From Susan Arnold
Cottage Grove, OR — (September 4, 2013) — Joey Saldana hoped that tonight at Cottage Grove Speedway he would have the chance to prove that the improvements the Motter Equipment Fatheadz Eyewear Beltline Body Shop team have made recently to the 71M Sprint car will show performance gains on the track.
After having fallen victim to mechanical issues the past two nights, Saldana was looking for a solid performance this evening and the Motter team accomplished their mission.
None of the 31 competitors came close to breaking the track record of 9.991 seconds set by Saldana in 2007, the same year he won at Cottage Grove.
Tonight the Brownsburg Bullet qualified ninth, lapping the quarter-mile oval in 10.454 seconds.
The Outlaws mathematical formula placed Saldana on the outside of the front row in the third heat. At the green, Saldana took the early lead but Donny Schatz slid by in turn four. With only one lap in the books, the red flag was displayed for Brian Bosworth who flipped in turn two. Bosworth was okay but his car was too heavily damaged to continue. Restart order: Schatz, Saldana, Daryn Pittman, Jason Sides, Craig Dollanksy. Green again. Schatz took the lead once more with Saldana on his bumper. At the halfway point, in hot pursuit of Schatz, Saldana put a straightaway between the 71M and third place Daryn Pittman. With two laps remaining, Jason Sides slipped by Pittman to take third position. At the checkered flag it was Schatz with the win, Saldana second and Sides third.
Next on the racing agenda was the all-important dash. The dash finish determines the starting order for the feature. The inversion draw played into the hands of the Motter team, placing Saldana on the pole with Darrah starting outside of the front row. When the green flew, it was six laps of thrilling, wheel-to-wheel combat with Saldana and Darrah trading the lead throughout the event. At the checkered flag, it was Saldana with the dash win and the pole starting position for the A-Main.
Saldana set the pace in the feature and brought the field down for the green, taking the early lead. With only one lap complete the red flag came out for Steve Kinser who flipped upside down between turns one and two. Also involved was Travis Jacobsen who was okay. Kinser was out of the car quickly and his Bad Boy Buggies machine was taken to the work area and repaired. Kinser returned to the back of the field. Restart: Saldana, Darrah, Kyle Larson, Tim Kaeding. Back to green and Saldana resumed the lead with side-by-side challenges from Darrah. On lap four, Darrah took the lead. On lap 7 Kaeding got by Saldana. With eight laps in the books it was Darrah, Kaeding, Larson and Saldana. By lap 11, the leaders were in heavy traffic. On lap 14, Saldana passed Larson for third and Kaeding got around Darrah for the lead. Between short periods of green flag racing conditions ,there was a caution for a Travis Jacobson spin, another for a flat tire on Madsen’s machine and yet another for contact between Brandon Wimmer and Madsen. Sides and Swindell also retired to their trailers. With 21 laps complete on another restart with Kaeding leading and Larson second, there was an exciting three-wide battle for third between Pittman, Saldana and Schatz, who were running third, fourth and fifth respectively, with no change in the running order. With 28 laps complete Travis Jacobson brought out the red with a series of scary flips, clearing the guardrail. The car came to rest against a tree outside turns one and two. Thankfully Jacobson climbed out of the car. Outlaws officials called for an open red flag period while the accident was cleared.
Restart: Kaeding, Larson, Pittman, Saldana and Schatz with 12 laps remaining. The final laps were run under green conditions with no change in the running order.
Tomorrow night racing resumes in Medford, Ore.