From Tony Veneziano, image courtesy of Steve Lafond / Tear Off Heaven Fotos
Pocola, OK- April 10, 2010- Jason Meyers continued his strong start to the 2010 season, winning the inaugural World of Outlaws event at Tri-State Speedway in Pocola, Oklahoma on Saturday night to earn his series-best fourth A-Feature win of the year.
Meyers inherited the lead on the 34th lap when 20-time series champion Steve Kinser had a flat tire while out front on a wild night that saw numerous cautions. Kinser had taken the lead a lap earlier, using a strong restart to power his way around Craig Dollansky, who had led the first 32 circuits.
For Meyers, the $10,000 triumph was the 39th of his World of Outlaws career as he looks to become just the 12th driver in series history to cross the 40 A-Feature win plateau. The native of Clovis, California rebounded from a flat left front tire just pass the halfway point of the 35-lap contest to come from the back and outlast the field.
“I don’t know how that happened,” said Meyers in Victory Lane. “It’s not very often you get a flat tire in a race and can come back and win. My guys did a great job and they didn’t give up. They kept working hard. I thank all the fans for coming out tonight. What a great crowd it was here tonight.”
In addition to leading the series in wins, Meyers is the only driver that has finished in the Top-10 in all 10 races this season as he extended his lead in the championship standings as he chases his first World of Outlaws title. The win on Saturday night marked the second time that Meyers has won twice in a row this season and also the second time he has started outside of the Top-10 and been victorious, as he lined up 11th on Saturday night aboard the GLR Investments KPC.
“Winning races always makes you confident,” explained Meyers. “We have a great team and have had a great team for a few years. We’ve been building to this point. It’s a long season and we have a lot of great people we are racing against. You have to get every point you can and tonight was obviously a great night. We’ll keep digging through the summer and hopefully we can get it done this year.”
Lucas Wolfe matched his best career finish with the World of Outlaws coming home second on Saturday night in the Allebach Racing Maxim. The runner-up performance was his best finish of 2010 as he continues to close in on his first series win.
“Unfortunately the guy that ended up winning, we were racing with him all night and I think we had a better car than him, but Jason (Meyers) has been as good as anyone for a long time,” said Wolfe. “It was one of those nights. I guess it’s hard to put this one into words. The way that everything worked out, I couldn’t imagine complaining about anything, since we finished second.”
Kraig Kinser came home third in the Quaker State Maxim to earn his best finish of the season, with Brad Sweet fourth in the Auto Value Bumper to Bumper Maxim. Paul McMahan rounded out the Top-Five in the Great Clips Maxim.
The World of Outlaws return to action on Friday, April 16 at Paducah International Raceway in Kentucky and on Saturday, April 17 at I-55 Raceway in Missouri.
TRI-STATE (OK) SPEEDWAY NOTES
•FAST QUALIFIER: Danny Lasoski paced the 26 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked 3/8-mile oval at 14.966 seconds at 90.204 mph. For his qualifying effort, Lasoski earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Paul McMahan (4), Jac Haudenschild (3), Chad Kemenah (2) and Jason Meyers (1).
•TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY QUALIFYING WINNERS: Donny Schatz, Terry McCarl and Steve Kinser won heat races. Donny Schatz won the dash. Brian Ellenberger won the B-Main.
• FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 10 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, Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway and Tri-State (Okla.) Speedway), Joey Saldana (Thunderbowl Raceway and Volunteer Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lone Star Speedway), Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park) and Jason Sides (Houston Raceway Park).
•3/8-MILE WINNERS: Tri-State Speedway is a high-banked 3/8-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced once on a track that size this season. The winner was Jason Meyers (Tri-State-Okla. Speedway)
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Tri-State Speedway; Pocola, OK; April 10, 2010
Qualifying
1) 6-Danny Lasoski 14.966
2) 91-Paul McMahan 15.146
3) R19-Jac Haudenschild 15.185
4) 63-Chad Kemenah 15.194
5) 14-Jason Meyers 15.390
6) 7-Craig Dollansky 15.426
7) 15-Donny Schatz 15.446
8) 11K-Kraig Kinser 15.459
9) 11-Steve Kinser 15.493
10) 7S-Jason Sides 15.596
11) 24-Terry McCarl 15.634
12) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 15.707
13) 49-Brad Sweet 15.772
14) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15.816
15) 83-Tim Kaeding 15.856
16) 9-Joey Saldana 15.937
17) 1-Bronson Maeschen 15.945
18) 4X-Toni Lutar 16.100
19) 51-Lee Sowell 16.123
20) 22-Brian Ellenberger 16.186
21) 2B-Ben Gregg 16.302
22) 1J-Danny Jennings 16.355
23) 26-Rafe Essary 16.454
24) 80-Josh Hawkins 16.569
25) 51W-Wes Miller 16.698
26) 15k-Kerry McAlister 17.002
Heat 1 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 15-Donny Schatz[2]
2) 7S-Jason Sides[1]
3) 9-Joey Saldana[6]
4) 63-Chad Kemenah[3]
5) 6-Danny Lasoski[4]
6) 49-Brad Sweet[5]
7) 1J-Danny Jennings[8]
8) 51W-Wes Miller[9]
9) 51-Lee Sowell[7]
Heat 2 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 24-Terry McCarl[1]
2) 11K-Kraig Kinser[2]
3) 14-Jason Meyers[3]
4) 91-Paul McMahan[4]
5) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[5]
6) 1-Bronson Maeschen[6]
7) 22-Brian Ellenberger[7]
8) 26-Rafe Essary[8]
9) 15k-Kerry McAlister[9]
Heat 3 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 11-Steve Kinser[2]
2) 7-Craig Dollansky[3]
3) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[1]
4) R19-Jac Haudenschild[4]
5) 83-Tim Kaeding[5]
6) 2B-Ben Gregg[7]
7) 80-Josh Hawkins[8]
8) 4X-Toni Lutar[6]
Dash (8 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) 15-Donny Schatz[1]
2) 7-Craig Dollansky[2]
3) 24-Terry McCarl[10]
4) R19-Jac Haudenschild[4]
5) 63-Chad Kemenah[3]
6) 91-Paul McMahan[5]
7) 11-Steve Kinser[8]
8) 7S-Jason Sides[9]
9) 6-Danny Lasoski[6]
10) 11K-Kraig Kinser[7]
B-main (10 laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 22-Brian Ellenberger[3]
2) 51-Lee Sowell[2]
3) 4X-Toni Lutar[1]
4) 1J-Danny Jennings[4]
5) 51W-Wes Miller[7]
6) 15k-Kerry McAlister[8]
7) 26-Rafe Essary[5] [$200]
8) 80-Josh Hawkins[6] [$180]
A-main (35 laps) – Starting Position [#]
Under Officials review