World Finals finale results

Kinser Wins Thrilling Finale of Inaugural Outlaws World Finals

Steve Kinser had won a lot of close races in his career, including two of the three closest finishes this season, and he added to this total on Saturday night, inching out Danny Lasoski by 0.150 seconds in the finale of the inaugural Outlaws World Finals at The Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Kinser and Lasoski had the capacity crowd of over 14,000 fans on their feet for most of the race, on a track that provided two and three-wide racing all night. For the 543rd A-Feature win of his World of Outlaws career, Kinser earned $10,000, with all the action being caught live on SPEED.

"It was a great race track this weekend," said Kinser, driver of the Q Oil Maxim. "They did a great job and they got it opened up so you could race on it. The fans saw a great race. I don't think you can get any better than that and get it any closer than that. I was seeing the (No.) 83 every lap in (turns) three and four."

The race began with Kinser leading from the pole, with Lasoski who started third getting around Daryn Pittman for the runner-up spot. The top-two pulled away slightly on the third lap, while Jason Meyers closed on Pittman as the pair tussled over the third spot.

On the sixth lap, Kinser began to encounter lapped traffic, allowing Lasoski to close back in. With drivers running high, low and in the middle of the track, there was two and three-wide racing throughout the field.

The caution flag flew on the ninth lap, as Kinser and Lasoski were in traffic, giving them an open race track on the restart. On that restart, Kinser was running on the high side of the track and Lasoski looked low for the lead as they exited the second turn and again in the third and fourth turns. He tried this same move several times over the next few laps. All the while, Daryn Pittman stayed right with him and was looking for an opportunity to make a move.

The caution flew on the 16th lap, with Kinser quickly jumping out to an eight car-length lead on the restart. At the same time, Pittman began to heavily pressure Lasoski for the runner-up spot. By the 19th lap, the three leaders were all within inches. Lasoski again looked for the lead on the low side of the second turn. Kinser fought off his attempts and continued to pace the field, as the laps wound down.

A red flag on the 21st lap set up a nine-lap shootout between Kinser, Lasoski and Pittman. Kinser used another strong start to jump to a slight lead, though Lasoski and Pittman caught him two laps later and the trio was nearly side-by-side going down the front straightaway. Lasoski tried again to dive under Kinser exiting the second turn for the lead and could not quite get enough momentum to make the pass.

On the final lap, Lasoski made a couple of charges at Kinser, and came up just inches short at the finish line. Over the last few laps, Kinser moved to the bottom of the track as held off several attempts by Lasoski to take the top spot.

"You never know what's going to happen," explained the winner. "You just run your pace and try not to change you lines and hope that everything works out well."

After finishing fourth on Friday night in a brand new car, Kinser and his crew made a few changes for Saturday night. In the third heat, he finished second to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash, which he won to earn the pole position for the 30-lap A-Feature.

"We learned a little bit last night that we used tonight," said the 20-time World of Outlaws champion. "Maxim built us a brand new car for down here and it was a little bit different than what we normally run. As tough as tough as everything is right now, you just have to have everything go your way the entire night. There are so many ways to get you out of the race and out of position to win a race, everything has work you way to win a race."

Lasoski tried a number of lines throughout the race, as he kept pace with Kinser. While he was disappointed he did not win, Lasoski was thrilled that the fans at the track and watching at home on SPEED were able to see one of the best World of Outlaws events of the entire season.

"It was a heck of a show," said Lasoski, driver of the Roth Motorsports JEI. "We gave it everything we had to try and win. I knew he (Kinser) wasn't going to move off the top, so we had to run across the bottom and we came up a little short. I think I could have used him up a little bit on the last lap, but I don't think he would have done that to me and I'm not going to race that way either."

For Kinser, it was his 10th A-Feature win of the season and the second on a 0.4-mile track. He now has won twice in A-Feature competition at The Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway in his career.

"It's good going into winter," noted Kinser. "We know that we still have a lot of work to do. We did good and started in the second row of the heat and got into the dash and got a good draw. That helped a little bit. We had a good race car all night on top of it. It was a combination of everything going well for us tonight."

Daryn Pittman finished third on Saturday night after making several runs at Kinser and Lasoski, by using the middle of the track.

"The race track was awesome and my car was good all night," said Pittman, driver of the Titan Garages Maxim. "It was fun and that had to be a great race for the fans to watch. At any time, I thought I could get the lead and we were close a number of times. It was fun to drive and there are not a lot of races that are that much fun. It was three-wide racing and it was fun."

Donny Schatz finished fourth on Saturday night and was officially crowned the 2007 World of Outlaws champion. He finished the season with 71 Top-10 finishes in the 75 A-Feature events that were contested.

"We had a great year," said Schatz, driver of the ParkerStore J&J. "It is a good accomplishment with the group of cars that we have out here to have a record like that. We set our goals pretty high and I have them set really high for next year."

After winning on Friday night, Jason Meyers finished a very solid fifth aboard the Primerica Financial Maxim in the season finale.

Joey Saldana was sixth in the Open Joist JEI, with Terry McCarl finishing seventh in the Big Game Treestands Eagle, to pick up the KSE Race Products Hard Charger Award, after lining up 16th for the 30-lap contest. Jason Sides was eighth in the Wetherington Tractor Services Maxim, with 2005 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award winner Shane Stewart in ninth in the Witgen Maxim. Dale Blaney, another former World of Outlaws rookie of the year was 10th in the Hoosier Tires Maxim.

Just as they have many times in the past, Lasoski and Kinser went wheel-to-wheel and kept the capacity crowd on their feet. Lasoski pondered a couple of different scenarios that may have helped him.

"Traffic a little bit earlier may have helped," said Lasoski. "I needed anything to break his rhythm. It didn't get done and my hat is off to them."

Lasoski had just inched ahead of Kinser on the 21st lap, when the red flag flew for a car that got upside down. With traffic becoming a factor at that stage of the race, the field was bunched up and the lapped machines went to the rear of the field, by way of World of Outlaws rules, thus giving the leaders open track ahead of them.

"That red hurt," said Lasoski, the 2001 World of Outlaws champion. "We were on a roll and it hurt because I had him cleared when the red came out."

Pittman was another of the drivers that used multiple grooves on the state-of-the-art 0.4-mile track. While battling Kinser and Lasoski, he looked for any way around the two front runners that he could find.

"We were so close together in open track that I really don't know if traffic would have helped," said Pittman. "I think it may have helped Danny (Lasoski) and myself, because Steve (Kinser) would not have known what Danny and I were doing, but you never know."

Pittman was very appreciative of the hard work and countless hours put in by the crew at The Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway over the last couple of weeks to make sure that the competitors had the most racy and competitive track that they could prepare.

"This was hands down the best the track has ever been here," said the native of Owasso, Oklahoma. "There was no distinct fast line. We had every line covered from the top to the middle to the bottom. The faster line was whatever was working best for you car. Hopefully they can duplicate that every time we come back."

While he wanted to win the season finale, Schatz was proud of his team and the consistency they showed this year. He won earlier in the season at The Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway and came just inches short of winning on Friday night.

"You can't win championships, unless you win the battles," said the native of Fargo, North Dakota. "We won the battles this year and I thought we would be a little better tonight. I don't know if we sealed up the tire or if I used it too hard. I could not get going. That's just part of racing. I had a good seat to watch the battle up front and that was neat."

For the second consecutive season, Schatz won the title driving for his family team which is owned by his parents, Danny and Diane Schatz. The finale of the inaugural Outlaws World Finals marked the final race for Donny behind the wheel of his familiar yellow machine In 2008, he will drive for Tony Stewart Racing, owned by two-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart.

"There is a lot of enjoyment in this," said Danny Schatz, when asked about his son's championship. "All of the people that made this possible is the race team and Don. We have had the opportunity to help him and we have been very proud to do that."

The World of Outlaws will conclude the 2007 season with their annual awards banquet on Monday, November 5. The 2008 season kicks off at Volusia Speedway Park with the 37th Annual Florida DIRTcar Nationals, February 8-10.

OUTLAWS WORLD FINAL NIGHT #3 NOTEBOOK

* BACK IN THE SADDLE: It was announced live on SPEED during the finale of the inaugural Outlaws World Finals, that Kraig Kinser will driver the No. 20 car in 2008 for Tony Stewart Racing, as a teammate to two-time and reigning World of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz. Kraig, the son of 20-time World of Outlaws champion Steve Kinser was the 2004 World of Outlaws Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year and the 2005 Knoxville National winner. He has seven career A-Feature wins with the World of Outlaws.

* FAST QUALIFIER: Lucas Wolfe paced the 48 cars that took time in the second time trial session on Thursday night with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the semi-banked 0.4-mile oval in 12.447 seconds. For his qualifying effort, Wolfe earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Donny Schatz (4), Greg Hodnett (3), Jason Sides (2) and Kraig Kinser (1).

* QUALIFYING WINNERS: Joey Saldana, Dean Jacobs, Daryn Pittman and Danny Lasoski won heat races... Danny Smith won the C-Main... Terry McCarl won the B-Main ... Steve Kinser won the Crane Cams Dash.

World of Outlaws Statistical Report; Outlaws World Finals Night #3; Concord, NC; November 3, 2007

Qualifying
1) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 12.447
2) 15-Donny Schatz 12.463
3) 22X-Greg Hodnett 12.632
4) 7S-Jason Sides 12.697
5) 11K-Kraig Kinser 12.701
6) 14-Jason Meyers 12.714
7) 11-Steve Kinser 12.727
8) 5-Shane Stewart 12.728
9) 9-Joey Saldana 12.738
10) 20-Paul McMahan 12.745
11) 2B-Dale Blaney 12.773
12) D1-Justin Henderson 12.778
13) 30C-Lance Dewease 12.781
14) 7K-Dean Jacobs 12.782
15) 21-Daryn Pittman 12.800
16) 83-Danny Lasoski 12.829
17) 24-Terry McCarl 12.874
18) 6-Tim Shaffer 12.885
19) 5C-Chad Hillier 12.897
20) 3-Kaley Gharst 12.925
21) R19-Jason Solwold 12.931
22) 11H-Kerry Madsen 12.935
23) 7-Craig Dollansky 12.936
24) 7M-Mark Smith 12.949
25) 19-Stevie Smith 12.967
26) 1Z-Jessica Zemken 12.972
27) W20-Greg Wilson 12.997
28) 25-Chad Layton 12.997
29) 51-Fred Rahmer 13.011
30) 14AJ-Wayne Johnson 13.023
31) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 13.027
32) 30-Doug Esh 13.037
33) 10C-Jeremy Campbell 13.039
34) 1X-Randy Hannagan 13.043
35) 20E-Brian Ellenberger 13.052
36) 7B-Joey Borich 13.092
37) 11i-Geoff Dodge 13.140
38) 35-Jac Haudenschild 13.176
39) 20S-Mikey Kuemper 13.183
40) 4-Danny Smith 13.191
41) 18-Brian Carlson 13.244
42) 22-Brandon Martin 13.246
43) 8K-Chad Kemenah 13.275
44) 12-Lynton Jeffrey 13.345
45) 11T-Tyler Thompson 13.355
46) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr. 13.388
47) 11S-Brian Smith 13.426
48) 21B-Brandon McLain 14.470

Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 9-Joey Saldana
2) 30C-Lance Dewease
3) 5W-Lucas Wolfe
4) 11K-Kraig Kinser
5) 19-Stevie Smith
6) R19-Jason Solwold
7) 51-Fred Rahmer
8) 10C-Jeremy Campbell
9) 24-Terry McCarl
10) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.
11) 11i-Geoff Dodge
12) 22-Brandon Martin

Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 7K-Dean Jacobs
2) 14-Jason Meyers
3) 15-Donny Schatz
4) 11H-Kerry Madsen
5) 6-Tim Shaffer
6) 1Z-Jessica Zemken
7) 14AJ-Wayne Johnson
8) 1X-Randy Hannagan
9) 8K-Chad Kemenah
10) 35-Jac Haudenschild
11) 20-Paul McMahan
12) 21B-Brandon McLain

Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 21-Daryn Pittman
2) 11-Steve Kinser
3) 2B-Dale Blaney
4) 22X-Greg Hodnett
5) 7-Craig Dollansky
6) 5C-Chad Hillier
7) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.
8) 4-Danny Smith
9) 20E-Brian Ellenberger
10) W20-Greg Wilson
11) 12-Lynton Jeffrey

Heat 4 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 83-Danny Lasoski
2) 5-Shane Stewart
3) D1-Justin Henderson
4) 3-Kaley Gharst
5) 7S-Jason Sides
6) 25-Chad Layton
7) 7M-Mark Smith
8) 30-Doug Esh
9) 18-Brian Carlson
10) 7B-Joey Borich
11) 11T-Tyler Thompson

Crane Cams Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) 11-Steve Kinser
2) 21-Daryn Pittman
3) 83-Danny Lasoski
4) 14-Jason Meyers
5) 5-Shane Stewart
6) 9-Joey Saldana
7) 30C-Lance Dewease
8) 15-Donny Schatz
9) 7K-Dean Jacobs
10) 5W-Lucas Wolfe

C-main (10 laps, top 2 finishers transferred to B-main)
1) 4-Danny Smith
2) 35-Jac Haudenschild
3) 18-Brian Carlson [$125]
4) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr. [$125]
5) 22-Brandon Martin [$125]
6) 8K-Chad Kemenah [$100]
7) 11T-Tyler Thompson [$100]
8) 12-Lynton Jeffrey [$100]
9) 21B-Brandon McLain [$100]

B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 24-Terry McCarl
2) R19-Jason Solwold
3) 7M-Mark Smith
4) 51-Fred Rahmer
5) 35-Jac Haudenschild [$200]
6) 25-Chad Layton [$180]
7) 14AJ-Wayne Johnson [$175]
8) 1Z-Jessica Zemken [$160]
9) 1X-Randy Hannagan [$150]
10) 30-Doug Esh [$150]
11) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [$150]
12) 10C-Jeremy Campbell [$150]
13) 4-Danny Smith [$150]
14) 7B-Joey Borich [$150]
15) 20E-Brian Ellenberger [$150]
16) 11i-Geoff Dodge [$150]
17) 5C-Chad Hillier [$150]
18) W20-Greg Wilson [$150]

A-main (30 laps) - Starting Position [#]
1) 11-Steve Kinser[1] [$10,000]
2) 83-Danny Lasoski[3] [$5,000]
3) 21-Daryn Pittman[2] [$3,000]
4) 15-Donny Schatz[8] [$2,700]
5) 14-Jason Meyers[4] [$2,500]
6) 9-Joey Saldana[6] [$2,200]
7) 24-Terry McCarl[16] [$2,000]
8) 7S-Jason Sides[12] [$1,800]
9) 5-Shane Stewart[5] [$1,600]
10) 2B-Dale Blaney[14] [$1,450]
11) 30C-Lance Dewease[7] [$1,300]
12) 22X-Greg Hodnett[11] [$1,200]
13) 11H-Kerry Madsen[20] [$1,100]
14) 7-Craig Dollansky[21] [$1,000]
15) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[10] [$950]
16) R19-Jason Solwold[19] [$900]
17) 51-Fred Rahmer[24] [$850]
18) D1-Justin Henderson[15] [$750]
19) 3-Kaley Gharst[18] [$725]
20) 6-Tim Shaffer[17] [$700]
21) 19-Stevie Smith[23] [$700]
22) 7M-Mark Smith[22] [$700]
23) 11K-Kraig Kinser[13] [$700]
24) 7K-Dean Jacobs[9] [$700]
25) 20-Paul McMahan[25] [$700]

Lap Leaders: Steve Kinser 1-30

KSE Hard Charger Award: Terry McCarl

Note: Paul McMahan's team used a provisional to receive championship points, though McMahan did not compete in the A-Main due to a foot injury sustained in the second heat race that required transport to the hospital.

-credit: woo