Dale Blaney Beats Mother Nature at Lernerville

[media-credit id=30 align=”alignright” width=”200″][/media-credit]There was a heaviness in the air. A foreboding if you will.  The clouds were gathering just beyond the track and the smell of rain became apparent on the wind. It was a hurry up qualifying session for the Commonwealth Clash at Lernerville Speedway. Hurry up next one we can get it in. Hurry up and go. But all the hurrying in the world wasn’t enough even with 12 second laps, at 6:25 EDT the winds and the rain came. Fans were advised to leave the grandstands and take cover. Crews rushed to trailer their cars. Qualifying would have to be started over. And the wait had begun.

It would take patience to wait it out. The delay was a long one, 3 hours to be exact. Qualifying was cut to 1 lap per car and many seemed to struggle in the beginning of the order. Quick time was set by Paul McMahan with a single lap of 12.686 seconds or 127.7 mph. Ed Lynch Jr, the winningest driver at Lernerville Speedway, was 2nd. Track record holder Joey Saldana was 3rd. The current points leader, Donny Schatz was 4th and Dale Blaney was 5th.

The heat races were a challenging feat of skill and determination from every driver involved. It was obvious that some were adept at setting up their cars for a heavy tacky track. While others were struggling to adapt quickly to the change in track conditions. The first heat on the narrow track was won by Jason Sides, with Paul McMahan right on his heels. The Points leader Donny Schatz came home third. Tim Shaffer, Lucas Wolfe, Cody Darrah would also transfer to the A Main from this race. Same Hafertepe Jr. Held a transfer spot until the very last lap when his car lost a muffler and he ran over it shredding a tire. Three would advance to the dash, Jason Sides, Paul McMahan and Donny Schatz.

The second heat was fast paced and foretelling of the rest of the evening. Craig Dollansky would jump out to the early lead and never look back. Dollansky would pull away to a significan’t lead over Kerry Madsen and Ed Lynch and literally run away. Also transferring were Dale Blaney, Sheldon Haudenschild and Kraig Kinser.

The third heat race would pit experience against desire. Sammy Swindell would pull out to the lead over Danny Holtgraver and he would stay there. Holtgraver tried the top. Holtgraver tried the bottom. He could pull right up on Swindell’s bumper a couple of times he got wheel to wheel but he could not find a way around the the experience of the 4 time champion Swindell. Joey Saldana would come home 3rd. Stevie Smith 4th, Jac Haudenschild 5th, Steve Kinser 6th.

The dash inversion was a 6 and put Craig Dollansky on the pole. A position he would never relinquish. The dash however would give Dollansky an idea of who his stiffest competition was going to be, Dale Blaney hung right with him, Blaney tried to set Dollansky up for the slide but the track was simply too narrow to pull off the move. Dollansky and Blaney were chased to the line by Joey Saldana, Paul McMahan and Donny Schatz. Somewhere in the back of his mind Dollansky was taking down names and numbers, because he knew these were the guys that were looking to take away his dominance on the night.

The Last Chance Showdown saw David Gravel take the crossed checker flags followed by Sam Hafertepe Jr, Branden Spithaler, Chris Bell, Shane Stewart and Bill Rose. With the A Main line up set, the real fun was about to begin.

The A Main started off with a bang. On the green flag Kerry Madsen spun collecting Danny Holtgraver and both cars got over on their sides. Both drivers were OK but Holtgraver’s day was over. Madsen would make repairs and return to the fray. When the green flag finally flew, Dollansky set sail. He was smooth and he was fast yet there was a desperation in his run. He was running for the points, for the win, to keep  his championship dream alive and he was running from the school of sharks that was forming behind him. The first shark to show his wing was Paul McMahan. McMahan powered to the rear bumper and challenged Dollansky’s Big Tree Stand machine. Dollansky held off the charge lap after lap until with 5 laps to go McMahan suddenly slowed and pulled the car off to the pits. That moved Dale Blaney to second. Blaney made his run. But again Dollansky held off the charge. Behind the leaders Donny Schatz had moved up to third around Jason Sides and he was coming hard and fast. On the white flag lap suddenly Dollansky slowed. he slowed drastically. Blaney flew by, Schatz flew by, Jason Sides flew by, Joey Saldana flew by. The hit to Dollansky was direct and it was to the heart and it came from under his own hood.  When the checkers flew it would be Dale Blaney who would take the podium followed by Donny Schatz and Jason Sides. Dollansky’s championship hopes took a hard hit. Losing all the points he had gained back over the last 3 races and 7 more. Schatz was again in control having stemmed the charge from Dollansky. He was on the podium for a 10th time in as many races.

Dale Blaney’s patience paid off with a victory. “I knew it was going to be tough for them to get it in,” he said. “We just put ourselves in good position and were fortunate enough to win one.”

Donny Schatz understood the significance of the win. He over came early mistakes and adverse track conditions to pull off the podium finish. “There was a lot of things going on,” said Schatz, who increased his championship advantage to 114 points over Dollansky. “We had a decent finish. It was a very demanding race track, a very unforgiving night for everyone and I’m glad the fans stuck it out.”

Jason Sides was thankful for the third spot on the podium and voiced the thoughts of perhaps everyone in attendance. “It’s one of those nights where you’re happy that you do what you do,” he said. “Sometimes when it gets like this, when you have to wait out the rain, it makes for a long night, but still it’s better than a real job. We get to come out here and race in front of these fans and have a good night and put on a good show.”

The KSE Hard Charger of the race was Cody Darrah who climbed from 21st starting position to 7th. Jac Haudenschild rallied to a 5th place finish continuing his very dominate return to the World of Outlaws. The King of the Outlaws struggled all night and finished uncharacteristically a lap down in 13th spot. In the end the heavy track created a race of attrition with only 15 of the 24 starters still on the track.

Donny Schatz said last week that things can happen quickly and this race means very little when you get to the next track. Tonight was proof of that. Schatz padded his lead and again pulled away from Craig Dollansky. But with 7 races to go, Dollansky’s chances are not done yet. He can still push it to Charlotte and in fact mathematically he can still win the championship over Schatz. It won’t be easy. As a matter of fact it will be very difficult. Schatz is on a roll. He is not only making good moves on the track, lady luck is on his side as well. Richard Petty once said I would rather be lucky than good. But when you combine lucky and good the train is rolling down hill. Can Dollansky stop it? We will see. But one thing is for sure the real winners in this championship battle are the fans.

Qualifying – 1. 51-Paul McMahan, 12.686; 2. 2L-Ed Lynch Jr., 12.694; 3. 9-Joey Saldana, 12.735; 4. 15-Donny Schatz, 12.739; 5. 2-Dale Blaney, 12.776; 6. 19-Stevie Smith, 12.826; 7. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 12.840; 8. 7-Craig Dollansky, 12.870; 9. 1-Sammy Swindell, 12.882; 10. 7S-Jason Sides, 12.897; 11. 29-Kerry Madsen, 12.907; 12. D4-Danny Holtgraver, 12.920; 13. 89G-David Gravel, 12.954; 14. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 12.971; 15. 59-Jac Haudenschild, 12.997; 16. 83-Tim Shaffer, 13.015; 17. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.027; 18. O-Chris Bell, 13.048; 19. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 13.051; 20. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 13.079; 21. 6-Bill Rose, 13.106; 22. 29X-Shane Stewart, 13.124; 23. 21N-Andy Priest, 13.140; 24. 20E-Brian Ellenberger, 13.211; 25. 4-Cody Darrah, 13.272; 26. 7E-Eric Williams, 13.283; 27. 11-Steve Kinser, 13.300; 28. 63-Chad Kemenah, 13.307; 29. O8-Dan Kuriger, 13.349; 30. 1R-Gale Ruth, 14.666; 31. 4K-William Kiley, 15.546.

Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 7S-Jason Sides [1]; 2. 51-Paul McMahan [4]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz [3]; 4. 83-Tim Shaffer [6]; 5. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [7]; 6. 4-Cody Darrah [9]; 7. 89G-David Gravel [5]; 8. 29X-Shane Stewart [8]; 9. 63-Chad Kemenah [10]; 10. 4K-William Kiley [11]; 11. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr [2].

Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 7-Craig Dollansky [2]; 2. 29-Kerry Madsen [1]; 3. 2L-Ed Lynch Jr. [4]; 4. 2-Dale Blaney [3]; 5. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [6]; 6. 11K-Kraig Kinser [5]; 7. 22-Brandon Spithaler [7]; 8. 21N-Andy Priest [8]; 9. O8-Dan Kuriger [10]; 10. 7E-Eric Williams [9].

Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 1-Sammy Swindell [2]; 2. D4-Danny Holtgraver [1]; 3. 9-Joey Saldana [4]; 4. 19-Stevie Smith [3]; 5. 59-Jac Haudenschild [5]; 6. 11-Steve Kinser [9]; 7. 20E-Brian Ellenberger [8]; 8. O-Chris Bell [6]; 9. 6-Bill Rose [7]; 10. 1R-Gale Ruth [10].

Dash – (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) – 1. 7-Craig Dollansky [1]; 2. 2-Dale Blaney [2]; 3. 9-Joey Saldana [4]; 4. 51-Paul McMahan [6]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz [3]; 6. 7S-Jason Sides [8]; 7. 1-Sammy Swindell [7]; 8. 2L-Ed Lynch Jr. [5]; 9. 29-Kerry Madsen [9]; 10. D4-Danny Holtgraver [10].

B-Main – (12 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 89G-David Gravel [2] [-]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr [1] [-]; 3. 22-Brandon Spithaler [4] [-]; 4. O-Chris Bell [3] [-]; 5. 29X-Shane Stewart [6] [-]; 6. 6-Bill Rose [5] [-]; 7. 20E-Brian Ellenberger [8] [$200]; 8. 63-Chad Kemenah [10] [$180]; 9. 7E-Eric Williams [9] [$175]; 10. 4K-William Kiley [13] [$160]; 11. 21N-Andy Priest [7] [$150]; 12. 1R-Gale Ruth [12] [$150]; 13. O8-Dan Kuriger [11] [$150].

A-Main – (35 Laps) – 1. 2-Dale Blaney [2] [$10,000]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [5] [$5,500]; 3. 7S-Jason Sides [6] [$3,200]; 4. 9-Joey Saldana [3] [$2,800]; 5. 59-Jac Haudenschild [15] [$2,500]; 6. 1-Sammy Swindell [7] [$2,300]; 7. 4-Cody Darrah [21] [$2,200]; 8. O-Chris Bell [18] [$2,100]; 9. 11K-Kraig Kinser [14] [$2,050]; 10. 29-Kerry Madsen [9] [$2,000]; 11. 7-Craig Dollansky [1] [$1,500]; 12. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [17] [$1,200]; 13. 11-Steve Kinser [22] [$1,100]; 14. 6-Bill Rose [24] [$1,050]; 15. 22-Brandon Spithaler [20] [$1,000]; 16. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr [12] [$900]; 17. 51-Paul McMahan [4] [$800]; 18. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [19] [$800]; 19. 89G-David Gravel [13] [$800]; 20. 19-Stevie Smith [11] [$800]; 21. 29X-Shane Stewart [23] [$800]; 22. 83-Tim Shaffer [16] [$800]; 23. 2L-Ed Lynch Jr. [8] [$800]; 24. D4-Danny Holtgraver [10] [$800]. Lap Leaders: Craig Dollansky 1-32, Dale Blaney 33-35. KSE Hard Charger Award: 4-Cody Darrah [+14].

World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Top 20 Championship Standings