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ALLSTAR: All Star Sprint Race Results - Sharon Speedway

20 May 1998

HARTFORD, OH - Joey Saldana won his second feature in a row in the All Star sprint 30-lap Spring Nationals feature Sunday night at Sharon Speedway. Saldana had to get past early leader Dean Jacobs by using a nice slide job move to earn his $4,000 payday.

"Im just glad to see Dean Jacobs back tonight," Saldana related afterward. "I was right behind him and thought for sure he had to be hurt bad at Eldora." He then described tonights action, "I stayed back and just followed Dean, I was just biding my time. I just had to wait for Dean to get loose." He added, "I thought our motor was blowing up but our crossover tube on the valve cover fell off." Saldanas Steve Mox Gaerte-Chevy Stealth was on Goodyear tires and wrenched by Darryl Tate.

D. Jacobs started on the ButlerBuilt Hot Seat pole for the third straight night, with Empire Super Sprint regular Mike Woodring alongside. Jacobs grabbed the initial lead, running the high groove on the extremely dry track surface. Saldana, who started third, moved to second ahead of fourth starter Kenny Jacobs. By the time D. Jacobs reached lapped traffic on lap five, a caution came out for a Mike Lutz spin. Saldana kept trying to pass D. Jacobs for the first two laps after the restart, but then D. Jacobs began to pull away. Again heavy lapped traffic came into play, allowing Saldana and K. Jacobs to close on the leader. Jeff Shepard, who started sixth, was running a steady fourth. Then on lap 14 Shepard spun exiting turn two, flattening a front tire. Shepard changed it under caution, and then hit the turn four wall on the restart, bringing out another caution and ending his night. After the green reappeared, it was still a three car race with Saldana getting stronger and challenging the leader the longer the laps ran under green.

But on lap 18, Kevin Huntley, running eighth, blew an engine, bringing out the yellow, which became a red flag fuel stop. The lineup for the restart was still D. Jacobs, Saldana, K. Jacobs, Woodring and Frankie Kerr.

Kerr hit the backstretch wall on the ensuing restart, smashing his tail tank and flattening a tire. He got it changed under caution and rejoined the race. Saldana got an excellent run on D. Jacobs on the restart, diving low through turns three and four and taking the lead at the finish line on lap 19. He then pulled away from the Jacobs brothers, finishing a full straightaway ahead at the end. D. Jacobs had to fight hard to hold off K. Jacobs, with the pair side by side on two occasions during the last three laps.

Dean Jacobs, racing with a bad headache leftover from the Eldora crash, was glad to finish second and just thankful to be in competition. "We just had on a too soft tire and blistered it," Jacobs recalled.

Following K. Jacobs in third was a steady fourth place Woodring in his Kriner powered Trevis, with ninth starter Kauffman next. Tommy Quarterson started last and finished sixth, ahead of Sean Michael, Kerr, Scott Jones and Judi Bates, both battling for the GMP Rookie of the year Honors.

The United Expressline heat went to Brian Ellenberger and the Southwest Glass heat was won by Jeff Shepard. The Southwest Expressline heat and the Commercial Truck & Trailer Dash fell to Kenny Jacobs. Sean Michaels quick time of 15.717 was a new track record, breaking Ed Lynch Jrs 15.795 mark set last fall.

Time Trials: 1. Sean Michael, Harz 88, 15.717 (NTR); 2. Ed Lynch, Jr., Lynch 2L, 15.725; 3. Jeff Shepard, Double L 4J, 15.744; 4. Frankie Kerr, Shoff 23s, 15.858; 5. Kenny Jacobs, Hughes 94, 15.907; 6. Joey Saldana, Mox 17, 15.958; 7. Mike Woodring, Woodring 19, 16.022; 8. Dean Jacobs, Ashworth 92, 16.042; 9. Keith Kauffman, Johnson U2, 16.168; 10. Jimmy Hawley, Crawford C3, 16.194; 11. Judi Bates, Mourar 121, 16.214; 12. Kevin Huntley, Daugherty 7, 16.287; 13. Jarod Larson, Larson 47, 16.408; 14. Scott Jones, Jones 13, 16.466; 15. Tom Burns, Burns 7c, 16.556; 16. Brian Ellenberger, Ellenberger 20, 16.567; 17. Gary Edwards, Schuller 61, 16.568; 18. Gary McCann, McCann 18, 16.787; 19. Brian Smith, Smith 2+, 16.866; 20. Mike Keckich, DeMarco 5K, 16.963; 21. Barry Ruble, Ruble 63, 16.984; 22. C. W. Harshman, Harshman 53, 17.761; 23. Mike Lutz, Kerr 33, NT; 24. Tom Quarterson, R&R 27, NT.

United Expressline Heat (8 laps): 1. Ellenberger 2. Hawley 3. Michael 4. Kerr 5. Larson 6. Woodring 7. Harshman 8. Smith.

Southwest Expressline Heat (8 laps): 1. K. Jacobs 2. Jones 3. Bates 4. Lynch 5. Edwards 6. Keckich 7. D. Jacobs 8. Quarterson.

Southwest Glass Heat (8 laps): 1. Shepard 2. Saldana 3. Huntley 4. Kauffman 5. McCann 6. Burns 7. Ruble 8. Lutz.

Commercial Truck & Trailer Dash: (4 laps): 1. K. Jacobs 2. Kauffman 3. Saldana 4. Shepard 5. Kerr 6. Lynch.

A Main (30 laps): 1. Saldana 2. D. Jacobs 3. K. Jacobs 4. Woodring 5. Kauffman 6. Quarterson 7. Michael 8. Kerr 9. Jones 10. Bates 11. Edwards 12. Smith 13. McCann 14. Keckich 15. Ruble 16. Harshman 17. Hawley 18. Lutz 19. Huntley 20. Shepard 21. Lynch 22. Larson 23. Burns 24. Ellenberger.

All Star Points: 1. Joey Saldana 1061; 2. Kenny Jacobs 1058; 3. Frankie Kerr 981; 4. Kevin Huntley 951; 5. Dean Jacobs 946; 6. Jeff Shepard 929; 7. Keith Kauffman 921; 8. Judi Bates 763; 9. Scott Jones 757; 10. Brian Smith 688.