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 ROSSBURG,
OH (April 9-10) -- After notching his 500th A-Feature win just two
weeks ago, 18-time World of Outlaws Series champion Steve Kinser
claimed #501 at Eldora Speedway over the weekend. Kinser won both the
25-lap preliminary and the 30-lap finale from the outside pole
position en route to collecting $17,000 for the two wins. The Hoosier
brand once again was the dominant tire among the three competing tire
brands sweeping the top nine in Friday night's opener and the top ten
on the final night of racing. Currently, the top three drivers and
nine of the top ten in the point standings ride on Hoosier tires.
Ironically, the one driver in the top ten not using Hoosiers actually
switched to the purple tire brand for Saturday's feature.
FRIDAY'S PRELIMINARY
ROSSBURG, OH (April 9) -- The opening night of the two-night program
attracted 46 cars to the Eldora 1/2-mile track with 38 cars riding on
Hoosier tires. The remaining eight drivers were split evenly among the
other two competing tire brands. Daryn Pittman was the fastest
qualifier at 13.169 seconds using Hoosier's softest compound as his
right-rear tire choice--the D10. He was followed by another
Hoosier-shod car driven by Jason Johnson at 13.183 seconds. All told,
Hoosier-shod cars claimed 23 of the 25 fastest times in qualifying.
All four 8-lap heat races were won by members of Team
Hoosier with Jac Haudenschild, Chad Kemenah, Dale Blaney and Jonathan
Allard each capturing wins. Amazingly, three different right-rear compounds
were used by the four heat race winners. Haudenschild won on a D10,
while Kemenah and Blaney used a D12 and Allard opted to use a Hoosier
RD12.
Both Dash races were also won by drivers using Hoosier
tires with Danny Lasoski using a D12 to take the first Dash and Steve
Kinser using a D10 to capture the final Dash.
In the 25-lap feature, only two tire brands were
represented with 22 of the 24 starters on Hoosiers. Steve Kinser
started in second and moved to first on lap 14, leading the remainder
of the race to capture the opening night $5,000 win. Kinser used a
pair of D12's (LR/RR) as did runner-up finisher Danny Lasoski. Seventh
starting Joey Saldana took the final podium spot and giving Team
Hoosier its fifth consecutive 1-2-3 finish in Outlaws competition.
Lasoski and Saldana also used a pair of D12's.
Hoosier-shod drivers captured the top nine spots in
the feature with Donny Schatz finishing in fourth followed by Daryn
Pittman, Mark Kinser, Jason Sides, Sammy Swindell and Chad Kemenah in
fifth through ninth, respectively.
SATURDAY'S FINALE
ROSSBURG, OH (April 10) -- With the top four (all on Hoosiers) locked
into Saturday's Dash, that left 43 cars posting qualifying times. Just
five drivers opted to try their luck a second night on another tire
brand when two drivers from one tire brand's camp and one from the
other switched to Hoosiers for the final night of competition with 38
of the 43 qualifiers riding atop the purple tire brand.
The choice to change brands was a good one as
Hoosier-shod cars captured 36 of the 37 fastest times in qualifying.
The only spot not earned by a driver on Hoosiers among the top 37 was
14th.
In heat race action, three of the four races were won
by drivers on Hoosiers with Jonathan Allard (RD12), Bill Rose (D12)
and Phil Gressman (D12) each capturing wins.
In the Dash race, all eight starters rode on Hoosier
tires. Danny Lasoski took the win using a D12 followed by Steve
Kinser, Joey Saldana, Donny Schatz, Craig Dollansky, Chad Kemenah,
Kraig Kinser and Tim Shaffer.
In the 30-lap feature, 24 of the 25 starters were on
Hoosiers. Danny Lasoski took the race lead from the pole and looked to
be on his way to the win when defending series champion Steve Kinser
passed the 2001 champion low in the first corner of the final lap.
Kinser took the checkered flag and the Eldora sweep along with
Saturday's $12,000 payout. Lasoski settled for second place and $6,000
followed by Mark Kinser in third. Kinser charged from ninth to take
the final podium spot. The top three all used a pair of Hoosier D12's.
The first ten drivers to cross the finish line all
used Hoosier tires with Craig Dollansky finishing in fourth followed
by Joey Saldana, Donny Schatz, Kraig Kinser, Chad Kemenah, Sammy
Swindell and Dale Blaney. Blaney started 21st before charging through
nearly half the field to finish in the top ten. The only other driver
to pass more cars on the evening was the #11H car that had switched to
the Hoosier brand during the night and finished in 12th place after
starting 24th.
Steve Kinser currently leads the World of Outlaws
Series driver standings with 1175 points followed by Danny Lasoski
with 1092 points. Donny Schatz is in third place--only two points
behind Lasoski with 1090 markers. The top ten in the standings
currently include nine Hoosier-shod drivers and one driver (in 4th)
who switched to the Hoosier brand for the Eldora finale.
The series resumes action this Friday, April 16, at Missouri's
Sedalia Speedway. Our thanks go out to Hoosier Open Wheel Dirt Product
Manager Neil Cowman for providing the details used in this report. He
and Hoosier Engineer John Reynolds attended the two-race program at
Eldora.
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