Hartford, MI — (September 21, 2011) — Joey Saldana made his first race back after an over two month layoff due to injuries a memorable one by winning his first race back with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Wednesday night at Hartford Motor Speedway.
Saldana won the dash, started on the front row, and led all 25-laps of the feature event including three restarts. Saldana was driving the Kasey Kahne Racing owned Red Bull sponsored entry.
“This is surreal, this is not what I expected, said Saldana “I didn’t expect to win a World of Outlaws race, I just wanted to be competitive. My team has been working really hard and have had a lot of adversity. I didn’t want to be a disappointment coming in, but felt I was ready, Kasey was behind me, and luckily I got a win.”
The win was also Saldana’s first with Chevrolet power under the hood.
“(The Chevrolet engine) is something Kasey is building on for next year, so its been a while since I had a Chevy. I have to thank Rick Long at Speedway Motors for giving me such a great engine. First time with a Chevy, good building block for hopefully what we can do next year.”
Saldana and Schatz started on the front row of the 25-lap feature. Saldana jumped into the lead with Schatz and Tim Shaffer behind him. After a caution on lap 17 for Cody Darrah, Schatz had a look under Saldana, but could not make the pass.
Even through two more cautions for Joey Moughan and Steve Kinser, Saldana was able to open up distance to win the feature in dominating fashion. Jason Meyers moved up to second and with Kinser’s misfortune opened up his point lead by 127 points. Craig Dollansky, Tim Shaffer, and Schatz rounded out the top five.
Kinser was the fastest qualifier over the 22 car field with a lap of 16.046 seconds. Schatz, Shaffer, and Cap Henry won heat race events. During the third heat race Shane Stewart took a grinding tumble between turns one and two. Stewart emerged from the car under his own power, but the car was too seriously damaged to continue.
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Hartford Motor Speedway; Hartford, Mich.; Sept. 21, 2011
A-Main – (25 Laps)
1. 9-Joey Saldana[1][$10,000]; 2. 14-Jason Meyers[8][$5,500]; 3. 7-Craig Dollansky[3][$3,200]; 4. 83X-Tim Shaffer[4][$2,800]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz[2][$2,500]; 6. 89G-David Gravel[11][$2,300]; 7. 92-Kerry Madsen[12][$2,200]; 8. 83-Paul McMahan[7][$2,100]; 9. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[14][$2,050]; 10. 63-Chad Kemenah[9][$2,000]; 11. O4-Cap Henry[10][$1,500]; 12. 2M-Dustin Daggett[15][$1,200]; 13. 6-Kraig Kinser[16][$1,100]; 14. 4-Danny Smith[17][$1,050]; 15. 7S-Jason Sides[13][$1,000]; 16. 6R-Bill Rose[19][$900]; 17. 11-Steve Kinser[6][$800]; 18. 14X-Joey Moughan[20][$800]; 19. 91-Cody Darrah[5][$800]; 20. 9E-Tim Evilsizer[21][$800]; 21. 31-Andy Teunessen[18][$800]; 22. 3G-Shane Stewart[22][$800]
Lap Leaders: Joey Saldana 1-25
KSE Hard Charger Award: 14-Jason Meyers[+6]
Qualifying –
1. 11-Steve Kinser, 16.046; 2. 14-Jason Meyers, 16.052; 3. 91-Cody Darrah, 16.086; 4. 83-Paul McMahan, 16.121; 5. 89G-David Gravel, 16.138; 6. 92-Kerry Madsen, 16.142; 7. 7-Craig Dollansky, 16.189; 8. 83X-Tim Shaffer, 16.223; 9. 9-Joey Saldana, 16.270; 10. 15-Donny Schatz, 16.296; 11. 63-Chad Kemenah, 16.328; 12. O4-Cap Henry, 16.336; 13. 7S-Jason Sides, 16.336; 14. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 16.405; 15. 2M-Dustin Daggett, 16.412; 16. 6R-Bill Rose, 16.422; 17. 6-Kraig Kinser, 16.460; 18. 3G-Shane Stewart, 16.635; 19. 4-Danny Smith, 16.689; 20. 14X-Joey Moughan, 16.894; 21. 31-Andy Teunessen, 17.857; 22. 9E-Tim Evilsizer, 18.713
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 15-Donny Schatz[1] ; 2. 7-Craig Dollansky[2] ; 3. 11-Steve Kinser[4] ; 4. 83-Paul McMahan[3] ; 5. 7S-Jason Sides[5] ; 6. 4-Danny Smith[7] ; 7. 6R-Bill Rose[6] ; 8. 9E-Tim Evilsizer[8]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 83X-Tim Shaffer[2] ; 2. 63-Chad Kemenah[1] ; 3. 14-Jason Meyers[4] ; 4. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[5] ; 5. 89G-David Gravel[3] ; 6. 6-Kraig Kinser[6] ; 7. 14X-Joey Moughan[7]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. O4-Cap Henry[1] ; 2. 9-Joey Saldana[2] ; 3. 92-Kerry Madsen[3] ; 4. 91-Cody Darrah[4] ; 5. 2M-Dustin Daggett[5] ; 6. 31-Andy Teunessen[7] ; 7. 3G-Shane Stewart[6]
Dash – (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1. 9-Joey Saldana[2] ; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[1] ; 3. 7-Craig Dollansky[4] ; 4. 83X-Tim Shaffer[3] ; 5. 91-Cody Darrah[6] ; 6. 11-Steve Kinser[8] ; 7. 83-Paul McMahan[5] ; 8. 14-Jason Meyers[7] ; 9. 63-Chad Kemenah[9] ; 10. O4-Cap Henry[10]