Steve Kinser Wins Second Straight World of Outlaws A Feature Event at Sharon Speedway

Steve Kinser’s birthday is not until Saturday, but he gave himself an early present, on Friday night at Sharon Speedway, winning his second straight World of Outlaws AFeature event and sixth overall on the season before a capacity crowd at the 3/8-mile track.

The 20-time series champion dove under Joey Saldana coming off the second turn on lap 18 and powered his way to the lead down the back straightway. He would lead the rest of the way, as he recorded his fourth A-Feature win with the series at the track, and pocketed the $10,000 top prize.

“I’ve always ran well here, and I enjoy racing here, ” said Kinser, driver of the Q Oil Maxim. “We had a good night. ”

Kinser lined up third for the 35-lap event, with Ed Lynch Jr taking the initial lead, and pacing the first three circuits. Kinser fell back to the fourth spot in the early going. He got around Lynch on the 12th lap to claim the third position and set his sights on Jason Solwold, charging past him on the 17th lap, before making the pass for the lead and ultimately the win on the next go-around. The native of Bloomington, Indiana had to withstand two late restarts that gave Saldana a couple of chances to battle for the top spot. “We had a good car, ” said the winner. “I had a good line, and they would have had to have done it on the first lap (on the restart) to get a good run on me. After a lap, I felt pretty comfortable out there. ”

Similar to his win on Monday night at Rolling Wheels Raceway Park, Kinser patiently waited for his car to come to him over the course of the 35-lap event. In traffic he continually gained on the leaders and like he did on Monday night, he used this to his advantage. In open race track he pulled away in the late going.

“I was a little bit too tight early and that was killing some speed, ” he explained. “Once I was able to swing it out a little wider, I got a little bit better. ”

Saldana started on the pole on Friday night after winning the Crane Cams Dash and ran second for the first three laps behind Lynch before going to the low side of the track in turn four to take the lead. The native of Brownsburg, Indiana would hold the point until the lead pack entered heavy traffic, giving Kinser the opening he needed to pounce on the lead.

“It was another good run for us, ” said Saldana, driver of the Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI. “I was really good in the dash, and I think we freed our car up way too much for the feature. We paid the price at the end. ”

For Saldana, the runner-up finish was his 17th Top-Five finish of the season as he continues to chase to Donny Schatz for the top spot in the championship standings. He and Schatz staged an entertaining battle over the last five laps of the race, with Saldana retaining the position. The 1996 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year then held off a late charge by Danny Lasoski at the finish line by less than a tenth of a second.

“I wish we could do this all over again, because I think we would have had a better car, ” lamented Saldana. “It’s always easier saying that after the fact. Steve (Kinser) had a good car and we were hanging in there. We got a shot at him on the restart, but had nothing for him. We hung on and we’ll go on to the next race and try not to make the same mistake again. ”

Saldana tried a couple of different lines throughout the race as he searched for the spot on the track where his car would work best. While he was leading, he stayed at the top of the track. With less than 10 laps remaining, Saldana jumped the cushion on the 23 lap allowing Jason Solwold to get around him, but he powered back around Solwold, who would lose a right rear tire just a couple laps later, after running in the Top-Five the for most of the event.

“My car was real free behind the lapped car and I had trouble behind them, ” Saldana said. “I needed the clear track and the yellows helped me keep the car under me. We’ll take a second and learn from it. ”

A very successful East Coast swing had Kinser prepared to head back to the Midwest. He won three times and finished in the Top-Five in five of the previous seven events entering action on Friday night. He now has 14 Top-Five finishes and vaulted into the second spot in laps led on the season after leading 18 laps on Friday night.

“We’ve been running awfully good the last six weeks, ” he said. “That helps with confidence. Everyone is working well together. I hope this keeps on going. ”

Danny Lasoski made a late charge to grab the third spot in the Roth Motorsports Eagle, to earn his ninth Top-Five finish of the season. He fell back to seventh early in the race, before making a charge to the front. First he got around Jac Haudenschild and then passed Ed Lynch Jr. to move back into the Top-Five. The native of Dover, Missouri moved into the third spot with just three laps to go and quickly closed on Saldana, just missing the runner-up spot by mere inches at the line.

Daryn Pittman turned in a very solid run in the A-Feature earning the KSE Race Products Hard Charger Award after starting 15th and finishing fourth in the Titan Garages Maxim. He steadily worked his way to the front, entering the Top-10 on the 10th lap, before gaining two spots on the last lap of the race to work his way into the Top-Five.

Donny Schatz the current World of Outlaws championship point leader had a bittersweet night. He started 13th and steadily worked his way to the front of the field, battling at times for the runner-up spot. While running fourth on the last lap he lost an engine coming off the fourth turn and coasted across the line in the fifth spot in the PakerStore J&J.

Jac Haudenschild who won at Sharon in 2006 finished sixth in the Wright One Construction Maxim, with Ed Lynch Jr. in the Howard Concrete J&J seventh. Jason Meyers was eighth in the Primerica Financial Maxim, with Rob Chaney in ninth in the Berlin Bakery JEI, and Justin Henderson rounded out the Top-10 in the Dan Dan the Sonic Man Rocket.

Jason Martin began the night by setting fast time for the first time in his World of Outlaws career in time trials.

The World of Outlaws wrap-up the weekend on Saturday night at Eldora Speedway.