Hoosier Park Racing & Casino’s 2016 All-Star Driver Series highlighted the 14-race card on Saturday, July 23 and it was Sam Widger who took home top honours and won his share of the $5,000 first round prize.
In its third year, the 2016 All-Star Driver Series pitted the top 10 drivers at Hoosier Park against one another in a five-race challenge with the 10 coveted spots being based upon wins during the 2016 season.
Widger, a 52-year-old Illinois native, earned two wins, a second, a third, and a ninth-place finish during the five-race competition for a total of 49 points to secure the win. John DeLong finished second with 39 points followed by Dan Shetler finishing third with 35 points.
DeLong found the winner’s circle in the opening race of the challenge behind Skyway Billy for 15 points while Rick Plano and KW Express finished second to earn nine points. Widger was only able to muster a ninth-place finish, earning two points.
In the very next race, Shetler and Why Ya Wanna used a gate-to-wire performance to find the winner’s circle in a new lifetime best of 1:53.4 for the pacer. Trace Tetrick and Harley J rallied well to finish second while Legal Image got up for third-place honours to give Widger eight points.
Widger eventually found the winner’s circle in the third race of the challenge behind If I Lose for trainer Brett Selby, also scoring gate-to-wire in 1:51.4. After the third race of the challenge, three different drivers had found the winner’s circle and it appeared to be a wide open affair. Widger lead all drivers with 25 points while Shetler and DeLong were tied with 24.
After the fourth race of the series and just one race left to go, Mike Peterson garnered 15 points to move into third-place with 30 points after a win behind Always A Force while just two points separated DeLong and Widger. Shetler had accumulated 29 points for fourth.
Widger was able to clinch the Round 1 trophy and the lion’s share of the $5,000 prize in the final race by steering Steviescooter to victory in 1:52.3 by two and a half lengths for trainer Steve Brannan. DeLong secured second-place in the series after a fourth-place finish with Justlikeithought while Shetler moved into third.
“The last race of the challenge really worked out in my favour,” Widger noted in the winner’s circle. “Of course, you can play the races out in your head all you want, but you can never be sure how they will go when the gate folds. Things worked out for me and I also had a little racing luck.”
Now in his 30th season as a driver, Widger has over 5,000 career wins and is responsible for the winners of over $42 million in purse earnings. Widger has been a mainstay atop the Hoosier Park leading driver ranks for the past several seasons and is currently third in the standings for the 2016 harness racing season. Widger is anxious to make amends for his second-place finish in the 2015 Driver Series at Hoosier Park.
“These challenges are always a lot of fun,” Widger continued. “I was pretty happy with my picks coming in to tonight and felt good about my chances. I would love to win it all this year; I haven’t forgotten about finishing second last year. We have fun with it and I’d like to thank everyone that made this possible.”
Widger will look to defend his title in Round 2 of the All-Star Driver Series slated for Saturday, October 22 at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino. While Round 2 will be conducted in the same manner as the first, the winner of the final challenge will have their choice of a dream prize: a $10,000 cash prize, an exotic vacation, or their favourite “always wanted to have” toy.
With the points carrying over, the top eight finishers from Round 1 will return for Round 2 on Saturday, October 22 and the final two positions will be determined by the official Hoosier Park standings at the conclusion of racing on Saturday, October 15.
(With files from Hoosier Park)