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A few days ago Terry McCarl didn’t have a clue if he would even be racing in Florida, but sometimes a few days can make all the difference. Tonight McCarl made his way from a hospital bed to Victory Lane at Ocala Speedway, within a few short days to win the second night of the O’Reilly All Stars Circuit of Champions Florida Speedweek Winter Nationals.
From the time the Green Flag fell on the main event McCarl was a man on a mission. After starting in the top spot, he got past Danny Lasoski in Turn 1 to take the lead and Lance Dewease slid his way into second. Behind McCarl the battle waged on as second, third and fourth position was hot property. Dewease, Danny Lasoski, and quick time setter Greg Hodnett put on quite a show trading positions what seemed almost every lap.
On Lap 15 the racing action was put on pause when the Yellow Flag came out for Randy Hannagan who was running fifth at the time. He had tangled with the lapped car of David Gravel and both came to a stop on the front stretch. During this time out, Greg Wilson who finished second the night before also came to a stop on track.
When the Green Flag came out it was short lived as Fred Rahmer came to a halt in Turn 2. On the next restart as McCarl kept the field at bay, Stevie Smith made his first appearance in the top-five. With 10 laps remaining both Hodnett and Lasoski slid past Dewease into second and third position. Dewease continued to fall back as Smith got past him to move up into the fourth spot.
The final five laps of the event were chaotic as second through fifth was constantly changing. When the Checkered Flag flew and the dust settled McCarl claimed the victory. Behind him it was a drag race, but Danny Lasoski took second with Smith, Dewease, and Hodnett rounding out the top-five.
With his win McCarl became the twelfth different driver to win an All Star Winter Nationals event at Ocala. In the 12 races held at the track there still has yet to be a repeat winner. This is McCarl’s seventh All Star Florida Speedweek victory. His first came at Jax Raceway in 1993 and a second followed at the same track in 1994. His other four wins came at Volusia Speedway Park in 1997, 2005, 2006 and 2007. As the All Stars move on to Volusia, McCarl will definitely be a frontrunner if history repeats itself.
The All Star Circuit of Champions will be making the trek east to Volusia Speedway Park as racing action will resume for the final three nights of Florida Speedweek Winter Nationals beginning on Tuesday February 3.
Top Three Quotes: Third Place Stevie Smith – “This is just that type of track, you race as hard as you can for all 30 laps and hope for the best. The guys on the Zemco car, John and the whole crew gave me a great race car. All I had to do is drive the heck out of it. I’m really happy with what they are doing and I am proud of them. I am looking forward to having some good races with them. I am really excited to be in this car and I appreciate everything. I am going to do my best to give them a win.” Second Place Danny Lasoski – “I want to thank my crew. We blew a motor last night, and then at the beginning of hot laps we had some ignition problems. We started sixth then made our way up there, we were a second place car to night. My hat’s off to Terry McCarl.”
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Third Place Terry McCarl – “The Big Game Tree crew gave me a great car. I kept thinking if someone is going to get by me they got to be really fact, because we are getting around here pretty good. Getting through traffic was key, since we caught traffic in about three laps. The car was real drivable and I cannot say enough about my guys. They have been working hard all winter. It has been a tough week. I was in the hospital earlier in the week. I was coming home from Australia and had kidney stones and still have not gotten rid of them. I didn’t know if we would be able to race this weekend, so this means a lot to us.”
A Main – 30 Laps 1. 24 Terry McCarl (1) 2. 33 Danny Lasoski (6) 3. 1 Stevie Smith (9) 4. 30c Lance Dewease (2) 5. 22 Greg Hodnett (3) 6. 25 Daryn Pittman (10) 7. 2 Dale Blaney (7) 8. 83 Tim Shaffer (11) 9. 55 Chad Layton (14) 10. 4 Danny Smith (16) 11. 49 Jack Sodeman Jr. (12) 12. 7m Mark Smith (5) 13. 1x Randy Hannagan (4) 14. 6r Ryan Bunton (17) 15. 15h Sam Hafertepe (19) 16. w20 Greg Wilson (8) 17. 39 Doug Esh (18) 18. 6f Bob Felmlee (22) 19. 56r Ryan Myers (13) 20. 89g David Gravel (24) 21. 3b Brad Greer (20) 22. 33m Brent Matus (23) 23. 4b Tom Busch (21) 24. 51 Fred Rahmer (15) Top 10 in points 1. Tim Shaffer 374 2. Terry McCarl 370 3. Stevie Smith 366 4. Daryn Pittman 349 5. Greg Hodnett 349 6. Lance Dewease 347 7. Greg Wilson 340 8. Mark Smith 338 9. Danny Lasoski 335 10. Danny Smith 334
Kistler Engines Qualifying Car-Driver-Time 1. 22-Greg Hodnett- 12.421 2. 1x-Randy Hannagan-12.607 3. 30c-Lance Dewease-12.640 4. 7m-Mark Smith-12.655 5. 24-Terry McCarl-12.677 6. 33-Danny Lasoski-12.677 7. 2-Dale Blaney-12.788 8. w20-Greg Wilson-12.796 9. 1 -Stevie Smith-12.819 10. 25-Daryn Pittman-12.875 11. 83-Tim Shaffer-12.914 12. 49-Jack Sodeman Jr-12.928 13. 56r-Ryan Myers-12.984 14. 55 -Chad Layton-13.000 15. 51-Fred Rahmer-13.066 16. 4 -Danny Smith-13.089 17. 6r-Ryan Bunton-13.127 18. 39-Doug Esh-13.264 19. 15h-Sam Hafertepe Jr.-13.285 20. 3b-Brad Greer-13.316 21. 4b-Tom Busch-13.337 22. 6f-Bob Felmlee-13.351 23. 3j-Joe Butera-14.656 24. 33m-Brent Matus-14.980 25. 89g-David Gravel-18.746 26. 17-Pat Cannon-No Time 27. 92-Daron Clayton-No Time Heat Finishes (Started) Heat 1 – 10 Laps 1. 22 Greg Hodnett (6) 2. 2 Dale Blaney (4) 3. 25 Daryn Pittman (3) 4. 56r Ryan Myers (2) 5. 4 Danny Smith (1) 6. 7m Mark Smith (5) 7. 15h Sam Hafertepe Jr. (6) 8. 89g David Gravel (9) 9. 6f Bob Felmlee (8) Heat 2 – 10 Laps 1. 55 Chad Layton (2) 2. 83 Tim Shaffer (3) 3. 6r Ryan Bunton (1) 4. w20 Greg Wilson (4) 5. 24 Terry McCarl(5) 6. 1x Randy Hannagan (6) 7. 92 Daron Clayton (9) 8. 3b Brad Greer (7) 9. 3j Joe Butera (8) Heat 3 – 10 Laps 1. 33 Danny Lasoski (5) 2. 39 Doug Esh (1) 3. 1 Stevie Smith (4) 4. 30c Lance Dewease (6) 5. 51 Fred Rahmer (2) 6. 49 Jack Sodeman Jr. (3) 7. 4b Tom Busch (7) 8. 33m Brent Matus (8) 9. 17 Pat Cannon DNS Dash – 5 Laps 1. 1x Randy Hannagan (1) 2. 30c Lance Dewease (3) 3. 24 Terry McCarl (5) 4. 2 Dale Blaney (6) 5. 7m Mark Smith (4) 6. 22 Greg Hodnett (2) B Main – 12 Laps 1. 15h Sam Hafertepe Jr. (1) 2. 4b Tom Busch (3) 3. 6f Bob Felmlee (4) 4. 89g David Gravel (7) 5. 3b Brad Greer (2) 6. 33m Brent Matus (6) 7. 3j Joe Butera (5) 8. 92 Daron Clayton (8) 9. 17 Pat Cannon (9)
