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Elbridge N.Y. – Steve Kinser out of Bloomington, Ind. has been recognized as the “King” of the Outlaws by taking the World of Outlaws championship a record setting 20 times in his career, and Rolling Wheels Raceway is one of favorite tracks to visit. In the 30 times that the Outlaws have been to Rolling Wheels Raceway, he has been dominate at the place with a total of 10 A-Mainwins at the facility.
“I have a lot of confidence coming in here and we have always run real well here, it helps when you come into the gate and you know it’s a place you run good at;normally you have to have that attitude no matter where you go and to be honest it is something I haven’t had in a while. I didn’t change much to the car but a few minor changes; you just have to stay up with the race track. I was running the bottom most of the time in turns one and two and they (track crew)went up and sprinkled the track on the outside. I went up there the first lap and pretty much stayed there after that. I got through lap traffic pretty good, but I did get tied up behind “Haud” (Jac Haudenschild)just for a little while, but you know, we got through pretty good. You have to run consistent in the top five for about ten races to know you have a good racecar. We will take the win and move on to the next show.”
Shane Stewart started out on the pole and Kinser started on the outside pole, taking the lead on the first lap. He never looked back leading all 25 laps to win his 545th career victory.
By lap six, Kinser was already getting into lapped traffic and picking off cars one at a time. Stewart, who was running second for the most of the event, faded back to finish 4th while current point leader Jason Meyers, and defending Outlaws champion Donny Schatz passed by him in turn four to take second and third respectively.
On lap 16 the car of SamHafertepe Jr. pulled off the track and was done for the night. Jason Sides made an early exit as well by having the left rear tire go flat on his No. 7s machine. Jason Meyers was trying to catch Kinser, but he was unsuccessful.
“A couple of times, Steve would get by and they would move up into the line we were all running, it cost me a little bit tonight, but Steve was good, and he always is here. We just weren’t good enough early in the race to kind of be there, we were good at the end, but just not enough.”
Jason Meyers still ends up being the current point leader and I asked him if he was worried about points.
“No, anybody who tells you that they don’t pay attention to the points is lying, you just go out to try to win the race and the points take care of themselves. The track is usually like it always is, and you could pass and have a curb in three and four. I was just trying to be patient tonight and change the car to the track.”
Donny Schatz took home the third place finish and was just happy he got that.
“We didn’t get up there too far, starting in the top six and run third, it was fast, the way the surface is here, everyone goes around at the same speed, so it’shard to pass. I have always liked coming here, but a couple years ago it was a lot more fun when they let it get slick and there was nothing to lean on, its hard to drive, but with my driving style, I like that. Everybody rolls around here so fast and there is all that choppy stuff to lean on, I would rather have itslick off and get it the way I like it.”
I asked him about how it was driving for Tony Stewart Racing and if there is any more pressure from running his own team.
“It’s alright, it is no different than driving for myself, you have to think the same way or at least try too, you have a lot more people hang around when he is around. We have a lot of fun. There is nothing that Tony has to prove to me, and there is nothing that Ihave to prove to Tony, we are he for a reason and I do a good job for him and he does a great job for us, we just have to get victories and everything will be just fine.”
I did get chance to talk with Jessica Zemken driving the No. 1z sponsored by LaSalle Motorsports about her night at the “Fast Track”.
“Time trials and the heat were pretty good, we decided we were going out in the feature starting twelfth and we had to try something to run with these guys, try to set the car up to run the bottom. I have to thank Doug Emery who helped me with the setup I know last year I came here with the 360 and we were pretty good. I don’t think the bottom stayed as much as I thought it would, those guys kind of found the bottom early in the heat races, and it kind of wore off. I just tried the bottom too long and it hurt me, I kept losing it in turns one and two I was good on top in three and four. In turns one and two I was losing it, on the bottom and I should have run the top, but I didn’t feel good there. It was really my fault for sticking down there, and that’s where I lost a lot of spots. I had to try something, but I’m here and racing so that is a plus.”
She went on to say, “We have been trying to rent a 410 and we were in the process of purchasing this one (the engine in the car) and it didn’t come through until about 2 o’clock this morning, there was a guy out in Ohio already and he brought the motor and met us here at the track. It was kind of a last minute deal to run with these guys,we put the motor in the car this morning when we got to the track. This engine is just something to get started with for right now.”
For those of you who would like to know Jessica plans on being a few other places with the World of Outlawsand in other 410 racing events with the sprinter.
“Now that we have an engine, we are going to try and run Lebanon Valley in July, and run Oshweken in July for those two shows and make a trip to Orange County when they come back there in September. If I can come up with money for fuel and tires, and everything else to run those shows, now we have the motor and the initial cost, but if things go really well, we need to get the motor re-freshened; we really have no idea what is in it.”
“I really like the sprint car, because of the speed and traveling to different tracks, and I have always wanted to race a sprint car when I was little and to race against these guys (World of Outlaws); the best in the business. My dad always said that you will never see one of those in my shop, and this is all I have ever wanted to do.”
“To be able to come here with what I know I have and what these guys have, and to be half-way competitive we didn’t run real good in the feature, but most of that was me. It’s alright to get beat by Terry McCarl, it really didn’t hurt my feelings any.”
In other racing action, the DIRTcar Sportsman series was on tap and Dan Wiesner took his first ever feature victory in the series. Full Results are below. For any and all comments good or bad send them to me at tomames@dirttrackdigest.com.
Until next time keep it in the dirt and stay on “TheWrite Track”.
Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car SeriesStatistical Report; Rolling Wheels Raceway Park;Elbridge, NY; May 26, 2008 Qualifying 1) 11-Steve Kinser 16.836 2) 20-Kraig Kinser 16.935 3) 6-Tim Shaffer 16.948 4) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. 17.037 5) 14-Jason Meyers 17.091 6) 83-Shane Stewart 17.115 7) 31-Paul McMahan 17.227 8) 55-Kerry Madsen 17.245 9) 24-Terry McCarl 17.263 10) 15-Donny Schatz 17.314 11) 9-Joey Saldana 17.338 12) 1Z-Jessica Zemken 17.417 13) 8K-Chad Kemenah 17.489 14) 7S-Jason Sides 17.499 15) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 17.502 16) 5C-Chad Hillier 17.607 17) 2-Craig Dollansky 17.608 18) 21-Daryn Pittman 17.683 19) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 17.881 20) 8-Mike Lutz 17.887 21) R19-Jac Haudenschild 17.893 22) 51-Bryan Howland 18.057 23) 9B-Bobby Breen 18.202 24) 8X-Blake Breen 18.417 25) 17J-Lance Young 18.733 26) 33-Doug Emery 18.743 Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred toA-feature) 1) 11-Steve Kinser 2) 15-Donny Schatz 3) 31-Paul McMahan 4) 8K-Chad Kemenah 5) 5C-Chad Hillier 6) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 7) 51-Bryan Howland 8) 17J-Lance Young 9) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred toA-feature) 1) 55-Kerry Madsen 2) 20-Kraig Kinser 3) 9-Joey Saldana 4) 14-Jason Meyers 5) 2-Craig Dollansky 6) 7S-Jason Sides 7) 8-Mike Lutz 8) 9B-Bobby Breen 9) 33-Doug Emery Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred toA-feature) 1) 24-Terry McCarl 2) 83-Shane Stewart 3) 1Z-Jessica Zemken 4) 6-Tim Shaffer 5) 21-Daryn Pittman 6) R19-Jac Haudenschild 7) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 8) 8X-Blake Breen Crane Cams Dash (6 laps, finishing order determinedfirst 10 starting positions of A-feature) 1) 83-Shane Stewart 2) 11-Steve Kinser 3) 20-Kraig Kinser 4) 14-Jason Meyers 5) 55-Kerry Madsen 6) 15-Donny Schatz 7) 9-Joey Saldana 8) 24-Terry McCarl 9) 6-Tim Shaffer 10) 31-Paul McMahan B-main (8 laps, top 4 finishers transferred toA-feature) 1) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 2) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. 3) 51-Bryan Howland 4) 9B-Bobby Breen 5) 8-Mike Lutz 6) 33-Doug Emery 7) 8X-Blake Breen [$200] 8) 17J-Lance Young [$180] A-main (25 laps) - Starting Position [#] 1) 11-Steve Kinser[2] [$10,000] 2) 14-Jason Meyers[4] [$5,500] 3) 15-Donny Schatz[6] [$3,200] 4) 83-Shane Stewart[1] [$2,800] 5) 20-Kraig Kinser[3] [$2,500] 6) 9-Joey Saldana[7] [$2,300] 7) 24-Terry McCarl[8] [$2,200] 8) 31-Paul McMahan[10] [$2,100] 9) 55-Kerry Madsen[5] [$2,050] 10) 2-Craig Dollansky[17] [$2,000] 11) 21-Daryn Pittman[18] [$1,500] 12) 8K-Chad Kemenah[13] [$1,200] 13) 6-Tim Shaffer[9] [$1,100] 14) R19-Jac Haudenschild[20] [$1,050] 15) 1Z-Jessica Zemken[12] [$1,000] 16) 5C-Chad Hillier[16] [$900] 17) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.[11] [$800] 18) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[15] [$800] 19) 8-Mike Lutz[23] [$800] 20) 7S-Jason Sides[14] [$800] 21) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[19] [$800] 22) 33-Doug Emery[24] [$800] 23) 9B-Bobby Breen[22] [$800] 24) 51-Bryan Howland[21] [$800] Lap Leaders: Steve Kinser 1-25 Chicken Hawk Hot Lap Award: Steve Kinser Penske Power Position: Donny Schatz KSE Hard Charger Award: Craig Dollansky Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Championship Series Race #2 –Rolling Wheels Raceway Park , May 26, 2008 ‘Aramark30’ Event Summary FIN STR CAR# DRIVER 1 10 66 Dan Wiesner/ Geneva , NY ($1,000) 2 3 71 Mike Bowman/St.Catharines,ONT 3 5 17t Todd Town/Jordan,NY 4 2 85 John Pietrowicz/ Phoenix , NY 5 7 21h Don Spatorico/Ransomville,NY 6 16 21jj Jim Johnstone/Niagara-o-t-Lake,ONT 7 12 14 Jeremy Pitcher/ Fulton , NY 8 6 01 Chris Raabe/Napanee,ONT 9 19 777 Tyler McPherson/St.Catharines,ONT 10 14 20x Kevin Ridley/ Geneva , NY 11 8 p38 Rob Pratt/Brockport,NY 12 15 4 Daryl Hilkert/Potter,NY 13 13 19w Justin Wright/Piffard,NY 14 24 08 Mark D'Ilario/Smithville,ONT 15 25 6 Mat Williamson/St.Catharines,ONT 16 17 67g Eric Giguere/Waterloo,NY 17 30 24 Brandon Sweet/ Watertown , NY 18 20 51 Josh Hefti/ Elbridge , NY 19 18 2kh Chris Hile/Syracuse,NY 20 33 6x Chad Chevalier/Port Colborne,ONT 21 1 1h Bill Hallett/Byron,NY 22 29 77x Brandon Planck/Cortland,NY 23 27 70 Brady Fultz/ Dundee , NY 24 26 06j Jordan Bennett/Pennellville,NY 25 22 11 Mike Mandigo/ Wegatchie , NY 26 32 140 Mark Dixon / Durham ,ONT 27 11 10 Tim Currier/ Auburn , NY 28 28 2k Rob Knapp/St.Catharines,ONT 29 31 52 James Friesen/St.Catharines,ONT 30 4 8s Justin Sharp/St.Catharines,ONT 31 9 99p Greg Panunte/Port Colborne,ONT 32 21 3k A.J. Kingsley/Fulton,NY 33 23 62 Rick Bellante/St.Catharines,ONT DID NOT QUALIFY(19) 1-Matt Smith/ Canandaigua , NY m1-David Marcuccilli/Cayuga,NY jvs1-Jim Spano/ Skaneateles , NY 3-Fran Hilton/ Waterloo , NY 8-Joe Cook Jr./ Seneca Castle , NY 9r-Tyler Rand/ Ottawa ,ONT 12-Brandon Hagan/ Plessis , NY 17-Marcus Dinkins/Watkins Glen,NY 17d-Tom Juhl/Weedsport,NY 18h-Todd Henderson/Canandaigua,NY 25g-Nick Guererri/Waterloo,NY 26h-Luke Carleton/Port Colborne,ONT 38-Ryan Susice/ Ransomville , NY 51x-Cody McPherson/St.Catharines,ONT 55-Matt Hulsizer/ Bridgeport , NY 57s-Beth Schneider/ Cicero , NY 74x-Jim Evans Jr./ Memphis , NY 76-Rob Bussey/ Canandaigua , NY 84-Rick Quick/ Scotia , NY LAP LEADERS: Pietrowicz (1-8), Bowman (9-23), Wiesner(24-30). CAUTIONS: 3 (lap 8, lap 19, lap 27); 1 RED FLAG (lap4). HEAT WINNERS: Panunte, Pitcher, Bowman, Spatorico,Raabe, Wiesner. CONSI WINNERS: Williamson, Bennett, Fultz. SYRACUSE TOWN MECHANICAL 30 QUALIFIER: Danny Wiesner. HOLLEY HARD LUCK: Rick Bellante. CARS ENTERED: 52. NEXT EVENT: Rolling Wheels Raceway Park - July 3,2008. QUALIFYING Heat Races (8 laps, top 4 finishers transferred tofeature, top 2 went to re-draw) #1: Panunte, Sharp, Wright, T.McPherson, Knapp,C.McPherson, Hagan, Rand, Smith (DNS). #2: Pitcher, Pratt, Ridley, Hefti, Williamson,Friesen, Marcuccilli, Henderson, Dinkins. #3: Bowman, Hallett, Hilkert, Kingsley, Planck,Chevalier, Dixon , Carleton, Quick. #4: Spatorico, Town, Johnstone, Mandigo, Bennett,Susice, Bussey, Evans, Guererri. #5: Raabe, Pietrowicz, Giguere, Bellante, Fultz,Schneider, Hulsizer, Cook. #6: Wiesner, Currier, Hile, D’Ilario, Juhl, Spano,Sweet, Hilton. Consolation Round (8 laps, top 2 finishers transferredto feature) #1: Williamson, Knapp, Henderson , Friesen,Marcuccilli, Hagan, C.McPherson, Carleton, Dinkins,Rand (DNS), Smith (DNS). #2: Bennett, Planck, Susice, Bussey, Chevalier,Guererri, Dixon , Quick, Evans. #3: Fultz, Sweet, Hulsizer, Schneider, Hilton, Cook,Juhl, Spano (DNS). Guarantees: Friesen, Dixon . Provisional: Chevalier. |
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