1

Blair Bests SOD / NRA Challenge Field at I-96

Ron Blair in victory lane at I-96 Speedway. - Jennifer Peterson Photo
Ron Blair in victory lane at I-96 Speedway. – Jennifer Peterson Photo

Lake Odessa, MI – (May 4, 2013) – Ron Blair used multiple restarts to his advantage to win Saturday night’s Engine Pro Sprints on Dirt presented by ARP event co-sanctioned with the K&L Ready Mix National Racing Alliance. The box score shows Blair leading every lap from the front row, but had to hold off multiple challenges from Ryan Ruhl on the way to winning the feature.
“The car was great in clean air, and I knew if we were out by ourselves we were good,” said Blair. “I couldn’t get the car to maneuver in the lapped traffic, and I saw Ryan (Ruhl) underneath me. (Ruhl) ran a great race.”
Blair and Andy Teunessen started on the front row for the 25-lap feature event. Blair took the lead at the start with Ruhl moving into second around Teunessen. Behind them Dustin Daggett moved up from eighth starting spot after a slide job on Brett Mann to take the fifth spot. Kyle Sauder followed Daggett by Mann two laps later.
Up front Ruhl caught Blair and kept looking on the bottom for the lead through turns three and four. After multiple attempts Ruhl got a run into turns one and two and took the lead, but before the duo crossed the finish line Todd Heureman flipped in turn four. Heureman exited the car under his own power.
Blair retained the lead for the restart with Ruhl and Teunessen behind him. Daggett moved around Tuenessen on the restart as the top three cars pulled away from the rest of the field. Behind them Sauder and Tim Allison, who moved up to fifth, began to run down the top three.
As the lead trio began to encounter slower traffic, Shawn Dancer spun and hit a light pole in the infield to bring out the caution flag. Dancer’s car was pushed back into the pit area and remarkably repairs made for him to join the restart
On the restart Sauder dove inside of Dustin Daggett in turn two and took over the third spot. Shortly after Daggett slowed with a flat left rear tire to bring out the caution flag in turn three, and J.R. Stewart also slid off the backstretch, and also has a flat right rear tire. Both drivers were able to restart.
Blair was able to pull away on the restart with Ruhl catching him as the laps wore on. On lap 20 Ruhl mad another challenge for the lead, but Joe Geibe slid off the race track to bring out the caution flag.
During the final restart Blair pulled away and opened up enough of an advantage to hold Ruhl at bay. Mann made a last ditch effort to race around the top and get up to the final podium position. Sauder and Gregg Dalman rounded out the top five.
In hot laps Mann tagged an inside marker tire and turned over in turn two. Mann made repairs and went on to win the first heat race. In heat race #3 D.J. Lamance slammed the wall in turn four and turned over hard. Lamance was uninjured.

Hoosier Racing Tire Heat Race #1 (8 Laps): 1. 19 – Brett Mann, 2. 7 – Darren Long, 3. 49t – Gregg Dalman, 4. 17 – Jared Horstman, 5. 18 – Todd Heureman, 6. 27 – Beau Stewart, 7. 8 – Tim Champlin, 8. 22T – Tank Brakenberry, 9. 2T – Ralph Brakenberry.

 

All Star Performance / Comp Cams Heat Race #2 (8 Laps): 1. 10s – Jay Steinbach, 2. 23 – Joe Geibe, 3. 22d – Dennis Yoakam, 4. 49 – Shawn Dancer, 5. 10J – Chris Jones, 6. 46 – Robert Huisken, 7. 21 – Kirk Cheney, 8. 18 – D.J. Lamance. DNS: D.Bonstrum.

 

Speed Pro Heat Race #3 (8 Laps): 1. 16 -Ryan Ruhl, 2, 35 – Ron Blair, 3. 2M – Daggett, 4. 6 – J.R. Stewart, 5. 23 – Devon Dobbie, 6. 77 – Keith Love, 7. 6 – Nate Bostrum, 8. 6 – Nate Bostrum , 9. 16c – Greg Wheeler.

 

ARP Fastners Heat Race #4 (8 Laps): 1. 31 – Andy Teunessen, 2. 20B – Butch Schroeder, 3. 11 – Tim Allison, 4. 2 –Kyle Sauder, 5. 20A – Andy Chehowski, 6. 50B – Mike Burns, 7. 3w – Ryan Grubaugh, 8. 4 – Eric Smith.

 

Engine Pro B-Main #1 (10 Laps): 1. 27 – Beau Stewart, 2. 3w – Ryan Grubaugh, 3. 20A – Andy Chehowski, 4. 8 – Tim Champlin, 5. 10J – Chris Jones, 7. 22t – Tank Brakenberry, 8. 50 B – Mike Burns. DNS: 2t – R.Brakenberry, 36 – D.Bostrum (First two finishers transferred to the “A” Feature)

 

Engine Pro B-Main #2 (10 Laps): 1. 18 – Todd Heureman, 2. 23 – Devon Dobbie, 3. 77 – Keith Love, 4. 46 – Robert Huisken, 5. 16c – Greg Wheeler, 7. 21 – Kirk Cheney, 8. 4 – Eric Smith. DNS: 18 – D.J. Lamance. (First two finishers transferred to the A-Main)

 

Nitro Black Dash (4 Laps): 1. 17 – Jared Horstman, 2. 2 – Kyle Sauder, 3. 11 – Tim Allison, 4. 49 – Shawn Dancer. (Determined starting positions 9-12 in the A-Main)

 

Engine Pro / ARP A-Main (25 Laps): 1. 35 – Ron Blair, 2. 16 – Ryan Ruhl, 3. 19 – Brett Mann, 4. 2 – Kyle Sauder, 5. 49t – Gregg Dalman, 6. 11 – Tim Allison, 7. 17 – Jared Horstman, 8. 22d – Dennis Yoakam, 9. 7 – Darren Long, 10. 20B – Butch Schroeder, 11. 2m – Dustin Daggett, 12. 49 – Shawn Dancer, 13. 27 – Beau Stewart, 14. 6s – J.R. Stewart, 15. 3w – Ryan Grubuagh, 16. 10s – Jay Steinbach, 17. 31 – Andy Teunessen, 18. 23 – Devon Dobbie, 19. 23G – Joe Geibe , 20. Todd Heuerman.

 

Lap Leaders: Blair 1-25