ATTICA, OH (4-15-06) -- Greg Wilson made a bold prediction from victory lane after winning the All Star Circuit of Champions Haulmark Dash Saturday on the second night of the 15th Annual Coors Light Spring Nationals at Attica Raceway Park: "I'll be back up here in a little while."
Wilson made good on that promise in front of the packed grandstands to claim the 40 lap feature win, his first for new car owner Verl Warnimont. The win moved the Benton Ridge, Ohio driver into the All Star point lead.
"We always run good at Attica. To accomplish this first win for Verl in front of this huge crowd is just awesome," said Wilson beside his All Star Plumbing and Heating sponsored #w20. "I found a good line, high around one and two and low around three and four and my crew just gave me an easy car to drive. It was just a matter of saving the tires and not slipping off the edge."
Wilson dedicated the victory to fellow All Star competitor Danny Smith, whose wife succumbed to cancer earlier in the day. "This is such a sad day for our racing family. Danny is a great guy and our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family," said Wilson. Information on where you can send cards, flowers, or donations will be posted later this week on the All Star web site.
35 drivers signed into the pits on the second night of racing at Attica and saw a much different racing surface. The Attica 305 sprints were also on hand to provide the support action for the evening. The heavy cushion gave way to a smooth, slick, racy surface that had three grooves of racing.
Stevie Smith jumped into the early lead from his pole starting position in the feature and built a commanding lead over Brock Mayes and Wilson who battled back and forth. Catastrophe struck Smith on lap 18, as he made contact with the lapped machine of Todd Heller in turn two and spun, sending him to the tail. At the 2005 Spring Nationals, Smith encountered the exact same situation late in the race, when contact with a lapped car gave the win to Danny Smith.
On the restart, Wilson had two lapped cars between he and second place Mayes, with fast qualifier Kevin Huntley in third, followed by Byron Reed, Butch Schroeder, Mark Keegan, Mike Linder and Craig Mintz.
While Wilson cruised to a commanding lead positions third through eighth changed every lap. At the half way mark, Wilson led over Mayes, Huntley, Schroeder, Keegan and Reed. On lap 28, Huntley and Mayes waged the battle for second. The second and last caution of the feature would fly on lap 31 for a spinning Reed. On the restart Wilson would have a three lap car advantage over Mayes, Huntley, Keegan, Mintz, Linder, and now a fast closing Dale Blaney who had started 14th.
With five laps to go, all eyes were on Smith, who had steadily worked his way from the tail after his spin to seventh. With three laps to go, Wilson was cruising, and Blaney had moved into second, with Mayes third, Linder fourth and now Smith into fifth. Smith used the very bottom of the track in turns three and four to move around Linder the next lap by and went to the high side around Mayes in turns one and two to take third.
Wilson held a five car length advantage at the checkered, with Blaney, Smith, Linder, Mayes, Mintz, Huntley, Keegan, Schroeder, and Bryan Scott rounding out the top 10.
"We had a good weekend for the first time out this year...a second and a fifth," said Blaney beside his George Fisher #2. "It was just a matter of being patient and staying in your groove."
Smith was upset with himself after tangling with the lapped machine. "I was too worried about where Greg was running and not concentrating on where I needed to be. After I spun, I just had to calm down...I knew I had a good car. I just went back to the line I should have been running and started picking them off. My hat's off to Greg, he ran a good race."
One side note on the evening is that Neil Shepard, the 16 year old son of former All Star champion Terry Shepard made his 410 sprint car racing debut this weekend in the family owned #4n car. Neil spent the last three years running mini-sprints, and in only his second night out he managed to qualify 13th and transfer out of his heat to the A-Main. He also finished 4th in the Haulmark Dash.
The season points have been shaken up this weekend with the addition of several new All Star members and the loss of a few who are already full time members of the WoO or the NST. They had scheduled races on Saturday with their respective series and were not in attendance. Visit www.allstarsprint.com for all the latest news and for the updated series points. The information will be available online soon. Also, look for the new All Star "Cyber Merchandise Trailer" to open soon so you can order your All Star apparel online.
Next stop for the All Stars is April 21st at Lawrenceburg Speedway for another co-sanctioned World of Outlaws show and then April 22nd back at the famed Eldora Speedway.
Qualifying - Huggins Cams
- 70-Kevin Huntley, 12.905; 2. 5R-Bryon Reed, 13.005; 3. K-Andrew Palker, 13.050; 4. 3L-Mike Linder, 13.282; 5. 7K-Butch Schroeder, 13.339; 6. X-Mark Keegan, 13.404; 7. 8S-Craig Mintz, 13.419; 8. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.522; 9. 8C-Bobby Clark, 13.635; 10. 11B-Brock Mayes, 13.656; 11. 4N-Neil Shepard, 13.753; 12. 19-Stevie Smith, 13.826; 13. 84-Jimmy Stinson, 13.849; 14. 37Z-Brian Scott, 13.986; 15. 16-Lee Jacobs, 13.999; 16. 2-Dale Blaney, 14.051; 17. 10-David Harrison, 14.056; 18. 78-Todd Kane, 14.085; 19. F1-Jon Finsel, 14.095; 20. 25M-Ken Mackey, 14.119; 21. 55-John Ivy, 14.142; 22. 14H-Todd Heller, 14.274; 23. 2X-Ryan Coniam, 14.287; 24. 5B-Chad Blonde, 14.430; 25. 71M-Paul May, 14.486; 26. 11M-Brandon Martin, 14.516; 27. 12M-James Mosher, 14.813; 28. 11N-Ed Neumeister, 14.840; 29. 10S-Roger Shammo, 14.971; 30. 55C-Joe Cheeseman, 15.345; 31. 2G-Caleb Griffith, 15.390; 32. 63-Barry Ruble, 15.595; 33. 98-Bruce Robenalt, 15.622; 34. 23-Jon Trudeau, 15.664; 35. 48B-Bill Shaw, NT
Heat 1 - Outerwears Pre-filters (top 5 to A)
- 10-David Harrison; 2. 71M-Paul May; 3. 7K-Butch Schroeder; 4. 55-John Ivy; 5. 84-Jimmy Stinson; 6. 70-Kevin Huntley; 7. 98-Bruce Robenalt; 8. 10S-Roger Shammo; 9. 8C-Bobby Clark
Heat 2 - B&B; Oval Track Products (top 5 to A)
- 78-Todd Kane; 2. 37Z-Brian Scott; 3. 14H-Todd Heller; 4. 11B-Brock Mayes; 5. 5R-Bryon Reed; 6. X-Mark Keegan; 7. 23-Jon Trudeau; 8. 11M-Brandon Martin; 9. 55C-Joe Cheeseman
Heat 3 - Engler Machine & Tool (top 5 to A)
- 2X-Ryan Coniam; 2. 16-Lee Jacobs; 3. 4N-Niel Shepard; 4. 2G-Caleb Griffith; 5. 12M-James Mosher; 6. 8S-Craig Mintz; 7. F1-Jon Finsel; 8.48B-Bill Shaw; 9. K-Andrew Palker
Heat 4 - TP Wings (top 5 to A)
- 5B-Chad Blonde; 2. 19-Stevie Smith; 3. 2-Dale Blaney; 4. W20-Greg Wilson; 5. 25M-Ken Mackey; 6. 3L-Mike Linder; 7. 63-Barry Ruble; 8. 11N-Ed Neumeister
Haulmark Dash
- W20-Greg Wilson; 2. 7K-Butch Schroeder; 3. 11B-Brock Mayes; 4. 4N-Niel Shepard; 5. 5R-Byron Reed; 6. 2-Dale Blaney
B-main - University of Northwest Ohio (top 4 to A)
- 70-Kevin Huntley; 2. 3L-Mike Linder; 3. X-Mark Keegan; 4. 8S-Craig Mintz; 5. K-Andrew Palker; 6. 8C-Bobby Clark; 7. 98-Bruce Robenalt; 8. 10S-Roger Shammo; 9. 11M-Brandon Martin; 10. F1-Jon Finsel; 11. 11N-Ed Neumeister; 12. 55C-Joe Cheeseman; 13. 63-Barry Ruble; 14. 23-Jon Trudeau
A-main (40 laps) - MSD Ignition Starting Position []
- W20-Greg Wilson[4]; 2. 2-Dale Blaney[14]; 3. 19-Stevie Smith[1]; 4. 3L-Mike Linder[8]; 5. 11B-Brock Mayes[3]; 6. 8S-Craig Mintz[10]; 7. 70-Kevin Huntley[7]; 8. X-Mark Keegan[9]; 9. 7K-Butch Schroeder[5]; 10. 37Z-Brian Scott[12]; 11. 55-John Ivy[18]; 12. 78-Todd Kane[16]; 13. 71M-Paul May[22]; 14. 5B-Chad Blonde[21]; 15. 14H-Todd Heller[19]; 16. 5R-Bryon Reed[6]; 17.4N-Niel Shepard[2]; 18. 2X-Ryan Coniam[20]; 19. 10-David Harrison[15]; 20. 12M-James Mosher[23]; 21. 16-Lee Jacobs[13]; 22. 25M-Ken Mackey[17]; 23. 84-Jimmy Stinson[11]; 24. 2G-Caleb Griffith[24]
- Ross Paulson on Mar 26, 2020
- Article Date: 4/15/2006