6/28/2014
All Star Circuit of Champions
Dale Blaney Wins Fremont Feature
Coming into the 32nd Annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek Dale Blaney had only one University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions win, that coming in April. Now he wishes every week could be speedweek.
“The Low Rider” took the lead from James McFadden on lap 42 and drove to his fourth win of speedweek and a $10,000 payday at Fremont Speedway on Ludwig Propane Night. Blaney NEVER finished out of the top two in the six speedweek events (3 nights were lost to rain). He now has 104 career All Star victories. It was his third win of the season at Fremont and he now has 22 career victories at “The Track That Action Built,” 16 of which are All Star wins.
For Blaney, the week was worth around $30,000 in earnings. He and car owner Tony Kennedy agreed to donate $1,500 to the Kick-It Foundation to help combat childhood cancer. Fremont Speedway has a goal to raise at least $50,000 by September for the foundation.
For Blaney, he becomes the first five time Ohio Sprint Speedweek champion (also in 1995, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2014) and took a huge step in becoming the first five time UNOH All Star national champion.
“We should have speedweek every week. I love coming to all these Ohio tracks…they’ve been really great to me and the fans have really been great to me and I appreciate it more than you know. My guys are awesome. George (Fisher, crew chief) is unbelievable right now. We’re working so good together and Tony has put together a great team and I’m the lucky guy who gets to drive this thing,” said Blaney of his Kennedy Cattle/Ti22 Performance/GF1 Chassis/Penske Shocks backed #14K.
“Every time I would get a run on him (McFadden) the caution would come out. I thought for sure he’d move up a little bit but it worked out. What we earned this week will pay for a year in college for my daughter I guess,” joked Blaney. “I’m very, very happy. Those guys (the crew) have earned it. Tony’s risked a lot and we’re doing pretty well right now. I hope we can keep it rolling. We have a lot of big races coming up…the Doty, the Royal. We’re looking forward to the next race but we have a big opportunity to do some good here.”
“Nobody’s won five Ohio Sprint Speedweek titles…that’s another notch to be up there with the likes of Frankie Kerr. I’m proud of the All Stars and teams and Rich Farmer has done a fantastic job with Fremont,” added Blaney.
For Australian driver James McFadden, who up until a month ago had never laid eyes on Fremont Speedway, his second place finish was a bit of a disappointment after having lead the first 41 laps. However, in three appearances at Fremont he has a fourth, a $10,000 win and a second place finish at “The Track That Action Built.”
“Dale Blaney is pretty much the master around this joint. This is the second time he’s gotten around us with 10 to go. I’m disappointed in myself. I screwed up and hit the tires there and that was the race right there. I feel bad for the boys…they give me a great car and I just stepped on it,” said McFadden beside his Tim Norman/Joe Gaerte owned machine. “We’ve got great car speed…I just can’t finish it off.”
“I’ll go back to the drawing board to see what I can do different to beat that 14 car. It’s awesome to race with him…he’s probably my favorite driver and he also clean to race with. It’s cool to see another Australian up here (Jamie Veal finished third). It proves how good our racing is back home and hopefully some of these fans can come over and visit us,” added McFadden beside his Gaerte Engines/XYZ Machining/Red Line Oil/Hoosier Tires/All Star Performance backed machine.
Veal had a coming out party for the Ohio crowd during speedweek, adding another podium finish.
“I feel good to finish third especially against James and Dale Blaney, two of the best sprint car drivers in the world to race against. It was a pretty good week and I hope to keep it rolling over the next few weeks with the big races coming up,” said Veal beside his SWI Engineering #35AU.
McFadden and Danny Holtgraver brought the field of 24 to green for the 50-lap feature. The race would stay green through the first 35 laps.
McFadden took the lead over Holtgraver, Rob Chaney, Caleb Griffith, Brian Lay and Veal. Griffith would drive into third on lap two and around Holtgraver for second a lap later. With five laps in McFadden had a comfortable lead over Griffith, Holtgraver, Veal, Chaney, Lay, Chad Kemenah and 9th starter Blaney.
As the leaders prepared to encounter heavy lapped traffic that was racing side by side by lap 15, Griffith closed on McFadden with Veal, Holtgraver, Chaney and Blaney in tow. McFadden picked his way through the lapped cars with Griffith and Veal locked in a great battle for second. Veal would take the runner-up spot on lap 19 but Griffith stayed close as the two battled back and forth over the next 8 laps.
At the half-way point McFadden was unchallenged for the lead while Veal and Griffith continued to battle for second while Chaney was fighting with Blaney for fourth. Blaney, utilizing the bottom groove, would move into fourth on lap 26 and closed on Griffith two laps later, taking third on lap 29.
With 15 laps to go McFadden, Veal and Blaney were locked in a tremendous race for the lead as they sliced through traffic. Max Stambaugh would stop on the back stretch on lap 36 to bring out the first caution. The restart order was McFadden, Veal, Blaney, Griffith and Chaney. When the green flew McFadden got an excellent restart with Blaney driving under Veal for second. But, Lee Jacobs would spin to necessitate another restart. After another lap was completed Brian Smith would spin. A lap and another caution when Byron Reed stopped on the track.
So, with 10 laps to go, the restart order was McFadden, Blaney, Chaney (who had moved into third on the previous restart), Veal, Griffith, Holtgraver and D.J. Foos who had worked his way up from the 17th starting spot. Again McFadden would get a tremendous restart over Blaney. But, on lap 42 McFadden would make a small bobble in turns three and four and Blaney pounced, shooting to his outside to drive into the lead.
Blaney could not shake McFadden as Veal and Chaney battled for third with Holtgraver, Griffith and Foos in tow. With three laps to go McFadden closed on Blaney but the Low Rider was able to fend off the challenge to take the win. Behind Blaney, McFadden and Veal at the finish were Chaney, Griffith, Foos, Holtgraver, Kemenah, Lay and Derek Hagar.
Submitted By: Ross Paulson