Joey Saldana came out on the short end of a late race battle just a few days ago at Clay County Fair Speedway losing the lead on the final lap to Jason Meyers and he made up for that on Saturday night in the Sprint for a Cure Summer Clash at Deer Creek Speedway in Minnesota, winning a late race duel with three-time and defending series champion Donny Schaz to pick up his series leading 18th A-Feature win of the season in the series inaugural visit to the immaculate 3/8-mile before a standing room only crowd in an event which was postponed by rain last month.
Saldana used a slide job in turn four on the 33rd lap to take the lead, though he drifted high exiting that turn with Schatz charging down the front straightaway to officially keep the top spot at the line. On the next lap, Saldana inched by Schatz again coming off turn four to take the point and officially be scored the leader at the line, with Schatz battling back and regaining the lead as the pair headed into turn one. Saldana ran the extreme high side of the track in turn two on the last lap and was able to charge around Schatz exiting that corner to take the lead and wound up winning by just a mere 0.273 seconds aboard the Budweiser Maxim.
“It was a great run, what can I say,” said Saldana in Victory Lane. “That was awesome. Hopefully my wife and son were listening to that one online, because it was pretty spectacular.”
Saldana moved into the second spot on the ninth lap and quickly began to close in on Schatz. On the 11th lap he was all over the leader and nearly took the lead coming off turn four. Saldana again made a bid for the lead on the 16th go-around with the caution coming out on the next lap. Following a caution on the 17th lap, the remainder of the 35-lapper would go non-stop putting the leader in traffic for a majority of the second half of the race.
“I was racing a really good driver and he was not going to make any mistakes,” noted the winner. “I was just doing whatever I could, because I knew I had to get in front of him. Jason (Meyers) got by me there and I got him back. It’s just really good hard racing. I wish some of the other guys would watch guys like Donny Schatz race, because he is probably the best guy you can race with. There are some guys that need to learn from him and I know that I need to learn from him. It definitely makes me better racing a guy like that.”
For Saldana it was his 18th A-Feature win and 19th overall triumph on the World of Outlaws circuit this season as he continues to add what has been a career year. It was his 57th career A-Feature win with the series as he continues to close in on Stevie Smith who is eighth on the all-time list.
“They are all special,” noted Saldana of his wins this season. “To win a World of Outlaws race these days is pretty tough. I don’t think people realize how tough the schedule is and then you have to race let alone the schedule. You just have to stick to what you are doing. I’m lucky to have Kasey Kahne Racing behind me. This is my fourth year with them and you normally don’t see that in sprint car racing. Owners want results and it’s tough to do. They’ve definitely been patient with me and we are doing well now.”
Schatz ended up leading 25 laps on the night en route to the runner-up finish in the Armor All J&J which was his series leading 36th Top-Five finish of the season as he chases his fourth consecutive title. He took the lead on the sixth lap in turn three when his teammate Kraig Kinser who was leading got sideway and nearly spun.
“It’s a decent finish,” Schatz stated. “We haven’t had a Top-Five for a little while. We definitely wanted to win, but he (Joey Saldana) is really good when the track is like that right on the wall. I got a little too comfortable there. It started to lay a little rubber off both corners and I thought well if I just don’t miss the rubber I’ll be all right. I didn’t want to push the issue with lapped traffic. Sometimes you are in the catbirds seat running second and he gave it what is was worth and got the job done.”
While leading, Schatz faced two red flags and two yellows, and used strong restarts each time to maintain his advantage. He led on the initial start of the race only to have the first caution of the night fly. On the second start, Kraig Kinser got the jump on his heading into turns one and two and would lead the first five laps.
“It doesn’t make it tough to get in a rhythm,” explained the North Dakota native of the cautions. “These are sprint car races, not NASCAR races. The tires change so much over the course of 40 laps that it would be fun to see if you run 40 laps (non-stop). It is what it is. My guys did a great job tonight and hopefully we can go on and carry a little momentum and get back in the winner’s circle.”
Jason Meyers ended up third in the GLR Investment KPC as he continues to keep pace with Donny Schatz as he battles for his first series title. He was right on Saldana and Schatz on the last lap looking to make it two wins in a row. The California native was fifth fastest in time trials to earn a bonus points and now is 18 markers behind Schatz.
Danny Lasoski was fourth in the Casey’s General Store JEI. Steve Kinser recovered from a flip in the dash that had his crew thrashing to have the car ready for the feature to come home fifth in the Quaker State Maxim.
Chad Kemenah came home sixth in the Hampshire Racing Engines Maxim, with Jac Haudenschild coming all the way from 19th to finish seventh in the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award. Jason Sides was eighth in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim, with Craig Dollansky ninth in the DirecTV Maxim. Davey Heskin rounded out the Top-10 in the Maxwell Racing Maxim.
The World of Outlaws return to action on Friday, September 25 at the famed Eldora Speedway in Ohio followed by a stop at Lernerville Speedway in Pennsylvania.
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