From Tony Veneziano, Jerry Gossel Photo
McCool Junction, NE- June 25, 2010- Brooke Tatnell certainly doesn’t have the largest hauler in the pit area or the most parts in his trailer, but what he does have is determination, an unending work ethic and a passion for sprint car racing that is second to none. That all showed on Friday night as he scored his second World of Outlaws win of the season as the series made their debut at Junction Motor Speedway in McCool Junction, Nebraska in front of the largest crowd in track history.
Tatnell used a slide job on Jason Meyers on the 16th lap in turns three and four to take the lead and would pace the remainder of the 25-lap contest. The $10,000 win was the 11th of his World of Outlaws career.
“Every win is special,” said Tatnell in Victory Lane. “It doesn’t matter who it’s with. There is no such thing as an easy race anymore. I just want to thank the people that have believed in us in our career. If it wasn’t for those people, we wouldn’t be out here still plugging away, especially my wife and daughter and future son. They are waiting at home to hear the results and I can’t wait to call them.”
Tatnell was out front when the third and final caution of the night flew on the 20th lap, for Sammy Swindell, who lost a right rear tire while running fourth, setting up a final five lap shootout. On the ensuing double file restart, Tatnell chose the low side of the track with Jason Meyers lining up alongside of him. The native of San Souci, NSW, Australia, led the field into turns one and two, with Donny Schatz taking second from Meyers on that final restart.
“It worked for Jason (Meyers), so if I picked it and it was the wrong one, I was going to blame him,” said Tatnell with a smile, when asked about his choice of lines on the final restart. “I think it was the right the one and the obvious choice.”
The race began with Meyers charging to the lead, though the caution flew before the first lap was completed for a jumped start by Sammy Swindell. Meyers led again on the complete restart with Donny Schatz second. The caution flew on the ninth lap when Kraig Kinser lost an engine, setting up a double file restart. Meyers chose the low side of the track and led Schatz and the field into turns one and two.
Tatnell started third in the Southern Crane & Tractor Supply machine and battled Schatz for the second spot for the first 11 laps of the 25-lapper. He got around the four-time and defending series champion on the 12th lap on the high side of the track coming off turn four, with Schatz retaking the spot in turns one and two, with Tatnell battling right back to retake second and set his sights on Meyers. For Tatnell it was his first visit to Junction Motor Speedway and his first career win in the state of Nebraska.
“I really have to thank these guys on the crew,” he stated. “We had an awesome race car. Thanks to everyone that supports sprint car racing and supports the World of Outlaws. There is nothing better and no better sprint car racing in the world than what we have here. I’m very proud of this race team.”
Craig Dollansky used a textbook slide job on Schatz with two laps to go in turns three and four to snag the second spot. The native of Elk River, Minnesota lined up ninth in the Big Game Treestands Maxim and steadily worked his way to the front. He got around Lucas Wolfe on the opening lap and passed Chad Kemenah on the second go-around. He moved into the Top-Five with seven laps remaining and was able to gain three spots over the final five circuits.
“We made some changes to this car for tonight and were really good qualifying and in the heat race,” explained Dollansky. “We just had to do some gear changing after the dash for the feature. It was a great effort by my team, Mike Woodring, Lester (Groves) and we have my son helping us now. We have a great team. We’ve been struggling some and been snake bitten in the luck department, but that car was fun to drive tonight.”
Donny Schatz finished third on Friday night aboard the Armor All/STP J&J to earn his second straight podium finish and his 12th Top-Five of the season. He started on the outside of the front row and kept pace with Meyers early. In the dash, Schatz charged all the way from the seventh spot to finish second to earn the front row starting spot in the main event.
“It was a pretty good run and we felt good,” Schatz said. “We just weren’t quite good enough to win the race. We’ll keep working hard with the big picture in mind and keep plugging away. We’re just happy to be here and it was a great show. I wish we could have won, but we’ll keep at it.”
Jason Meyers, who led the first 15 laps on Friday night, came home fourth aboard the GLR Investments KPC to gain a few points on Joey Saldana in the series standings, as each of the pair chases their first World of Outlaws title.
Lucas Wolfe, who set a new track record in qualifying, finished fifth in the Allebach Racing Maxim to earn his ninth Top-Five finish of the season, as he continues to close in on his first series win. Jason Sides was sixth piloting the Wethington Tractor Service Maxim.
Joey Saldana came from the 17th starting spot to finish seventh in the Budweiser Maxim to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award and also extended his lead in the series standings over 20-time series champion Steve Kinser.
Jac Haudenschild was eighth in the Owens-Corning Fiberglass XXX, with Kerry Madsen ninth in the Halls Haulage KPC. Kinser was 10th in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim to earn his series leading 26th Top-10 finish of the season.
The World of Outlaws return to action on Saturday, June 26 at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas.
JUNCTION MOTOR SPEEDWAY NOTES
•FAST QUALIFIER: Lucas Wolfe paced the 25 cars that took time with a record setting AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked 3/8-mile oval at 14.184 seconds at 95.178 mph. For his qualifying effort, Wolfe earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Craig Dollansky (4), Sammy Swindell (3), Chad Kemenah (2) and Brooke Tatnell (1).
•JUNCTION MOTOR SPEEDWAY QUALIFYING WINNERS: Jason Sides, Steve Kinser and Jason Meyers won heat races. Jason Meyers won the dash.
• FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 28 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, Tri-State (Okla.) Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway and I-96 Speedway), Joey Saldana (Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, I-55 Raceway, Eldora Speedway, Dodge City Raceway Park and River Cities Speedway), Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park, Jackson Speedway and River Cities Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (Paducah International Raceway and Knoxville Raceway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park and The Dirt Track at Charlotte), Jason Sides (Houston Raceway Park and Tri-City Speedway), Brooke Tatnell (Knoxville Raceway and Junction Motor Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lone Star Speedway), Chad Layton (Williams Grove Speedway), Paul McMahan (Eldora Speedway), Fred Rahmer (Williams Grove Speedway) and Sammy Swindell (Dodge City Raceway).
•3/8-MILE WINNERS: Junction Motor Speedway is a high-banked 3/8-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced five times on a track that size this season. The winners include: Jac Haudenschild (Paducah International Raceway), Jason Meyers (Tri-State-Okla. Speedway), Joey Saldana (Dodge City Raceway Park), Sammy Swindell (Dodge City Raceway Park) and Brooke Tatnell (Junction Motor Speedway).
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Junction Motor Speedway; McCool Junction, NE; June 25, 2010
Qualifying
1) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 14.184
2) 7-Craig Dollansky 14.239
3) 1-Sammy Swindell 14.272
4) 63-Chad Kemenah 14.309
5) 59-Brooke Tatnell 14.324
6) 14-Jason Meyers 14.371
7) 15-Donny Schatz 14.406
8) 11-Steve Kinser 14.420
9) 91-Paul McMahan 14.454
10) 7S-Jason Sides 14.477
11) 11K-Kraig Kinser 14.517
12) R19-Jac Haudenschild 14.567
13) 6-Danny Lasoski 14.577
14) 4X-Toni Lutar 14.624
15) 22-Brian Ellenberger 14.670
16) 21-Brian Brown 14.690
17) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 14.698
18) 1J-Bronson Maeschen 14.776
19) 9-Joey Saldana 14.791
20) 2B-Ben Gregg 14.807
21) 3-Kerry Madsen 14.858
22) 13V-Seth Brahmer 14.979
23) 1M-Chad Humston 15.299
24) 20-Ron Krysl 26.209
25) 35-Trevor Grossenbacher 15.829
Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) – Starting Position [#]
1) 7S-Jason Sides[1]
2) 15-Donny Schatz[2]
3) 63-Chad Kemenah[3]
4) 9-Joey Saldana[7]
5) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[4]
6) 21-Brian Brown[6]
7) 13V-Seth Brahmer[8]
8) 6-Danny Lasoski[5]
9) 35-Trevor Grossenbacher[9]
Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) – Starting Position [#]
1) 11-Steve Kinser[2]
2) 7-Craig Dollansky[4]
3) 59-Brooke Tatnell[3]
4) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[6]
5) 11K-Kraig Kinser[1]
6) 4X-Toni Lutar[5]
7) 2B-Ben Gregg[7]
8) 1M-Chad Humston[8]
Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) – Starting Position [#]
1) 14-Jason Meyers[3]
2) R19-Jac Haudenschild[1]
3) 91-Paul McMahan[2]
4) 1-Sammy Swindell[4]
5) 22-Brian Ellenberger[5]
6) 3-Kerry Madsen[7]
7) 1J-Bronson Maeschen[6]
8) 20-Ron Krysl[8]
Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) – Starting Position [#]
1) 14-Jason Meyers[1]
2) 15-Donny Schatz[7]
3) 59-Brooke Tatnell[2]
4) 1-Sammy Swindell[4]
5) 63-Chad Kemenah[3]
6) 11-Steve Kinser[8]
7) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[6]
8) 7S-Jason Sides[9]
9) 7-Craig Dollansky[5]
10) R19-Jac Haudenschild[10]
A-main (25 laps) – Starting Position [#]
1) 59-Brooke Tatnell[3] [$10,000]
2) 7-Craig Dollansky[9] [$5,500]
3) 15-Donny Schatz[2] [$3,200]
4) 14-Jason Meyers[1] [$2,800]
5) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[7] [$2,500]
6) 7S-Jason Sides[8] [$2,300]
7) 9-Joey Saldana[17] [$2,200]
8) R19-Jac Haudenschild[10] [$2,100]
9) 3-Kerry Madsen[18] [$2,050]
10) 11-Steve Kinser[6] [$2,000]
11) 91-Paul McMahan[11] [$1,500]
12) 1J-Bronson Maeschen[20] [$1,200]
13) 63-Chad Kemenah[5] [$1,100]
14) 22-Brian Ellenberger[14] [$1,050]
15) 1-Sammy Swindell[4] [$1,000]
16) 13V-Seth Brahmer[22] [$900]
17) 2B-Ben Gregg[21] [$800]
18) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[16] [$800]
19) 4X-Toni Lutar[13] [$800]
20) 21-Brian Brown[15] [$800]
21) 6-Danny Lasoski[19] [$800]
22) 11K-Kraig Kinser[12] [$800]
23) 1M-Chad Humston[23] [$800]
24) 20-Ron Krysl[24] [$800]
25) 35-Trevor Grossenbacher[25] [$800]
Lap Leaders: Jason Meyers 1-15, Brooke Tatnell 16-25
KSE Hard Charger Award: Joey Saldana
Penske Power Position Award: Ben Gregg
World of Outlaws Championship Standings through June 25
1. Joey Saldana 3940
2. Steve Kinser 3878 -62
3. Jason Meyers 3871 -69
4. Jason Sides 3735 -205
5. Donny Schatz 3730 -210
6. Paul McMahan 3584 -356
7. Lucas Wolfe 3581 -359
8. Jac Haudenschild 3540 -400
9. Craig Dollansky 3514 -426
10. Danny Lasoski 3508 -432