LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Tim Shaffer had never raced atop I-30 Speedway’s quarter-mile clay oval before Friday night.
But that didn’t prevent him from racing to victory lane in the second night of the 20th annual O’Reilly Short Track Nationals, as he battled past four-time STN king Gary Wright on the 18th of 25 laps to snare his first O’Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National triumph.
And, more importantly, the hard-fought victory in the electrifying preliminary feature event locked Shaffer into Saturday night’s $20,000-to-win and $2,000-to-start championship feature along with runner-up Wright and third-place finisher Jason Meyers, who worked his way forward from seventh to take the final lock-in position.
Taking the wheel of Doc Sloan’s No. a12 J&J machine for the first time, Shaffer was dialed in from the outset, overcoming a big pill draw to race from 10th to third in his heat and then blasting from eighth to second in his qualifying race to earn the feature pole.
Wright matched Shaffer stride for stride with runs of eighth to third in his heat and then seventh to first in his qualifier to earn the front row outside starting slot for the feature.
Wright used the top side to gun into the lead at the outset with Shaffer in tow. After a couple early yellows, the final 17 circuits were run in frantic, non-stop fashion.
With lapped traffic in play at the midway point, Wright continued to work the top side of the track with Shaffer closing in down low. Shaffer found the break he needed entering turn one on the 18th circuit, surging ahead exiting turn two with the pair making contact.
Wright kept the pressure on over the final rounds, only to fall two car lengths short at the checkered flag.
“We got into a lot of traffic there, and it just worked out in my favor this time,” Shaffer said after his first feature win since an NST triumph at Dodge City Raceway Park on May 20, 2006. “Winning here on Saturday will be tough, it’s a long way to go. We’re here with Doc Sloan and his guys and just having a great time, a win tomorrow would just make it that much better.”
The summary:
First Heat (10 laps): Brian McClelland, Ron Blair, Jack Dover, Kevin Ramey, Brandon Berryman, Cody Gardner, Tyler Blank, Tim Simmons, Andrew Korte.
Second Heat (10 laps): Joe Wood, Jr., Lorne Wofford, Gary Wright, Jeff Swindell, Paul McMahan, Eric Baldaccini, Kyle Bellm, Travis Rutz, Mike Dussel, Rick Pringle.
Third Heat (10 laps): Daryn Pittman, Darren Stewart, Tim Shaffer, Nick Smith, A.G. Rains, Josh Fisher, Sean McClelland, Kenneth Walker, Kenny Taylor, Jon Freeman.
Fourth Heat (10 laps): Kaley Gharst, Tim Crawley, Scott Winters, Jason Meyers, Greg Wilson, Danny Smith, Lucas Wolfe, Brad Greer, Derek Hagar.
Fifth Heat (10 laps): Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Eric Lutz, Robbie Standridge, Don Droud, Jr., Wade Oliver, Ronny Howard, Mike Boston, Jonathan Cornell.
Sixth Heat (10 laps): Ernie Ainsworth, Stu Snyder, Steve Short, Lee Sowell, Brian Brown, Jeff Wingate, Wade Human, Mallory Armfield, Zach Pringle.
First Qualifier (12 laps): Berryman, Shaffer, Droud, Snyder, Short, Wofford, Walker, Korte, Boston, Bellm, Pittman, B. McClelland.
Second Qualifier (12 laps): Wright, Winters, Stewart, Blair, S. McClelland, Rains, Fisher, Pringle, Human, Crawley, Sowell, Brown.
Third Qualifier (12 laps): Meyers, Oliver, Gharst, Ainsworth, Lutz, Gardner, D. Smith, Dover, Cornell, Freeman, Taylor, Wolfe, Swindell, Simmons.
Fourth Qualifier (12 laps): McMahan, Stenhouse, Standridge, Greg Wilson, N. Smith, Ramey, Wood, Blank, Rutz, Baldaccini, Hagar, Howard, Armfield, Carney.
Feature (25 laps): Shaffer, Wright, Meyers, Stenhouse, McMahan, Wilson, Standridge, Ainsworth, Droud, Lutz, Stewart, Oliver, Blair, Wofford, Wood, Snyder, Short, Ramey, Gharst, Berryman, Winters.