By Parsons Motorsports PR
Granger, IA—August 28, 2011—In Sprint Car Racing, everything has to be taken in stride and put in the proper perspective, as another race is usually just around the corner. After seeing likely fifth and sixth-place finishes vanish on consecutive nights in the waning laps, due to some bad luck, Kraig Kinser and the Casey’s General Store team made up for that in the finale of the 5th Annual Oil City Cup at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on Saturday night, coming home in the sixth position to wrap up the World of Outlaws five-race Great Northern Tour.
Kinser opened the night with a second-place finish in the first heat race to earn a spot in the dash where he came home ninth, which lined him up on the inside of the fifth row for the 35-lap main event. He has now raced his way into the dash in four of the last five races to earn Top-10 starting positions in main events. The native of Bloomington, Ind. ran in the Top-10 in the early going of the 35-lap main event on Saturday night, before falling back to 12th near the halfway point of the race. He then steadily worked his way back to the front. Kinser restarted seventh on the final green/white/checker restart of the night with two laps to, getting by Jason Solwold to claim the sixth spot, which was his 15th Top-10 finish of the season.
The 2005 World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year finished 12th in the opener at Castrol Raceway on Friday night. He finished second in the third heat race to earn a spot in the dash, where he ran seventh, and found himself fifth late in the going of the 30-lap contest when he got tangled up with a lapped car with two laps to go. Kinser restarted 16th as the final car on the lead lap and gained four spots over the final two laps of the race.
Kinser finished 11th at Black Hills Speedway in Rapid City, S.D. on Tuesday, Aug. 23. The third generation driver won the first heat race to earn a spot in the dash where he charged from ninth to fifth. He ran among the top-seven for most of the main event and was running sixth on the final circuit, before losing a few spots due to some bad luck.
Kinser is currently 10th in the World of Outlaws championship standings, just 13 points out of the ninth position on the strength of 15 Top-10 finishes as he continues his first season with the Parsons Motorsports team.
Black Hills Speedway & Castrol Raceway Results
Date
Time
Trials
Heat
Start
Heat Finish
Dash Start
Dash Finish
Feature Start
Feature Finish
Points
Aug. 23
10th
1st
1st
9th
5th
5th
11th
10th
Aug. 26
12th
1st
2nd
10th
7th
7th
12th
10th
Aug. 27
12th
1st
2nd
10th
9th
9th
6th
10th
Kraig on the trio of races to wrap up the Great Northern Tour:
“We had a very good car on Saturday night and have really been making big strides since after Knoxville. We’ve been trying a few different things and have learned some things that are really working. If we wouldn’t have had some bad luck on the last lap at Rapid City and the second to last lap on Friday at Edmonton, we would have finished sixth or better in all three races. The guys on the Casey’s General Store team continue to work hard each and every day and I can’t wait to climb back in the car next weekend.”
Kraig Kinser By the Numbers: Black Hills Speedway & Castrol Raceway:
0.375- Miles around Castrol Raceway
0.5-Miles around Black Hills Speedway
2- Top-10 finishes in Canada this season
4- Appearances in the dash during the five-race Great Northern Tour
5- Finishing position in the dash at Black Hills Speedway
6- Finishing position in the finale at Castrol Raceway
9- Events contested on 3/8-mile tracks this season by the World of Outlaws
10- Current position in the World of Outlaws championship standings
12.334- Laps in time trials in the opener at Castrol Raceway
12.952- Lap in time trials in the finale at Edmonton
13- Points out of the ninth position in the World of Outlaws standings
15- Top-10 finishes through Aug. 27
15.518- Laps in time trials at Black Hills Speedway
19- Events on half-mile tracks thus far this season for the World of Outlaws
47- Main events completed by the series through Aug. 27
5528- Points earned through Aug. 27
Up Next: Sept. 2, Skagit Speedway, Alger, Wash.
Sept. 3, Skagit Speedway, Alger, Wash.
Sept. 5, Cottage Grove Speedway, Cottage Grove, Ore.
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.
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.