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Brownsburg Bullet Shoots Through Field
Wednesday, 07 February 2007
BARBERVILLE, FL (2-6-07) The O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions kicked off
the 2007 racing season in grand fashion at Volusia Speedway Park with 58 cars
signing in to the pits on a chilly February night in central Florida. A record
number of cars were on hand to compete for the All Star prize money and the
first sanctioned victory of the season. Jason Solwold paced the evening in
qualifying with a new track record of 12.948 – the first time in history that a 12
second lap has been turned at Volusia. The record was broken 4 times before
Solwold took the green flag. Joey Saldana recorded a lap of 12.999 after Craig
Dollansky ran a 13.023. Mark Smith stopped the clocks at 13.055 prior to that
and Terry McCarl was the first to break the old record set by Chad Kemenah in
2006 with a 13.150.
Lucas Wolfe started on the pole of the MSD Ignitions A-main event and led the
first 3 laps, but it was the “Brownsburg Bullet” Joey Saldana who would school the
young driver by taking the lead on lap 4 and eventually lapping Wolfe who
finished 9th. Saldana would also lap Danny Lasoski who finished 8th.
Saldana shot into the lead and never looked back as he dominated the field in
the season opener by finishing more than 10 seconds ahead of second place
Craig Dollansky. Only one caution slowed the event when Josh Wells came to a
stop on lap 2. From there it was clear sailing for Saldana whose last All Star
victory came in February of 2003 at the same track. Dollansky would cross the
finish line second as he held of Tim Schaffer and Terry McCarl.
“I have so many people to thank,” said an elated Saldana from victory lane.
“Mopar has really helped us out and Speedway Engines has done a great job
with these motors. This is Kevin Swindell’s USAC motor we ran tonight.” Saldana
thanked his car owner Kasey Kahne and the Kahne family for their help and his
new crew chief Ricky Warner who left Donny Schatz’s team over the winter to turn
wrenches on the #9 in 2007. “I have a lot to learn with Ricky and the way he does
things,” said Saldana. “It was a good run tonight and I hope to continue that all
week.”
“I was struggling with the car in the feature tonight,” said Dollansky. “Joey did a
great job. We’ll be back tomorrow night and see what we can do.”
Tim Schaffer had a great night in his return to racing after sitting out most of the
2006 season with a neck injury. “Its great to be back,” said Schaffer. “All the hard
work and rehab has paid off. My left rear shock fell off the car. Maybe that helped
us tonight.”
Terry McCarl finished in 4th place from his 10th starting position followed by
Daryn Pittman and Jason Solwold. Jason Meyers had a big run starting in the
22nd spot and finishing 7th followed by Lasoski in 8th and Wolfe in 9th. Greg
Hodnett rounded out the Top 10.
Defending All Star champion Greg Wilson crossed the line in 11th place followed
by PA Posse drivers Lance Dewease and Fred Rahmer. Brian Paulus, who is
competing with the All Stars in 2007, finished 14th followed by All Star member
Brandon Martin to round out the Top 15.
The large car count forced the All Stars to run a “Last Chance” event after
qualifying ended – something normally only seen during Ohio Sprint Speedweek.
The bottom qualifiers of the evening would compete for the final spot in each
heat race. Lee Stark won the event followed by Steve Clabaugh, John Smith, and
All Star rookie contender Tiffany Wyzard. Craig Mintz, another All Star rookie
candidate, had motor trouble in qualifying had to scratch for the evening.
Heat race wins went to Chad Hillier, Fred Rahmer, Brian Paulus, and Dion Hindi.
Paul McMahan’s motor woes continued in his heat race as he dropped out early
and was done for the night.
The Outerwears Pre-filters C-main came down to a battle in the final laps with
Lance Dewease running down Zack Chappell, but Chappell held him off in lapped
traffic to take the checkers by a fraction of a second. Jason Martin, Brian
Ellenberger, and Ben Gregg rounded out the Top 5 who would transfer to the B-
main.
The 12 lap University of Northwest Ohio B-main got off to a wild start as Chad
Kemenah dove to the bottom and into the lead passing 3 cars on the first turn,
but a caution for Justin Barger on lap 2 slowed the action. On the restart the red
flag flew for Ron Blair for an easy tip over. After the restart Randy Hannagan was
struggling to hold off Dusty Zomer for the transfer spot as the caution flew for
Brad Sweet on lap 4.
The caution would then fly on lap 6 for Zomer who slowed to a stop in turn 2. Fire
erupted under the car bringing out the red flag. Zomer was not injured. The
restart saw Kaley Gharst who started 12th move into the final transfer spot, but a
collapsed wing on Mark Smith’s car brought out another caution. On the restart
Kemenah went up in smoke and dropped out of the lead while Campbell also
slowed bringing out another caution. This moved 18th starting Lance Dewease
into a transfer spot. Jason Meyers passed Tony Bruce Jr. for the lead on the final
lap from his 13th starting position to take the win as Hannagan’s right rear tire
went down dropping him out of the race. Kaley Gharst finished third and Lance
Dewease rounded out the Top 4.
Log on to www.dirtvision.com for your cyber pit pass and listen to live streaming
audio of the 36th Annual DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Mopar Speedshop. For
more information on the O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions, visit www.
allstarsprint.com
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