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 LAS
VEGAS, NV (March 4) -- Defending and 18-time World of Outlaws Series
champion Steve Kinser added another victory to his impressive career
statistics winning Thursday night's 25-lap feature at The Dirt Track
at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "The King" took advantage of a
late race caution to take the lead from Brian Paulus with just two
laps to go. Kinser was followed to the line by Craig Dollansky with
Paulus settling for third. All three top finishing drivers raced on
Hoosier tires giving Team-Hoosier its second consecutive 1-2-3 finish.
In fact, the first six drivers to cross the line rode atop the Hoosier
brand including eight of the top ten. Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. is
seeking to claim its 5th consecutive World of Outlaws championship
this season.
In qualifying, 33 cars posted times on the 1/2-mile
clay oval with 30 of them doing so on Hoosiers. Craig Dollansky set
fast time of the night with a time of 13.943 seconds. The Karavan #7
car was followed by Donny Schatz at 13.976 seconds. Danny Lasoski was
third in qualifying and completed the list of qualifying drivers under
14 seconds. Steve Kinser was fourth followed by Jeremy Campbell in
fifth. All five drivers rode on Hoosier tires. In fact, 18 of the top
19 cars in qualifying did as well.
The superiority of the Hoosier brand was not just
evident in qualifying with all four heat races also won by members of
Team-Hoosier. Brian Paulus won the first heat with Kraig Kinser, Randy
Hannagan and Jason Sides winning heats two through four, respectively.
There were two Dash races contested--each with eight
drivers competing. In the first Dash, all but one driver used the
Hoosier brand. Sammy Swindell won the race followed by six more
Hoosier-shod drivers. In the second Dash, all eight drivers were on
Hoosiers with Brian Paulus capturing the win. As a result, Swindell
and Paulus earned front row starting positions for the night's feature
race.
In the feature race, Sammy Swindell took the lead at
the drop of the green flag. The veteran driver maintained the lead
until lap 17, when fellow front row starter Brian Paulus moved into
the lead using a pair of Hoosier D12's (LR/RR) after Swindell's car
experienced engine problems. The race looked to be Paulus' until a
late-race caution came out bunching the field again with just two to
go. On the restart Steve Kinser passed Paulus for the lead using a
RD12/D12 combination. Kinser held on to take the win by two car
lengths over Craig Dollansky who rode a pair of D12's. Brian Paulus
settled for third.
Tim Shaffer, Daryn Pittman and Danny Lasoski finished
fourth through sixth, respectively, while Jason Sides was ninth and
Dean Jacobs tenth giving the Hoosier brand claim to eight of the top
ten finishing positions. Kinser, Dollansky, Paulus and Shaffer are now
locked into Friday night's feature.
Including the season opening event in Australia, the
Hoosier brand has six wins, six second place finishes and seven third
place finishes in the seven nights of racing in the World of Outlaws
Series this season.
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