By Parsons Motorsports PR
Granger, IA—May 1, 2011—Patience is said to be a virtue. Kraig Kinser and the rest of the World of Outlaws certainly exhibited plenty of it over the last month, as Mother Nature interrupted three consecutive events. That patience paid off for the third generation driver on Saturday night, as he scored a season-best fourth-place finish at the historic Tri-State Speedway in his home state of Indiana, a track that Kinser cut his teeth on early in his career. The race was the first for the World of Outlaws since an April 2 contest at Calistoga Speedway in California, a span of 28 days.
Kinser started 10th in the 40-lap main event aboard the Casey’s General Store Maxim for Parsons Motorsports, methodically working his way to the front. The fourth-place finish was his best career World of Outlaws finish at the high-banked ¼-mile bullring. It marked his second career Top-Five finish at the facility and second straight Top-10 run with the series at the track.
At the start of the main event, Kraig quickly moved up to ninth, getting around four-time series champion Donny Schatz. Kinser would run in the ninth spot for most of the first half of the race and found himself in seventh on the 19th lap. At the halfway point of the 40-lapper he got around Craig Dollansky and set his sights on the Top-Five. Kraig moved into third with 18 laps remaining. He briefly took second on the 36th lap in a three-way battle with Paul McMahan and Joey Saldana. Kinser ran third in the late going before Joey Saldana slipped by him on a late restart with two laps to go.
Kinser opened the night by turning in the 12th quickest lap in time trials, which put him on the pole of the third heat, which he won to get a spot in the dash. He lined up 10th in the dash and finished in that same spot to earn a fifth row starting spot in the main event.
For the 2005 Knoxville Nationals winner, it was his fifth Top-10 and second Top-Five finish of the season. He is currently 11th in the World of Outlaws standings, just 13 markers out of the Top-10.
Kinser and the World of Outlaws return to action on Tuesday, May 3 at Salina Highbanks Speedway in Oklahoma for an event which was postponed by rain on April 23. It will mark the series first visit to the high-banked 3/8-mile and only stop of the year in the Sooner State.
Kraig on his fourth-place finish at Tri-State Speedway:
“It was a very good run. I didn’t really want to see that caution at the end. We were up to second at one point and were really battling. The car really came on later in the race. We qualified in the right spot and got ourselves in the dash, which is always important. I’ve always enjoyed racing at Haubstadt and the last few visits we just hadn’t gotten the results we wanted and we certainly got the result we wanted this time. It gives us some momentum now as the schedule begins to pick up and everyone on this Casey’s General Store team is working very hard. All in all it was a great night for us.”
Tri-State Speedway Results
Date
Time
Trials
Heat
Start
Heat Finish
Dash Start
Dash Finish
Feature Start
Feature Finish
Points
April 30
12th
1st
1st
10th
10th
10th
4th
11th
Kraig Kinser By the Numbers: Tri-State Speedway:
0.25-Miles around Tri-State Speedway
1- Finishing position in the third heat race
2- Top-10 finishes with the World of Outlaws at the ¼-mile
4- Finishing position in the main event
6- World of Outlaws starts at the ¼-mile; Positions gained in the main event
10- Starting position in the dash; Finishing position in the dash
12-Average finish in six World of Outlaws events at the track
12.448-Lap in time trials
40-Laps in the main event at Tri-State Speedway
109- Miles from Bloomington, Indiana to Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt
1509- Points earned this season through April 30
2004-Year competed in first World of Outlaws event at Haubstadt
2,800- Dollars earned on Saturday night for the fourth-place finish
17,460-Dollars earned through April 30
Keep up with all the action: Follow Kraig Kinser on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kraigkinser6 and receive live updates from the track each and every race night. Also keep up with Kraig online at the recently redesigned www.KraigKinser.com.
Tune in: Listen live to each and every World of Outlaws event on DIRTVision.com with “The Voice of the Outlaws” Johnny Gibson on the call. Visit www.DIRTVision.com for live audio of each and every World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series event.