[i Bill W - 8/12/09]
[b 50 cars]
Cody Darrah (42nd car out to time) set the standard in time trials at 14.547 seconds. The track was lightning fast after a lengthy rain delay. Cale Conley (29th car out) was second quick, followed by Donny Schatz (39th), Paul McMahan (45th), Jonathan Allard (35th), Lee Sowell (48th), Shane Stewart (44th), Erin Crocker (3rd), Danny Lasoski (24th) and Jason Meyers (22nd). Seth Brahmer failed to get a time in and scratched for the night with motor problems. Jason Sides stumbled on his lap, but returned stronger in the heat.
Heat one (started): 1. Garry Brazier 1AU (1) 2. Skip Jackson 2 (2) 3. Danny Smith 4 (3) 4. Greg Wilson w20 (4) / 5. Randy Hannagan 1x (6) 6. Jason Sides 7s (10) 7. Sowell 51s (7) 8. Brian Ellenberger 22N (9) / 9. Davey Heskin 56 (5) 10. Darrah 89 (8)
Heskin drifted up the track in turn two, and collected Darrah, who was trying to shoot around above the cushion on the tacky one-lane fast track. Darrah flipped and both cars were done for the night, though no one was injured. Brazier led a mostly single-file affair the rest of the way.
Heat two (started): 1. Calvin Landis 70 (2) 2. Brandon Wimmer 7TW (1) 3. Johnny Herrera 2w (4) 4. Matthew Reed v92 (9) / 5. Brad Sweet 91 (5) 6. Ed Lynch Jr. 2L (6) 7. Josh Schneiderman 49 (3) 8. Stewart 57 (7) / 9. Conley 3c (8) DNS - John VanDenBerg K9
When Lynch tried to shoot outside of Herrera to start the heat, contact was made with Lynch breaking a front axle. The crew didn't have time to finish the job, but got it after another lap failed to get in. Conley had hit the bottom berm in turn two and broken something in the front end. Landis led the 10-lap distance, but Stewart was the mover. He shot into third, but ran out of fuel on the white flag lap, handing the final transfer to Reed.
Heat three (started): 1. Daron Clayton 92 (2) 2. Austin McCarl 17A (1) 3. Jason Johnson 41 (3) 4. Tim Shaffer 83x (4) / 5. Mark Dobmeier 13 (6) 6. Ty Bartz 46 (9) 7. Schatz 15 (8) 8. Rob Chaney 7KX (5) / 9. Crocker 59 (7) 10. Justin Berg 67x (10)
Clayton led flag to flag. Schatz slapped the wall on the first lap, possibly breaking a Jacob's ladder.
Heat four (started): 1. Justin Henderson G1 (2) 2. Lucas Wolfe 5w (4) 3. John Lambertz 12L (1) 4. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (6) / 5. McMahan 71x (8) 6. Don Droud Jr. 47 (5) 7. Lasoski 6 (7) 8. Billy Balog 17B (3) / 9. Chris Schmelzle 57c (9) 10. Kevin Ingle 2K (10)
Hafertepe Jr. and McMahan gained their final spots on the first lap. Hafertepe was the quickest qualifier (14th) to make it to the A through the heats.
Heat five (started): 1. Jack Dover 53 (1) 2. Greg Hall 4wa (2) 3. Craig Dollansky 19E (6) 4. Chad Kemenah 63 (3) / 5. Meyers 14 (7) 6. Sammy Swindell 10s (4) 7. Allard 0 (8) 8. Daryn Pittman 17 (5) / DNS - Marlon Jones 9m, Seth Brahmer 13v
In what may have been the stoutest heat, Dollansky was the prime mover.
C main (started): 1. Crocker (1) 2. Conley (2) / 3. Schmelzle (3) 4. Ingle (4) DNS - Darrah, Heskin, Jones, VanDenBerg, Berg, Brahmer
B main (started): 1. Schatz (1) 2. McMahan (2) 3. Allard (3) 4. Stewart (5) / 5. Meyers (7) 6. Dobmeier (10) 7. Lynch Jr. (9) 8. Lasoski (6) 9. Pittman (14) 10. Droud Jr. (13) 11. Sweet (11) 12. Sides (20) 13. Sowell (4) 14. Conley (22) 15. Balog (17) 16. Swindell (15) 17. Crocker (21) 18. Chaney (12) 19. Bartz (19) 20. Ellenberger (18) 21. Hannagan (8) 22. Schneiderman (16)
Schneiderman spun, bringing out a caution, and contact was made under the yellow between Hannagan, who retired, and Stewart. Schatz led until a lap four stoppage for Ellenberger. Dobmeier and Lynch Jr. battled hard for fifth in probably the best racing of the event. Schatz was turning 15.1 second laps up front.
A main (started): 1. Shaffer (4) 2. J. Johnson (1) 3. Hafertepe Jr. (8) 4. Kemenah (9) 5. Wolfe (3) 6. D. Smith (2) 7. Schatz (21) 8. Wilson (6) 9. Dover (19) 10. Landis (11) 11. Jackson (10) 12. Stewart (22) 13. Herrera (5) 14. Allard (23) 15. Henderson (13) 16. Wimmer (16) 17. Clayton (12) 18. McMahan (20) 19. Brazier (15) 20. Reed (18) 21. Dollansky (7) 22. A. McCarl (17) 23. Lambertz (24) 24. Hall (14)
Lambertz elected to start at the tail of the 25-lapper. Clayton came to a stop before a lap could be completed. He rejoined the field and J. Johnson took off ahead of Wolfe. Shaffer moved into second on lap ten, and Dollansky picked up third five laps later. When J. Johnson slipped a bit on lap 18, Shaffer pounced into the lead. Two laps later, Hall spun at the top of turn three. Dollansky was collected in the mess and got upside down. The tream rallied to get him back in the race, after another green was called back for a stalled A. McCarl. The final five laps saw Shaffer leading J. Johnson, Hafertepe Jr., Wolfe and Kemenah back to green. Kemenah was able to move past Wolfe for fourth, and Schatz was the hard-charger and high point man for the night. Shaffer's win was worth $12,000.
- Bill Wright on Aug 14, 2009
- Article Date: 8/14/2009