Dale Blaney Takes Opening Night of Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket at Attica Raceway Park

Dale Blaney Takes Opening Night of Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket at Attica Raceway Park

‘The Lowrider’ In Command of Speedweek Point Race

By Tyler Altmeyer – All Star Circuit of Champions
Contact: altmeyer119@gmail.com

Attica, Ohio (June 19th, 2015) – Defending UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions titleholder Dale Blaney kicked off the 33rd Annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket with a victory at the Attica Raceway Park in Attica, Ohio. For Blaney, it was his fourth UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions victory of the 2015 season, and is now the official point leader of not only the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions national standings, but also Ohio Sprint Speedweek. Blaney, pilot of the familiar CH Motorsports, GoMuddy.com, Big Game Treestands, no. 1 ‘410’ sprint car, set the tone early at Attica Raceway Park and used his qualifying position as an early advantage.

“We really set ourselves up after qualifying” said Blaney, “We went out late but qualified well enough to put ourselves on the front row of a heat race…we were fortunate enough to win our heat and make the dash…I’ve ran so many races at Attica…we have a great baseline and we can use that no matter what kind of surface we race on.”

Dale Blaney started his winning performance from the very beginning of the 40-lap main event; taking command of the 26-car starting field on the opening lap over pole-sitter Parker Price-Miller. Blaney survived four cautions during the feature program; and despite an early charge by Price-Miller with just seven laps in the books, and periods of tricky lapped traffic, the Hartford, Ohio native stayed in control of the $5,000-to-win main event and went on to secure his 119th career UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions victory. Blaney started the main event on the outside of the front row.

“Traffic was pretty tough when we were in it” said Blaney, “It doesn’t feel like we were ever in traffic for very long…by the time we would reach the back of the field, a caution would come out…the yellow flags were pretty beneficial…kept us in clean air…regardless, we ran a pretty good race…I knew I was pretty good in turns one and two, but wasn’t all that great in three and four…it worked out for us.”

With one victory already locked up, Blaney will continue his Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket campaign in search of four more victories during the next eight consecutive nights of competition; attempting to earn the $25,000 bonus.

“We’ll see” said Blaney, “We definitely want to put ourselves in position…right now, we are the only ones in a position to win it…we’ll see how the rest of Speedweek unfolds.”

Byron Reed, the 2014 Fremont/Attica Sprint Title champion, finished second during the opening night of Ohio Sprint Speedweek. The Monclova, Ohio native was a top-five contender the entire distance, but secured himself into the runner-up position with less than five laps remaining. The new UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions format proved to be beneficial for the six-time Attica Raceway Park track champion, as Reed charged from fifth to a dash position during heat race competition, and eventually rallying from fourth to second during the main event; all after qualifying 27th overall.

“This is a great run tonight” said Byron Reed, “Standing here in second with all of these guys is great…I kind of wish we had something more for Blaney…it felt like we were as good as him when we got going…the restarts didn’t help me…it felt like it took us five or six laps to get going…I just want to thank my crew, my mom and my dad…it was a good run.”

Perhaps the most impressive performance of the evening was portrayed by Sheldon Haudenschild. Haudenschild started on the outside of row ten during the 40-lap main event, and rallied 17 positions to secure himself on the podium at Attica Raceway Park. The Wooster, Ohio native utilized the all too familiar ‘Haudenschild line’ and relied on the Attica berm to solidify himself a third place finish. Haudenschild was also the evening’s ‘Hard Charger.’

“We started way back there and got through the first five laps” said Sheldon Haudenschild, “We kept our nose clean…starting that far back, you have to make your moves quick…I saw the top was really nice so I kinda committed myself up there…told myself I’m going to run 40 laps up here and see what happens…we had a spark plug wire come off about halfway…ran around the bottom there for about five or six laps…had that last restart and just went for it to try and get a top-three.”

Seventeen-year-old Parker Price-Miller would hold on to finish fourth during main event competition after starting from the pole position and racing in second for much of the 40-lap program. Price-Miller was a threat early; challenging Dale Blaney for the top spot with less than ten laps recorded. The Kokomo, Indiana native was followed by NASCAR star and World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series team owner Kasey Kahne a the checkers.

There were 58 UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions sprint cars signed in for competition on Friday night at Attica Raceway Park. The 58 ‘410’ sprinters were divided into five qualifying groups with all drivers qualifying against those in their respective heat race. Cap Henry, Rob Chaney, Chris Andrews, Gary Taylor, and Brady Bacon each earned ‘top honors’ in their group qualifying sessions. Bellevue, Ohio’s Cap Henry earned the overall ‘Lincoln Electric Fast Time Award;’ recording an official lap time of 12.372 seconds around the Attica high banks. Travis Philo, Caleb Helms, Brady Bacon, and Gary Taylor rounded out the top-five overall fastest qualifiers.

Preliminary competition would continue with five 10-lap heat races with the top four finishers transferring to the main event. Caleb Helms, Jamie Veal, Chris Andrews, Dale Blaney, and seventeen-year-old Parker Price-Miller each earned UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions heat race victories. Sean Zemunik earned the 8-lap D-main victory. Bryan Clauson, a 2015 Indy 500 starter, earned the 10-lap C-main victory. ‘The Law Firm’ Parker Price-Miller won the evening’s All Star dash; guaranteeing the pole position for the 40-lap main event. The All Star B-main would end all preliminary action at Attica Raceway Park; Kenny Jacobs earned the 12-lap victory.

Up next on the schedule, the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions will visit Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio for round two of Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket. The Saturday night Speedweek visit with be the first appearance by ‘America’s Series’ at ‘The Big E’ in 2015. It was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native Danny Holtgraver earning the Ohio Sprint Speedweek victory at Eldora Speedway in 2014; holding off eventual series champion Dale Blaney and former World of Outlaws traveler Randy Hannagan. The ‘Steel City Outlaw’ Tim Shaffer finished fourth during the 2014 Eldora Speedweek program, with Shane Stewart rounding out the top-five.

Pit gates and general admission gates are scheduled to open at 3PM and 4PM respectively on Saturday, June 20th at Eldora Speedway. Warm-ups will hit the racing surface at 6PM, followed by racing at 7PM, sharp. To learn more, please visit Eldora Speedway live on the web at www.eldoraspeedway.com.

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Full Results – Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket Round 1 – Attica Raceway Park – June 19th, 2015:

Attica 06-19-2015
410 Sprints – UNOH

Qualifying
1.53-Cap Henry, 12.372; 2.5T-Travis Philo, 12.416; 3.40-Caleb Helms, 12.518; 4.99-Brady Bacon, 12.537; 5.1st-Gary Taylor, 12.540; 6.60-Jody Keegan, 12.542; 7.9x-Rob Chaney, 12.581; 8.21-DJ Foos, 12.586; 9.93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 12.588; 10.22-Cole Duncan, 12.613; 11.89-Cody Darrah, 12.622; 12.35AU-Jamie Veal, 12.626; 13.6H-Kenny Jacobs, 12.626; 14.19-Chris Andrews, 12.630; 15.70-Roger Crockett, 12.634; 16.6M-Max Stambaugh, 12.648; 17.1-Dale Blaney, 12.659; 18.W20-Greg Wilson, 12.664; 19.33M-Caleb Griffith, 12.664; 20.59-Danny Holtgraver, 12.669; 21.45L-Brian Lay, 12.757; 22.15H-Mitch Harble, 12.804; 23.91-Cale Thomas, 12.805; 24.5AU-Danny Reidy, 12.833; 25.16-Stuart Brubaker, 12.835; 26.9P-Parker Price-Miller, 12.843; 27.5-Byron Reed, 12.862; 28.O5-Brad Loyet, 12.869; 29.49-Kasey Kahne, 12.883; 30.16X-Ryan Ruhl, 12.888; 31.81-Lee Jacobs, 12.897; 32.59N-Bryan Nuckles, 12.899; 33.40DD-Nate Dussel, 12.914; 34.11N-Randy Hannagan, 12.932; 35.57X-Andrew Palker, 12.964; 36.17-Josh Baughman, 12.970; 37.3G-James McFadden, 12.987; 38.9C-Jimmy Colvin, 12.994; 39.10H-Chad Kemenah, 13.001; 40.9Z-Duane Zablocki, 13.091; 41.7C-Caleb Armstrong, 13.098; 42.94-Ryan Smith, 13.104; 43.17W-Bryan Clauson, 13.112; 44.71H-Brad Lamberson, 13.120; 45.78-Todd Kane, 13.156; 46.8M-TJ Michael, 13.200; 47.68G-Tyler Gunn, 13.213; 48.45-Tim Shaffer, 13.224; 49.16M-Danny Mumaw, 13.273; 50.4-Danny Smith, 13.429; 51.27Z-Sean Zemunik, 13.474; 52.9-Jordan Ryan, 13.489; 53.55F-Taylor Ferns, 13.528; 54.25M-Ken Mackey, 13.547; 55.96AU-Bruce White, 13.763; 56.38-Jared Horstman, 13.885; 57.8-Kevin Shelbo, 14.086; 58.97-Dean Jacobs, 99.000;

Heat 1, Group A – (10 Laps)
1. 40-Caleb Helms[2] ; 2. 5T-Travis Philo[3] ; 3. 53-Cap Henry[4] ; 4. 60-Jody Keegan[1] ; 5. 89-Cody Darrah[6] ; 6. 22-Cole Duncan[5] ; 7. 70-Roger Crockett[7] ; 8. 94-Ryan Smith[10] ; 9. 45L-Brian Lay[8] ; 10. 40DD-Nate Dussel[9] ; 11. 71H-Brad Lamberson[11] ; 12. 8-Kevin Shelbo[12]

Heat 2, Group B – (10 Laps)
1. 35AU-Jamie Veal[2] ; 2. 9x-Rob Chaney[4] ; 3. 33M-Caleb Griffith[5] ; 4. 17-Josh Baughman[9] ; 5. 6M-Max Stambaugh[1] ; 6. 5AU-Danny Reidy[7] ; 7. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[10] ; 8. 25M-Ken Mackey[11] ; 9. 15H-Mitch Harble[6] ; 10. 59N-Bryan Nuckles[8] ; 11. 96AU-Bruce White[12] ; 12. 21-DJ Foos[3]

Heat 3, Group C – (10 Laps)
1. 19-Chris Andrews[4] ; 2. 49-Kasey Kahne[1] ; 3. 16-Stuart Brubaker[3] ; 4. 81-Lee Jacobs[5] ; 5. 68G-Tyler Gunn[9] ; 6. 11N-Randy Hannagan[6] ; 7. 8M-TJ Michael[8] ; 8. 27Z-Sean Zemunik[12] ; 9. 16M-Danny Mumaw[10] ; 10. 78-Todd Kane[7] ; 11. O5-Brad Loyet[2] ; 12. 4-Danny Smith[11]

Heat 4, Group D – (10 Laps)
1. 1-Dale Blaney[2] ; 2. W20-Greg Wilson[1] ; 3. 1st-Gary Taylor[4] ; 4. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[3] ; 5. 59-Danny Holtgraver[5] ; 6. 17W-Bryan Clauson[9] ; 7. 10H-Chad Kemenah[7] ; 8. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[8] ; 9. 9-Jordan Ryan[10] ; 10. 16X-Ryan Ruhl[6]

Heat 5, Group E – (10 Laps)
1. 9P-Parker Price-Miller[1] ; 2. 5-Byron Reed[5] ; 3. 91-Cale Thomas[2] ; 4. 99-Brady Bacon[4] ; 5. 57X-Andrew Palker[6] ; 6. 9C-Jimmy Colvin[8] ; 7. 55F-Taylor Ferns[10] ; 8. 45-Tim Shaffer[9] ; 9. 38-Jared Horstman[11] ; 10. 3G-James McFadden[7] ; 11. 6H-Kenny Jacobs[3]

Dash 1 – (8 Laps)
1. 9P-Parker Price-Miller[1] ; 2. 1-Dale Blaney[3] ; 3. 49-Kasey Kahne[4] ; 4. 5-Byron Reed[5] ; 5. 40-Caleb Helms[2] ; 6. 35AU-Jamie Veal[8] ; 7. W20-Greg Wilson[7] ; 8. 53-Cap Henry[10] ; 9. 5T-Travis Philo[9] ; 10. 99-Brady Bacon[12] ; 11. 9x-Rob Chaney[11] ; 12. 19-Chris Andrews[6]

D-Main 1 – (8 Laps)
1. 27Z-Sean Zemunik[3] ; 2. 9-Jordan Ryan[4] ; 3. 55F-Taylor Ferns[5] ; 4. 25M-Ken Mackey[6] ; 5. 38-Jared Horstman[8] ; 6. 8-Kevin Shelbo[9] ; 7. 96AU-Bruce White[7] ; 8. 4-Danny Smith[2] ; 9. 16M-Danny Mumaw[1] ; 10. 97-Dean Jacobs[10]

C-Main 1 – (10 Laps)
1. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[4] ; 2. 17W-Bryan Clauson[7] ; 3. 9C-Jimmy Colvin[2] ; 4. 8M-TJ Michael[10] ; 5. 94-Ryan Smith[6] ; 6. 68G-Tyler Gunn[11] ; 7. 9-Jordan Ryan[14] ; 8. 27Z-Sean Zemunik[13] ; 9. 71H-Brad Lamberson[8] ; 10. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[5] ; 11. 78-Todd Kane[9] ; 12. 3G-James McFadden[1] ; 13. 10H-Chad Kemenah[3] ; 14. 45-Tim Shaffer[12]

B-Main 1 – (12 Laps)
1. 6H-Kenny Jacobs[4] ; 2. 21-DJ Foos[1] ; 3. 89-Cody Darrah[3] ; 4. 22-Cole Duncan[2] ; 5. 6M-Max Stambaugh[6] ; 6. 70-Roger Crockett[5] ; 7. 59-Danny Holtgraver[7] ; 8. 45L-Brian Lay[8] ; 9. 5AU-Danny Reidy[10] ; 10. 17W-Bryan Clauson[18] ; 11. 15H-Mitch Harble[9] ; 12. 11N-Randy Hannagan[15] ; 13. 40DD-Nate Dussel[14] ; 14. 16X-Ryan Ruhl[12] ; 15. O5-Brad Loyet[11] ; 16. 57X-Andrew Palker[16] ; 17. 59N-Bryan Nuckles[13] ; 18. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[17]

A-Main 1 – (40 Laps)
1. 1-Dale Blaney[2] ; 2. 5-Byron Reed[4] ; 3. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[20] ; 4. 9P-Parker Price-Miller[1] ; 5. 49-Kasey Kahne[3] ; 6. 53-Cap Henry[8] ; 7. 35AU-Jamie Veal[6] ; 8. 99-Brady Bacon[10] ; 9. W20-Greg Wilson[7] ; 10. 40-Caleb Helms[5] ; 11. 5T-Travis Philo[9] ; 12. 1st-Gary Taylor[15] ; 13. 89-Cody Darrah[23] ; 14. 6H-Kenny Jacobs[21] ; 15. 16-Stuart Brubaker[14] ; 16. 21-DJ Foos[22] ; 17. 10H-Chad Kemenah[25] ; 18. 94-Ryan Smith[26] ; 19. 17-Josh Baughman[18] ; 20. 91-Cale Thomas[16] ; 21. 60-Jody Keegan[17] ; 22. 22-Cole Duncan[24] ; 23. 33M-Caleb Griffith[13] ; 24. 81-Lee Jacobs[19] ; 25. 9x-Rob Chaney[11] ; 26. 19-Chris Andrews[12]

Current Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket Point Standings (Top-10 As of June 19th): 1. Dale Blaney – 150; 2. Byron Reed – 146; 3. Sheldon Haudenschild – 144; 4. Parker Price-Miller – 142; 5. Kasey Kahne – 140; 6. Cap Henry – 138; 7. Jamie Veal – 136; 8. Brady Bacon – 134; 9. Greg Wilson – 132; 10. Caleb Helms – 130

Those seeking additional information regarding the 33rd Annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket should visit the official online home of the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions at www.allstarsprint.com. Updates and breaking news regarding Speedweek and the All Stars will be posted regularly on the official Twitter account of the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions: https://twitter.com/ASCoC

Photo Credit: DB3 Imaging