ALLSTAR/SPRINT: Sharon report 96-08-31

• shall@4are.com (scott hall)
• Imperium Internet
• Wed Sep 4 23:15:26 EDT 1996

UNITED EXPRESSLINE ALL STAR SPRINT RESULTS - SAT.
08/31/96 - Sharon Speedway, Hartford, Ohio 

   HARTFORD, OH - In a race that was survival of the
fittest, Frankie Kerr outlasted the field to win his
third series main of the year Saturday night at Sharon
Speedway in the United Expressline All Star sprint
feature. Round one of the 12th annual Sharon Nationals
paid $5,000 to win. Kerr took over the lead when race
leader Jeff Shepard ran out of fuel just before a red
flag fuel stop, and he led the last four laps to win.
Behind Kerr was Kevin Huntley, with Rocky Hodges third,
Keith Kauffman fourth and Kenny Jacobs fifth.
   "I was never so nervous in my life," Kerr said
afterward about waiting for the race to restart under the
red. "The longer the race went on the better we got," he
added. "This is a new Chevrolet motor from Davey Brown,
it's just incredible. We just kept changing torsion bars
all night long until we got something I liked. We
actually went back to a setup I used here about two years
ago. It was pretty good." Kerr drives the Stan Shoff J&J
and rode on Goodyear Tires. 
   Todd Shaffer started on the pole and grabbed an
immediate lead followed by front row mate Ed Lynch, Jr.
Shaffer began pulling away from the pack, followed by
Lynch, Bobby Allen and Jeff Shepard. As Shaffer entered
lapped traffic on lap 11, Lynch closed up to Shaffer's
tail and was poised to pass when Dean Jacobs stopped on
the track with a mud packed wheel for a lap 13 caution.
   With the restart order Shaffer, Lynch, Shepard, Lance
Dewease and Kevin Huntley, Shaffer took off again when
the green reappeared. Then Shepard moved under Lynch for
second on lap 15, with Huntley fourth and Bobby Allen
fifth. Dewease was sixth followed by seventh starting
Kerr. Allen was really on the move now and was
challenging Lynch for third, and Lynch and Allen ran
side-by-side for three laps when disaster hit the leader.
Shaffer blew a right rear tire on Gary and Patty Beam's
Gambler, brushing the third turn wall. He was out for the
evening with suspension damage, handing the lead to
Shepard.
   Lynch lost second to Allen on the restart behind
Shepard, and Allen began challenging for the lead. Allen
and Shepard ran side by side, with Allen low and Shepard
high. Allen actually led lap 25, but he blew an engine a
lap later and dropped pitside. Then more strange things
happened. Third place Lynch lost a tire on lap 26,
bringing out the caution. Leader Shepard, at the same
time, ran out of fuel. After a lap of circling under
yellow, the race was red flagged for a fuel stop. This
put Kerr in the lead over Huntley, Hodges, Kauffman and
Dewease. 
   Kerr ran low and Huntley high, with Hodges right there
as it was a three way battle for the lead. Kerr stretched
it out a bit over Huntley and won by two car lengths.
   "I had a rough race," Huntley, out of breath, said of
second. "I got a little bit impatient and slammed the
cushion hard and bent some stuff on the race car and it
was real hard to drive. We fixed most of it on the red,"
he added. "I have to thank United Expressline for
sponsoring both the series and my racecar, Doemelt
Chassis, Racing USA, Goodyear tires, Pro-shocks and
Gaerte engines and my crew Mike Cool and Adam."
   Hodges said of third, "We were just waiting for the
car to burn off some fuel and free up then we began
coming. You gotta finish," he concluded, summing up the
feelings of everyone watching the event. 
   Eighth starter Danny Lasoski finished sixth, ahead of
Dewease, Fred Rahmer, Dean Jacobs and Kevin Gobrecht.
   Dewease was the fast qualifier over the 44 car field
with the Southwest Expressline heat to Dale Blaney, the
ButlerBuilt heat to Fred Rahmer and the other heats to
Kenny Jacobs and Kelly Kinser. Andy McKisson and Ed Lynch
Jr. won the twin dashes with Rocky Hodges the Outerwears
Pre-filters B Main winner. Bob Felmlee won the Action
Sportswear-Indy C Main. Van Gurley Jr. flipped his Maxim
in hot laps and Tim Shaffer banged the wall hard in time
trials. Both were okay.
    In the 20-lap Russ King Memorial modified race, Lou
Blaney led every lap to pocket $2,000. He held off Scott
Gurdak in a photo finish with Gurdak using the high
groove to try to get around Blaney at the stripe. With
his second place finish, Gurdak claimed the preferred
qualifying spot for the October Fay's 200 Syracuse
modified race. Kevin Bolland was third ahead of Leonard
Ripper and Jim Weller.
   Time Trials: 1. Lance Dewease, Dyer 461, 16.306; 2.
Kevin Huntley, Johnson U2, 16.362; 3. Bobby Allen, Allen
1a, 16.368; 4. Jeff Shepard, Wahlie 1w, 16.379; 5. Ed
Lynch, Jr., Lynch 2L, 16.390; 6. Todd Shaffer, Beam 88,
16.407; 7. Frankie Kerr, Shoff 23s, 16.449; 8. Danny
Lasoski, Forbrook/Cole 5, 16.452; 9. Kevin Gobrecht,
Gobrecht 92x, 16.461; 10. Van Gurley Jr., Gurley 3B,
16.477; 11. Dean Jacobs, Jacobs 1F, 16.484; 12. Rocky
Hodges, Holbrook 8H, 16.489; 13. Daniel Coggeshell,
Coggeshell 3, 16.503; 14. Craig Dollansky, Lindsey 2D,
16.513; 15. Kenny Jacobs, Ashworth 92, 16.513; 16. Keith
Kauffman, Apple 12, 16.514; 17. Dale Blaney, Hughes 94,
16.591; 18. Fred Rahmer, Hamilton 77, 16.612; 19. Danny
Smith, Bodkins 00, 16.755; 20. Kelly Kinser, Kinser 4K,
16.808; 21. Bob Felmlee, Felmlee 6, 16.975; 22. Sarah
Fisher, Fisher 9, 17.013; 23. Brian Carlson, SC
Motorsports 18, 17.078; 24. Tim Shaffer , Reidling 50,
17.144; 25. Jamie Smith, Smith 5, 17.193; 26. Tom Burns,
Burns 7c, 17.254; 27. Tom Quarterson, Brest 16, 17.293;
28. Mark Murphy, Murphy 98, 17.361; 29. Doug Zucco, Zucco
69z, 17.388; 30. Marshall Shunk, Caden 17, 17.438; 31.
Bill Bailey, Crawford c3, 17.451; 32. Brian Ellenberger,
Ellenberger 20, 17.506; 33. Frank Stella, Stella 19,
17.539; 34. Barry Ruble, Ruble 63, 17.599; 35. Jarod
Larson, Clemson 47, 17.698; 36. Brian Kaltredier,
Kaltreider 22, 17.773; 37. Andy McKisson, McKisson 0,
17.816; 38. Bill Kiley, Kiley 4K, 17.946; 39. Steve
Pedley, Pedley 210, 18.231; 40. Mike Zeiter, Zeiter 4Z,
18.253; 41. Buddy Cochran, Cochran 30, 18.615; 42. Matt
Henninger, Preston 1p, 19.700; 43. Brent Matus, Matus 33,
20.465; 44. Bob Whitacre, Whitacre 101, 20.895.
   Southwest Expressline Heat (8 laps): 1. Blaney 2.
Gobrecht 3. Dewease 4. Lynch 5. J. Smith 6. Zucco 7.
Stella 8. McKisson 9. Felmlee 10. Coggeshell 11. Cochran.    
   ButlerBuilt Heat (8 laps): 1. Rahmer 2. Todd Shaffer
3. Dollansky 4. Huntley 5. Fisher 6. Gurley 7. Ruble 8.
Burns 9. Shunk 10. Kiley 11. Henninger.
   Heat (8 laps): 1. K. Jacobs 2. D. Jacobs 3. Kerr 4. D.
Smith 5. Allen 6. Quarterson 7. Carlson 8. Larson 9.
Bailey 10. Pedley 11. Matus. 
   Heat (8 laps): 1. Kinser 2. Kauffman 3. Lasoski 4.
Shepard 5. Hodges 6. Ellenberger 7. Zeiter 8. Kaltreider
9. Murphy.
   United Expresslines Dash (4 laps): 1. Lynch 2.
Quarterson 3. Blaney 4. Zeiter 5. Ellenberger.
   Bazell Oil Dash: (4 laps): 1. McKisson 2. Kiley 3.
Pedley 4. Zeiter 5. Matus 6. Henninger.
   Action Sportswear-Indy C Main (10 laps): 1. Felmlee 2.
Bailey 3. Troy Preston 4. Murphy 5. Shunk 6. Pedley 7.
Kiley 8. Matus 9. Coggeshell.
   Outerwears Pre-filters B Main (12 laps): 1. Hodges 2.
Allen 3. Quarterson 4. J. Smith 5. Gurley 6. Felmlee 7.
Burns 8. Carlson 9. Fisher 10. Larson 11. Bailey 12.
Ellenberger 13. Zeiter 14. Shunk 15. Stella 16. Zucco 17.
Ruble 18. Kaltreider 19. Murphy 20. McKisson.
   A Main (30 laps): 1. Kerr 2. Huntley 3. Hodges 4.
Kauffman 5. K. Jacobs 6. Lasoski 7. Dewease 8. Rahmer 9.
D. Jacobs 10. Gobrecht 11. D. Smith 12. Dollansky 13.
Gurley 14. Shepard 15. Lynch 16. Blaney 17. Allen 18.
Todd Shaffer 19. Kinser 20. Quarterson 21. J. Smith 22.
Felmlee.