Silver Cup Sweep
All Star Circuit of Champions stars Blaney, Darrah sweep Outlaws in Lernerville twin features
SARVER, Pa. – July 21, 2015 – Dale Blaney and Cody Darrah both represent the face of overcoming adversity, finding success after a year that began with uncertainty about the future.
If they had not done so already though, the All Star Circuit of Champions stars proved Tuesday night that all of that is old news as they swept the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup Twins at Lernerville Speedway and beat the stars of the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series.
Blaney picked up both the first feature win of the night and ultimately the coveted Silver Cup trophy and $5,000 bonus – his first career Silver Cup win.
“We won the first leg a couple of years ago and (Tim) Shaffer won the second leg,” Blaney said. “Two All Star guys took both of them. Cody (Darrah) wins this one and two All Star guys are up here, so it’s awesome. This place is one of my favorites to come to… Just to come and compete with these guys is special.”
“I was kind of in a dilemma three months ago and things have worked out great,” said Blaney who was unsure then about funding for his team and now has new sponsor and leads the ASCOC championship points standings.
He started the first feature in the 10th position and quickly worked his way through the field, moving into the top-five by lap 10 and then on a restart on that lap into the third position. He then set his sights on Daryn Pittman, using the high line to propel his No. 1B GoMuddy.com car around the No. 9 car on lap 13.
This set Blaney up for an epic battle with Schatz for the top spot. On a restart just before halfway, Blaney threw a slider in turns three and four and took over the top spot. The battle for the lead continued lap after lap with Schatz trying to make the high and low lines work and coming up short each time. As Blaney caught traffic he got space between he and Schatz and sailed to his second World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series victory of the season.
“I had a really good car from the get go and we were working the middle of one and two a bit,” Blaney said. “I was just able to get to second and get a pretty good restart. Donny’s the best there is and to race with him wheel-to-wheel like we did for a while, that’s awesome for our team and the All Stars. We can compete with these guys and we have a good feeling every time we run with them.”
The win was the 11th career series victory for Blaney, the 1998 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year, enough to tie him with Brad Doty and Brooke Tatnell for 27th on the all-time wins list.
For Darrah, his victory in the second feature of the night was a replay of last season when he also won the second Silver Cup feature at Lernerville.
“Last year in the first feature I worked hard to run last to get a good front row spot in the second one,” Darrah said. “This year, that wasn’t the case. It’s amazing to be up here in the front, winning these two races with us two All Star guys. I’ve learned so much from Dale Blaney this year, following him around.”
From an eighth place starting position, Darrah made quick work of the field in front of him, battling for the third position by lap five. He drove his No. 89 J&K Salvage car around Chad Kemanah for third and then quickly ran down David Gravel in second, passing the No. 7 car on the back straight as they completed the seventh circuit.
Joey Saldana was the last car standing in Darrah’s way and after running down Saldana got around him as the two drivers exited turn two on to the back. Saldana tried to battle back around but was not able to make the move. Greg Hodnett made a run in the late going of the feature but was not able to seriously challenge Darrah.
The win was Darrah’s first World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series victory since the same event one year ago.
“It’s been such a cool situation,” Darrah said of his move to his family owned team. “Going into this year I didn’t know what I was going to do and from where I’m at now, I would never choose anything ever different. You just never know where you’re at one day and the next you can be standing up here on the front stretch.”
Blaney charged forward in the second feature, scoring the KSE Racing Hard Charger Award after advancing 11 positions to finish in eighth. His average finish in the two features was 4.5 compared to Darrah’s 6.5.