Fan Notes from Night #5 of Ohio Speedweek at Sharon

Dave Blaney (Tom Myers) 6/21/2016    The All Stars made their 97th appearance at Sharon Speedway last evening, commencing the 5th race of this year's Sprint Speed Week event. 51 cars were on hand and that number could have been higher if not for some mechanical woes for a few of the teams. The question was....Could the All Star guys fight back or would a Speed Week visitor prevail? Kyle Larson has the overall point lead this week so far. The All Star guys have two wins with Sheldon Haudenschild winning at Waynesfield and Dale Blaney winning at Millstream. The "dynamic duo" of Kyle Larson and Rico Abreu each have a win.  

I arrived at the track at about 6. They parked me close to the parking lot entrance...up next to the fence that still lines the old asphalt section of turn 3 and 4. That was good because I could make a quick exit out to the street  when the race was over.... It was also good when a track worker told me that I couldn't bring the cooler I was carrying into the event. I didn't know that and was glad I didn't find this out after hoofing it to the ticket window! I normally carry my stuff in a 14" igloo cooler and I try and put a sticker from each track I visit on it.  But that routine was shut down, so I transferred my stuff to a "soft" cooler I bought last year for this very purpose. I usually carry a blanket, masking tape, 2 goggles, a bottle of water and my camera in there. That's it. Luckily, the lady at the ticket window was okay with that and my "soft" cooler and I got in. 

I found a seat under the grandstand, knowing full well the noise level I would endure. Sharon Speedway has a steel roof that covers the main stands and it catches the sound waves from the sprint engines and magnifies them...almost like a firecracker in a tin can. It gets LOOOUUUDDD! The track itself  was dusty and dry looking but that was to be expected. All the tracks have been struggling this week. We have had little rain here in Ohio in the last 3-4 weeks and it is just very dry.

Dan Kuriger After getting seated, I needed to get to the pits, but didn't want to leave my stuff. Pops was unable to come with me to this one, so I was solo.  Luckily, there was a nice man and his son sitting next to me. The young child was maybe 4 or 5 years old. He was so well behaved...which is getting rare these days.  So I told them both that I was going to the pits to take some pictures...and that I didn't have anyone to watch my stuff. I then asked the child if he would watch my things and he nodded in agreement. I then told them both that I would show them the pictures when I returned and the little boy's face lit up with a smile. Good stuff!

When I got to the pits, I saw that Dave Blaney was in attendance with the Motter 71 all ready to go. I also noticed a few newcomers from western Pennsylvania, Kuriger, Kekich, Bowser and Matus.  So I snapped some photos and went back to the grandstands. When I returned to my seat, I showed my pics to the little boy and his dad. They were both liking the Dale and Dave Blaney photos...and a guy behind me was looking at them too I guess because he commented on the Jac Haudenschild photo that I had. 

In time trials, Adam Kekich dropped a drive line at the turn 4 exit. I mean, the car just spit it out...along with the torque tube too...just laying there not far behind the car.  Luckily, Adam was okay. Later on, I noticed how smooth Kyle Larson was. While others were sawing at the wheel, Kyle hardly ever showed much steering motion. He looked like he wasn't steering at all. Lee Jacobs and Bryan Clausen were your two fastest timers.

Before the heats, they sprinkled the track with some water, but not nearly enough. It got dusty again right away. There were 5 heats scheduled. Top 4 go to the feature. Heat 1 finish was Dean Jacobs, Shaffer, Clausen, Lee Jacobs, Kahne and Zemanic. In heat 2, Cory Crabtree slides up into the turn 3 fence and gets his right two wheels up on the fence....and rides it around like that almost to the turn 4 exit before he stopped it. He did not return to action. Heat 2 finish was Kemenah, Kuriger, Spithaler, Michaels.  Heat 3 finish was Andrews, Abreu, Sebetto, Bowers. Rico fell back initially and was losing ground until he found a place to run closer to the fence...sweeping around Sebetto and Bowers to garner 2nd place. At the start of heat 4, Harding hits the turn 1 fence and gets a flat rr tire. Dave Blaney stalls and has to restart on the tail of the heat....Heat 4 finish was Larson, Griffith, Brubaker and Sheldon. Heat 5 finish was Holtgraver, Henry, Kinser and Dale Blaney. Holtgraver got it working up by the fence and swept into the lead on the last turn.

Carl Bowser The track was dry and dusty. It was hard to get traction unless you stayed in the spots where the dust was blown off....kind of a narrow groove in the middle of the track...only a few racers could go higher and make it work. Some tried but lost traction and track position. By the end of the heats, the air was starting to cool as the sun was setting....and there was no breeze. The dust was just hanging in the air....kind of in a cloud.  

The C main finish was Baughman and Paulker, both going on to the B main. Then they ran the dash and by this time, the track was taking rubber. The dash was good as Griffith passed Kemenah on the last lap for the win and a pole starting position in the feature. The B main finish was Kahne, Dave Blaney, Williams and Zemanic. After the B main, some of the cars returned to the pits with no tread left on their tires. The track crew then started digging up the surface and pouring water on it in an effort to get it good for the feature.  

Kemenah got out front to lead at the start with Griffith behind in 2nd. The track was fast and guys were flying. But the track didn't stay fast long as it quickly returned to being dusty. The top 2 got into the back markers on lap 5 and Kemenah checked up a little in turn 3. As he did, he spun it around in turn 4 and Griffith had nowhere to go and ran into Kemenah. Griffith returned but Kemenah was done. This put 3rd running Bryan Clausen at the front, where he stayed for the rest of the race. Henry chased him all race long but couldn't get close enough to try a pass. Holtgraver came up from 8th to take 3rd and and Dale Blaney took 4th all the way from 20th. Even with the rework and watering, the track dried out again quickly and it looked like it started to take rubber again around lap 20 or so. 

The next race is at Atomic Speedway on Wednesday and Limaland on Friday. Thursday is an off day or a rain date and then the finale will be at Eldora on Saturday for $10,000 to win.