Series Dodge City results, report 2009-06-12

Ninth Wonder of the World of Outlaws: Saldana Wins at Dodge City Raceway Park

Dodge City, KS-- June 12, 2009--Joey Saldana has always enjoyed racing at Dodge City Raceway Park in Kansas and has always been fast at the track as well. After becoming the first World of Outlaws driver to win two career A-Feature events at the track last season, he picked up his third victory at the pristine 3/8-mile on Friday night, after taking the lead from Jason Meyers on a restart on the eighth lap, pacing the field the rest of the way, with the cameras from SPEED capturing all of the action for future broadcast.

For Saldana, the $10,000 triumph was his ninth win of the season, which matches his car number. He now has 48 career World of Outlaws wins and is just three victories out of the eighth spot on the all-time win list and two short of 50 A-Feature victories.

"That was a great car tonight," said Saldana. "I can't say enough for my team. They did an awesome job. We were running so good up top. The longer I ran, the better I got. The lapped car were pretty tough. They didn't realize you were running the top. It was a great run for us."

On the seventh lap, Saldana caught Jason Meyers and ran side-by-side with him down the back straightaway. He looked high in turns three and four and then dove under Meyers as the pair charged into turns one and two on the next lap, nearly taking the lead. The caution then came out and on the restart, Saldana went to the high side in turns one and two and powered his way around Meyers. He would go on to lead the final 23 laps of the 30-lap contest aboard the Budweiser Maxim for Kasey Kahne Racing.

"I had him passed and he kind of chopped me going down into one," Saldana noted. "I thought I had a bunch of mud in my left front and I thought that may have cost me the race. I knew once I could get him, I was pretty good, so I wasn't very worried."

Saldana began the night by turning the 16th fastest lap in time trials, which put him on the pole for the fourth heat race which he won to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash where he finished sixth. He moved up to fourth on the second lap and just two laps later was in third. He took the runner-up spot from Brian Ellenberger on the fifth go-around and set his sights on Meyers.

"It seems like all year we have struggled in qualifying and with our car all night, until we push off for the feature and we have hit on something," explained the winner. "We just have to qualify better and get our qualifying package better. I don't know if it's me or what, but someone has to do a better job and it's probably me. That win right there shows, that's a good car."

Meyers led from the outset and endured a complete restart after the caution flew before the first lap was completed. He led on the second start as well and quickly jumped out to a comfortable lead as Brian Ellenberger worked on Lucas Wolfe for second. Meyers wound up finishing second for the fourth time in 2009 aboard the GLR Investments KPC. He also moved into the second spot in the series championship standings as he chases his first series title.

"We're right there where we need to be," stated Meyers. "If you run second enough, you're going to win your races. It's unfortunate to give that one up. My hat is off to Joey (Saldana) and that team. You give him a lip and he does a nice job and we have to get better there. We were a little looser than we needed to be. This entire team worked hard tonight and they deserved to win and I didn't get it done for them."

Brian Ellenberger ran second early in the race and wound up a career-best third in the Ti22 Performance J&J. He began the night by winning the third heat race to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash, where he finished third to start on the second row in the A-Feature. All of which were career bests.

"I'm ecstatic about that," said Ellenberger of his podium finish. "The car was good from the beginning of the night. It's exciting to finish third here. Sonny (Kratzer) and my crew have done a great job for me. We've made some changes to this race car and it's really worked. The car is working great right now."

After three cautions in the first seven laps of the race while Meyers was in front, the remainder of the contest went non-stop after Saldana took the lead. Saldana was able to build a big lead in lapped traffic as he used the high side of the track to charge around the slower machines, en route to a five-plus second victory.

"I think I needed a caution late in the race," stated Meyers. "I didn't get through the traffic like I should have. I was running a completely different line than what Joey (Saldana) was. If I would have closed back up on him, I think I would have been able to race with him, but I just didn't get through the traffic like I needed. I'll have to be better tomorrow night."

Ellenberger passed fellow Pennsylvanian Lucas Wolfe on the second lap to take the runner-up spot and set his sights on Meyers. He ran second for three laps, before Saldana got around him. He ran a very solid third for the rest of the race as he continues his rookie season with the World of Outlaws.

"Jason (Meyers) was right in front of me and I knew he would be tough to get by," shared Ellenberger of his mindset while running second. "I thought I might have an opportunity once we got to lapped traffic. Joey (Saldana) zinged me on that one restart and kind of took the wind out of my sail."

Steve Kinser finished fourth in the Quaker State Maxim, with Brooke Tatnell nearly taking that spot at the line aboard the Titan Garages Maxim, finishing a mere 16-thousandths of a seconds behind in fifth.

Jason Sides was sixth in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim, with Tim Kaeding rebounding from a first lap spin to work his way back to seventh in the DTR Transport KPC. Craig Dollansky was eighth in the DirecTV Maxim, with Sammy Swindell ninth aboard the Tom Rolfe Trucking Maxim. Danny Lasoski rounded out the Top-10 in the Casey's General Store Maxim.

Donny Schatz, the current series point leader finished 13th in the Armor All J&J and retained the point lead.

The World of Outlaws wrap-up the Boot Hill Showdown on Saturday night at Dodge City Raceway Park, with the cameras from SPEED on hand to capture all of the action again.

BOOT HILL SHOWDOWN AT DODGE CITY RACEWAY PARK NIGHT #1 NOTES

* FAST QUALIFIER: Danny Lasoski paced the 33 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked 3/8-mile oval at 12.722 seconds at 106.115 mph. For his qualifying effort, Lasoski earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Jason Meyers (4), Jac Haudenschild (3), Jason Sides (2), and Steve Kinser (1).

* QUALIFYING WINNERS: Lucas Wolfe, Kraig Kinser, Brian Ellenberger and Joey Saldana won heat races. Jason Meyers won the Crane Cams Dash. Tommy Worley won the B-Main.

* FEATURE WINNERS: There has been 26 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature event held in 2009. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Volusia Speedway Park, Silver Dollar Speedway, Thunderbowl Raceway, Lone Star Speedway, Houston Raceway Park, The Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway, Lawrenceburg Speedway and Dodge City Raceway Park), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park-twice, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Knoxville Raceway, Eldora Speedway, Canandaigua Speedway and Lawrenceburg Speedway), Jason Meyers (Silver Dollar Speedway, Paducah International Raceway and I-96 Speedway), Dale Blaney (Attica Raceway Park), Randy Hannagan (Thunderbowl Raceway), Greg Hodnett (Williams Grove Speedway), Tim Kaeding (Riverside International Speedway), Chad Kemenah (Manzanita Speedway), (Tri-State Speedway) and Danny Lasoski (Delaware International Speedway).

* 3/8--MILE WINNERS: Dodge City Raceway Park is a high-banked 3/8-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced four times on a track that size this season. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Lawrenceburg Speedway and Dodge City Raceway Park), Jason Meyers (Paducah International Raceway), and Donny Schatz (Lawrenceburg Speedway).

World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Dodge City Raceway Park; Dodge City, KS; June 12, 2009

Qualifying
1) 6-Danny Lasoski 12.722
2) 14-Jason Meyers 12.762
3) R19-Jac Haudenschild 12.762
4) 7S-Jason Sides 12.778
5) 11-Steve Kinser 12.850
6) 15-Donny Schatz 12.955
7) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. 12.990
8) 10-Sammy Swindell 13.026
9) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 13.060
10) 20-Kraig Kinser 13.069
11) 83-Tim Kaeding 13.097
12) 36-Jason Martin 13.124
13) 21AU-Brooke Tatnell 13.151
14) 19-Craig Dollansky 13.170
15) 22-Brian Ellenberger 13.217
16) 9-Joey Saldana 13.232
17) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 13.238
18) 22B-Ben Gregg 13.271
19) 1X-Gary Lee Maier 13.329
20) 50Z-Zack Chappell 13.687
21) 97X-Tommy Worley 13.724
22) 81-Jon Freeman 13.931
23) 45K-Kolt Walker 14.171
24) 97-Brian Herbert 14.270
25) 4-Mike Chad 14.361
26) 72-Steven Richardson 14.404
27) 15K-Kerry McAlister 14.441
28) 91X-Taylor Milton 14.508
29) 1-Ty Williams 14.529
30) 11K-Tyler Knight 14.589
31) 33-Kris Miller 14.798
32) 33W-Travis Wieden 14.896
33) 30-Brant O'Banion 15.845
34) D12-Doc Sloan -.---

Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 5W-Lucas Wolfe
2) 11-Steve Kinser
3) 21AU-Brooke Tatnell
4) 6-Danny Lasoski
5) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.
6) 4-Mike Chad
7) 1-Ty Williams
8) 30-Brant O'Banion
9) 97X-Tommy Worley

Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 20-Kraig Kinser
2) 19-Craig Dollansky
3) 14-Jason Meyers
4) 15-Donny Schatz
5) 22B-Ben Gregg
6) 81-Jon Freeman
7) 11K-Tyler Knight
8) 72-Steven Richardson

Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 22-Brian Ellenberger
2) 83-Tim Kaeding
3) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.
4) R19-Jac Haudenschild
5) 1X-Gary Lee Maier
6) 15K-Kerry McAlister
7) 45K-Kolt Walker
8) 33-Kris Miller

Heat 4 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 9-Joey Saldana
2) 10-Sammy Swindell
3) 36-Jason Martin
4) 7S-Jason Sides
5) 50Z-Zack Chappell
6) 97-Brian Herbert
7) 91X-Taylor Milton
8) 33W-Travis Wieden

Crane Cams Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) 14-Jason Meyers
2) 5W-Lucas Wolfe
3) 22-Brian Ellenberger
4) 19-Craig Dollansky
5) 83-Tim Kaeding
6) 9-Joey Saldana
7) 11-Steve Kinser
8) 20-Kraig Kinser
9) 6-Danny Lasoski
10) 10-Sammy Swindell

B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 97X-Tommy Worley
2) 81-Jon Freeman
3) 45K-Kolt Walker
4) 97-Brian Herbert
5) 4-Mike Chad [$200]
6) 15K-Kerry McAlister [$180]
7) 72-Steven Richardson [$175]
8) 91X-Taylor Milton [$160]
9) D12-Doc Sloan [$150]
10) 11K-Tyler Knight [$150]
11) 33W-Travis Wieden [$150]
12) 30-Brant O'Banion [$150]
13) 1-Ty Williams [$150]
14) 33-Kris Miller [$150]

A-main (30 laps) - Starting Position [#]
1) 9-Joey Saldana[6] [$10,000]
2) 14-Jason Meyers[1] [$5,000]
3) 22-Brian Ellenberger[3] [$3,000]
4) 11-Steve Kinser[7] [$2,700]
5) 21AU-Brooke Tatnell[16] [$2,500]
6) 7S-Jason Sides[12] [$2,200]
7) 83-Tim Kaeding[5] [$2,000]
8) 19-Craig Dollansky[4] [$1,800]
9) 10-Sammy Swindell[10] [$1,600]
10) 6-Danny Lasoski[9] [$1,450]
11) 36-Jason Martin[15] [$1,300]
12) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[2] [$1,200]
13) 15-Donny Schatz[13] [$1,100]
14) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.[14] [$1,000]
15) 22B-Ben Gregg[18] [$950]
16) 20-Kraig Kinser[8] [$900]
17) 45K-Kolt Walker[23] [$850]
18) 1X-Gary Lee Maier[19] [$750]
19) 97X-Tommy Worley[21] [$725]
20) 50Z-Zack Chappell[20] [$700]
21) R19-Jac Haudenschild[11] [$700]
22) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[17] [$700]
23) 81-Jon Freeman[22] [$700]
24) 97-Brian Herbert[24] [$700]