ALLSTAR: Sharon Nationals Results

</pre> All Star Sprint Race Results - Sharon Speedway - Sun. 9/3/00 By Scott Hall

HARTFORD, OH - Phil Gressman chose the right Goodyear tire, and Kenny Jacobs chose the wrong one and that was the difference in the All Star sprint 41-lap race Sunday night at Sharon Speedway. Gressman’s win in the 20th annual Sharon Nationals was worth $10,000 plus $480 in lap money. "Paul Kistler helped us here with the Chevrolet engine tonight," Gressman recalled following his third series win of the year. "And Dwight Reidling (car owner) did a great job of preparing the car." "Phil told me what tire he put on and I thought he was dead wrong, and he thought I was dead wrong on mine," Jacobs recalled after his runner-up finish. "But he was right." Jacobs was on the ButlerBuilt Hot Seat pole position with Byron Reed alongside and Rob Chaney and Brian Ellenberger were in row two, followed by Dave Ely and Jeff Shepard. Jacobs grabbed the initial lead over Reed, but action stopped on lap two for a red when fourth place Rob Chaney spun in turn three and was hit by Scott Bonnell, who flipped. Bonnell complained of a leg injury. This made the restart order Jacobs, Reed, Ellenberger, Gressman and Chad Kemenah. Jacobs again took command over Ellenberger, who got by Reed for second. As the leaders entered lapped traffic, Gressman was now second after passing Ellenberger on lap seven. Gressman closed on Jacobs in heavy traffic and at lap 15 the lead duo were nose-to-tail. Jacobs hit the cushion too hard and hesitated a bit, but Gressman could not get by. Gressman went low in turn four to lead lap 17 by a wheel at the flagstand. So at the halfway point the order was Gressman, Jacobs, Ellenberger, Reed, Shepard, Todd Shaffer and Kelly Kinser, up from ninth starting spot. There was now a four car battle for third among Ellenberger, Shaffer, Shepard and Kinser as Reed began to fade. Gressman built a half straight advantage and Kinser used his patented inside groove to move into third. Ellenberger stopped on the track with mechanical problems on lap 33, bringing out another yellow. When the green reappeared, Jacobs dove low hard into turn one and put a nose in front of Gressman, but Gressman powered back by on the back stretch. Gressman dove low in one the next lap to block another Jacobs move and kept the lead. Gressman built another quarter straight lead but action stopped again on lap 39 when Mike Wagner flipped. This gave Jacobs another shot at Gressman. But Gressman got a good restart for the green-white-checkered sequence, and pulled away to win by three car lengths over Jacobs and Kelly Kinser. Chad Kemenah was fourth with Jeff Shepard fifth and Rocky Hodges sixth. Sean Michael finished seventh, earning the Team Simpson Racing Lucky Seven award while Ed Lynch Jr. finished eighth, earning the $100 TW Metals nightly bonus. The heats went to Lance Dewease, Paul McMahan, Todd Shaffer, Greg Wilson and Jerrod Hull. Brian Ellenberger won the Georgia Marketing & Promotions B Main and Shaffer also captured the Commercial Truck & Trailer Dash. Jim Nier turned the eighth fastest time trial lap but was light at the scales, putting him on the tail of every event all night long. James Chesson was disqualified from a fourth place heat finish due to running non-approved mufflers, dropping him from a feature transfer position.

<pre> Time Trials: 1. Jeff Shepard, Double L 4J, 15.712; 2. Dave Ely, Weikert 29, 15.744; 3. Brian Ellenberger, Ellenberger 20, 15.768; 4. Rob Chaney, Courtad 9x, 15.781; 5. Byron Reed, B&S 5, 15.803; 6. James Chesson, Chesson 22, 15.903; 7. Kenny Jacobs, Jacobs/Honecker 6, 15.910; 8. Phil Gressman, Reidling 9, 15.923; 9. Chad Kemenah, Harble 15k, 16.002; 10. Kelly Kinser, Kinser 4K, 16.008; 11. Mike Wagner, Wagner 55, 16.015; 12. Ed Lynch, Jr., Lynch 2L, 16.057; 13. Todd Shaffer, Beam 88, 16.121; 14. Rocky Hodges, Holbrook 18, 16.132; 15. Danny Smith, Baker 4, 16.140; 16. Kevin Huntley, Ashworth 92, 16.146; 17. Sean Michael, Zemco 1z, 16.152; 18. Donnie Kreitz, Jr., Kreitz 69, 16.161; 19. Keith Kauffman, Middleswarth 7, 16.191; 20. Mike Lutz, Tanger 07, 16.218; 21. Andy McKisson, Clemson 47, 16.231; 22. Paul McMahan, Johnson U2, 16.242; 23.Scott Bonnell, Bonnell 3, 16.245; 24. Greg Wilson, Hampshire 63, 16.245; 25. Rodney Duncan, Harrison 22, 16.258; 26. Lance Dewease, Harz 88, 16.276; 27. Chad Hill, Hill 44, 16.308; 28. Kevin Schaeffer, Schaeffer 9, 16.312; 29. Travis Rilat, Archer 1a, 16.346; 30. Jerrod Hull, Webb 51, 16.382; 31. Tom Burns, Brest 16, 16.388; 32. Todd Gracey, Cooper 25, 16.422; 33. John Ivy, Carousel 20, 16.425; 34. David Scott, Chase 3d, 16.576; 35. Todd Bauer, Bauer 45, 16.605; 36. Terry Young, Sloss 00, 16.645; 37. Barry Ruble, Ruble 63, 16.665; 38. Brad Ellenberger, Ellenberger 87, 16.714; 39. Jamie McKinney, McKinney 95, 16.721; 40. Mike Kekich, Kekich 5k, 16.939; 41. C. W. Harshman, Harshman 53, 17.073; 42. Daryl Stimeling, Stimeling 30, 17.146; 43. Dave Penezich, Penezich 34, 17.283; 44. Shon Barris, Whitacre 101, 18.018; 45. Gary Rankin, Rankin 16, 18.561; 46. Jim Nier, Nier 00, DQ 47. Rex Roberts, Roberts 90, NT; 48. PJ Chesson, Chesson 76, NT. Heat (8 laps): 1. Dewease 2. Wagner 3. Shepard 4. Huntley 5. Burns 6. Young 7. McKisson 8. Harshman. DQ- J. Chesson Heat (8 laps): 1. McMahan 2. Lynch 3. Michael 4. Ely 5. Jacobs 6. Hill 7. Gracey 8. Nier 9. Stimeling 10. Ruble. Heat (8 laps): 1. Shaffer 2. Gressman 3. Schaeffer 4. Kreitz 5. Bonnell 6. Ivy 7. Brian Ellenberger 8. Penezich. DNS- Brad Ellenberger. Heat (8 laps): 1. Wilson 2. Hodges 3. Kauffman 4. Kemenah 5. Rilat 6. Chaney 7. Scott 8. McKinney 9. Barris. Heat (8 laps): 1. Hull 2. Kinser 3. Lutz 4. Smith 5. Duncan 6. Reed 7. Kekich 8. Bauer 9. Rankin 10. PJ Chesson - DNS. Commercial Truck & Trailer Dash (4 laps): 1. Shaffer 2. Smith 3. Gressman 4. Kinser 5. Lynch 6. Kemenah. Georgia Marketing & Promotions B Main (12 laps): 1. Brian Ellenberger 2. Jacobs 3. Chaney 4. Reed 5. Bonnell 6. Rilat 7. Duncan 8. Huntley 9. Ivy 10. Gracey 11. Kekich 12. McKinney 13. Stimeling 14. McKisson 15. Ruble 16. Rankin 17. Bauer 18. Penezich 19. Young 20. Hill 21. Harshman 22. Barris. A Main (41 laps): 1. Phil Gressman 2. Kenny Jacobs 3. Kelly Kinser 4. Chad Kemenah 5. Jeff Shepard 6. Rocky Hodges 7. Sean Michael 8. Ed Lynch Jr. 9. Danny Smith 10. Paul McMahan 11. Byron Reed 12. Rodney Duncan 13. Jerrod Hull 14. Lance Dewease 15. Greg Wilson 16. Dave Ely 17. Keith Kauffman 18. Terry Young 19. Todd Shaffer 20. Mike Wagner 21. Brian Ellenberger 22. Mike Lutz 23. Kevin Schaeffer 24. Don Kreitz Jr. 25. Rob Chaney 26. Scott Bonnell. -www.allstarsprint.com- </pre> All Star Sprint Lernerville/Sharon Pit Notes By Scott Hall 9/3/00

HARTFORD, OH - Phil Gressman has come into his own as a 410 sprint car driver. Teamed this season with veteran mechanic Dwight Reidling, Gressman was dominant Sunday, winning the Sharon Nationals. Gressman became the 15th different Sharon Nationals champion in 20 runnings. *** After Sharon promoter Ed Skillman opened up his track Friday night and soaked it with water, Saturday afternoon rains made turn one soft and rutty. There was an eight inch lip on several of the ruts, which made it a rough ride, and caused Rob Chaney’s flat tire and loss of a possible feature win. The track was much wetter Sunday, and it was much smoother in turn one. Ed Lynch Jr. lost a front tire on the least lap of the feature Saturday, cutting his brake line and sending him backwards into the wall, robbing him of a top 10 finish. Brad Ellenberger scratched from Saturday’s action when his crew was changing the fuel pill and drained the fuel line right on his driver’s seat. Ellenberger sat in the wet seat and received chemical burns on his skin, so Ellenberger called it a night. James Chesson raced with a Chevrolet engine Saturday night, while his brother P.J. used Mopar power. Ace mechanic Scott Benic was assisting the Chesson crew at Sharon. James had the wrong mufflers on Sunday at Sharon and was disqualified from his heat race finish. He was offered a chance to put on the correct mufflers and start tail of the B Main, but he declined. PJ suffered magneto problems Sunday, and did not take a time trial lap or enter any race. Saturday’s Sharon live audio internet broadcast over RSBN.net drew 388,620 listeners. Jimmy Hawley, after a hard flip Friday night, was in the hospital Saturday for a CAT scan due to dizziness and a loss of equilibrium. He was diagnosed with a concussion and released Sunday and feeling sore, but much better. Frankie Kerr was on hand over the weekend, helping Byron Reed in the pits. Kerr indicated he’ll be moving to the Charlotte NC area soon to pursue a career as a mechanic for a Busch Grand Nationals team. Andy McKisson replaced the injured Jarod Larson in the Bill Clemson No. 47 at Sharon. Larson was on hand, wearing a back brace, offering pitside assistance. Jack Lewis, father of the late sprint car driver Spanky Lewis, handed out several cash awards Friday. He paid Brian Ellenberger $500 for leading lap 18, his son’s car number, and paid Kemenah $200 for winning since Chad was one of Spanky’s racing buddies. He also added $100 each to the dash and B main winner’s shares. Travis Rilat made the tow up from Texas to run with the All Stars this weekend. He hopes to make enough money to stay up here in the Midwest and run with the All Stars for several more weeks. Unfortunately Rilat broke a shock Friday in the beginning of the feature, and didn’t have time to change and get back out for the rest of the race. Ed Lynch Jr. almost dropped out of Friday’s Lernerville main when his throttle petal bent. He started to pull into the infield, but when no one passed him, he pulled back on the track and kept going, soldering on to a fifth place finish. Also, Phil Gressman was running third on Friday when his fuel pump broke, ending his night. Brian Gobrecht was presented a banner by the management of Lernerville Speedway in memory of his brother Kevin. Gobrecht stated he had just built a new house, and on of the rooms is a trophy room dedicated to Kevin, featuring all the memorabilia the family has received over the past year. When Chad Kemenah won Friday’s Lernerville main, he stated from the elevated victory lane, "This podium is kind of nice, it reminds me of Eldora’s. I’d like to stand on that one someday, too." The All Stars have added a show to their schedule, Sunday afternoon Sept. 17 at Cannonball Motor Speedway in St. Clairsville, OH. The make-up date at K-C Raceway scheduled for Sept. 30 has been cancelled. Next Saturday’s Fremont `"Frankie Kerr Night" race will feature an increased purse, plus over $9,000 in product awards to the 24 cars in the A Main and top 11 finishers in the B Main. There will also be a TW Metals dash for the four slowest qualifiers, paying $100, $75, $60, $50.