All Star & URSS Sprints @ Belleville 8-5-2010

A line of race cars like this always looks good. These guys are getting ready to go out for hot laps. I always wonder what a driver who's never been on this track is thinking at a time like this.

I liked this shot of the Stasas. That's Patrick in the foreground & Jeff behind him. Nice looking cars.

With Tim Shaffer here, it was almost a question of who was going to run 2nd, but it wasn't easy tonight.

It was only about 90, but for somebody from Alaska, it must have seemed like the Sahara. Bill Balog pulled in on a little open trailer & had no big team, yet he ran right up there with the dawgs by dominating the first heat. Very impressive showing.

I always try to warn newcomers about the backstretch beast so they are more prepared, but virtually the whole URSS was new, so I asked the officials to bring it up at the drivers meeting. Ty Williams found out early with a narrow miss in hot laps.

In the first heat Jon Freeman runs between All Star regulars Greg Wilson (20) and David Gravel (89).

Rookie Cap Henry followed up setting quick time (14.468) by running away with his heat.

Jared Kern (007) & Corey Lutters (07) in heat 1.

Ty Williams (1) and Mike Spear in the 2nd heat.

Greg Wilson was flying here, but Tim Shaffer (83) just blew by him.

It was nice to see my old buddy Hurricane Howard Van Dyke here.

Smokey Fairbank (2) and Ty Williams in the main.

Jared Kern again with Jeff Radcliffe on the outside.

Williams & Fairbank again. It was too nice a pic to leave out!

Ray Seeman acted like he'd run here a lot as he won the URSS feature. Really nice looking car too.

Just in case you've forgotten what Ty Williams car looks like, here it is again. This time he's finding out first hand about that guardrail...but he got away with it.

Bill Hays, who may not have been warned as he arrived late, gets into the rail a little harder...and DOESN'T get away with it.

He's saving it after the hit, but it's slowed him a lot and here comes...

...Mike Spear in the 54.

At this point, there's nowhere to go and Spear tags the car of Hays.

Fortunately, the impact was relatively minor and nobody was hurt & not too much damage was done. That's usually not the case here.

Another shot I couldn't leave out.

Patrick Stasa (19) wanted to make sure everyone got the message about the guardrail, so he does about the same thing Hays had done. Luckily, Jon had room to miss him & they both went on.

Having just come off a good showing in the 305 A, Jeff Radcliffe kept it up by moving up in the All Star feature!

Bill Balog continued to impress in the A.

Radcliffe didn't pass everybody in the A. Tim Shaffer blasted by just to remind him there were some rockets here.

As fast as Shaffer was, David Gravel had a decent lead until he broke late.

A common sight; Shaffer lapping another car.

Brad Greer was having a pretty decent run until ...well, you'll see.

This time it's Stu "Duck " Snyder's turn to get a quick visit with Shaffer.

Bill Rose (6) and Jeff Stasa (91).

A couple of years ago, after running on a very dry slick track here, Andy Shouse (27) talked like he wouldn't be back. Not only was he here for the sprint show, he brought a midget for the Nats.

Greg Wilson in the turn 4 valley.

Jared Ridge.

You'll have to ask Stu where that nickname came from:)

Bill Balog.

With Gravel off, Shaffer sailed to another Belleville win.

Bruce White.

Cap Henry.

That big chunk of tire used to by on Brad Greer's right rear. It went with a bang just a couple of hundred yards from the finish. When I got to the car, he was looking pretty sad...said he thought it had hurt the rear end when it went.

Some guy standing between Nikki Kuhlman (left) and Adrianne Doyle after the race.

I don't know if it was fear for their necks or their engines that prompted many of the All Star teams to head straight to I-55 Raceway from Rising City, but only the top 6 point guys showed. The rest of the field were area guys that did a good job of making a decent show out of what could have been a joke. Thanks to Stu, the Stasas, and all the others. A special congrats to Bill Balog who will probably now hold the longest pull award forever. He's from North Pole, Alaska! Yeah, I know Oz is farther away, but those guys can't very well drive here.
When the All Star A pushed off, I thought I was seeing things when a batch of URSS guys went by too. The top 6 transferred to the 410 show. I thing it was to pad out a light field, but I don't think too many people were prepared for them to go passing the "big guys". I don't recall who did what for sure, but I know Ray Seeman and Jeff Radcliffe did some moving up.