Beaver Dam, WI - Jason Solwold had been waiting a long time to win a World of Outlaws A-Feature event.
After being close on several occasions this season, as well as winning two preliminary features last year, he left no doubt
on Friday night at Charter
Raceway Park, leading all 40 laps to capture the
$10,000 win in the finale of the “SuperClean Summer of Money” on ESPN2.
Solwold will never forget
the bizarre night that required five starts to record the first full lap of racing, or how he was just about the only starter
in the 26-car field that was not involved in some sort of incident or have a problem with his race car during the event.
“It feels great to win,”
said Solwold, driver of the City Wide Insulation Maxim. “I’m just happy to be here. We finally got a win and its good momentum
to build on heading into the (Knoxville) Nationals.”
The event began with
an aborted start that led to a complete restart. On the ensuing restart eight cars got together on the back straightaway to
bring out the red flag. On the second complete restart, eight cars again got together, this time on the front straightaway
bringing out the second red flag. On the fourth start of the race, the yellow flag flew for a car stopped in the second turn.
The fifth start led to the first full lap of racing being completed. Paul McMahan was on the pole for each start, with Jason
Solwold on the outside of the front row.
As the pair headed to
the first and second turns, Solwold charged to the high side of the track as he had done on every one of the previous starts.
He took the lead exiting the second turn from McMahan and quickly pulled away. Early in the race, Solwold used the high side
of the track and later in the event he used the low side of the 1/3-mile as he weaved his way through traffic.
“The car was working
everywhere,” said Solwold in Victory Lane. “We changed a lot of things
on it, which we normally don’t do. We usually do well on race tracks like this and that was the case tonight.”
After being close on
several occasions this season to picking up his first career World of Outlaws A-Feature win, Solwold was relieved to be victorious.
After celebrating with his crew in Victory Lane in front of the ESPN2
cameras, he quickly began to focus on Saturday night and what it would take to repeat at Charter
Raceway Park.
“I know I should be a
little more excited, but we have been a little disappointed this year,” explained the native of Mt. Vernon,
Washington. “We’ve had some close finishes and have had very high expectations. It’s starting
to come around for us. Maybe, I am just a late bloomer this year.”
After enduring three
red flags and five yellow flags, Solwold was glad to see the checkered flag. He used strong restarts each and every time to
keep the field at bay as he powered his way down the front straightaway. On a hot and humid night, it took every once of energy
that Solwold had to win the race.
“It seemed like it would
never end, especially being out front leading like that,” he noted. “When you are leading, you want it to end as soon as possible,
but it seemed like a marathon.”
Joey Saldana was involved
in the first incident of the night, and as he was circling for the second start, his nose wing collapsed, though the following
red flag gave his crew a chance to fix that. He would finish second on Friday, after beginning the night by setting quick
time in time trials for the ninth time this season.
“For what my team went
through, that was a great finish for us,” said Saldana, driver of the Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI. “In that first crash,
someone came out of the sky and landed on us. We persevered through that and got another red and worked through that.”
Danny Lasoski has to
come to the work area during the first incident of the night, where his crew quickly made repairs to his car and got him back
out on the track. He patiently worked his way back through the field to finish third.
“We passed some good
cars and some guys had some misfortune as well,” said Lasoski, driver of the Roth Motorsports JEI. “I had a pretty good car
tonight. No car was going to be perfect out here tonight, you had to manhandle it and hang on.”
After being involved
in the second red flag of the race, Donny Schatz worked his way solidly back into the Top-10. He was running ninth when he
suffered a flat tire just before the green flag flew on the 20th lap. His crew quickly changed the tire and got him back out
to restart 14th. Within 10 laps, he had worked his way into sixth and would gain two more spots late in the race to finish
fourth.
“There guys did an awesome
job like they do every night,” said Schatz, driver of the ParkStore J&J, pointing to his crew. “On nights like tonight,
this is when you can really take your hat off to them. They had everything ready to go and busted their tails to get us out
there in time. The car was just like it was when we started the race. I have to thank them. They have gotten put through the
ringer lately, driving a lot of miles and having overnight drives and not sleeping much. They never give in.”
Terry McCarl who won
last weekend in the previous “SuperClean Summer of Money” event at K-C Raceway in Ohio
finished fifth, after initially starting 14th. Chad Kemenah earned the KSE Hard Charger Award after finishing sixth
in the Kantor Oil Company XXX to earn his second straight Top-10 finish.
Steve Kinser rallied
to finish seventh after having to go to the work area on the fourth complete restart due to a broken fuel pump on the Q Oil
Maxim. He restarted at the tail of the field and quickly began passing cars en route to his 35th Top-10 finish of the season.
Justin Henderson finished
eighth in the Jolt Energy Gum Rocket after starting 22nd. He was involved in the second red flag of the event, and his crew
worked hard to make the necessary repairs.
Paul McMahan rallied
to finish ninth in the Bass Pro Shops Eagle after having a tire go down while running second on the 20th lap. Jason Sides
was 10th in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim. Jac Haudenschild was running third on the 22-lap when he had a problem
with his car that ended his night.
Saldana earned his 28th
Top-10 of the season on Friday night despite the early problems to the car. He drove the entire race with a bent frame and
front end that would not allow him to maneuver like he normally could.
“To go from a car that
was not capable of running (after the first accident) to having a car that was capable of passing for the lead, was a testament
to our team,” said Saldana. “They worked really hard and never gave up. To come home second after all we went through was
good for us.”
Saldana did not mind
all of the cautions, and was able to find a major benefit from them, as his ill handling car made for a long night, especially
when it was as hot and humid out..
“The yellows helped me
because I could regroup and get my thoughts back because my car was not handling well,” explained the 1996 Kevin Gobrecht
Rookie of the Year. “I could not keep up with him in open track, but in traffic I was catching him pretty well.”
Danny Lasoski, the 2001
World of Outlaws champion had never seen anything like Friday night in all of his years on the road with the World of Outlaws.
He rallied to finish third after being involved in one of the early incidents.
“It looked like “Friday
the 13th”, with everyone running over everybody,” said Lasoski. “We fought through it all and my guys did a great job getting
me back out. We’ll come back tomorrow and see if we can win this thing.”
After finishing fourth,
Schatz wrapped up the title in the inaugural “SuperClean Summer of Money” on ESPN2. In the eight race mini-series, he earned
two A-Feature wins as he continues to chase his second consecutive World of Outlaws title.
“It is a good accomplishment,”
said the reigning World of Outlaws champion. “We’re glad to be on ESPN2 and have all the great coverage that we have. To be
able to put on a good show for the fans is what it’s all about. Hopefully tomorrow night we can put on a good show.”
The World of Outlaws
return to action on Saturday, August 4 with another complete night of racing from Charter Raceway Park, which will be taped
for broadcast on SPEED later this season.
The finale of the “SuperClean
Summer of Money” will be broadcast on Sunday, August 5 at 11 a.m. Eastern, 10 a.
m. Central.
A-main (40 laps) - Starting Position [#]
1) R19-Jason Solwold[6]
[$10,000]
2) 9-Joey Saldana[7]
[$5,000]
3) 83-Danny Lasoski[5]
[$3,000]
4) 15-Donny Schatz[17]
[$2,700]
5) 24-Terry McCarl[14]
[$2,500]
6) 8K-Chad Kemenah[26]
[$1,500]
7) 11-Steve Kinser[12]
[$2,000]
8) D1-Justin Henderson[22]
[$1,800]
9) 20-Paul McMahan[1]
[$1,600]
10) 7S-Jason Sides[10]
[$1,450]
11) O1-Todd Hepfner[16]
[$1,300]
12) 15H-Sam Hafertepe
Jr.[9] [$1,200]
13) 6-Tim Shaffer[11]
[$1,100]
14) 14-Jason Meyers[3]
[$1,000]
15) 1X-Randy Hannagan[25]
[$250]
16) 10C-Jeremy Campbell[18]
[$900]
17) 35-Jac Haudenschild[19]
[$850]
18) 5C-Chad Hillier[20]
[$750]
19) 80K-Mike Kertscher[23]
[$725]
20) 36-Jason Martin[24]
[$700]
21) 3-Scott Young[15]
[$700]
22) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.[21]
[$700]
23) 7-Craig Dollansky[2]
[$700]
24) 2-Brooke Tatnell[13]
[$700]
25) 11H-Kerry Madsen[4]
[$700]
26) 21-Daryn Pittman[8]
[$700] SCR
