Tag: Craig Dollansky

Severe Weather Dampens Federated Auto Parts Ironman 55

[media-credit name=”World of Outlaws” align=”alignright” width=”296″][/media-credit]PEVELY, Mo. — Aug. 4, 2012 — A severe storm slammed the Federated Auto Parts Ironman 55 presented by Summit Distributing/Coors Light on Saturday night.

The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series event was completed under a shortened program at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55. All races were finished except the final event, which was staged on the track when a downpour and lightning closed in on the area. Local authority warned of the severity of the storm and measures were immediately taken for the safety of the spectators and teams.

The Federated Auto Parts Ironman 55 main event will be contested as part of the program during the World of Outlaws appearance at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on Saturday, Oct. 13. Ticket holders for the October show will get to watch two feature programs for their admission.

Kerry Madsen won his fourth dash of the season to earn the pole for the famed event with fellow Australian James McFadden on the outside of the front row.

Kraig Kinser established quick time in qualifying to open the night, and Craig Dollansky, Dale Blaney and Donny Schatz each claimed a heat race.

August 5, 2012

Wolfe Wins First at Bloomington

[media-credit name=”World of Outlaws” align=”alignright” width=”212″][/media-credit]Bloomington Indiana is the home of the biggest name in Winged Sprint Car history. That name is Kinser. Steve Kinser to be exact. There would be 3 Kinser’s in the field tonight. But the victory would go to a first time winner. It seems hard to believe that Lucas Wolfe had never won a feature before. But it was true until tonight.

The evening was hot and humid as is typical in the midwest in August. The 1/4 mile dirt track at Bloomington Indiana was still wet from a brief rain shower but it didn’t discourage the fans from flocking to the home track of 20 time World of Outlaws champion Steve Kinser. The 22 drivers who also gathered at the track were geared up and ready to go. The semi-banked, quarter-mile oval track record of 9.672 seconds was established by Jason Meyers on Aug. 5, 2011. That track record would remain intact after qualifying was complete. Quick Time would be set by Donny Schatz with a time of 10.798 seconds or 81.98 mph. Lucas Wolfe, Jason Sides, Sammy Swindell, and Craig Dollansky would round out the top 5.

The heat races would be uneventful, with the small narrow track keeping passing to a minimum. The first heat race would see Greg Wilson fend off a hard charging Cody Darrah and Steve Kinser to take home the win and secure a spot in the dash. Also securing a spot in the dash would be Sammy Swindell and Donny Schatz with their times.

The second heat race would see Logan Schuchart hold off a hard charging Kraig Kinser in front of Kraig’s home town crowd. Finishing third was Craig Dollansky. Also transferring out of the 2nd heat to the dash based on his time was Lucas Wolfe.

The third heat was won by Joey Saldana by a straight away over fellow Outlaw Kerry Madsen. Also transferring to the Dash based on time was Jason Sides.

With the dash field set the inversion of a 6 was drawn putting quick time setter Donny Schatz back to 6th and Cody Darrah to the pole next to team mate Joey Saldana. Saldana would take the lead on the first lap and never look back. The real battle would be between Darrah and Sides for 2nd and Sammy Swindell and Donny Schatz for 4th. Saldana would lead Darrah and Sides across the line with Sammy Swindell holding on to 4th ahead of Donny Schatz.

With the A Main Line up set it was time to get down to business. The track reworked the surface to try to widen the groove out for the Outlaws. It wouldn’t take long for it to become obvious that it worked well. At the drop of the Green Joey Saldana took the lead and at times stretched it as far as 2 seconds over team mate Cody Darrah. Saldana would hold on the lead through lap 18 when Lucas Wolfe would make a slide move to the inside out of turn 4 to take the lead. Donny Schatz would challenge over and over for the second spot but Saldana would hold on to finish second with Schatz coming home in 3rd. Jason Sides and Cody Darrah would battle all the way to the line for the 4th spot with Sides holding off last years Rookie of the year Darrah. The victory would be the very first World of Outlaws feature win for Lucas Wolfe. It was a popular win with the crowd and with his competitors. A very quiet and calm Wolfe contained his excitement and paid tribute to his crew and his father in victory lane. Wolfe would also be the Hard Charger of the race gaining six positions from 7th.

Other notable performances on the race track included that of Steve Kinser. Kinser who tangled with Kody Kinser (distant relation) on the opening lap and got over on his side in the infield and started the race from the last spot charged through the field to finish 10th. Sammy Swindell would cut a tire at lap 38 and would make the tire change with no work time on the clock and make it back out on to the track as the last car on the lead lap. He would finish 13th on the lead lap.

It’s hard to believe that Lucas Wolfe had never won a feature with the Outlaws before tonight. His skills certainly would deny that. But if you ask anyone who follows the world of winged sprint car racing about Bloomington Indiana you will find an almost reverent tone. It is the home of champions. It is the home of extreme talents on the dirt. It is the home of the King. It is the home of Karl and Sheldon Kinser. It is the home Kraig Kinser and in that little town in Indiana it is a given that if your name is Kinser you are probably a front runner in the world of dirt. Tonight was no different really, Bloomington held magic in her hand and she gifted it to a young man who was more than deserving and very long over due.

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Qualifying results: 1) Donny Schatz 10.798. 2) Lucas Wolfe 3) Jason Sides 4) Sammy Swindell 5) Craig Dollansky 6) Joey Saldana 7) Cody Darrah 8) Kraig Kinser 9) Kody Kinser 10) Greg Wilson 11) Logan Schuchart 12) Kerry Madsen 13) Steve Kinser 14) Bill Rose 15) James McFadden 16) Chad Kemenah 17) Danny Smith 18) Paul May 19) Ty Deckard 20) Wes McIntyre 21) Brad Greer 22) A.J. Martin.

First Heat Race Results: ‎1) Greg Wilson 2) Cody Darrah 3) Steve Kinser 4) Sammy Swindell 5) Donny Schatz 6) A.J. Martin 7) Ty Deckard 8) Chad Kemenah

Second Heat Race Results: ‎1) Logan Schuchart 2) Kraig Kinser 3) Craig Dollansky 4) Danny Smith 5) Lucas Wolfe 6) Bill Rose 7) Wes McIntyre

Third Heat Race Results: ‎1) Joey Saldana 2) Kerry Madsen 3) Kody Kinser 4) James McFadden 5) Paul May 6) Jason Sides 7) Brad Greer

Dash Results: Inversion was a 6. ‎1) Joey Saldana 2) Cody Darrah 3) Jason Sides 4) Sammy Swindell 5) Donny Schatz 6) Greg Wilson 7) Lucas Wolfe 8) Kraig Kinser 9) Logan Schuchart 10) Kerry Madsen

A Main Results: ‎1) Lucas Wolfe 2) Joey Saldana 3) Donny Schatz 4) Jason Sides 5) Cody Darrah 6) Greg Wilson 7) Kraig Kinser 8) Logan Schuchart 9) Craig Dollansky 10) Steve Kinser 11) James McFadden 12) Danny Smith 13) Sammy Swindell 14) Kerry Madsen 15) Bill Rose 16) Brad Greer 17) Paul May 18) Chad Kemenah 19) Kody Kinser 20) Wes McIntyre 21) Ty Deckard 22) A.J. Martin.

Hard Charger of the Race was Lucas Wolfe.

World of Outlaws Points

Pos.	Driver	Total	Diff	Wins	Top 5’s	Top 10’s	QT
1	Craig Dollansky	6338	0	6	23	34	8
2	Steve Kinser	6321	-17	3	21	35	0
3	Donny Schatz	6299	-39	4	18	37	1
4	Sammy Swindell	6280	-58	8	19	31	7
5	Joey Saldana	6276	-62	5	17	33	6
6	Kraig Kinser	6195	-143	4	17	33	5
7	Cody Darrah	5911	-427	1	14	23	2
8	Kerry Madsen	5855	-483	3	8	23	1
9	Chad Kemenah	5799	-539	2	8	22	2
10	Lucas Wolfe	5550	-788	1	6	16	1
11	Bill Rose	5040	-1298	0	0	8	0
12	Jason Sides	4151	-2187	0	12	19	0
13	Daryn Pittman	2462	-3876	0	6	13	1
14	Danny Lasoski	2356	-3982	1	5	8	0
15	David Gravel	2310	-4028	0	7	9	4
16	Tim Kaeding	2301	-4037	3	5	10	0
17	Paul McMahan	2221	-4117	1	2	3	0
18	Jac Haudenschild	2054	-4284	0	1	2	0
19	Austen Wheatley	1818	-4520	0	0	2	0
20	Brad Sweet	1779	-4559	1	5	8	1

August 4, 2012

Dollansky Gets #50 at Lebanon Valley

[media-credit name=”World of Outlaws” align=”alignright” width=”234″][/media-credit]Racing is all about numbers. The cars have numbers. The drivers are known by their numbers. Laps are timed and posted for positioning in numbers. It’s always better to draw a low number than a high number in racing. Careers are judged by the number of wins and championships. Racing is a game of math the simplest being adding to the win column to improve one’s overall position in the points so as to add another or a first championship to your resume. Tonight Craig Dollansky achieved a milestone when he won his 50th A Main event with the World of Outlaws.

The evening at Lebanon Valley, NY, saw an unusually low car count for the Outlaws, with only 23 cars signing in for tonight’s racing. With all the cars in attendance transferring to the A Main qualifying became even more important than normal. A driver’s qualifying time would determine where he would start the A Main if he didn’t transfer to the dash. Craig Dollansky set the pace early turning a lap of 16.582 or 130.262 mph around the semi banked 1/2 mile track. Dollansky’s lap was just .229 seconds off the track record of 16.353 set by Danny Lasoski on 5/27/03. The top 10 would be separated by only .658 seconds.

The first heat race brought trouble for last nights winner Cody Darrah as he had an engine let go early on, relegating him to last place in the heat. The race would be won by Jessica Zemken who held off a charging Craig Dollansky and Kraig Kinser. The heat would also find the seeming slump continuing for 4 time world of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz who finished a distant 5th.

The second heat held perhaps one of the truest illustrations of the level of skill that is possessed in the Outlaws series when Sammy Swindell dropped a cylinder on the pace laps and still held off the field to finish second. Logan Schuchart would win the race but the skills it took to run just hard enough to make it to the end and not so hard as to blow the engine up required not only the technical expertise with the engine but also the driving skills to make up for the horsepower that he didn’t have but that the other competitors did. Lucas Wolfe would push Swindell hard but he couldn’t find a way around the wily master and had to settle for 3rd.

The third heat would be won by Tim Kaeding with Joey Saldana in pursuit all the way to the checkers. The pair set sail and left 3rd place Chad Kemenah in their wake.

The Dash was a different situation tonight with so few cars. The top 2 from each heat still transferred to the Dash. But the other 4 cars had to have finished in the top 6 of their heat in order to be eligible for the Dash. But there would be another bump in the road for 2 of the Dash competitors. Jessica Zemken and Bill Rose both had right rear tire damage. According to Outlaws rules you can not change the Right rear tire before the dash. Neither competitor had a choice in changing the tire and so they were not allowed to run the dash but instead relegated to 9th and 10th starting positions in the A Main. The Dash inversion was a 4 putting Lucas Wolfe on the pole with Joey Saldana on the outside front row. Saldana would take the lead in turn 1 and never look back. Craig Dollansky would get by Wolfe for 2nd to set up the front row that would start the A Main.

With only 23 cars in attendance there was no need for a B Main. So the action went right to the A Main. Joey Saldana would lead all the way until lap 20. After trying nearly every lap on the low side to get around Saldana, Craig Dollansky would make the pass on the high side in traffic and drive by Saldana, bringing Daryn Pittman with him. Pittman would challenge Dollansky briefly before the checkered flag waved giving Dollansky his 50th win. Saldana would come home 3rd.

The final 6 laps of the race showed a resurgence for Donny Schatz who restarted in 12th and in 5 laps climbed up to 6th and finished in 6th as the races KSE Hard charger having started in the 13th spot. It would see another night of strange and difficult situations for Sammy Swindell who had to change an engine before the dash and then had a left rear tire go down to bring out the only caution in the A Main. Swindell would finish 13th. The King of the Outlaws would run in the top 10 all evening until the final lap of the feature when he slowed dramatically as the checkers flew and finished an uncharacteristic 15th.

Every racing series has a measuring stick. That one driver that everyone struggles and works to measure up to. In NASCAR it’s Richard Petty or Dale Earnhardt. In Indy Car Racing it’s Mario Andretti or Rick Mears. In the World of Outlaws it’s Steve Kinser. His 20 national championships and 573 wins sets him apart from competitors not only in his own genre of racing but every genre of racing. Tonight at Lebanon Valley, NY, Craig Dollansky inched a half step forward towards that yard stick when he won his 50th A Main Feature. Yes it’s a long way from 573, but it’s a great deal further than many in other forms of racing have to call their own.

Dollansky’s win was hard fought and won. On a track that saw few passes made until the late stages of the race, Dollansky had a tough road to drive getting by Joey Saldana to take the lead and win the 25 lap $10,000 purse tonight. Saldana was strong and he seemed to know exactly where Dollansky was going to try his pass and when. Saldana is a fierce competitor in his own right and owns 82 career wins of his own, and on this tight narrow short track he was tough to get around. But Dollansky used lapped traffic and made a daring pass to the outside and drove around Saldana. Once by him he didn’t look back, and it was probably a good thing because if he had he would have found a new foe chomping at his heels in Daryn Pittman. Pittman tried high. Pittman tried low. That is after all what racing is about, winning. Not playing the numbers and playing it safe but winning. In the end win number 50 was Craig’s. “The Crowd Pleaser” as he is known lived up to his nick name.

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‎Qualifying Results:

1) Craig Dollansky 16.582 130.262 mph. 2) Daryn Pittman 3) Joey Saldana 4) Cody Darrah 5) Lucas Wolfe 6) Bill Rose 7) Jessica Zemken 8) Sammy Swindell 9) Tim Kaeding 10) Kraig Kinser 11) Logan Schuchart 12) Chad Kemenah 13) Donny Schatz 14) Steve Kinser 15) Danny Smith 16) Kerry Madsen 17) Jason Sides 18) Paul Sides 19) Michael Parent 20) Jacob Allen 21) Russ Bennett 22) Dick Spadaro 23) Curtis Bradshaw

Heat 1 Results:

‎1) Jessica Zemken 2) Craig Dollansky 3) Kraig Kinser 4) Kerry Madsen 5) Donny Schatz 6) Michael Parent 7) Dick Spadaro 8) Cody Darrah

Heat 2 Results:

‎1) Logan Schuchart 2) Sammy Swindell 3) Lucas Wolfe 4) Daryn Pittman 5) Steve Kinser 6) Jason Sides 7) Jacob Allen 8) Curtis Bradshaw.

‎Heat 3 Results:

1) Tim Kaeding 2) Joey Saldana 3) Chad Kemenah 4) Danny Smith 5) Bill Rose 6) Russ Bennett 7) Paul Sides (DNF)

Dash Results:Inversion was 4

‎1) Joey Saldana 2) Craig Dollansky 3) Lucas Wolfe 4) Daryn Pittman 5) Tim Kaeding 6) Logan Schuchart 7) Sammy Swindell 8) Kraig Kinser 9) Bill Rose 10) Jessica Zemken

A Main Results:

‎1) Craig Dollansky 2) Daryn Pittman 3) Joey Saldana 4) Logan Schuchart 5) Cody Darrah 6) Donny Schatz 7) Tim Kaeding 8) Lucas Wolfe 9) Kerry Madsen 10) Bill Rose 11) Jason Sides 12) Kraig Kinser 13) Sammy Swindell 14) Danny Smith 15) Steve Kinser 16) Jacob Allen 17) Michael Parent 18) Jessica Zemken 19) Chad Kemenah 20) Russ Bennett 21) Paul Sides 22) Curtis Bradshaw 23) Dick Spadaro.

KSE Hard Charger of the Race: Donny Schatz

World of Outlaw Points after Lebanon Valley:

Pos.	Driver	Total	Diff	Wins	Top 5’s	Top 10’s	QT
1	Steve Kinser	5633	0	3	18	31	0
2	Craig Dollansky	5622	-11	6	19	29	7
3	Donny Schatz	5610	-23	3	15	33	0
4	Sammy Swindell	5589	-44	7	17	27	8
5	Joey Saldana	5584	-49	4	14	29	6
6	Kraig Kinser	5503	-130	4	15	29	3
7	Kerry Madsen	5218	-415	3	8	21	1
8	Cody Darrah	5217	-416	1	11	18	2
9	Chad Kemenah	5143	-490	2	8	18	2
10	Lucas Wolfe	4862	-771	0	4	13	0
11	Bill Rose	4430	-1203	0	0	7	0
12	Jason Sides	4006	-1627	0	11	18	0
13	Daryn Pittman	2462	-3171	0	6	13	1
14	Danny Lasoski	2356	-3277	1	5	8	0
15	David Gravel	2310	-3323	0	7	9	4
16	Tim Kaeding	2301	-3332	3	5	10	0
17	Paul McMahan	2221	-3412	1	2	3	0
18	Jac Haudenschild	2054	-3579	0	1	2	0
19	Austen Wheatley	1818	-3815	0	0	2	0
20	Brad Sweet	1779	-3854	1	5	8	1

July 23, 2012

Darrah Takes Summer Nationals In Front of Hometown Crowd

[media-credit name=”Willams Grove Speedway” align=”alignright” width=”200″][/media-credit]This years Summer Nationals at Willams Grove Speedway didn’t start off well; the two night event was rained out on Friday, leaving just the Saturday night duel between the Outlaws and the Posse. And what a duel it turned out to be.

Williams Grove Speedway is a half-mile race track located in Williams Grove, between Mechanicsburg and Dillsburg in Pennsylvania. It opened in 1939, and hosted Championship races from 1949 to 1959 named the “Indianapolis Sweepstakes”, contested by a small field of the best Champ Car racers. Many notable drivers have raced here, including A. J. Foyt and Mario Andretti. Williams Grove Speedway is a semi-banked, oval. The track record of 16.140 seconds was established by Brian Paulus on April 26, 2002.

Steve Kinser has won at “the Grove” 38 times and Sammy Swindell and Donny Schatz have each won 15 times. The man with the most wins all time is Fast Freddy Rahmer with 81 wins. But tonight’s winner wasn’t among the legends of the World of Outlaws, instead he was last years Rookie of the Year, Kasey Kahne Racing’s, Cody Darrah who is from Mechanicsburg Pennsylvania. The emotional Darrah dedicated the win to his grandparents who have been suffering hard times lately. But Darrah proved himself more than just a race winner tonight however, when he jumped from his car on a red flag to help fellow driver Craig Dollansky from his burning car after Dollansky flipped down the back stretch causing a fuel fire to break out around and under the car, instead he proved himself as a champion of men not just race car drivers. A great testament to the 23 year old driver.

The very eventful night started out relatively calm with close qualifying throughout the pack. The top 20 qualifiers were separated by only .140 seconds. The entire field was only separated by 1.191 seconds. Quick Time would go to the Posse with Greg Hodnett turning a lap of 16.745 seconds. Second would be Alan Kreitz Jr. Third, Craig Dollansky, Joey Saldana and Daryn Pittman would round out the top 5.

The heat races were relatively calm as well. The first heat was a Posse victory for Adam Wilt who held off a hard charging Jason Sides, Daryn Pittman, Greg Hodnett and Tyler Walker. The Outlaws were down 2 nothing for the night. But they weren’t done yet.

The second heat race would see Kraig Kinser pull out and pull away from a fast and charging Tony Stewart to take the win. Stevie Smith would come home 3rd with Alan Kreitz and Lucas Wolfe in hot pursuit. The Outlaws were on the board but former Outlaw champion Danny Lasoski would have to run the B Main.

The third heat would find Cody Darrah swimming amongst the Posse sharks. But Darrah would take the checkers over Danny Holtgraver, Craig Dollansky, Danny Dietrich and Steve Kinser. This heat would relegate 4 time champion Donny Schatz to the C Main after an uncharacteristically poor qualifying effort.

The fourth and final heat would see Sammy Swindell hold off the strongest challenge of the Posse to take the win with Gerald McIntyre Jr, Joey Saldana, Fred Rahmer and Lance Dewease rounding out the top five. Another big name from the Outlaws was relegated to the B when Kerry Madsen finished 7th and failed to transfer to the A.

The Outlaws were leading the game 3 to 2. But the rest of the night would be a hard fought battle to come home on top of the Nationals.

The C Main went to the Posse with Chad Layton coming home ahead of a struggling Donny Schatz. Schatz at numerous times was able to pull even with Layton but just couldn’t make the pass on the narrow fast clay surface. Their battle would carry on into the B Main where Layton would finish 12th ahead of Schatz’s 13th. The B would be won by former Outlaws Champion Danny Lasoski but he would be up to his wing in Posse with the closest Outlaw finisher coming home 4th in Chad Kemenah. Alan Krimes and Cory Haas would finish 2nd and 3rd.

The Dash was a hard fought battle with 5 drivers representing the Outlaws and 5 representing the Posse. The Posse would come out on top but the race would be foretelling of the night to come. Sammy Swindell would have trouble early in and finish 10th. Tony Stewart couldn’t find a way around Adam Wilt and finished where he started in 8th. Cody Darrah did everything shy of use his wing to fly and still finished 2nd to Gerald McIntrye Jr. The night was beginning to shape up as a track position night. But then again, the night was not over and the Outlaws still had more than a few tricks up their sleeves.

When the A Main rolled off, it did so with 4 provisional spots bringing the car count for the event to 28. Donny Schatz and Kerry Madsen would take provisionals from the World of Outlaws. While Ryan Smith and Chad Layton would take provisionals from Willams Grove Speedway. Chad Kemenah would break a magneto on the car during the pace laps causing the car to cut off and not refire. He retired before the green. Danny Dietrich would be the next out with contact with the wall, he was followed by Danny Holtgraver. Fred Rahmer would be the next Posse member to retire after flipping wildly in turns 3 and 4, Rahmer would climb from the car and walk away. Lance Dewease would drop out at the same time due to a misunderstanding of the rules. Dewease would pull into the rear pit area and pull his car nose first to the trailer signaling to the Outlaws officials that he was done for the evening as he did not stop at the work area. Dewease was not allowed to return to the competition. Stevie Smith would be the next casualty flipping his car in turn 1. Smith climbed out of the car but was done for the evening. Daryn Pittman and Danny Lasoski would fall victim to engine failures as would Gerald McIntyre who started the race on the pole. The most scarey incident of the evening came late in the race when Craig Dollansky returned to the track after flipping in 4 and again flipped the car on the back straightaway causing a fuel fire to surround the car. With a red flag on the track, Cody Darrah quickly exited his car and ran to the assistance of Dollansky and helped him from the car. The car flipped so hard that part of the front suspension was imbedded into the track. Dollansky was unhurt. The final victim of the evening was Don Kreitz whose engine let go just 4 laps from the end of the race.

The attrition left just 17 cars on the track. One of those was Kerry Madsen who had very methodically worked his way into the top 10. Madsen would finish 9th and get the hard charger of the night award after starting dead last on the field. And it was well deserved, the fast narrow track was difficult and almost impossible to pass on. So much so that with 18 laps to go the Outlaws determined that all restarts from that point on would be single file restarts rather than the traditional double file restarts. A decision that played to Cody Darrah’s hand. Darrah set sail on the final caution and never looked back. The challenge would never be for the lead but for second. Jason Sides and Greg Hodnett would exchange slides and come side by side but Hodnett could never make it all the way around Sides for the second spot. The Outlaws would take the night over the Posse 5 to 4. The finishing order would find 6 Outlaws 3 Posse and 1 Sprint Cup Champion in the top 10.

Willams Grove has a reputation of launching the very best young sprint car drivers in the world. They lived up to that reputation tonight. Cody Darrah is a former track champion at The Grove. As a matter of fact this was his 50th win at his home track. And if winning before his home town crowd wasn’t enough Darrah announced that Kasey Kahne Racing has signed a sponsor for his effort that up to this point had been funded out of pocket by Kasey Kahne. That announcement to come soon.

Racing is a field of dreams. Sometimes they are dreams that come true. Sometimes they are nightmares. Sometimes they are just the reassurance that with all the bad things that are going on in the world we are still free to pursue our passions, whether they be winning at The Grove or writing about the race itself.

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Qualifying results:

‎1) Greg Hodnett 2) Don Kreitz Jr. 3) Craig Dollansky 4) Joey Saldana 5) Daryn Pittman 6) Stevie Smith 7) Danny Dietrich 8) Fred Rahmer 9) Jason Sides 10) Kraig Kinser 11) Cody Darrah 12) Gerald McIntyre Jr. 13) Adam Wilt 14) Tony Stewart 15) Danny Holtgraver 16) Sammy Swindell 17) Tyler Walker 18) Danny Lasoski 19) Alan Krimes 20) Lance Dewase 21) Cory Haas 22) Lucas Wolfe 23) Steve Kinser 24) Brian Monteith 25) Chad Kemenah 26) Jim Seigel 27) Logan Schuchart 28) Kerry Madsen 29) Tim Kaeding 30) Steve Buckwalter 31) Davey Sammons 32) Nicole Bower 33) Danny Esh 34) Curt Michael 35) Donny Schatz 36) Chad Layton 37) Michael Ruttkamp 38) Aaron Ott 39) Mike Erdley 40) Brent Marks 41) Frank Cozze 42) Tim Glatfelter 43) Ryan Smith 44) Derek Sell 45) Bill Rose

Heat Race 1 Results: ‎1) Adam Wilt 2) Jason Sides 3) Daryn Pittman 4) Greg Hodnett 5) Tyler Walker 6) Cory Haas 7) Chad Kemenah 8) Doug Esh 9) Tim Kaeding 10) Michael Ruttkamp 11) Frank Cozze (DNS) 12 Bill Rose (DNS)

Heat Race 2 Results: ‎1) Kraig Kinser 2) Tony Stewart 3) Stevie Smith 4) Don Kreitz Jr 5) Lucas Wolfe 6) Danny Lasoski. 7) Steve Buckwalter 8) Curt Michael 9) Aaron Ott 10) Jim Siegel 11) Tim Glatfelter

Heat Race 3 Results: ‎1) Cody Darrah 2) Danny Holtgraver 3) Craig Dollansky 4) Danny Dietrich 5) Steve Kinser 6) Donny Schatz 7) Alan Krimes 8) Logan Schuchart 9) Ryan Smith 10) Mike Erdley 11) Davey Sammons

Heat Race 4 Results: ‎1) Sammy Swindell 2) Gerald McIntyre 3) Joey Saldana 4) Fred Rahmer 5) Lance Dewease 6) Brian Montieth 7) Kerry Madsen 8) Chad Layton 9) Brent Marks 10) Nicole Bower 11) Derek Sell

C Main Results: ) Chad Layton 2) Donny Schatz 3) Michael Ruttkamp 4) Brent Marks 5) Tim Glatfelter 6) Ryan Smith 7) Frank Cozze 8) Derek Sell (DNS) 9) Bill Rose (DNS)

Dash Results: ‎1) Gerald McIntyre 2) Cody Darrah 3) Kraig Kinser 4) Jason Sides 5) Greg Hodnett 6) Don Kreitz Jr 7) Adam Wilt 8) Tony Stewart 9) Danny Holtgraver 10) Sammy Swindell

B Main Results: ‎1) Danny Lasoski 2) Alan Krimes 3) Cory Haas 4) Chad Kemenah 5) Jim Siegel 6) Tim Kaeding 7) Logan Schuchart 8) Davey Sammons 9) Doug Esh 10) Steve Buckwalter 11) Kerry Madsen 12) Chad Layton 13) Donny Schatz 14) Nicole Bower 15) Chad Michael 16) Brian Montieth.

A Main Results: ‎1) Cody Darrah 2) Jason Sides 3) Greg Hodnett 4) Kraig Kinser 5) Adam Wilt 6) Lucas Wolfe 7) Steve Kinser 8) Tony Stewart 9) Kerry Madsen 10) Cory Haas 11) Donny Schatz 12) Chad Layton 13) Joey Saldana 14) Tyler Walker 15) Sammy Swindell 16) Alan Krimes 17) Ryan Smith 18) Don Krietz 19) Craig Dollansky 20) Gerald McIntyre Jr. 21) Danny Lasoski 22) Daryn Pittman 23) Stevie Smith 24) Fred Rahmer 25) Lance Dewease 26) Danny Holtgraver 27) Danny Dietrich 28) Chad Kemenah.

KSE Hard Charger Award went to Kerry Madsen.
The $10,000 Goodyear tire mid point bonus for the driver leading the points at the half way point of the season went to Steve Kinser.

The top 15 in points following the Willam’s Grove Race:

Pos.	Driver	Total	Diff	Wins	Top 5’s	Top 10’s	QT
1	Steve Kinser	5513	0	3	18	31	0
2	Donny Schatz	5472	-41	3	15	32	0
3	Craig Dollansky	5467	-46	5	18	28	6
4	Sammy Swindell	5465	-48	7	17	27	8
5	Joey Saldana	5437	-76	4	13	28	6
6	Kraig Kinser	5377	-136	4	15	29	3
7	Kerry Madsen	5086	-427	3	8	20	1
8	Cody Darrah	5075	-438	1	10	17	2
9	Chad Kemenah	5031	-482	2	8	18	2
10	Lucas Wolfe	4727	-786	0	4	12	0
11	Bill Rose	4300	-1213	0	0	6	0
12	Jason Sides	3878	-1635	0	11	18	0
13	Danny Lasoski	2356	-3157	1	5	8	0
14	Daryn Pittman	2312	-3201	0	5	12	1
15	David Gravel	2310	-3203	0	7	9	4

July 22, 2012

Madsen takes The Brad Doty Classic

[media-credit name=”Ken Simon Photos” align=”alignright” width=”179″][/media-credit]The Brad Doty Classic at Limaland Motorsports Park would hold many surprises as the night unfolded not the least of which would be who didn’t make the show.

The Brad Doty Classic ran tonight on the 1/4 mile semi banked oval in Lima Ohio. The night was full of anticipation. The field was full of top names who made for a very very deep talent talent pool in the pits. Top names like Kinser, Stewart, Kahne, Swindell, Schatz, Gravel, Haudenschild, and Sweet had all arrived to contest for the $10,000 to win purse. The excitement in the near sell out crowd was obvious. The anticipation in the pits was just as obvious.

The first hint that this might not be a typical night with the World of Outlaws came in qualifying when top name visitors Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne finished outside the inversion by a significant distance. Stewart would post a time of 11.246 seconds and was only 23rd quick. Kahne would post a time 11.278 which was only good enough for 26th in the 43 car field. Quick time was set by Craig Dollansky with a time of 10.998 seconds. It was Dollansky’s 3rd quick time of the year thus far. The track record of 10.763 set by Joey Saldana in July of 2009 remains intact.

The heat races would make it clear that this was not going to be a night of visiting stars. The first heat would be dominated by Stevie Smith with Kraig Kinser coming home second to make the transfer to the Dash. Dollansky would solidify his Dash position by transferring to the A Main in the 4th position. The second heat race would see Sam Hafertepe Jr take his first victory of the season with Donny Schatz in hot pursuit in second. Kerry Madsen would solidify the final open dash spot by transferring in 5th. The first big surprise of the evening came in this heat race, when Kasey Kahne finished a weak 9th out of 11 cars to be relegated to the B Main. The third and without a doubt the most challenging of the 4 heat races was heat number 3. The heat would be won by the 20 time champion Steve Kinser with Byron Reed taking the second spot. But relegated to B Main were two huge names, Sammy Swindell who finished 7th and Tony Stewart who pulled off the track at lap 2 and finished 11th out of 11 cars. The final heat of the night was won by Daryn Pittman with second going to Brian Brown. With the dash line up set, the inversion of 4 was drawn putting Steve Kinser on the outside of the front row and Stevie Smith on the pole. The dash was a hard core no holds barred 8 lap affair that saw Stevie Smith take the victory in very dominating fashion over Kerry Madsen, Sam Hafertepe Jr, Daryn Pittman, and Steve Kinser.

The C Main would transfer only the top 2 to the Last Chance Showdown which would only transfer 4 to the A Main. Outlaws regular Lucas Wolfe would dominate the race. Dean Jacobs would come home second. The rest of 9 car field would go home. But they wouldn’t be alone. The B Main would show the hand of the night and send many others home with them.

The B Main was full of big names Swindell, Sides, Haudenschild, Kahne, Stewart, and Larson. When the dust cleared only Sammy Swindell, Sheldon Haudenschild, David Gravel, and Bryan Sebbetto would transfer to the big show. Kasey Kahne, Kyle Larson, Tony Stewart, Chad Kemenah, Lucas Wolfe, Jason Sides all would be done for the evening.

The promoter of the event, Brad Doty choose not to carry forward any of those drivers on a promoters option, leaving only full time Outlaws drivers with provisionals to get into the A Main. Chad Kemenah and Bill Rose both opted for provisionals to run the 40 lap A Main. With the now 26 car field set, the battle was about to begin. The race itself was full of power slides for position back and forth and 3 wide racing throughout the pack, but when the checkers waved 9 cars were sitting at the trailers. 3 of which had been upside down and damaged badly. The others had front and rear end damage severe enough to prevent them from continuing or engine problems that ended their night prematurely. But when the dust settled, it was “The Mad Man” Kerry Madsen who stood on the top of the podium. Stevie Smith would come home second and David Gravel would come home third. The KSE Hard Charger Award went to Greg Wilson who started 17th and finished 4th.

Steve Kinser and Donny Schatz officially tied atop the standings going into the Kings Royal weekend at Eldora. The first tie breaker is wins, and both have three. Second tie breaker of top fives gives Kinser the edge, 17-14, but there’s a lot of racing left this season to worry about tie breakers going into a $50,000-to-win event.

The next stop on the World of Outlaws tour is the legendary Eldora Speedway on Friday for the Night before the Royal and then again on Saturday for the $50,000 to win Kings Royal.

Feature Results: 1, Kerry Madsen. 2, Stevie Smith. 3, David Gravel. 4, Greg Wilson. 5, Donny Schatz. 6, Craig Dollansky. 7, Daryn Pittman. 8, Sammy Swindell. 9, Steve Kinser. 10, Tim Shaffer. 11, Dale Blaney. 12, Kraig Kinser. 13, Brad Sweet. 14, Bryan Sebetto. 15, Joey Saldana. 16, Cody Darrah. 17, Tim Kaeding. 18, Byron Reed. 19, Chad Kemenah. 20, Shane Stewart. 21, Sam Hafertepe Jr. 22, Jac Haudenschild. 23, Bill Rose. 24, Sheldon Haudenschild. 25, Brian Brown. 26, Paul McMahan.

July 12, 2012

Kraig Kinser Gets Out of Dodge with Boot Hill Showdown Victory

[media-credit name=”World of Outlaws” align=”alignright” width=”211″][/media-credit]DODGE CITY, Kan. – June 23, 2012 – The hottest driver on the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series picked up yet another victory at the hottest race of the season.

Kraig Kinser beat the heat and the rest of the Outlaws on an extremely windy and hot Saturday at Dodge City Raceway Park for Night 2 of the Boot Hill Showdown.

Kinser led all 30 laps and held off his father, 20-time World of Outlaws champion Steve Kinser, to record his third win in the past seven events on a day when the temperature climbed into the mid-100s and wind gusts of more than 40 miles per hour bombarded the 3/8-mile track.

“I knew the bottom was going to be tough to beat early,” Kraig Kinser said. “It’s hard sometimes (when) you lead the race. You don’t know whether to get off the bottom and move to the top or move around a little bit. I got lucky lapped cars pushed me up a little bit to get around them and got trucking around the middle there.”

It was his third victory in the past 19 days, which ties the number of Outlaws wins Kinser amassed since 2005 – when he won a career-high seven features. The win was also his 14^th career World of Outlaws feature victory, which ties him for 20^th all time.

As neat as the statistics are, Kinser is more pleased in whom he beat – his father and car owner.

“The one-two finishes are real nice, especially when I’m in front,” Kraig Kinser said. “This little swing we’ve had has been great with the exception of last night. The car has been there every step of the way.”

As Kraig shot to the lead from his pole position on lap one, Steve Kinser charged from his fifth starting position to the runner-up spot on the opening lap. He maintained second position the entire race, but only closed within a car length shortly after the duo entered traffic on lap eight.

“If someone’s gotta outrun me I’d assume it’d be Kraig,” Steve Kinser said. “Toward the end there wasn’t no place to go, the bottom sort of locked down a little bit. It was hard to pass anybody out in the middle the last six or seven laps.”

Traffic began to play a role in the closing laps as Kraig Kinser lapped up to 12^th place, where there was a three-way battle for a top-10 position. Kinser was caught behind the trio sliding each other, which allowed his father to close the gap to within a handful of car lengths. However, it was too little too late.

The win pulled Kraig Kinser to within 107 points of his father, who moved back into the World of Outlaws championship standings lead.

Craig Dollansky drove from seventh to third in the first eight laps and maintained the podium finish to record his 14^th top five of the season.

“I definitely felt like we were with them,” said Dollansky, who is only 57 points behind Steve Kinser in the championship standings. “It just took me too long to get into third place.”

Joey Saldana was fourth and Cody Darrah ended fifth. Jason Sides placed sixth, Kerry Madsen seventh, Donny Schatz eighth, Bill Rose ninth and Lucas Wolfe rounded out the top 10.

Sammy Swindell, who set quick time with a lap of 13.462 seconds, brought out the initial caution of the race on the opening lap after contact with Madsen entering turn three. Swindell, who started third, fixed a flat left rear tire and restarted 23^rd. He finished 12^th and was the last car on the lead lap.

Sixth-starting Chad Kemenah was part of the final caution – also on the first lap – when he spun in turn one to avoid contact with another driver. Steven Richardson slid into Kemenah and flipped, ending both of their races.

After the two quick cautions, the feature went green to checkered with Kraig Kinser in front.

Steve Kinser, Jason Sides and Darrah each won a heat race, and Wolfe picked up the Last Chance Showdown victory. Patrick Stasa was the KSE Hard Charger after driving from 22^nd to 14^th.

Night 2 of the Boot Hill Showdown Notebook

NOTES – Sammy Swindell set quick time for a series-best sixth race this season. … Steve Kinser won his sixth heat race, while Jason Sides and Cody Darrah each claimed their third of the season. … Kraig Kinser picked up his second dash victory of the year. … Lucas Wolfe became the 25^th different driver to win a Last Chance Showdown in 31 races this year.

CONTINGENCY WINNERS – Penske Shocks ($100 certificate): Bill Rose; MSD Ignitions ($50 cash): Kraig Kinser; Comp Cams ($50 certificate): Kraig Kinser; Armor All (case of product): Jason Sides; STP ($50 cash): Steve Kinser; UNOH ($50 cash): Kerry Madsen; Gravely Tractors ($50 cash): Kerry Madsen; VP Racing Fuel ($50 cash): Bill Rose; Comp Cams ($50 cash): Lucas Wolfe; JE Pistons (set of rings): Sammy Swindell; Cometic Gasket ($50 cash): Sammy Swindell; Wix Filters ($50 cash): Josh Hodges; Superflow ($50 cash): Patrick Stasa; JE Pistons ($50 cash): Josh Baughman; JE Pistons (set of rings): Brian Herbert; MSD Ignitions ($25 cash): Chad Kemenah; Klotz Synthetic Lubricants ($50 cash): Kevin Swindell.

WINNERS – Sammy Swindell – 5 (Red River Valley Speedway on June 16, Eldora Speedway on May 5, Knoxville Raceway on April 28, Missouri State Fair Speedway on April 20 and Merced Speedway on March 30); Craig Dollansky – 4 (I-96 Speedway on June 2, Hagerstown Speedway on May 20, Tri-State Speedway on April 21 and Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19); Kraig Kinser – 3 (Dodge City Raceway Park on June 23, River Cities Speedway on June 15 and Kokomo Speedway on June 5); Steve Kinser – 3 (Dodge City Raceway Park on June 22, Orange County Fair Speedway on May 19 and Williams Grove Speedway on May 12); Joey Saldana – 3 (The Dirt Track at Charlotte on May 25, Paducah International Raceway on April 13 and Perris Auto Speedway on March 10); Donny Schatz – 3 (Farmer City Raceway on April 25, Silver Dollar Speedway on March 23 and Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19); Tim Kaeding – 2 (Thunderbowl Raceway on March 16 and The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 8); Chad Kemenah – 2 (Lawrenceburg Speedway on May 28 and Eldora Speedway on May 4); Danny Dietrich – 1 (Lincoln Speedway on May 10); Danny Lasoski – 1 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 18); Kerry Madsen – 1 (Knoxville Raceway on June 9); Paul McMahan – 1 (Rolling Wheels Raceway Park on May 16); Fred Rahmer – 1 (Williams Grove Speedway on May 11); Brad Sweet – 1 (Clay County Fairgrounds on June 8).

TIME TRIALS – Sammy Swindell was the fastest qualifier around the 3/8-mile oval with a time of 13.462 seconds to earn five championship points. Also earning points were Kerry Madsen (4 points), Kraig Kinser (3), Joey Saldana (2) and Craig Dollansky (1).

WE’RE ONLINE – Make sure to check out WorldofOutlaws.com for the latest news and results, plus exclusive driver interviews, video and pictures. Also listen to every event live at DIRTVision.com .

Night 2 of the Boot Hill Showdown Statistical Report; Dodge City Raceway Park; Dodge City, Kan.; June 23, 2012

A-Main – (30 Laps) – 1. 11K-Kraig Kinser [1] [$10,000]; 2. 11-Steve Kinser [5] [$5,000]; 3. 7-Craig Dollansky [7] [$3,000]; 4. 9-Joey Saldana [2] [$2,700]; 5. 4-Cody Darrah [8] [$2,500]; 6. 7S-Jason Sides [9] [$2,200]; 7. 29-Kerry Madsen [4] [$2,000]; 8. 15-Donny Schatz [14] [$1,800]; 9. 6-Bill Rose [10] [$1,600]; 10. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [12] [$1,450]; 11. 83-Tim Kaeding [11] [$1,300]; 12. 1-Sammy Swindell [3] [$1,200]; 13. 74X-Josh Hodges [15] [$1,100]; 14. 11S-Patrick Stasa [22] [$1,000]; 15. 17-Josh Baughman [21] [$950]; 16. 91-Jeff Stasa [19] [$900]; 17. 1X-Kevin Swindell [13] [$850]; 18. 1W-Jordan Weaver [24] [$750]; 19. 72-Ray Seeman [23] [$725]; 20. 1T-Ty Williams [16] [$700]; 21. 97-Brian Herbert [17] [$700]; 22. 2J-Zach Blurton [20] [$700]; 23. 63-Chad Kemenah [6] [$700]; 24. O-Steven Richardson [18] [$700]. Lap Leaders: Kraig Kinser 1-30. KSE Hard Charger Award: 11S-Patrick Stasa [+8].

Qualifying – 1. 1-Sammy Swindell, 13.462; 2. 29-Kerry Madsen, 13.499; 3. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 13.507; 4. 9-Joey Saldana, 13.520; 5. 7-Craig Dollansky, 13.562; 6. 83-Tim Kaeding, 13.702; 7. 11-Steve Kinser, 13.708; 8. 7S-Jason Sides, 13.726; 9. 4-Cody Darrah, 13.737; 10. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 13.799; 11. 6-Bill Rose, 13.836; 12. 63-Chad Kemenah, 13.840; 13. 1X-Kevin Swindell, 13.841; 14. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.956; 15. 74X-Josh Hodges, 14.658; 16. 1T-Ty Williams, 14.663; 17. 97-Brian Herbert, 14.778; 18. O-Steven Richardson, 14.799; 19. 91-Jeff Stasa, 14.856; 20. 2J-Zach Blurton, 14.898; 21. 17-Josh Baughman, 14.910; 22. 72-Ray Seeman, 14.959; 23. 11S-Patrick Stasa, 15.031; 24. 16K-Kaden Taylor, 15.111; 25. 33-Kris Miller, 15.141; 26. 21-Wes Wofford, 15.236; 27. 1W-Jordan Weaver, 15.262; 28. 11X-Tyler Knight, 15.612; 29. 77W-Michael Williams, 16.357.

Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 11-Steve Kinser [2]; 2. 9-Joey Saldana [3]; 3. 1X-Kevin Swindell [5]; 4. 1-Sammy Swindell [4]; 5. 1T-Ty Williams [6]; 6. 91-Jeff Stasa [7]; 7. 72-Ray Seeman [8]; 8. 33-Kris Miller [9]; 9. 11X-Tyler Knight [10]; 10. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [1].

Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 7S-Jason Sides [2]; 2. 6-Bill Rose [1]; 3. 29-Kerry Madsen [4]; 4. 7-Craig Dollansky [3]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz [5]; 6. 97-Brian Herbert [6]; 7. 11S-Patrick Stasa [8]; 8. 2J-Zach Blurton [7]; 9. 21-Wes Wofford [9]; 10. 77W-Michael Williams [10].

Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 4-Cody Darrah [2]; 2. 63-Chad Kemenah [1]; 3. 83-Tim Kaeding [3]; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser [4]; 5. 74X-Josh Hodges [5]; 6. O-Steven Richardson [6]; 7. 17-Josh Baughman [7]; 8. 1W-Jordan Weaver [9]; 9. 16K-Kaden Taylor [8].

Dash – (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) – 1. 11K-Kraig Kinser [2]; 2. 9-Joey Saldana [1]; 3. 1-Sammy Swindell [4]; 4. 29-Kerry Madsen [3]; 5. 11-Steve Kinser [6]; 6. 63-Chad Kemenah [10]; 7. 7-Craig Dollansky [5]; 8. 4-Cody Darrah [8]; 9. 7S-Jason Sides [7]; 10. 6-Bill Rose [9].

B-Main – (12 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [1] [-]; 2. 17-Josh Baughman [3] [-]; 3. 11S-Patrick Stasa [5] [-]; 4. 2J-Zach Blurton [2] [-]; 5. 72-Ray Seeman [4] [-]; 6. 1W-Jordan Weaver [9] [-]; 7. 33-Kris Miller [7] [$200]; 8. 21-Wes Wofford [8] [$180]; 9. 77W-Michael Williams [11] [$175]; 10. 16K-Kaden Taylor [6] [$160]; 11. 11X-Tyler Knight [10] [$150].

World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Top 20 Championship Standings

Pos.

Driver

Total

Diff

Wins

T10

1	Steve Kinser	4224	0	3	15	22	0
2	Donny Schatz	4218	-6	3	12	25	0
3	Sammy Swindell	4199	-25	5	13	21	6
4	Craig Dollansky	4167	-57	4	14	21	3
5	Joey Saldana	4156	-68	3	10	22	5
6	Kraig Kinser	4117	-107	3	11	21	3
7	Chad Kemenah	3913	-311	2	7	14	2
8	Kerry Madsen	3815	-409	1	4	12	1
9	Cody Darrah	3814	-410	0	6	12	2
10	Lucas Wolfe	3663	-561	0	3	9	0
11	Jason Sides	3344	-880	0	9	16	0
12	Bill Rose	3157	-1067	0	0	3	0
13	Danny Lasoski	1860	-2364	1	5	7	0
14	Austen Wheatley	1818	-2406	0	0	2	0
15	Paul McMahan	1810	-2414	1	2	3	0
16	Daryn Pittman	1785	-2439	0	5	9	1
17	Jac Haudenschild	1655	-2569	0	0	1	0
18	David Gravel	1544	-2680	0	4	6	2
19	Terry McCarl	1474	-2750	0	1	4	0
20	Sam Hafertepe Jr.	1408	-2816	0	1	4	0

June 25, 2012

Swindell Walks The Dog for Victory Number 4

[media-credit name=”World of Outlaws” align=”alignright” width=”224″][/media-credit]

The Goodyear Outlaw Thunder returned to Eldora last night for it’s final night. It’s final night would prove much calmer than it’s first. And would see Sammy Swindell take the checkered flag for the 4th time this season.

After qualifying seventh quickest, Swindell drove from third to second in both his heat race and the dash. He then rocketed to the lead at the start of the feature, which went caution free for 24 laps before Jason Sides’ flat left rear tire brought out a yellow flag.

“The way the car was rolling through there I knew that if somebody was faster, they’d have to be just really awesome because this thing was almost on rails,” Swindell said. “It was just stuck down so hard I could just drive around there like I’m driving down the freeway.”

The caution eliminated nearly a straightaway lead for Swindell, who took little time in reestablishing a sizeable advantage. However, Kraig Kinser sustained a flat left rear tire with two laps remaining to bring out the final caution of the race.

Joey Saldana, who ran second for most of the race, began to slow a couple of laps before the caution because of an engine issue. Swindell chose the outside lane on the double-file restart and Saldana’s car was slow to take off, bogging the inside lane on the start and dropping him to sixth by turn one.

Swindell sailed to the win as Dale Blaney used the late cautions to pick up a pair of positions.

“We were probably going to run fourth until those last couple of yellows,” he said after finishing second. “They kind of helped us out. Sometimes yellows can help or hurt, and tonight they helped a little bit.

“(Swindell) was awful good all night long. He drove away from us early. He was definitely a better car than us and it would have took a little bit of problem from him for us to get up to him. I just wasn’t good enough from the center off to get a run on guys to slide them.”

Craig Dollansky also capitalized on the two cautions to drive from sixth to third in the final five laps.

“My car got good as the race wore on,” he said. “Late in the race was when my car felt the best.

“Any time you can come out with a top three with this group of teams here, it’s a pretty good night.”

David Gravel, who set fast time for the second night in a row, finished fourth and Daryn Pittman drove from 11^th to round out the top five.

Schatz overcame an early issue of his own and rebounded in the feature. After advancing from eighth to third in the Last Chance Showdown to earn a transfer, Schatz started the main event in 24^th. He restarted 14^th on the caution with six laps remaining and then restarted ninth on the green-white-checker.

Schatz finished sixth and he earned the KSE Hard Charger Award for a series-best third time this season.

Saldana placed seventh, Steve Kinser was eighth, Greg Wilson ended ninth and Friday night winner Chad Kemenah rallied from 22^nd to conclude the top 10.

Paul McMahan won a heat race and the dash, and Trey Starks, Steve Kinser and Jac Haudenschild earned heat wins. Tony Stewart claimed the Last Chance Showdown.

Swindell and Schatz have exchanged the points lead 8 times in 15 events making it the most hotly contested championship battle in World of Outlaws History.

May 7, 2012