TSR Drivers Make Surprise Trip To Eldora
The O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions live by the motto “You never know who is going to win an All Star race.” Saturday night at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, OH the field of cars could not have been more surprising and had fans buzzing about who might win this one. With the early cancellation of the World of Outlaws event at Husets Speedway and then the rain out of Knoxville Speedway, several Outlaw teams high tailed it East to compete with the All Stars under sunny skies in Western Ohio.
Surprise entries included Donny Schatz, Joey Saldana, Tony Bruce Jr., Chad Kemenah, Chad Hillier, Darryn Pittman, Steve and Kraig Kinser, and NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne. With the All Stars turning in a strong showing of their own, the car count reached 37 making for a full night of exciting racing action in front of a good Eldora crowd.
Randy Hannagan won the O’Reilly All Star Dash, picking up 6 points toward the season championship points. Paul May was second followed by Brian Ellenberger, Rob Chaney, Paul McMahan, and Lance Dewease.
Heat race action on the fast half mile high banked speedway were full of slide jobs and breath taking action as the cushion got closer to the concrete barrier with each lap. Joey Saldana and Chad Blonde ran above the cushion flirting with the fence and finding the traditional fast way around the speedway. Bill Rose got upside down on the backstretch in Heat #2 putting an end to his evening. Heat races were won by Saldana, Dean Jacobs, Paul May, and Paul McMahan.
With such a stellar field in the house, the B-main was stacked with talent as Steve Kinser started on the pole along side of Dale Blaney. Kinser shot out to the lead and went wire to wire in the 12 lap affair. Blaney would finish second followed by Chad Blonde and Chad Hillier who took the final transfer spot into the A-main.
The redraw for the Top 6 positions put Paul McMahan on the pole next to Darryn Pittman with Donny Schatz and Ed Lynch Jr. lined up on row two. The third row consisted of Joey Saldana and Kenny Jacobs seeking his 99th career All Star win.
Saldana took the lead from Pittman on lap 6 and dominated the field as Schatz and Pittman battled for second place in the non-stop 30 lap event. Saldana had the KKR #9 hooked up winning by nearly half a lap over the competition and lapping up to 5th place as he was on Kemenah’s bumper at the checkered flag. At the midway point of the event, Saldana reminded his boss Kasey Kahne why he hired him as he blew past Kahne putting him a lap down. Saldana masterfully negotiated traffic picking off cars one by one as he tried to lap the entire field.
Pittman and Schatz battled back and forth for second as Steve Kinser snuck into the mix taking over the fourth position as McMahan slipped back to round out the top five. The track was fast and smooth and made for plenty of great ”
Donny Schatz wound up running 3rd in the A Main while Kraig Kinser ran 6th in the B Main and was done for the night.
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