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Lake Odessa preview 2007-07-27

Dollansky Wins at I-96 Speedway Craig Dollansky and his team have gone through a lot of ups and downs this season, but have persevered and worked hard through everything that has come their way. The veteran driver welcomed respected crew ...

Dollansky Wins at I-96 Speedway

Craig Dollansky and his team have gone through a lot of ups and downs this season, but have persevered and worked hard through everything that has come their way.

The veteran driver welcomed respected crew chief Mike Woodring to his team at the end of the first East Coast swing of the season for the World of Outlaws and the pair began to quickly mesh. After several near wins, they earned their first victory together on Friday night at I-96 Speedway in Michigan, as the series returned to the half-mile after a one-year hiatus.

"I had a beautiful race car tonight," said Dollansky, driver of the Karavan Trailers Maxim. "This was a total team effort. I am happy to win this one for everyone that supports this race team and all the fans. My hat is off to my crew, I am very proud of them. We needed it and we look forward to building some momentum and finishing off the year strong."

Dollansky won the Crane Cams Dash to earn the pole position for the 30-lap A-Feature. Danny Lasoski used a good start to dive low into the first turn and take the lead. He quickly extended that lead, though it was negated at the halfway point of the race, when the yellow flag flew.

On the ensuing restart, Dollansky looked to the low side of Dollansky in the first turn, but could not quite make the pass stick and Lasoski continued to lead. The yellow flew again the next lap and this time on the restart, Dollansky went to the high side of Lasoski exiting the second turn and took the lead as he powered down the back straightaway.

The win for the native of Elk River, Minnesota was his second of the season and first since May 12 at Lake Ozark Speedway in Missouri. It also was his 20th career A-Feature win with the World of Outlaws, a feat that only 15 other drivers in the history of the series have accomplished.

"It seems like it has kind of been like a drought for us," acknowledged the winner. "These guys have been working hard. Mike Woodring, my crew chief has done a great job and I think we have our motor program where it needs to be. We are qualifying better."

Lasoski had a sizeable advantage in the first half of the race until the first caution flew on the 15th lap. He had weaved his way through traffic and at most times kept a car between himself and Dollansky, though on the restart all the lapped cars went to the rear of the field by way of World of Outlaws rules for 2007.

"I got a good start at the beginning and probably just needed to be geared a little different, but I think it helped us later on," noted Dollansky. "When he got off to that lead, I was just going to be patient and wait for an opening in lapped traffic. We had the restart and we got a shot there."

After trying the low side on a restart, Dollansky knew that he would have to move up the track a bit to find a way to challenge Lasoski. Neither gave an inch when Dollansky battled with Lasoski wheel-to-wheel.

"I was just going to go where he wasn't and try to get a run on him going down into turn two," said Dollansky. "Turn three is really where I wanted to put a pass on him. We got a run on the outside and the car stuck good."

Lasoski led the first 15 laps of the event and finished second to earn his 37th Top-10 finish of the season aboard the Roth Motorsports JEI. In the final 10 laps, he closed to within a couple of car lengths of Dollansky, but could not quite get a run on him.

Jason Meyers finished third on Friday night. He closed to within a couple of car lengths of Lasoski late in the race, as he bid for the runner-up spot.

"We definitely needed it after the last week that we have had," said Meyers, driver of the Primerica Financial Maxim. "These guys are just relentless, D.J. (Lindsey) and Brian (Bloomfield) both, they got back out there yesterday and built a brand new race car. When you build a new car and you get the balance like that it means the crew did a heck of a job."

Jason Solwold was fourth in the City Wide Insulation Maxim as he picked up his 28th Top-10 finish of the season.

Rob Chaney finished fifth in the Berlin Bakery JEI. He finished third in the Crane Cams Dash to earn a second-row starting position in the A-Feature.

The rest of the Top-10 was Joey Saldana in sixth in the Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI in sixth, with Jeremy Campbell in seventh aboard the RLM Financial Maxim, and Daryn Pittman was eighth in the Titan Garages Maxim. Steve Kinser started at the back of the field and finished ninth, after having to go to a back-up car after an accident in the heat race, followed by a tire going flat early in the feature that forced him to the work area. Jac Haudenschild, driving the Wright One Construction Maxim was 10th.

Meyers was not particularly fond of the late cautions, as he wanted to see the leader's battle more lapped traffic. With the field strung out in clean race track, he knew he would have his best shot at the two leaders in traffic.

"I got a good restart on the last one, but we had a right front tire going down or something, because the car got real tight on me," he said. "I got a run at the end, but just didn't have enough. It's a good third-place run and that will help us carry some momentum into tomorrow."

After earning his fourth A-Feature win of the season on Sunday, Meyers got upside at Ohsweken Speedway on Wednesday and was glad to put a solid night together at I-96. He will enter the seventh event of the "SuperClean Summer of Money" on Saturday, with 32 Top-10 finishes.

"Hopefully we can get a streak going again," said Meyers. "It seems like we have had a lot of hills and valleys this year. You have to enjoy the hills and fight through the valleys and make something happen."

Current championship point leader and reigning World of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz had a tire go down late in the race, and by way of World of Outlaws rules, two minutes in the work area are not guaranteed with less than five laps remaining in the A-Feature, relegating him to a 22nd-place finish, though he retained the point lead over Joey Saldana.

The World of Outlaws return to action on Saturday, July 28 at K-C Raceway in Ohio for the seventh event of the "SuperClean Summer of Money" on ESPN2.

I-96 SPEEDWAY NOTEBOOK

* FAST QUALIFIER: Joey Saldana paced the 31 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the semi-banked half-mile oval in 15.498 seconds at 116.114 mph. For his qualifying effort, Saldana earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Jeremy Campbell (4), Jason Sides (3), Chad Kemenah (2) and Randy Hannagan (1).

* QUALIFYING WINNERS: Justin Henderson, Rob Chaney, Jac Haudenschild and Craig Dollansky won heat races... Randy Hannagan won the B-Main... Craig Dollansky won the Crane Cams dash.

* UP NEXT: A stop at K-C Raceway in Ohio on Saturday, July 28, for the seventh event of the "SuperClean Summer of Money."

World of Outlaws Statistical Report; I-96Speedway; Lake Odessa, MI; July 27, 2007

Qualifying
1) 9-Joey Saldana 15.498
2) 10C-Jeremy Campbell 15.552
3) 7S-Jason Sides 15.565
4) 8K-Chad Kemenah 15.632
5) 1X-Randy Hannagan 15.707
6) 83-Danny Lasoski 15.731
7) 35-Jac Haudenschild 15.819
8) 24-Terry McCarl 15.952
9) D1-Justin Henderson 15.968
10) 5-Byron Reed 16.022
11) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr. 16.057
12) 7-Craig Dollansky 16.084
13) 15-Donny Schatz 16.124
14) 24H-Rob Chaney 16.125
15) R19-Jason Solwold 16.190
16) 14-Jason Meyers 16.229
17) 21-Daryn Pittman 16.302
18) 11-Steve Kinser 16.322
19) 20-Paul McMahan 16.354
20) W20-Greg Wilson 16.433
21) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 16.651
22) 11H-Kerry Madsen 16.707
23) 36-Jason Martin 16.774
24) 46-Robert Huisken 16.798
25) 2M-Dustin Daggett 16.807
26) 6-Tim Shaffer 16.810
27) 75-Darren Long 16.961
28) 18-Brian Carlson 17.061
29) 49T-Greg Dalman 17.085
30) 5C-Chad Hillier 17.147
31) M20-Butch Schroeder 17.509
32) 33FZ-Steve Irwin -.---

Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) D1-Justin Henderson
2) 15-Donny Schatz
3) 9-Joey Saldana
4) 21-Daryn Pittman
5) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.
6) 1X-Randy Hannagan
7) 2M-Dustin Daggett
8) 49T-Greg Dalman

Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 24H-Rob Chaney
2) 83-Danny Lasoski
3) 10C-Jeremy Campbell
4) 6-Tim Shaffer
5) 5-Byron Reed
6) 11H-Kerry Madsen
7) 5C-Chad Hillier
8) 11-Steve Kinser

Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 35-Jac Haudenschild
2) R19-Jason Solwold
3) 20-Paul McMahan
4) 7S-Jason Sides
5) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.
6) 75-Darren Long
7) M20-Butch Schroeder
8) 36-Jason Martin

Heat 4 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 7-Craig Dollansky
2) 14-Jason Meyers
3) 24-Terry McCarl
4) 8K-Chad Kemenah
5) W20-Greg Wilson
6) 18-Brian Carlson
7) 33FZ-Steve Irwin
8) 46-Robert Huisken

Crane Cams Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) 7-Craig Dollansky
2) 83-Danny Lasoski
3) 24H-Rob Chaney
4) 14-Jason Meyers
5) 35-Jac Haudenschild
6) R19-Jason Solwold
7) 15-Donny Schatz
8) 9-Joey Saldana
9) D1-Justin Henderson
10) 10C-Jeremy Campbell

B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 1X-Randy Hannagan
2) 11-Steve Kinser
3) 11H-Kerry Madsen
4) 36-Jason Martin
5) 75-Darren Long [$200]
6) 2M-Dustin Daggett [$180]
7) 5C-Chad Hillier [$175]
8) M20-Butch Schroeder [$160]
9) 33FZ-Steve Irwin [$150]
10) 49T-Greg Dalman [$150]
11) 46-Robert Huisken [$150]
12) 18-Brian Carlson [$150]

A-main (30 laps) - Starting Position [#]
1) 7-Craig Dollansky[1] [$10,000]
2) 83-Danny Lasoski[2] [$5,500]
3) 14-Jason Meyers[4] [$3,200]
4) R19-Jason Solwold[6] [$2,800]
5) 24H-Rob Chaney[3] [$2,500]
6) 9-Joey Saldana[8] [$2,300]
7) 10C-Jeremy Campbell[10] [$2,200]
8) 21-Daryn Pittman[17] [$2,100]
9) 11-Steve Kinser[24] [$2,050]
10) 35-Jac Haudenschild[5] [$2,000]
11) 1X-Randy Hannagan[13] [$1,500]
12) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.[16] [$1,200]
13) 20-Paul McMahan[18] [$1,100]
14) 6-Tim Shaffer[23] [$1,050]
15) D1-Justin Henderson[9] [$1,000]
16) 24-Terry McCarl[14] [$900]
17) 11H-Kerry Madsen[21] [$800]
18) 7S-Jason Sides[11] [$800]
19) 36-Jason Martin[22] [$800]
20) W20-Greg Wilson[19] [$800]
21) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[20] [$800]
22) 15-Donny Schatz[7] [$800]
23) 5-Byron Reed[15] [$800]
24) 8K-Chad Kemenah[12] [$800]

Lap Leaders: Danny Lasoski 1-15, Craig Dollansky 16-30
KSE Hard Charger Award: Steve Kinser

-credit: woo

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