DUNDEE, N.Y. — Zeb Wise returned from injury to win his first Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 feature of the season Friday night at Outlaw Speedway.
Wise missed several races after suffering a concussion in an accident at Eldora Speedway, but was back in the seat of the Rudeen Racing No. 26 and in victory lane with an $8,000 triumph to open the All Stars’ three-day swing through New York.
It was Wise’s fifth career All Star triumph.
Wise was forced to outduel National Sprint Car Hall of Famer and fellow front row starter Tim Shaffer in his winning pursuit, taking command from the former four-time All Star champion on lap 19.
The winning move, powering even with Shaffer at the exit of turn two before slingshotting down the backstretch, was the final act in a many lap battle with the Aliquippa, Pa., native, commencing officially when the frontrunners reached the back of the pack.
Parker Price-Miller, driving by Shaffer late in the non-stop 35-lapper, finished second, followed by Shaffer, “Sunshine” Tyler Courtney and Paulie Colagiovanni.
“I was heartbroken after the crash for many reasons, but more or so because I was going to be forced to sit out a week, and that was tough to swallow because our cars have been really, really good,” Wise said. “It makes my job really easy when our cars are this good. It felt like we were able to make speed in places that other people couldn’t. I was really patient with Tim [Shaffer]. He got a really good jump off the start to get ahead of me, so I just waited for lapped traffic before trying anything.”
The Finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 26-Zeb Wise[1]; 2. 9P-Parker Price Miller[4]; 3. 45-Tim Shaffer[2]; 4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[3]; 5. 10-Paulie Colagiovanni[10]; 6. 29-Sye Lynch[5]; 7. 4-Chris Windom[6]; 8. 28F-Davie Franek[15]; 9. 11-Cory Eliason[13]; 10. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[12]; 11. 3-Denny Peebles[7]; 12. 70-Scotty Thiel[11]; 13. 23-Zeth Sabo[17]; 14. 97-JJ Hickle[14]; 15. 28M-Conner Morrell[8]; 16. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[21]; 17. 98-Joe Trenca[18]; 18. 35-Jared Zimbardi[16]; 19. 88C-Chad Miller[19]; 20. (DNF) 7NY-Matt Farnham[9]; 21. (DNF) 2-Dave Axton[20]