Series Fulton event report 2010-08-03

Add Another to the List: Steve Kinser Wins for First time at Fulton Speedway

Fulton, NY-August 3, 2010- There are not too many tracks on the World of Outlaws circuit that Steve Kinser has not won at, but Fulton Speedway in New York happened to be one of those facilities. Kinser had competed at the high-banked 3/8-mile just once in his career prior to this season, finishing second in 2005. He bettered that one spot in the World of Outlaws return to Fulton Speedway on Tuesday night, picking up the win, which was his seventh of the season.

Kinser started second and chased early leader Doug Esh for the first dozen laps, diving under him coming off turn four on the 13th circuit in lapped traffic. He would lead the remainder of the 30-lap contesting to score the 559th A-Feature win of his illustrious career. Fulton Speedway became the seventh track in the state of New York that Kinser has won at.

"It's great to win anywhere, let alone a place you have never won at," said Kinser.

"We had a good car all night. We felt good hot lapping and just every time we hit the race track and that's the kind of car you want."

Kinser withstood a couple of restarts with three laps to go. First a double file one in which he chose the low side of the track with Jason Sides lining up to his outside. Sides got around him to take the lead on the restart, but before that lap was complete, the caution flew again for a hard crash by Doug Esh in turn one. By way of World of Outlaws rules, the ensuing restart was single file, with Kinser lining up on the pole with Sides second.

"We didn't need that last restart with three to go," explained Kinser. "I went up and jumped the cushion and then Jason (Sides) missed the bottom and gave it back to me and the yellow came out anyway. Then I was still having trouble getting heat in the motor up top, so I came to the bottom on the last lap. I never did really hit a good corner the last two or three laps, but we got the win and that's the main thing."

Kinser started second on Tuesday night and had his son Kraig battling him for that spot in the early going before setting his sights on Doug Esh, who had led from the pole. In lapped traffic Kinser tracked down Esh pretty quick and used a strong run off turn four to take the lead and quickly open a sizeable lead aboard the Bass Pro Shops Maxim.

"I knew the (No.) R19 (Esh) was going to set a good pace and then he got loose pretty quick, and I could work other parts of the track, where he could only run around the top," stated Kinser. "It got quicker on the bottom of (turns) three and four and he never did move down there. The car was pretty good the whole race."

Sides started seventh and ended up second in the Wetherington Tractor Service to earn his 17th Top-Five finish of the season. Sides fell back to eighth at the start and began his march to the front on the eighth lap, first getting around Joey Saldana, before taking sixth two laps later from Paul McMahan. He worked his way into the Top-Five at the halfway point of the 30-lapper.

"We really didn't need that last yellow flag," said Sides. "That last double file restart was going to be good and then we had that crash. Steve (Kinser) kind of slid up and we got by him and I might have been running too hard. He says he could have gotten back by me, but you never know. The car was really good. It was a little tight early, but Doug (Rankin) and Shane (Finch) had the car really good and it came to us there at the end."

Craig Dollansky finished third to earn his second straight podium finish at Fulton Speedway. He has finished fourth or better in all three of his career starts at the high-banked 3/8-mile.

"The track was in pretty good shape given the rain they had," Dollansky noted. "It was pretty racy and we got to pass some cars early. Steve (Kinser) was definitely good and we were trying to battle there for second."

Sides dove under Dollansky with six laps remaining to take the third spot. He moved up to second on the next lap on a double file restart. He lined up behind Kinser on the final restart of the night which was single file and tried everything he could entering turns one and two, but could not get enough of a run to make a bid for the top spot.

"The top was the place to be, kind of screaming around on it," Sides noted. "It was a little greasy, but the more we ran on it, the better it got. We had to kind of took our time and paced ourselves. Overall it was a pretty good night."

Dollansky lined up on the inside of the second row on the final double file restart with three laps remaining and then in the third spot on the single filer that followed.

"I thought I had something on the very last one and we lost some air pressure and it was making it too tight," he said. "We had a real good race car and I was happy with it. In the middle of the race I really thought it was coming to me and then we lost some air pressure. All in all it was a good run for the team."

Kraig Kinser finished fourth on Tuesday night at Fulton Speedway, which was the fourth time in 2010 he has finished in that position aboard the Quaker State Maxim.

Sam Hafertepe Jr., who began the night by setting a new track record in time trials, finished fifth in the Lone Star Speedway Maxim to earn his fifth Top-Five of the season.

Joey Saldana, the current World of Outlaws point leader, finished sixth in the Budweiser Maxim and holds a slim 15-point leader over Steve Kinser in the series championship standings. Paul McMahan came home seventh in the Great Clips Maxim. Jason Meyers came all the way from the 24th starting spot after having to start the back of the field due to switching cars after time trials, to finish eighth to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award in the GLR Investments KPC. Donny Schatz was ninth in the Armor All/STP J&J with Lucas Wolfe rounding out the Top-10 in the Allebach Racing Maxim.

The World of Outlaws return to action on Friday, August 6 and Saturday, August 7 in the Second Annual Ironman 55 at I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Missouri.

FULTON SPEEDWAY NOTES

* FAST QUALIFIER: Sam Hafertepe Jr. paced the 28 cars that took time with a record setting AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked 3/8-mile oval at 13.240 seconds at 101.964 mph. For his qualifying effort, Hafertepe earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Paul McMahan (4), Steve Kinser (3), Craig Dollansky (2) and Doug Esh (1).

* FULTON SPEEDWAY QUALIFYING WINNERS: Jason Sides, Joey Saldana, Danny Lasoski and Doug Esh won heat races. Doug Esh won the dash. Toni Lutar won the Last Chance Showdown.

* FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 47 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 and Lernerville Speedway), Virginia Motor Speedway, I-96 Speedway and North Central Speedway), Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park, Jackson Speedway, River Cities Speedway, Lakeside Speedway, Eldora Speedway, Autodrome Drummond and Fulton Speedway), Jason Meyers (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, Tri-State (Okla.) Speedway, Jason Sides (Houston Raceway Park , Tri-City Speedway, Missouri State Fair Speedway and Ohsweken Speedway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park, The Dirt Track at Charlotte and Ohsweken Speedway), Lance Dewease (Lernerville Speedway and Williams Grove Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lone Star Speedway and Cedar Lake Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (Paducah International Raceway and Knoxville Raceway), 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), Chad Layton (Williams Grove Speedway), Paul McMahan (Eldora Speedway) and Fred Rahmer (Williams Grove Speedway).

* 3/8-MILE-WINNERS: Fulton Speedway is a semi-banked 3/8-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced 10 times on a track that size this season. The winners include: Sammy Swindell (Dodge City Raceway Park and Huset's Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Cedar Lake Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (Paducah International Raceway), Steve Kinser (Fulton Speedway), Jason Meyers (Tri-State-Okla. Speedway), Joey Saldana (Dodge City Raceway Park), Donny Schatz (Ohsweken Speedway), Jason Sides (Ohsweken Speedway) and Brooke Tatnell (Junction Motor Speedway).

-source: WoO