Huset's Speedway results 2008-06-13

A Familiar Trip: Dollansky Returns to Victory Lane at Huset's Speedway

Brandon, SD-- June 13, 2008--Huset's Speedway has always been a special place for Craig Dollansky to race at. He won in his first ever start at the track back in 1995 and has had a great deal of success over the years at the high-banked 3/8-mile, where he has a very large legion of fans and supporters.

After finishing second at the track last season with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, he was bound and determined to win this season at the track, which he did on Friday night, winning a thriller over Donny Schatz and Jason Meyers to take home the $10,000 top prize.

"It feels great to win here," said Dollansky who has five career wins at Huset's Speedway. "When I get asked what some of my favorite tracks are, Huset's is always one that I mention. When the race track is prepared like this, there is always great racing. That is what the fans come out to see and there are some of the best fans in the country out here. I couldn't be happier. Snap-on Tools was here tonight and to win with them here is great. This was a total team effort and my crew guys did a great job."

Dollansky lined up third in the Auto Value Parts Stores/Snap-on Maxim and quickly moved into the second position on the opening lap, charging past Danny Lasoski. He began to track down early leader Shane Stewart as front runners were in traffic just four laps into the 35-lap event. Dollansky took the lead on the fifth lap exiting the second turn as Stewart jumped the cushion and brushed the wall. As the pair exited the fourth turn and went down the front straightaway side-by-side, it was Stewart officially being credited with the lead. By the time the pair exited the first turn, it was Dollansky taking the lead on lap six.

He began to pull away as Stewart had his hands full with Donny Schatz who was looking to move into second. Dollansky was able to put a few lapped cars between himself and the other contenders after taking the lead on the sixth lap. Schatz got around Stewart on the 11th circuit and began to track down Dollansky.

After clearing all of the lapped cars, Schatz chased Dollansky for a couple of laps, before diving under him coming off the fourth turn on the 17th lap to take the lead. He quickly opened a few car length lead as Dollansky got bottled up in traffic.

"I didn't feel like the race got away from us at that point," explained Dollansky. "I knew I could stay with them and lapped traffic can make or break you sometimes. We're glad we had another opportunity late in the race."

After going non-stop for the first 23 laps, the caution flag flew on the 24th go-around. On the restart, Dollansky used a textbook slide job in turns one and two to inch ahead of Schatz and retake the lead. He quickly pulled out to an eight-car length lead.

"In open track that car (the No. 15) has been operating pretty well lately, so I knew that on a restart that would be our opportunity to get the lead back," noted the winner. "We got that chance and we took advantage of it."

A red flag with nine laps to go for a Dusty Zomer flip, set up a shootout between Dollansky, Schatz and Jason Meyers who was running third.

Another strong restart propelled Dollansky to a healthy lead as the laps wound down. With five to go, he was again in traffic, which he masterfully sliced his way through to pick up his third A-Feature win of the season and the 24th of his World of Outlaws career.

"I was just trying to pick my way through it," he said of lapped traffic. "I was somewhat trying to be cautious, because our car got loose and I was concerned about that. Donny (Schatz) got by me and fortunately we got a restart and had another shot at him."

Schatz and Meyers waged an epic battle late in the race, trading the runner-up spot four times. On the last lap, there was heavy contact as Schatz got into Meyers exiting the fourth turn, causing Meyers to nearly spin as he came down the front straightaway.

"We had a really good car," said Schatz after his runner-up finish. "We had a right front torsion bar come out at the middle of the race. We were all right as long as we were in traffic, but we got the yellows and then I made a mistake going into the first corner and there was nothing I could do to keep it up. I slammed the frame rail down and got passed."

Schatz, who extended his lead in the championship standings on Friday night as he chases his third consecutive title, nearly got into the wall with four laps to go exiting the fourth turn.

"There was some good racing at the end," he said. "I have always raced those guys in the (No.) 14 clean and I don't expect them to pull over. He used me up more than eight times and I just returned the favor. That's the way it goes, I guess."

Meyers picked up his series leading 16th Top-Five finish of the season as he wound up third in the GLR Investment KPC. He started the 35-lap event in the eighth spot and quickly worked his way to the front. He gained two spots on the opening lap and was in the Top-Five by just the fourth lap. He then began the first of two epic battles with Schatz. The pair jockeyed for the third position from the fourth lap through the eighth lap and then for the runner-up spot over the final 10 laps of the contest.

"It's kind of disappointing," said Meyers. "We have always raced Donny (Schatz) clean and tonight he decided not to do that. It was a great run for the team. I thought we had at least a second-place car. It's just unfortunate that they want to race that way. We'll just go on to the next race and keep doing what we are doing and keep beating that (No.) 15 car."

Late in the race, Schatz did his best to hold on to his Armor All J&J after losing the right front torsion bar. His runner-up finish was his series leading 19th Top-10 run of the year, as he remains the only driver that has finished in the Top-10 in each and every event. He led a total of 11 laps before Dollansky got around him on the late restart.

"There is nothing you can do about it," said Schatz of the red flag with 11 laps to go. "I knew we had a little problem and that the bar was missing. It gave me a little time to try to figure out what to do with the race car to get around there. It was still pretty good. The (No.) 2 was out in clean race track and I thought we would have a chance at him. I was a little too busy playing bumper cars with the (No.) 14 and that's the way it goes."

Meyers used a strong restart with 11 laps to go to keep pace with Dollansky. After Schatz got by him on the 27th lap, he charged back around him on the next circuit. He began the night by turning in the third-fastest lap in time trials.

"I pulled the winged back to try and get through the middle better and it didn't really help me in the middle and hurt me on the top," he explained. "Craig (Dollansky) is always good in open air on the cushion. I thought we kind of had something for him and we got to racing with Donny (Schatz) and that slowed us down."

Jac Haudenschild picked up his seventh Top-Five finish of the season on Friday night, coming home fourth in the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim, which moved him into the Top-Five in the championship standings.

"The car felt real good tonight," said the veteran driver. "We have a strong program going. Leonard Lee and Marie (Lapointe) are working good and the car is right every night. All I have to do is drive it."

Chad Kemenah picked up his third Top-Five finish of the season aboard the Kantor Oil Company Maxim, as he wound up fifth.

Shane Stewart was sixth in the Roth Motorsports KPC, with Kerry Madsen just behind him in the TK Concrete Maxim. Jason Sides was eighth in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim, with Joey Saldana in ninth in the Budweiser/Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI, with six-time Huset's Speedway track champion Terry McCarl rounding out the Top-10 in the Big Game Treestands Eagle.

Steve Kinser, the 20-time World of Outlaws champion picked up the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award after starting 24th and finishing in 12th aboard the Q Oil Maxim.

The Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series returns to action on Saturday night in the Eagle Nationals at Eagle Raceway in Nebraska.

HUSET'S SPEEDWAY NOTEBOOK

* THE IRON MAN OF THE OUTLAWS: Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series announcer Johnny Gibson attended his 1,100 consecutive series event on Friday night at Huset's Speedway. The streak began on October 14, 1995 at The U.S. Dirt Nationals at Terre Haute Action Track in Indiana. Known from coast-to-coast as the "Voice of the Outlaws" he began announcing for the series in 1997 and thus has been present at every single event he has announced over the course of that time.

* FAST QUALIFIER: Kerry Madsen paced the 30 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked 3/8-mile oval at 10.722 seconds at 125.909 mph. For his qualifying effort, Madsen earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Sam Hafertepe Jr. (4), Jason Meyers (3), Terry McCarl (2), and Jac Haudenschild (1).

* QUALIFYING WINNERS: Danny Lasoski, Shane Stewart and Justin Henderson won heat races...Shane Stewart won the Crane Cams Dash... Billy Alley won the B-Main.

* UP NEXT: The Eagle Nationals at Eagle Raceway in Nebraska on Saturday, June 14.

Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Huset's Speedway; Brandon, SD; June 13, 2008

Qualifying
1) 55-Kerry Madsen 10.722
2) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 10.724
3) 14-Jason Meyers 10.725
4) 24-Terry McCarl 10.738
5) R19-Jac Haudenschild 10.738
6) 15-Donny Schatz 10.739
7) 5Z-Dusty Zomer 10.747
8) 2-Craig Dollansky 10.794
9) 56-John Cressman 10.810
10) 5-Danny Lasoski 10.819
11) 83-Shane Stewart 10.822
12) D1-Justin Henderson 10.828
13) 7S-Jason Sides 10.837
14) 8K-Chad Kemenah 10.845
15) 28-Brian Paulus 10.854
16) 22-Billy Alley 10.875
17) 57X-Jake Peters 10.880
18) 9-Joey Saldana 10.881
19) 20-Kraig Kinser 10.882
20) 21-Daryn Pittman 10.889
21) 11X-Gregg Bakker 10.914
22) 12L-John Lambertz 10.914
23) 6-Tim Shaffer 10.943
24) 11-Steve Kinser 10.943
25) 13-Mark Dobmeier 10.997
26) 5C-Chad Hillier 11.026
27) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. 11.029
28) 9M-Marlon Jones 11.251
29) 33-Gordy Vogelaar 11.385
30) 101-Chuck McGillivray 11.723

Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 5-Danny Lasoski
2) 5Z-Dusty Zomer
3) 24-Terry McCarl
4) 55-Kerry Madsen
5) 20-Kraig Kinser
6) 7S-Jason Sides
7) 13-Mark Dobmeier
8) 22-Billy Alley
9) 12L-John Lambertz
10) 9M-Marlon Jones

Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 83-Shane Stewart
2) 2-Craig Dollansky
3) R19-Jac Haudenschild
4) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.
5) 8K-Chad Kemenah
6) 21-Daryn Pittman
7) 57X-Jake Peters
8) 5C-Chad Hillier
9) 6-Tim Shaffer
10) 33-Gordy Vogelaar

Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) D1-Justin Henderson
2) 15-Donny Schatz
3) 14-Jason Meyers
4) 9-Joey Saldana
5) 56-John Cressman
6) 28-Brian Paulus
7) 11-Steve Kinser
8) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.
9) 11X-Gregg Bakker
10) 101-Chuck McGillivray

Crane Cams Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) 83-Shane Stewart
2) 5-Danny Lasoski
3) 2-Craig Dollansky
4) 5Z-Dusty Zomer
5) 15-Donny Schatz
6) D1-Justin Henderson
7) 55-Kerry Madsen
8) 14-Jason Meyers
9) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.
10) 24-Terry McCarl

B-main (12 laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 22-Billy Alley
2) 57X-Jake Peters
3) 12L-John Lambertz
4) 11X-Gregg Bakker
5) 13-Mark Dobmeier
6) 11-Steve Kinser
7) 5C-Chad Hillier [$200]
8) 6-Tim Shaffer [$180]
9) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. [$175]
10) 33-Gordy Vogelaar [$160]
11) 9M-Marlon Jones [$150]
12) 101-Chuck McGillivray [$150]

A-main (35 laps) - Starting Position [#]
1) 2-Craig Dollansky[3] [$10,000]
2) 15-Donny Schatz[5] [$5,500]
3) 14-Jason Meyers[8] [$3,200]
4) R19-Jac Haudenschild[11] [$2,800]
5) 8K-Chad Kemenah[14] [$2,500]
6) 83-Shane Stewart[1] [$2,300]
7) 55-Kerry Madsen[7] [$2,200]
8) 7S-Jason Sides[13] [$2,100]
9) 9-Joey Saldana[18] [$2,050]
10) 24-Terry McCarl[10] [$2,000]
11) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[9] [$1,500]
12) 11-Steve Kinser[24] [$1,200]
13) 22-Billy Alley[16] [$1,100]
14) 21-Daryn Pittman[20] [$1,050]
15) D1-Justin Henderson[6] [$1,000]
16) 28-Brian Paulus[15] [$900]
17) 13-Mark Dobmeier[23] [$800]
18) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.[25] [$0]
19) 11X-Gregg Bakker[21] [$800]
20) 12L-John Lambertz[22] [$800]
21) 20-Kraig Kinser[19] [$800]
22) 5Z-Dusty Zomer[4] [$800]
23) 57X-Jake Peters[17] [$800]
24) 56-John Cressman[12] [$800]
25) 5-Danny Lasoski[2] [$800]

Note- Tony Bruce Jr. used a World of Outlaws provisional to start the A-Feature.

Lap Leaders: Shane Stewart 1-5; Craig Dollansky 6-16, 25-35; Donny Schatz 17-24

Chicken Hawk Hot Lap Award: Shane Stewart
Penske Power Position Award: Jason Meyers
SuperClean Start of the Race Award: Craig Dollansky
KSE Hard Charger Award: Steve Kinser

-credit: woo