MECHANICSBURG, PA (6-8-12) By Brian Liskai It was suppose to be a one night deal. New Oxford, Pennsylvania s Brian Leppo would pilot the famous John Zemaitis, Zemco #1 for one night. Leppo turned that opportunity into a victory against the University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions Friday at the famous Williams Grove Speedway.
They say things work out for a reason. For Leppo, it was his first victory since his former car owner Jesse Keen died unexpectedly a month ago. Then this week, Sam Hafertepe Jr. and the Zemco team parted ways and as the UNOH All Stars were set to invade Posse Land this weekend, Leppo was tapped to fill in for a night.
That was awesome right there that was one of my favorite races, said Leppo. Of course, when you win it is always one of the best ones. First off I dedicate this to my old car owner Jesse Keen. It s tough to be back here without him and without the guys.
Tommy (Carl, crew chief) called me on my birthday Wednesday and asked me if I d run this thing. I ve been after those guys when the situations fit and I came here with an open mind and wanting to make 30 good laps not really an interview. We made a one race deal and I ll be damned if we didn t win the thing. It s perfect. Tommy and Ryan and the guys and John and Pee Wee they field a very good race car .my brother-in-law (Stevie
Smith) can tell you all about it, continued Leppo.
For us to start on the front row I said to those guys there goes the fun. I came here to have fun there was no pressure and have a good time and the next thing you know here we are parked on the front stretch it was perfect, Leppo added.
But, it wasn t all that easy for Leppo, who had to survive a wild late race melee to score his first ever UNOH All Star win, running the PA Posse s win streak to 26-0 verses the All Stars at Williams Grove.
Leppo started on the pole and grabbed the early race lead from Brian Montieth and Stevie Smith, who also experienced team issues over the past couple of weeks as the Black Bandit s ownership changed hands. However, it became apparent the trio of Leppo, Montieth and Smith would be the prime factors in the event.
The caution would fly before one lap could be completed when UNOH All Star regular Cap Henry stopped in turn four when his wing slider value broke, dumping fluid all over his helmet.
On the restart, Leppo got the jump again on Montieth to lead the first lap.
Montieth closed as Leppo raced into lapped traffic with eight laps completed, with Smith a close third.
When Leppo bobbled on the top groove on lap 12, Montieth drove into the lead and began putting daylight between himself and Leppo with Smith a very close third.
A race ground to a halt with 10 laps to go for Paul McMahan who had stopped while racing inside the top five after suffering leg injuries due to a broken driveline.
An intense battle developed between Montieth and Leppo after the restart as they swapped the lead in every turn for a few laps. Montieth led lap 21, but it was Leppo grabbing the top spot at the line on lap 22. Leppo stayed in front this time with Montieth and Smith close. The caution came back out with three laps to go when Logan Schuchart, who defeated the UNOH All Stars in April at Williams Grove, blew a right rear tire.
That s when all hell broke loose.
On the ensuing restart, Montieth s car sputtered up the inside of the front stretch as the field behind him throttled forward, causing several cars to get together, with Chad Layton spinning and Cory Haas flipping at the flagstand. Track officials reported Montieth s machine had run out of fuel.
Leppo would hold off Smith for the win. Greg Hodnett, Daryn Pittman (who leads the UNOH All Star s Eastern Region Points) and three time and defending UNOH All Star Champion Tim Shaffer completed the top five.
I remember running three or four really idiotic laps and getting passed (by Montieth) to lose the lead but after we got that red Tommy and Ryan said a slider is your best chance. It s pretty cool to race with Tony Stewart he respects racers and he gave me the lane I needed to go and we got a lot of grip and it just drove underneath and it stuck and we raced there for a couple of laps. I knew if we could get back in front I felt like we had a pretty good chance to win this thing. I ve never won an All Star race we wrapped up a lot of good things in one night it s pretty sweet, said Leppo of his winning move.
For Smith, his second runner-up finish of the year against the UNOH All Stars (the other at Attica in April), it was a great way to put the distractions of the week behind him.
I had a pretty good view of that battle between Montieth and Brian. They were racing hard. I just never felt like I could make the right move. I was trying to wait for that time to come I just never found it, said Smith beside his CL Motorsports/CJB Motorsports/DDNi backed #19.
If I can t win I d rather see Brian and the Zemco car get it done, continued Smith, who drove the Zemco car last season. We re all buddies that s a great family and a great race car. They are great people and Brian s going to fit good with them. My next win would be career number
200 and I ve been fighting hard. These guys are working hard we ve been making a lot of changes trying to get better. I think we re going in the right direction. We had a couple of other little set-backs and we took a week off and it seems like we are back on track.
Hodnett was coming at the end, but that late race incident damaged his machine.
After them guys ran out of fuel on that restart, I knocked the front wing back and I got a flat left rear tire. They patched it up the best they could but it wouldn t hold air. The wing fell back all I was doing was kind of hanging on. But even so we finished third and I m proud of the guys for doing that, said third place finisher Hodnett. I think of the track would have gotten slicker sooner it s a little too fast for my liking. When it slicks off where you can run in the middle to bottom we seem to kind of come on. We kind of got going there towards the end but then all that stuff happened. We just figured we ride it out and get as good as we can.
Williams Grove Speedway - 6/8/2012
All Star Circuit of Champions (36 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Qualifying - Kistler Engines
1. 19-Stevie Smith, 16.776; 2. 69K-Donnie Kreitz, 16.923; 3. 1-Brian Leppo , 16.930; 4. 14-Tony Stewart, 17.005; 5. 69-Ryan Smith, 17.059; 6. 39-Greg Hodnett, 17.086; 7. 89G-David Gravel, 17.097; 8. 21-Brian Montieth, 17.127; 9. 45-Paul McMahon, 17.127; 10. 17B-Steve Buckwalter, 17.160; 11. 27-Daryn Pittman, 17.177; 12. 2B-Ryan Bohlke, 17.201; 13. 83-Tim Shaffer, 17.211; 14. 54-Cap Henry , 17.227; 15. 30C-Lance Dewease, 17.233; 16. 59-Jim Siegel, 17.234; 17. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 17.236; 18. O-Rick Lafferty, 17.260; 19. 48-Danny Dietrich, 17.266; 20. 15-Adam Wilt, 17.303; 21.
19M-Brent Marks, 17.303; 22. 7-Chad Layton, 17.318; 23. 87-Alan Krimes, 17.319; 24. 51-Fred Rahmer, 17.327; 25. 11C-Cory Haas, 17.340; 26. 77-Aaron Ott, 17.382; 27. 8R-Michael Ruttcamp, 17.386; 28. 75-Nicole Bower, 17.397; 29. 2T-T.J. Stutts, 17.452; 30. 5G-Curt Michael, 17.457; 31. 44-Frank Cozze, 17.477; 32. 20-Ryan Taylor, 17.512; 33. 16-Gerard McIntyre, 17.523; 34. 747-Davey Sammons, 17.650; 35. 3-Pete Miller III, 17.675; 36. 2-Dale Blaney, 99.999
Heat 1 - Kears Speed Shop (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the
A-feature)
1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[2] ; 2. 83-Tim Shaffer[3] ; 3. 19M-Brent Marks[1] ; 4. 19-Stevie Smith[6] ; 5. 45-Paul McMahon[4] ; 6. 69-Ryan Smith[5] ; 7.
11C-Cory Haas[7] ; 8. 16-Gerard McIntyre[9] ; 9. 2T-T.J. Stutts[8]
Heat 2 - All Pro Aluminum Heads (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the
A-feature)
1. 7-Chad Layton[1] ; 2. O-Rick Lafferty[2] ; 3. 39-Greg Hodnett[5] ; 4.
54-Cap Henry [3] ; 5. 69K-Donnie Kreitz[6] ; 6. 17B-Steve Buckwalter[4] ; 7. 77-Aaron Ott[7] ; 8. 5G-Curt Michael[8] ; 9. 747-Davey Sammons[9]
Heat 3 - Dragon Race Fuel (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the
A-feature)
1. 48-Danny Dietrich[2] ; 2. 27-Daryn Pittman[4] ; 3. 87-Alan Krimes[1] ; 4. 30C-Lance Dewease[3] ; 5. 1-Brian Leppo [6] ; 6. 89G-David Gravel[5] ; 7. 44-Frank Cozze[8] ; 8. 8R-Michael Ruttcamp[7] ; 9. 3-Pete Miller III[9]
Heat 4 - Kinsler Fuel Injection (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the
A-feature)
1. 15-Adam Wilt[2] ; 2. 21-Brian Montieth[5] ; 3. 51-Fred Rahmer[1] ; 4.
59-Jim Siegel[3] ; 5. 2B-Ryan Bohlke[4] ; 6. 75-Nicole Bower[7] ; 7. 2-Dale Blaney[9] ; 8. 14-Tony Stewart[6] ; 9. 20-Ryan Taylor[8]
Dash - Outerwears Performance Products (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 1-Brian Leppo [1] ; 2. 21-Brian Montieth[2] ; 3. 19-Stevie Smith[4] ; 4.
69K-Donnie Kreitz[3] ; 5. 39-Greg Hodnett[5] ; 6. 45-Paul McMahon[6]
B-Main - MSD Ignition (12 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 14-Tony Stewart[1] ; 2. 89G-David Gravel[3] ; 3. 69-Ryan Smith[2] ; 4.
11C-Cory Haas[5] ; 5. 2T-T.J. Stutts[9] ; 6. 44-Frank Cozze[11] ; 7.
8R-Michael Ruttcamp[7] ; 8. 5G-Curt Michael[10] ; 9. 2-Dale Blaney[16] ; 10. 20-Ryan Taylor[12] ; 11. 16-Gerard McIntyre[13] ; 12. 3-Pete Miller III[15] ; 13. 747-Davey Sammons[14] ; 14. 75-Nicole Bower[8] ; 15.
17B-Steve Buckwalter[4] ; 16. 77-Aaron Ott[6]
A-Main - University of Northwestern Ohio (30 Laps)
1. 1-Brian Leppo [1]; 2. 19-Stevie Smith[3]; 3. 39-Greg Hodnett[5]; 4.
27-Daryn Pittman[7]; 5. 83-Tim Shaffer[9]; 6. 69K-Donnie Kreitz[4]; 7.
30C-Lance Dewease[14]; 8. 48-Danny Dietrich[18]; 9. 89G-David Gravel[13]; 10. 19M-Brent Marks[20]; 11. 2B-Ryan Bohlke[8]; 12. 59-Jim Siegel[15]; 13.
1S-Logan Schuchart[16]; 14. 14-Tony Stewart[11]; 15. 7-Chad Layton[21]; 16.
21-Brian Montieth[2]; 17. 11C-Cory Haas[24]; 18. O-Rick Lafferty[17]; 19.
45-Paul McMahon[6]; 20. 87-Alan Krimes[22]; 21. 51-Fred Rahmer[23]; 22.
69-Ryan Smith[12]; 23. 15-Adam Wilt[19]; 24. 54-Cap Henry [10]
Hard Charger: 48-Danny Dietrich[+10]
They say things work out for a reason. For Leppo, it was his first victory since his former car owner Jesse Keen died unexpectedly a month ago. Then this week, Sam Hafertepe Jr. and the Zemco team parted ways and as the UNOH All Stars were set to invade Posse Land this weekend, Leppo was tapped to fill in for a night.
That was awesome right there that was one of my favorite races, said Leppo. Of course, when you win it is always one of the best ones. First off I dedicate this to my old car owner Jesse Keen. It s tough to be back here without him and without the guys.
Tommy (Carl, crew chief) called me on my birthday Wednesday and asked me if I d run this thing. I ve been after those guys when the situations fit and I came here with an open mind and wanting to make 30 good laps not really an interview. We made a one race deal and I ll be damned if we didn t win the thing. It s perfect. Tommy and Ryan and the guys and John and Pee Wee they field a very good race car .my brother-in-law (Stevie
Smith) can tell you all about it, continued Leppo.
For us to start on the front row I said to those guys there goes the fun. I came here to have fun there was no pressure and have a good time and the next thing you know here we are parked on the front stretch it was perfect, Leppo added.
But, it wasn t all that easy for Leppo, who had to survive a wild late race melee to score his first ever UNOH All Star win, running the PA Posse s win streak to 26-0 verses the All Stars at Williams Grove.
Leppo started on the pole and grabbed the early race lead from Brian Montieth and Stevie Smith, who also experienced team issues over the past couple of weeks as the Black Bandit s ownership changed hands. However, it became apparent the trio of Leppo, Montieth and Smith would be the prime factors in the event.
The caution would fly before one lap could be completed when UNOH All Star regular Cap Henry stopped in turn four when his wing slider value broke, dumping fluid all over his helmet.
On the restart, Leppo got the jump again on Montieth to lead the first lap.
Montieth closed as Leppo raced into lapped traffic with eight laps completed, with Smith a close third.
When Leppo bobbled on the top groove on lap 12, Montieth drove into the lead and began putting daylight between himself and Leppo with Smith a very close third.
A race ground to a halt with 10 laps to go for Paul McMahan who had stopped while racing inside the top five after suffering leg injuries due to a broken driveline.
An intense battle developed between Montieth and Leppo after the restart as they swapped the lead in every turn for a few laps. Montieth led lap 21, but it was Leppo grabbing the top spot at the line on lap 22. Leppo stayed in front this time with Montieth and Smith close. The caution came back out with three laps to go when Logan Schuchart, who defeated the UNOH All Stars in April at Williams Grove, blew a right rear tire.
That s when all hell broke loose.
On the ensuing restart, Montieth s car sputtered up the inside of the front stretch as the field behind him throttled forward, causing several cars to get together, with Chad Layton spinning and Cory Haas flipping at the flagstand. Track officials reported Montieth s machine had run out of fuel.
Leppo would hold off Smith for the win. Greg Hodnett, Daryn Pittman (who leads the UNOH All Star s Eastern Region Points) and three time and defending UNOH All Star Champion Tim Shaffer completed the top five.
I remember running three or four really idiotic laps and getting passed (by Montieth) to lose the lead but after we got that red Tommy and Ryan said a slider is your best chance. It s pretty cool to race with Tony Stewart he respects racers and he gave me the lane I needed to go and we got a lot of grip and it just drove underneath and it stuck and we raced there for a couple of laps. I knew if we could get back in front I felt like we had a pretty good chance to win this thing. I ve never won an All Star race we wrapped up a lot of good things in one night it s pretty sweet, said Leppo of his winning move.
For Smith, his second runner-up finish of the year against the UNOH All Stars (the other at Attica in April), it was a great way to put the distractions of the week behind him.
I had a pretty good view of that battle between Montieth and Brian. They were racing hard. I just never felt like I could make the right move. I was trying to wait for that time to come I just never found it, said Smith beside his CL Motorsports/CJB Motorsports/DDNi backed #19.
If I can t win I d rather see Brian and the Zemco car get it done, continued Smith, who drove the Zemco car last season. We re all buddies that s a great family and a great race car. They are great people and Brian s going to fit good with them. My next win would be career number
200 and I ve been fighting hard. These guys are working hard we ve been making a lot of changes trying to get better. I think we re going in the right direction. We had a couple of other little set-backs and we took a week off and it seems like we are back on track.
Hodnett was coming at the end, but that late race incident damaged his machine.
After them guys ran out of fuel on that restart, I knocked the front wing back and I got a flat left rear tire. They patched it up the best they could but it wouldn t hold air. The wing fell back all I was doing was kind of hanging on. But even so we finished third and I m proud of the guys for doing that, said third place finisher Hodnett. I think of the track would have gotten slicker sooner it s a little too fast for my liking. When it slicks off where you can run in the middle to bottom we seem to kind of come on. We kind of got going there towards the end but then all that stuff happened. We just figured we ride it out and get as good as we can.
Williams Grove Speedway - 6/8/2012
All Star Circuit of Champions (36 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Qualifying - Kistler Engines
1. 19-Stevie Smith, 16.776; 2. 69K-Donnie Kreitz, 16.923; 3. 1-Brian Leppo , 16.930; 4. 14-Tony Stewart, 17.005; 5. 69-Ryan Smith, 17.059; 6. 39-Greg Hodnett, 17.086; 7. 89G-David Gravel, 17.097; 8. 21-Brian Montieth, 17.127; 9. 45-Paul McMahon, 17.127; 10. 17B-Steve Buckwalter, 17.160; 11. 27-Daryn Pittman, 17.177; 12. 2B-Ryan Bohlke, 17.201; 13. 83-Tim Shaffer, 17.211; 14. 54-Cap Henry , 17.227; 15. 30C-Lance Dewease, 17.233; 16. 59-Jim Siegel, 17.234; 17. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 17.236; 18. O-Rick Lafferty, 17.260; 19. 48-Danny Dietrich, 17.266; 20. 15-Adam Wilt, 17.303; 21.
19M-Brent Marks, 17.303; 22. 7-Chad Layton, 17.318; 23. 87-Alan Krimes, 17.319; 24. 51-Fred Rahmer, 17.327; 25. 11C-Cory Haas, 17.340; 26. 77-Aaron Ott, 17.382; 27. 8R-Michael Ruttcamp, 17.386; 28. 75-Nicole Bower, 17.397; 29. 2T-T.J. Stutts, 17.452; 30. 5G-Curt Michael, 17.457; 31. 44-Frank Cozze, 17.477; 32. 20-Ryan Taylor, 17.512; 33. 16-Gerard McIntyre, 17.523; 34. 747-Davey Sammons, 17.650; 35. 3-Pete Miller III, 17.675; 36. 2-Dale Blaney, 99.999
Heat 1 - Kears Speed Shop (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the
A-feature)
1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[2] ; 2. 83-Tim Shaffer[3] ; 3. 19M-Brent Marks[1] ; 4. 19-Stevie Smith[6] ; 5. 45-Paul McMahon[4] ; 6. 69-Ryan Smith[5] ; 7.
11C-Cory Haas[7] ; 8. 16-Gerard McIntyre[9] ; 9. 2T-T.J. Stutts[8]
Heat 2 - All Pro Aluminum Heads (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the
A-feature)
1. 7-Chad Layton[1] ; 2. O-Rick Lafferty[2] ; 3. 39-Greg Hodnett[5] ; 4.
54-Cap Henry [3] ; 5. 69K-Donnie Kreitz[6] ; 6. 17B-Steve Buckwalter[4] ; 7. 77-Aaron Ott[7] ; 8. 5G-Curt Michael[8] ; 9. 747-Davey Sammons[9]
Heat 3 - Dragon Race Fuel (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the
A-feature)
1. 48-Danny Dietrich[2] ; 2. 27-Daryn Pittman[4] ; 3. 87-Alan Krimes[1] ; 4. 30C-Lance Dewease[3] ; 5. 1-Brian Leppo [6] ; 6. 89G-David Gravel[5] ; 7. 44-Frank Cozze[8] ; 8. 8R-Michael Ruttcamp[7] ; 9. 3-Pete Miller III[9]
Heat 4 - Kinsler Fuel Injection (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the
A-feature)
1. 15-Adam Wilt[2] ; 2. 21-Brian Montieth[5] ; 3. 51-Fred Rahmer[1] ; 4.
59-Jim Siegel[3] ; 5. 2B-Ryan Bohlke[4] ; 6. 75-Nicole Bower[7] ; 7. 2-Dale Blaney[9] ; 8. 14-Tony Stewart[6] ; 9. 20-Ryan Taylor[8]
Dash - Outerwears Performance Products (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 1-Brian Leppo [1] ; 2. 21-Brian Montieth[2] ; 3. 19-Stevie Smith[4] ; 4.
69K-Donnie Kreitz[3] ; 5. 39-Greg Hodnett[5] ; 6. 45-Paul McMahon[6]
B-Main - MSD Ignition (12 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 14-Tony Stewart[1] ; 2. 89G-David Gravel[3] ; 3. 69-Ryan Smith[2] ; 4.
11C-Cory Haas[5] ; 5. 2T-T.J. Stutts[9] ; 6. 44-Frank Cozze[11] ; 7.
8R-Michael Ruttcamp[7] ; 8. 5G-Curt Michael[10] ; 9. 2-Dale Blaney[16] ; 10. 20-Ryan Taylor[12] ; 11. 16-Gerard McIntyre[13] ; 12. 3-Pete Miller III[15] ; 13. 747-Davey Sammons[14] ; 14. 75-Nicole Bower[8] ; 15.
17B-Steve Buckwalter[4] ; 16. 77-Aaron Ott[6]
A-Main - University of Northwestern Ohio (30 Laps)
1. 1-Brian Leppo [1]; 2. 19-Stevie Smith[3]; 3. 39-Greg Hodnett[5]; 4.
27-Daryn Pittman[7]; 5. 83-Tim Shaffer[9]; 6. 69K-Donnie Kreitz[4]; 7.
30C-Lance Dewease[14]; 8. 48-Danny Dietrich[18]; 9. 89G-David Gravel[13]; 10. 19M-Brent Marks[20]; 11. 2B-Ryan Bohlke[8]; 12. 59-Jim Siegel[15]; 13.
1S-Logan Schuchart[16]; 14. 14-Tony Stewart[11]; 15. 7-Chad Layton[21]; 16.
21-Brian Montieth[2]; 17. 11C-Cory Haas[24]; 18. O-Rick Lafferty[17]; 19.
45-Paul McMahon[6]; 20. 87-Alan Krimes[22]; 21. 51-Fred Rahmer[23]; 22.
69-Ryan Smith[12]; 23. 15-Adam Wilt[19]; 24. 54-Cap Henry [10]
Hard Charger: 48-Danny Dietrich[+10]
