Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: Kerry Madsen

  • Madsen Joins Big Game Motorsports

    Madsen Joins Big Game Motorsports

    WINDOM, Minn. – One day after Big Game Motorsports released driver Danny Lasoski, the team has named Kerry Madsen as the driver of the No. 2 Muddy sprint car beginning next season.

    “Kerry has proven to be one of the best drivers in the country over the last several years,” Team Owner Tod Quiring said. “We are excited and proud to have him on our team. We are really looking forward to next year.”

    Madsen and the Muddy sponsored No. 2 team will compete in marquee events across the country with the debut scheduled for next February at the DIRTcar Nationals in Florida with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series.

    The team schedule will include all of the major sprint car events including the Knoxville Nationals, Kings Royal, Jackson Nationals and Badlands Gold Cup to name a few. The Muddy backed team will also tackle several weekly shows at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa, as well as many World of Outlaws races across the country.

    “The entire Big Game Motorsports team is thrilled to have Kerry driving the GoMuddy.com car,” Big Game Motorsports Representative Luke Lundt said. “Kerry is a fierce competitor on the track and will be a great representative for our team and brand.”

    Madsen is just as thrilled about the opportunity provided by Big Game Motorsports.

    “Tod has a big history in the sport,” he said. “I think they have a good team with Guy Forbrook on the wrenches. To me it seems like a simple fit where I can be competitive straight out of the box. It should be a simple transition and I’m hoping to do well.”

    Madsen has spent the last several years racing the Keneric Racing No. 29, but the Australian team shut down its American program shortly after the Knoxville Nationals in August.

    “If you’re going to be successful at sprint car racing there’s things you have to have. They have all the pieces. It felt like the right fit for me to be successful.”

    MEDIA LINKS –

    Website: http://www.BigGameTreestands.com

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/BigGameMotorspt

    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-Game-Treestands/251832101535076?fref=ts

    MUDDY –

    Muddy has always been known for its exceptionally high-end features and unwavering quality. The line has recently been expanded and revolutionized to contain even more options, including ladderstands, tripods and ground blinds as well as hang-ons and harnesses. For more information, visit http://www.GoMuddy.com.

    BIG GAME TREESTANDS –

    Established in 1977 in Windom, Minn., Big Game Treestands® has grown to be a leading company in the outdoor industry. Big Game Treestands® offers a Rock Solid™ line of field tested, safety certified above TMA requirements, welded steel stands & free standing elevated platforms that gives you not only a safe and extremely sturdy vantage point, but also reliable all-day comfort at a great value. Large, non-slip standing platforms, top-notch fastening systems, and our innovative pinned, sleeved ladder sections provide the Rock Solid™ stance, twist free climbing, and all around silence that Big Game Treestands® is known for. Non-glare, powder coat finish keeps our products hidden from nature’s wary eye.

    For over 30 years, it has been our goal and our philosophy to provide the most innovative and practical treestands and hunting accessories in the field. As tradition continues, we are Exceeding Limitations and once again providing new models that challenge Mother Nature. In 2012 Big Game extended the line into Trail Cameras known for the easy to set, great picture quality, and over all great camera. Eyecon Trail Cameras® exceeds the expectations of consumers. Big Game Treestands® and Eyecon Trail Cameras® offers undeniable quality on time-tested favorites as well as new innovations for 2016.

    For more information on Big Game Treestands®, visit http://www.BigGameTreestands.com.

    INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –

    Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.

     

  • Pevely Double Header Seals Championship.

    Pevely Double Header Seals Championship.

    [media-credit name=”Boyd Adams Photography” align=”alignright” width=”99″][/media-credit]Saturday in Pevely Missouri was a storm of racing activity. Two make up dates for the World of Outlaws in a single day. The Iron Man A Main postponed by rain in August was first up and then the Spring Classic make up from earlier in the year were both set to be run on the same day. It is important to note that while the weather man was predicting thunderstorms for the area the rain stayed away this time. But the fans did not. The anticipation was high. The points race would for the most part be determined in these two races. If Dollansky was going to make up ground he had two races and one night to do it. If Schatz was going to stumble it would be now.

    The Iron Man make up ran first. With a few scratches and alternates added, the 24 car field took the green for the longest feature of the season for the outlaws on one of the toughest tracks in country. 55 laps on the high banks of the third mile oval was a true test of the desire and the equipment of the Outlaws.

    To win the Iron Man you had to know how to manage tires, engines, fuel, and the track. You had to know when to go. You had to know when to let someone go. You had to be one with the car and one with the race without over driving or using up what you had. That is a task that is a tall hill for any driver regardless of the skill level or experience level.

    The Iron Man was a wild race and a precursor of what would come. The race would have 7 cautions and reds. None more frightening than leader Kerry Madsen’s violent roll that nearly destroyed the car when he got tangled in lap traffic. Also in a scarey crash was The King of the Outlaws Steve Kinser. Although Kinser’s car would be repaired and he would return to the track the crowd would hold their breath until his lumbering frame climbed up out of the car. Sammy Swindell would be bitten by a shredded Goodyear that would send him on his lid as well. Although all drivers were uninjured the chaos would reign all the way to the final lap.

    The race would end with a Green White Checkered finish that would see Craig Dollansky become the first to win back to back Iron Man races. “It’s a long race,” Dollansky said after his ninth World of Outlaws win of the season. “Tonight was an intense race, but it was great to get a win.”

    Dollansky’s win failed to help him much in the points as second place went to points leader Donny Schatz. Schatz had to make the A main and finish in the top half of the field to for all practical purposes seal his 5th championship.

    Jason Sides was third, Cody Darrah fourth, and Kraig Kinser would come home 5th.

    After clearing the grandstands, and reopening the gates again it was time for the Spring Classic. Yes the SPRING classic. OK so it was October, but it was a sprint car race and the fans were there in force to see it. This would be a full card. The points situation was heavy thing. This was one of two races remaining. Donny Schatz was out of provisionals and he didn’t quite have enough points to cover both if he missed the show.

    With 32 cars signed in for the Spring Classic, qualifying would again be at a premium. With the track having already hosted the 55 lap Iron Man it was an open track with high cushion and a run in surface allowing for a lot of speed for the Outlaws.

    Quick Time would be set by former Rookie of the Year Cody Darrah with a lap of 10.494 seconds or 114.237 mph. Second would go to Black Jack Brian Brown, third, Craig Dollansky, fourth Sammy Swindell and fifth Joey Saldana. The third place qualifying spot would gain Dollansky another point on Schatz who qualified 9th.

    The 4 heat races would be an eclectic mix of Outlaws and locals that would transfer the top 5 to the A and the top 2 to the Dash. The first heat would be captured by The King of the Outlaws, Steve Kinser, Kinser would be followed closely by Donny Schatz and Joey Saldana. Also transferring were Cody Darrah and Jordan Goldesberry.

    The 2nd heat would see Chad Kemenah chased to the checkers by Kerry Madsen and a hard charging Brian Brown. Also transferring would be Kraig Kinser and Mike Hess.

    The 3rd heat was won by Jason Sides who held off a hard charging Lucas Wolfe. Also transferring would be Craig Dollansky and Brad Loyet in his Outlaws debut as well as Dustin Selvage.

    The 4th and final heat was won by Greg Wilson who held off a determined Sammy Swindell. Also transferring were Bill Balog, Paul May and Ben Wagoner.

    The Last Chance Showdown was run next in change of the normal pattern for the Outlaws. The 12 car field had one scratch before the green flag when Paul Neinhiser retired from competition. With Bill Rose on the pole and only 4 to transfer the race was a hard fought affair that would find Bill Rose, Jim Moughan, Jimmy Bridgeman and A.J. Bruns moving into the A Main.

    The Dash inversion was a 4. Which put Jason Sides on the pole with Sammy Swindell to his outside and Brian Brown behind him. If Jason wasn’t hearing the theme for Jaws in his head he probably should have. But as fate would have it Brown would be penalized for jumping the start and Sammy Swindell would get a bad start at the green. Sides would pull out to a lead that he would never relinquish. Donny Schatz would climb from a 5th place starting place to finish 2nd. Brian Brown came back up to 3rd and Lucas Wolfe would come home 4th.

    The A Main would be a dynamic 40 lap affair that would be a test of determination and will between Lucas Wolfe and Jason Sides in the early going with Sides coming out on top. Kasey Kahne Racing driver, Cody Darrah would break a brake rotor and throw pieces of it all over the track causing too much damage for Darrah to continue. Sammy Swindell would experience mechanical issues that would send him to the infield and ultimately 12 laps down before his return to the racing surface. The second Kasey Kahne racing entry would go up in a ball of flame on the back stretch just past halfway. Saldana was uninjured but his night was over. The length of the race with the yellows and reds began to bite drivers late in the going with Steve Kinser being the first to coast to the infield out of gas. It would bring out a caution and set up a Green White Checkered finish. On the restart a spin brought out yet another caution pushing the race to beyond it’s 40 lap distance as the Outlaws rules state that the race must end with 2 consecutive green flag laps. The final Green White Checker would take the race to 41 laps. Jason Sides would outlast Donny Schatz, Brian Brown, Kerry Madsen and Kraig Kinser. However several cars coasted across the line out of gas.

    The win was an emotional one for Jason Sides, “I had Mark Hardee riding with me,” Sides said. “It wasn’t his time to go, but the cancer got him and we hate that. He’ll be with us a lot in our hearts and everything, so hopefully we’ll get us a couple more wins with him riding with us.”

    It was Sides’ first World of Outlaws feature win since July 2 of last season and extended his streak of at least one Outlaws victory in the each of the past four years.

    The KSE Hard Charger Award went to Brad Loyet in his first Outlaws run. Loyet came from 20th to 8th.

    replica watches

    It was a long night. It was an exciting night. It was a night that happened because of the hard work and dedication of the employees at Ken Schraders I-55 Speedway in Pevely, Missouri. It happened because of the hard work of the team of the World of Outlaws. It happened because of the teams and drivers of the greatest Sprint Car Series in the world.

    The points race is all but over. All Donny Schatz must do to lock up his 5th World of Outlaws title is attempt to qualify for the World Nationals in Charlotte. But Donny Schatz is a champion. Just attempting to qualify will never be enough. Donny Schatz is there to win. He is there to race as hard as his equipment will allow him and win the race.

    Craig Dollansky has given Donny Schatz a hard run staying right there and pushing him hard. Schatz could not lift or coast not even a single race because if he did Dollansky was right there to claim the prize.

    Our sport hurts with this weeks winner. We share his hurt and his loss and we send our prayers and our thoughts not only to Jason Sides and his family but to the family and friends of his fallen comrade Mark Hardee. We will stand together and we will support and we will carry our heroes until they can again carry us on their Mighty Wings.

    IRON MAN 55

    Qualifying – 1. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 10.705; 2. 9-Joey Saldana, 10.905; 3. 4-Cody Darrah, 10.918; 4. 7S-Jason Sides, 10.942; 5. 29-Kerry Madsen, 10.957; 6. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 10.973; 7. 55X-James McFadden, 11.027; 8. 71M-Paul May, 11.059; 9. 11-Steve Kinser, 11.101; 10. 7-Craig Dollansky, 11.112; 11. 2-Dale Blaney, 11.120; 12. 15-Donny Schatz, 11.207; 13. W20-Greg Wilson, 11.228; 14. 1M-Jim Moughan, 11.265; 15. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 11.365; 16. 1-Sammy Swindell, 11.394; 17. 63-Chad Kemenah, 11.489; 18. 44-Kory Weyant, 11.491; 19. 6-Bill Rose, 11.554; 20. 4K-Kody Kinser, 11.581; 21. 7SX-Joey Moughan, 11.774; 22. 67-Joey Boyd, 11.800; 23. 65-Jordon Goldesberry, 11.908; 24. 84-Ben Wagoner, 11.976; 25. 9X-Paul Nienhiser, 12.059; 26. 2K-Ryan Kempin, 12.062; 27. 3B-Brad Greer, 12.082; 28. 9JR-Derick Hagar, 12.105; 29. 28S-Justin Springer, 12.299; 30. 14T-Jimmy Bridgeman, 12.464.

    Heat 1 – (10 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 7-Craig Dollansky [1]; 2. 55X-James McFadden [2]; 3. 7S-Jason Sides [3]; 4. 1-Sammy Swindell [6]; 5. 11K-Kraig Kinser [4]; 6. W20-Greg Wilson [5]; 7. 9JR-Derick Hagar [10]; 8. 6-Bill Rose [7]; 9. 67-Joey Boyd [8]; 10. 9X-Paul Nienhiser [9].

    Heat 2 – (10 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 2-Dale Blaney [1]; 2. 71M-Paul May [2]; 3. 29-Kerry Madsen [3]; 4. 9-Joey Saldana [4]; 5. 63-Chad Kemenah [6]; 6. 4K-Kody Kinser [7]; 7. 65-Jordon Goldesberry [8]; 8. 2K-Ryan Kempin [9]; 9. 1M-Jim Moughan [5]; 10. 28S-Justin Springer [10].

    Heat 3 – (10 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 15-Donny Schatz [1]; 2. 4-Cody Darrah [4]; 3. 11-Steve Kinser [2]; 4. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [3]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5]; 6. 84-Ben Wagoner [8]; 7. 3B-Brad Greer [9]; 8. 7SX-Joey Moughan [7]; 9. 44-Kory Weyant [6]; 10. 14T-Jimmy Bridgeman [10].

    Dash – (8 Laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) – 1. 29-Kerry Madsen [2]; 2. 55X-James McFadden [1]; 3. 7S-Jason Sides [3]; 4. 4-Cody Darrah [4]; 5. 9-Joey Saldana [5]; 6. 7-Craig Dollansky [8]; 7. 11K-Kraig Kinser [6]; 8. 15-Donny Schatz [10]; 9. 71M-Paul May [7]; 10. 2-Dale Blaney [9].

    B-Main – (12 laps-top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 1M-Jim Moughan; 2. 9JR-Derek Hagar; 3. 65-Jordan Goldesberry; 4. 6-Bill Rose; 5. 17M-Joey Moughan; 6. 99-Kory Weyant; 7. 67-Joey Boyd; 8. 2K-Ryan Kempin; 9. 9X-Paul Nienhiser; 10. 3B-Brad Greer; 11. 28S-Justin Springer; 12. 14T-Jimmy Bridgeman.

    Note: James McFadden, Dale Blaney and Logan Schuchart did not return for the A-Main and were replaced by alternates Joey Boyd, Paul Nienhiser and Jimmy Bridgeman. Ryan Kempin, Brad Greer and Justin Springer also did not return.

    A-Main – (55 Laps) – 1. 7-Craig Dollansky [5]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [7]; 3. 7S-Jason Sides [2]; 4. 4-Cody Darrah [3]; 5. 11K-Kraig Kinser [6]; 6. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [9]; 7. 9-Joey Saldana [4]; 8. 1-Sammy Swindell [13]; 9. 71M-Paul May [8]; 10. 63-Chad Kemenah [14]; 11. 11-Steve Kinser [10]; 12. W20-Greg Wilson [11]; 13. 6-Bill Rose [15]; 14. 29-Kerry Madsen [1]; 15. 67-Joey Boyd [22]; 16. 44-Kory Weyant [21]; 17. 1M-Jim Moughan [12]; 18. 4K-Kody Kinser [16]; 19. 9JR-Derick Hagar [19]; 20. 7SX-Joey Moughan [20]; 21. 84-Ben Wagoner [18]; 22. 65-Jordon Goldesberry [17]; 23. 14T-Jimmy Bridgeman [24]; 24. 9X-Paul Nienhiser [23]. Lap Leaders: Kerry Madsen 1-21, 33-46; Craig Dollansky 22-32, 47-55. KSE Hard Charger Award: 67-Joey Boyd [+7].

    I-55 Spring Classic

    Qualifying – 1. 4-Cody Darrah, 10.494; 2. 21-Brian Brown, 10.645; 3. 7-Craig Dollansky, 10.679; 4. 1-Sammy Swindell, 10.690; 5. 9-Joey Saldana, 10.704; 6. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 10.748; 7. 7S-Jason Sides, 10.771; 8. 6-Bill Rose, 10.781; 9. 15-Donny Schatz, 10.815; 10. 29-Kerry Madsen, 10.830; 11. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 10.848; 12. 17B-Bill Balog, 10.851; 13. 11-Steve Kinser, 10.911; 14. 63-Chad Kemenah, 10.930; 15. 7K-Dustin Selvage, 11.037; 16. 71M-Paul May, 11.041; 17. 65-Jordon Goldesberry, 11.078; 18. 51-Mike Hess, 11.169; 19. O5-Brad Loyet, 11.177; 20. W20-Greg Wilson, 11.205; 21. 1M-Jim Moughan, 11.268; 22. 66-Geoff Dodge, 11.274; 23. 9X-Paul Nienhiser, 11.328; 24. 84-Ben Wagoner, 11.460; 25. 22-Robbie Stanridge, 11.461; 26. 44-Aaron Bruns, 11.474; 27. 67-Joey Boyd, 11.481; 28. 99-Jarrod Schniederman, 11.502; 29. 53W-Bill Wirth, 11.689; 30. 5-Kory Bales, 11.771; 31. 10P-Jim Perricone, 11.908; 32. 14T-Jimmy Bridgeman, 11.980.

    Heat 1 – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 11-Steve Kinser [1]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [2]; 3. 9-Joey Saldana [3]; 4. 4-Cody Darrah [4]; 5. 65-Jordon Goldesberry [5]; 6. 1M-Jim Moughan [6]; 7. 22-Robbie Stanridge [7]; 8. 53W-Bill Wirth [8].

    Heat 2 – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 63-Chad Kemenah [1]; 2. 29-Kerry Madsen [2]; 3. 21-Brian Brown [4]; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser [3]; 5. 51-Mike Hess [5]; 6. 44-Aaron Bruns [7]; 7. 5-Kory Bales [8]; 8. 66-Geoff Dodge [6].

    Heat 3 – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 7S-Jason Sides [3]; 2. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [2]; 3. 7-Craig Dollansky [4]; 4. O5-Brad Loyet [5]; 5. 7K-Dustin Selvage [1]; 6. 67-Joey Boyd [7]; 7. 10P-Jim Perricone [8]; 8. 9X-Paul Nienhiser [6].

    Heat 4 – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. W20-Greg Wilson [5]; 2. 1-Sammy Swindell [4]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog [2]; 4. 71M-Paul May [1]; 5. 84-Ben Wagoner [6]; 6. 14T-Jimmy Bridgeman [8]; 7. 99-Jarrod Schniederman [7]; 8. 6-Bill Rose [3].

    Dash – (8 Laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) – 1. 7S-Jason Sides [1]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [5]; 3. 21-Brian Brown [3]; 4. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [7]; 5. 1-Sammy Swindell [2]; 6. 63-Chad Kemenah [9]; 7. 4-Cody Darrah [4]; 8. W20-Greg Wilson [10]; 9. 29-Kerry Madsen [6]; 10. 11-Steve Kinser [8].

    B-Main – (12 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 6-Bill Rose [1] [-]; 2. 1M-Jim Moughan [2] [-]; 3. 14T-Jimmy Bridgeman [12] [-]; 4. 44-Aaron Bruns [6] [-]; 5. 99-Jarrod Schniederman [8] [$200]; 6. 22-Robbie Stanridge [5] [$180]; 7. 66-Geoff Dodge [3] [$175]; 8. 5-Kory Bales [10] [$160]; 9. 67-Joey Boyd [7] [$150]; 10. 53W-Bill Wirth [9] [$150]; 11. 10P-Jim Perricone [11] [$150]; 12. 9X-Paul Nienhiser [4] [$150].

    A-Main – (40 Laps) – 1. 7S-Jason Sides [1] [$10,000]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [2] [$5,500]; 3. 21-Brian Brown [3] [$3,200]; 4. 29-Kerry Madsen [9] [$2,800]; 5. 11K-Kraig Kinser [13] [$2,500]; 6. W20-Greg Wilson [8] [$2,300]; 7. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [4] [$2,200]; 8. O5-Brad Loyet [20] [$2,100]; 9. 63-Chad Kemenah [6] [$2,050]; 10. 7-Craig Dollansky [11] [$2,000]; 11. 44-Aaron Bruns [23] [$1,500]; 12. 51-Mike Hess [19] [$1,200]; 13. 11-Steve Kinser [10] [$1,100]; 14. 14T-Jimmy Bridgeman [24] [$1,050]; 15. 17B-Bill Balog [15] [$1,000]; 16. 65-Jordon Goldesberry [18] [$900]; 17. 1-Sammy Swindell [5] [$800]; 18. 9-Joey Saldana [12] [$800]; 19. 71M-Paul May [17] [$800]; 20. 7K-Dustin Selvage [16] [$800]; 21. 4-Cody Darrah [7] [$800]; 22. 6-Bill Rose [14] [$800]; 23. 1M-Jim Moughan [21] [$800]; 24. 84-Ben Wagoner [22] [$800]. Lap Leaders: Jason Sides 1-8, 39-41; Lucas Wolfe 9-31; Chad Kemenah 32-38 (Note: Race went 41 laps due to mandatory green-white-checkered finish). KSE Hard Charger Award: O5-Brad Loyet [+12].

    World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Top 20 Championship Standings

    Pos. Driver

    Total

    Diff

    Wins

    T5

    T10

    QT
    1 Donny Schatz

    9669

    0

    11

    39

    60

    3
    2 Craig Dollansky

    9493

    -176

    9

    34

    51

    9
    3 Sammy Swindell

    9454

    -215

    12

    29

    47

    14
    4 Joey Saldana

    9418

    -251

    5

    24

    52

    9
    5 Steve Kinser

    9347

    -322

    4

    26

    47

    0
    6 Kraig Kinser

    9153

    -516

    4

    20

    44

    7
    7 Cody Darrah

    8933

    -736

    1

    23

    37

    3
    8 Kerry Madsen

    8875

    -794

    5

    17

    39

    2
    9 Chad Kemenah

    8601

    -1068

    2

    11

    33

    2
    10 Lucas Wolfe

    8543

    -1126

    1

    10

    28

    1
    11 Bill Rose

    7585

    -2084

    0

    0

    10

    0
    12 Jason Sides

    6169

    -3500

    1

    19

    30

    1
    13 Jac Haudenschild

    4092

    -5577

    0

    4

    12

    0
    14 Tim Kaeding

    3524

    -6145

    4

    10

    17

    0
    15 Daryn Pittman

    2930

    -6739

    0

    7

    15

    2
    16 Paul McMahan

    2844

    -6825

    2

    4

    6

    2
    17 David Gravel

    2828

    -6841

    0

    8

    10

    4
    18 Sam Hafertepe Jr.

    2779

    -6890

    0

    3

    8

    0
    19 Danny Lasoski

    2745

    -6924

    1

    5

    9

    0
    20 Stevie Smith

    2667

    -7002

    0

    3

    13

    2

     

  • Schatz Takes Clay County and Extends Points Lead

    Schatz Takes Clay County and Extends Points Lead

    [media-credit name=”Tony Stewart Racing” align=”alignright” width=”210″][/media-credit]Tonight the World of Outlaws rolled into Clay County Fairgrounds for the Arnold Motor Supply Shootout. Points leader Donny Schatz was riding the largest point lead of the season with a 72 point advantage over Craig Dollansky. Schatz recorded 4 top  5’s, 1 top 10 and 2 wins to take the points lead during the west coast swing and build tremendous momentum for the last 12 races of the season which includes the 4 crown nationals at Eldora. Schatz said of the momentum, “It’s important to be racing good at this time of the year. We’ve had the championship as a goal all season long, and there were times this season, when it didn’t look good, but the STP guys kept hanging in there. We found some things in our motor program right around the beginning of August and have been qualifying good ever since. When you qualify well, chances are you’re going to be starting closer to the front, but you have to take advantage of it. We’ve been a little lucky too, but winning right now is what we are all about. When we win, we try to enjoy it for a couple of hours, but know the next race we have to go back out there and do everything we can to put ourselves in a position to win again. Success one night doesn’t give you any advantage the next. Things can change quickly, so you have to stay on top of your game every night.”

    The evening began rocky for the 4 time Outlaws champion as he qualified a disappointing 18th. Schatz said post race that they had chosen the wrong gear for the car and then he picked the wrong line in qualifying. Quick Time on the night would belong to Craig Dollansky who turned a blazing lap of 13.232 seconds or 102.025 mph around the 3/8ths mile track. Second would go to Sammy Swindell and third to Jason Sides. Former Rookie of the year Cody Darrah would nail down 4th and Brian Brown would complete the top 5.

    The first heat would see a continuation of the resurgence of one of the biggest names in Outlaws racing when Jac Haudenschild took the checkers. He would be followed to the line by Skylar Prochaska and Craig Dollansky. Rounding out the top 5 in heat one and transferring to the A Main would be Davey Heskin and Kraig Kinser.

    The 18th qualifying spot would take Schatz out of the heat race inversion and put him in the third row of the 2nd heat race. But when the green dropped Schatz was on the gas and quickly climbed into the 2nd spot behind team mate Steve Kinser to claim a spot in the dash. Sammy Swindell and the Knoxville Champion Terry McCarl along with Scott Winters would advance to the A main out of the 2nd heat.

    The third heat race was a hard fought affair that would see an infrequent visitor to the World of Outlaws circuit take the checkers when Kayle Gharst held off a hard charging Jason Sides and Joey Saldana for the win. Also transferring were Dusty Zomer and Jody Rosenboom.

    The final heat of the night would be won by Mark Dobmeier with Lucas Wolfe, Kerry Madsen, Cody Darrah and Chad Kemenah also transferring to the A.

    The dash was full of big names and tough competition. Jac Haudenschild, Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell, Craig Dollansky, Lucas Wolfe, Jason Sides, if Schatz was going to take this one he was going to work for it. His 2nd place finish in the heat guaranteed him a spot in the dash which assured him a top 10 starting position. But the further up he started in the A the better his chances would be.  As it turned out he would only climb to the 7th spot when the checkers fell. But it was far enough up to make him a player in the 30 lap A Main.

    The Last Chance Showdown was a time of redemption for Brian Brown and Justin Henderson. Both had problems that kept them from either starting or finishing in their heat race. This was their last chance to make the trip count. And make it count they did. Brown would dominate the event with a 3.3 second lead at one point to win over Henderson Tasker Phillips and Chuck McGillivray to advance to the A.

    The A Main was a 30 lap race of hard driving, hard charging young names with something to prove. Lucas Wolfe would take the early lead only to lose it to veteran Craig Dollansky. Dollansky would spin and hit the wall trying to avoid a spinning lapped car and relinquish the lead back to Wolfe. Wolfe would hold the lead until the next to the last lap when he got bottled up in lapped traffic and Schatz would drive by on the top. Schatz would never look back, leading the final two circuits on the 3/8ths mile semi banked track to take the double checkered flag for his 10th win of the season, and series leading 32nd top-five and 52nd top-10 this season. Schatz will pull into Deer Creek tomorrow night with a 101 point lead over Craig Dollansky with 11 races left in the season. Second place would go to Lucas Wolfe and third to Schatz’s team mate Steve Kinser. Craig Dollansky would return to the track after time in the work area but would finish a disappointing 17th. Showing the strength of consistency in the Main as well was Jac Haudenschild who again finished in the top 10. Kerry Madsen who flipped end over end violently on lap 17 and nearly clearing the fence and wall on the back stretch climbed from his car and walked away uninjured. Sammy Swindell would have engine problems and draw a 2 position penalty for exceeding the 2 minute open red work period and end up going to the work area. Swindell would make it back to the track but would finish 16th.

    Donny Schatz never gave up. His night started far from ideal. But he believed he could make up the distance on the track in race conditions. His team stood behind him and pushed on. In the end when the double checkers fell, Donny had again stretched his point lead over Craig Dollansky to 101 points. But more than the points, Schatz and the team extended their confidence by knowing they could drive their way out of bad start. Persistence equals success. No matter what it’s in. If you do not quit. You will eventually come out on top. It’s something that Donny Schatz and his Tony Stewart Racing STP team have known from the beginning and it’s not something they will start doubting now.

    Qualifying Results: 1) Craig Dollansky 13.232/102.025mph 2) Sammy Swindell 3) Jason Sides 4) Cody Darrah 5) Brian Brown 6) Terry McCarl 7) Joey Saldana 8) Lucas Wolfe. 9) Skylar Prochaska 10) Steve Kinser 11) Justin Henderson 12) Kerry Madsen 13) Jac Haudenschild 14) Scott Winters 15) Kaley Gharst 16) Mark Dobmeier 17) Kraig Kinser 18) Donny Schatz 19) Jody Rosenbloom 20) Chad Kemenah 21) Davey Heskin 22) Robby Wolfgang 23) Dusty Zomer 24) Ian Madsen 25) Tasker Phillips 26) Matt Wasmund 27) Kevin Ingle 28) Ryan Wilson 29) Robert Bell. 30) Chuck McGillivray 21) Branden Stevenson 32) Bill Rose Did Not Arrive

    Heat Race Number 1: 1) Jac Haudenschild 2) Skylar Prochaska 3) Craig Dollansky 4) Davey Heskin 5) Kraig Kinser 6) Tasker Phillips 7) Robert Bell 8) Brian Brown (DNS)

    Heat Race Number 2: 1) Steve Kinser 2) Donny Schatz 3) Sammy Swindell 4) Terry McCarl 5) Scott Winters 6) Chuck McGillivray 7) Matt Wasmund 8) Robby Wolfgang

    Heat Race Number 3: 1) Kaley Gharst 2) Jason Sides 3) Joey Saldana 4) Dusty Zomer 5) Jody Rosenboom 6) Kevin Ingle 7) Branden Stevenson 8) Justin Henderson.

    Heat Race Number 4: 1) Mark Dobmeier 2) Lucas Wolfe 3) Kerry Madsen 4) Cody Darrah 5) Chad Kemenah 6) Ryan Wilson 7) Ian Madsen 8) Bill Rose (DNS)

    Dash Results: 1) Lucas Wolfe 2) Craig Dollansky 3) Jason Sides 4) Sammy Swindell 5) Steve Kinser 6) Jac Haudenschild 7) Donny Schatz 8) Kaley Gharst 9) Mark Dobmeier 10) Skylar Prochaska

    LCS Results: 1) Brian Brown 2) Justin Henderson 3) Tasker Phillips 4) Chuck McGilivray 5) Ryan Wilson 6) Robert Bell 7) Branden Stevenson 8) Kevin Ingle 9) Ian Madsen (DNS) 10) Bill Rose (DNS)

    A Main Results: 1) Donny Schatz 2) Lucas Wolfe 3) Steve Kinser 4) Jason Sides 5) Cody Darrah 6) Joey Saldana 7) Jac Haudenschild 8) Chad Kemenah (KSE Hard Charger of the Race) 9) Justin Henderson 10) Kaley Gharst 11) Brian Brown 12) Terry McCarl 13) Scott Winters 14) Dusty Zomer 15) Kraig Kinser 16) Sammy Swindell 17) Craig Dollansky 18) Jody Rosenboom 19) Davey Heskin 20) Chuck McGilivray 21) Skylar Prochaska 22) Tasker Phillips 23) Kerry Madsen 24) Mark Dobmeier

    World of Outlaws Point Standings

    Pos. Driver Total Diff Wins Top 5’s Top 10’s QT
    1 Donny Schatz 8506 0 10 32 52 3
    2 Craig Dollansky 8405 -101 7 31 46 9
    3 Sammy Swindell 8393 -113 11 28 42 14
    4 Joey Saldana 8374 -132 5 22 48 9
    5 Steve Kinser 8319 -187 3 25 44 0
    6 Kraig Kinser 8086 -420 4 18 38 5
    7 Cody Darrah 7912 -594 1 20 33 2
    8 Kerry Madsen 7836 -670 5 13 33 1
    9 Chad Kemenah 7687 -819 2 9 29 2
    10 Lucas Wolfe 7494 -1012 1 9 23 1
    11 Bill Rose 6741 -1765 0 0 10 0
    12 Jason Sides 5357 -3149 0 16 26 1
    13 Jac Haudenschild 3605 -4901 0 2 9 0
    14 Tim Kaeding 3524 -4982 4 10 17 0
    15 Daryn Pittman 2537 -5969 0 6 13 1
    16 Sam Hafertepe Jr. 2454 -6052 0 3 7 0
    17 Danny Lasoski 2431 -6075 1 5 8 0
    18 David Gravel 2385 -6121 0 7 9 4
    19 Paul McMahan 2296 -6210 1 2 3 0
    20 Stevie Smith 2276 -6230 0 3 11 1
  • Schatz takes Night 1 of the Gold Cup Race of Champions

    Schatz takes Night 1 of the Gold Cup Race of Champions

    [media-credit name=”Tony Stewart Racing” align=”alignright” width=”210″][/media-credit]CHICO, Calif. – Sept. 6, 2012 – Well, that just shook up the points.

    A pair of drivers in contention for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series championship took a major hit on Thursday while a four-time champion survived a treacherous track on the opening night of the 59th annual Gold Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Speedway.

    Donny Schatz slid by polesitter Kyle Larson exiting turn two on lap 20 en route to his eighth World of Outlaws victory of the season. The win, combined with some misfortune to a couple of fellow championship contenders, moved Schatz into the points lead for the first time in the last 21 races.

    “It was fun,” he said. “(Larson) was really good on the top and we had a decent car on the bottom. It just was really tricky to run. It took me five or six laps to figure out how to drive it. It was a fun race and I’m glad to come out on the good side of it.”

    Two drivers in search of that same title found bitter results.

    Craig Dollansky, who entered the event with the points lead after 16 consecutive top-10 finishes, spun out after contact during a restart on lap 17. Dollansky, who had restarted eighth, headed to the work area to have everything checked out only to be left there. Since the race was past the halfway point, he didn’t get the guaranteed two minutes.

    Dollansky later returned after a caution, but raced two laps down and finished 20th. He is 12 points behind Schatz in the championship chase.

    Sammy Swindell, who entered the event third in points, was set to capitalize on Dollansky’s bad luck. Swindell ran in the top three for most of the feature until a last-lap miscue stopped him on the frontstretch – only a handful of feet from crossing the finish line.

    While Swindell was chasing down Larson in traffic for the runner-up position, Swindell dove to the bottom in the final turn. It appeared that he clipped the infield tire, which knocked his car up the track and into the frontstretch wall. He could only watch as all of the remaining cars on the lead lap drove by. Swindell was credited with an 18th-place finish, which dropped him to 74 points behind Schatz in the championship battle.

    In front of the tough luck was a great clash between Schatz and Larson, who traded slide jobs at least a half dozen times.

    Larson led the first 10 laps before Schatz took the lead exiting turn four on lap 11. The duo slid each other in nearly every end of the track for two laps with Schatz having the advantage at the finish line before Larson held onto the lead on lap 13.

    After the sixth – and final – caution of the race came on lap 20 when Kerry Madsen stopped on the frontstretch, Schatz got the opportunity he needed. On the lap after the restart, Larson got into the demanding cushion and Schatz slid off the bottom in turn two just in front of Larson.

    Larson nearly jumped the cushion the ensuing two laps, which let Swindell close to within a couple of car lengths. Schatz entered traffic on lap 29, allowing Larson and Swindell to rapidly gain ground.

    “I had to take about five laps just to settle down,” Larson said. “He got about a straightaway out there and then I just started trying to run the heck out of it. I caught him there coming to the white (flag) and got close coming to the line.”

    As Schatz was dramatically slowed on the bottom, Larson powered to the cushion and Swindell to the very bottom of the inside groove. Schatz held off the late charges with Larson bouncing off the cushion and Swindell facing his own disaster.

    “We just cruised around and watched and watched Sammy hit the tractor tire there at the end and stick it in the fence,” said Tim Kaeding, who finished third after avoiding Swindell’s damaged car. “He was about eight feet short. I’ve been there several times.”

    Jason Sides placed fourth and Sean Becker was fifth. Bill Rose ended sixth and Steve Kinser earned the KSE Hard Charger Award after maneuvering from 22 nd to seventh. Shane Golobic finished eighth, 21st starter Joey Saldana ninth and Lucas Wolfe rounded out the top 10.

    Qualifying – 1. 1-Sammy Swindell, 12.321; 2. 15-Donny Schatz, 12.604; 3. 57-Kyle Larson, 12.618; 4. 27-Sean Becker, 12.623; 5. 88X-Brad Bumgarner, 12.702; 6. 83-Tim Kaeding, 12.729; 7. 3C-Cody Lamar, 12.842; 8. 7S-Jason Sides, 12.856; 9. 121-Shane Golobic, 12.913; 10. OO-Jason Statler, 12.925; 11. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 12.933; 12. 77-Shane Stewart, 12.938; 13. 19-Tyler Wolf, 12.941; 14. 4-Cody Darrah, 12.972; 15. 7-Craig Dollansky, 13.018; 16. 6-Bill Rose, 13.052; 17. 18H-Jac Haudenschild, 13.083; 18. 83JR-Kyle Hirst, 13.091; 19. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 13.111; 20. 22-Mason Moore, 13.122; 21. O-Jonathan Allard, 13.130; 22. O4-Kevin Sharrah, 13.144; 23. 9-Joey Saldana, 13.152; 24. 11-Steve Kinser, 13.182; 25. 25M-Bobby McMahan, 13.252; 26. 29-Kerry Madsen, 13.255; 27. 2-B.J. Martin, 13.255; 28. 11M-Peter Murphy, 13.263; 29. 92-Andy Forsburg, 13.300; 30. 36-Steve Tatterson, 13.377; 31. 53-Andy Gregg, 13.444; 32. 89-Rico Abreu, 13.505; 33. 7K-Kenny Allen, 13.513; 34. 63-Chad Kemenah, 13.536; 35. 25-Jason York, 13.543; 36. 21J-Richard Brace, 13.546; 37. 15H-Pat Harvey Jr., 13.596; 38. 26M-Sean McMahan, 13.753; 39. 18-Travis Jacobson, 13.754; 40. 33E-Evan Suggs, 13.786; 41. 88-Koen Shaw, 13.967; 42. 6UP-Danielle Simpson, 14.260; 43. 7Y-Clayton Snow, 14.346; 44. 28B-Adam Brenton, 14.597.

    Heat 1 – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 19-Tyler Wolf [1]; 2. 1-Sammy Swindell [4]; 3. 88X-Brad Bumgarner [3]; 4. 18H-Jac Haudenschild [5]; 5. 121-Shane Golobic [2]; 6. O-Jonathan Allard [6]; 7. 25M-Bobby McMahan [7]; 8. 92-Andy Forsburg [8]; 9. 7K-Kenny Allen [9]; 10. 88-Koen Shaw [11]; 11. 15H-Pat Harvey Jr. [10].

    Heat 2 – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 83-Tim Kaeding [3]; 2. 4-Cody Darrah [1]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz [4]; 4. 29-Kerry Madsen [7]; 5. 83JR-Kyle Hirst [5]; 6. O4-Kevin Sharrah [6]; 7. 6UP-Danielle Simpson [11]; 8. OO-Jason Statler [2]; 9. 26M-Sean McMahan [10]; 10. 63-Chad Kemenah [9]; 11. 36-Steve Tatterson [8].

    Heat 3 – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 7-Craig Dollansky [1]; 2. 57-Kyle Larson [4]; 3. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [2]; 4. 9-Joey Saldana [6]; 5. 3C-Cody Lamar [3]; 6. 53-Andy Gregg [8]; 7. 11K-Kraig Kinser [5]; 8. 2-B.J. Martin [7]; 9. 18-Travis Jacobson [10]; 10. 25-Jason York [9]; 11. 7Y-Clayton Snow [11].

    Heat 4 – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 6-Bill Rose [1]; 2. 7S-Jason Sides [3]; 3. 27-Sean Becker [4]; 4. 11-Steve Kinser [6]; 5. 77-Shane Stewart [2]; 6. 11M-Peter Murphy [7]; 7. 89-Rico Abreu [8]; 8. 33E-Evan Suggs [10]; 9. 21J-Richard Brace [9]; 10. 28B-Adam Brenton [11]; 11. 22-Mason Moore [5].

    Dash – (8 Laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) – 1. 57-Kyle Larson [2]; 2. 27-Sean Becker [1]; 3. 83-Tim Kaeding [5]; 4. 1-Sammy Swindell [4]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz [3]; 6. 19-Tyler Wolf [7]; 7. 7-Craig Dollansky [9]; 8. 7S-Jason Sides [6]; 9. 4-Cody Darrah [8]; 10. 6-Bill Rose [10].

    C-Main – (10 Laps – Top 2 finishers transfer to the B-feature) – 1. 33E-Evan Suggs [6] [-]; 2. 18-Travis Jacobson [5] [-]; 3. 25-Jason York [1] [$150]; 4. 88-Koen Shaw [7] [$125]; 5. 7Y-Clayton Snow [9] [$125]; 6. 28B-Adam Brenton [10] [$100]; 7. 15H-Pat Harvey Jr. [3] [$100]; 8. 6UP-Danielle Simpson [8] [$100]; 9. 21J-Richard Brace [2] [$100]; 10. 26M-Sean McMahan [4] [$100].

    B-Main – (12 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 11K-Kraig Kinser [2] [-]; 2. 22-Mason Moore [3] [-]; 3. O-Jonathan Allard [4] [-]; 4. 25M-Bobby McMahan [6] [-]; 5. OO-Jason Statler [1] [$200]; 6. 53-Andy Gregg [11] [$180]; 7. 63-Chad Kemenah [14] [$175]; 8. 89-Rico Abreu [12] [$160]; 9. 11M-Peter Murphy [8] [$150]; 10. 18-Travis Jacobson [16] [$150]; 11. 92-Andy Forsburg [9] [$150]; 12. 7K-Kenny Allen [13] [$150]; 13. 2-B.J. Martin [7] [$150]; 14. 33E-Evan Suggs [15] [$150]; 15. O4-Kevin Sharrah [5] [$150]; 16. 36-Steve Tatterson [10] [$150].

    A-Main – (30 Laps) – 1. 15-Donny Schatz [5] [$8,000]; 2. 57-Kyle Larson [1] [$4,000]; 3. 83-Tim Kaeding [3] [$2,500]; 4. 7S-Jason Sides [8] [$2,200]; 5. 27-Sean Becker [2] [$2,100]; 6. 6-Bill Rose [10] [$2,000]; 7. 11-Steve Kinser [22] [$1,800]; 8. 121-Shane Golobic [13] [$1,600]; 9. 9-Joey Saldana [21] [$1,500]; 10. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [14] [$1,300]; 11. 83JR-Kyle Hirst [17] [$1,200]; 12. 11K-Kraig Kinser [18] [$1,100]; 13. 63-Chad Kemenah [25] [$400]; 14. 4-Cody Darrah [9] [$700]; 15. 25M-Bobby McMahan [23] [$600]; 16. 77-Shane Stewart [15] [$600]; 17. 3C-Cody Lamar [12] [$600]; 18. 1-Sammy Swindell [4] [$600]; 19. 19-Tyler Wolf [6] [$600]; 20. 7-Craig Dollansky [7] [$600]; 21. 29-Kerry Madsen [24] [$600]; 22. 22-Mason Moore [19] [$600]; 23. O-Jonathan Allard [20] [$600]; 24. 88X-Brad Bumgarner [11] [$600]; 25. 18H-Jac Haudenschild [16] [$600]. Lap Leaders: Kyle Larson 1-10, 13-19; Donny Schatz 11-12, 20-30. KSE Hard Charger Award: 11-Steve Kinser [+15].

    59th annual Gold Cup Race of Champions Points (After Night 1)

    1. Donny Schatz, 542; 2. Kyle Larson, 539; 3. Tim Kaeding, 532; 4. Sean Becker, 522; 5. Jason Sides, 521; 6. Bill Rose, 500; 7. Shane Golobic, 494; 8. Lucas Wolfe, 488; 9. Sammy Swindell, 479; 10. Cody Darrah, 473; 11. Steve Kinser, 471; 12. Cody Lamar, 466; 13. Joey Saldana, 465; 14. Kyle Hirst, 464; 15. Tyler Wolf, 462; 16. Shane Stewart, 460; 17. Kraig Kinser, 452; 18. Craig Dollansky, 450; 19. Brad Bumgarner, 448; 20. Bobby McMahan, 432; 21. Jac Haudenschild, 417; 22. Kerry Madsen, 415; 23. Jonathan Allard, 411; 24. Jason Statler, 411; 25. Mason Moore, 402; 26. Andy Gregg, 371; 27. Peter Murphy, 365; 28. Rico Abreu, 358; 29. Kevin Sharrah, 353; 30. Chad Kemenah, 349; 31. Andy Forsburg, 349; 32. B.J. Martin, 345; 33. Kenny Allen, 334; 34. Travis Jacobson, 330; 35. Steve Tatterson, 318; 36. Evan Suggs, 315; 37. Jason York, 285; 38. Koen Shaw, 269; 39. Pat Harvey Jr., 262; 40. Richard Brace, 262; 41. Danielle Simpson, 260; 42. Clayton Snow, 258; 43. Adam Brenton, 255; 44. Sean McMahan, 254.

    World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Top 20 Championship Standings

    Pos. Driver

    Total

    Diff

    Wins

    T5

    T10

    QT
    1 Donny Schatz

    7835

    0

    8

    27

    47

    2
    2 Craig Dollansky

    7823

    -12

    7

    31

    44

    8
    3 Sammy Swindell

    7761

    -74

    11

    25

    38

    12
    4 Joey Saldana

    7739

    -96

    5

    20

    43

    9
    5 Steve Kinser

    7716

    -119

    3

    24

    41

    0
    6 Kraig Kinser

    7497

    -338

    4

    18

    35

    5
    7 Cody Darrah

    7317

    -518

    1

    18

    30

    2
    8 Kerry Madsen

    7269

    -566

    5

    12

    31

    1
    9 Chad Kemenah

    7177

    -658

    2

    9

    28

    2
    10 Lucas Wolfe

    6877

    -958

    1

    7

    19

    1
    11 Bill Rose

    6292

    -1543

    0

    0

    10

    0
    12 Jason Sides

    4889

    -2946

    0

    14

    23

    1
    13 Jac Haudenschild

    3024

    -4811

    0

    2

    7

    0
    14 Tim Kaeding

    3007

    -4828

    3

    7

    14

    0
    15 Daryn Pittman

    2537

    -5298

    0

    6

    13

    1
    16 Sam Hafertepe Jr.

    2454

    -5381

    0

    3

    7

    0
    17 Danny Lasoski

    2431

    -5404

    1

    5

    8

    0
    18 David Gravel

    2385

    -5450

    0

    7

    9

    4
    19 Paul McMahan

    2296

    -5539

    1

    2

    3

    0
    20 Stevie Smith

    2276

    -5559

    0

    3

    11

    1
  • World of Outlaws – Upset At Skagit!

    World of Outlaws – Upset At Skagit!

    [media-credit name=”World of Outlaws” align=”alignright” width=”266″][/media-credit]Well Skagit is in the books. It was exciting. It was thrilling. In the end for one  young man it was magical down right fairy tale if you want to be real honest about it. It is a rare thing that a local driver can come to the greatest show on dirt and beat the greatest drivers in the world. Very Very rare. But that is what happened in Skagit on Saturday Night. Travis Jacobson, a local sprint car driver, took on the best in the world and he beat them in their own show. He didn’t beat them by a hair. He didn’t beat them by fluke circumstances. He flat out ran them.

    Travis Jacobson has established a successful career at Skagit Speedway. He’s won the last three 360 Nationals titles and earned the 360 track championship last season. Jacobson also captured the 410 track title in 2006. But the dream of beating the best had burned in him for a lifetime. “I’m just in awe,” he said wearing an ear-to-ear smile. “I grew up watching guys like Sammy Swindell and Steve Kinser. To be able to compete with those guys is more than a dream come true. Racing has been my passion since I could turn a car, so it’s very, very special to me.”

    Passions run deep but until last night he had never won or even made it into the top 5 in World of Outlaws competition. All that changed in front of a sold out facility, his facility, his fans, his family. For Travis Jacobson taking the cross checkered flags of the Outlaws was a dream come true. He caught a big break on the initial green flag when pole sitter Kerry Madsen jumped the start and was penalized a row, putting Jacobson on the pole for the green flag. When the green flag fell, he never looked back. “That was definitely a big break,” he said. “I hadn’t had a chance to run behind anybody yet, so I don’t know how the dirty air would have affected us. It’s always better to be out front. I want to say I would have been able to do just as good, but you never know.”

    4 time World of Outlaws Champion, Donny Schatz would come home second. Oddly enough, Schatz helped Jacobson to get started in sprint car competition with a first car. Fittingly enough he would challenge his young protege several times but couldn’t quite make the pass for the lead. “He made 35 great laps and I’m happy for him,” Schatz said after finishing second. “I threw everything I had at it and I had a great car, it was just a second-place car tonight.”

    Coming home in third place was track record holder, and the fastest man in Skagit history and Quick Time setter for the night, Jason Sides. “I don’t think there was anybody that was going to catch him,” Sides said of Jacobson. “He was running his own race and out front. We’re racing kind of each other. Donny’s trying to catch him. I’m trying to catch Donny. It’s just one of those things where he’s got the open track and can kinda go where he needs to go.”

    Kerry Madsen would come home 4th after winning the dash for the pole of the main, but jumping the start on the initial green flag. Madsen would take 2nd on the start but lose it when Donny Schatz drove around the outside off turn 4 midway through the race. Points leader Craig Dollansky would come home 5th and maintain the points lead over Schatz by 44 points. That is the largest points lead anyone has had all year. Schatz holds a very slight 1 point advantage over Sammy Swindell.

    For the second night in a row, Jac Haudenschild gave his fans something to cheer for by coming home in the top 10. Haudenschild who is one of the old school guard of the World of Outlaws, demonstrated how he got there by starting 13th and finishing 7th. Haudenschild who spreads his season across various sprint car series will be with the tour through the West Coast Swing. His schedule after that has not been published.

    The KSE Hard Charger of the race was California’s Tim Kaeding who started the race in the 17th spot and finished in the 10th spot.

    Other notables in the race were Sammy Swindell who was running in the 3rd spot when he had a tire go down and restarted at the back of the field. Swindell would rally to finish 12th. Steve Kinser who was in a brand new car after a wild tumble on Friday night, struggled with the new piece all evening. But struggling for the King of the Outlaws means he finished 11th instead of the top 5 or 10. Kraig Kinser was fast and determined after being involved in the crash that took out he and his father the night before, but the night seemed destined from the beginning to be a struggle. Kraig who changed an engine after blowing a motor in the heat race, but holding on to win, would have that new motor let go in a big way early in the Feature.

    Dreams and passion are powerful things when they burn inside a determined individual. They can lift you up out of the darkness and they can move the mountains out of the road. For Travis Jacobson, the mountains were huge they were standards of the sport that he loves. They were legends and icons who set the bar high for all those that will follow them. The odds were not in his favor. He knew that. But the thrill of competing against and with his heroes drove him to persevere. And as the saying goes the rest is history. Because in racing, regardless of genre or surface, one constant is always there, on any given day, on given track, anyone can win. Last night was Travis Jacobson’s night. Today is a new day, but the fire of speed burn brighter and hotter with him and where they will lead him only time will tell.

    _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Qualifying – 1. 7S-Jason Sides, 11.170; 2. 15-Donny Schatz, 11.193; 3. 1-Sammy Swindell, 11.233; 4. 9-Joey Saldana, 11.295; 5. 18-Travis Jacobson, 11.340; 6. 63-Chad Kemenah, 11.399; 7. 4-Cody Darrah, 11.419; 8. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 11.422; 9. 29-Kerry Madsen, 11.437; 10. 7-Craig Dollansky, 11.453; 11. 6-Bill Rose, 11.481; 12. 18H-Jac Haudenschild, 11.492; 13. 57-Shane Stewart, 11.524; 14. 26-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 11.544; 15. 4X-Toni Lutar, 11.554; 16. O-Jonathan Allard, 11.557; 17. 11-Steve Kinser, 11.564; 18. 83-Tim Kaeding, 11.661; 19. 88-Jesse Whitney, 11.705; 20. 39C-Travis Rilat, 11.730; 21. 7X-Kevin Smith, 11.757; 22. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 11.762; 23. 17J-Jayme Barnes, 11.763; 24. 44-Daniel Anderson, 11.783; 25. 55-Trey Starks, 11.858; 26. 33-Colton Heath, 11.915; 27. 8X-Jonathan Jorgenson, 12.206; 28. 2W-Wheeler Boys, 12.345.

    Heat 1 – (10 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 7-Craig Dollansky [1]; 2. 9-Joey Saldana [3]; 3. 57-Shane Stewart [5]; 4. 4-Cody Darrah [2]; 5. 7S-Jason Sides [4]; 6. O-Jonathan Allard [6]; 7. 88-Jesse Whitney [7]; 8. 55-Trey Starks [9]; 9. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [8]; 10. 2W-Wheeler Boys [10].

    Heat 2 – (10 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 11K-Kraig Kinser [2]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [4]; 3. 18-Travis Jacobson [3]; 4. 11-Steve Kinser [6]; 5. 39C-Travis Rilat [7]; 6. 26-Sam Hafertepe Jr [5]; 7. 33-Colton Heath [9]; 8. 6-Bill Rose [1]; 9. 17J-Jayme Barnes [8].

    Heat 3 – (10 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 29-Kerry Madsen [2]; 2. 18H-Jac Haudenschild [1]; 3. 1-Sammy Swindell [4]; 4. 63-Chad Kemenah [3]; 5. 83-Tim Kaeding [6]; 6. 4X-Toni Lutar [5]; 7. 8X-Jonathan Jorgenson [9]; 8. 7X-Kevin Smith [7]; 9. 44-Daniel Anderson [8].

    Dash – (8 Laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) – 1. 29-Kerry Madsen [1]; 2. 11K-Kraig Kinser [2]; 3. 18-Travis Jacobson [4]; 4. 63-Chad Kemenah [3]; 5. 1-Sammy Swindell [6]; 6. 9-Joey Saldana [5]; 7. 7S-Jason Sides [8]; 8. 15-Donny Schatz [7]; 9. 7-Craig Dollansky [9]; 10. 18H-Jac Haudenschild [10].

    B-Main – (12 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 55-Trey Starks [7] [-]; 2. 7X-Kevin Smith [3] [-]; 3. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [4] [-]; 4. 88-Jesse Whitney [2] [-]; 5. 8X-Jonathan Jorgenson [9] [-]; 6. 33-Colton Heath [8] [-]; 7. 6-Bill Rose [1] [$200]; 8. 44-Daniel Anderson [6] [$180]; 9. 2W-Wheeler Boys [10] [$175]; 10. 17J-Jayme Barnes [5] [$160].

    A-Main – (35 Laps) – 1. 18-Travis Jacobson [3] [$12,000]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [8] [$5,700]; 3. 7S-Jason Sides [7] [$3,500]; 4. 29-Kerry Madsen [1] [$3,000]; 5. 7-Craig Dollansky [9] [$2,600]; 6. 4-Cody Darrah [11] [$2,400]; 7. 18H-Jac Haudenschild [10] [$2,300]; 8. 63-Chad Kemenah [4] [$2,200]; 9. 9-Joey Saldana [6] [$2,150]; 10. 83-Tim Kaeding [17] [$2,100]; 11. 11-Steve Kinser [16] [$1,600]; 12. 1-Sammy Swindell [5] [$1,350]; 13. 88-Jesse Whitney [18] [$1,300]; 14. 26-Sam Hafertepe Jr [13] [$1,200]; 15. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [21] [$1,100]; 16. 55-Trey Starks [22] [$1,000]; 17. 39C-Travis Rilat [19] [$900]; 18. 33-Colton Heath [24] [$850]; 19. 8X-Jonathan Jorgenson [23] [$800]; 20. 57-Shane Stewart [12] [$800]; 21. 7X-Kevin Smith [20] [$800]; 22. 4X-Toni Lutar [14] [$800]; 23. 11K-Kraig Kinser [2] [$800]; 24. O-Jonathan Allard [15] [$800]. Lap Leaders: Travis Jacobson 1-35. KSE Hard Charger Award: 83-Tim Kaeding [+7].

    World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Top 20 Championship Standings

    Pos. Driver

    Total

    Diff

    Wins

    T5

    T10

    QT
    1 Craig Dollansky

    7577

    0

    7

    31

    43

    8
    2 Donny Schatz

    7533

    -44

    7

    25

    45

    2
    3 Sammy Swindell

    7532

    -45

    11

    25

    38

    11
    4 Joey Saldana

    7462

    -115

    5

    19

    41

    8
    5 Steve Kinser

    7450

    -127

    3

    24

    39

    0
    6 Kraig Kinser

    7248

    -329

    4

    18

    35

    5
    7 Cody Darrah

    7061

    -516

    1

    18

    29

    2
    8 Kerry Madsen

    7011

    -566

    4

    11

    30

    1
    9 Chad Kemenah

    6915

    -662

    2

    9

    27

    2
    10 Lucas Wolfe

    6619

    -958

    1

    7

    18

    1
    11 Bill Rose

    6036

    -1541

    0

    0

    9

    0
    12 Jason Sides

    4747

    -2830

    0

    13

    22

    1
    13 Jac Haudenschild

    2790

    -4787

    0

    2

    6

    0
    14 Tim Kaeding

    2721

    -4856

    3

    5

    12

    0
    15 Daryn Pittman

    2537

    -5040

    0

    6

    13

    1
    16 Sam Hafertepe Jr.

    2454

    -5123

    0

    3

    7

    0
    17 Danny Lasoski

    2431

    -5146

    1

    5

    8

    0
    18 David Gravel

    2385

    -5192

    0

    7

    9

    4
    19 Paul McMahan

    2296

    -5281

    1

    2

    3

    0
    20 Stevie Smith

    2276

    -5301

    0

    3

    11

    1
  • Swindell streak ends at two in Skagit

    Swindell streak ends at two in Skagit

    [media-credit name=”World of Outlaws” align=”alignright” width=”199″][/media-credit]Once Kerry Madsen crossed the finish line with the checkered flag waving behind him, it was safe to breathe. Up to that point, not so much.

    Five drivers had a bid for the victory end in contact or mechanical failure during World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series action on Friday evening at Skagit Speedway, which wraps up the Outlaws schedule in Washington on Saturday. Opening Ceremonies are slated for 7 p.m.

    Madsen overcame a near mess of his own after colliding with Donny Schatz for the lead on a restart en route to his fourth World of Outlaws feature win of the season.

    “Any of these races is tough to win,” Madsen said. “When you get around the front five, there’s not a lot of give and take. Luckily we had track position.”

    The front row starters battled side by side for the opening lap before Schatz edged Madsen at the line to lead the first lap. He maintained the advantage as the drivers entered traffic on lap six. However, Cody Darrah spun in turn two on lap 11 to cause the first caution of the race.

    Attrition to cars in the top five began to take its toll on the restart as fourth-running Tim Kaeding pulled to the infield following an engine issue around the same time there was contact for the lead.

    As Schatz and Madsen took the green flag and raced toward turn one, a slight collision occurred near the flag stand. The contact was enough to flatten the left rear tire for Schatz, who dropped several positions before stopping on the frontstretch on lap 13 for a caution.

    “It was very close,” Madsen said. “Unfortunately we banged wheels. Donny’s a great racer and he’s renowned for being clean, so really unfortunate for him. I hate that happened for him.”

    Schatz’s crew changed the tire and he restarted 19th, but the attrition continued. Shane Stewart, who advanced to second for the restart, began to challenge Madsen for the lead when a broken rear end sent him to the infield on lap 16.

    The drivers entered traffic on lap 22 before trouble struck for a pair of top-five drivers. With three laps remaining, Trey Starks spun on the frontstretch in front of the leaders. Kraig Kinser and his father, Steve Kinser, were nearly side by side in a battle for third place when both collided with Starks.

    Kraig Kinser smashed into Starks’ car, which had spun around backwards, head on and Steve Kinser caught the left rear tire of Kraig Kinser’s car. The contact forced Steve Kinser’s car to tip over, which ended his night with an 18th-place result. Kraig Kinser was also done and credited with 17 th.

    That gave Sammy Swindell a final chance at recording his third consecutive win and he nearly pulled it off. Swindell, who started on the outside of Madsen on the double-file restart, dove to the bottom in turns one and two. However, Madsen’s momentum on the high groove exiting turn two proved just enough to give him the edge going into turn three.

    “We got close, but I wasn’t expecting him to go to the bottom in (turn) three,” Swindell said after finishing second. “He changed directions and kinda went down there and shut down. I got in a little too low and gave him a little chance. But you gotta do whatever you can. He was in the right place.”

    The runner-up performance was Swindell’s fifth top-two finish in the seven races since the Goodyear Knoxville Nationals.

    The attrition also helped Craig Dollansky secure his 10th podium finish in the last 14 points events.

    “There was a lot of banging wheels and cars were a little bit everywhere, but sometimes some of these races you just have to try to survive them,” said Dollansky, who maintained his championship points lead. “We didn’t have a real good car. We were kinda hanging in there at best, but we’ll go to work on that tomorrow.”

    Jac Haudenschild charged from 13th to fourth and Chad Kemenah placed fifth. Travis Jacobson ended sixth and Travis Rilat earned the KSE Hard Charger Award after piloting from 22nd to seventh. Joey Saldana was eighth, Jason Sides ninth and Bill Rose rounded out the top 10 after starting 19th.

    Schatz rallied to finish 11th, while Stewart and Kaeding were scored 20th and 24th, respectively, after their early challenges for the win ended with mechanical failures.

    Skagit Speedway Night 1 Statistical Report

    A-Main – (25 Laps) – 1. 29-Kerry Madsen [1] [$8,000]; 2. 1-Sammy Swindell [4] [$4,000]; 3. 7-Craig Dollansky [5] [$2,500]; 4. 18H-Jac Haudenschild [13] [$2,200]; 5. 63-Chad Kemenah [10] [$2,100]; 6. 18-Travis Jacobson [8] [$2,000]; 7. 39C-Travis Rilat [22] [$1,800]; 8. 9-Joey Saldana [11] [$1,600]; 9. 7S-Jason Sides [9] [$1,500]; 10. 6-Bill Rose [19] [$1,300]; 11. 15-Donny Schatz [2] [$1,200]; 12. 26-Sam Hafertepe Jr [24] [$1,100]; 13. 4-Cody Darrah [17] [$1,000]; 14. 59-Eric Fisher Jr [16] [$700]; 15. 4X-Toni Lutar [20] [$600]; 16. 17J-Jayme Barnes [21] [$600]; 17. 11K-Kraig Kinser [7] [$600]; 18. 11-Steve Kinser [12] [$600]; 19. 55-Trey Starks [23] [$600]; 20. 57-Shane Stewart [3] [$600]; 21. O-Jonathan Allard [15] [$600]; 22. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [14] [$600]; 23. 98M-Mitch Olson [18] [$600]; 24. 83-Tim Kaeding [6] [$600]. Lap Leaders: Donny Schatz 1-10, Kerry Madsen 11-25. KSE Hard Charger Award: 39C-Travis Rilat [+15].

    Qualifying – 1. 1-Sammy Swindell, 11.329; 2. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 11.356; 3. 15-Donny Schatz, 11.370; 4. 7-Craig Dollansky, 11.389; 5. 9-Joey Saldana, 11.409; 6. 11-Steve Kinser, 11.421; 7. 57-Shane Stewart, 11.468; 8. 29-Kerry Madsen, 11.474; 9. 63-Chad Kemenah, 11.495; 10. 7S-Jason Sides, 11.522; 11. 18-Travis Jacobson, 11.532; 12. 83-Tim Kaeding, 11.545; 13. 18H-Jac Haudenschild, 11.597; 14. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 11.635; 15. O-Jonathan Allard, 11.645; 16. 59-Eric Fisher Jr, 11.648; 17. 4-Cody Darrah, 11.650; 18. 55-Trey Starks, 11.677; 19. 98M-Mitch Olson, 11.696; 20. 6-Bill Rose, 11.696; 21. 4X-Toni Lutar, 11.727; 22. 17J-Jayme Barnes, 11.790; 23. 88-Jesse Whitney, 11.792; 24. 39C-Travis Rilat, 11.813; 25. 33-Colton Heath, 11.871; 26. 7X-Kevin Smith, 11.883; 27. 8X-Jonathan Jorgenson, 11.986; 28. 87-Liam Ryan, 12.159; 29. 44-Daniel Anderson, 12.328; 30. 2W-Wheeler Boys, 12.767; 31. 26-Sam Hafertepe Jr, No Time.

    Heat 1 – (10 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 7S-Jason Sides [1]; 2. 57-Shane Stewart [2]; 3. 7-Craig Dollansky [3]; 4. 1-Sammy Swindell [4]; 5. 18H-Jac Haudenschild [5]; 6. 98M-Mitch Olson [7]; 7. 17J-Jayme Barnes [8]; 8. 59-Eric Fisher Jr [6]; 9. 33-Colton Heath [9]; 10. 26-Sam Hafertepe Jr [11].

    Heat 2 – (10 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 18-Travis Jacobson [1]; 2. 29-Kerry Madsen [2]; 3. 9-Joey Saldana [3]; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser [4]; 5. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [5]; 6. 6-Bill Rose [7]; 7. 7X-Kevin Smith [9]; 8. 4-Cody Darrah [6]; 9. 88-Jesse Whitney [8]; 10. 44-Daniel Anderson [10].

    Heat 3 – (10 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 83-Tim Kaeding [1]; 2. 63-Chad Kemenah [2]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz [4]; 4. 11-Steve Kinser [3]; 5. O-Jonathan Allard [5]; 6. 4X-Toni Lutar [7]; 7. 55-Trey Starks [6]; 8. 39C-Travis Rilat [8]; 9. 8X-Jonathan Jorgenson [9]; 10. 2W-Wheeler Boys [10].

    Dash – (8 Laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) – 1. 29-Kerry Madsen [1]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [4]; 3. 57-Shane Stewart [2]; 4. 1-Sammy Swindell [6]; 5. 7-Craig Dollansky [3]; 6. 83-Tim Kaeding [10]; 7. 11K-Kraig Kinser [5]; 8. 18-Travis Jacobson [9]; 9. 7S-Jason Sides [8]; 10. 63-Chad Kemenah [7].

    B-Main – (12 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 59-Eric Fisher Jr [1] [-]; 2. 17J-Jayme Barnes [4] [-]; 3. 4-Cody Darrah [2] [-]; 4. 39C-Travis Rilat [6] [-]; 5. 55-Trey Starks [3] [-]; 6. 26-Sam Hafertepe Jr [12] [-]; 7. 88-Jesse Whitney [5] [$200]; 8. 33-Colton Heath [7] [$180]; 9. 7X-Kevin Smith [8] [$175]; 10. 8X-Jonathan Jorgenson [9] [$160]; 11. 2W-Wheeler Boys [11] [$150]; 12. 44-Daniel Anderson [10] [$150]; 13. 87-Liam Ryan [13] [$150].

    World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Top 20 Championship Standings

    Pos. Driver

    Total

    Diff

    Wins

    T5

    T10

    QT
    1 Craig Dollansky

    7437

    0

    7

    30

    42

    8
    2 Sammy Swindell

    7403

    -34

    11

    25

    38

    11
    3 Donny Schatz

    7383

    -54

    7

    24

    44

    2
    4 Joey Saldana

    7328

    -109

    5

    19

    40

    8
    5 Steve Kinser

    7322

    -115

    3

    24

    39

    0
    6 Kraig Kinser

    7144

    -293

    4

    18

    35

    5
    7 Cody Darrah

    6923

    -514

    1

    18

    28

    2
    8 Kerry Madsen

    6869

    -568

    4

    10

    29

    1
    9 Chad Kemenah

    6781

    -656

    2

    9

    26

    2
    10 Lucas Wolfe

    6499

    -938

    1

    7

    18

    1
    11 Bill Rose

    5961

    -1476

    0

    0

    9

    0
    12 Jason Sides

    4598

    -2839

    0

    12

    21

    0
    13 Jac Haudenschild

    2654

    -4783

    0

    2

    5

    0
    14 Tim Kaeding

    2591

    -4846

    3

    5

    11

    0
    15 Daryn Pittman

    2537

    -4900

    0

    6

    13

    1
    16 Danny Lasoski

    2431

    -5006

    1

    5

    8

    0
    17 David Gravel

    2385

    -5052

    0

    7

    9

    4
    18 Sam Hafertepe Jr.

    2332

    -5105

    0

    3

    7

    0
    19 Paul McMahan

    2296

    -5141

    1

    2

    3

    0
    20 Stevie Smith

    2276

    -5161

    0

    3

    11

    1
  • Severe Weather Dampens Federated Auto Parts Ironman 55

    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.

  • Dollansky Gets #50 at Lebanon Valley

    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.

    _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    ‎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
  • Darrah Takes Summer Nationals In Front of Hometown Crowd

    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.

    ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    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

     

  • Sammy Swindell crowned Sammy the 29th at Kings Royal

    [media-credit name=”Eldora Speedway” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]The overcast skies over Rossberg Ohio had a foreboding quality to them. The humidity was high and you could almost smell the rain. Track workers would stop for a moment and look up at the skies and then hurry on their way. Tonight was no ordinary night at the grand lady of dirt, Eldora Speedway, tonight was something special and rain simply wasn’t in the plans. Tonight the grand lady would pay homage to dirt racing’s 29th king, and who it would be only she knew.

    As the time approached the car count rose to an impressive 50 winged sprint cars. Names that struck awe into even casual fans were in attendance. Names from the past, the present and the future were all there. Legends and Kings and princes that would be Kings if only Eldora would smile on them just once. Names from the past like Wolfgang, Doty, and Baltes. Names from today like Kinser, Swindell, Haudenschild and Lasoski. Names that would be the future like Darrah, Wolfe, Kaeding and Henderson. All were gathered at the court of the grandest lady of dirt to greet her loyals and share a moment with her fans. As the time approached even the most seasoned of the drivers began to feel the anticipation. The night had arrived the new King would be crowned. Would it be a seasoned and wily veteran or would it be an new young and daring prince? Who would win Eldora’s King’s Royal?

    The qualifying for the event went just like any other World of Outlaws show. Each car taking 2 laps and the fastest time would determine where they would line up for the heat races. Quick time on the night was set by the track record holder Craig Dollansky. Dollansky turned a lap of 13.338 seconds around the half mile track. Not quite his record time which was 12.707 seconds but still the quickest of the 50 cars in the field for the night. The second fastest qualifier was a returning King who had been absent from the circuit for last couple of months in Jac Haudenschild. Haudenschild who went in the middle of the order turned a lap of 13.414 and served notice he was there to win.

    Qualifying was the end of the familiar format for the evening. There would be 6 heat races and only the top 3 would transfer to the A Main. 4 thru 6 would be relegated to the B Main and 7 thru 9 would go to the C Main. The line up would be an interesting arrangement with the all the winners lining up 1 – 6 and all the second place finishers 7 – 12 and the third place finishers 13 – 18 and then the 2 fastest qualifiers that didn’t transfer would make up 19 and 20. The final 4 spots would transfer from the B Main. The C Main would transfer 6 to the B to complete that 24 car field. There are no provisionals in the Kings Royal. You either race your way in or you go home. This race is all about the best of the best, and that was exactly what the sell out crowd saw, the best of the best.

    The first heat race would be a hotly contested 8 laps that would see the Eldora’s spring time winner take the checkers. Chad Kemenah won over Craig Dollansky and Tim Shaffer to claim his spot in the top 6 for the A. Finishing 4th was the series hottest young driver Kraig Kinser who along with last nights fast qualifier David Gravel and Paul May would be starting in the B Main. The first of the C Main starters were Ryan Myers, Chuck Waddell and Randy Hannagan who again had engine troubles and would scratch for the night.

    The second heat was taken by Justin Henderson who held off a hard charging Jac Haudenschild and Dale Blaney for one of the 6 top spots. The B Main contenders would be 4 time champion Donny Schatz, Jason Sides, and Brian Paulus. The C Main claimed Dallas Hewitt, Adam Wilt and Rick Fraley.

    The third heat would be a hard fought battle that would be won by Daryn Pittman who held off Danny Lasoski and Brad Sweet. Going to the B Main was 20 time World of Outlaws champion Steve Kinser who had qualified for all 28 previous King’s Royals. Joining him would be Stevie Smith and Bill Rose. Going to the C Dean Jacobs and Kory Krabtree.

    The fourth heat would be an action packed hotly contested joust between two rivals. The experience of Sammy Swindell would win the battle over Kerry Madsen and Brian Brown. Going to the B would last years World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year Cody Darrah, Greg Wilson and Brian Sebbetto. The C would take Craig Mintz and Joey McGaruh.

    Heat 5 would test the metal of last nights winner Joey Saldana. A single slip of the tire handed the race to Paul McMahan and brought Saldana home in second. Third would go to last years king Tyler Walker. The B Main would get Logan Schuchart, Chad Blonde, and Wes McGlumphy. While the C Main would get Sheldon Haudenschild who took a wild ride flipping several times and landing on his wheels during the heat and Todd Kane. Sheldon would scratch for the evening with too much damage to repair at the track.

    The final heat would determine the pole sitter for the King’s Royal. Tim Kaeding would win with a commanding 5.4 second lead over Ed Lynch Jr and Lucas Wolfe. The B Main contestants would be Trey Starks and Shane Stewart and Dustin Daggett. Stewart would experience engine trouble and scratch for the evening. The C Main claimed Danny Smith and Scott Hull.

    The C Main was scheduled to start 12 cars but with the cars of Randy Hannagan and Sheldon Haudenschild scratching the race would go off with just 10. Dallas Hewitt would lead every lap to claim the C with Danny Smith, Adam Wilt, Ryan Meyers, and Chuck Waddell also transfering to the B Main.

    The B Main was packed from front to back and on any ordinary night would have been considered a strong A Main. But this was not an ordinary night and these drivers would be fighting for their chance to challenge for the crown. The race was a fast pace slide filled exciting chess match that showed every single driver in the field to be a brillantly talented and promising driver. But only 4 could move on. Only the 4 best of these 23 elite drivers would earn the chance to challenge for the title. Two past kings and 2 crown princes would make the move. With Donny Schatz leading the way Greg Wilson, Kraig Kinser and Steve Kinser would tighten their belts and prepare to do battle in the A Main. The Royal had never been won by a driver coming out of the B Main but all 4 of these men were confident that they could be the first. After all two of them, Steve Kinser and Donny Schatz were past Kings already. Greg Wilson was a documented hard charger with a great deal of surgical finesse in a race car and Kraig Kinser not only had the advantage of being Steve’s son he was also the hottest driver on the circuit. With their confidence in place the four advanced to do battle in the A Main. And what a battle it was.

    The A Main was the feature race of feature races. The 40 laps around Eldora’s storied high banks was a tough race with three and sometimes four abreast racing throughout the pack. But the steel horses proved not as reliable as their strong willed drivers and 6 of the 24 would retire with engine issues. By the half way point the wily veteran Sammy Swindell, had taken the lead. But his rival Kerry Madsen was hot on his tail followed very closely by Jac Haudenschild. At one point Sammy lead by a nose and Madsen went high and Haudenschild went low with Swindell in the middle. The cars were just inches a part as they headed into the first turn. All three would come out the other side with Swindell holding on to the lead by a nose. Through out the pack the rooster tails and slide jobs for position were fierce. It was about more than money. It was about pride and these were proud and brave men. When the dust finally cleared and the checkered flag flew it was Sammy Swindell that Doug Wolfgang would crown as King. King Sammy the XXIX as he will be known from this day forward. It was the third time in his long career that Sammy has been the King but it undoubtedly will not be the last. Coming home second would be Kerry Madsen and in third Jac Haudenschild. Our B Main Knights all finished in the top 10. But the legend of no winner ever coming from the B still stands. But there is always next year.

    Tonight was a test of stamina and wills. It was about finding the courage to look your short comings in the eyes and over coming them. It was about digging down to where you live to where your drive to race and win comes from and pushing on when your neck and your shoulders hurt and breathing was becoming hard from the dust. It was about being the best and believing you were the best without doubts. No one at Eldora tonight illustrated that attitude any better than Sammy Swindell. Swindell’s quiet demeanor is often misunderstood and taken for stand offish. His dry humor often taken as a sharp tongue that lacks compassion. His passion for winning and precision taken as conceit and arrogance. In reality nothing could be further from the truth. Sammy Swindell is an innovator and a consumate champion. He is a Master at his craft. He races in the purest of old school form, he offers no quarter and he takes none. If you have the skills and you have the will he will test your metal and if you can win he will shake your hand but never think that means you have beaten him because you have only won a single battle. That said….Long Live The King!!!!!!!!!!!

    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Qualifying Results:

    1) Craig Dollansky 2) Jac Haudenschild 3) Stevie Smith 4) Cody Darrah 5) Joey Saldana 6) Tim Kaeding 7) Tim Shaffer 8) Dale Blaney 9) Brad Sweet 10) Kerry Madsen 11) Tyler Walker 12) Trey Starks 13) Chad Kemenah 14) Justin Henderson 15) Da…nny Lasoski 16) Brian Brown 17) Paul McMahan 18) Lucas Wolfe 19) Kraig Kinser 20) Donny Schatz 21) Daryn Pittman 22) Sammy Swindell 23) Todd Kane 24) Ed Lynch Jr 25) David Gravel 26) Jason Sides 27) Steve Kinser 28) Greg Wilson 29) Sheldon Haudenschild 30) Dustin Daggett 31) Paul May 32) Adam Wilt 33) Bill Rose 34) Bryan Sebbetto 35) Logan Schuchart 36) Shane Stewart 37) Randy Hannagan 38) Dallas Hewitt 39) Dean Jacobs 40) Craig Mintz 41) Chad Blonde 42) Danny Smith 43) Ryan Myers 44) Brian Paulus 45) Kory Crabtree 46) Joey Magaruh 47) Wes McGlumphy 48) Scott Hull 49) Chuck Waddell 50) Rick Fraley

    Heat One Results: ‎1) Chad Kemenah 2) Craig Dollansky 3) Tim Shaffer 4) Kraig Kinser 5) David Gravel 6) Paul May 7) Ryan Myers 8) Chuck Waddell 9) Randy Hannagan.

    Heat 2 Results: ‎1) Justin Henderson 2) Jac Haudenschild 3) Dale Blaney 4) Donny Schatz 5) Jason Sides 6) Brian Paulus 7) Dallas Hewitt 8) Adam Wilt 9) Rick Fraley.

    Heat 3 Results: ‎1) Daryn Pittman 2) Danny Lasoski 3) Brad Sweet 4) Steve Kinser 5) Stevie Smith 6) Bill Rose 7) Dean Jacobs 8) Kory Crabtree.

    Heat 4 Results: ‎1) Sammy Swindell 2) Kerry Madsen 3) Brian Brown 4) Cody Darrah 5) Greg Wilson 6) Bryan Sebbetto 7) Craig Mintz 8) Joey McGaruh.

    Heat 5 Results: ‎1) Paul McMahan 2) Joey Saldana 3) Tyler Walker 4) Logan Schuchart 5) Chad Blonde 6) Wes McGlumphy 7) Sheldon Haudenschild 8) Todd Kane.

    Heat 6 Results: ‎1) Tim Kaeding 2) Ed Lynch Jr 3) Lucas Wolfe 4) Trey Starks 5) Shane Stewart 6) Dustin Daggett 7) Danny Smith 8) Scott Hull.

    C Main Results: ‎1) Dallas Hewitt 2) Danny Smith 3) Adam Wilt 4) Ryan Myers 5) Todd Kane 6) Chuck Waddell 7) Rick Fraley 8) JOey Magurah 9) Kory Crabtree 10) Scott Hull 11) Randy Hannagan (DNS) 12) Sheldon Haudenschild (DNS)

    B main Results: ‎1) Donny Schatz 2) Greg Wilson 3) Kraig Kinser 4) Steve Kinser 5) Logan Schuchart 6) David Gravel 7) Trey Starks 8) Bryan Sebbetto 9) Craig Mintz 10) Bill Rose 11) Jason Sides 12) Adam Wilt 13) Stevie Smith 14) Paul May 15) Chad Blonde 16) Wes McGlumphy 17) Dustin Daggett 18) Brian Paulus 19) Todd Kane 20) Ryan Myers 21) Chuck Waddell 22) Dallas Hewitt 23) Dean Jacobs 24) Shane Stewart (DNS)

    A Main Results: ‎1) Sammy Swindell 2) Kerry Madsen 3) Jac Haudenschild 4) Justin Henderson 5) Kraig Kinser 6) Daryn Pittman 7) Joey Saldana 8) Donny Schatz 9) Greg Wilson 10) Steve Kinser 11) Tim Shaffer 12) Cody Darrah 13) Dale Blaney 14) Paul McMahan 15) Brad Sweet 16) Ed Lynch Jr 17) Tyler Walker 18) Lucas Wolfe 19) Danny Lasoski 20) Brian Brown 21) Craig Dollansky 22) Chad Kemenah 23) Tim Kaeding 24) Stevie Smith.


    _