Dale Blaney Beats The
Outlaws At Attica Raceway Park
 By
Brian Liskai
(Attica, OH) Dale Blaney
has said it over and over again: When he and car owner George Fisher
pull into any race track - regardless who the competition is - in their
simple little motorhome and little trailer, when the red #2 is unloaded,
he is confident he can beat anyone.
And they proved that Friday, as the Hartford, Ohio driver scored his
fifth career World of Outlaws sprint win at Attica Raceway Park on
Kistler Engines Classic Night. It was Blaney's first World of Outlaws
win since 2004 at Eldora and was worth $10,000.
There is no sponsor name on Blaney's car - just a simple red paint job
with a white #2 and "George Fisher Racing" on the side. There's no spare
car inside the little trailer - in fact, there aren't a lot of spares.
But Fisher and Blaney just seem to click together.
World of Outlaws - Dale Blaney
"I can't say enough for George Fisher...he
does everything on this car. Everybody was here tonight...Steve was here
and Tom was here...everybody. When those guys come we always do
well...they make my job easy and it makes it a lot of fun to drive that
car," said Blaney in front of the standing room only crowd.
Blaney took the lead on lap 30 when early World of Outlaws point leader
and three-time champion Donny Schatz got forced into the front stretch
wall by a lapped machine and spun, and was hit hard by Lee Jacobs. Prior
to that incident, Blaney had steadily worked his way up from his fifth
starting spot and had been engaged in a tremendous battle with Jason
Meyers. Once in the lead, Blaney could not shake Meyers who finished a
car length back in second.
"We were pretty good early and gained a spot. And I knew we'd be pretty
good the last 20...we usually are here. Man me and Jason had a pretty
good race for five or six laps and let someone else creep in there. But
once we got clear of him...we were gaining a little bit on Donny. I
would have loved to have seen him stay out there and see if I had
something for him, but we'll take them any way we can get them.
The race got off to a bad start for Joey Saldana and Cole Duncan as they
got together, with Duncan on his top. Duncan was done for the night, but
Saldana was able to make repairs and rejoin the field.
Meyers grabbed the early lead of the 40-lap feature with Schatz, already
a six-time World of Outlaws feature winner in 2009, right on his rear
bumper, while Chad Kemenah stalked the pair. Just as Schatz executed a
slide-job for the lead in turns one and two on lap four, the caution
flew, giving the top spot back to Meyers. On the restart, Schatz again
put pressure on Meyers while Kemenah also raced the pair hard. Kemenah
would slide off the track on the back stretch a lap later, moving Blaney
into third. Behind the top three, a tremendous battle was underway
between Kraig Kinser, Randy Hannagan, Lee Jacobs, Byron Reed and Tim
Shaffer.Shaffer had damaged his front wing and steering parts in an
early altercation.
Schatz and Meyers raced side-by-side over the next six laps before
Schatz drove his Tony Stewart Racing machine into the lead on lap 10.
Just as the leader was encountering heavy lapped traffic, the caution
would fly on lap 15, giving Schatz a clear track and clean air. The
Fargo, N.D. driver pulled away on the restart while Meyers, Blaney and
Jacobs battled hard for second. Meyers and Blaney would swap the
position several times over the next seven laps before Blaney would use
lapped traffic to gain the position on lap 23.
Steve Kinser (11) & Brock Mayes (11B)
While Schatz and Blaney pulled slightly away,
Meyers now had his hands full with Jacobs, as the pair diced it out back
and forth over the next six laps. During that time, Blaney was gaining
ever so slightly on Schatz. Then, on lap 30, while attempting to lap a
machine, it drove Schatz up the track exiting turn four and into the
front stretch wall, sending the car into a spin. While Blaney escaped
down to the bottom, Jacobs was on the hammer on the top side and had no
where to go, and slammed into Schatz. Both drivers were okay, but their
night was done.
Blaney and Meyers pulled away on the restart, while Shaffer had to
battle Hannagan and Sam Hafertepe Jr., who had steadily worked his way
up through the pack from his 21st starting position to fifth by lap 31.
Blaney would streak under the checkered flag, with Meyers grabbing
second, Shaffer battling his car to a third place run, with Hannagan,
Hafertepe, Craig Dollansky, Greg Wilson, Saldana (back from the back),
Kraig Kinser and 23rd starting Steve Kinser rounding out the top 10.
"We don't ever like to get beat, but Dale Blaney is one of the best when
you come to Ohio. Congratulations to him and his team. My guys have been
working their tails off. GLR Investments and Elite Landscaping and all
our sponsors have been behind us 100 percent," said Meyers beside his
PriAmerica, Stockbridge Development, Garrett Engines backed #14.
"We haven't been putting up the kind of numbers we wanted and these guys
go back to the shop every week and build something new and try to make
the car better. They went back and built us a new race car this week. I
don't know how many times I've asked them to build something new...they
keep digging and we keep getting better," added the Clovis, California
resident.
"I really want to thank all of you for coming out tonight...this is
probably the biggest crowd we've seen all season," concluded Meyers.
Shaffer, who lost his World of Outlaws ride midway through the 2008
season but landed in the Aaron Call #83, garnered an extra $500 from
Attica Raceway Park for being the highest finishing driver who is in the
track's top 20 in points. But it wasn't easy with front damage and a
nearly flat left rear tire.
"Guys were waving me in...the tire was flat and stuff and I'm like 'run
it until it stops.' And it worked out pretty good...it made the car roll
around there...I just adjusted to it and did the best I can," said
Shaffer. "Maybe we found a new trick!"
"You're racing with the best with these guys, but we have a great team
and I think we can run in the top five when we're with these guys. Hats
off to Brian (Kemenah, crew chief). I have great owners who give me
everything I need to be up here," added Shaffer beside his Kistler
Racing Engines, J&J Chassis backed #83.
Late Models - Rusty Schlenk
In the Fultz Fabrications and Speedshop UMP
Dirt-Car Late Models, Jackson, Michigan's Rusty Schlenk lead wire to
wire for his second win of the season at Attica in the last three weeks.
However, the battle behind him was fantastic with seven cars trading
positions every lap.
While early yellows allowed Dan Wallace to put some pressure on Schlenk,
it would be Dusty Moore who would begin pressuring Wallace, allowing
Schlenk to pull away. Wallace, Moore, Steve Sabo and Ryan Missler would
battle the entire last half of the race for the runner-up spot.
When Schlenk took the checkered aboard his Micro Armor Lubricants,
Complete Truck Repair machine, Moore edged Missler for second while
Wallace and 14th place starter Wayne Maffett Jr. would round out the top
five.
Attica Raceway Park will be back in action Friday, June 5 as Burns
Electric Presents the Mid-Season Championship with double points on the
line for the 410 sprints, Fremont Fence 305 Sprints and the dirt trucks.
It is also a Kistler Racing Products Fremont Attica Sprint Title
Championship Series race for the 410 sprints.
For more information log onto www.atticaracewaypark.com
Attica Raceway Park - 5/29/2009
World of Outlaw Sprint Cars
Qualifying
1) 63-Chad Kemenah 12.105 2) 59-Lee Jacobs 12.153 3) 53-Cole Duncan
12.339 4) 14-Jason Meyers 12.341 5) W20-Greg Wilson 12.348 6)
21AU-Brooke Tatnell 12.374 7) 83-Tim Shaffer 12.400 8) 2-Dale Blaney
12.410 9) 9X-Phil Gressman 12.411 10) 78-Todd Kane 12.418 11) 15-Donny
Schatz 12.426 12) 97-Dean Jacobs 12.461 13) 19-Craig Dollansky 12.477
14) 5-Byron Reed 12.484 15) 11M-Brandon Martin 12.488 16) 20-Kraig
Kinser 12.494 17) 11B-Brock Mayes 12.505 18) 1X-Randy Hannagan 12.588
19) O-Brandon Wimmer 12.614 20) 60-Jody Keegan 12.642 21) 27-Scott Euler
12.673 22) 6-Danny Lasoski 12.679 23) 22-Brian Ellenberger 12.683 24)
15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 12.689 25) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 12.730
26) 3J-Kevin Lee 12.758[18] 27)
9-Joey Saldana 12.785 28) O4-Cap Henry III 12.814 29) 312-Mike Linder
12.823 30) 16-Bryan Sebbetto 12.836 31) 15C-Chris Andrews 12.884 32)
9Z-Duane Zablocki 12.910 33) 7S-Jason Sides 12.935 34) 2H-Tim Hunter
12.946 35) 20X-Craig Keel 12.967 36) 11-Steve Kinser 12.994 37) 91-Aaron
Middaugh 13.064 38) 2+-Brian Smith 13.257 39) X-Mark Keegan 13.292 40)
40-Mark Imler 13.618 41) 7AU-Roddy Bellbowen 13.927 42) R19-Jac
Haudenschild 17.519 43) 10-David Harrison -.---
Heat 1 (10 Laps, top 5 finishers
transferred to A-feature)
1) 19-Craig Dollansky 2) 63-Chad Kemenah 3) W20-Greg Wilson 4) 9X-Phil
Gressman 5) 11B-Brock Mayes 6) 312-Mike Linder 7) 7S-Jason Sides 8)
5W-Lucas Wolfe 9) 27-Scott Euler 10) 7AU-Roddy Bellbowen 11) 91-Aaron
Middaugh
Heat 2 (10 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 1X-Randy Hannagan 2) 5-Byron Reed 3) 59-Lee Jacobs 4) R19-Jac
Haudenschild 5) 21AU-Brooke Tatnell 6) 2H-Tim Hunter 7) 6-Danny Lasoski
8) 16-Bryan Sebbetto 9) 3J-Kevin Lee[7]
10) 2+-Brian Smith 11) 78-Todd Kane
Heat 3 (10 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 15-Donny Schatz 2) 83-Tim Shaffer 3) 11M-Brandon Martin 4) 22-Brian
Ellenberger 5) 9-Joey Saldana 6) O-Brandon Wimmer 7) X-Mark Keegan 8)
15C-Chris Andrews 9) 53-Cole Duncan 10) 20X-Craig Keel
Heat 4 (10 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 20-Kraig Kinser 2) 2-Dale Blaney 3) 14-Jason Meyers 4) 11-Steve
Kinser 5) 97-Dean Jacobs 6) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 7) 60-Jody Keegan 8)
O4-Cap Henry III 9) 9Z-Duane Zablocki 10) 40-Mark Imler
Crane Cams Dash (8 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting
positions of A-feature)
1) 15-Donny Schatz 2) 14-Jason Meyers 3) 63-Chad Kemenah 4) 59-Lee
Jacobs 5) 2-Dale Blaney 6) 20-Kraig Kinser 7) 5-Byron Reed 8) 1X-Randy
Hannagan 9) 83-Tim Shaffer 10) 19-Craig Dollansky
C-main (8 laps, top 2 finishers transferred to B-main)
1) 7S-Jason Sides [] 2) 2H-Tim Hunter [] 3) 2+-Brian Smith [$125] 4)
X-Mark Keegan [$125] 5) 91-Aaron Middaugh [$125] 6) 40-Mark Imler [$100]
7) 20X-Craig Keel [$100] 8) 7AU-Roddy Bellbowen [$100] 9) 10-David
Harrison [$100]
B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 53-Cole Duncan [] 2) O-Brandon Wimmer [] 3) 60-Jody Keegan [] 4)
15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [] 5) 6-Danny Lasoski [$200] 6) 7S-Jason Sides
[$180] 7) 5W-Lucas Wolfe [$175] 8) 15C-Chris Andrews [$160]
9) 3J-Kevin Lee [$150][9] 10) 312-Mike
Linder [$150] 11) O4-Cap Henry III [$150] 12) 9Z-Duane Zablocki [$150]
13) 27-Scott Euler [$150] 14) 2H-Tim Hunter [$150] 15) 16-Bryan Sebbetto
[$150] 16) 78-Todd Kane [$150]
A-main (40 laps) - Starting Position [#]
1) 2-Dale Blaney[5] [$10,000] 2) 14-Jason Meyers[2] [$5,500] 3) 83-Tim
Shaffer[9] [$3,200] 4) 1X-Randy Hannagan[8] [$2,800] 5) 15H-Sam
Hafertepe Jr.[21] [$2,500] 6) 19-Craig Dollansky[10] [$2,300] 7)
W20-Greg Wilson[12] [$2,200] 8) 9-Joey Saldana[22] [$2,100] 9) 20-Kraig
Kinser[6] [$2,050] 10) 11-Steve Kinser[23] [$2,000] 11) 11M-Brandon
Martin[16] [$1,500] 12) 7S-Jason Sides[25] [$400] 13) 11B-Brock
Mayes[17] [$1,100] 14) 9X-Phil Gressman[14] [$1,050] 15) 97-Dean
Jacobs[15] [$1,000] 16) 5-Byron Reed[7] [$900] 17) 21AU-Brooke
Tatnell[13] [$800] 18) 6-Danny Lasoski[26] [$] 19) 60-Jody Keegan[19]
[$800] 20) R19-Jac Haudenschild[24] [$800] 21) 22-Brian Ellenberger[20]
[$800] 22) 15-Donny Schatz[1] [$800] 23) 59-Lee Jacobs[4] [$800] 24)
63-Chad Kemenah[3] [$800] 25) 53-Cole Duncan[11] [$800] 26) O-Brandon
Wimmer[18] [$800]
Fultz Fabrication & Speed Shop - UMP Late
Models
Heat 1 - Ultra Schield Race Products (8 Laps - Top 10 Transfer)
1. 48B-Mike Bores; 2. 50Y-Ryan Missler; 3. 83-Noah Wagner; 4. 40WD-Dusty
Moore; 5. 99M-John Mayes Sr.; 6. 27-Ken Hahn; 7. 12-Michael Stiltner; 8.
5H-Ernie Haynes; 9. 101-Chester Fitch; 10. 48-John Bores
Heat 2 - Bell Racing (8 Laps - Top 10 Transfer)
1. 91-Rusty Schlenk; 2. X3-Dan Wallace; 3. 21-Larry Kingseed; 4.
3R-Chuck Roelle; 5. 99-Steve Sabo; 6. 5M-Ryan Markham; 7. 40-Wayne
Maffett Jr.; 8. 51-Devin Schields; 9. 12M-Bobby Michaels
A-Main - (25 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 91-Rusty Schlenk[1]; 2. 40WD-Dusty Moore[7]; 3. 50Y-Ryan Missler[10];
4. X3-Dan Wallace[4]; 5. 40-Wayne Maffett Jr.[14]; 6. 27-Ken Hahn[11];
7. 99-Steve Sabo[6]; 8. 5M-Ryan Markham[8]; 9. 99M-John Mayes Sr.[5];
10. 21-Larry Kingseed[2]; 11. 3R-Chuck Roelle[3]; 12. 83-Noah Wagner[9];
13. 5H-Ernie Haynes[15]; 14. 101-Chester Fitch[17]; 15. 51-Devin
Schields[16]; 16. 48-John Bores[19]; 17. 12-Michael Stiltner[13]; 18.
12M-Bobby Michaels[18]; 19. 48B-Mike Bores[12] |
