BARBERVILLE, FL - Terry McCarl passed Jeff Shepard on a late race restart Tuesday night at Volusia Speedway Park to win the Haulmark All Star sprint car 25 lap A main feature. The season opener for the All Stars saw 47 cars on hand and Shepard was followed across the finish line by Chad Kemenah, Danny Smith and Craig Dollansky. With rookie Cody Geldart and McCarl starting from the front row, Geldart led the first two laps before McCarl jumped out into the lead in his Wesmar powered Eagle chassis. The 16-year-old Geldart and sixth starting Jeff Shepard were next.
Bill Rose brought out the first caution of the race when his machine lost power. Rose was done for the event, and Jac Haudenschild also stopped the Jack Elden No. 22 in the work area, but he returned to the event. McCarl led Geldart, Shepard, Kemenah and Dollansky for the restart, with first Shepard then Kemenah moving past Geldart into the top three by lap 11.
Another caution flew on lap 13 for Jack Pillon's spin, with McCarl still leading Shepard, Kemenah, Dollansky, Geldart and Danny Lasoski. Shepard went high around McCarl in his Apple Motorsports machine to grab the lead following the restart, with Shepard in the high groove and McCarl utilizing the bottom groove of the quick half-mile oval. Lasoski was now on the move, taking fourth from Dollansky on lap 16, and Danny Smith took over 4th a circuit later and then Greg Hodnett moved Al Hamilton's No. 77 to sixth. Another stoppage occurred on lap 18 for a stalled Mike Brecht.
This was the turning point of the race for McCarl, as he powered under Shepard when the green reappeared, and the $4,000 victory was his. He flew by lapped traffic to win by half a straightaway over Shepard. Defending All Star champion Kemenah drove a steady race for third. Dollansky got past Danny Smith on lap 21 for third, but Smith returned the favor the next lap to end up fourth at the end after starting 10th. Behind Dollansky it was Lasoski, Hodnett up from 11th starting spot, Fred Rahmer, Lance Dewease who started 16th and Haudenschild who restarted last on lap four.
The Crown Battery heat fell to Jason Sowold, the B&B Products heat went to Mark Smith, the Engler Machine and Tool heat was won by Jason Johnson and the TP Wings heat fell to Canadian driver Jack Pillon. Tom Busch won the Outerwears Pre-filters C Main and the University of Northwestern Ohio B Main fell to Rahmer.
Sammy Swindell was leading the B when he broke a fuel linkage on the last lap, putting him out of the event. Shepard was the Huggins Cams Fast Time qualifier.
Heat 1 8 laps top 5 transfer to A: 1-Jason Solwold 2-Jac Haudenschild 3-Jason Meyers 4-Danny Lasoski 5-Jeff Shepard 6-Sammy Swindell 7-Dean Jacobs 8-Jeremy Campbell 9-Greg Wilson 10-Natalie Sather 11-Spud Gustin 12-Johnny Johnson
Heat 2 8 laps top 5 transfer to A: 1-Mark Smith 2-Lance Dewease 3-Mike Erdley 4-Kevin Swindell 5-Craig Dollansky 6-Paul May 7-Fred Rahmer 8-Jason Sides 9-Tony Bruce Jr. 10-Ron Blair 11-Barry Ruble 12-Brock Mayes
Heat 3 8 laps top 5 transfer to A: 1-Jason Johnson 2-Chad Kemenah 3-Dale Blaney 4-Danny Smith 5-Terry McCarl 6-Curt Trainer 7-Cameron Dodson 8-Mike Lutz 9-Bill Rose 10-Phil Gressman 11-Bob Bennett
Heat 4 8 laps top 5 transfer to A: 1-Jack Pillon 2-Greg Hodnett 3-Trevor Lewis 4-Cody Geldart 5-Mike Brecht 6-Clint Garner 7-Rob Chaney 8-Justin Collett 9-Tom Busch 10-Wayne McPeek 11-Cody Branchcomb 12-Randy Hannagan
C Main 8 laps top 4 transfer to B: 1- Tom Busch 2-Phil Gressman 3-Cody Branchcomb 4-Ron Blair 5-Bob Bennett 6-Wayne McPeek 7-Spud Gustin 8-Johnny Johnson 9-Paul May (DNS) 10-Brock Mayes (DNS)
B Main 12 laps top 4 transfer to A: 1-Fred Rahmer 2-Jeremy Campbell 3-Dean Jacobs 4-Rose 5-Greg Wilson 6-Jason Sides 7-Justin Collett 8-Mike Lutz 9-Sammy Swindell 10-Tom Busch 11-Natalie Sather 12-Ron Blair 13-Randy Hannagan 14-Curt Trainer 15-Clint Garner 16-Phil Gressman 17-Rob Chaney 18-Cody Branchcomb 19-Tony Bruce Jr. 20-Cameron Dodson
A Main 25 laps: 1-Terry McCarl 2-Jeff Shepard 3-Chad Kemenah 4-Danny Smith 5-Craig Dollansky 6-Danny Lasoski 7-Greg Hodnett 8-Fred Rahmer 9-Lance Dewease 10-Jac Haudenschild 11-Dale Blaney 12-Dean Jacobs 13-Jason Meyers 14-Kevin Swindell 15-Mark Smith 16-Cody Geldart 17-Jason Solwold 18-Mike Erdley 19-Jason Johnson 20-Jeremy Campbell 21-Trever Lewis 22-Mike Brecht 23-Jack Pillon 24-Bill Rose
Lap Leaders 1-2 Cody Geldart 3-13 Terry McCarl 14-18 Jeff Shepard 19-25 Terry McCarl
Racer's Racing Series