By Victoria Beaver

Tim Shaffer notched his second win of the season Monday night after leading flag-to-flag in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series' return to Ransomville (NY) Speedway. Amazingly, he did so with only one crewman by his side, his crew chief Cody Jacobs.

The Steel City Outlaw's run was not without incident, as he drove off the front stretch while maneuvering through lapped traffic with two laps to go.

After winning the pole to the start the Dash, Shaffer pulled ahead to win the eight-lap prelim race and start on the pole for the feature as well.

Trouble almost came early for Shaffer as Dane Lorenc spun immediately in front of him on lap eight.

“I have no idea how we missed the 00,” Shaffer said after the race.

The second and last caution came out two laps later when Sheldon Haudenschild broke an axle while running inside the top 10.

Shaffer looked unstoppable with 15 laps remaining, getting the jump on the field to claim the clean air line — that is, until he had to slow for traffic with less than five to go. Brad Sweet and David Gravel hung back, waiting for the lapped traffic to slow the leader so they could make their move.

With three to go, Shaffer was running too close to the edge and fell off the track into the moat. Yes... the moat. Shaffer was able to drive back on in the front corner and never gave up the lead in the comical error. He ended up still beating Sweet to the line by 0.581 seconds.

We should not b racing at a track with a moat!

— Daryn Pittman (@DarynPittman) October 17, 2017

“I thought I was in trouble when I slid off, but here we are,” Shaffer said. “Hats off to Cody, he gave me a great race car that was a lot of fun to drive.”

Shaffer’s two-man win is proof that not only the big budget teams win.

Sweet finished second, adding yet another podium finish to his season. While happy with the result, it’s clear that Sweet is suffering from bridesmaid syndrome.

“My one shot was when Tim went off the edge -- I’d like to do that lap over again,” Sweet said. “It’s nice to be on the podium. We’ll keep pushing to get some wins.”

Shane Stewart’s finishing position was once again decided by a blown tire, but this time in his favor. David Gravel blew a tire while racing for the checkers in third, causing the fourth-running Stewart to grab the final podium spot.

“Lately, I’ve been the one blowing tires,” Stewart joked about his change of luck.

Donny Schatz also passed Gravel to finish fourth pushing the stricken driver to the final top five position.

Top 10 Finishers

1. Tim Shaffer
2. Brad Sweet
3. Shane Stewart
4. Donny Schatz
5. David Gravel
6. Kraig Kinser
7. Daryn Pittman
8. Brent Marks
9. Jac Haudenschild
10. Jason Johnson