Career First All Star Sprint Win For Cale Conley Comes In Lou Blaney Memorial At Sharon

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – HARTFORD, OH – Officially etching his name into the Series’ history book, Vienna, West Virginia’s Cale Conley is now an Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 main event winner, accomplishing his storied feat during Lou Blaney Memorial competition at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio, on Saturday, July 11.

The win, Conley’s seventh top-ten finish of Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Hercules Tires, was worth $7,500.

Although forced to withstand pressure from the likes of Rico Abreu, Brock Zearfoss and Cory Eliason during the 30-lap contest, Conley would prevail, eventually leading every lap while remaining patient on an ultra-quick and choppy surface that proved relentless for much of the field. In total, eight caution periods were recorded inducing three red flag stoppages, one for fuel on lap 19.

Conley’s campaign at the front of the field commenced right from the drop of the initial green, getting the early jump over fellow front row starter, Brock Zearfoss, as well as Rico Abreu and Gerard McIntyre. It would not take long for the leaders to reach the back of the field, already getting trapped behind slower cars on lap four. A caution on lap five, and again on lap six, would prove to save the day for Conley, negating any chance for a battle in traffic on a narrow groove.

A similar situation would arise on lap 11, and again on lap 18, as cautions would end the potential for a battle among slower cars. Still in command, Conley’s biggest threat occurred after a red flag incident on lap 26, ultimately giving St. Helena, California’s Rico Abreu and Rudeen Racing’s Cory Eliason an opportunity to pounce with only five circuits remaining. Fortunately for Conley, a battle between Eliason and Abreu would break out allowing the West Virginian to escape unscathed in clean air.

Eliason would get by Abreu to secure second on the final circuit, followed by Abreu, Tim Shaffer and a hard-charging Danny Dietrich, who advanced 12 spots to finish fifth.

Brock Zearfoss, who was racing in the runner-up spot at the time, was the reason for the red flag stoppage on lap 26, as right-front suspension damage caused the familiar No. 3Z to dig itself in and end up upside-down in turn two; Zearfoss walked away from the incident.

“That was a long race,” Conely said out of breath in Sharon Speedway victory lane, driver of the Ravici Racing No. 3C. “It was hot out there and I was just ready to see the laps wind down. It took us a while, but I’m so happy to win here during the Lou Blaney Memorial. It’s such a special night for my wife’s family. Our little boy’s name is Louie, so this is really cool. To get my first All Star win in front of such an awesome crowd is cool. I was just asking God on those restarts to help me focus because I had some really good guys behind me. I was just trying to hang on for dear life.

“This race car was so good, and it’s the first night out for this car; it’s a brand new car,” Conley continued, who is married to the granddaughter of Lou Blaney, Dave Blaney’s daughter, Emma. “We tore one up last night at Portsmouth, so we had to put together a whole new car. That just goes to show how lucky I am to get to work with Brian Kemenah. This is just unreal. Brian always finds ways to make my job really easy. I really can’t show how appreciative I really am.”

What’s Next:
Tony Stewart’s Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 will conclude the 2020 edition of Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Hercules Tires with a second consecutive visit to Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio, on Sunday, July 12, this time for the $6,000-to-win Justin Snyder’s Salute to the Troops program.

Contingency Awards/Results: Sharon Speedway – July 11, 2020:
Event: Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Hercules Tires
Entries: 44
C&R Racing Warm-Ups: Cory Eliason – 12.826
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Rico Abreu – 12.720
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: Brock Zearfoss
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Dan Kuriger
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Zeb Wise
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Tim Shaffer
Kistler Racing Products Heat #5 Winner: Michael Bauer
Kear’s Speed Shop Dash #1 Winner: Brock Zearfoss
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Dash #2 Winner: Cale Conley
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting & Embroidery B-Main Winner: Skylar Gee
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Jack Sodeman Jr.
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Cale Conley
Hercules Tire A-Main Hard Charger: Danny Dietrich (+12)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 3C-Cale Conley, 12.896; 2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 12.898; 3. 83M-Broc Martin, 12.995; 4. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau, 13.270; 5. 23p-Darren Pifer, 13.310; 6. 23S-Russ Sansosti, 13.531; 7. 33-Brent Matus, 13.589; 8. 19-Steve Haefke, 13.835; 9. 21j-Jeffrey Neubert, 14.549

Group (B)
1. 24-Rico Abreu, 12.720; 2. 10-Dave Blaney, 12.844; 3. 23-Cole Macedo, 12.941; 4. O8-Dan Kuriger, 13.207; 5. 40-George Hobaugh, 13.265; 6. 21N-Frankie Nervo, 13.390; 7. 3J-Trey Jacobs, 13.445; 8. 38-Leyton Wagner, 13.501; 9. 13M-Brandon Matus, 13.532

Group (C)
1. 26-Cory Eliason, 12.813; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich, 12.945; 3. 11-Zeb Wise, 12.991; 4. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr., 13.000; 5. 70M-Henry Malcuit, 13.066; 6. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 13.075; 7. 7k-Dan Shetler, 13.096; 8. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 13.131; 9. 81-Lee Jacobs, 13.197

Group (D)
1. 17-Josh Baughman, 12.801; 2. O7-Gerard McIntyre, 12.893; 3. 70-Sye Lynch, 12.959; 4. 28-Tim Shaffer, 12.967; 5. 5K-Adam Kekich, 13.044; 6. 99-Skylar Gee, 13.154; 7. 55-Gary Kriess, 13.185; 8. 18J-RJ Jacobs, 13.496; 9. 14H-Jeremy Hill, 99.62.5

Group (E)
1. 11B-Carl Bowser, 12.971; 2. 13-Paul McMahan, 12.980; 3. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 13.132; 4. 46-Michael Bauer, 13.187; 5. 9-Dean Jacobs, 13.244; 6. 4-Cap Henry, 13.323; 7. 19R-Jordan Ryan, 13.390; 8. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.399

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [3]; 2. 3C-Cale Conley [4]; 3. 23P-Darren Pifer [5]; 4. 33-Brent Matus [7]; 5. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau [1]; 6. 19-Steve Haefke [8]; 7. 23S-Russ Sansosti [6]; 8. 21J-Jeffrey Neubert [9]; 9. 83M-Broc Martin [2]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. O8-Dan Kuriger [1]; 2. 10-Dave Blaney [3]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [4]; 4. 23-Cole Macedo [2]; 5. 3J-Trey Jacobs [7]; 6. 40-George Hobaugh [5]; 7. 21N-Frankie Nervo [6]; 8. 13M-Brandon Matus [9]; 9. 38-Leyton Wagner [8]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 11-Zeb Wise [2]; 2. 26-Cory Eliason [4]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel [6]; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich [3]; 5. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr. [1]; 6. 7K-Dan Shetler [7]; 7. 81-Lee Jacobs [9]; 8. 70M-Henry Malcuit [5]; 9. 35-Stuart Brubaker [8]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 28-Tim Shaffer [1]; 2. O7-Gerard McIntyre [3]; 3. 5K-Adam Kekich [5]; 4. 70-Sye Lynch [2]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee [6]; 6. 17-Josh Baughman [4]; 7. 55-Gary Kriess [7]; 8. 18J-RJ Jacobs [8]; 9. 14H-Jeremy Hill [9]

Heat #5 – Group (E) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 46-Michael Bauer [1]; 2. 22-Brandon Spithaler [2]; 3. 13-Paul McMahan [3]; 4. 9-Dean Jacobs [5]; 5. 4-Cap Henry [6]; 6. W20-Greg Wilson [8]; 7. 19R-Jordan Ryan [7]; 8. 11B-Carl Bowser [4]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [2]; 2. 13-Paul McMahan [1]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [5]; 4. 23-Cole Macedo [3]; 5. 10-Dave Blaney [4]; 6. O8-Dan Kuriger [6]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 3C-Cale Conley [1]; 2. O7-Gerard McIntyre [2]; 3. 28-Tim Shaffer [6]; 4. 26-Cory Eliason [3]; 5. 46-Michael Bauer [4]; 6. 11-Zeb Wise [5]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 99-Skylar Gee [4]; 2. 7K-Dan Shetler [8]; 3. 4-Cap Henry [6]; 4. 17-Josh Baughman [1]; 5. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr. [3]; 6. 40-George Hobaugh [9]; 7. W20-Greg Wilson [10]; 8. 18J-RJ Jacobs [17]; 9. 21N-Frankie Nervo [14]; 10. 55-Gary Kriess [12]; 11. 23S-Russ Sansosti [15]; 12. 38-Leyton Wagner [20]; 13. 14H-Jeremy Hill [19]; 14. 3J-Trey Jacobs [7]; 15. 11B-Carl Bowser [2]; 16. 81-Lee Jacobs [13]; 17. 70M-Henry Malcuit [16]; 18. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau [5]; 19. 21J-Jeffrey Neubert [18]

A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 3C-Cale Conley [2]; 2. 26-Cory Eliason [8]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [5]; 4. 28-Tim Shaffer [6]; 5. 48-Danny Dietrich [17]; 6. 22-Brandon Spithaler [13]; 7. 5K-Adam Kekich [14]; 8. O7-Gerard McIntyre [4]; 9. 99-Skylar Gee [21]; 10. 13-Paul McMahan [3]; 11. 7K-Dan Shetler [22]; 12. 70-Sye Lynch [18]; 13. 33-Brent Matus [20]; 14. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [1]; 15. 11-Zeb Wise [12]; 16. 17-Josh Baughman [24]; 17. 23-Cole Macedo [7]; 18. 87-Aaron Reutzel [15]; 19. 46-Michael Bauer [10]; 20. 4-Cap Henry [23]; 21. 10-Dave Blaney [9]; 22. 9-Dean Jacobs [19]; 23. 23P-Darren Pifer [16]; 24. O8-Dan Kuriger [11] Lap Leaders: Cale Conley (1-30)