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 TALLADEGA,
AL (April 5) -- On the heals of capturing the top thirteen spots in
the previous O'Reilly World of Outlaws event, Team-Hoosier matched the
remarkable feat Saturday night at the Talladega Short Track in
Alabama. Danny Lasoski led the Hoosier-shod parade to the finish line
en route to capturing the $10,000 prize. Lasoski battled it out with
Mark Kinser before taking the lead for good on lap 13 of the 40-lap
race. Team-Hoosier has been on a roll as of late, sweeping the top 11
in the preliminary at Texas and then the top 13 in the finale before capturing
the first 13 spots in Saturday's feature. The Hoosier brand has now
captured 11 wins in the first 13 races of the young 2003 season after
winning 90 of 96 races in 2002.
Thirty-six cars posted times in qualifying with 28 of
them on Hoosier tires and the remaining eight cars split among the two
other competing tire brands. The Hoosier brand was used by the 12
fastest drivers in qualifying on the 1/3-mile track. Defending series
champion Steve Kinser set fast time of the night with his lap of
12.805 seconds (93.713 mph) followed by Shane Stewart, Craig
Dollansky, Tyler Walker and Joey Saldana to round out the top five
qualifiers.
In heat race action, Hoosier claimed three wins in the
four races contested. Kelly Kinser, Dale Blaney and Daryn Pittman were
the three Team-Hoosier heat race winners.
Both Dash races were also won by drivers using the
Hoosier brand. Danny Lasoski won the first Dash and Mark Kinser the
second. As a result, the two would start the 40-lap feature on the
front row.
In the feature, 21 of the 24 starters used Hoosier
tires with the remaining three spots split among the two other
competing tire brands. Danny Lasoski immediately jumped out to the
race lead from his pole position using a D10/D12 (left rear/right
rear) combination. Lasoski maintained leader status until lap seven,
when Mark Kinser, using a pair of RD15's, moved into the lead. Kinser
held the race lead for six laps before Lasoski, the 2001 series
champion, regained the race lead on an inside pass of Kinser. Lasoski
led the remainder of the way to capture his second win of the season
and collect the $10,000 winner's payout.
Following Lasoski to the finish line was Mark Kinser
in second place ($5,500) and Steve Kinser in third ($3,200). Steve
Kinser took the final podium spot using a D12/D15 combination.
All told, the Hoosier brand was on the first 13
drivers to cross the finish line. Rounding out the top 13 were: Paul
McMahan (4th), Sammy Swindell (5th), Shane Stewart (6th), Dale Blaney
(7th), Craig Dollansky (8th), Daryn Pittman (9th), Joey Saldana
(10th), Tyler Walker (11th), Donny Schatz (12th) and Kelly Kinser
(13th)
The World of Outlaws standings now has Danny Lasoski
(1535) holding a slim 14 point lead over Steve Kinser (1521) followed
by Craig Dollansky (1485) Mark Kinser (1430) and Daryn Pittman (1375).
Those top five drivers in the standing all compete on Hoosier tires.
The strong showing by the Hoosier brand caused the
inventory on the Hoosier Outlaws trailer to be depleted to the point a
return trip to the warehouse was warranted by Hoosier's Outlaws Track
Service Manager Todd Seitz to restock his supply of tires before
rejoining the traveling circuit.
The series next travels to Missouri where they have a
one-night show at State Fair Speedway on Friday and another one-night
program on Saturday at I-55 Raceway. The 2003 season has Team-Hoosier
shooting for its fourth consecutive championship in the World of
Outlaws Series.
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