Blair Comes Up a Little Short at Sharon Speedway's O'Reilly AllStar Event
Hartford, OH – June 8, 2010 There seemed to be a consistant theme Tuesday night at the Sharon Speedway.... when it looked like Rob Blair was going to take command of the 40 lap O'Reilly AllStar late model event at Sharon speedway, the flagman reached for the yellow flag. "After we ran 4-5 laps the car got really good"' stated Blair. "Every time we got into a rhythm and the car would start to go, a yellow came out. I think my left rear sealed over on one of the yellows around mid-race and it never really fired again until about lap 30. We had a chance at Boom a couple times over the last ten laps. We were running 3-wide for the lead when the last caution came out. That pretty much decided the race, but 2nd is a great run for us."
It all started with Briggs and Horton leading the star-studded 24 car field to the green flag with Boom taking command early. Briggs set a torrid pace around the 3/8th mile high banked Ohio oval with Horton basically strapped to his rear deck-lid. Briggs was glued to the bottom of the speedway as Horton was forced to maneuver around to find a lane to get along side of Boom. Horton would show his nose on the outside a few times but couldn’t make a move stick. The pace was slowed for the first time on lap ten as Stevensville, ONT’s Darren Peters would lose the handle of his mount to bring out the events first caution. That caution was quickly followed by another caution on lap 11 as Jared Hawkins, Jim Rasey, Chris Hackett, Matt Lux, and Corey Ruffo were all collected in turn two. As racing resumed Blair added himself into the mix by challenging Horton for the second position. With the pressure Horton had coming from Blair, it seemed that Doug was able to up the ante and reel in race leader Briggs after a lap 16 caution. By Lap 21, Horton was able to make his way around Boom to capture the lead. Horton was never able to pull away from the pack though as Briggs and Blair stayed right with the Bobby Lake Motorsports Warrior Chassis. After two more quick cautions on laps 25 and 26, Briggs changed his line in turns three and four and was able to pull alongside of Horton and around to re-capture the lead on lap 33. The excitement wasn’t over though as Horton continued to mount a charge on the bottom while Blair worked the outside. The three were almost three-wide at times battling for the lead with two laps to go as Sarver, PA’s John Garvin Jr., who earlier won his first ever ASLMS Rocket Chassis Heat Race, came to a stop on the front stretch setting up a two lap dash to the checkers. Briggs was able to hold off Horton and Blair by .942 seconds for the $4,000 payday as Blair made his way around Horton for second. Dave Hess Jr. was credited with fourth as Gregg Satterlee rounded out the top five. Zack Dohm was sixth followed by Mike Knight in seventh, Keith Barbara eighth, Greg Oakes ninth, and John Mollick tenth. Event Recap: Victory Signs Time Trials presented by Fleming Design Solutions: Rocket Chassis Heat Race #3: 99B Boom Briggs, 32R Jim Rasey, 17 Keith Barbara, H1 Jared Miley, 07R Brent Rhebergen, 25B Greg Beylea, 17L Dennis Lunger Jr. Rocket Chassis Heat Race #4: J4 John Garvin, 22 Greg Oakes, 33 Chris Hackett, 4J John Mollick, 16* Derek Frank, 1P Darren Peters, 144 Anthony Kinkade Dirtfix.net B-Main presented by Stivason Photos: 21 Matt Lux, 16* Derek Frank, 1P Darren Peters, 17L Dennis Lunger Jr., 2J Mike Johnson, 21* Bill Henry, 07R Brent Rhebergen, 38R Corey Ruffo, 67 Charles Supplee, 25B Greg Beylea, 144 Anthony Kinkade
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