6/25/2014
All Star Circuit of Champions
Jac Haudenschild Wins Atomic Feature
Jac Haudenschild lived up to his nickname “The Wild Child” at Atomic Speedway Wednesday night. The Wooster, Ohio driver blasted around Dale Blaney with five laps to go and went on to score the win on night #3 of the 32nd Annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek with the University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions.
Haudenschild used the concrete wall in turns three and four as a cushion to rim-ride to his second All Star win of 2014. It is his 28th career series victory.
“That was really fun. The track was awesome. The fastest way was around the top. I was running up there pretty high. It was a little easier running second. Dale was definitely fast but I was able to see his line and we got there at the end,” said Haudenschild beside his Destiny Racing/Rick Rogers Construction/Mondak Portables/Triple X Racing/Renegade Rentals/Champion Oil backed machine.
“We’ve been getting better every week and hopefully we can keep it up. The car is feeling good and the guys have worked their tails off,” added Haudenschild.
For Blaney, who came into the night leading the UNOH All Star national and Ohio Region points and the 2014 Ohio Sprint Speedweek points, it was another solid night with a second place finish despite leading the first 25 laps.
“It was my mistake. I moved to the middle there a little bit. It almost felt like it was starting to lock down there in the middle and I probably ran a little too conservative there to try and stay in it. He just got a run on me there and after that he was running pretty hard. My mistake for running a little too easy in one and two and being conservative. The guys gave me a great car and I just brought it home in second. Every night we’ve been really good and put ourselves in a good position and that’s what it takes,” said Blaney beside his Kennedy Cattle/GF1 Chassis/Ti22 Performance/Penske Shocks backed #14K.
Randy Hannagan would battle with Blaney for the runner-up position the final four laps before coming home in third.
“Car came on really good the last 10 laps. I missed that corner that one time that I didn’t need to miss it,” said Hannagan beside his Do-Si-Do/Upper Auto/Kenny’s Components backed #11n. “Ed Neumeister gives me an awesome car and my guys, Kent Karhoff and Jonathan Karhoff work their butts off for me. They make me look good.”
After the 62-car field was whittled down to the final 24 A-main starters it would be Blaney and Sheldon Haudenschild who would bring the field to the green for the 30-lap feature. Blaney would grab the lead over Sheldon Haudenschild, Cole Duncan, Jac Haudenschild, Taylor Ferns, Danny Smith, Randy Hannagan, Brady Bacon and Caleb Griffith. Jac Haudenschild would grab third on lap two.
It didn’t take the leaders long to find heavy lapped traffic by lap five but the action would grind to a halt on lap six when Cale Thomas would blow a right rear tire and get into the front stretch wall, getting upside down. On the restart Blaney pulled away slightly as the son and feather battled for second. Jac would take the runner-up spot on lap eight, bringing Duncan into third with Sheldon, Hannagan, Smith and Shane Stewart in tow.
Blaney would find lapped traffic by the 12th circuit with Haudenschild staying within striking distance while Duncan battled with Hannagan with Sheldon Haudenschild, Smith and Griffith in pursuit. Jimmy Stinson would spin to bring out the caution on lap 14 and once again hand the leaders a clear track. Blaney and Jac Haudenschild would pull away from the field and run nose to tail with Duncan, Hannagan, Sheldon Haudenschild, Smith, Griffith, Stewart and Bacon in tow. Bacon would spin in turn one on lap 21 to once again give the leaders a clean track.
On the restart once again Blaney and Jac Haudenschild were glued together and pulled away while Duncan was battling with Hannagan for third. Jac would execute a perfect slider on Blaney in turns three and four to take the lead with five laps to go when the red flew for a pile-up involving Christopher Bell, Danny Holtgraver and Cory Crabtree. On the restart Jac Haudenschild would continue to blast away at the extreme top edge of the track with Blaney now locked in a battle for second with Hannagan while Sheldon Haudenschild was battling with Griffith for fourth.
Jac Haudenschild would drive to the win with Blaney edging Hannagan for second while Griffith and Sheldon Haudenschild rounded out the top five.
Submitted By: Ross Paulson