From Susan Arnold
Barberville, FL — (February 16, 2013) — After rain washed out the first two days of racing at the UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit Racing Equipment, competition got underway tonight at Volusia Speedway Park.
Opening night of the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Series saw fierce battles with the winged sprint cars running high and low on a heavy race track, flinging mud as high as the light poles.
There were 40 entries in tonight’s event, and after posting third fastest time in practice, Saldana drove the Motter Equipment Fatheadz Eyewear 71M car to the No. 17 qualifying position with a 13.261-second lap around the world’s fastest half-mile dirt track.
Ten cars competed in heat one with Saldana and Greg Wilson in a hard-fought battle for the fifth and final transfer spot to the A main. Saldana finished sixth but used a very impressive wire-to-wire win in the B Main to transfer to the 16th starting position in the A Main, finishing 12th in the first race of the season.
“The rain the past couple of days created some challenging racing conditions,” said Saldana, known as the Brownsburg Bullet. “The track kept getting stickier and faster as the night wore on and during the A Main it was so sticky it was hard for anyone to pass.
“We were doing wheel stands on the straight-a-ways in the Motter Equipment Fatheadz Eyewear 71M nearly every lap. It was a handful tonight, but we are excited to be getting some track time after the rain delays.
“Tomorrow’s weather forecast calls for freezing conditions so we will have an interesting set of tuning challenges but our team is up for the challenges!”
Saldana won back-to-back UNOH DIRTcar Nationals titles in 2010 and 2011 and World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series A-Features at Volusia Speedway Park in 2009 and 2006.
Tonight’s feature was won by Daryn Pittman.