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 CHILLICOTHE,
OH (July 31) -- In front of the largest crowd ever at K-C Raceway,
Daryn Pittman led all 40 laps of the "Freedom 40" en route
to collecting his second feature win of the season in the O'Reilly
World of Outlaws Series. The 2001 Gumout champion was followed to the
line by Joey Saldana and Jac Haudenschild for the 49th consecutive
1-2-3 finish for the Hoosier brand in the series. Team-Hoosier has now
won an amazing 56 of 58 races contested in the elite series this
season, while also capturing 57 runner-up finishes and 52 third place
finishes. This, after winning 90 of 96 races in 2002. The Hoosier
brand has been the tire of choice by the last three series champions,
and should be again this year, with the top seven drivers in the
standings riding on USA-made Hoosier tires.
Thirty-seven cars took turns in qualifying with 31
drivers posting times on Hoosiers and the remaining six drivers split
evenly among the other two competing tire brands. Danny Lasoski set
fast time of the night with his 11.212 second lap around the 3/8-mile
K-C oval, while Joey Saldana and Steve Kinser were second and third,
respectively, in qualifying. All three were atop the qualifying leader
board using Hoosier's D10 compound as their right rear tire compound
choice. All told, Team-Hoosier collected nine of the top ten times in
qualifying.
Three of the four heat races were won by Hoosier-shod
drivers. Dale Blaney won the first heat using a D10 as his right rear
tire choice, as did Byron Reed and Jason Meyers when they won heats
three and four.
Daryn Pittman and Dale Blaney were the two Dash
winners, and once again, the wins were captured using Hoosier's D10
compound.
In the 40-lap feature, 21 of the 24 starters rode on
Hoosier tires, with the two other competing tire brands represented by
the three remaining drivers. Daryn Pittman took the lead from the
outset and won by nearly a straightaway over Joey Saldana and Jac
Haudenschild. Pittman took the win using a D12 as his left rear
compound choice and a D15 as his right rear choice. Saldana opted to
run the 40 lapper using a D12/RD15 combination, while Haudenschild
chose to use a pair of Hoosier D12's. The all-Hoosier podium was the
49th consecutive sweep for Team-Hoosier in the series and crushes last
season's best mark of 11 in a row.
Others finishing in the top ten using the Hoosier
brand were Jason Meyers, Byron Reed, Paul McMahan, Steve Kinser, John
Ivy and Jason Sides in fifth through tenth, respectively.
Special thanks to Hoosier Engineer Jon Huffman who
attended the race and provided the details for this report.
The Outlaws will be back in action this Sunday, August
3, at Wisconsin's Powercom Park Raceway where Team-Hoosier looks to
notch its 50th consecutive 1-2-3 finish.
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