From Susan Arnold
Haubstadt, IN — (April 20, 2013) — Though Joey Saldana, driver of the Motter Equipment Fatheadz Eyewear 71M Sprint Car, has finished second in World of Outlaws competition at Tri-State Speedway three times, he has never won at this track.
Motter Motorsports team owner Dan Motter celebrated in victory circle in 1995 with driver Stevie Smith.
Even though Motter was not at Tri-State Speedway Saturday night, he hoped to bring an extra dose of good fortune to help Saldana break into the win column at this track.
The team, coming into this event second in point standings, finished second in their heat race, won the dash, earned the pole for the A-Main and led 14 laps before contact
with another car threw the 71M team a curve ball.
Saldana was the No. 4 qualifier with a 12.082-second lap around the quarter-mile high banked dirt oval.
In the final heat race of the night, Saldana started on the outside of the second row. With one lap complete, the red flag flew when Chad Blonde and Robert Ballou made contact and got sideways, dancing down the front straight before Blonde began a series of flips, coming to rest in turn one. Blonde was okay but his car was taken back to the pit area on the hook of the wrecker. Ballou was able to continue with a damaged wing. Saldana gained one position in the first lap and was third as Steve Kinser brought the field down for the restart with nine to go. On the double file restart, Saldana traded with Kinser for the lead and then Kinser regained the lead. Saldana was riding in second with Greg Wilson challenging. With three to go, Saldana was in control of second place and was closing in on Steve Kinser, but Kinser held on for the win, with Saldana second, earning a position in the dash.
The dash inversion draw was the No. 4 ping pong ball, putting Saldana on the pole of the dash for the first time this season.
“We are excited about the draw going in our favor,” said the Brownsburg Bullet. “This 71M team is quite capable of winning.”
The signature yellow Motter Equipment Fatheadz Eyewear car jumped to the lead when the green flew to start the dash and with three laps to go, Saldana had more than a one-second advantage on second place. With two laps remaining the yellow flew for Jac Haudenschild who got into the turn one wall. Haudenschild was able to restart. Saldana brought the field down for a single file restart and maintained the lead to the checker, notching his second dash victory of the season.
With a wire-to-wire win in the dash, Saldana earned his first pole of the year for the A-Main.
Energized by a win in the dash and earning pole position for the feature, it was time for the 71M team to continue their sterling performance in the money round.
After the four-wide salute to the fans, Saldana brought the field down for the start of the 40-lap A-Main. By the backstretch of lap one, Saldana had solidified the lead. With
36 laps to go, there was a yellow when Steve Kinser got sideways, catching Brad Sweet, and Sam Hafertepe, Jr. with nowhere to go. One of Sweet’s front tires was damaged so badly it wasn’t touching the ground so he went to the work area as did
Hafertefe Jr. Sweet was able to return to action while Hafertefe climbed out of his mount, finished for the evening. Simultaneously, Pittman suffered a flat tire racing with Kinser and pulled into the infield to change the tire.
At the single file restart Cody Darrah and Joey Saldana established a fierce battle for the lead. They bumped wheels and exchanged slide jobs while trading off the lead and second place. With 16 laps to go, the red flag flew when Darrah tried to take the lead from Saldana and slid into the 71M. The collision caused Darrah to flip upside down in turn two. His car sustained too much damage to continue, while Saldana’s car was mortally wounded with a bent front axle and right side damage to the wing. The radius rods, tie rod and drag links were straight and Saldana, still credited with the lead, could restart. He thought he still might be able to race. When he brought the field down for the restart, it was apparent the axle was bent too far back and he couldn’t steer the car. He dropped from first to 12th in one lap before retreating to the work area. Saldana did return to the race track but finished a disappointing 21st.
“The set up on the car was spot on,” said team owner Motter. “The track was good from the standpoint that you could really move around and fight for position, but racing accidents can spoil your day. This is the first time we were unable to finish a race this season. We feel we had the car to win tonight. We’re glad Joey and Cody were okay, and we’ll look forward to a great comeback next Friday night in Salina, Okla.”
Tim Kaeding won in Haubstadt, David Gravel was second and Paul McMahan rounded out the podium.