Craig Dollansky has been close to winning the Gold Cup Race of Champions in three of the last four seasons, earning third-place finishes, as well as winning preliminary features in two of those seasons. He put himself in a very good position to claim his first career Gold Cup this season by dominating Thursday’s first night of qualifying for the 55th annual edition of the famed event for the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series.
Dollansky began the night by setting fast time aboard the Snap-on Tools Maxim, with a very strong 52 car field in attendance. He followed that up with a runner-up finish in the first heat to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash. The native of Elk River, Minnesota then proceeded to win the Dash to earn the pole position for the 30-lap preliminary feature, in which he led all 30 laps of to earn his third career race at Silver Dollar Speedway, earning the most events points as well.
“It was a great team effort tonight,” said Dollansky. “I am very happy for this entire Larry Woodward team. It definitely puts us in a good spot for Saturday night and I am looking forward to that. We should have a good starting spot with the points that we earned tonight.”
After a caution flag for a seven car accident prior to a complete lap going in the books, the field realigned two by two, with Dollansky again using the high side of the track to power his way into turns one and two and open a quick lead on the first lap. By just the fifth lap he was slicing his way through lapped traffic and extending his lead each lap as he rode the cushion around the rim of the high-banked ¼-mile.
“I felt like that was the faster line, as long as you could keep it on the race track,” shared the veteran driver of running the high side of the track. “It was a very treacherous top cushion to run. The cushion wanted to bite you. I was running it hard and a couple of times it got us off the race track a little bit, so I had to pull it back a little bit unless someone was challenging us. It was definitely a hard 30 laps.”
By the 10th lap, Dollansky had nearly a quarter of a track lead, with Danny Lasoski slipping past Daryn Pittman for second and 2004 Gold Cup winner Donny Schatz moving into third.
Toward the halfway point of the 30-lap contest, Lasoski gained some ground on Dollansky, until he was held up by a lapped car on the 20th lap, allowing Schatz to charge past him on the high side of the track exiting turn two. That same lapped machine nearly got into Schatz after he made the pass for the runner-up spot.
Dollansky continued to lead as the laps wound down, with Schatz battling his way through some heavy lapped traffic. On the 24th circuit, a lapped machine spun right in front of Schatz, leaving the two-time defending Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion with nowhere to go while running second. Lasoski who was running third and Pittman who was running fourth were also collected in the accident, though the latter two were able to restart the race, while Schatz’s night came to an end.
Dollansky led on the final restart with Jonathan Allard and Chad Kemenah behind him. A strong start propelled Dollansky to a comfortable lead with five laps to go. He entered some light traffic with two laps left, and would up winning by nearly two seconds over Allard.
“I was feeling pretty comfortable in traffic and I was getting through there pretty good,” Dollansky explained. “When we had to go to the bottom, we were able to work that pretty decent. This Maxim car worked great tonight and this Charlie Garrett motor got us quick time.”
Dollansky earned the most event points of the drivers that competed on Thursday night.
Each time a driver takes to the track at the Gold Cup Race of Champions is vital, because they are earning event points that will be tallied to determine the starting line-ups for the feature events on Saturday night, culminating with the $50,000 Gold Cup Race of Champions. Dollansky returns to action on Saturday night in the 40-lap finale.
“We’ll watch the track tomorrow night and see what it does,” he noted. “My crew chief Mike (Woodring) does a great job and we’ll be talking and conferring. Hopefully we make the right choices for Saturday. The Padjen’s do a great preparing this race track. It’s always racy. It should be a good show for the fans on Saturday night.”
Allard, who has won twice this season at Silver Dollar Speedway, finished a very strong second on Thursday night, and earned the second most event points aboard the K&N Filters Maxim. He started fifth and got around Willie Croft on the opening lap to move into fourth. He then fell back to fifth on the 11th lap, before gaining three spots on the lap 24 accident.
“We are really happy with it,” said Allard who was victorious on the first preliminary night of the Gold Cup last season. “We have a home crowd advantage and we run this place every week and it’s good to give my crew something to cheer about. We have been running pretty strong on the West Coast swing. I’m happy to be here. I love to run up front with the Outlaws. They are the best drivers in the business and as long as we can compete with them, that makes me happy.”
Chad Kemenah finished third in the Kantor Oil Company Maxim to pick up his best career finish at Silver Dollar Speedway. He started 11th and methodically worked his way to the front. He gained a couple of spots on the opening lap and was up to seventh just three laps into the 30-lap race.
“We are tickled to death,” said Kemenah. “Everyone on this race team is working hard. My nephew A.J. (Havens) was stuck with me and we brought out Adam (Brough) and they work their tails off for me. I have my father-in-law back home working on motors for me and anything we need, he gets it done. I think I have the best car owner, Jon Kantor. I can’t thank him enough.”
Steve Kinser the 20-time World of Outlaws champion, who has a record 12 Gold Cup wins, rebounded from a wild flip on the first lap of the second heat race, to finish fourth in the preliminary feature in the Q Oil Maxim. After racing his way into the main event by winning the B-Main, he lined up 18th and patiently weaved his way to the front.
Sammy Swindell, the three-time World of Outlaws champion finished fifth in the Tom Rolfe Trucking Maxim. Roger Crockett was sixth in the Omlid & Swinney Fire Protection KPC, with Kyle Hirst in the GP Development Maxim in seventh.
Jason Sides lined up 24th in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim and worked his way to an eighth-place finish to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award. Sean Becker was ninth, piloting the Cherry Street Mini Storage J&J. Daryn Pittman charged to a 10th-place finish in the Titan Garages Maxim after getting caught up in the lap 24 incident and having to restart at the back of the field.
Allard was running fifth when the three cars ahead of him had trouble on the 24th lap. He was able to find an opening and get around the accident scene without getting caught up in it.
“It was pretty close,” admitted Allard. “I didn’t really even have time to react to it. I just did what I thought was right and fortunately for me it was right. Without those cars spinning we wouldn’t have finished as far up front, but I’ll take luck any day. Hopefully we’ll have some luck on Saturday and start up front and go from there.”
On the final restart, Allard looked low once on Dollansky and settled into the second spot as the laps wound down, with Dollansky quickly pulling away.
“I tried the bottom, and Craig (Dollansky) was really fast up top,” said the native of Chico, California. “The biggest thing is that it was a point night for Saturday. I didn’t want to get down there and try something. I felt it wasn’t as good down there and I just got in line and came home second. Maybe on Saturday we’ll have one better for them.”
Kemenah had worked his way up to sixth and restarted third after the accident with six laps remaining. He continues to close in on his first win of the season.
“I had enough time to miss it,” noted Kemenah. “On a race track like this if anything goes astray it can gather up quite a few cars really quick. We were fortunate to keep our nose clean starting 11th. We had a couple of close ones on the initial start. We kept our nose clean passing race cars and ended up with a Top-Three.”
The four-time All Star Circuit of Champions title winner closed up on Allard on the finale restart, but on the next lap, the Top-Three were all strung out. He held off a couple of charges by Kinser who was challenging him for third.
“I thought I had something for Jonathan (Allard), but I knew I had nothing for Craig (Dollansky),” said the native of Findlay, Ohio. “He was out there leaning on the cushion and he is really good at that and it is tough to beat him when he is out front. We’re not complaining. To start 11th and run third, we are tickled.”
The second preliminary night of the 55th Annual Gold Cup Race of Champions takes to the track on Friday, September 5 for the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series.
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