From Kraig Kinser Racing PR
Bl;oomington, IN — (May 12, 2013) — Kraig Kinser’s main goal this past weekend at Knoxville Raceway and Elko Speedway was to solidly make the feature each night, complete all the laps and come away with two respectable finishes to make up for a tough weekend at Eldora the previous one. He was able to accomplish this as he finished 15th or better both nights, including gaining eight spots in the main event to come home 13th at Knoxville on Saturday night against the largest field of cars assembled all season.
Kinser lined up 21st at Knoxville Raceway in Iowa, on Saturday, May 11, and used a trio of yellow and red flags to methodically work his way forward in an attrition-filled race. The third-generation driver gained a spot at the drop of the green flag of the 25-lap main event and had moved up four positions, just four laps into the race. The first red flag was displayed on the sixth lap, at which point, Kinser found himself in 16th. He would run near that spot for the next 13 laps and used a strong restart following a lap-19 red flag to move into 15th. The native of Bloomington, Ind., would gain two more spots in the late going to cross the line 13th in the Casey’s General Store/Mesilla Valley Transportation Maxim.
“We are getting closer to where we need to be, but are still not quite there yet,” said Kinser. “The competition is just so tough right now with the Outlaws that if you are just a little bit off you are scratching and clawing to make the feature. Looking at the field at Knoxville, it was about half the Knoxville Nationals field there, so that was about as tough as it gets for an early season event at that track.”
The 2005 winner of the Knoxville Nationals opened the night by turning the 26th-fastest lap in time trials with a season-high 51 cars in attendance. Kinser lined up sixth in the first eight-lap heat race, with just the top-four finishers transferring to the A-Feature as a five heat race program was in effect. The third-generation driver got by current series point leader Daryn Pittman and Ian Madsen to finish fourth in the heat race and earn a spot in the 25-lap A-Feature.
Kinser opened the weekend on Friday, May 11 in the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series debut at Elko Speedway in Minnesota. The paved three-eighths-mile was covered with dirt and hosted a very strong field of 34 cars and a huge crowd. Kinser was 11th-fastest in time trials and finished third in the third 10-lap heat race to earn a spot in the 40-lap main event. He lined up 16th on a very technical race track and ended up crossing the finish line in 15th, after the race was interrupted by rain on lap-34, which cut the feature short.
“Elko was very unique and a pretty tricky track and you really had to hit your marks,” he shared. “It was great to see such a big crowd and it was unfortunate the rain came there at the end. We might have been able to gain a few more spots if we would have had that last restart, but you never know. The main thing is we were able to complete all the laps and roll the car on the trailer in one piece.”
Next up for the third-generation driver is the first East Coast Swing of the season for the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series. Five races in seven nights await Kinser and his fellow competitors with three of those races in the sprint car hotbed of Central Pennsylvania. Kinser will enter that stretch of races 12th in the series standings, with eight top-10 finishes thus far in 2013.
“Going to Central Pennsylvania is always a challenge,” noted Kinser. “The guys out there are some of the toughest we face all season and you really have to be on your game, especially in qualifying. Where you time in and start in a heat race can really make or break your whole night. We’ll give it everything we have and hopefully come away with some good finishes.”
Kraig Kinser Racing would like to thank Casey’s General Stores, Mesilla Valley Transportation, Maxim, Aerodine Composites, Sander Engineering, Integra Shocks, All Star Performance, FK Rod Ends, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Bell, KSE Racing Products, ButlerBuilt, Schoenfeld Headers, Donovan Engineering, Fel-Pro, Brodix, Wilwood, Dyer’s, Barnes Systems, Ringer Gloves, Jakes Custom Golf Carts, and Ben Cook Racing Limited for their continued support.
Elko Speedway & Knoxville Raceway Results
| Date | Time Trials |
Heat Start |
Heat Finish | Dash Start | Dash Finish | Feature Start | Feature Finish | Points |
| May 10 | 11th | 2nd | 3rd | N/A | N/A | 16th | 15th | 12th |
| May 11 | 26th | 6th | 4th | N/A | N/A | 21st | 13th | 12th |
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