From Inside Line Promotions
Lake Odessa, MI — (June 4, 2013) — Last weekend was a light one for Big Game Motorsports.
After Friday’s World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series event at Attica Raceway Park in Attica, Ohio, was postponed because of rain, the lone race on the schedule was the NAPA Auto Parts Rumble in Michigan on Saturday at I-96 Speedway.
Big Game Treestands backed Sammy Swindell qualified second quickest and the Eyecon Trail Cameras car piloted by Craig Dollansky timed in 13th quickest on the half-mile oval. It marked the third consecutive race that Swindell has qualified in the top three.
Knowing that he needed to finish in the top six of his heat race to advance to the dash, Swindell made conservative laps during his heat and finished sixth with an ill-handling car.
“The cars get quite a bit different when you’re in traffic and racing with people,” he said. “We tried something different in the heat and it wasn’t very good. I knew all I had to do was run in the top six so it wasn’t worth the risk. We tried to make a few changes for the dash and it was a little better.”
The dash was inverted by six and Swindell started inside the third row. He finished sixth during a dicy race, which game him the sixth starting position for the main event.
Dollansky, who missed the heat race inversion by one spot during qualifying, also drove the Eyecon Trail Cameras car to a sixth-place finish in his heat race to advance to the feature.
After starting 13th, Dollansky dropped two positions in the first four laps before rallying. He advanced from 11th to ninth on Lap 14 and cracked the top five on Lap 16. The Eyecon Trail Cameras car passed Jason Sides for fourth place on the final lap to earn Dollansky the KSE Hard Charger Award.
“We ended up pulling ourselves out of the hole after I didn’t qualify very well,” he said. “It wasn’t easy to pass on, but we were able to get a few cars. I was just trying to go where they weren’t and a couple of restarts worked into our favor. The leaders were right there in front of us.”
A rock drilled a shock and locked it up early in the feature for Swindell, who maintained a top 10 for the entire race in the Big Game Treestands car. Swindell finished eighth to earn his 17th top 10 this season.
“Our main event didn’t go so good,” he said. “It seemed like most of the starts I was in the wrong place. It seemed like every time I lost spots until one at the end when I gained three or four of them back.”
As Big Game Motorsports prepares for a busy week with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series, Swindell remains fourth in the championship standings and Dollansky is sixth.
The teams begin a stretch of four races in different states during a five-day span starting Wednesday at Kokomo Speedway in Kokomo, Ind. On Friday, the series will compete at 34 Raceway in Burlington, Iowa, for the first time since 2009 before a trip to Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., on Saturday. The weekend concludes on Sunday with the first World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series event at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb., in a decade.
QUICK RESULTS –
DOLLANSKY:
June 1 – I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Mich. – Qualifying: 13; Heat race: 6 (5); Feature: 4 (13).
SWINDELL:
June 1 – I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Mich. – Qualifying: 2; Heat race: 6 (4); Dash: 6 (5); Feature: 8 (6).
SEASON STATS –
DOLLANSKY : 28 races, 2 wins, 7 top fives, 15 top 10s, 20 top 15s, 26 top 20s
SWINDELL : 28 races, 1 win, 7 top fives, 17 top 10s, 24 top 15s, 27 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Wednesday at Kokomo Speedway in Kokomo, Ind.; Friday at 34 Raceway in Burlington, Iowa; Saturday at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.; and Sunday at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb., with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series
LIVE AUDIO –
Keep up with Big Game Motorsports via free, live audio from DIRTVision at every World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series event throughout the season. For more information, click DIRTVision.com.
MEDIA LINKS –
Big Game Treestands: www.BigGameTreestands.com
Aggressive Hydraulics: www.AggressiveHydraulics.com
MobileStar: www.MobileStar.us/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Big_Game_
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/