Series Alger Friday event report 2010-09-03

Haudenschild Hauls One in at Skagit Speedway: Wins Opener of Two-Day Event on Friday Night

Alger, WA-September 3, 2010- Jac Haudenschild and Tim Kaeding are certainly two of the most exciting drivers to ever climb into a sprint car, and on Friday night at Skagit Speedway in Washington, the pair lived up to this moniker, as they battled tooth and nail in heavy traffic in the opener of the World of Outlaws two-day event at the high-banked three-tenths-mile bullring

Officially they traded the lead four times, but in one stretch of two laps they unofficially swapped the top spot five times, trading slide jobs on both ends of the race track. Haudenschild would end up coming out on top to earn his third A-Feature win of the season and his first career triumph at Skagit.

"I'm glad to win an Outlaws race here at Skagit," said Haudenschild. "Steve Beitler had the track beautiful tonight. It was great to race on and our car was going good. The crew did a great job giving me a fast car tonight. It was a fun race up there with Tim (Kaeding)."

Haudenschild jumped to the lead at the start and had a few car lengths lead when the first caution of the night flew on the third lap. On the ensuing restart he chose the high line and again led the field into turns one and two, with Kaeding looking look in turns three and four to no avail.

The caution flag flew again on the 10th lap, with Haudenschild choosing the low line for the double file restart. Kaeding took the lead on this restart and would pace the next seven laps. In traffic Haudenschild caught back up to Kaeding and slid under him coming off turn four to take the top spot on the 17th lap. Kaeding would get back around him on the next lap to officially be credited with the lead, with Haudenschild getting back by him on the 19th lap on the back straightaway. Haudenschild would lead the final 12 circuits on his way to the win and led a total of 22 laps on the night in the Owens-Corning Fiberglass XXX.

"The car was good all night," stated Haudenschild. "You couldn't ask for a better car than that. We were good in traffic and in open track. It was a pleasure to drive, that's for sure."

The final caution of the night came with five laps remaining, with Haudenschild choosing the high side for the double file restart. He wound up choosing the high side twice on restarts and the low side once while out front. The Hall of Famer used a strong restart to pull away at the end.

Kaeding crossed the line second, but was disqualified for losing a muffler on the track on the final lap. By way of World of Outlaws rules, he was scored last in the 24-car field.

"I thought I could get off the bottom good enough to get it done, but the top was definitely faster," explained Haudenschild when asked about the final double file restart. "I just had to run my own line and get off the corner good."

Jason Sides ended up second in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim after starting fourth and falling back to seventh in the early laps. He restarted fourth on the final restart with five laps to go and shot by Steve Kinser for third. He snagged the runner-up spot coming off turn four to the checkered flag.

"We really didn't need that caution," Sides said. "We were going pretty good and I think we had something for them in traffic. In open track they kind of got away from us a little bit. Tim (Kaeding) hurt a motor there at the end and we got around him on the last corner of the last lap. All in all it was a good night for us."

Donny Schatz made a strong charge at the end after starting the 30-lap contest in the ninth spot. On the final restart he lined up on the outside of the third row and powered his way past Danny Lasoski and Steve Kinser en route to his 29th Top-Five finish of the season aboard the Armor All/STP J&J.

"We had a good car at the end and I'm looking forward to 40 laps tomorrow night," said Schatz. "This place is tricky and I'm glad to get a Top-Three. The car was real tight at the beginning and was a lot freer at the end. It was fun and I was able to gain some points on guys I needed to gain on, so we'll keep going."

Steve Kinser ended fourth in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim and gained 26 points in the World of Outlaws championship standings on Joey Saldana, who ended up 17th after getting on his side when he ran into Shane Stewart's stopped machine under caution. Saldana went to the work area where his team made quick repairs on the Budweiser Maxim to get him back out. Jason Meyers came home ninth and is currently 23 markers out of the lead as he chases his first series title.

Danny Lasoski picked up his second consecutive Top-Five finish in the Casey's General Stores JEI coming home fifth on Friday night. Jason Solwold was sixth in the Extreme Oilfield Technology Maxim. Sammy Swindell picked up the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award, coming from 18th to finish seventh in the Big Game Treestands Maxim. Jonathan Allard was eighth in the Red Line Oil A.R.T, with Meyers ninth aboard the GLR Investments KPC. Sam Hafertepe Jr. came from 17th to finish 10th in the Lone Star Speedway Maxim, after winning The Last Chance Showdown to race his way into the main event.

The World of Outlaws wrap up the weekend at Skagit Speedway on Saturday, September 4 with a $20,000 40-lap feature event. Saturday will be STP Hat Day at Skagit Speedway, with the first 1,000 fans through the gate beginning at 5 p.m. Pacific, receiving a free STP Hat.

SKAGIT SPEEDWAY NIGHT #1 NOTES

* FAST QUALIFIER: Kerry Madsen paced the 34 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked three-tenths-mile oval at 11.281 seconds at 95.736 miles per hour. For his qualifying effort Madsen earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Jac Haudenschild (4), Jayme Barnes (3), Tim Kaeding (2) and Travis Jacobson (1).

* SKAGIT SPEEDWAY QUALIFYING WINNERS: Donny Schatz, Joey Saldana, Jason Meyers and Steve Kinser won heat races. Tim Kaeding won the dash. Sam Hafertepe Jr. won the Last Chance Showdown.

* FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 55 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature events held in 2010. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, I-55 Raceway, Eldora Speedway-twice, Dodge City Raceway Park, River Cities Speedway, LaSalle Speedway, Beaver Dam Raceway, Lernerville Speedway, Nodak Speedway and Castrol Raceway), Jason Meyers (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, Tri-State (Okla.) Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway, I-96 Speedway, North Central Speedway, I-55 Raceway and Castrol Raceway), Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park, Jackson Speedway, River Cities Speedway, Lakeside Speedway, Eldora Speedway, Autodrome Drummond and Fulton Speedway), Jason Sides (Houston Raceway Park , Tri-City Speedway, Missouri State Fair Speedway and Ohsweken Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lone Star Speedway, Cedar Lake Speedway and Nodak Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (Paducah International Raceway, Knoxville Raceway and Skagit Speedway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park, The Dirt Track at Charlotte and Ohsweken Speedway), Lance Dewease (Lernerville Speedway and Williams Grove Speedway), Sammy Swindell (Dodge City Raceway and Huset's Speedway), Brooke Tatnell (Knoxville Raceway and Junction Motor Speedway), Dale Blaney (Limaland Motorsports Park), Doug Esh (Lebanon Valley Speedway), Greg Hodnett (Williams Grove Speedway), Danny Lasoski (Cottage Grove Speedway), Chad Layton (Williams Grove Speedway), Paul McMahan (Eldora Speedway), Fred Rahmer (Williams Grove Speedway) and Tim Shaffer (I-55 Raceway).

* THREE-TENTHS-MILE-WINNERS: Skagit Speedway is a high-banked three-tenths-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced once this season a track that size. The winner was Jac Haudenschild (Skagit Speedway).

-source: WoO