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 LAS
VEGAS, NV (November 2-3) -- After ten long months of action, it all
came down to the final race of the season before the 2001 Pennzoil
World of Outlaws champion could be crowned. Danny Lasoski captured the
series title at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday night, as Hoosier
Racing Tire staked it's claim on a second consecutive series
championship after Steve Kinser took the title last year in his first
season on Hoosier tires. The weekend also provided the final setting
for Team-Hoosier to dominate in sprint racing's elite series. Brad
Furr captured his first-ever feature win in the preliminary on Friday,
as USA-made Hoosier tires were on the first six cars to cross
the finish line. Andy Hillenburg won the A-main on Saturday, as the
top four drivers were on the purple tire brand.
PRELIMINARY
- Friday, November 2
A huge 50 car field was on hand Friday night for preliminary
qualifying competition, as 40 cars elected to ride on Hoosier tires.
Defending series champion, Steve Kinser, set a new single lap record
of 13.942 seconds around the 1/2-mile clay oval, as the top five times
in qualifying were posted by Team-Hoosier drivers. Joey Saldana, Jason
Meyers, Daryn Pittman and Danny Lasoski rounded out the list of top
five qualifiers. All four O'Reilly Auto Parts heat races were won by
drivers using the Hoosier brand. Johnny Herrera and Craig Dollansky
took the checkered flag in their 13-car, 8-lap heat races, while Danny
Wood and Brad Furr captured wins in their 12-car, 8-lap heats. The
Channellock Dash, which was made up of the four heat race winners and
the top six qualifiers, had nine of ten competitors on Hoosier tires.
Brad Furr won the Dash followed by Team-Hoosier drivers, Danny Wood,
Johnny Herrera, Joey Saldana, Steve Kinser, Danny Lasoski and Craig
Dollansky in second through seventh respectively. Jason Meyers and
Daryn Pittman finished ninth and tenth. In the 30-lap feature,
rookie Brad Furr captured the flag-to-flag win, his first career
feature win in the series. After winning his heat and the Dash, Furr
used a pair of Hoosier D12's on his family owned Sanmina #2F sprinter
en route to the win and the $5,000 prize. Furr also led a
purple contingent to the finish line, as the first six cars crossing
the line were on Hoosier tires. Joey Saldana challenged Furr for the
win in the final race laps using a Hoosier RD12/D12 set up, but fell
short and took runner-up honors. Danny Wood and Steve Kinser
finished third and fourth respectively, as both drivers used a Hoosier
D10/D12 set-up. Danny Lasoski finished fifth and Craig Dollansky
sixth while completing the 1-2-3-4-5-6 sweep for Team-Hoosier. All
told, nine of the top ten finishers used Hoosier tires, as Jason
Meyers, Andy Hillenburg and Johnny Herrera rounded out the top
ten. The finish was the fifth consecutive Pennzoil World of
Outlaws race to end in a 1-2-3 finish for Team-Hoosier. Mark Kinser
finished 18th and dropped the #2 man in the points chase to 34 points
behind Danny Lasoski, in the JD Byrider #20L, for the championship
heading into the final race of the season on Saturday. A-MAIN
FINALE - Saturday, November 3
The entire season had come down to the final night of racing to
determine the 2001 series champion, as Danny Lasoski held a slim 34
point lead over Mark Kinser entering the final night of action. With
the top four preliminary finishers receiving a "free-pass"
into the Dash (all Team-Hoosier drivers), 44 cars remained on hand for
qualifying, 36 of them on Hoosier tires. Mark Kinser, let everyone
know he was not going down without a fight, set fast time of the night
at 14.100 seconds in the Hoosier-shod #5M, as Danny Lasoski qualified
13th. Two of the four O'Reilly Auto Parts heat races were won
by drivers using Hoosier tires. Danny Lasoski won the first heat with
Mark Kinser finishing second, while the fourth heat was won by Craig
Dollansky in the Karavan #7. In the final Channellock Dash of the
season, eight of the ten combatants were on the Hoosier brand. Brad
Furr won the 8-lap Dash and the right to start on the pole for the
30-lap feature. Furr was followed by six more Team Hoosier drivers, as
Joey Saldana continued his strong end-of-season run by taking
runner-up honors, Steve Kinser, Mark Kinser, Shane Stewart, Andy
Hillenburg and Danny Wood rounded out positions three through seven.
P.J. Chesson finished the Dash in tenth. The stage was now set for
the 30-lap A-main event which would determine the 2001 series
champion. Mark Kinser would start fourth while points leader Danny
Lasoski would start 17th. With position points on the final night of
an event counting 2 points each, Lasoski, entering the race with a 34
point margin, had just an eight point margin if both drivers finished
where they started. Any advance by Kinser and/or any error by Lasoski,
could mean the difference in who would claim the crown. Brad Furr,
using a pair of Hoosier D12's got the jump using the low line when the
green flag fell to start the 30-lap A-main. Furr held onto the race
lead until lap 10, when Andy Hillenburg moved into the race lead using
a Hoosier RD12/D12 set-up. While this was going on, it became evident
that Lasoski was charging through the field while Mark Kinser was not
so lucky. Kinser's chances of claiming the title lessened with each
lap as the two moved closer to each other on the track. While
Lasoski appeared to have the car to motor by the Mopar driver, he
elected to keep Kinser in sight and avoid any potential contact
and more importantly, avoid adding his name to the long list of losers
in LasVegas. Andy Hillenburg took the checkered flag and pocketed
the $17,000 prize money. Brad Furr, after his preliminary win, came
home second. Steve Kinser, on a pair of Hoosier D12's, rounded out the
top three giving Team-Hoosier it's 34th 1-2-3 sweep of the 2001
season. Joey Saldana finished in fourth place using the same
tire compound combination as the race winner, as Team Hoosier captured
eight of the top ten positions. Mark Kinser wound up seventh, Danny
Wood eighth, Danny Lasoski finished in ninth place and Daryn Pittman
tenth. While Mark Kinser was able to finish in front of Lasoski, the
two position difference wasn't enough to wrest away the title from
"The Dude". Lasoski captured the championship in his first
season driving the Tony Stewart owned J.D. Byrider #20L car. Lasoski
commented after the race, "This is about as choked up as I've
been in a long time. I owe this all to Tony Stewart. He believed in me
enough to help me put this team together, and people like Tony Ross at
American Compressed Steel, Stu Murray at Hamm, Massey Motorsports, Jim
England at J.D. Byrider, Eagle Chassis, Hoosier Tires and Paul
Kistler at Kistler motors have just made a dream come true. This team
never gave up, and worked their tails off to get me here. We flipped
that car at Charlotte, and they turned a DNF into a 14th and kept me
in it. I learned something from 'The King" (Steve Kinser) a
couple of years ago. He won a championship when he only won four or
five features, and the consistency is what we tried for all year
long." Neil Cowman, Hoosier sprint tire product manager, had
this to say after attending the season ending event in LasVegas,
"It was absolutely a fantastic finish to a great season for
Team-Hoosier. Back-to-back championships in the Gumout series and now
the Pennzoil World of Outlaws!" Cowman continued, "I am very
happy for Danny and his entire team. Danny was one of the first to
give Hoosier an opportunity in the Outlaws series back in 1999. Then,
Steve (Kinser) signed on in 2000, and gave Hoosier it's first-ever
Outlaws championship that year. So, to have Danny win the crown this
year is really satisfying to me personally. I am confident that
Danny's loyal use and knowledge of our product over the years was one
of the many factors that contributed to his championship." The
Pennzoil World of Outlaws season comes to a close with the top four
drivers in the final standings using USA-made Hoosier tires. Danny
Lasoski finishes with 9875 points followed by Mark Kinser with 9845
points. Last year's champion, Steve Kinser, takes third place with
9673 points and last year's Gumout champion, Craig Dollansky, captures
fourth. All told, six of the top seven driver's in the elite
series used Hoosier tires. Andy Hillenburg finished in sixth, while
Joey Saldana takes seventh and rounds out the list of top seven
Team-Hoosier drivers. Recapping Team-Hoosier's accomplishments
in 2001, in 99 events, Hoosier-shod drivers captured 63 wins, 77
runner-up finishes and 62 third place finishes. Team-Hoosier ended the
season sweeping first, second and third in the final six races while
recording 36, 1-2-3 sweeps during the season, compared to three by all
other tire manufacturers combined. Team Hoosier also finishes the
season winning 15 of the last 18 events. Hoosier Racing Tire
Corp. expresses it's appreciation to all the teams, drivers and fans
of the Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series, it has truly been an
enjoyable season for the entire Hoosier organization. |
