All-Star sprints, Shane Stewart, 09/21/02

Shane Stewart - MERCER, PA - Once he got out front, it was all Shane Stewart Saturday night at Mercer Raceway Park in the sixth annual All Star sprint Chuck Marsh Memorial 40 lap feature. The Bixby, OK driver earned $5,000 for his second series win in Junior Holbrook's Eagle chassis on Hoosier Tires. His win came over Dale Blaney and a brakeless Jeff Shepard.

"My crew gave me an awesome car tonight," Stewart recalled. "Jr. Holbrook builds our motors and they were running strong tonight. I saw Dale stick his nose under me a couple of times and it made me a little nervous, then in lapped traffic I couldn't really see where I was going. I almost crashed going into one, I couldn't see because it was so dusty and then I hit the wall going down the front straightaway. But the Good Lord was with us tonight and kept us safe."

Paul McMahan was on the pole for the feature, with Chad Kemenah alongside and Stewart and Shepard in row two. McMahan drove into the lead in the high groove at the drop of the green over Stewart and Kemenah. Stewart got beside McMahan on lap four and dove under McMahan to take the lead on lap five as Blaney was also on the move and was third after starting seventh. Stewart kept the lead through a trio of early cautions and at the halfway point it was Stewart over Blaney, Shepard, Kemenah, McMahan and local driver Jamie Smith.

As Stewart moved into lapped traffic, Shepard got by Blaney for second on lap 24. Shepard closed in on the leader in heavy traffic, but once in the clear Stewart pulled away again before lapped traffic slowed him again. Kemenah got past Blaney for third on lap 34, but Blaney retook the spot a lap later. Dean Jacobs stopped on the track on lap 36 when his car jumped out of gear bringing out the final caution of the night. For the restart it was Stewart ahead of two lapped cars, then Shepard, Blaney and Kemenah. Blaney took second a lap after the restart as Stewart pulled away to a quarter straight win when the checkered flew. Shepard held on for third ahead of Smith.

"I slipped off the back straight there and Shep got by me," Blaney recalled of his battle with Shepard at the end of the race. "I got beside Stewart coming off four one time but he saw where I was at and moved up. My only chance was in traffic and he (Stewart) worked traffic good." "I didn't have brakes for 26 laps," Shaper revealed. "We had a rock knock off the left front line off and we didn't have brakes and were still second. We ran her off the track and Dale got by us. We'll take third with all those problems," the pilot of Denny Ashworth's Eagle concluded. Kemenah was fifth ahead of Danny Smith and Andy Priest.

Scott Bonnell crossed the line ninth, but finished without one of his mufflers and thus was disqualified. This put John Ivy ninth and D. Jacobs tenth at the end. In the battle for the points title, Kemenah now holds an 84 point lead over Kenny Jacobs with three races remaining. Jacobs dropped out on lap eight with engine troubles and finished 24th. The Crown Battery heat fell to Andrew Palker, the B&B Products heat went to Lee Jacobs, the Engler Machine and Tool heat was won by Dale Blaney and the TP Wings heat fell to Rob Eyler. Greg Wilson won the United Aluminum Window Sales & Consulting B Main.

Fast time by Haulmark Dash winner Kenny Jacobs at 13.292 seconds was a new track record, snapping Jerrod Hull's 2000 mark of 13.550. Local favorite Jimmy Hawley dropped a driveline in hot laps, ending his evening.

Time Trials: 1. Kenny Jacobs, Jacobs 6, 13.292 (NTR); 2. Scott Bonnell, Bonnell 3, 13.356; 3. Jeff Shepard, Ashworth 92, 13.386; 4. Shane Stewart, Holbrook 8h, 13.408; 5. Chad Kemenah, Harble 15k, 13.430; 6. Paul McMahan, Johnson U2, 13.440; 7. Dale Blaney, Andrews 72b, 13.531; 8. Jason Johnson, Harrison 22, 13.554; 9. Greg Wilson, Hampshire 63, 13.593; 10. John Ivy, Carousel 20, 13.594; 11. Jamie Smith, Smith 5, 13.599; 12. Dean Jacobs, Baker 34, 13.609; 13. Danny Smith, Webb 51, 13.615; 14. Mike Wagner, Wagner 55, 13.619; 15. Arnie Kent, Kent 99, 13.671; 16. Brian Ellenberger, Ellenberger 20, 13.804; 17. Byron Reed, B&S 5, 13.813; 18. Lee Jacobs, Jacobs 2, 13.843; 19. Brian Woodhall, Woodhall 8B, 13.940; 20. Gary Edwards, Schuller 61, 13.951; 21. Andrew Palker, Palker 57x, 13.995; 22. Ralph Spithaler, Spithaler 56, 14.000; 23. Barry Ruble, Ruble 63r, 14.077; 24. Rob Eyler, Eyler 5, 14.131; 25. Mark Keegan, Steinbrick 92, 14.157; 26. Bruce Robenalt, Robenalt 98, 14.177; 27. Kevin Andrusky, Andrusky 7, 14.199; 28. Bill Rose, Rose 6B, 14.271; 29. Chad Blonde, Blonde 5, 14.300; 30. Todd Bauer, Bauer 45, 14.483; 31. Gary McCollum, McCollum 17, 14.529; 32. Butch Beasley, Beasley 1, 15.037; 33. Bill Kiley, Kiley 4k, 15.053; 34. Joe Sanger, Sanger 94, 15.230; 35. Chris Matthews, Matthews 52, 15.381; 36. Paul Kish, Kish 45b, 15.995; 37. Eric Turrill, Turrill 16T, 16.487; 38. Jimmy Hawley, Shearer 25, NT.

Crown Battery Heat (10 laps): 1. Palker 2. Kemenah 3. Reed 4, D. Smith 5. K. Jacobs 6. Wilson 7. Blonde 8. Keegan 9. Kiley 10. Turrill.

B&B Products Heat (10 laps): 1. L. Jacobs 2. McMahan 3. Ivy 4. Spithaler 5. Bonnell 6. Wagner 7. Bauer 8. Robenalt 9. Sanger.

Engler Machine & Tool Heat (10 laps): 1. Blaney 2. Shepard 3. Woodhall 4. Priest 5. J. Smith 6. Ruble 7. McCollum 8. Matthews 9. Andrusky.

TP Wings Heat (10 laps): 1. Eyler 2. D. Jacobs 3. Stewart 4. Duncan 5. Ellenberger 6. Edwards 7. Rose 8. Beasley 9. Kish.

Haulmark Dash (4 laps): 1. K. Jacobs 2. Kemenah 3. Shepard 4. Blaney 5. Johnson 6. Ivy.

United Aluminum Window Sales & Consulting B Main (12 laps): 1. Wilson 2. Wagner 3. Blonde 4. Edwards 5. Ruble 6. McCollum 7. Rose 8. Bauer 9. Robenalt 10. Matthews 11. Kiley 12. Kish 13. Beasley 14. Turrill 15. Keegan.

A Main (40 laps): 1. Shane Stewart 2. Dale Blaney 3. Jeff Shepard 4. Jamie Smith 5. Chad Kemenah 6. Paul McMahan 7. Danny Smith 8. Andy Priest 9. John Ivy 10. Dean Jacobs 11. Lee Jacobs 12. Mike Wagner 13. Jason Johnson 14. Byron Reed 15. Greg Wilson 16. Brian Woodhall 17. Bill Rose 18. Gary Edwards 19. Ralph Spithaler 20. Chad Blonde 21. Todd Bauer 22. Rob Eyler 23. Brian Ellenberger 24. Kenny Jacobs 25. Andrew Palker 26. Scott Bonnell (DQ-lost muffler).

Lap Leaders: Paul McMahan 1-4, Shane Stewart 5-40.

All Star Sprint Points: 1 15K Chad Kemenah 3259 2 6 Kenny Jacobs 3175 3 92 Jeff Shepard 3007 4 51 Danny Smith 2992 5 63 Greg Wilson 2918 6 34 Dean Jacobs 2907 7 4k Kelly Kinser 2754 8 55 Mike Wagner 2670 9 6b Bill Rose 2551 10 63r Barry Ruble 2333

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