Joey Saldana was one of only a handful of World of Outlaws drivers that had never competed at River Cities Speedway before Friday. That didn’t seem to slow him down though, as he swept the first night of the Duel in the Dakotas, setting fast time, winning the first heat, winning the Crane Cams Dash and leading all 40-lap of the A-Feature to earn his eighth victory of the season. He is the first World of Outlaws driver this season to sweep a night of racing.
Saldana held off a furious charge by Jac Haudsenchild over the last two laps to earn the $10,000 payday by just 0.056 seconds, to mark the third closest finish of the season. Donny Schatz who battled Saldana for most of the race finished third, with Danny Lasoski fourth and Kerry Madsen fifth.
Saldana is now tied with Schatz for the series lead with eight A-Feature wins. He also leads the series in laps led and number of times that he has been fastest in time trials. “It was a good run for us, ” said Saldana, driver of the Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI. “I had never been here before and to set fast time and win the heat, dash and feature is huge for me and this team. ”
The race began with Saldana leading from the pole, with Steve Kinser quickly jumping into second. On the seventh lap, Kinser took the lead exiting the second turn in traffic, but Saldana powered back around the 20-time World of Outlaw champion coming off the fourth turn to officially be scored the leader at the line.
The pair along with Donny Schatz in third would continue to encounter dense traffic on the high-banked high speed track. Saldana, Kinser and Schatz were bottled up in traffic for a couple of laps, before Schatz used the low side of the track to take the second spot from Kinser on the 26th lap. The red flag flew on the next go-around for an accident involving Kinser, who was running third at the time.
On the ensuing restart, Schatz would pressure Saldana for a number of laps, nearly taking the lead on several occasions. Schatz did take the lead on the 33 lap, but that was negated due to the caution flag flying. By way of World of Outlaws rules, a full lap must be scored for that lap to count. Thus, Schatz lined up in the second spot for the restart.
After enduring a couple more cautions, the three leaders were set for a two-lap shootout as the green flag flew. Haudenschild looked low entering the first turn, but could not quite make the pass. He tried the exact same move the next lap and took the leading as the pair exited the second turn. Joey Saldana used the momentum from the high side of the race track to power down the front straightaway and edged Haudenschild by mere inches at the line, in one of the most exciting races of the season, before a packed grandstand.
“Going into turn three on the last lap it was a guessing game and we came out on top, though I think we guessed wrong, ” said Saldana. “I definitely needed the race to be over in 40 laps. I didn’t know where to go and those guys were going every which way. I got to the lapped cars and I could run through the middle, but I didn’t want to try it out in the open. ”
Haudenschild began the night by getting upside down in the third heat. His crew was able to make repairs to the car in time for the B-Main which he won to earn a spot in the AFeature. He lined up 13th and quickly made his way to the front, as he earned his second runner-up finish of the season. Ironically the other one was also to Saldana during the Eagle Nationals on June 9.
“The guys had the car going good after the heat race, ” said Haudenschild, driver of the Wright One Construction Maxim. “They put the car together pretty well and we passed some cars. It was a good night for us. We were good just about anywhere on the race track. We got close to Joey (Saldana) at the end, but couldn’t quite get him. ”
After lining up sixth for the 40-lap event, Schatz quickly found himself in contention for the win. He passed local standout Mark Dobmeier who won a World of Outlaws event last season, before setting his sights on Kerry Madsen. After Schatz got around the Australia, he worked on Terry McCarl.
“It’s not where we want to be, ” said Schatz, driver of the ParkerStore J&J. “We got to the lead and the yellow came out. I guess that’s just the way it goes. If you can’t win you want to be as close as you can be to the front. ”
While many of the other drivers had competed at River Cities Speedway in the past, Saldana did not feel as if he was at a disadvantage because of the confidence he has in his team and how they do things. He was able to compare the bullring to a couple of similar tracks that he had visited during his career.
“We used some notes from other places in the past, ” stated Saldana. “We stayed with what we know, and we may have not been the best car at the end, but it was good enough to win the race. ”
Saldana is pleased with how things are going after a restructuring of the Kasey Kahne Racing team a few weeks back. With long time crew member Justin Adams, serving as Team Director, along with three new crew members, the team views every opportunity they have to take to the track as a learning experience.
| 
|