pretty good here. I kind of followed up to the front and I looked at the board and saw there was 20 laps down and I figured I’d better get going. It probably would have been a pretty good race between him and me.”
In the Fultz Fabrications and Speed Ship UMP Late Models, Ada, Ohio’s Jon Henry held off a last lap charge by Rusty Schlenk to earn his second feature win in a row at Attica. It wasn’t easy, as Henry took the checkered by only a half a car length over Schlenk, the 2010 National UMP Champion.
“That was a little close…I was trying to take it easy because I knew dad didn’t want me hitting those tractor tires down there. I started to hear something with about two to go and I was like I need to stop taking it easy,” said Henry beside his K&N Filters, Wide Open Graphics backed #15. “I thought I would just stay in my line and make him work for it. It’s hard when you get out front because you just know how far you can push the race car. I tried to hang around the middle of the race track…I had a really good bite there.”
“Two in a row…this is awesome. I can’t believe how many fans are here…this is a crazy house. I have to thank my dad and John McClain for all their help,” added Henry.
Fremont’s Paul Weaver didn’t have a ride a month ago. So he and some friends purchased a car and it paid off as Weaver took the Fremont Fence 305 Sprint feature after a race-long battle with Jimmy Colvin. It was Weaver’s 25th career victory in the 305 sprints, tying him with Mike Linder for first on the track’s all-time win list.
“We got jacked around and had to buy this thing late in the game. But, if we keep winning it will pay off,” said Weaver beside his #82 sprinter.
At the drop of the green for the All Star feature, outside front row starter Lucas Wolfe wheeled into the lead with pole-sitter Paul McMahan, Blaney, Reed, Cody Darrah, Cole Duncan and Tim Shaffer in tow. Several early cautions kept the race from developing a rhythm. Jac Haudenschild and Johnny Mackison Jr. would tangle on lap two to bring out the yellow flag. Two more laps – which saw Wolfe pulling away while McMahan, Blaney and Reed waged a great battle for second – and another yellow for a Darrah spin. A lap and another Darrah spin. Two more laps and a David Gravel spin. Again, two more laps and a caution for Duncan.
Then the race would go caution-free the next 21 laps, setting up some exciting battles. Wolfe pull away slightly with McMahan comfortably in second while Blaney and Reed battled for third and Shaffer having his hands full with World of Outlaw point leader Joey Saldana and 2010 Lernerville track champion Danny Holtgraver. By lap 17, McMahan had reeled in Wolfe and the pair raced nose to tail which allowed Reed to close. At the half-way mark the huge crowd was on their feet as Wolfe, McMahan and Reed battled for the lead. A lap later and Reed would drive into second and on lap 22 was side-by-side with Wolfe for the top spot. Reed would execute a slide job in turn one on lap 23 to take the lead.
Meanwhile, McMahan and Blaney were locked in a heated battle for third, with Blaney taking the position on lap 24. Reed would catch the back of the field on lap 26, and Blaney would use that to his advantage to take second from Wolfe on lap 27. With 10 laps to go, Blaney caught Reed with Wolfe, McMahan, Holtgraver and Saldana giving chase. Blaney dove under Reed in turns one and two a lap later, with Reed catching the cushion and flipping.
Now in the lead and a clear track ahead, Blaney set sale following the red flag with McMahan, Wolfe, Holtgraver and Saldana giving chase. Holtgraver would take third on lap 33 moving Wolfe to fourth and Saldana to fifth. Blaney was on cruise control with McMahan comfortably in second but the war for third was a dandy between Holtgraver, Wolfe, Saldana and Shaffer. Saldana took third on lap 36 but could not catch Blaney and McMahan the last four laps. Shaffer and Holtgraver would round out the top five at the finish.
“It’s been an up and down season so far for us, so for us to come here and run the entire feature up front gives this team a lot of confidence,” said McMahan beside his Roth Motorsports, HR Cattle #83. “Dale and George are so tough on tracks like this and we just didn’t have anything for them tonight.”
Saldana was upset with his performance, especially in his heat when he spun on the last lap while running in a transfer position, forcing him to run the B-main and a 13th feature starting spot.
“My crew should have loaded it up and told me I was done after I screwed up like that in my heat. We expected a lot better run here tonight. It’s a good thing I’m not running for my dad or he would have fired me,” said Saldana beside his Kasey Kahne owned, Red Bull backed #9. “It’s just a very disappointing night because the driver made a horrible mistake.”
Attica RacewayPark - 4/9/2011
HD Supply Night
O'Reilly Auto Parts All Star Sprints (48 Cars)
Qualifying - Kistler Engines
1. 97-Dean Jacobs, 12.195; 2. 89G-David Gravel, 12.258; 3. 83M-Paul McMahan, 12.281; 4. 5R-Byron Reed, 12.302; 5. 2-Dale Blaney, 12.309; 6. 22-Cole Duncan, 12.322; 7. 91-Cody Darrah, 12.323; 8. 9-Joey Saldana, 12.330; 9. 5W-Lucus Wolfe, 12.350; 10. D4-Danny Holtgraver, 12.351; 11. 83-Tim Shaffer, 12.355; 12. 7K-Kyle Sauder, 12.366; 13. 53-Phil Gressman, 12.387; 14. W20-Greg Wilson, 12.495; 15. 13-Mark Dobmeier, 12.501; 16. 6-Jac Haudenschild, 12.524; 17. 3J-Kevin Lee, 12.541; 18. 16-Bryan Sebetto, 12.604; 19. O9-Craig Mintz, 12.607; 20. 65-Johnny Mackison, 12.611; 21. 49-Brad Sweet, 12.618; 22. O-Chris Andrews, 12.638; 23. 78-Todd Kane, 12.688; 24. 12-Jarred Ridge, 12.711; 25. 45-Rob Chaney, 12.711; 26. 11M-Brandon Martin, 12.728; 27. 2M-Dustin Daggett, 12.763; 28. 60-Jody Keegan, 12.794; 29. 11D-Bryce Dickson, 12.830; 30. 10-Brad Haudenschild, 12.833; 31. 312-Mike Linder, 12.848; 32. 5T-Travis Philo, 12.894; 33. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 12.910; 34. 4K-Kody Kinser, 12.915; 35. O4-Cap Henry, 12.921; 36. 51-Brad Bowman, 12.928; 37. 1Z-Jessica Zemken, 12.975; 38. 27-Scott Euler, 13.096; 39. 4-Danny Smith, 13.101; 40. 3-Pete Miller, 13.222; 41. 9Z-Duane Zablocki, 13.267; 42. 11N-Ed Neumeister, 13.272; 43. 15H-Mitch Harble, 13.301; 44. 22K-Mike Keumper, 13.337; 45. 91X-Aaron Middaugh, 13.389; 46. 60C-Cory Crabtree, 13.468; 47. 28-Shawn Valenti, 99.000; 48. 51C-Roger Campbell, nt
Heat 1 – Kear’s Speed Shop (10 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 5W-Lucus Wolfe[4] ; 2. 49-Brad Sweet[1] ; 3. 3J-Kevin Lee[2] ; 4. 2-Dale Blaney[5] ; 5. 53-Phil Gressman[3] ; 6. 97-Dean Jacobs[6] ; 7. 11D-Bryce Dickson[8] ; 8. 91X-Aaron Middaugh[12] ; 9. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[9] ; 10. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[11] ; 11. 45-Rob Chaney[7] ; 12. 1Z-Jessica Zemken[10]
Heat 2 – All Pro Aluminum Heads (10 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. W20-Greg Wilson[3] ; 2. 16-Bryan Sebetto[2] ; 3. D4-Danny Holtgraver[4] ; 4. 11M-Brandon Martin[7] ; 5. 22-Cole Duncan[5] ; 6. 10-Brad Haudenschild[8] ; 7. 4K-Kody Kinser[9] ; 8. O-Chris Andrews[1] ; 9. 60C-Cory Crabtree[12] ; 10. 11N-Ed Neumeister[11] ; 11. 27-Scott Euler[10] ; 12. 89G-David Gravel[6]
Heat 3 – MSD Ignitions (10 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. O9-Craig Mintz[2] ; 2. 83-Tim Shaffer[4] ; 3. 78-Todd Kane[1] ; 4. 83M-Paul McMahan[6] ; 5. 91-Cody Darrah[5] ; 6. 2M-Dustin Daggett[7] ; 7. 4-Danny Smith[10] ; 8. 13-Mark Dobmeier[3] ; 9. O4-Cap Henry[9] ; 10. 312-Mike Linder[8] ; 11. 28-Shawn Valenti[12] ; 12. 15H-Mitch Harble[11]
Heat 4 – Kinsler Fuel Injection (10 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 6-Jac Haudenschild[3] ; 2. 7K-Kyle Sauder[4] ; 3. 12-Jarred Ridge[1] ; 4. 5R-Byron Reed[6] ; 5. 65-Johnny Mackison[2] ; 6. 5T-Travis Philo[8] ; 7. 60-Jody Keegan[7] ; 8. 51-Brad Bowman[9] ; 9. 3-Pete Miller[10] ; 10. 22K-Mike Keumper[11] ; 11. 9-Joey Saldana[5]
Outerwear’s Performance Products Dash - (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 83M-Paul McMahan[2] ; 2. 5W-Lucus Wolfe[4] ; 3. 2-Dale Blaney[6] ; 4. 5R-Byron Reed[3] ; 5. 22-Cole Duncan[1] ; 6. 91-Cody Darrah[5]
C-Main - Computer Man Inc. (10 Laps - Top 2 finishers transfer to the B-feature)
1. 4-Danny Smith[1] ; 2. 11N-Ed Neumeister[4] ; 3. 28-Shawn Valenti[9] ; 4. 91X-Aaron Middaugh[7] ; 5. 22K-Mike Keumper[6] ; 6. 15H-Mitch Harble[5] ; 7. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[3] ; 8. 3-Pete Miller[2] ; 9. 60C-Cory Crabtree[8] ; 10. 51C-Roger Campbell[10]
B-Main – University of NorthwesternOhio (12 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 9-Joey Saldana[3] ; 2. 97-Dean Jacobs[1] ; 3. 2M-Dustin Daggett[7] ; 4. 89G-David Gravel[2] ; 5. 10-Brad Haudenschild[10] ; 6. 5T-Travis Philo[12] ; 7. 4-Danny Smith[19] ; 8. 13-Mark Dobmeier[4] ; 9. 51-Brad Bowman[16] ; 10. 1Z-Jessica Zemken[17] ; 11. 312-Mike Linder[11] ; 12. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[13] ; 13. 27-Scott Euler[18] ; 14. 11D-Bryce Dickson[9] ; 15. O-Chris Andrews[5] ; 16. 60-Jody Keegan[8] ; 17. O4-Cap Henry[15] ; 18. 4K-Kody Kinser[14] ; 19. 45-Rob Chaney[6] ; 20. 11N-Ed Neumeister[20]
A-Main - (40 Laps)
1. 2-Dale Blaney[3]; 2. 83M-Paul McMahan[1]; 3. 9-Joey Saldana[13]; 4. 83-Tim Shaffer[8]; 5. D4-Danny Holtgraver[7]; 6. 7K-Kyle Sauder[9]; 7. 5W-Lucus Wolfe[2]; 8. 3J-Kevin Lee[16]; 9. W20-Greg Wilson[14]; 10. 2M-Dustin Daggett[24]; 11. 53-Phil Gressman[10]; 12. 22-Cole Duncan[5]; 13. O9-Craig Mintz[18]; 14. 91-Cody Darrah[6]; 15. 16-Bryan Sebetto[17]; 16. 11M-Brandon Martin[23]; 17. 49-Brad Sweet[20]; 18. 12-Jarred Ridge[22]; 19. 6-Jac Haudenschild[15]; 20. 97-Dean Jacobs[11]; 21. 5R-Byron Reed[4]; 22. 78-Todd Kane[21]; 23. 89G-David Gravel[12]; 24. 65-Johnny Mackison[19]
Hard Charger: 2M-Dustin Daggett[+14]
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