Kinser Cruises To Win In Inaugural WoO Event At Dacotah Speedway
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Aug 17, 2008
stevekinser.com
Kinser has a remarkable record of winning at tracks he visits for the first time over the course of his career with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, dating back to the series inaugural season in 1978. He added another track to this list on Saturday night, as he picked a win in the series debut at Dacotah Speedway in Mandan, North Dakota.
The 20-time Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion started on the pole and led all 30 laps of the A-Feature to pick up his sixth win of the season and the 549th of his career. The $10,000 victory was the third race of the Gerdau Ameristeel Northern Tour, which encompasses the four races in the state of North Dakota this season for the World of Outlaws. For the win, Kinser was presented a custom clock that stood over seven feet tall, which was designed and produced by Ivan Sailor of Racers Performance.
“Everything went smooth pretty smooth tonight,” said Kinser in Victory Lane. “We have been running pretty good the last two months and we are really consistent and in the Top-Five most nights.”
The largest crowd in the history of Dacotah Speedway was on hand for the World of Outlaws debut at the high-banked 3/8-mile. Fans began to arrive early in the afternoon, and the grandstands were full well before the cars took to the track for hot laps.
“It’s a great facility and a good race track,” said Kinser. “Next time they’ll know how to work on it a little more and till it up and give an even better race track.”
On the opening green, Kinser charged to a quick six-car length lead aboard the Q Oil Maxim and extended that each of the first four laps before he got into lapped traffic. He then sliced his way through the slower machines, with Craig Dollansky keeping pace and gaining some ground in the process.
Kinser had a little trouble getting around a couple of lapped cars on the 10th lap, giving Dollansky an opportunity to close right up on him. Once he cleared traffic, Kinser was able to pull away again, when the only caution of the night flew on the 12th lap for Joey Saldana who was running third and had a right rear tire explode. Also, Tony Bruce Jr. lost a tire at the same time.
While tires were a concern earlier in the night, Kinser was not too worried about the Hoosier’s he had bolted on for the 30-lap A-Feature.
“The track laid a little bit of rubber in the heats, but they got it back to where you could race on it and had a pretty good race track,” he said. “Once we got to about halfway, we knew everyone would make it (on tires). We did work it pretty hard the last five or six laps.”
Kinser used a strong restart aboard the Q Oil Maxim to again quickly jump to a lead on Dollansky on the 12th lap. At this point, the Top-Four cars were strung out as they were in open track. Just a couple of laps after the restart, Kinser was in lapped traffic again and used both the high side and the low side of the track to clear the slower machines, while Dollansky was held up by a couple of lapped cars.
“It gave me an open race track,” the winner noted. “The most important thing was to not let anyone get a run on me going into (turn) one. After that, I could keep a pretty good pace. The top was probably the fastest there. When I got to lapped traffic I got through all of them pretty well, until late when the track had taken rubber and then I fell in line and followed them”
Kinser continued to lead as the laps wound down and with five laps to go, he again found himself in heavy lapped traffic, which allowed Dollansky to make up some ground on him. Even on the last lap, Kinser was negotiating traffic as he crossed the finish line about a second ahead of Dollansky.
“I would have liked to have been one spot better, but on the start my motor stumbled a little and we fell in line behind Steve (Kinser),” said Dollansky. “I thought we had a shot at him a few times in lapped traffic, but he was operating pretty good. The track rubbered up there as the race went on and it was pretty tough to pass from there on out.”
Jason Meyers lined up sixth for the A-Feature and gained three spots on the opening lap, charging around Jac Haudenschild, Joey Saldana and Donny Schatz. He lost the spot to Saldana on the next lap, but would regain it on the 12th lap when Saldana’s tire exploded while he was running third. Meyers would remain in third the rest of the way, to finish in that spot for the 11th time this season in the GLR Investments KPC.
“We are very happy with it,” said Meyers. “To come from ninth in the dash to sixth and then sixth to third, we kept climbing all night long. We kind of qualified in that hole of six-place and that puts you in a hole, but it was good battle back from that. It was a great effort by the team and a good podium finish and I’m looking forward to tomorrow night.”
Donny Schatz, the two-time defending World of Outlaws champion and North Dakota native finished fourth in the Armor All J&J and due to being the second fastest qualifier in time trials, actually gained two points on Meyers in the championship standings. Schatz remains the only driver that has finished in the Top-10 in each of the 41 events this season.
Jac Haudenschild was fifth in the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim, with Daryn Pittman in sixth aboard the Titan Garages Maxim. Chad Kemenah was seventh in the Kantor Oil Company Maxim. Shane Stewart was eighth in the Roth Motorsports KPC, with Kerry Madsen in the TK Concrete Maxim coming home ninth. Terry McCarl in the Big Game Treestands Maxim rounded out the Top-10.
After closing in on Kinser a couple of times in traffic early in the race, Dollansky pointed to the lap 12 restart as probably the best chance he had to make a bid for the lead. He did gain a significant amount of ground late in the race, but ran out of laps as he tried to track down Kinser.
“That was the one shot at the end I had, and again we didn’t get going,” explained the Minnesota native. “We just stumbled a little bit there with the motor and he was able to get a run on me and get away from me. He did a good job. We came home second and we were pretty fast all night long. It just came down to the start and we didn’t get out of the hole good enough. It was a good Top-Two finish for this Larry Woodward team and everyone that supports us.”
Dollansky began the night by setting a new track record at Dacotah Speedway, throttling his way around the high-banks in 14.723 seconds, edging Donny Schatz for the quick time honor. The former World of Outlaws Gumout Series champion was thoroughly impressed by Dacotah Speedway and all of the hard work that went into welcoming the World of Outlaws for the first time.
“It’s a beautiful race track and a great facility,” he said. “I’m glad they went out and reworked the race track. Larry Hillerud and the folks at SLS (Promotions) put in the time and effort to get a good track to put on a good show for the fans.”
Meyers also was thrilled with the event and the capacity crowd that was in attendance. It was the fourth of six inaugural events this season for the World of Outlaws, and began with a block party in downtown Mandan, North Dakota on Friday night.
“This is another beautiful race track that SLS (Promotions) had brought to the series,” noted Meyers. “There was a great crowd here tonight and I am looking forward to coming back next year.”
The third-place performance for Meyers was his series-leading 33rd Top-Five finish of the season. He has won six A-Feature events and had been close to picking up number seven, as he has racked up 14 consecutive Top-Five finishes in World of Outlaws events, as he chases his first World of Outlaws title.
“They say if you put yourself in position to win, you’ll win. They’re just not falling our way yet,” Meyers said with a smile. “We are right there every night and they will come.”
The Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series returns to action on Sunday, August 17 at Nodak Speedway in Minot, North Dakota with the finale of the Gerdau Ameristeel Northern Tour.
