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 GIBSONTON,
FL (February 15-16) -- Tim Shaffer captured the All Star Speedweeks
final at East Bay Raceway Saturday night pocketing the $26,000
winner's paycheck and capping off the best Florida Speedweeks for
Hoosier Racing Tire in the history of the company. This year's All
Star Sprint Winternationals was comprised of nine races, but rain
caused the cancellation of one event and the rescheduling of yet
another. Still, when all the dust had settled, one thing was certain:
Hoosier tires dominated the sprint racing during the 2002 Speedweeks
in Florida.
EAST BAY- Race #2 (Feb 15)
Wednesday's rain caused the opening East Bay race to be
rescheduled for Friday afternoon prior to the regularly scheduled show
Friday evening. There were 66 cars on hand for qualifying--57 on
Hoosier tires with the remaining 9 cars split among the two other
competing tire manufacturers. Greg Hodnett set fast time in the
Apple #12 after circling the 1/3-mile oval in 12.077 seconds as the
top six times were posted by Hoosier-shod drivers. All five
preliminary heat races were also won by Team-Hoosier. Zach Chappell,
Danny Lasoski, Shane Stewart, Kenny Jacobs and Paul McMahan each won
their respective heats. Jeff Hodgson and Joey Saldana each won their
C-main races while on Hoosier tires. Greg Hodnett
won the B-main and kept Team-Hoosier's record perfect for the day
heading into the A-main race. The 25-lap A-main had 26 competitors
with 24 of them atop the Hoosier brand. Tim Shaffer led every lap en route to the victory. Shaffer
collected $4,000 for the win. Jason Johnson, Tyler Walker, Sean
Michael and Chad Kemenah finished second through fifth. The top five
finishers each rode on a Hoosier D12/D15 (left rear/right rear)
combination. In addition to the top five sweep, Team-Hoosier
captured nine of the top ten as Greg Hodnett took sixth, Fred Rahmer
eighth, Phil Gressman ninth and Lance Dewease tenth. EAST BAY-
Race #3 (Feb 15)
The second show of the day was the regularly scheduled program which
was run after the make-up show was completed. Qualifying
resulted in an even more dominating performance by Team-Hoosier.
Fifty-nine cars were on hand for qualifying--53 on Hoosier tires with the remaining six cars split among the two other competing tire
manufacturers. Danny Lasoski set fast time at 11.858 seconds and
Team-Hoosier went on to post the top 35 times in qualifying. Kenny
Jacobs, Scott Bonnell, Kurt Winker, Shane Stewart and Jason Sides ran
Team-Hoosier's heat race record to a perfect ten-out-of-ten for the day. Travis
Rilat took the C-main victory and Danny Lasoski captured the B-main
victory as both drivers rode on Hoosier tires to their respective
wins. In the 25-lap A-main there would be no question there would be
another Hoosier-shod driver in the winner's circle as all 26
competitors elected to ride on Hoosier rubber. Paul McMahan passed
Terry McCarl on lap six and led the remainder of the distance to
capture the win and collect the $4,000 winner's paycheck. Finishing
second was Danny Lasoski followed by Terry McCarl. The top three
finishers all rode on a pair of Hoosier D10's during the
25-lap race. Jeff Shepard, Fred Rahmer,
Chad Kemanah, Tim Shaffer, Lance Dewease, Shane Stewart and Jason
Johnson rounded out fourth through tenth, respectively. EAST
BAY- Race #4 (Feb 16)
Team-Hoosier's A-main record stood at a perfect seven-out-of-seven entering
the final night of competition in the 2002 All Star Speedweeks. There was no qualifying, so the competitors
immediately jumped into heat race action. All four heat races were won
by drivers using Hoosier tires. Gary Wright, Paul McMahan, Kelly
Kinser and Terry McCarl each were heat race winners for Team-Hoosier. All
four Dash winners also were Team-Hoosier members. Travis Rilat,
Christi Passmore, Greg Wilson and Danny Lasoski were each Dash winners.
Dickie Gaines also won the 10-lap B-main on Hoosiers. In the 50-lap A-main
marathon in which Hoosier tires were on 25 of the 26 combatants, it
was Tim Shaffer leading every lap en route to the biggest payout of
his career. Shaffer used a Hoosier D10/D12 combination for the win while collecting the $26,000 winner's paycheck. The victory
extended Team-Hoosier's 2002 All Star Speedweeks record to a perfect
eight-for-eight. Finishing in second was Lance Dewease on a
Hoosier D10/RD12 combination. Chad Kemenah wound up third using a
D10/D12 combination. Paul McMahan, Danny Lasoski, Gary Wright, Jeff
Shepard and Fred Rahmer finished fourth through eighth respectively,
while Tyler Walker
finished in tenth. Hoosier Open Wheel Dirt Product Manager Neil Cowman
commented after the amazing accomplishment, "It was a great
Speedweeks for Hoosier. We had a tire for every track condition presented
to us over the past two weeks." Cowman continued, "I can't
remember ever going to an open competition sprint race where we
(Hoosier) had every car in the A-main like we did on Friday
night!" Cowman added, "We started strong and finished even
stronger. This was a great way to start the sprint racing season
heading into this weekend's opening Pennzoil World of Outlaws event in
California on Friday." The 2002 Speedweeks resulted in some pretty
impressive stats for Team-Hoosier. Hoosier-shod cars set fast time at
every event, won 34 of 35 heat races and swept all eight
A-mains. Team-Hoosier had swept All Star Speedweeks in 1999
and 2000, and was only one race shy of doing the same in 2001. The All Star Sprint Series points
standings has Lance Dewease in first with 292 points followed by Tim
Shaffer with 278. Chad Kemenah, Kenny Jacobs, Fred Rahmer, Dean
Jacobs, Jason Johnson and Craig Dollansky round out third through
eighth for Team-Hoosier in the All Star standings. |
