Elbridge, NY
- Steve Kinser has had countless hard fought victories over his career, and he added another one to that list on Monday night
at Rolling Wheels Raceway
Park, as he won the World of Outlaws event on Memorial Day.
The 20-time series champion
was engaged in a mid-race battle with Craig Dollansky, Daryn Pittman, Donny Schatz, and Joey Saldana. The five drivers were
so close that a blanket could have been thrown over them all. They jockeyed for position lap after lap and ultimately the
win, over a span of six laps while they weaved their way through lapped traffic. Kinser came out on top to of this battle
to earn his fifth A-Feature win of the season and ninth career triumph at Rolling Wheels.
Joey Saldana made a late
charge to finish second, with current series point leader Donny Schatz third, Craig Dollansky fourth, and Daryn Pittman fifth.
“That was a fun race,”
said Kinser, driver of the Q Oil Maxim. “We had four or five of us going at it in lapped traffic. When you have a race like
that and you come out on top, it is always a lot of fun.”
Craig Dollansky led from
the drop of the green flag until the 16th lap when Kinser used the low side of the track on the back straightaway to take
the lead, with Pittman, Schatz, and Saldana all in toe. While Kinser was leading, the second position traded hands a number
of times but at the line it was Dollansky holding that spot for the 16th and 17th laps, before Saldana took the position.
Kinser quickly began
to pull away after taking the lead, before a caution with four laps to go, bunched the field up. Saldana made a couple of
runs at Kinser on the restart, drawing even coming off the second turn each lap, but Kinser charged down the back straightaway
to retain the lead and pulled away by over a second as he crossed under the checkered flags.
“I got better as I got
more heat in the tires,” explained the winner. “I didn’t really need that last yellow. I had the car working good and there
weren’t really any lapped cars in front of me. A lot of times the yellows will seal a tire over and you can’t take off well.
I was doing a lot of (tire) spinning down the backstretch and I was worried that Joey (Saldana) or somebody may get a run
on me in (turns) three and four. Once I got a full lap and a half in, I felt pretty comfortable.”
After some bad luck befell
him on Friday in the Eckerd Outlaw Showdown at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Saldana was thrilled with his runner-up
finish. While he wanted to be in victory lane, he was glad to earn his 16th Top-Five finish of the season as he continues
to hold down the second position in the championship standings.
“We had a good run,”
said Saldana, driver of the Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI. “Ricky (Warner) and Justin (Adams) have been
working very hard. We wrecked a car at Charlotte the other day and they had to
get a car built and then drive all the way up here. It was a good effort by the team. To stand on the front straightaway with
the quality of cars that are here and the two guys we were racing was quite an accomplishment.”
Donny Schatz who battled
with Kinser early in the race for the third spot, moved into the second position on the 11th lap, before falling back to fourth
and then fifth before battling his way back into the Top-three. He staged an entertaining battle with Dollansky and Pittman
late. His third-place finish was his series-best 18th Top-Five finish of the season as he chases his second straight World
of Outlaws title.
“We had a race to stay
in third at the end,” said Schatz, driver of the ParkerStore J&J. “We weren’t as good as we wanted to be. We tried some
stuff, and that wasn’t the worst thing in the world. There were two cars better than us. We had to race hard at the end as
the (No.) 7 and (No.) 21 were trying to keep us back there. “
In just his second race
with Mike Woodring on board as crew chief, Dollansky led the first half of the feature and finished in the fourth position.
He used a very strong start to power his way down the front straigthaway from the outside front row starting spot. For the
native of Elk River, Minnesota, it was his ninth Top-Five
finish of 2007.
“We made a few changes
with this race car and this race team,” said Dollansky, driver of the Karavan Trailers Maxim. “We have Mike (Woodring) here
and he did a really good job tonight. We had a good car. We went out late to qualify and turned in a good lap. We also had
a good car in the heat race and dash.”
With the World of Outlaws
first Eastern Swing of the season in the books, Kinser is pleased with how his team is performing. He wrapped up the seven
race stretch with five Top-Five finishes, including wins at Lernerville Speedway and New Egypt Speedway, as he moved into
the fifth spot in points in the process.
“I’m happy with how we
have been running,” he said. “We have been good trough most of the swing, other than when we had a little hiccup with a motor
problem at Grandview. We’ve been running in the Top-Five everywhere we have gone
and that is what we need to do.”
Saldana lined up fifth
for the A-Feature and fell back a spot on the opening lap before taking it back from Jason Solwold. He moved into third on
the 17th lap when he got around Pittman. He followed that up the next lap by getting around Dollansky.
“At the beginning of
the race, I didn’t really have a good feel for my car,” explained Saldana. “When I finally figured it out we starting rolling
around there and picking off cars. I wish Steve (Kinser) hadn’t got to the front when he did, because there were four or five
of us right there, and that was the only shot to win the race. We battled hard and passed some really good cars.”
Schatz tried everything
he could on the final restart, as he lined up third behind Kinser and Saldana, as he looked to add to his series-best seven
A-Feature wins on the season. During the Eastern swing, the native of Fargo, North
Dakota won three races, and finished in the Top-Five in five of the seven events.
“Steve is the best on
the restarts and he is not going to make any mistakes,” said Schatz. “I tried to glaze about the top, but I sealed a tire
up.”
After enduring some back
luck during the Eastern swing, Dollansky was pleased to finish up the grueling stretch of races on a very positive note. He
has won at two of the next three tracks on the World of Outlaws schedule, as the series heads back to the Midwest.
“All in all, with some
of the luck we have had lately, I am encouraged at what I saw,” said Dollansky. “I’m looking forward to working with Mike
and getting going. It is very encouraging. We’ll just keep working at it.”
Pittman started on the
pole in the A-Feature and ran in the Top-Five all night in the Titan Garages Maxim, as he finished fifth. It was the eighth
Top-Five finish of the season for the native of Owasso, Oklahoma.
Jason Solwold finished
sixth in the City Wide Insulation Maxim. Jason Meyers was seventh in the Primerica Financial Maxim, earning the KSE Race Products
Hard Charger Award after starting 13th. Danny Lasoski was eighth in the Roth Motorsports Eagle. Paul McMahan was ninth in
the Bass Pro Shops Eagle. Jason Sides rounded out the Top-10 in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim.
The World of Outlaws
return to action on Friday, June 1 at Sharon Speedway in Ohio, followed by the
second event of the season at Eldora Speedway on Saturday, June 2.
A-main (25 laps) - Starting Position [#]
1) 11-Steve Kinser[4]
[$10,000]
2) 9-Joey Saldana[5]
[$5,500]
3) 15-Donny Schatz[3]
[$3,200]
4) 7-Craig Dollansky[2]
[$2,800]
5) 21-Daryn Pittman[1]
[$2,500]
6) R19-Jason Solwold[6]
[$2,300]
7) 14-Jason Meyers[13]
[$2,200]
8) 83-Danny Lasoski[20]
[$2,100]
9) 20-Paul McMahan[9]
[$2,050]
10) 7S-Jason Sides[8]
[$2,000]
11) 2-Brooke Tatnell[17]
[$1,500]
12) 35-Jac Haudenschild[11]
[$1,200]
13) 24-Terry McCarl[7]
[$1,100]
14) 11H-Kerry Madsen[14]
[$1,050]
15) 6-Tim Shaffer[16]
[$1,000]
16) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[12]
[$900]
17) 3X-Chad Kemenah[10]
[$800] SCR
