From CDR
The World of Outlaws have raced at numerous dirt tracks that span the United States but each year the schedule includes first time appearances, that was the case on Friday as Craig Dollansky and the rest of the Outlaws laid eyes on Merced Speedway for the first time ever.
With 33 competitors signed into the pit area, Dollansky piloted the Big Game Treestands #7 to the 14th fastest time in qualifying around the 1/4-mile with a time of 11.667 seconds. Making the sixteen car inversion for the four heat races, the Karavan Trailers backed sprinter started on the pole of heat two. When the green flag dropped, ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ raced Tim Kaeding for the lead but would finish 2nd and earn a spot in the dash race. In the 8-lap dash, Dollansky started inside row five and ended up finishing 10th.
Finishing tenth in the dash meant the native of Elk River, Minnesota would start outside row five in the World of Outlaws inaugural 40-lap A-Main at the facility in Merced, California. When the feature got underway, Dollansky got a rough start as he fell back to thirteenth when a red flag came on lap 3. With track conditions very narrow, track officials decided all restarts would be single-file. As racing resumed, the Aggressive Hydraulics Maxim moved up to twelfth by a lap 19 caution and gained one more spot when another incident came on lap 29. With passing at a premium, Dollansky maintained position in the remaining eleven laps and crossed the checkered flags in 11th as teammate Sammy Swindell went on to take the victory.
Up next, the Big Game Treestands #7 team concludes racing in ‘The Golden State’ as they head to Calistoga Speedway on Saturday for the first time in four years.