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All Star Sprint Race Results - Flag City

25 May 1998

FINDLAY, OH - In a race it seemed no one wanted to win, Dean Jacobs scored a suprising win in the All Star sprint 30-lap feature Sunday night at Flag City Motorsports Park. It was the 1,000th feature run in the history of the All Star Circuit of Champions. The 1,000 features have been contested on 120 different speedways, with 111 different winners since Alan Barr won the first All Star sanctioned event on May 30, 1980 at Lincoln Park (IN) Speedway.

Jacobs won in his backup machine after he blew an engine in his main car on his first time trial attempt. Early leader Joey Saldana ran into a lapped car, ending his night. Then Kenny Jacobs had just passed Frankie Kerr for the lead when his car broke. Then Kerr was in the lead on a green, white, checker restart and his car sputtered, allowing Jacobs to go by and win. Twelfth starter Keith Kauffman ended up second with Kerr third, Butch Schroeder fourth and Kevin Huntley fifth.

"This is my kind of racetrack, fast and rough where you can get up and get after it," Jacobs recalled. "It seems like thats the only way we are going to beat Joey (Saldana) now, somethings got to happen to him. Frankie was going awful good too, I just got lucky on the start there," he concluded. Jacobs Stealth used Goodyear tires, carried Gaerte-Chevrolet power and was prepared by Denny Ashworth and the father-son duo of Randy and Aaron Hammer.

Butch Schroeder started on the ButlerBuilt Hot Seat pole, with Kerr alongside. Mark Keegan, who started eighth, tagged the turn one wall on the start, ending his race with front suspension damage. Then Sarah Fisher, scheduled to start third, hit a water puddle while lining up for the restart and spun, forcing her to restart on the tail. When the green came out again, Kerr grabbed the lead from the outside, with Saldana, who started fourth, grabbing second from Schroeder on lap two. Kerr pulled away from Saldana on an open track, but as they entered lapped traffic Saldana tracked Kerr down. Saldana took over with a nice inside move exiting turn two to lead lap eight, and he pulled out to a seemingly dominant lead.

As the leaders entered lapped traffic on lap 16, the order was Saldana, Kerr, K. Jacobs and D. Jacobs, up from 14th starting spot. On lap 17 Saldana was on the inside groove exiting turn two, under two lapped cars, when sophomore racer Donnie Jaschke spun directly in front of the leader. Saldana creamed him as he had no where else to go, ending Saldanas drive and putting Kerr back on top.

Kerr led with K. Jacobs on his tail and D. Jacobs next. K, Jacobs put the Tim Hughes J&J right on Kerrs bumper, and finally found a way around as he dove under Kerr in lapped traffic exiting turn two on lap 28. But Jacobs broke two turns later and coasted to a halt, ending his race.

It was now a green, white, checkered for the last two laps with Kerr leading D. Jacobs, Kauffman and Schroeder on the restart. Kerr rode high into turn one, and his car hesitated a bit on the cushion as it sputtered, allowing D Jacobs to dive under and lead the final two laps. Kauffman also got by and Kerr took home third. Kerr related afterward about his car, "It stumbled and just wouldnt go."

The United Expressline heat fell to Paul Weaver, the Southwest Expressline heat to Dean Jacobs and the Southwest Glass heat was won by Kauffman. Saldana pocketed $100 for fast time, 14.250 seconds, a new track record and he won the Commercial Truck & Trailer Dash. Jody Keegan defeated Mike Linder and Scott Kraylek in the 15-lap econo sprint main.

Time Trials: 1. Joey Saldana, Mox 17, 14.250 (NTR); 2. Sarah Fisher, Fisher 9, 14.256; 3. Frankie Kerr, Shoff 23s, 14.286; 4. Butch Schroeder, Gottschalk 17, 14.380; 5. Chad Kemenah, Harble 15, 14.417; 6. Kenny Jacobs, Hughes 94, 14.512; 7. Kevin Huntley, Daugherty 7, 14.597; 8. Mark Keegan, Keegan X, 14.621; 9. Tim Kern, Hay 28, 14.670; 10. Alvin Roepke, R&F 99, 14.673; 11. Rodney Duncan, Harrison 22, 14.699; 12. Keith Kauffman, Johnson U2, 14.721; 13. Scott Jones, Jones 13, 14.810; 14. Dean Jacobs, Ashworth 92, 14.825; 15. Greg Litten, Litten 12, 14.924; 16. Paul Weaver, Sabo 8s, 14.932; 17. Dave Freed, Freed 8F, 14.967; 18. Greg Wilson, Davis 99, 15.041; 19. Tim Allison, Lotz 11x, 15.044; 20. Ed Neumeister, Neumeister 11n, 15.186; 21. Bob Teeple, Teeple 8T , 5.191; 22. Brian Crisp, Crisp 1c, 15.264; 23. Brian Smith, Smith 2+, 15.540; 24. John Ivy, Bogner 5i, 15.729; 25. Donnie Jeschke, Jeschke 99h, 15.957; 26. Jeff Williams, McCullough 10, NT; 27. Judi Bates, Mourar 121, NT.

United Expressline Heat (8 laps): 1. Weaver 2. Saldana 3. Jones 4. Huntley 5. Schroeder 6. Allison 7. Roepke 8. Jeschke 9. Crisp.

Southwest Expressline Heat (8 laps): 1. D. Jacobs 2. Keegan 3. Kemenah 4. Fisher 5. Duncan 6. Freed 7. Smith 8. Neumeister.

Southwest Glass Heat (8 laps): 1. Kauffman 2. K. Jacobs 3. Kerr 4. Kern 5. Wilson 6. Teeple 7. Litten.

Commercial Truck & Trailer Dash: (4 laps): 1. Saldana 2. Kerr 3. K. Jacobs 4. Fisher 5. Huntley 6. Kern.

A Main (30 laps): 1. D. Jacobs 2. Kauffman 3. Kerr 4. Schroeder 5. Huntley 6. Kemenah 7. Jones 8. Weaver 9. Kern 10. Roepke 11. Litten 12. Allison 13. Freed 14. Smith 15. Neumeister 16. Teeple 17. K. Jacobs 18. Crisp 19. Fisher 20. Saldana 21. Jaschke 22. Duncan 23. Wilson 24. Keegan.

All Star Points: 1. Joey Saldana 1235; 2. Kenny Jacobs 1218; 3. Frankie Kerr 1169; 4. Kevin Huntley 1123; 4. Dean Jacobs 1123; 6. Keith Kauffman 1117; 7. Scott Jones 909; 8. Judi Bates 864; 9. 10. Brian Smith 831; Jeff Shepard 729.