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Series Attica report, results 2009-05-29

Blaney Blitzes Attica: Wins First World of Outlaws Race Since 2001 Attica, OH-- May 29, 2009--Dale Blaney used all of his countless laps at Attica Raceway Park to his advantage on Friday night, as he coupled that with an extremely fast race car ...

Blaney Blitzes Attica: Wins First World of Outlaws Race Since 2001

Attica, OH-- May 29, 2009--Dale Blaney used all of his countless laps at Attica Raceway Park to his advantage on Friday night, as he coupled that with an extremely fast race car and also a little bit of luck as he was in the right spot at the right time to claim the $10,000 win in the World of Outlaws annual visit to the high-banked Ohio bullring. He also received a $2,000 bonus from the track which was at stake for any local driver that visited Victory Lane.

Blaney started fifth and moved up a spot on the opening lap and battled Chad Kemenah in the early going, before tracking down Jason Meyers and then setting his sights on Donny Schatz, when the three-time and defending series champions got tangled up with a lapped car sending him into the wall and ending his night, handing the lead to Blaney. The veteran drive would go on to the lead the final nine laps to score his fourth career World of Outlaws A-Feature win and the first with the series for car owner George Fisher.

"It's very special to get one with him as the owner," said Blaney in Victory Lane. "The last one I got, he worked on the car. We have been so close. Last year at K-C (Raceway) we were second and Eldora (Speedway) we were third and Lernerville we were fourth. We've been knocking on the door when we see these guys and it makes it pretty cool when they come to a place that we see a lot and do well. That makes us feel really good."

The race began with Schatz leading from the pole, but prior to the first lap being completed the red flag flew leading to a complete restart. On the second start, Jason Meyers got the jump from the outside of the front row and held off several challenges by Schatz during the first few laps.

Schatz got around Meyers on the fifth lap, but the caution flew before the leaders were across the start/finish line and thus the lap did not count and Meyers retained the lead.

Meyers led on the ensuing restart and the pair quickly found themselves in lapped traffic, allowing Schatz to close back in. He used the low side of turn one to take the point on the 10th lap, while Meyers quickly battled back nearly retaking the lead.

From there, Schatz began to pull away with a lap-16 caution bunching the field back up. He used a strong restart to quickly pull away from Meyers, who had his hands full with Blaney who was running third. Blaney took second on the 21st lap and slowly began to chip away at Schatz's lead which had become larger in traffic.

Schatz was in command on the 31st go-around when he got tangled up with a lapped car, causing him to spin and get into the wall and then he was hit by Lee Jacobs who was running a career-best fourth at the time and had nowhere to go. Schatz wound up 22nd in the Armor All J&J and retains the series point lead over Kinser. This gave the lead to Blaney aboard the Ti-22 Performance Maxim.

"I wish that wouldn't have happened, but those things do happen," noted Blaney. "We were coming on at the end. We were catching him and he is awfully good when the track gets like this. My car was really good and I would have liked to have tested him a little bit."

A strong final restart propelled Blaney to a comfortable lead as he would set the pace for the final nine laps to pick up his second win of the season at Attica and the 12th of his career at the bullring.

"It was a really good night," he said. "I love this place. I won here earlier this year with the All Stars after starting 14th. I was kind of down after we started 10th in the dash, but I knew that if we could get a couple of rows we would be ok. It was a 40-lap race and I was pretty patient early and usually this car is really good the last 20 (laps).

Meyers started second and finished second aboard the GLR Investments KPC, as he moved to within 65 points of Donny Schatz in the championship standings. Meyers led the first nine laps of the race before doing all he could to fend off Blaney as the pair battled for the second position. He then had his hands full late in the event as Tim Shaffer pressured him for the runner-up spot.

"For as much as we have been struggling, second-place tonight was like a win," he shared. "We're here to win races and we never like to get beat. Dale Blaney is one of the best in the business and he did a great job tonight. We are getting where we need to be. We didn't have enough for Dale and honestly didn't have enough for Donny (Schatz) either. I don't really know what happened there. We're headed in the right direction and these guys are working so hard at this. We're going to get there. We are closer and closer and I am really looking forward to all of the racing coming up."

The caution flag flew a total of four times on the night, giving the drivers a lot of clean track to work with. While the one caution helped Meyers retain the lead, he would have rather seen no cautions and had more lapped traffic to contend with.

"We didn't really get to traffic enough," stated the California native. "Normally you get to traffic more here. We were good in open air and traffic. I just needed a little more traffic."

Tim Shaffer started ninth and finished a very solid third aboard the Kistler Engines J&J, despite sustaining significant nose wing damage on the opening lap and also contending with a left rear tire that was going down.

"We've been strong here," said Shaffer. "Brian (Kemenah) and the guys grew up at this place and I have some laps here over the years. It was just one of those situations, where Cole (Duncan) lost his brakes and got into us in the first corner. I had a lot of people waving me in and I just wanted to stay out and see if we could make anything happen. Sure enough we snuck up through there and it was a great run."

Shaffer dropped back to 11th on the opening lap and gained a couple of those spots back on the complete restart. His car came alive around the 10th lap and he steadily picked off cars as he continued to close in on the leader.

"It got pretty loose and I was pedaling it, trying to keep it straight until I got some heat in it to build the air pressure back up," he explained of his left rear tire. "I didn't need that red. I really think we could have got to second. We ran Jason (Meyers) pretty hard for second. Once that red came out the tire went back down and it took a few laps to get air back in it. For all that to finish third was an awesome night."

Randy Hannagan was fourth in the Central Valley Meat Company Maxim to earn his fifth Top-Five finish of the season with the World of Outlaws.

Sam Hafertepe Jr. earned the KSE Hard Charger Award coming all the way from the 23rd starting spot to finish fifth in the Fusion Energy J&J to earn his second Top-Five in the last three races.

Craig Dollansky was sixth in the DirecTV Maxim, with Greg Wilson seventh aboard the All Star Heating and Plumbing Maxim. Joey Saldana came from 22nd to finish eighth in the Budweiser Maxim, with Kraig Kinser ninth in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim and 20-time series champion Steve Kinser came from the back to finish ninth in the Quaker State Maxim after lining up 23rd.

The World of Outlaws return to action on Saturday, May 30 at I-96 Speedway in Michigan.

ATTICA RACEWAY PARK NOTES

* FAST QUALIFIER: Chad Kemenah paced the 42 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked 1/3-mile oval at 12.105 seconds at 99.033 mph. For his qualifying effort, Kemenah earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Lee Jacobs (4), Cole Duncan (3), Jason Meyers (2), and Greg Wilson (1).

* QUALIFYING WINNERS: Craig Dollansky, Randy Hannagan, Donny Schatz and Kraig Kinser won heat races. Donny Schatz won the Crane Cams Dash. Cole Duncan won the B-Main. Jason Sides won the C-Main.

* FEATURE WINNERS: There has been 22 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature event held in 2009. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Volusia Speedway Park, Silver Dollar Speedway, Thunderbowl Raceway, Lone Star Speedway, Houston Raceway Park, The Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway and Virginia Motor Speedway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park-twice, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Knoxville Raceway, Eldora Speedway and Canandaigua Speedway), Jason Meyers (Silver Dollar Speedway and Paducah International Raceway), Dale Blaney (Attica Raceway Park), Randy Hannagan (Thunderbowl Raceway), Greg Hodnett (Williams Grove Speedway), Tim Kaeding (Riverside International Speedway), Chad Kemenah (Manzanita Speedway), (Tri-State Speedway) and Danny Lasoski (Delaware International Speedway).

*1/3--MILE WINNERS: Attica Raceway Park is a high-banked 1/3-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced three times this season on a track that size. The winners include: Dale Blaney (Attica Raceway Park), Randy Hannagan (Thunderbowl Raceway) and Joey Saldana (Thunderbowl Raceway).

***

World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Attica Raceway Park; Attica, OH; May 29, 2009

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
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
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]
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] [$0]
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]

Note: Jason Sides and Danny Lasoski used World of Outlaws provisionals to start the A-Feature.

Lap Leaders: Jason Meyers 1-9, Donny Schatz 10-30, Dale Blaney 31-40

SuperClean Start of the Night Award: Dale Blaney
Penske Power Position Award: Tim Shaffer
KSE Hard Charger Award: Sam Hafertepe Jr.

-credit:L WoO

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