|
 CHICO,
CA (September 4) -- Joey Saldana won his third feature of the season
in the O'Reilly World of Outlaws Series Thursday night at Silver
Dollar Speedway. Saldana led all 30 laps en route to the win in the
Gold Cup Night One race in which half the field races on Thursday and
the remainder of the competitors race on Friday before Saturday's Gold
Cup finale. Tim Shaffer finished in second place followed by Jason
Sides giving Team-Hoosier its 65th 1-2-3 finish of the season in 75
nights of racing. The Hoosier brand's record in World of Outlaws
competition this season is 71 wins, 73 second place finishes and 69
third place finishes in the 75 races contested to date.
The Gold Cup format had the field spilt in half with
the first group competing on Thursday night. Even so, a huge 48-car
field packed the pits to battle it out in the Gold Cup opener with 47
cars riding on Hoosier tires. The Hoosier brand claimed the top nine
times in qualifying with Steve Kinser setting fast time of the night
with a lap of 11.859 seconds. The defending series champion was
followed by Roger Crockett, Jason Sides, Jac Haudenschild, Kevin
Pylant, Tim Shaffer, Joey Saldana, Todd Carmichael, and Jeff Hodgson.
There were four heat races contested with three of
them won by drivers on the Hoosier brand. Donny Schatz won the first
heat, while Toni Lutar and Jac Haudenschild won the final two heats.
Both Dash races were also won by Hoosier-shod drivers.
Joey Saldana won the first Dash and Tim Shaffer won the final Dash
earning the pair the right to start the feature on the front row.
In the 30-lap feature, 23 of the 24 starters rode on
Hoosier tires. When it was over, Joey Saldana had led every lap en
route to the win. He was followed to the finish line by Tim Shaffer,
Jason Sides and Steve Kinser in second through fourth, respectively.
All four drivers opted to run a Hoosier RD12/D12 (LR/RR) combination.
Jac Haudenschild was fifth using a D15/RD15 set-up.
The top thirteen finishers all rode atop the Hoosier
brand. Completing the top-13 sweep by Team-Hoosier were Donny Schatz
in sixth, Dennis Moore, Jr., Jason Statler, Kevin Pylant, Jeff
Hodgson, Nick Rescino, Jr., Randy Hannagan and Davey Key.
Those drivers not competing on Thursday will be in
action Friday night culminating in Saturday's Gold Cup finale.
Steve Kinser, who raced on Thursday, entered the night
leading in the point standings by six points over Danny Lasoski who
will race on Friday night. The top six drivers in the standings all
compete on USA-made Hoosier tires.
|
