Robbie Blair Comes on Strong Late to Take All Star Late Model Win at Sharon Speedway

Robbie Blair bided his time and was there when it counted Saturday at Sharon Speedway. The defending All Star Late Model champion wasn’t a factor for the first half of the race, but found himself third after a mid-race accident that took out the second, third, and fourth place cars. Blair then went on to pass Matt Lux and race-long leader Dave Hess, Jr. with two laps to go to win the 40-lap feature worth $4,000.

“Hess” car was wheelie’ing up there pretty good,” described the Centerville, Pa. standout. “It made him have traction, but his corner speed was kind of screwed up. I was just hanging on at the beginning hoping the track and my car would come to me. My car got better there at the end. We had harder tires on than probably anyone else and it took awhile for them to go. There was quite a bit of rubber there at the end and my car was pretty good. If Hess” car was going straight in the
corners, I probably wouldn”t have been able to pass him. Half of racing is luck. Everything has to come together to win nowadays.”

A pair of cautions for Bryan Casey and Derek Frank slowed action before a lap was completed, but once green flag racing got underway, the first 21 laps went non-stop. Hess took off in the lead with Jared Miley, Donnie Moran, Matt Lux, and Russell King filling the top five. King drove under Lux to take fourth on lap two.

Hess caught traffic on lap nine as the top four broke away from the field.

On lap 10, the lapped car of Russ Frohnapfel allowed Miley to really put the pressure on Hess, while King tried everything to get past Moran.

Miley pulled alongside Hess for the first time on lap 14 as he dove low, while Hess fought the lapped car of Brent Rhebergen.

Hess continued to lead, but Miley once again pulled even with the leader on lap 15, but was unable to lead the lap. Hess got a little breathing room, but on lap 18 caught a swarm of lapped cars that included Garrett Krummert, George Lee, and Mike Blose. Miley tried to make the pass on lap 21 as he again raced side-by-side with Hess, but just couldn’t make it stick.

On lap 22, King made a dive bomb move through the bottom of turns three and four to get past Moran for third, but drove into Miley forcing all three cars to spin. It was a heartbreaker for Miley, who was fresh off his first Lernerville Speedway win in dominating fashion the night prior. Miley and Moran would restart at the tail, while King was done for the night.

The accident moved Lux to second, Blair to third with Ryan Markham and Dennis Lunger, Jr. now into the top five. Lunger?s strong run ended on lap 26 when he brought out the race’s fourth caution. At this point, everyone noticed Hess’ car appeared to have an issue. At first, Hess thought he had a right rear tire going down, but would later realize he broke the right rear shock.

Six more laps were run before the race’s final caution was displayed for Miley. Back under green flag racing, Blair passed Lux for second with an inside move in turn three. Blair then caught Hess on lap 35. Blair ducked under Hess in turn four on lap 37, but Hess had the momentum to lead the lap; however, one lap later Blair made the pass stick with the slider in turn four.

Blair immediately pulled away and stretched his lead and margin of victory to a straightaway in his Specialty Products/Bossard’s Used Auto-sponsored #W11. Hess was second after leading the first 37 laps. Lux was a solid third with Markham fourth and John Garvin, Jr. coming from 11th to finish fifth. Krummert came from 15th to finish sixth over Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs, Moran, John Mollick, and George Lee II. Heat winners Blair, Moran, and King, who set fast time over the 21-car field with a lap of 15.587.