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  • Kraig Kinser Earns Three Top-10 Finishes During Outlaw California Speedweek

    Kraig Kinser Earns Three Top-10 Finishes During Outlaw California Speedweek

    [media-credit name=”World of Outlaws” align=”alignright” width=”234″][/media-credit]Bloomington, Ind.—Sept. 11, 2012— A “Speedweek” tests every fiber of a driver, crew and their equipment. With very little time to get from track to track and regroup, a team has to be at full strength to make it through such a stretch. Kraig Kinser just completed the Outlaw California Speedweek with the World of Outlaws, which saw the series race on five consecutive nights. When the final checkered flag flew on Monday, Sept. 10 at Antioch Speedway, Kinser had recorded three Top-10 finishes in the Hendrickcars.com Maxim during the grueling stretch that took the series to three different tracks.

    The native of Bloomington, Ind., finished 10th at Antioch Speedway on Monday, Sept. 10, which marked his 38th Top-10 performance of the season. Kinser was eighth-fastest in time trials at the start of the night, and that put him on the outside of the front row for the second heat race, which he handily won to earn a spot in the dash. He would line up seventh in the dash and finished eighth. Kinser took the grid on the outside of the fourth row for the 30-lap main event during the World of Outlaws second-ever appearance at the three-eighths-mile.

    Kinser finished ninth at Calistoga Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 9, earning his third straight Top-10 finish at the picturesque half-mile in the Napa Valley wine country of Northern California. He turned the sixth-fastest lap in time trials, which put him on the inside of the second row for the third eight-lap heat race. He would finish fourth and would line up 12th in the 25-lap A-Feature. A red flag on the opening lap led to a complete restart, with Kinser using a strong start to gain two positions and work his way into 10th. He would get around Cody Darrah on the lap 20 to move into ninth on a track that was very challenging to pass on.

    In the opener of the Gold Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Speedway on Thursday, Sept. 6, Kinser finished 12th after lining up 18th. A number of cautions slowed the 30-lap event, as he was able to avoid several of the incidents, working his way forward. Kinser was 19th in time trials of the 44 cars that took to the high-banked quarter-mile. He finished seventh in the third 10-lap heat race, which put him in the B-main, which he won to earn the 18th starting spot in the A-Feature.

    Kinser came home ninth on Friday, Sept. 7 on the second night of the Gold Cup. He lined up 13th in the 30-lap A-Feature that was slowed by four cautions and a pair of red flag periods. Kinser moved into the Top-10 on the 20th lap and would climb as high as eighth in the late going. The 2004 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award winner timed in 11th of the 46 cars that took to the track. He started second in the third heat race and finished third, just missing a spot in the dash by one position.

    With the 40-lap finale of the Gold Cup lined up by event points earned during the opening two nights, Kinser started on the inside of the fifth row. He ran in the Top-10 for the first seven laps before falling to 11th. Kinser was running 12th when the final caution flag of the night flew on lap 14. He dropped back a couple of spots on the ensuing restart and ended the night in the 17th position.

    “To come away with three Top-10 finishes with the strong fields that we raced, it was an okay week for us,” shared Kinser. “We were able to push the car back on the trailer each night and when you are running that many races in-a-row, that’s always important. We were around the Top-10 most of the nights, though we always want to finish a little better. We just have to make it in the dash more to put ourselves in a little better of a position to start the features.”

    Kinser, who is currently sixth in the World of Outlaws championship standings, returns to action on Friday, Sept. 14, at Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer, Iowa, followed by a visit to Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn., on Saturday, Sept. 15.

    “It will be nice to get back to the Midwest this weekend,” said Kinser. “We have a long couple of days of driving ahead of us, but we’ll be ready for Spencer on Friday. I’ve run well there in the past, so I always look forward to racing there.”

    Silver Dollar Speedway, Calistoga Speedway & Antioch Speedway Results

    Date Time
    Trials    		 Heat
    Start    		 Heat Finish Dash Start Dash Finish Feature Start Feature Finish Points
    Sept. 6 19th 5th 7th N/A N/A 18th 12th 6th
    Sept. 7 11th 2nd 3rd N/A N/A 13th 9th 6th
    Sept. 8 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 9th 17th 6th
    Sept. 9 6th 3rd 4th N/A N/A 12th 9th 6th
    Sept. 10 8th 2nd 1st 7th 8th 8th 10th 6th

    Kraig Kinser By the Numbers: Silver Dollar Speedway, Calistoga Speedway and Antioch Speedway
    0.25- Miles around Silver Dollar Speedway
    0.375- Distance around Antioch Speedway in miles
    0.5- Miles around Calistoga Speedway
    2- Career starts at Antioch Speedway
    4- Career Top-10 finishes at Calistoga Speedway
    5- Top-10 finishes in career at Silver Dollar Speedway
    6- Position in the World of Outlaws championship standings
    7- Career starts at Calistoga Speedway including preliminary features
    9- Average starting position and finishing position in World of Outlaws main events this season; Nights of racing in California this season completed by the World of Outlaws
    11.824- Lap in time trials at Antioch Speedway
    12.725- Qualifying lap on Friday, Sept. 7 at Silver Dollar Speedway
    13.111- Lap in time trials during the opener of the Gold Cup on Thursday. Sept. 6
    16.962- Qualifying time at Calistoga Speedway
    17- Main event starts in career at Silver Dollar Speedway, including preliminary features
    38- Top-10 finishes this season
    7966- Points earned through Sept. 10

    Up Next
    Sept. 14: Clay County Fair Speedway, Spencer, Iowa
    Sept. 15: Deer Creek Speedway, Spring Valley, Minn.

    Keep up with all the action 
    For the latest news on Kraig Kinser, visit the redesigned http://www.kraigkinser.com, and follow Kraig on Twitter athttp://twitter.com/kraigkinser11k and receive live updates from the track each and every race night.

    Tune in
    Listen live to each and every World of Outlaws event on DIRTVision.com with “The Voice of the Outlaws” Johnny Gibson on the call. Visitwww.DIRTVision.com for live audio of each and every World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series event.

  • Kaeding Beats Schatz with a last lap Slide Job!

    Kaeding Beats Schatz with a last lap Slide Job!

    [media-credit name=”World of Outlaws” align=”alignright” width=”220″][/media-credit]ANTIOCH, Calif. – Sept. 10, 2012 – Looking for some good entertainment? Just watch Tim Kaeding.
    In perhaps the pass of the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series season, Kaeding slid championship points leader Donny Schatz in turn four on the final lap to earn his fourth Outlaws win of the season on Monday at Antioch Speedway. The packed grandstands erupted for the San Jose native, who reciprocated the affection.

    He egged them on by popping a wheelie down the frontstretch after taking the checkered flag. And if his last-lap pass and wheelie weren’t enough, Kaeding was as entertaining in his postrace interview.

    “Truthfully, it was a slide for life,” Kaeding said. “I was either going to wear me out, him out or both of us at the same time. It was no holds barred, short track racing. This is what I love about it. It’s always fun and exciting, especially for the fans.”

    While Kaeding crossed the finish line first, fellow Californian Jonathan Allard had the car to beat. After a red flag on the opening lap for a four-car pileup in turn one, Allard powered to the lead on the start with Schatz, who started on the pole, a close second.

    The duo entered traffic on lap five and while Allard never pulled away, he maintained a couple of car lengths on Schatz until a caution with 10 laps remaining for Kenny Allen stopping on the frontstretch. Things continued to heat up on the restart as Rico Abreu hit the wall in turn four, tipped on his side and somehow managed to keep going as the red flag waved.

    Once the race resumed, Allard again entered traffic on lap 27 and held a sizeable advantage as he was coming to the white flag when Craig Dollansky spun out in turn two. That forced a green-white-checkered finish, which turned out to be wild.

    Allard, who chose the outside on the double-file restart, spun his tires and Schatz rocketed to the lead. Kaeding was in tow and slid by Allard entering turn one.

    “I thought we had it,” Allard said. “I knew the restart would be tough because the track was starting to go away. I tried to pick the right lane.

    “I started to actually roll the throttle on and it got a bit tight. (I) tried to drive back around them and it spun the tire and (Schatz) took off.”

    Kaeding dove to the inside in turn three, but was unable to make a move on Schatz as they took the white flag. Kaeding followed Schatz around the high side exiting turn two and as Schatz ran the cushion in turn three, Kaeding dove to the bottom and executed a perfect slide job as they raced through turn four.

    Kaeding slammed against the cushion and he drove across the track to edge Schatz by a little more than two tenths of a second.

    “We KOed the curb and I drove straight down the race track so nobody could get back by me,” Kaeding said.

    Schatz, who recorded his seventh straight top-five finish, said he was surprised by the slide job.

    “I just overdrove the car,” he said. “TK got a big run and slid me going into (turn) three and surprised me. I just made a couple of mistakes there at the end. Just me overdriving the car.”

    Allard finished third and to make matters worse, he flipped in turn four on the cool-down lap.

    “They said green-white-checkered on the thing, but I didn’t really know what the lap count was,” he said. “I saw Tim run it down the straightaway and I thought, ‘Well, maybe there’s something going on.’ I ran it down in there and just lost control. So just a bad move on my part.”

    Cody Darrah placed fourth and Lucas Wolfe ended fifth. Sammy Swindell was sixth, Kerry Madsen seventh, Joey Saldana eighth and Steve Kinser earned the KSE Hard Charger Award after driving from 17th to ninth. Kraig Kinser rounded out the top 10.

     

    Qualifying – 1. 1-Sammy Swindell, 11.594; 2. 83-Tim Kaeding, 11.669; 3. 4-Cody Darrah, 11.683; 4. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 11.689; 5. O-Jonathan Allard, 11.733; 6. 9-Joey Saldana, 11.770; 7. 15-Donny Schatz, 11.806; 8. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 11.824; 9. 19-Tyler Wolf, 11.844; 10. 18H-Jac Haudenschild, 11.879; 11. OO-Jason Statler, 11.903; 12. 29-Kerry Madsen, 11.906; 13. 63-Chad Kemenah, 11.910; 14. 7-Craig Dollansky, 11.931; 15. 83JR-Kyle Hirst, 11.937; 16. 7K-Kenny Allen, 11.986; 17. 19B-Bud Kaeding, 11.987; 18. 11-Steve Kinser, 12.004; 19. 7S-Jason Sides, 12.120; 20. 89-Rico Abreu, 12.129; 21. 21-Tommy Tarlton, 12.142; 22. 18-Travis Jacobson, 12.346; 23. 6-Bill Rose, 12.383; 24. 6UP-Danielle Simpson, 12.492; 25. A19-Art McCarthy, 12.628; 26. 52-Dusty Green, 12.906; 27. 6C-Chase Wood, 13.261.

    Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 15-Donny Schatz [2]; 2. 18H-Jac Haudenschild [1]; 3. 1-Sammy Swindell [4]; 4. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [3]; 5. 63-Chad Kemenah [5]; 6. 18-Travis Jacobson [8]; 7. 7K-Kenny Allen [6]; 8. 7S-Jason Sides [7].

    Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 11K-Kraig Kinser [2]; 2. OO-Jason Statler [1]; 3. 83-Tim Kaeding [4]; 4. O-Jonathan Allard [3]; 5. 6-Bill Rose [8]; 6. 7-Craig Dollansky [5]; 7. 89-Rico Abreu [7]; 8. 19B-Bud Kaeding [6]; 9. 52-Dusty Green [9].

    Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 4-Cody Darrah [4]; 2. 19-Tyler Wolf [2]; 3. 29-Kerry Madsen [1]; 4. 9-Joey Saldana [3]; 5. 83JR-Kyle Hirst [5]; 6. 11-Steve Kinser [6]; 7. 6UP-Danielle Simpson [8]; 8. 21-Tommy Tarlton [7]; 9. 6C-Chase Wood [9].

    Dash – (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) – 1. 15-Donny Schatz [1]; 2. O-Jonathan Allard [2]; 3. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [3]; 4. 83-Tim Kaeding [5]; 5. 4-Cody Darrah [4]; 6. 1-Sammy Swindell [6]; 7. 19-Tyler Wolf [8]; 8. 11K-Kraig Kinser [7]; 9. 18H-Jac Haudenschild [9]; 10. OO-Jason Statler [10].

    B-Main – (10 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 19B-Bud Kaeding [2] [-]; 2. 89-Rico Abreu [4] [-]; 3. 7S-Jason Sides [3] [-]; 4. 21-Tommy Tarlton [5] [-]; 5. 7K-Kenny Allen [1] [-]; 6. A19-Art McCarthy [7] [-]; 7. 6C-Chase Wood [9] [$200]; 8. 52-Dusty Green [8] [$180]; 9. 6UP-Danielle Simpson [6] [$175].

    A-Main – (30 Laps) – 1. 83-Tim Kaeding [4] [$10,000]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [1] [$5,500]; 3. O-Jonathan Allard [2] [$3,200]; 4. 4-Cody Darrah [5] [$2,800]; 5. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [3] [$2,500]; 6. 1-Sammy Swindell [6] [$2,300]; 7. 29-Kerry Madsen [12] [$2,200]; 8. 9-Joey Saldana [11] [$2,100]; 9. 11-Steve Kinser [17] [$2,050]; 10. 11K-Kraig Kinser [8] [$2,000]; 11. 18H-Jac Haudenschild [9] [$1,500]; 12. 89-Rico Abreu [19] [$1,200]; 13. 7-Craig Dollansky [14] [$1,100]; 14. 21-Tommy Tarlton [20] [$1,050]; 15. OO-Jason Statler [10] [$1,000]; 16. 19-Tyler Wolf [7] [$900]; 17. 7K-Kenny Allen [23] [$800]; 18. 18-Travis Jacobson [21] [$800]; 19. A19-Art McCarthy [24] [$800]; 20. 83JR-Kyle Hirst [15] [$800]; 21. 7S-Jason Sides [18] [$800]; 22. 6-Bill Rose [22] [$800]; 23. 63-Chad Kemenah [13] [$800]; 24. 19B-Bud Kaeding [16] [$800]. Lap Leaders: Jonathan Allard 1-28, Donny Schatz 29, Tim Kaeding 30. KSE Hard Charger Award: 11-Steve Kinser [+8].

    World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Top 20 Championship Standings

    World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Top 20 Championship Standings

    Pos. Driver

    Total

    Diff

    Wins

    T5

    T10

    QT
    1 Donny Schatz

    8356

    0

    9

    31

    51

    3
    2 Craig Dollansky

    8284

    -72

    7

    31

    46

    8
    3 Sammy Swindell

    8271

    -85

    11

    28

    42

    14
    4 Joey Saldana

    8236

    -120

    5

    22

    47

    9
    5 Steve Kinser

    8175

    -181

    3

    24

    43

    0
    6 Kraig Kinser

    7966

    -390

    4

    18

    38

    5
    7 Cody Darrah

    7770

    -586

    1

    19

    32

    2
    8 Kerry Madsen

    7732

    -624

    5

    13

    33

    1
    9 Chad Kemenah

    7553

    -803

    2

    9

    28

    2
    10 Lucas Wolfe

    7348

    -1008

    1

    8

    22

    1
    11 Bill Rose

    6691

    -1665

    0

    0

    10

    0
    12 Jason Sides

    5212

    -3144

    0

    15

    25

    1
    13 Tim Kaeding

    3524

    -4832

    4

    10

    17

    0
    14 Jac Haudenschild

    3469

    -4887

    0

    2

    8

    0
    15 Daryn Pittman

    2537

    -5819

    0

    6

    13

    1
    16 Sam Hafertepe Jr.

    2454

    -5902

    0

    3

    7

    0
    17 Danny Lasoski

    2431

    -5925

    1

    5

    8

    0
    18 David Gravel

    2385

    -5971

    0

    7

    9

    4
    19 Paul McMahan

    2296

    -6060

    1

    2

    3

    0
    20 Stevie Smith

    2276

    -6080

    0

    3

    11

    1
  • Steve Mathews puts himself in position, comes up shy at Barrie

    Steve Mathews puts himself in position, comes up shy at Barrie

    [media-credit id=4 align=”alignright” width=”266″][/media-credit]Should have, could have, would have. It’s a saying that many have heard in racing and it’s one that NASCAR Canadian Tire Series competitor Steve Mathews is right now playing through his mind multiple times following this past weekend’s Wahta Springs 300 at Barrie Speedway.

    “We had a great car and set it up to come off the bottom and conserve tires for the long run,” Mathews comments.

    Mathews would start the day off strong, winning the pole for the 300 lapper on the .333 mile oval in Barrie, Ontario. After playing some strategy in the middle of racing by taking tires 100 laps later than most, Mathews found himself in contention with Mathews restarting second with seven laps to go.

    Mathews would run side-by-side with Scott Steckly for an entire lap, however the next lap, contact between the two would send Steckly for a spin in turn four.

    [media-credit id=4 align=”alignleft” width=”266″][/media-credit]“Made a crossover move on Steckly where we got up to his door in turn three,” Mathews explains. “Unfortunately, he did not see me and made contact.”

    The final restart would present a green-white-checkered with the race now running past its scheduled distance. Mathews would restart the leader, with J.R. Fitzpatrick to his inside. There’d be more contact as coming out of turn four, Fitzpatrick pushed Mathews up into the outside wall, allowing Pete Shepherd III to sneak by them both.

    “I knew J.R. would lose his cool like usual to end the race,” Mathews comments. “He jumped the restart as the leader has to the first to the line. Then I had him clear out of turn two. Next thing you know he used me as brakes into turn three, I saved it, and then he drove me right into the turn four wall.”

    There would then be contact between Fitzpatrick and Andrew Ranger in the final corner with  Fitzpatrick going for the spin cycle. Mathews would slow up a bit, allowing Dowler to get underneath him. The result was a fourth place finish for Mathews. The fourth place finish marks the first top five and second top 10 finish for the New Liskeard, Ontario native in his fifth start on the season.

    “I would like to thank Race Time Radio, Bill Mathews Motors, and Jack Mathews Body Shop,” he says. “Also the fans for sticking out the rain and my crew for their continued effort and support.”

    [media-credit id=4 align=”alignright” width=”266″][/media-credit]While many question whether small teams can survive in the major series, the 22-year-old driving for the family backed team, proved on Saturday that short track action can showcase how well they can put their equipment together. As many drivers said before the race – it was all about survival. Mathews kept out of the trouble and found himself in contention through his own talent and driving skill.

    From late models to the NCATS, Mathews has showed that he can drive, scoring six top 10s and two poles in 19 NCATS starts. With more experience, the talent pool can only grow more. The only question is whether sponsorship will come, which certainly good runs like this present that opportunity.

    With their current situation, Mathews Motorsports will miss Nova Scotia this weekend, however Mathews is looking forward to Kawartha Speedway to finish off the season after winning the pole and leading over 80 laps before finishing seventh after being spun under caution.

  • DJ Kennington Surprises Everyone With New Colours At Barrie

    DJ Kennington Surprises Everyone With New Colours At Barrie

    September 9, 2012. Normally at NASCAR Canadian Tire Series events we see DJ Kennington piloting the familiar #17 Castrol Edge Dodge. But for round number 10 at Barrie Speedway on Sunday Kennington caught the racing world of guard with an eye catching new look. For this one event Kennington would race the #17 SuperClean Dodge.

    The project was kept very quiet in advance with only a handful of people aware of the surprise to be revealed. “It was an idea that came up a few weeks ago” said Kennington. “We’re happy to have SuperClean products as part of our program this year and for the Barrie race we had coupons and sample giveaways and then we had this idea to make an even bigger splash and we came up with this great look for the #17 SuperClean Dodge and it sure got a lot of attention from everyone he explained.

    Once the action began on the track though he had a different look to the car Kennington’s #17 SuperClean Dodge was running well. Rain sprinkles fell on the track just before qualifying and Kennington was one of the first to attempt time trails. He would manage the sixth quickest time.

    As the 300 lap feature event began Kennington began looking for opportunities to move the #17 SuperClean Dodge forward in the field. “We didn’t have the best qualifying but as the race started to get going it was getting better” said the driver.

    Continuing his steady progress in the #17 SuperClean Dodge Kennington ran comfortably inside the top five and following scheduled pit stops for service felt they were in a good position for the second half of the race. Suddenly, their fortunes changed.

    Without warning the #17 SuperClean Dodge slowed on the track and fell back in the field. Kennington quickly brought the car to the attention of the crew. After diagnosing the problem with the fuel pump the team made the change and returned him to the race many laps down, their opportunity at a good result was lost.

    “From there we just soldiered on as best we could. The car was right back to running fast after we changed part change, unfortunately these things happen”.

    The #17 SuperClean Dodge would be classified 21st at the finish and tighten up the championship battle that Kennington still leads. “We knew even with a good lead that this sort of thing sometimes happens” explained Kennington. “We’re not hanging out heads though; we’ll be back next week ready to go at Riverside. I feel bad we couldn’t have a better finish for SuperClean with them on the car this weekend”.

    Even with the disappointing result at Barrie Kennington sits atop the overall championship standings, 14 points ahead of second place.

    DJ Kennington will be back in his familiar #17 Castrol Edge Dodge as the team returns to action this coming Saturday September 15th at Riverside Speedway near Antigonish, NS.

    Race fans are encouraged to keep up to date with the latest team news in several ways. Race fans should bookmark the team website www.djkracing.ca and follow them on twitter, @djkracing and fans should also “like” the team Facebook Page DJK Racing.

    ABOUT SuperClean®

    SuperClean®’s fast-acting formula has 25% more active ingredients providing the cleaning power needed in shops and commercial environments.
    It’s powerful, but also biodegradable, phosphate-free and non-flammable, with hundreds of cleaning uses including auto parts, engines, shop equipment, tools, floor scrubbers and more. For more information: www.supercleancanada.ca

    Photo: DJ Kennington in the #17 SuperClean Dodge

  • Hard Fought Fight At Barrie For Hathaway

    Hard Fought Fight At Barrie For Hathaway

    September 9, 2012- Barrie, Ontario– After the postponement of the Wahia Springs 300 on Saturday afternoon, Jason Hathaway in his #3 Snap-on Tools/ Rockstar Energy Drink/Vortex Brake Pads Dodge got back to oval track racing at Barrie Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

    Barrie is known for tight racing and is always full of action and this race did not disappoint. Hathaway had a solid qualifying effort; posting a 8th place start on a track wet from extensive rain and overcast skies.

    The 300 lap race got started at 1:30 pm and Hathaway set his sights on the top 5 right away. By lap 44, he had made his way up to 6th in the running order.  Hathaway stayed out of trouble logging laps and getting into a rhythm. Crew Chief Craig Masters brought Hathaway’s race machine down pit road for left side tires on lap 137 and Hathaway continued to comfortably run laps in the 5th spot.

    Some on track beating and banging forced Hathaway back in the running order. In true Hathaway style though the #3 Snap-on Tools/Rockstar Energy Drink/Vortex Brake Pads Dodge never gave up and worked the tight .333 –mile oval. At the half-way point Hathaway had battled back up to 7th and was in the hunt.

    On lap 202 Hathaway got caught up in a car spinning in front of him and did some front end damage to his race car. On the pit stop the crew checked the car over, repaired the damage and sent Hathaway back out to challenge again. With 50 laps to go and a little beat up race car Hathaway was 6th and had his sights on a top 5 finish.  Hampered by numerous cautions and a green white checkered finale cut Hathaway chances short and he finished a hard fought 8th place lacking some front end fiberglass!

    “This was a crazy weekend. We had a good top 5 car today, but some crazy driving out there by some drivers beat on our car. We got held up in a few spots with the traffic so tight.”  Said Hathaway. “The crew did a great job getting me in and out of the pits and in contention all afternoon. We had the support of Napoleon Fireplaces & Grills and Choko Motorsports trackside today and it was great to have them all here to watch us in action! We will be ready to go for Riverside next weekend!”
    The Wahia Springs 300 with air on TSN on Saturday September 15th at 12 noon eastern. Fans can follow the Team on twitter @jasonhathaway3 & @ehrt3r as well on their website at team3red.com and “Like” them on Facebook.com/team3red.edhakonsonracing.com

    The team will be off to the Wilson Equipment 300 at Riverside Speedway in Antigonish, Nova Scotia this coming weekend.

    -30-

    Ed Hakonson Racing is proud to be partnered with Snap-on Tools, Rockstar Energy Drinks, Vortex Brake Pads, Napoleon Grills, Castrol, Fast Eddie Racewear, Choko Motorsports, Praxair and Cathcart Trucking and King Brewery.

    About Snap-on Tools: Snap-on Tools is a leading global innovator, manufacturer and marketer of tools, diagnostics and equipment solutions for professional users. Product lines include hand and power tools, tool storage, diagnostics software, information and management systems, shop equipment and other solutions used by technicians and professionals at vehicle dealerships and repair centers in the marine, power sports and aviation industries. Visit www.snapon.com

    About Rockstar Energy Drink: “ROCKSTAR is the world’s most powerful energy drink. Enhanced with the potent herbal blend of Guarana, Ginkgo, Ginseng and Milk Thistle, ROCKSTAR is formulated to provide an incredible energy boost for those who lead active and exhausting lifestyles – from athletes to rock stars!

    About Vortex Brake Pads: Vortex Brake Pads is a proud Canadian company, manufacturing the highest quality aftermarket brake pads for all automotive segments. Vortex products are well researched, proven in on track and off track testing and are produced in a high quality manufacturing environment. For more information visit www.vortexbrakepads.com

     

    For additional information please contact: Jamie Hakonson @ 905-642-1010 or jamie@team3red.com

  • Steckly stung in the late going at Barrie

    Steckly stung in the late going at Barrie

    BARRIE, ON – September 9, 2012. Barrie, ON. – Two-time Barrie Speedway winner Scott Steckly returned to the track on Sunday kicking off the Wahta Springs 300 with a strong, field-leading performance. Unfortunately for Steckly, a late caution turned sour for him and his #22 Canadian Tire Dodge. Steckly and his crew had a good practice, only requiring some fine-tuning to the Canadian Tire Dodge before qualifying. The minor changes panned out nicely for the team, #22 earned a 3rd place starting position for the race.

    Steckly took over as the front-runner as the race progressed, leading the field for an impressive 110 laps. #22 displayed his strength and discipline, dominating the track in the late stages and lining himself up for a successful finish.

    However Steckly’s success came to a halt in the final laps of the race. A late caution set up a green-white-checker finish. After the restart, a battle to keep his lead from being overtaken by the second-place car resulted in a crash heading into turn 3. There wasn’t enough space inside the turn to make the pass, and it resulted in #15 hitting Steckly on the driver’s side, causing both vehicles to spin out.

    “I’m at a loss for words,” Steckly said after the race. “We had the dominant car in the late going and got taken out on that restart.”

    When the pit crew assessed the damage to the Canadian Tire Dodge they were forced to remove the hood, which buckled in the crash.

    Steckly hung on in the final laps, and still managed to finish in the top 10, earning 9th place.

    “It’s tough when you’re fighting for a championship and have an opportunity to get the win and boost our position only to get taken out by a part time driver,” Steckly explained after the race.

    After today’s race, Steckly is ranked 4th with 393 points overall, comfortably sitting 43 points ahead of 5th place driver Ron Beauchamp Jr.

    The Wahta Springs 300 will be aired on TSN on Saturday, Sept. 15 at noon ET and on RDS2 on Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 10 p.m. ET.

    The next event for the #22 Racing Canadian Tire Team will be the Wilson Equipment 300 at Riverside Speedway in Antigonish Nova Scotia on Saturday Sept. 15th.

    22 Racing is supported by the following sponsors: Canadian Tire, Motomaster Eliminator, Sylvania, Erb Group, Mobil 1 and AW Millwrights.

    From Linda Jones / Wide Open Motorsport Solutions

  • FIRST PODIUM FINISH FOR NOEL DOWLER

    FIRST PODIUM FINISH FOR NOEL DOWLER

    September 9, 2012.  Sherwood Park, Alberta’s Noel Dowler continues to enjoy a sophomore season in the #5 EMCO Dodge participating in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series with improved race results and a season of firsts.  Earlier this year Dowler scored his first top ten result in the series and this past weekend at Barrie Speedway Dowler recorded his first podium finish with a third place result.

     

    During practice the #5 EMCO Dodge team worked to have a race that would perform consistently for the 300 lap feature event.  Though Dowler did not have a strong qualifying run he was confident they would have a solid race.  “The car just felt really good all day” said Dowler.  “I knew that we had the car to have a good day” he added.

     

    In the early going Dowler faced another challenge as his #5 EMCO Dodge ended up spinning between turns one and two.  “In Barrie you have to expect this sort of thing” he explained. “Fortunately we had this happen early so we just continued with our plan and I knew that the car was good enough for us to get back toward the front” he stated.

     

    From that point Dowler’s day became much better.  The #5 EMCO Dodge team knew that with the majority of the race remaining hope was not lost.  “We got thrown off our strategy a little bit but with the car set up so well by the team we were doing okay” said Dowler.

     

    The #5 EMCO Dodge team completed their final pit stop of the afternoon and the rest was now up to Dowler.  The second year driver moved the car smartly into the top-ten and then continued to look for opportunities to gain positions.  With a late caution flag slowing the field, Dowler found himself close to the front of the pack with one more restart opportunity to gain more positions.

     

    With the race set up for a green, white, checkered finish Dowler dug deep on the restart looking to move up.  He would get a little assistance as the first two cars in the running order would have contact and spin out.  On the final lap he continued to push and would cross the finish line third overall.

     

    “What a great day for the whole team” said Dowler.  “We had a little luck working for us at the end but we also had a really good race car, we didn’t get down when we had some troubles early and we raced back to put ourselves in position for this result.  I’m really happy for everybody at EMCO, Kohler, Rheem and the whole team.  This is a great boost for us” he added.

     

    With the third place finish Noel Dowler also climbs to tenth in the overall championship standings.

     

    The 2012 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series is back in action on Saturday September 15th at Riverside Speedway near Antigonish, NS.  The series features 12 events from coast to coast including races during the Edmonton Indy weekend and the NASCAR Nationwide event in Montreal.  For more information about Noel Dowler Jr. log onto www.apollomotorsports.ca and follow him on twitter, @noeldowler.

  • BEAUCHAMP BOUNCED ASIDE IN BARRIE

    BEAUCHAMP BOUNCED ASIDE IN BARRIE

    September 9, 2012. Barrie, Ont. – Despite running a smart and effective strategy throughout the course of the Wahta Springs 300 on Sunday, Ron Beauchamp Jr. fell victim to another vehicle and lost a chance at a top 5 finish.

    Beauchamp and his crew had a solid test session at the Barrie Speedway and learned some things they believed would help them. They had a good practice, only making some minor adjustments to the #60 Mopar Parts/Mobil 1/Exide Batteries Dodge in preparation for qualifying. The crew made the right adjustments, and #60 earned a strong 2nd place starting position.

    Once the race kicked off, #60 upheld the strategy: pit for fuel early and then tires. The team ended up taking their last two tires later than the rest of the front-runners. Their game plan was successful; Beauchamp ran in and around the top 5 for most of the 307-lap race.

    “Our plan was working really well,” Beauchamp said afterwards. “We got our tires later than the other guys, we had a really strong car and were coming for the leaders.”

    #60 continued to run strong, marching steadily towards the front and running fourth, when Beauchamp was suddenly struck by the #3 car.

    Once Beauchamp regrouped from the collision, he couldn’t recover the lost ground and ended up closing out the green-white-checker finish in 7th place.

    “I definitely think we had a podium-finishing car today,” he said. “Instead we had a better finish taken from us and that’s disappointing.”

    After today, Beauchamp is ranked 5th overall with 350 points and a solid 20-point lead over 6th-ranked Jason Hathaway.

    Ron Beauchamp Jr. and the #60 Mopar Parts/Mobil 1/Exide Batteries Dodge team will be back in action this coming Saturday September 15th at Riverside Speedway near Antigonish, NS.  For more information about the #60 Mopar Parts/Mobil 1/Exide Batteries team log on towww.beauchampmotorsports.com and www.mopar.ca

  • JASON WHITE PERSEVERES AT BARRIE

    JASON WHITE PERSEVERES AT BARRIE

    September 9, 2012. Barrie, Ont. – Despite having a solid vehicle to rely on, Jason White had a tough day at the Wahta Springs 300 at the Barrie Speedway on Sunday that just continued to get worse – a day he described as “quicksand.”

    The team’s #21 Bowers & Wilkins Dodge was a car to be proud of in practice, and White kicked off the weekend on a high note. Unfortunately for White, his expectations didn’t pan out in qualifying. A spot of rain threw him off his groove right before the qualifying laps and #21 registered a 13th-place time.

    White’s black cloud followed him to the main event, where early in the race he had some contact with car #07.

    “Once we got tagged by the #07 car, which set us back in the pack,” he explained later. “Once that happens, it’s tough to climb out of the quicksand.”

    White battled hard to keep from sinking deeper in his proverbial quicksand, aiming to run consistent laps to rekindle the lap he lost after the incident with #07.

    “We had to keep fighting to get anywhere, it’s just how it is at Barrie,” White said.

    Speed bumps kept springing up throughout the course of the race, and he ended up getting turned around yet again towards the final laps. White kept working hard to make the best of his luckless afternoon eventually finishing 17th under a green-white-checker finish.

    Despite the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the day, White still saw the bright side.

    “It was a pretty frustrating day, but the car is in good shape,” he remarked. “We won’t have much to do getting ready for Riverside and I’m looking forward to racing on that track – it’s a lot of fun.”

    After today’s race, White is ranked 8th overall with 308 points.

    Jason White and the #21 Dodge team will compete in the entire 2012 NCATS schedule that will take the team from coast to coast in Canada for the 12 events.  Next on the schedule; teams head east to Riverside Speedway near Antigonish, NS on September 15th.  For the latest news about Jason White and the #21 Dodge team check out the team website atwww.jasonwhiteracing.com and be sure to follow Jason on twitter for the latest updates @racinjasonwhite  You can get more information about the NCATS series at www.hometracks.nascar.com

  • Pete Shepherd III wins Wahta Springs 300 at Barrie Speedway in dramatic finish

    Pete Shepherd III wins Wahta Springs 300 at Barrie Speedway in dramatic finish

    [media-credit id=4 align=”alignleft” width=”266″][/media-credit]Following a dramatic conclusion to the 300 lapper at Barrie Speedway, it’d be Pete Shepherd making his way to victory lane after slipping past both J.R. Fitzpatrick and Steve Mathews in the closing laps. It marks the third career NASCAR Canadian Tire Series victory for the Brampton, Ontario part-timer after winning at Kawartha Speedway in 2010 and Saskatoon last year.

    “Having three years in a row where we’ve gotten wins, it’s really special to us,” Shepherd says. “The National Exhaust Dodge is always fast.”

    It was a battle for Shepherd as he had fallen two laps down following problems on pit road when the jack broke.

    “We always know that we’re able to win these races, and the car was strong,” Shepherd comments. “We always had good line-ups on restarts and made the most of every lap and ended up in victory lane today.”

    When the jack broke, there was a moment that could’ve changed the outcome as NASCAR was ready to penalize Shepherd for too many people over the wall. However, they overturned the call when they noticed someone from another team jumped over to attempt to help without being asked or noticing the people count.

    “We didn’t ask anybody for help – I saw the guy that actually came over to help,” Shepherd explains. “He put his hands inside the car and tried to lift it, nothing happened. They made a great call. It just shows the level of professionalism they have just by rethinking what happened and understanding what happened. They were very fair on that decision and I have to applaud them on that.”

    As the race neared its conclusion, it looked as if Scott Steckly would pick up the victory as he had almost a straightaway lead on Mark Dilley while Shepherd ran just outside the top five. However, a caution with 22 laps to go for Ron Beauchamp Jr. having a flat tire would change everything.

    [media-credit id=4 align=”alignright” width=”266″][/media-credit]The finish was setting up to feature defending series champion Steckly and last year’s race winner Dilley dueling for the win. However, Dilley would have a driveline failure under caution and would be out for the rest of the race. In turn, it’d be pole sitter Steve Mathews starting on the outside of Steckly for the restart.

    After cleaning up the debris from Beauchamp Jr.’s flat tire and pushing Dilley off of the track, the restart would come at lap 293 with seven laps to go.

    Steckly and Mathews would run side-by-side for a whole lap, before Mathews would send Steckly for a spin in turn four. Dave Connolly would make contact with Steckly after the fact, causing heavy front end damage to Steckly’s dodge. As a result, Mathews would take control of the lead while Steckly would restart at the back of the field for the green-white-checkered.

    On the green-white-checkered restart, it’d be Mathews side-by-side with Fitzpatrick for the lead. Coming out of turn four, contact beween Fitzpatrick and Mathews would send Mathews up the track, causing contact with the outside wall. Meanwhile, Shepherd would make the move three-wide, slipping past both of them for the lead.

    [media-credit id=4 align=”alignleft” width=”266″][/media-credit]Shepherd would take control of the final lap and take the victory while Mathews spun Fitzpatrick in turn four. Andrew Ranger and Noel Dowler would both get by Mathews and Fitzpatrick to finish second and third. The second place finish for Ranger allowed him to gain points on points leader Kennington, who finished 21st.

    “Actually, it’s always interesting to come here to Barrie,” Ranger says. “Those races are really exciting. Probably not the fastest car on the track, but the 27 team proved they could be fast and finished second. I was trying to save my stuff to the end and when the caution came out, I was very excited, thinking I had a start there. I saw the 15 and 84 sideways on the back there so I put my nose on the inside. J.R. came close to me and I should’ve lifted, but Barrie is so close. It was such a close finish.”

    The third place finish for Dowler marks his best career Canadian Tire Series finish.

    “We started off with a very fast car at the start of the day,” Dowler says. “Got spun around, came back from that. Got a lap down, came back from that.”

    Mathews would get credited with fourth while Dexter Stacey rounded out the top five.

    Fitzpatrick would get sixth, followed by Beauchamp Jr., Jason Hathaway, Steckly and Larry Jackson.

    Points leader D.J. Kennington would finish 21st in the race after spending numerous laps on pit road after stalling on the track on lap 153. As a result, Kennington only leads by 14 points over Ranger and 18 over Fitzpatrick with two races remaining.