KEMENAH AND BLANEY COMPLETE PERFECT WEEKEND WITH SHARON SPRINT AND DIRT MOD WINS

by Mike Leone

Hartford(OH)...Highlighting wins on the 11th night of racing in the 70th anniversary season at Sharon Speedway on Sunday were Chad Kemenah (Sunburst Environmental Care Sprint Cars) and Lou Blaney (Hoosier Tire Ohio Valley DIRT Modifieds). Other winners were Rick Prosser, Jr. (Hoosier Tire Ohio Valley E-Mods) and Jeff Buccella (Hoosier Tire Ohio Valley Stock Cars).

Chad Kemenah made it two-for-two at Sharon scoring the 20-lap Sunburst Environmental Care Sprint Car Feature. "I could see it (front wing) it getting up in the way and it made it hard to drive down the straightaways. You’ve got so much straightaway speed and with the cushion being fast it wanted to push off to the fence," said Kemenah standing in victory lane despite his front wing knocked sideways.

Jarod Larson jumped into the lead over the 22-car field as Kemenah took second with Rob Chaney, and Ed Lynch, Jr., who started ninth, moving into the third and fourth positions passing Terry Young. Kemenah’s winning move came on lap four passing Larson on the backstretch. The top four cars quickly distanced themselves from the field by lap three. On lap five, action really heated up as Lynch and Chaney swapped positions while they both passed Larson. Kemenah, Lynch, and Chaney broke away from the rest of the competitors.

Two cautions for Gary McCann on laps seven and ten slowed action. On both restarts, Lynch went to the bottom and pulled even with Kemenah, but the Fremont, Ohio driver had enough run off the outside. The last three laps got interesting as the leaders were in heavy lap traffic. Kemenah made some daring moves and cleared lap traffic to perfection for his second win of the weekend after winning Saturday at K-C Raceway in the Jimmy Harble owned, UUI sponsored #15. "The flag man (Mike Hanshaw) does a real good job here. I want to compliment him. The get over flag really helps. It saves on the wrecks and accidents. He did a spectacular job," said Kemenah. Lynch was second in his first Sharon start of the year ahead of three-time winner, Chaney. Larson was a distant fourth over Doug Kekich. Kokomo, Indiana’s Boston Reid was sixth after starting 16th. Mike Lutz was seventh in the Todd Bauer #45. Mike Kekich and Young rounding out the top ten. Heat winners were McCann and Kemenah.

Lou Blaney of Hartford, Ohio scored the weekend "hat trick" picking up the win in the 20-lap Hoosier Tire Ohio Valley DIRT Modified Feature. Blaney won at Lernerville Speedway on Friday and Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday as well. "It’s nice to win a few. It’s nice to win here. I always like to win here. The bottom was good for me tonight," said Blaney.

Jim Rasey took the early lead as Tim Doran, who was running in second, brought out the only caution of the event with one lap completed as he spun in turn three. This moved Carl Murdick to second, Dave Murdick to third, and Blaney to fourth. When racing resumed, the Murdicks swapped second and third with Dave taking second and Carl dropping to third. Blaney was able to get around Carl on lap four, then passed Carl’s son, Dave, on lap six. Rasey’s chances at winning his first career race ended on lap eight when Blaney blew on by on the backstretch. By the half-way mark, Blaney opened up a straightaway lead and continued to build upon it during the last 10 laps as he cruised to his fifth Sharon win and 14th overall on the season in his son Dave’s Carpenter’s Towing/Colonial Metals/Troy Alan Chevrolet #10. Rasey was second for the second-straight week. Dave Murdick was third over Guy Griffin and Carl Murdick. Sixth through tenth were Mike Sutton, Doran, Rob McClimans, Skip Moore, and Rob Curtis. Heat victors were Blaney and King.

Rick Prosser, Jr. of Geneva, Ohio made it two-in-a-row winning the 15-lap Hoosier Tire Ohio Valley E-Mod Feature. Despite starting fifth, Prosser rocketed into the lead on the opening lap passing Chuck List, Sr., J.R. Mechling, and Bill Taylor. Taylor and List settled into second and third as Prosser pulled away. Seven cautions were the only things that slowed Prosser ’s run to the checkers for his second career E-Mod win in his Geneva Storage/Big "M" Motors #A1. List took second from Taylor on lap five, before losing the spot to ninth starting Bob McCann on lap 14. List was third. Jeff Haefke came home fourth as Jim White, Jr. completed the top five. McCann, Prosser, and Jeff Johnson won the heats.

Jeff Buccella of Mineral Ridge, Ohio ended Dwayne Clay’s three-race win streak as he won his first race of the season in the 15-lap Hoosier Tire Ohio Valley Stock Car Feature. Buccella started third, but passed Chuck Sullivan, Jr. for second on lap one as Carl Davis was in control early. Buccella chased Davis for the next 12 circuits before finally getting by on lap 12. Clay gave it all he had coming from 11th to make a late charge. Clay got runner-up from Davis on lap 13 and lined up behind Buccella for a restart with 13 laps completed. But Buccella was able to hold on for the final three laps in his Best Auto Sales #9-11 to beat Clay by a car-length. Davis fell to third over Tom Miller and a season-best finish by Sullivan. Heats went to Prosser, Gary Robinson, and Clay. Terry Schoonover won the B main. Jason Longwell passed Patty McCann on the final lap to win the $100 to-win Old Route 82 Auto Mart Dash.

Sunburst Environmental Care Sprint Car Feature Finish: 1. CHAD KEMENAH 2. Ed Lynch, Jr. 3. Rob Chaney 4. Jarod Larson 5. Doug Kekich 6. Boston Reid 7. Mike Lutz 8. Mike Kekich 9. Terry Young 10. Tommy Burns, Jr. 11. Arnie Kent 12. Gary Edwards 13. Jamie McKinney 14. Bob Lime 15. Gary McCollum 16. Paul White, Jr. 17. Bob Whitacre 18. Dan Taylor 19. Dave Wagner 20. Chuck Harshman 21. Leo O’Malley 22. Gary McCann.

Hoosier Tire Ohio Valley DIRT Modified Feature Finish: 1. LOU BLANEY 2. Jim Rasey 3. Dave Murdick 4. Guy Griffin 5. Carl Murdick 6. Mike Sutton 7. Tim Doran 8. Rob McClimans 9. Skip Moore 10. Rob Curtis 11. Pete Simpson 12. Rich Ferguson 13. Dave Price 14. Randy Chronister 15. Rick Kress 16. Rex King 17. Lonny Riggs-DNS 18. Bill Dorman-DNS.

Hoosier Tire Ohio Valley E-Mod Feature Finish: 1. RICK PROSSER, JR. 2. Bob McCann 3. Chuck List, Sr. 4. Jeff Haefke 5. Jim White, Jr. 6. Jeff Rudrick 7. Jeff Sharp 8. Bill Taylor 9. Scott Jones 10. Tom Congdon 11. Kari Petroski 12. Arlan Coy 13. Ed Cornell 14. J.R. Mechling 15. Chuck Schell 16. Craig Douglas 17. Jeff Johnson 18. John Strickler 19. J. B. Dandy 20. David Strickler 21. Steve Haefke 22. Bob Williams 23. Jerry Hassay 24. Bill Watson 25. Bootie Petsko-DNS.

Hoosier Tire Ohio Valley Stock Car Feature Finish: 1. JEFF BUCCELLA 2. Dwayne Clay 3. Carl Davis 4. Tom Miller 5. Chuck Sullivan, Jr. 6. Jason Longwell 7. Joe Porter 8. Russ Kapalin 9. Terry Schoonover 10. Eric Gibson 11. Nathan Miller 12. Robert Kutsch 13. Leroy Johnson, Jr. 14. Darrell Neal 15. Carl Pasternack 16. Glenn Pupino 17. Gary Robinson 18. Patty McCann 19. Ryan Blood 20. Steve Babos 21. Rick Prosser, Jr. 22. Larry Keener 23. Mark Felicetty 24. Jim Davis DNQ-Ralph Blackson, Clint Gibson, Richard Goulish, Ken Moy, Jr., Charlie Baptiste.