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 FREMONT,
OH (July 1) -- Dale Blaney won his sixth All Star Sprint Series race
of the season Thursday night and the third of the five races contested
in the annual Ohio Speedweeks. Blaney led all 40 laps en route to the
win which asserted the Hoosier brand's superiority at Fremont
Speedway. The track normally uses a tire-rule of another race tire
manufacturer's brand for its weekly sprint division. Yet, for this
race, it was wide open with the Hoosier brand used by the first five
competitors to cross the finish line in the night's feature race.
Ironically, the series was at Fremont on Tuesday for the third
installment of Ohio Speedweeks, but the Hoosier brand did not enter
the winner's circle that night. After qualifying and running their
heat races using the Hoosier brand, both front row starters opted to
bolt on another tire brand for the feature in hopes of securing the
$500 bounty given to any driver winning on the track's tire-rule tire.
The race ended with one of the drivers making the switch taking the
win after securing their front row starting spot using the Hoosier
brand.
A huge 46-car field jammed the pits Thursday night at
Fremont Speedway in hopes of capturing the $5,000-to-win prize. With
39 teams opting to begin the night on the Hoosier brand and seven
teams split (4-3) among the other two competing tire brands. The eight
fastest times in qualifying were posted by drivers using the Hoosier
brand with Kelly Kinser earning fast time honors after he circled the
1/3-mile clay oval in 12.844 seconds. Kinser posted the top speed
using Hoosier's softest compound (D10) on his right rear position.
Jeremy Campbell was second followed by Jac Haudenschild, Bill Rose,
Rob Chaney, Bobby Clark, Tim Kaeding and Phil Gressman.
All four heat winners rode on Hoosiers with Lee
Jacobs, Andrew Palker, Craig Mintz and John Ivy each capturing
wins.
In the 40-lap feature, 17 of the 24 starters rode atop
Hoosier tires as several drivers switched tire brands. Previous
night's winner Dale Blaney, using a D12/RD15 (LR/RR) combination, took
the lead from the pole after qualifying 11th. Blaney, in the #72, led
wire-to-wire for the win. The victory increases Team Hoosier's win
total to 16 in the 18 races contested to date in the series.
Following Blaney to the finish line was Bobby Clark in
second place using a D12/D15 set up. Kelly Kinser took third after
starting sixth. Kinser opted to run the 40-lapper using a pair of
D12's as did fourth and fifth place finishers Jeremy Campbell and Rob
Chaney. Danny Smith also finished in ninth place to round out the list
of top ten finishers for Team Hoosier.
Ohio Speedweeks continues in the All Star Sprint
Series on Friday, July 2nd, at Limaland Motorsports Park. The 2004
Ohio Speedweeks concludes the next day at K-C Raceway.
Our thanks go out to Hoosier compound engineer Jon
Huffman for attending the race and providing the details used in this
report.
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