7/10/2010
All Star Circuit of Champions
Brad Sweet sweeps the field at West Virginia Motor Speedway
MINERAL WELLS, WV - By Brian Liskai - (7-10-10)- Brad Sweet is living his dream of driving a race car for a living thanks to Kasey Kahne. The Grass Valley, California driver is showing why Kahne picked him to drive one of his sprint cars, as he dominated the O'Reilly Auto Parts All Star Circuit of Champion's race at West Virginia Motor Speedway Saturday night.
Sweet, piloting the Ollie's Bargain Outlet, Auto Value Parts Stores, Sage backed #49, drove into the lead at the drop of the green for the Governor's Cup event. He set a blistering pace on the 5/8th mile track, lapping nearly up to fifth place.
"Hats off to the guys, they gave me an awesome car tonight. I knew I had to get out front early and get the clean air. Then it was just a matter of working through the lapped traffic. The car was just so good it made it so easy. I could put it any where I wanted to go on the race track," said Sweet, who has two All Star wins in 2010.
"I tried not to overdue it in traffic and put myself in a bad position. Kasey Kahne Racing is having a lot of success this year...we have built a great team with Joey (Saldana) and Paul (McMahan) on the World of Outlaw tour and the success they've had and we've gotten some good runs as well," added Sweet.
Defending All Star champion Tim Shaffer and Vienna, W. Va. son Cale Conley tried to keep pace with Sweet, but just could not catch him even as he encountered lapped traffic by lap 3 of the 25-lap affair. With Sweet off and running in the lead and current All Star point leader Shaffer comfortably in second, early in the race the battle was for third between Conley and young Cole Duncan. With 15 laps in the books it looked like Shaffer might be catching Sweet, but once clear of some traffic, Sweet again pulled away to a half a straight away lead in a race that went non-stop.
"Brad had a great car and he did a great job. He got the jump on the start and I knew I was in trouble. He was rolling around there good and we were just a little bit too loose. Hey, it's part of racing and I'm glad we ran second. He just did a great job of getting through traffic," said Shaffer beside his Aaron Call/Janet Holbrook owned Technique Roofing backed #83. "It was great to be back to this track...it's been awhile since I've been here. Hats off to the crew here for getting this track prepped up nice."
For Conley, his third place run in front of his home-state crowd was rewarding.
"The guys who finished in front of me are guys you would definitely want to get beat by if you had to get beat by anyone. I'm glad to be here racing in front of everybody from West Virginia...I wish I could have won tonight. My grandma's birthday is tomorrow and I know she's up in the crowd," said Conley beside his All Star Performance, Health Bridge Imaging, Conley Energy backed #3c. "I ran out of talent a little bit in lapped traffic...I just couldn't get around lapped guys like the front two guys could. I maybe needed to be a little more aggressive. I was having fun out there. This is a big race track...probably the fastest one I've ever been on."
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Qualifying - Kistler Engines
- 83-Tim Shaffer, 17.210
- 3C-Cale Conley, 17.334
- 49-Brad Sweet, 17.348
- W20-Greg Wilson, 17.390
- 22-Cole Duncan, 17.430
- 56R-Ryan Myers, 17.447
- 45-Rob Chaney, 17.497
- 89G-David Gravel, 17.519
- 3-Pete Miller III, 17.691
- O4-Cap Henry, 17.724
- 12-Jared Ridge, 17.746
- 6-Bill Rose, 17.780
- 2+-Brian Smith, 17.794
- 78L-Kirk Jeffries, 18.022
- 30-Wayne McPeek, 18.122
- 15H-Mitch Harble, 18.330
- 22D-Josh Davis, 18.425
- 5H-Jordan Harble, 19.733
- 41-Randy Fink, 21.762
Heat 1 - MSD Ignition
- 83-Tim Shaffer
- 45-Rob Chaney
- W20-Greg Wilson
- O4-Cap Henry
- 2+-Brian Smith
- 15H-Mitch Harble
- 41-Randy Fink
Heat 2 - Kear's Speed Shop
- 89G-David Gravel
- 78L-Kirk Jeffries
- 3C-Cale Conley
- 12-Jared Ridge
- 22-Cole Duncan
- 22D-Josh Davis
Heat 3 - All Pro Heads
- 49-Brad Sweet
- 6-Bill Rose
- 30-Wayne McPeek
- 56R-Ryan Myers
- 3-Pete Miller III
- 5H-Jordan Harble
Dash - Rubbn' Repair
- W20-Greg Wilson
- 49-Brad Sweet
- 3C-Cale Conley
- 56R-Ryan Myers
- 83-Tim Shaffer [DNS]
- 22-Cole Duncan [DNS]
A-Main - O’Reilly Auto Parts (25 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
- 49-Brad Sweet[2]
- 83-Tim Shaffer[1]
- 3C-Cale Conley[5]
- W20-Greg Wilson[6]
- 89G-David Gravel[8]
- 22-Cole Duncan[4]
- 45-Rob Chaney[7]
- 6-Bill Rose[12]
- 56R-Ryan Myers[3]
- O4-Cap Henry[10]
- 12-Jared Ridge[11]
- 3-Pete Miller III[9]
- 78L-Kirk Jeffries[14]
- 2+-Brian Smith[13]
- 15H-Mitch Harble[16]
- 30-Wayne McPeek[15]
- 5H-Jordan Harble[18]
- 41-Randy Fink[19]
- 22D-Josh Davis[17]
Article Credit: Brian Liskai
Submitted By: Ross Paulson