From Kyle Lutters
MERCED, Calif. – April 1, 2011 – Sammy Swindell is one of the most accomplished Sprint Car drivers anywhere. At the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series inaugural event Friday night at Merced Speedway, Swindell used lessons learned from an off-season of racing in Australia to hold off a late charge from California native Tim Kaeding.
“I drew from a lot of knowledge from racing down there (Australia) tonight,” said Swindell, who won for the second time this season in his Big Game Treestands Maxim. “We’ve been a consistent top-five car all year long and tonight I just used my experience and put it to good use with the awesome car we had.”
Swindell was indeed the class of the field, posting the fastest time in time trials to kick off the evening. Kaeding was on the pole for the main event after an impressive performance in the dash that had the Roth Motorsports driver feeling confident, but it was Kasey Kahne Racing’s Joey Saldana who used a quick jump to get around the polesitter and lead lap the first lap. Swindell, who started fourth, worked his way around Saldana to lead the second lap and he never looked back.
“Sammy was just the class of the field tonight,” said eventual runner-up Kaeding, who resides in San Jose, Calif. “You always hate to finish second but we had a great battle and if you have to finish second, it better be to one of the best.”
Jason Sides wound up third with Jonathan Allard and four-time World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion Donny Schatz rounding out the top five.
Kaeding and the rest of the field had a few chances to reel in Swindell. First was a red flag for a violent flip in Turn 2 that resulted in Trey Starks’ car landing on its side near a concrete barrier. Track and series officials worked fast to remove Starks. On the restart, which was single-file on the small quarter-mile oval, Saldana and Jason Sides mounted a charge. The drivers duked it out with Swindell for the top spot until the field was slowed again for an incident involving Saldana. Lapped traffic was the culprit as Saldana’s Red Bull Maxim made contact with Californian Justin Sanders’ car. The damage was extensive to Saldana’s machine but the crew, led by Kale Kahne, managed to get Saldana back on track.
After a quick restart and spin by Kerry Madsen, the field strung out during a prolonged green flag period. A spin by Chad Kemenah prompted a restart with just 11 laps to go. Kaeding mounted one final charge as the white flag flew. He and Swindell raced side-by-side but Swindell powered up off of Turn 2 and held on to take the checkered flag.
Saldana, who was tied with Steve Kinser atop the World of Outlaws championship standings entering the night, rallied to finish 16. Saldana added three points for his qualifying effort, but Kinser raced to a 10th-place finish to retake the points lead.
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series returns on Saturday night for the first time since 2007 to Calistoga Speedway, where it will wrap up its California Spring Break tour. The ‘Greatest Show on Dirt’ will then head back to the Midwest for events on Friday, April 15, at Paducah (Ky.) International Raceway followed Saturday, April 16, by series first race of the season at high-banked of I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo., just south of St. Louis.
MERCED SPEEDWAY NOTEBOOK
QUICK TIME – Sammy Swindell was the night’s fastest qualifier on the Merced quarter-mile by turning a lap in 11.238 seconds at 80.085 mph, earning five more championship points. Jonathon Allard, Joey Saldana, Jason Sides and Jason Meyers also earned qualifying points.
WINNERS – There have been 10 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series races completed in 2011. The winners include: Steve Kinser – 4 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 11 and 12, Pike County Raceway on Feb. 25, the Dirt Track at Las Vegas on March 4), Joey Saldana – 2 (Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 3, Thunderbowl Raceway on March 19), Sammy Swindell – 2 (Royal Purple Raceway on Feb. 26, Merced Speedway on April 1), Craig Dollansky – 1 (Silver Dollar Speedway on March 12), Jason Sides – 1 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 13).
NEW ONLINE HOME – Make sure to check out the all-new WorldofOutlaws.com every day of the week for the latest news and results, plus exclusive driver interviews, video and pictures. Also listen to every event live at DIRTVision.com .
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Merced (Calif.) Speedway; April 1, 2011
A-Main – (40 Laps) – 1. 1-Sammy Swindell[4][$10,000]; 2. 83JR-Tim Kaeding[1][$5,500]; 3. 7S-Jason Sides[6][$3,200]; 4. O-Jonathan Allard[3][$2,800]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz[7][$2,500]; 6. 83-Paul McMahan[8][$2,300]; 7. 21-Tommy Tarlton[9][$2,200]; 8. 14-Jason Meyers[11][$2,100]; 9. 99-Kyle Larson[21][$2,050]; 10. 11-Steve Kinser[14][$2,000]; 11. 7-Craig Dollansky[10][$1,500]; 12. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[12][$1,200]; 13. 83SR-Jac Haudenschild[13][$1,100]; 14. 91-Cody Darrah[25][$1,050]; 15. 6R-Bill Rose[16][$1,000]; 16. 9-Joey Saldana[2][$900]; 17. 29-Bud Kaeding[18][$800]; 18. OO-Jason Statler[23][$800]; 19. 6-Kraig Kinser[20][$800]; 20. OOx-Cory Eliason[17][$800]; 21. 63-Chad Kemenah[15][$800]; 22. 92-Kerry Madsen[5][$800]; 23. 17-Justin Sanders[24][$800]; 24. 69-Brent Kaeding[22][$800]; 25. 55-Trey Starks[19]. Lap Leaders: Joey Saldana 1, Sammy Swindell 2-40; KSE Hard Charger Award: 99-Kyle Larson
Qualifying – 1. 1-Sammy Swindell, 11.238; 2. O-Jonathan Allard, 11.281; 3. 9-Joey Saldana, 11.416; 4. 7S-Jason Sides, 11.464; 5. 14-Jason Meyers, 11.509; 6. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 11.531; 7. 83SR-Jac Haudenschild, 11.533; 8. 11-Steve Kinser, 11.589; 9. 92-Kerry Madsen, 11.624; 10. 83JR-Tim Kaeding, 11.636; 11. 83-Paul McMahan, 11.637; 12. 63-Chad Kemenah, 11.648; 13. 15-Donny Schatz, 11.662; 14. 7-Craig Dollansky, 11.667; 15. 6R-Bill Rose, 11.691; 16. 21-Tommy Tarlton, 11.731; 17. OOx-Cory Eliason, 11.731; 18. 29-Bud Kaeding, 11.753; 19. 55-Trey Starks, 11.786; 20. 28X-Billy Strange, 11.814; 21. 6-Kraig Kinser, 11.823; 22. 2B-Ben Gregg, 11.824; 23. 33E-Evan Suggs, 11.835; 24. 91-Cody Darrah, 11.853; 25. 99-Kyle Larson, 11.863; 26. 44W-Austen Wheatley, 11.905; 27. 25-Bobby McMahan, 11.907; 28. 5D-Josh Dewitt, 11.920; 29. 19-Art McCarthy, 11.949; 30. 69-Brent Kaeding, 12.043; 31. OO-Jason Statler, 12.111; 32. 17-Justin Sanders, 12.143; 33. 26-Sean McMahan, 12.286
Heat 1 – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 92-Kerry Madsen[2]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[1]; 3. 1-Sammy Swindell[4]; 4. 14-Jason Meyers[3]; 5. OOx-Cory Eliason[5]; 6. 6-Kraig Kinser[6]; 7. 19-Art McCarthy[8]; 8. 26-Sean McMahan[9]; 9. 99-Kyle Larson[7].
Heat 2 – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 83JR-Tim Kaeding[2]; 2. 7-Craig Dollansky[1]; 3. O-Jonathan Allard[4]; 4. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[3]; 5. 69-Brent Kaeding[8]; 6. 29-Bud Kaeding[5]; 7. 2B-Ben Gregg[6]; 8. 44W-Austen Wheatley[7].
Heat 3 – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 9-Joey Saldana[4]; 2. 83-Paul McMahan[2]; 3. 83SR-Jac Haudenschild[3]; 4. 6R-Bill Rose[1]; 5. OO-Jason Statler[8]; 6. 25-Bobby McMahan[7]; 7. 55-Trey Starks[5]; 8. 33E-Evan Suggs[6].
Heat 4 – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 7S-Jason Sides[4]; 2. 21-Tommy Tarlton[1]; 3. 11-Steve Kinser[3]; 4. 63-Chad Kemenah[2]; 5. 17-Justin Sanders[8]; 6. 91-Cody Darrah[6]; 7. 28X-Billy Strange[5]; 8. 5D-Josh Dewitt[7]
Dash – (8 Laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature – 1. 83JR-Tim Kaeding[1]; 2. 9-Joey Saldana[4]; 3. O-Jonathan Allard[5]; 4. 1-Sammy Swindell[6]; 5. 92-Kerry Madsen[2]; 6. 7S-Jason Sides[3]; 7. 15-Donny Schatz[8]; 8. 83-Paul McMahan[7]; 9. 21-Tommy Tarlton[10]; 10. 7-Craig Dollansky[9]
B-Main – (12 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 29-Bud Kaeding[1] [-]; 2. 55-Trey Starks[2] [-]; 3. 6-Kraig Kinser[4] [-]; 4. 99-Kyle Larson[8] [-]; 5. 91-Cody Darrah[7] [$200]; 6. 44W-Austen Wheatley[9] [$180]; 7. 26-Sean McMahan[13] [$175]; 8. 19-Art McCarthy[12] [$160]; 9. 28X-Billy Strange[3] [$150]; 10. 2B-Ben Gregg[5] [$150]; 11. 5D-Josh Dewitt[11] [$150]; 12. 25-Bobby McMahan[10] [$150].