Hodnett captures another Port Royal Night Before Tuscarora 50 UNOH All Star win

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PORT ROYAL, PA (Friday, Sept. 6, 2013) - There's just something about the University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions and Port Royal Speedway that brings out the best in Greg Hodnett.

Hodnett led all 30 laps Friday for the $5,000 victory in the Night Before The Tuscarora 50. It was his fourth career win in the event having also taken the Night Before checkers in 1998, 2002 and 2003. It was Hodnett's 16th career UNOH All Star win. The victory was the eighth of the season overall for Hodnett.

"We were lucky I guess. The cautions really worked out for us. We weren't very good in traffic so the cautions gave us clean air and the car reacted much better. We have some work to do for tomorrow to get the car better to be able to make passes. We need to put ourselves in a good position," said Hodnett beside his Trone Outdoor/Eagle Steel/Eagle Evergreens/Apple Chevrolet/Bricker's Fries/KTS/Macri Concrete/Energym backed #39.

Brian Leppo hasn't raced a lot this summer but once given the opportunity to drive the John Zemaitis owned Zemco Speed Equipment/Zemco Headers backed #1z, he has made the most of it. He would come home second Friday and is excited about Saturday's big race.

"I haven't raced a lot this summer but I was lucky enough to team up with John and Pee Wee and Tommy (Karl, crew chief) and I'm so thankful for the opportunity. We have been a little off this year and we made some changes to the car last night and it made it much better...I was able to drive it any where and manuever the car. I'm excited about Saturday," said Leppo. "You can't put Greg Hodnett on the front row and expect to beat him. He's just too good and doesn't make many mistakes."

Pittsburgh native Danny Holtgraver continued his solid performance with a third place finish. He had gotten around Leppo second but it was negated by a caution, putting Leppo back into the runner-up spot.

"I had gotten around Brian and the caution came out and they put him back in front of me and on the restart he went to the bottom and I couldn't get around him. I was worried about holding Shaffer off. That team has found something lately. We went out late in qualifying and got fifth quick which put us in a great position for the rest of the night. The car was good all night but toward the end of the race I was just okay. We have some work to do for tomorrow," said Holtgraver of his Bryan Grove/Rob Hunter owned #45 with Canton Erectors/Berlin Natural Bakery sponsorship.

Hodnett started second in the Night Before The Tuscarora 50 sprint car feature and drove into control over Brian Leppo when the green flag fell.

Only the first two laps were recorded when the first caution flag unfurled for a stopped Ryan Taylor in the first corner.

The next eight laps went non-stop with Hodnett opening up a straightaway over Leppo before the next caution occurred for a stopped Doug Esh.

Hodnett was trailed by Leppo, Danny Holtgraver, eighth starter Tim Shaffer and Dale Blaney for the restart.

Another lap was notched before another yellow unfurled, this time forcing a stoppage for refueling.

The restart saw Logan Schuchart surge to the front, making advances from his 17th starting spot to break into the top five with 12 laps to go.

And then another yellow slowed the pace for a stopped Brent Marks with 11 laps left.

Hodnett was nearly home free on the final lap when Caleb Helms laid his car over as he ran onto the front stretch, stopping the race short of the checkers.

The green-white-checkered restart saw Hodnett still easily in control for a cruise to the finish and victory that was his first of the season at the track and 33rd overall of his Port Royal career.

Leppo finished second followed by Holtgraver, Shaffer and Schuchart. After starting 10th, Blane Heimbach rode home sixth followed by Lance Dewease, TJ Stutts, Cap Henry and Chad Layton.

With his fourth place finish Shaffer, who has won the last four straight UNOH All Star championships, narrowed the gap between he and current series point leader Dale Blaney to just 15 points with only four races left in the season. With his 7th place finish Lance Dewease, the 2011 UNOH All Star Eastern Region champion, nearly locked up the $20,000 top prize for 2013 with just Saturday's Tuscarora 50 remaining in the points race.

Port Royal Speedway - 9/6/2013
UNOH Night

All Star Circuit of Champions (39 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position

Qualifying - Kistler Engines
1. 2-Dale Blaney, 16.234; 2. 1Z-Brian Leppo, 16.427; 3. 98-Doug Esh, 16.434; 4. 27-Lance Dewease, 16.448; 5. 45-Danny Holtgraver, 16.494; 6. 39-Greg Hodnett, 16.500; 7. 54-Cap Henry, 16.503; 8. 20-Ryan Taylor, 16.568; 9. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 16.574; 10. 83-Tim Shaffer, 16.676; 11. 40-Caleb Helms, 16.682; 12. 12-Blane Heimbach, 16.701; 13. 2T-T.J. Stutts, 16.723; 14. 99M-Kyle Moody, 16.753; 15. 21-Brian Montieth, 16.787; 16. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 16.792; 17. 7-Chad Layton, 16.804; 18. 5-Dylan Cisney, 16.807; 19. 27H-Lucas Wolfe, 16.820; 20. 48-Danny Dietrich, 16.827; 21. 19-Stevie Smith, 16.875; 22. 19M-Brent Marks, 16.878; 23. 80-Trey Gustin, 16.895; 24. 55-Mike Wagner, 16.896; 25. 69-Ryan Smith, 16.900; 26. 8H-Keith Kauffman, 16.961; 27. 747-Davey Sammons, 16.993; 28. O-Rick Lafferty, 16.995; 29. 44-Rodney Westhafer, 17.025; 30. 15-Adam Wilt, 17.074; 31. O7 I-Cliff Brian, 17.119; 32. 1A-Jacob Allen, 17.162; 33. 1M-Mark Smith, 17.166; 34. 33-Curt Stroup, 17.329; 35. 11-Mike Erdley, 17.343; 36. 25B-Tyler Bear, 17.362; 37. 75-Nicole Bower, 17.380; 38. 55Z-Mark Zimmerman, 17.574; 39. O7-Mark Coldren, 17.904

Heat 1 - Kears Speed Shop (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 7-Chad Layton[2] ; 2. 45-Danny Holtgraver[5] ; 3. 19-Stevie Smith[1] ; 4. 2T-T.J. Stutts[3] ; 5. 2-Dale Blaney[6] ; 6. 69-Ryan Smith[7] ; 7. 75-Nicole Bower[10] ; 8. 44-Rodney Westhafer[8] ; 9. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[4] ; 10. 1M-Mark Smith[9]

Heat 2 - All Pro Aluminum Heads (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 19M-Brent Marks[1] ; 2. 83-Tim Shaffer[4] ; 3. 1Z-Brian Leppo[6] ; 4. 39-Greg Hodnett[5] ; 5. 5-Dylan Cisney[2] ; 6. 15-Adam Wilt[8] ; 7. 8H-Keith Kauffman[7] ; 8. 99M-Kyle Moody[3] ; 9. 33-Curt Stroup[9] ; 10. 55Z-Mark Zimmerman[10]

Heat 3 - Dragon Race Fuel (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 80-Trey Gustin[1] ; 2. 27H-Lucas Wolfe[2] ; 3. 21-Brian Montieth[3] ; 4. 98-Doug Esh[6] ; 5. 40-Caleb Helms[4] ; 6. 54-Cap Henry[5] ; 7. O7 I-Cliff Brian[8] ; 8. 747-Davey Sammons[7] ; 9. O7-Mark Coldren[10] ; 10. 11-Mike Erdley[9]

Heat 4 - Kinsler Fuel Injection (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[3] ; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich[2] ; 3. 12-Blane Heimbach[4] ; 4. 27-Lance Dewease[6] ; 5. 20-Ryan Taylor[5] ; 6. 55-Mike Wagner[1] ; 7. 1A-Jacob Allen[8] ; 8. O-Rick Lafferty[7] ; 9. 25B-Tyler Bear[9]

Dash - Outerwears Performance Products (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 39-Greg Hodnett[2] ; 2. 1Z-Brian Leppo[1] ; 3. 45-Danny Holtgraver[3] ; 4. 2-Dale Blaney[4] ; 5. 27-Lance Dewease[6] ; 6. 98-Doug Esh[5]

B-Main - MSD Ignition (12 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 55-Mike Wagner[4] ; 2. 54-Cap Henry[1] ; 3. 99M-Kyle Moody[3] ; 4. 69-Ryan Smith[5] ; 5. 8H-Keith Kauffman[6] ; 6. 15-Adam Wilt[10] ; 7. O-Rick Lafferty[8] ; 8. O7 I-Cliff Brian[11] ; 9. 11-Mike Erdley[15] ; 10. 1A-Jacob Allen[12] ; 11. 44-Rodney Westhafer[9] ; 12. 75-Nicole Bower[17] ; 13. 55Z-Mark Zimmerman[18] ; 14. O7-Mark Coldren[19] ; 15. 25B-Tyler Bear[16] ; 16. 33-Curt Stroup[14] ; 17. 747-Davey Sammons[7]

A-Main - University of Northwestern Ohio (30 Laps)
1. 39-Greg Hodnett[1]; 2. 1Z-Brian Leppo[2]; 3. 45-Danny Holtgraver[3]; 4. 83-Tim Shaffer[8]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart[15]; 6. 12-Blane Heimbach[10]; 7. 27-Lance Dewease[5]; 8. 2T-T.J. Stutts[12]; 9. 54-Cap Henry[11]; 10. 7-Chad Layton[16]; 11. 48-Danny Dietrich[19]; 12. 69-Ryan Smith[24]; 13. 2-Dale Blaney[4]; 14. 99M-Kyle Moody[13]; 15. 55-Mike Wagner[23]; 16. 19-Stevie Smith[20]; 17. 27H-Lucas Wolfe[18]; 18. 21-Brian Montieth[14]; 19. 80-Trey Gustin[22]; 20. 40-Caleb Helms[9]; 21. 19M-Brent Marks[21]; 22. 5-Dylan Cisney[17]; 23. 98-Doug Esh[6]; 24. 20-Ryan Taylor[7]
Hard Charger: 69-Ryan Smith[+12]