ALLSTAR: 81 Speedway (KS) Results 98-08-21

All Star Sprint Race Results - 81 Speedway (KS) - Fri. 8/21/98

By David Smith, Jr.

WICHITA, KS (August 21) - Texan Gary Wright took advantage of a spin by early leader Joey Saldana and won his second O'Reilly Auto Parts National Championship Racing Association vs All-Star Circuit of Champions feature Friday night at 81 Speedway. Wright drove his own Salina-Chevrolet powered machine.

Butler Built Hotseat pole winner Brad Furr started on the front row of the thirty lap feature but it was Joey Saldana's Steve Mox machine taking the lead from the outside front row. The lead was nullified when the night’s first caution waved after Wayne Johnson and his Chris Archer/CompUSA sprinter slid off turn three sending him to the tail end of the field for the restart.

On the restart Saldana again jumped out into the lead with third starting Wright, Furr and last night’s winner Jeff Shepard close behind. Saldana reached lapped traffic on lap six and was working the lapped cars to perfection when, on lap nine, the complexion of the race changed. While trying to get underneath the lapped car of John Bankston in turns three and four, Saldana spun his Gaerte powered Stealth bringing out the final yellow. During this time Shepard, who was running third, headed for the pits to change a tire due to a broken bleeder valve. Shepard restarted at the tail end of the feature but was never a factor on the dry-slick one groove 3/8 mile oval.

On the restart it was all Wright the rest of the way, handling lapped traffic again on lap fourteen with ease to pick up his eleventh NCRA win and third All Star win of the season by eight car lengths. Furr wound up with his best ever All Star finish coming home second with Danny Smith in the Beaver Tool car third, Keith Kauffman and the United Expressline Doemelt/Gaerte fourth, while Kenny Jacobs and the Hughes Wheel & Axle sprinter rounded out the top five.

Danny Smith set quick time of the thirty sprinters on hand while Mike Peters, Frankie Kerr’s Shoff Motorsports Eagle and Dean Jacobs were heat race winners. The Commercial Truck and Trailer dash was won by Shepard with the United Expressline B feature going to Saldana. Time Trials: 1. Danny Smith, 14.043; 2. Jeff Shepard, 14.206; 3. Kenny Jacobs, 14.244; 4. Gary Wright, 14.281; 5. Joey Saldana, 14.343; 6. Brad Furr, 14. 455; 7. Jason Dukes, 14.495; 8. Rocky Hodges, 14.558; 9. Keith Kauffman, 14.566; 10. Terry Reilley, 14.575; 11. Frankie Kerr, 14.587; 12. Jason Statler, 14.632; 13. Mike Peters, 14.635; 14. Brian Paulus, 14.651; 15. Dean Jacobs, 14.704; 16. John Bankston, 14.858; 17. Larry Neighbors, 14.931; 18. Bill Robison, 14.949; 19. Brooke Tatnell, 14.963; 20. Scott Whitworth, 15.002; 21. Dan Oswalt, 15.172; 22. Jason Johnson, 15.182; 23. Shane Carson, 15.305; 24. Brian Smith, 15.335; 25. Chad Meinboldt, 15.459; 26. Earnest Jennings, 15.494; 27. Scott Jones, 15.772; 28. CJ Johnson, 16.049; 29. Joe Hauck, 16.225; 30. Wayne Johnson, 19.766.

UNITED EXPRESSLINE HEAT 1 (10 laps) - Mike Peters, Gary Wright, Brooke Tatnell, Danny Smith, Jason Johnson, Jason Dukes, Terry Reilly, John Bankston, Chad Meinholdt, C.J. Johnson.

SOUTHWEST EXPRESSLINE HEAT 2 (10 laps) - Frankie Kerr, Jeff Shepard, Larry Neighbors, Brian Paulus, Shane Carson, Scott Whitworth, Rocky Hodges, Joey Saldana, Ernest Jennings, Joe Hauck.

UNITED SPECIALTIES HEAT 3 (10 laps) - Dean Jacobs, Keith Kauffman, Wayne Johnson, Bill Robertson, Brad Furr, Jason Statler, Kenny Jacobs, Scott Jones, Dan Oswalt, Brian Smith.

UNITED EXPRESSLINE B FEATURE (12 laps) - 1, Joey Saldana. 2, Kenny Jacobs. 3, Rocky Hodges. 4, Chad Meinholdt. 5, Terry Reilly. 6, John Bankston. 7, Scott Jones. 8, Joe Hauck. 9, C.J. Johnson. 10, Earnest Jennings. 11, Brian Smith. 12, Dan Oswalt.

COMMERCIAL TRUCK & TRAILER DASH (4 laps): 1. Shepard 2. D. Smith 3. Kerr 4. Kauffman 5. Paulus 6. D. Jacobs.

A FEATURE (30 laps) - 1, Gary Wright. 2, Brad Furr. 3, Danny Smith. 4, Keith Kauffman. 5, Kenny Jacobs. 6, Rocky Hodges. 7, Frankie Kerr. 8, Brooke Tatnell. 9, Jason Statles. 10, Mike Peters. 11, Dean Jacobs. 12, Jason Johnson. 13, Larry Neighbors. 14, Scott Whitworth. 15, Joey Saldana. 16, Shane Carson. 17, Wayne Johnson. 18, Terry Reilly. 19, John Bankston. 20, Chad Meinholdt. 21, Jason Dukes. 22, Jeff Shepard. 23, Bill Robertson. 24, Scott Jones.