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Victory Lane: Craig Dollansky Wins at Lone Star Speedway
Kilgore, TX-March
12, 2010-Craig Dollansky had been fast right out of the box in
2010, but had been plagued with bad luck in nearly every one of
the first five World of Outlaws events of the season. He put all
of that behind him on Friday night at Lone Star Speedway in
Kilgore, Texas, turning in a very strong performance from start
to finish en route to picking up his first World of Outlaws
victory of the season.
For Dollansky, the $10,000 win over 20-time World of Outlaws
champion Steve Kinser and current series point leader Joey
Saldana, was the 32nd of his World of Outlaws career. It was his
second career victory in Texas and his first in the state since
2001.
"This is a great way to get this monkey that has been on our
back off it," said Dollansky. "This is a great team effort and
we had to work for it. We started in the fourth row of the dash
and when you can win races that way, it shows you have a strong
team."
Dollansky used a strong restart on the 19th lap in the Big Game
Treestands Maxim to dive under Jac Haudenschild in turns one and
two as Haudenschild bounced through a couple of holes and nearly
got upside down, somehow keeping the car going and getting it
back on all fours, though he lost six spots in the process.
Dollansky then opened up a comfortable lead in open track before
a yellow flag bunched the field up. He withstood two double file
restarts in the late going, which he chose the low line each
time with Kinser lined up to his outside. A single file restart
with five laps to go gave Kinser one final shot at Dollansky,
but the native of Elk River, Minnesota was too strong and wound
up winning by about a second and a half.
"Obviously those are great race cars and we had to deal with
strong cars all night long," Dollansky said. "Steve (Kinser) has
definitely been strong and Joey (Saldana) coming from 17th to
third, that’s a great run for his team. Thanks to everyone that
supports us and digs deep to make this happen, especially my
wife Julie who is back home in Minnesota."
Dollansky began Friday night by turning in the second quickest
lap in time trials. He followed that up with a solid third-place
finish in the second heat race to pick up a spot in the dash,
where he charged from seventh to third to earn a second row
starting spot in the 30-lap main event.
"I'm fortunate to have some great people behind me, starting
with Tod Quiring," said Dollansky. "I'm so happy to join with
him as our car owner and Big Game Treestands, along with the
great sponsors we have in Karavan Trailers and Aggressive
Hydraulics. It's always a team effort when you win races and
hopefully the fans enjoyed the race tonight. There was a lot
going on there, and I’m just glad to bring home a win."
Kinser ended up second in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim to earn his
fifth Top-Five and sixth Top-10 finish of 2010 and also move up
to second in the championship standings, just seven markers
behind Joey Saldana as he chases his record 21st title. Kinser
tried everything he could on the late restarts, but could not
quite get a run on Dollansky.
"I had to hang on and not hit those holes coming off (turn)
four," shared Kinser. "Craig (Dollansky) was able to pick it
back up pretty good. I might have tried to get a run on him, but
he blocked the bottom and he was a little faster than us in the
front. To come home second after starting way back in the dash
isn't too bad. We missed a couple of wrecks and have been
running pretty good. We just need to move up a spot or two."
Joey Saldana, the current World of Outlaws point leader, who was
victorious last weekend in California, powered his way through
the field to come from the 17th starting spot to finish third in
the Budweiser Maxim.
"It was a great night," Saldana said. "That is definitely the
kind of night that you have to have when you start out having a
bad night. We had a really good car, we just started really far
back. We’ll go to Houston and try to get two spots more."
The race began with Paul McMahan jumping to an early lead from
the pole, with Jac Haudenschild in second, though the first
caution of the night flew on the opening lap for an incident
involving Donny Schatz and Terry McCarl. On the complete
restart, McMahan again led with Dollansky battling Haudenschild
for second.
Haudenschild moved into the lead on the ninth lap diving under
McMahan in turn one and quickly put some distance between the
pair, with Dollansky moving into the runner-up spot on the next
circuit. Haudenschild was strong in lapped traffic, though a
caution on the 19th lap set up a double file restart with him
choosing the outside line and Dollansky lining up down low.
Jason Meyers had a consistent night finishing fourth in the GLR
Investments KPC to earn his fifth Top-Five finish of the season.
He has finished sixth or better in all six races in 2010 and is
just nine points behind Joey Saldana as he chases his first
World of Outlaws title.
Jason Sides picked up his third Top-Five finish of the season
coming home fifth in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim,
which moved him up to fourth in the series championship
standings after Donny Schatz finished 14th.
Paul McMahan ended up sixth in the Great Clips Maxim after
leading the first eight laps, to score his best finish of the
season and his best since joining Kasey Kahne Racing filling in
for the injured Cody Darrah.
Jac Haudenschild finished seventh in the Owens-Corning
Fiberglass XXX. Haudenschild, who led 10 laps crossed the line
in fifth, but was docked two positions at the finish by way of
World of Outlaws rules for passing a car before the restart cone
on the front straightaway on the final restart of the night,
which was a single file restart due to consecutive yellow flags
flying before a lap was completed on the double file restart.
Kraig Kinser was eighth in the Quaker State Maxim, with Tim
Kaeding ninth piloting the DTR Transport KPC. Danny Lasoski
rounded out the Top-10 in the Casey’s General Stores JEI.
The World of Outlaws return to action on Saturday, March 13 at
Houston Raceway Park in Baytown for The Texas Shootout to wrap
up the Texas Two-Step Weekend.
LONE STAR SPEEDWAY NOTES
*FAST QUALIFIER: Donny Schatz paced the 29 cars that took
time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked half-mile
oval at 14.411 seconds at 124.905 mph. For his qualifying
effort, Schatz earned five bonus points. The next four fastest
qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Craig Dollansky
(4), Jason Sides (3), Sam Hafertepe Jr. (2) and Kraig Kinser
(1).
*LONE STAR SPEEDWAY QUALIFYING WINNERS: Jac Haudenschild,
Terry McCarl and Steve Kinser won heat races. Paul McMahan won
the dash. Brian Ellenberger won the B-Main.
* FEATURE WINNERS: There have been six World of Outlaws
Sprint Car Series A-Feature events held in 2010. The winners
include: Jason Meyers (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway and Thunderbowl Raceway), Craig Dollansky (Lone Star
Speedway), Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park), Joey Saldana
(Thunderbowl Raceway) and Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park).
*HALF-MILE WINNERS: Lone Star Speedway is a high-banked
half-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced four times at a
track that size in 2010. The winners include: Craig Dollansky
(Lone Star Speedway), Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park),
Jason Meyers (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway) and
Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park).
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