By CDR
It doesn’t seem that long ago that the 2012 season got underway, but since the Big Game Treestands #7 team took the green flag in February the schedule has flown by. After nearly ten months of racing all across the United States and parts of Canada the season culminated on Saturday with the cameras from SPEED airing at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in North Carolina.
With a huge field of 50 drivers signed in for the final night of the World Finals, qualifying was already ran on Thursday with the MobileStar #7 holding down the 8th fastest lap. Starting from inside row two of heat three, Dollansky used a great start to motor into 2nd place and held the position to transfer into the all important dash. Just missing the inversion of four, the Aggressive Hydraulics backed sprinter lined up sixth for the 6-lap race and advanced a couple of positions to 4th.
A rough start to the 30-lap A-Main saw the Eaton’s Aeroquip Performance Products backed sprinter drop a few positions on the initial start but then rim-ride around the 4/10-mile track charging to second before the first caution on lap 13. Following another yellow on the restart, Dollansky closed in on leader Dale Blaney as the duo put on an outstanding battle in each turn before ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ powered around the highside of turn two to claim the top spot by lap 19.
As the feature continued, Dollansky lengthened his advantage on the competition and raced into lapped traffic before a red flag five circuits later. Unfortunately while waiting under red flag conditions the right-rear tire on the Big Game Treestands #7 slowly started losing air pressure due to running over some debris.
When the yellow was brought back out, Dollansky tried to keep air pressure in the tire under caution but on the ensuing restart the tire erupted heading into turn three. Following a tough break with a dominant race car, repairs were made and the #7 restarted. Unfortunately in the final seven laps, the Elk River, Minnesota native ran out of fuel with two circuits remaining and was scored 19th.