By CDR
Craig Dollansky and the Big Game Treestands #7 team returned to Canada on Friday as they made their second trip of the season to ‘The Great White North’ where racing resumed on Friday at Castrol Raceway for the Oil City Cup Opener.
As 27 cars assembled at the 3/8-mile track located in Edmonton, Alberta, Dollansky piloted the Aggressive Hydraulics #7 to the 6th fastest time in qualifying. Starting from inside row two in the third and final heat race, the track was still lightning fast as ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ finished 4th in the 10-lap event to transfer into the main event.
“We got qualified pretty decent but when you qualify sixth you have to get in the top two in the heat races,” commented Dollansky. “There wasn’t much passing going on in the heat races, if any. I don’t think anybody got out of the second row to get into the dash. We weren’t able to get in the top two so that made us revert back to our qualifying time for the feature.”
In the 30-lap A-Main the Karavan Trailers backed sprinter started outside row six. After a caution on the first lap Dollansky continued to run twelfth for the restart. As racing continued most of the field ran the preferred low side due to the top side becoming worn out. Action continued until just after the halfway point, on lap 18, when a caution saw Dollansky move into the top ten by running ninth. ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ would hold the ninth position until two laps to go when two cars got together and the Big Game Treestands Maxim moved into eighth. A red flag on the restart would move the #7 up another position and then on the final restart Dollansky assumed the 6th position as he raced past Brad Sweet before the checkers flew.
“We were a little bit tight early but as the race wore on we got better,” commented the Elk River, MN native. “It took us a little time to get by a couple cars but we were starting to get pretty good towards the latter part of the race. All in all starting twelfth and getting to sixth wasn’t a bad run for us. Hopefully we can get a little bit better starting position tonight.”
The Big Game Treestands #7 team heads back to Castrol Raceway tonight for the conclusion of the Oil City Cup.
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