8/7/2010
All Star Circuit of Champions
An Amazing Race: Jason Meyers Wins Ironman 55
evely, MO (8-7-10)- 55 laps at I-55 Raceway and the Second Annual Ironman 55 came down to the final one and just a couple of feet on the race track as Jason Meyers won a thriller over Lucas Wolfe on the final circuit. Wolfe used a huge slide job coming off turn four to take the lead on the 55th and final lap, with Meyers winning a drag race down the front straightaway by a mere 0.092 seconds, which was the closest finish of the season.
The $20,000 win for Meyers was his eighth of the season and his second career triumph at I-55 Raceway, where he has finished in the Top-10 in each of his last seven starts at the high-banked 1/3-mile co-owned by Ken Schrader and Ray Marlar. The win helped Meyers close to within 46 markers of current point leader Joey Saldana, who finished fifth, while he is just 37 points behind Steve Kinser, who finished sixth on Saturday night and is currently second in the standings.
“To win any race here, let alone a 55-lap race is pretty special,” said Meyers. “We had a great race car tonight and learned some things last night that we were able to use tonight. We just keep getting better day after day. We struggled a bit here in the middle of the season and kept digging and kept our heads down. This entire team is doing an amazing job.”
Meyers took the lead from Tim Shaffer on the 29th lap on the low side of turns one and two and quickly opened a gap once out front. The native of Clovis, California was credited with leading a total of 26 laps en route to the victory. He started on the outside of the front row aboard the GLR Investments KPC and chased Tim Shaffer who started on the pole in the early going, before Sam Hafertepe Jr. took the second spot on the seventh lap. Meyers would move back into the runner-up spot 10 laps later and then worked on Shaffer for the next 13 laps.
“It was a long race and we were a little tight at the beginning, but we set up for that,” explained the winner. “I waited for the car to kind of come to me and it did after the fuel came off a little bit. It ended up being a very good car tonight.”
Wolfe closed the gap on Meyers over the last three laps on Saturday night and with two to go, was all over his back bumper. Coming to the checkered flag Wolfe used a monstrous slide job in turns three and four to take the top spot and charge down the front straightaway with Meyers right behind him. Meyers went low at the start finish/line to inch out the native of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
“I was thinking I made the wrong decision when he came by me, but I was able to get back by him,” shared Meyers of the last lap last corner action. “He drove a great race and is a very good driver and has many good years ahead of him. It’s great to race guys like that.”
Wolfe, who lined up third, fell back to fifth on the seventh lap. He worked his way around Joey Saldana on lap-16 to move into fourth, before taking third from Sam Hafertepe Jr. on the 24th go-around. He gained significant ground on Meyers in the late going, giving him a chance at scoring his fist career World of Outlaws A-Feature win.
“I was close there and got a good opportunity at the end to slide him and was pretty good the whole time,” Wolfe said. “At least I got a shot at him. I was following him and kind of biding my time waiting to get a shot and it all came together good there at the end. I just wasn’t quite able to hold him off
Wolfe had a steady night aboard the Allebach Racing Maxim, opening the finale of the Ironman 55 by turning the ninth fastest lap in qualifying, finishing second in a heat race and third in the dash to earn the inside second row starting spot in the 55-lap main event. Following the stock car main event, the track crew at I-55 Raceway did a complete rebuild of the high-banked bullring, providing a very racy surface for the main event.
“It was a great track tonight and I’m glad they worked on it,” said Wolfe. “I wish we raced here more. It was a lot of fun and hopefully we come here a few times next year.”
Tim Shaffer, who opened the Ironman Weekend with a win on Friday night, started on the pole in the finale and led early en route to a third-place finish in the Kistler Engines J&J. He and Sam Hafertepe Jr. traded the top spot unofficially six times over a three lap period from lap 10-12, with Hafertepe officially being credited with the top spot at the line each time, as he used slide jobs in turns three and four to retake the top spot each time after Shaffer used slide jobs in turns one and two to move back out front.
“It was a great race,” stated Shaffer. “We were just a little too tight and those guys were a lot freer. I thought the track would get slicker. We’re happy with third. It was 55 laps and we survived. It was a very good weekend for us.”
Qualifying
15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 10.827
7-Craig Dollansky 10.875
15-Donny Schatz 10.963
9-Joey Saldana 10.986
63-Chad Kemenah 11.062
91-Paul McMahan 11.090
11K-Kraig Kinser 11.227
14-Jason Meyers 11.306
5W-Lucas Wolfe 11.317
83X-Tim Shaffer 11.326
11-Steve Kinser 11.354
7S-Jason Sides 11.355
51-Fred Rahmer 11.359
3-Kerry Madsen 11.400
R19-Doug Esh 11.447
4X-Toni Lutar 11.458
3B-Brad Greer 11.473
71M-Paul May 11.507
6-Danny Lasoski 11.568
6R-Bill Rose 11.692
44-AJ Bruns 11.694
58-Wade Oliver 11.695
30C-Lance Dewease 11.748
2B-Ben Gregg 11.753
O4-Cap Henry III 11.756
57D-Tom Dickerman 11.912
W20-Greg Wilson 11.972
3X-Mark Shirshekan 12.023
12-Jared Ridge 12.189
35-Jimmy Hurley 12.246
89G-David Gravel 16.837
Heat 1 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) - Starting Position [#]
11K-Kraig Kinser[2]
83X-Tim Shaffer[1]
9-Joey Saldana[3]
15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[4]
4X-Toni Lutar[6]
3X-Mark Shirshekan[10]
51-Fred Rahmer[5]
6-Danny Lasoski[7]
89G-David Gravel[11]
O4-Cap Henry III[9]
58-Wade Oliver[8]
Heat 2 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) - Starting Position [#]
14-Jason Meyers[2]
11-Steve Kinser[1]
63-Chad Kemenah[3]
7-Craig Dollansky[4]
30C-Lance Dewease[8]
3-Kerry Madsen[5]
57D-Tom Dickerman[9]
6R-Bill Rose[7]
12-Jared Ridge[10]
3B-Brad Greer[6]
Heat 3 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) - Starting Position [#]
7S-Jason Sides[1]
5W-Lucas Wolfe[2]
15-Donny Schatz[4]
91-Paul McMahan[3]
W20-Greg Wilson[9]
R19-Doug Esh[5]
2B-Ben Gregg[8]
71M-Paul May[6]
35-Jimmy Hurley[10]
44-AJ Bruns[7]
Dash (8 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) - Starting Position [#]
83X-Tim Shaffer[1]
14-Jason Meyers[3]
5W-Lucas Wolfe[2]
15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[8]
11K-Kraig Kinser[4]
9-Joey Saldana[5]
15-Donny Schatz[6]
11-Steve Kinser[9]
7-Craig Dollansky[7]
7S-Jason Sides[10]
B-main (12 laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) - Starting Position [#]
51-Fred Rahmer[1]
6-Danny Lasoski[4]
71M-Paul May[3]
6R-Bill Rose[5]
3B-Brad Greer[2]
44-AJ Bruns[6]
2B-Ben Gregg[8] [$200]
12-Jared Ridge[11] [$180]
57D-Tom Dickerman[10] [$175]
89G-David Gravel[13] [$160]
O4-Cap Henry III[9] [$150]
35-Jimmy Hurley[12] [$150]
58-Wade Oliver[7] [$150]
A-main (55 laps) - Starting Position [#]
14-Jason Meyers[2] [$20,000]
5W-Lucas Wolfe[3] [$6,000]
83X-Tim Shaffer[1] [$3,750]
11K-Kraig Kinser[5] [$3,250]
9-Joey Saldana[6] [$2,750]
11-Steve Kinser[8] [$2,500]
15-Donny Schatz[7] [$2,400]
91-Paul McMahan[12] [$2,300]
3-Kerry Madsen[14] [$2,200]
7S-Jason Sides[10] [$2,100]
30C-Lance Dewease[20] [$1,700]
63-Chad Kemenah[11] [$1,400]
R19-Doug Esh[15] [$1,300]
6-Danny Lasoski[18] [$1,200]
W20-Greg Wilson[21] [$1,100]
6R-Bill Rose[19] [$1,000]
71M-Paul May[17] [$1,000]
4X-Toni Lutar[16] [$1,000]
3B-Brad Greer[23] [$1,000]
44-AJ Bruns[24] [$1,000]
7-Craig Dollansky[9] [$1,000]
51-Fred Rahmer[13] [$1,000]
15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[4] [$1,000]
3X-Mark Shirshekan[22] [$1,000]
Submitted By: Ross Paulson