Madsen explained in victory lane that even though the fast line for most of the evening was right at the top of the speedway, the track conditions were way different than he had witnessed recently.
“I’ve never ran a race here like that where you had to be so slow, it wasn’t typical Eldora,” said Madsen. “It probably wasn’t our strong suit, but the guys worked so hard on the car. The car was unbelievable; I couldn’t be happier with the win.”
Madsen started on the front row with Donny Schatz and got the jump going into turn one to take the lead with Brady Bacon and David Gravel in tow. One lap later Bacon tagged the wall coming off turn two and lost several positions. By lap five Kemenah was making a quick run up from his 10th starting spot taking third away from Gravel by lap five and setting sail after the leaders.
While Madsen continued to pull away Kemenah started to apply pressure to Schatz for the second spot. Kemenah finally got a run under Schatz off of turn four on lap eight to take away second. At that point Madsen had built up a sizeable lead, but was starting to enter slower traffic. By lap 13 Kemenah was applying heavy pressure to Madsen for the lead. Five laps later though Madsen began to open up his lead again as Kemenah tried to keep pace. At one point Madsen started to run the bottom to clear lapped cars, but quickly returned to the top.
“When I got to lapped cars and I couldn’t quite rip around then I ran the bottom I knew it was time to move, but I’m not patient enough to stay down there. It doesn’t feel very fast,” said Madsen. “I didn’t want my tires to go cold putting around the bottom, so when I moved around it gave me better momentum.”
With three laps to go Kemenah closed in again, but was unable to overcome Madsen’s momentum around the top side as he went on to victory over Kemenah and Gravel.
Madsen had Kemenah challenge him multiple times during the feature using the bottom of the race track. At one point Madsen went down to the bottom to keep Kemenah at bay, but it was short lived as Madsen returned to the top of the speedway.
For Madsen the win was rewarding after chasing the setup on their car for several weeks.
“Our specialty is probably being wide open banging the wall down on the cushion. I was a little nervous, I’m not going to lie, with (Donny) Schatz on the front row. I told myself ‘if he goes off and leads it is what it is’. It’s such a good team you can’t take anything for granted,” said Madsen. “When we got the line I figured Donny would be coming at any minute. I just tried to keep my head down and make smart decisions. You could not go as fast as you wanted to. You really had to respect (the track). I ran a medium pace through the center and you just had to life, keep the car straight, and keep the tire under it. Credit to my guys for giving me such a good car that I could move off line. The most I did it the more confident I got, it was fantastic.”
For Kemenah a second place finish continued a hot start for the Rob Hunter owned team wrenched by Kemenah’s brother Brian.
“We have a pretty good thing going right now,” said Kemenah. “When we switched to the Maxim (chassis) it turned out program around. We’re just having fun right now and that’s what matters.”
World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series
Eldora Speedway
Rossburg, OH
Friday May 6, 2016
Qualifications Flight #1:
1. 83 – Joey Saldana, 13.947
2. 22 – Cole Duncan, 14.097
3. 49 – Brad Sweet, 14.168
4. 29 – Kerry Madsen, 14.367
5. 15 – Donny Schatz, 14.478
6. 7 – Paul McMahan, 14.515
7. 17W – Bryan Clauson, 14.547
8. 71 – Jamie Veal, 14.600
9. 49 – Tim Shaffer, 14.614
10. 82 – Dusty Zomer, 14.672
11. 23 – Trey Starks, 14.808
12. 1ST – Gary Taylor, 14.950
13. 19M – Brent Marks, 15.044
14. 21 – D.J. Foos, 15.129
15. 33M – Caleb Griffith, 15.200
16. 23C – Tyler Courtney, 15.315
17. 5T – Travis Philo, 15.357
18. 97 – Dean Jacobs, 15.447
19. 11N – Randy Hannagan, 15.538
20. 1A – Jacob Allen, 15.545
21. 35 – Stuart Brubaker, 16.152
22. 57 – Gary Edwards, 17.275
Qualifications Flight #2:
1. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 14.271
2. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 14.312
3. 5 – David Gravel, 14.376
4. 99 – Brady Bacon, 14.417
5. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 14.426
6. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 14.485
7. 71M – Dave Blaney, 14.493
8. 2 – Shane Stewart, 14.501
9. 1 – Sammy Swindell, 14.552
10. W20 – Greg Wilson, 14.577
11. 41 – Jason Johnson, 14.609
12. 7S – Jason Sides, 14.705
13. 6 – Jac Haudenschild, 14.827
14. 71MX – Paul May, 14.881
15. 93 – Sheldon Haudenschild, 15.007
16. O7 – Jacob Wilson, 15.131
17. 23X – DJ Foos, 15.132
18. 19 – Paige Polyak, 15.185
19. 70 – Danny Holtgraver, 15.347
20. 20N – Hunter Schuerenberg, 15.431
21. 2X – Parker Price-Miller, 15.539
22. 40 – Caleb Helms, 15.654
23. 35 – Wes McGlumphy, 17.050
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps): 1. 49 – Brad Sweet, 2. 15 – Donny Schatz, 3. 83 – Joey Saldana, 4. 17W – Bryan Clauson, 5. 49X – Tim Shaffer, 6. 23 – Trey Starks, 7. 33M – Caleb Griffith, 8. 19M – Brent Marks, 9. 11N – Randy Hannagan, 10. 5T – Travis Philo, 11. 35 – Stuart Brubaker. (First five finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps): 1. 22 – Cole Duncan, 2. 29 – Kerry Madsen, 3. 82 – Dusty Zomer, 4. 7 – Paul McMahan, 5. 71 – Jamie Veal, 6. 1ST – Gary Taylor, 7. 21 – Cap Henry, 8. 23C – Tyler Courtney, 9. 97 – Dean Jacobs, 10. 1A – Jacob Allen, 11. 57 – Gary Edwards. (First five finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps): 1. 1. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 2. 5 – David Gravel, 3. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 4. 2 – Shane Stewart, 5. 7S – Jason Sides, 6. 07 – Jacob Wilson, 7. 20N – Hunter Schuerenberg, 8. 40 – Caleb Helms, 9. 19P – Paige Polyak, 10. 07 – Jacob Wilson, 11. 71MX – Paul May. (First five finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps): 1. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 2. 99 – Brady Bacon, 3. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 4. 6 – Jac Haudenschild, 5. 93 – Sheldon Haudenschild, 6. 1 – Sammy Swindell, 7. 2X – Parker Price-Miller, 8. 23 – DJ Foos, 9. 41 – Jason Johnson, 10. 35X – Wes McGlumphy, 11. 70 – Danny Holtgraver. (First five finishers transferred to the A-Main)
C-Main (10 Laps): 1. 11N – Randy Hannagan, 2. 20N – Hunter Schuerenberg, 3. 97 – Dean Jacobs, 4. 22 – Caleb Helms, 5. 70 – Danny Holtgraver, 6. 2X – Parker Price-Miller, 7. 35 – Stuwart Brubaker, 8. 1A – Jacob Allen, 9. 35X – Wes McGlumphy. (First two finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Dash: 1. 29 – Kerry Madsen, 2. 15 – Donny Schatz, 3. 99 – Brady Bacon, 4. 5 – David Gravel, 5. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 6. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 7. 22 – Cole Duncan, 8. 49 – Brad Sweet. (Finish determined the first eight starting positions for the A-Main)
B-Main (12 Laps): 1. 23 – Trey Starks, 2. 1 – Sammy Swindell, 3. W20 – Greg Wilson, 4. 1St – Greg Wilson, 5. 5T – Travis Philo, 6. 19M – Brent Marks, 7. 41 – Jason Johnson, 8. 21 – Cap Henry, 9. 11N – Randy Hannagan, 10. 20N – Hunter Schuerenberg, 11. 71MX – Paul May, 12. 23C – Tyler Courtney, 13. 19 – Paige Polyak, 14. 33M – Caleb Griffith, 15. 07 – Jacob Wilson, 16. 23X – DJ Foos. (First four finishers transferred to the A-Main)
A-Main (30 Laps): 1. 29 – Kerry Madsen, 2. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 3. 5 – David Gravel, 4. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 5. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 6. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 7. W20 – Greg Wilson, 8. 99 – Brady Bacon, 9. 15 – Donny Schatz, 10. 22 – Cole Duncan, 11. 17W – Bryan Clauson, 12. 49 – Brad Sweet, 13. 7S – Jason Sides, 14. 49X – Tim Shaffer, 15. 1ST – Gary Taylor, 16. 83 – Joey Saldana , 17. 82 – Dusty Zomer, 18. 93 – Sheldon Haudenschild, 19. 2 – Shane Stewart, 20. 1 – Sammy Swindell, 21. 71 – Jamie Veal, 22. 7 – Paul McMahan, 23. 41 – Jason Johnson, 24. 23 – Trey Starks, 25. 6M – Jac Haudenschild.
Lap Leaders: Madsen 1-30
2. 49 – Brad Sweet, 13. 7S – Jason Sides, 14. 49X – Tim Shaffer, 15. 1ST – Gary Taylor, 16. 83 – Joey Saldana , 17. 82 – Dusty Zomer, 18. 93 – Sheldon Haudenschild, 19. 2 – Shane Stewart, 20. 1 – Sammy Swindell, 21. 71 – Jamie Veal, 22. 7 – Paul McMahan, 23. 41 – Jason Johnson, 24. 23 – Trey Starks, 25. 6M – Jac Haudenschild.
Lap Leaders: Madsen 1-30