San Jose feature report

'BUCKEYE BULLET' SHOWS THE WAY AROUND SAN JOSE By Richard Day SAN JOSE, CA (September 10) - With four victories in the World of Outlaws' last five events, Dave Blaney has turned up the heat in the 1994 Copenhagen-Skoal Shootout points race. The battle for the $100,000 first prize is 109 points closer than it was when "the greatest show on dirt" started its inaugural Wild Wild Northwest Tour three weeks ago. Blaney narrowed the gap to 328 points by passing perennial World of Outlaws champion Steve Kinser with 2 3/4 laps remaining to win the "A" Feature before a standing-room-only crowd at San Jose Speedway Saturday. Kinser, a six-time World of Outlaws "A" Feature winner at San Jose, won the Snap-on Tools Dash for the right to start the 30-lap main event on the pole. He had the #11 Valvoline Maxim a half-straightaway ahead of his closest pursuers as late as the 19th lap before "The Buckeye Bullet" started tracking him down. Blaney started the feature outside the second row and passed Greg Hodnett as the green flag fell. Jac Haudenschild, who started right behind "The Buckeye Bullet," blew into the first corner and slid over the bank. By the time he steered the #22 Pennzoil Maxim back onto the racing surface, "The Wild Child" was in 13th place. A third-corner collision late in the third lap sent Lindsey Casto flipping. "B" Feature winner Joe Gaerte and Kenny Jacobs were involved in the crash, halting their runs from the rear of the field. Both returned to the back of the pack after Joe's #9TW Gaerte Engines Maxim suffered a broken front end and Jacobs' #71M Ecowater Stealth came out of the crash with a flat right front tire. As the green flag replaced the red, Hodnett regained third place with a low, third-corner move past Blaney. Kinser had opened a half-straightaway advantage and caught the backmarkers before "The Buckeye Bullet" passed Hodnett again for third late in lap 11. As Kinser raced in heavy lapped traffic during the race's middle stages, Sammy Swindell pressured him for the lead as the first-through-sixth-place cars raced nose-to-tail. "The King of the Outlaws" was having difficulty lapping Jason Lund and Kevin Pylant when Andy Hillenburg stopped his #2 STP J&J in turn four with mechanical problems early in lap 14. As the race resumed, Blaney drove the #10 Vivarin J&J around Swindell in turn four and set his sights on the leader. At the same time, Sammy's brother, Jeff, passed Hodnett and fast-qualifier Paul McMahan for fourth place. Kinser was a half-straightaway ahead of Blaney when Jeff steered the #7TW Gold Eagle Maxim to the rim to pass Sammy for third place with 12 laps remaining. Three laps later, Jeff was pressuring "The Buckeye Bullet" for the runner-up spot as Kinser caught the backmarkers again. Blaney rode the rim around San Jose's semi-banked, 1/3-mile oval as Kinser and Jeff raced in the low groove during the final 10 laps. "The Buckeye Bullet" cut Kinser's lead down to five car-lengths by lap 25, and caught him the next time around. "The King of the Outlaws" was equal to Blaney's 27th-lap challenge, but was unable to maintain the lead as he followed Ronnie Day and Tim Green into turn one with three laps remaining. "The Buckeye Bullet" took the high road around Kinser in the second corner and was five car-lengths ahead when he took the checkered flag. The $8,200 victory was Blaney's 10th of the season, and the 40th in his 10-year World of Outlaws career. Jeff Swindell held off Sammy to finish in third place. "The Wild Child" passed eight sprinters during the final 29 laps to claim fifth. Rounding out the top 10 in the main event were Hodnett, Stevie Smith, McMahan, Randy Hannagan and Gaerte. Haudenschild's fifth-place run pushed him past Jacobs into sixth place in the Copenhagen-Skoal Shootout point standings. WoO 1994 WORLD OF OUTLAWS/COPENHAGEN-SKOAL SHOOTOUT San Jose Speedway, San Jose, CA; Saturday, September 10, Feature Program #59 Qualifications: 1. Paul McMahan, Lamar 3, 14.454; 2. Greg Hodnett, Two Winners 8TW, 14.535; 3. Jeff Swindell, Two Winners 7TW, 14.682; 4. Andy Hillenburg, Hillenburg 2, 14.719; 5. Randy Hannagan, Hannagan 1x, 14.747; 6. Stevie Smith, Veilhauer 12x, 14.772; 7. Greg DeCaires, Roth 83, 14.791; 8. Steve Coelho, Coelho 6C, 14.818; 9. Kevin Pylant, Pylant 14P, 14.835; 10. Lee Brewer, Jr., Danell/Dehart 5, 14.852; 11. Eric Rossi, Gowen 38, 14.854; 12. Lindsey Casto, Casto 40, 14.861; 13. Jim Carr, Carr 65, 14.880; 14. Jason Lund, Lund 8L, 14.899; 15. Ronnie Day, Bumgarner 88, 14.920; 16. Gene Manhire, Manhire 50, 14.987; 17. Johnny Herrera, Hamilton 77, 14.987; 18. Joe Gaerte, Two Winners 9TW, 14.988; 19. Garry Lee Maier, Finkenbinder 3F, 15.013; 20. Bob Walker, Walker 98, 15.015; 21. Darren Howard, Howard 0, 15.016; 22. Kenny Jacobs, Motter 71M, 15.033; 23. Monte Faccinto, Faccinto 14F, 15.034; 24. Tim Green, Owen 14, 15.041; 25. Bryan Bullard, Bullard 2x, 15.044; 26. Rick Martin, Martin 44, 15.058; 27. Scott Luhdorff, Williams 11x, 15.078; 28. Steve Kent, Helm 11K, 15.087; 29. Keith Kauffman, Starr/Gillespie 18, 15.099; 30. Brent Kaeding, Kaeding 69, 15.215; 31. Pat Rose, Rose 22R, 15.220; 32. Sean Finn, Finn 36, 15.346; 33. Jason Statler, Statler 00, 15.408; 34. Greg Brown, Collis/Jeremiah 44B, 15.439; 35. Duane Scott, Scott 16, 15.442; 36. Chuck Miller, Koziar 24KT, 15.445; 37. Greg Brauer, Brauer 12G, 15.456; 38. Bobby McMahan, Hasebe 2M, 15.461; 39. Daryl Huckaby, Huckaby 11R, 15.605; 40. Gordon Rodgers, Rodgers 94, 15.607; 41. Kirk Sargent, Sargent 7, 15.679; 42. Troy Rosendahl, Rosendahl 41, 15.752; 43. Joey Delisle, Delisle 88J, 15.788; 44. Tony Richards, Richards 4, 15.883; 45. Erik Folger, Folger 17F, 15.959; 46. Jamie Hood, Hood 33, 16.031; 47. Steve Osborne, Osborne 29S, 16.182; 48. Johnny Ringo, Ringo 96, 16.758; 49. Gary Mataranga, Mataranga 32, 16.919. First Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Paul McMahan, 2. Jim Carr, 3. Randy Hannagan, 4. Johnny Herrera, 5. Kevin Pylant, 6. Keith Kauffman, 7. Darren Howard, 8. Bryan Bullard, 9. Jason Statler, 10. Greg Brauer, 11. Erik Folger, 12. Kirk Sargent, 13. Gary Mataranga. (first four qualified for the "A" Feature) Second Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Lee Brewer, Jr., 2. Jason Lund, 3. Greg Hodnett, 4. Stevie Smith, 5. Kenny Jacobs, 6. Joe Gaerte, 7. Greg Brown, 8. Bobby McMahan, 9. Rick Martin, 10. Troy Rosendahl, 11. Jamie Hood, 12. Brent Kaeding. (first four qualified for the "A" Feature) Third Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Ronnie Day, Jr., 2. Jeff Swindell, 3. Eric Rossi, 4. Garry Lee Maier, 5. Greg DeCaires, 6. Scott Luhdorff, 7. Monte Faccinto, 8. Daryl Huckaby, 9. Pat Rose, 10. Duane Scott, 11. Steve Osborne, 12. Joey Delisle. (first four qualified for the "A" Feature) Fourth Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Lindsey Casto, 2. Gene Manhire, 3. Andy Hillenburg, 4. Tim Green, 5. Chuck Miller, 6. Steve Kent, 7. Sean Finn, 8. Tony Richards, 9. Bob Walker, 10. Gordon Rodgers, 11. Johnny Ringo, 12. Steve Coelho. (first five qualified for the "A" Feature) Finishing 1-4 in Friday's Preliminary Feature automatically qualified Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell, Dave Blaney and Jac Haudenschild for the first four starting positions in the Snap-on Tools Dash. Snap-on Tools Dash (five laps): 1. Steve Kinser, 2. Sammy Swindell, 3. Greg Hodnett, 4. Dave Blaney, 5. Paul McMahan, 6. Jac Haudenschild. (finish determined the first six starting positions in the "A" Feature) C Feature (eight laps): 1. Chuck Miller, 2. Bobby McMahan, 3. Duane Scott ($135); 4. Greg Brauer ($110); 5. Tony Richards ($90); 6. Joey Delisle ($80); 7. Steve Osborne ($70); 8. Kirk Sargent ($60); 9. Johnny Ringo ($50); 10. Erik Folger ($40); 11. Gary Mataranga ($40); 12. Daryl Huckaby ($40). (first two qualified for the "B" Feature) B Feature (12 laps): 1. Joe Gaerte, 2. Greg DeCaires, 3. Kevin Pylant, 4. Kenny Jacobs, 5. Steve Kent ($260); 6. Monte Faccinto ($235); 7. Rick Martin ($185); 8. Keith Kauffman ($135); 9. Bob Walker ($110); 10. Bobby McMahan ($110); 11. Scott Luhdorff ($70); 12. Sean Finn ($60); 13. Chuck Miller ($80); 14. Bryan Bullard ($60); 15. Jason Statler ($60); 16. Greg Brown ($60); 17. Brent Kaeding ($60); 18. Steve Coelho ($60); 19. Darren Howard ($60); 20. Pat Rose ($60). (first four qualified for the "A" Feature) A Feature (30 laps): 1. Dave Blaney ($8,200); 2. Steve Kinser ($5,000); 3. Jeff Swindell ($3,310); 4. Sammy Swindell ($3,000); 5. Jac Haudenschild ($2,250); 6. Greg Hodnett ($2,085); 7. Stevie Smith ($1,810); 8. Paul McMahan ($1,710); 9. Randy Hannagan ($1,510); 10. Joe Gaerte ($1,430); 11. Eric Rossi ($1,210); 12. Johnny Herrera ($1,110); 13. Greg DeCaires ($1,080); 14. Kenny Jacobs ($1,030); 15. Garry Lee Maier ($710); 16. Lee Brewer, Jr. ($610); 17. Jim Carr ($510); 18. Jason Lund ($410); 19. Ronnie Day ($410); 20. Kevin Pylant ($430); 21. Tim Green ($410); 22. Gene Manhire ($410); 23. Andy Hillenburg ($410); 24. Lindsey Casto ($410). Lap leaders: Steve Kinser 1-27, Dave Blaney 28-30 WoO *eof