By Kyle Luetters
BARBERVILLE, FL – Feb. 12, 2011 – Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. This weekend at Volusia Speedway Park, Steve Kinser has been both lucky and good. A night after he dominated the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series season opener,. he was back in victory lane on Saturday knowing it took others’ misfortunes for him to win for the second night in a row.
Craig Dollansky led the first 27 laps when a mechanical issue forced him to slow on the frontstretch. At the same time, second-place running Cody Darrah had a right rear tire go out on him. The caution flew and set up a double-file restart with three laps to go.
Kraig Kinser was on the inside of the front row, his father on the outside. Steve shot out to the lead in the first corner. He never looked back as he rolled off the final three circuits to give his Bass Pro Shops team back-to-back victories in the first two World of Outlaws races of the season.
“We had a lot of luck tonight,” said Kinser, of Bloomington, Ind. “We weren’t as strong as we were last night and you hate to win these things like that.”
Kinser and the rest of the field trailed polesitter Dollanksy from the drop of the green flag. Dollansky blistered the field until the fateful Lap 27 when the motor expired in his Big Game Treestands Maxim. Darrah, a rising star at Kasey Kahne Racing from Red Lion, Pa., was poised to take the lead in his Great Clips Maxim but a right rear went out and sent him to the pits.
Donny Schatz continued to surge forward from his 17th starting position in the STP J&J and wound up second to join Kinser, his Tony Stewart Racing teammate, on the podium.
“It was a crazy out here tonight but fun,” said Schatz, who earned the KSE Hard Charger Award.
Joey Saldana finished third for the second night in a row in his CARQUEST Maxim and credited the knowledge he’s gained through the years of competing at the DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH.
“Experience paid off for me tonight,” said Saldana, who won the Sprint Car Week championship at last year’s DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH. “We’ve built some great momentum going into the final night down here.”
Jason Sides raced to fourth place in his Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim as Kraig Kinser was able to nurse his Casey’s General Stores Maxim to a fifth-place finish.
Steve Kinser and Sammy Swindell, two of the greatest Sprint Car drivers in history, have each won two races during the DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH with Sunday’s finale serving as the tiebreaker. Grandstands open at 5 p.m., racing begins at 7:30 p.m.
For more information on the World of Outlaws, go to http://www.WorldofOutlaws.com. For more on the DIRTcar Nationals by University of Northwestern Ohio, visit http://www.DIRTcarNationals.com or follow the event on Twitter @DIRTcarNats.
DIRTcar Nationals by University of Northwestern Ohio Statistical Report; Volusia Speedway Park; Feb. 12, 2011
A-main (30 laps) – Starting Position [#] – 1) 11-Steve Kinser[3] [$10,000]; 2) 15-Donny Schatz[17] [$5,500]; 3) 9-Joey Saldana[12] [$3,200]; 4) 7S-Jason Sides[5] [$2,800]; 5) 6-Kraig Kinser[1] [$2,500]; 6) 83X-Tim Shaffer[4] [$2,300]; 7) 30C-Lance Dewease[14] [$2,200]; 8) 33-Danny Lasoski[11] [$2,100]; 9) 17-Tyler Walker[19] [$2,050]; 10) 4-Danny Smith[21] [$2,000]; 11) 83-Paul McMahan[6] [$1,500]; 12) 49-Brad Sweet[20] [$1,200]; 13) 24-Terry McCarl[22] [$1,100]; 14) 2-Dale Blaney[18] [$1,050]; 15) 14-Jason Meyers[25] [$200]; 16) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[26] [$100]; 17) 91-Cody Darrah[13] [$800]; 18) 51-Fred Rahmer[23] [$800]; 19) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[10] [$800]; 20) 27-Daryn Pittman[8] [$800]; 21) 63-Chad Kemenah[9] [$800]; 22) 1-Sammy Swindell[24] [$800]; 23) 1J-Bronson Maeschen[16] [$800]; 24) 1Z-Stevie Smith[15] [$800]; 25) 2B-Ben Gregg[27] [$0]; 26) 14Z-Jessica Zemken[7] [$800]; 27) 7-Craig Dollansky[2] [$800]. Lap Leaders: Craig Dollansky 1-27, Steve Kinser 28-30. KSE Hard Charger Award: Donny Schatz
Qualifying (Two Laps) – 1) 83-Paul McMahan 13.273; 2) 63-Chad Kemenah 13.327; 3) 33-Danny Lasoski 13.360; 4) 83X-Tim Shaffer 13.373; 5) 9-Joey Saldana 13.411; 6) 91-Cody Darrah 13.424; 7) 7S-Jason Sides 13.458; 8) 30C-Lance Dewease 13.492; 9) 7-Craig Dollansky 13.507; 10) 11-Steve Kinser 13.528; 11) 6-Kraig Kinser 13.537; 12) 14Z-Jessica Zemken 13.552; 13) 27-Daryn Pittman 13.612; 14) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 13.630; 15) 1Z-Stevie Smith 13.665; 16) 1J-Bronson Maeschen 13.674; 17) 15-Donny Schatz 13.675; 18) 2-Dale Blaney 13.684; 19) 17-Tyler Walker 13.733; 20) 6R-Bill Rose 13.744; 21) 49-Brad Sweet 13.774; 22) 4-Danny Smith 13.775; 23) 24-Terry McCarl 13.802; 24) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 13.812; 25) 22-Brian Ellenberger 13.812; 26) 51-Fred Rahmer 13.850; 27) 89G-David Gravel 13.899; 28) 14-Jason Meyers 13.933; 29) 80-Spud Gustin 13.972; 30) 55-Chad Layton 14.010; 31) 2B-Ben Gregg 14.040; 32) 1-Sammy Swindell 14.068; 33) 39-Greg Hodnett 14.092; 34) 6W-Brad Wickham 14.553
Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature) – 1) 7-Craig Dollansky[2]; 2) 27-Daryn Pittman[1]; 3) 83-Paul McMahan[4]; 4) 15-Donny Schatz[5]; 5) 9-Joey Saldana[3]; 6) 49-Brad Sweet[6]; 7) 22-Brian Ellenberger[7]; 8) 39-Greg Hodnett[9]; 9) 80-Spud Gustin[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature) – 1) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[1]; 2) 11-Steve Kinser[2]; 3) 4-Danny Smith[6]; 4) 51-Fred Rahmer[7]; 5) 63-Chad Kemenah[4]; 6) 2-Dale Blaney[5]; 7) 55-Chad Layton[8]; 8) 6W-Brad Wickham[9]; 9) 91-Cody Darrah[3]
Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature) – 1) 7S-Jason Sides[3]; 2) 6-Kraig Kinser[2]; 3) 33-Danny Lasoski[4]; 4) 1Z-Stevie Smith[1]; 5) 17-Tyler Walker[5]; 6) 24-Terry McCarl[6]; 7) 89G-David Gravel[7]; 8) 2B-Ben Gregg[8]
Heat 4 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature) – 1) 14Z-Jessica Zemken[2]; 2) 83X-Tim Shaffer[4]; 3) 1J-Bronson Maeschen[1]; 4) 30C-Lance Dewease[3]; 5) 1-Sammy Swindell[8]; 6) 14-Jason Meyers[7]; 7) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[6]; 8) 6R-Bill Rose[5]
Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) – 1) 6-Kraig Kinser[2]; 2) 7-Craig Dollansky[4]; 3) 11-Steve Kinser[3]; 4) 83X-Tim Shaffer[6]; 5) 7S-Jason Sides[5]; 6) 83-Paul McMahan[8]; 7) 14Z-Jessica Zemken[1]; 8) 27-Daryn Pittman[9]; 9) 63-Chad Kemenah[7]; 10) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[10]
B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature) – 1) 91-Cody Darrah[1]; 2) 2-Dale Blaney[2]; 3) 24-Terry McCarl[5]; 4) 49-Brad Sweet[4]; 5) 14-Jason Meyers[9] [$200]; 6) 22-Brian Ellenberger[7] [$180]; 7) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[6] [$175]; 8) 89G-David Gravel[8] [$160]; 9) 55-Chad Layton[11] [$150]; 10) 39-Greg Hodnett[13] [$150]; 11) 2B-Ben Gregg[12] [$150]; 12) 6R-Bill Rose[3] [$150]; 13) 80-Spud Gustin[10] [$150]; 14) 6W-Brad Wickham[14] [$150].
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: Armor All (Official Car Care Products), STP (Official Fuel Treatment), Goodyear Tires (Official Tire), Factory Motor Parts, VP Racing (Official Racing Fuel), Vicci (Official Apparel); in addition to contingency sponsors, Jake’s Custom Golf Carts, RacingJunk.com, KSE Race Products, Racing Electronics, S&S Volvo, JE Pistons, Wix Filters and SuperFlow; Engine Builder’s Challenge participants Kistler Engines, Shaver Specialties and Speedway Engines.