Series Kansas City event report 2010-06-26

Kinser Conquers Lakeside: Scores Fourth Win & Gains Ground in Chase for Record 21st Title

Kansas City, KS- June 26, 2010- Steve Kinser certainly has been the most consistent driver this year with the World of Outlaws, scoring Top-10 finishes in all but two events, as he chases his record 21st title. Heading into the series return to Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, he had competed nine times at the half-mile over the years and finished in the Top-Five in each and every race. He extended that streak by winning over Jac Haudenschild and Sammy Swindell on Saturday night to pick up his fourth victory of the season and the 556th of his amazing World of Outlaws career before a huge crowd.

Kinser used a strong restart on the 12th lap to charge around Joey Saldana who had an engine going sour as the race wore on. He then used a strong restart on the 17th lap on the low side of the track to open a slight lead on Haudenschild and would wind up crossing the stripe about a half a second ahead of the fellow Hall of Famer. In the process, Kinser gained 30 points on Joey Saldana in the series standings, as the latter finished 16th after losing power on the 26th lap. The gap between the two is now 31 markers.

"We had a very good race today," said Kinser. "We could run the bottom or the top. I was able to keep the car under me. It's always good to win. We should have a few more wins this year, but we'll take what we can get. I'm glad the way it turned out today."

On the first restart of the night on the fourth laps, Kinser lined up on the outside of the second row in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim and powered his way past Swindell for third, before charging around the high side of turn four to get around Haudenschild for second, before setting his sights on Saldana.

"I really could start anywhere, the car was that good," stated the winner. "When you have something working good like that, it makes the decision a lot easier."

The podium finish of Kinser, Haudenschild and Swindell marked the second time in the last three races that the trio of Hall of Famers, who are all over the age of 50, were standing on the front straightaway after the checkered flag. The three legends also accomplished the feat in the opener of the Duel in the Dakotas last weekend at River Cities Speedway in North Dakota.

"We have three pretty old guys up here, but we're all running up front," quipped Kinser in Victory Lane.

Haudenschild started on the pole aboard the Owens-Corning Fiberglass XXX and led the field down the front straightaway at the drop of the green, with Saldana taking the top spot in turn two. Saldana had opened a sizeable lead on the fourth lap when the only red flag of the night flew. He chose the low line on the ensuing restart with Haudenschild restarting on his outside.

With a couple of cautions throughout the 30-lap contest, the leaders were in open track for the majority of the race. A couple of times they did approach some slower machines, with Haudenschild gaining ground in those instances.

"I don't know if we were really tracking him down or not," shared Haudenschild. "We were pretty much there and stayed the same most of the race. The car felt pretty good tonight and have been good here lately. At least we are in the hunt."

Sammy Swindell, who charged from eighth to finish fourth in the dash to earn a second row starting spot, kept pace with the leaders all night long en route to finishing third in the Big Game Treestands Maxim.

"I was going to go to the top on that one restart when Joey (Saldana) and Jac (Haudenschild) were going at it and they slid across and I was stuck and that let Steve (Kinser) get through, but he had a better car early," explained Swindell. "I think our car may have been just a hair better in the middle there to the end, but we just couldn't get close enough. We ran that line around the top and tried a few things and really couldn't find anything that was much better than running the top."

Haudenschild used a strong restart on the 12th lap to get around Sammy Swindell and then put a slider on Saldana in turns three and four to move into the runner-up spot. He restarted on the outside again when the final caution of the night flew on the 17th lap and was able to keep pace with Kinser.

"The car felt good on the restarts, he said. "We got off pretty good on those. The car was good all night."

Swindell lined up inside on a couple of double files restart and outside once. He battled Haudenschild for a number of laps in the late going for the second spot, before slipping back just a bit over the last couple of laps on the way to his fourth Top-Five finish of the season with the World of Outlaws.

"When I got real real close, I couldn't get him because the car would push, so I had to stay back a little bit on entry and made it up through the middle out," noted the three-time series champion. "A couple of times Haud got into the fence and I thought I was so close that if he crashes, I'm going with him. We just had to stay after it and hope there was a big enough mistake."

Craig Dollansky finished fourth in the Big Game Treestands Maxim to earn his third Top-Five finish in the last four races.

Kraig Kinser used a very strong restart on the 17th lap to come from 10th to fifth. He would end up fifth in the Quaker State Maxim.

Donny Schatz, the four-time and defending World of Outlaws champion was sixth in the Armor All/STP J&J. Paul McMahan, who opened the night by turning the fastest lap in time trials was seventh in the Great Clips Maxim. Kerry Madsen was eighth in the Hall Haulage KPC. Lucas Wolfe was ninth aboard the Allebach Racing Maxim. Brooke Tatnell, who won on Friday night at Junction Motor Speedway, rounded out the Top-10 in the Southern Crane & Tractor Supply machine

The World of Outlaws return to action on Tuesday, June 29 at Missouri State Fair Speedway for the third round of the Showdown for the Bud Crown, Kasey's King of Sedalia Presented By Budweiser.

LAKESIDE SPEEDWAY NOTES

* FAST QUALIFIER: Paul McMahan paced the 20 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked half-mile oval at 14.082 seconds at 127.823 mph. For his qualifying effort, McMahan earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Lucas Wolfe (4), Joey Saldana (3), Steve Kinser (2) and Jac Haudenschild (1).

* LAKESIDE SPEEDWAY QUALIFYING WINNERS: Sam Hafertepe Jr., Donny Schatz and Sammy Swindell won heat races. Jac Haudenschild won the dash.

* FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 29 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature events held in 2010. The winners include: Jason Meyers (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, Tri-State (Okla.) Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway and I-96 Speedway), Joey Saldana (Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, I-55 Raceway, Eldora Speedway, Dodge City Raceway Park and River Cities Speedway), Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park, Jackson Speedway, River Cities Speedway and Lakeside Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (Paducah International Raceway and Knoxville Raceway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park and The Dirt Track at Charlotte), Jason Sides (Houston Raceway Park and Tri-City Speedway), Brooke Tatnell (Knoxville Raceway and Junction Motor Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lone Star Speedway), Chad Layton (Williams Grove Speedway), Paul McMahan (Eldora Speedway), Fred Rahmer (Williams Grove Speedway) and Sammy Swindell (Dodge City Raceway).

* HALF-MILE WINNERS: ^Õ Lakeside Speedway is a semi-banked half-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced 15 times at a track that size in 2010. The winners include: Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park, Jackson Speedway and Lakeside Speedway), Jason Meyers (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway and I-96 Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lone Star Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (Knoxville Raceway), Chad Layton (Williams Grove Speedway), Paul McMahan (Eldora Speedway), Joey Saldana (Eldora Speedway), Jason Sides (Tri-City Speedway), Fred Rahmer (Williams Grove Speedway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park) and Brooke Tatnell (Knoxville Raceway).

-source: WoO