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ALLSTAR Sprints: Results From Tampa

13 February 1998

TAMPA, FL - The new Musco lighting was shining bright on the record setting crowd at Will Cagle's East Bay Speedway for the second night of the Winternationals. Shining almost as bright was Lance DeWease, who drove the Walt Dyer Kriner / Maxim to his ninth All Star Circuit of Champions victory.

The Chevrolet pace truck led ButlerBuilt Hot Seat pole sitter Fred Rahmer and Todd Shaffer to the waving of the green flag. Rahmer jumped out to lead in the Al Hamilton Ott / J & J over Shaffer, Jeff Shepard, Joey Saldana, and Terry McCarl. McCarl lost the fifth spot on the next lap as DeWease started his charge to the front.

Lap number five saw Lance move into fourth past Saldana. Shaffer took a dive to the bottom of Rahmer in turn three on lap seven and the cars made contact. The contact sent both cars sliding wide, and DeWease shot to the bottom under Shepard and the two leaders. Shaffer regained control of the Beam Kriner / Eagle to maintain second, while Rahmer fell to third.

Rahmer retook second on lap eight, just before the red flag waved for a flipping Sarah Fisher in turn one. Sarah was uninjured and the green only came out for one more lap before Art Wendt flipped in turn four, during a multi-car incident. Art was unscathed also.

The restart saw Fred try to challenge Lance on the high side, while the previous night's winner, Billy Pauch, moved up from his tenth starting spot to take fifth from Saldana. The yellow flew on lap 13 for Todd Kane who spun in turn two. The top five of DeWease, Rahmer, Shaffer, Shepard, and Pauch stayed the same until lap 17 when Shepard moved into third.

This leading quintet ran in this order until Danny Lasoski moved the Black Wesmar / Eagle past Pauch for fifth on lap 24. Lance opened up a straightaway advantage and was never challenged the rest of the way. Rahmer, Shepard in the Double L Kriner / Maxim, Shaffer, and Lasoski followed.

In victory lane, Lance Thanked Hoosier Tire and Spectro Oil among his sponsors. He also remarked that with the new lighting, "I can see the race track now." He also said, "The track was pretty racy tonight and running the C and B Mains really helped us out."

Allen Winker claimed the Last Chance race, while Shepard won the United Expressline heat, Todd Shaffer the Southwest Expressline heat, Joe Gaerte the Southwest Glass heat, and Pauch the United Specialties heat. DeWease won the KSE Racing Products C-Main after starting on the tail due to not being able to start his heat because of car problems. He then won the United Expressline B-Main. The fine track preparation enabled DeWease to break the track record set the previous night, with a lap of 12.691 seconds.

Results:

Qualifying: 1. Lance DeWease, Dyer 461, 12.691 2. Terry McCarl, McCarl 24, 12.944 3. Danny Lasoski, Black 1, 12.968 4. Joey Saldana, Mox 17, 13.006 5. Jeff Shepard, Double L 4j, 13.017 6. Todd Shaffer, Beam 88, 13.032 7. Fred Rahmer, Hamilton 77, 13.062 8. Sean Michael, Joe Harz Racing, 13.135 9. Jim Nier, Nier 00, 13.145 10. Art Wendt, Wendt 77w, 13.152 11. Frankie Kerr, Shoff 23s, 13.196 12. Billy Pauch, Zematis 1z, 13.200 13. Travis Whitney, Whitney 7s, 13.226 14. Todd Kane, Kane 78, 13.265 15. Kevin Huntley, Daugherty 7, 13.266 16. Keith Kauffman, Johnson u2, 13.282 17. Tim Shaffer, Apple Motorsports 12, 13.301 18. Bill Bailey, Bailey 28, 13.307 19. Joe Gaerte, Holbrook 8h, 13.311 20. Dean Jacobs, Ashworth 92, 13.338 21. Dan Brettnacher, Brettnacher 33, 13.355 22. Tommie Estes, Jr., Archer 1a, 13.359 23. Kelly Kinser, Kinser Timber 4k, 13.393 24. Sarah Fisher, Fisher 9, 13.407 25. Gary Wright, Wright 9, 13.419 26. John Bankston, Bankston 8, 13.466 27. Danny Smith, Smith 4, 13.479 28. Mike Wagner, Wagner 55, 13.581 29. Raymond hensley, Hensley 70, 13.611 30. Kenny Jacobs, Hughes 94, 13.625 31. Judi Bates, Mourar 121, 13.630 32. Scott Jones, Jones 13, 13.644 33. Bill Brian, Jr., Stone 3s, 13.646 34. Mike Frost, Frost 88, 13.653 35. Jack Hewitt, Hampshire 63, 13.659 36. Joe Roe, Roe 61, 13.734 37. Kurt Winker, Winker 20w, 13.752 38. Bobby Clark, Clark 8, 13.760 39. Bob Felmlee, Felmlee 6, 13.772 40. Howie Gleason, Gleason 21, 13.860 41. Jeremy Minton, Minton 13, 14.002 42. Ken Ratchford, Ratchford 5k, 14.014 43. Raymond Shank, Shank 7x, 14.105 44. Dan Dittrich, Dittrich 4d, 14.165 45. Allen Winker, Winker f15, 14.182 46. Joe Hauck, Filla 34, 14.235 47. Brian Ellenberger, Ellenberger 20, 14.361 48. Billy Jarrell, Jarrell 22, 14.459 49. Lonnie Ryan, Ryan 73, 14.523 50. Mike Lauterborn, Lauterborn 41, 14.644 51. Tom Howe, Shubert 3, 14.853 52. Rob Hartman, Hartman 17h, 14.965 53, Brian Carlson, SC Motorsports 18, 15.084 54. Jim Perricone, Perricone 10p, 15.970 55. Johnny Johnson, Johnson 72j, 15.995 56. Bobby Hawks, Smith 2s, N.T. 57. Sport Allen, Mulligan 3, N.T.

First Heat - Last Chance Race - 1. A. Winker 2. Howe 3. Lauterborn 4. Ellenberger 5. Jarrell 6. Ryan 7. Perricone 8. Carlson 9. Johnson

Second Heat - United Expressline Heat - 1. Shepard 2. Tim Shaffer 3. Brettnacher 4. Nier 5. Wright 6. Hensley 7. Minton 8. Brian Jr 9. Whitney 10. K. Winker 11. A. Winker

Third Heat - Southwest Expressline Heat - 1. Todd Shaffer 2. Bailey 3. Estes Jr 4. Wendt 5. K. Jacobs 6. Bankston 7. Frost 8. Ratchford 9. Clark 10. Howe 11. Kane 12. McCarl

Fourth Heat - Southwest Glass Heat - 1. Gaerte 2. Kerr 3. Lasoski 4. Huntley 5. Rahmer 6. Smith 7. Kinser 8. Felmlee 9. Hewitt 10. Bates 11. Shank 12. Lauterborn

Fifth Heat - United Specialties Heat - 1. Pauch 2. D. Jacobs 3. Fisher 4. Kauffman 5. Saldana 6. Wagner 7. Michael 8. Roe 9. Gleason 10. Ellenberger 11. Dittrich 12. Jones

KSE Racing Products C-Main - 1. DeWease 2. Bates 3. Shank 4. K. Winker 5. Allen 6. Lauterborn 7. Ryan 8. Dittrich 9. A. Winker 10. Howe 11. Hartman 12. Perricone 13. Carlson 14. Jones 15. Ellenberger 16. Jarrell

United Expressline B-Main - 1. DeWease 2. McCarl 3. Smith 4. Kane 5. Hensley 6. Whitney 7. Brian Jr 8. Wagner 9. felmlee 10. Hewitt 11. Bankston 12. Frost 13. Roe 14. Minton 15. Shank 16. Clark 17. Bates 18. Gleason 19. Ratchford 20. K. Winker 21. Michael 22. Kinser

A-Main - 1. DeWease 2. Rahmer 3. Shepard 4. Todd Shaffer 5. Lasoski 6. McCarl 7. Wright 8. Pauch 9. Tim Shaffer 10. Huntley 11. Nier 12. Gaerte 13. Saldana 14. K. Jacobs 15. Kerr 16. Estes Jr 17. Kauffman 18. Brettnacher 19. Smith 20. Kane 21. D. Jacobs 22. Wendt 23. Bailey 24. Fisher