(Bill W) September 5, 2012 – Kerry Madsen is rolling and collected two wins in the Pacific Northwest. On Friday night, he struck at the Skagit Speedway in Washington and on Monday, he picked up a win at the Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Oregon. He has mixed in another pair of top fives, a sixth and an eighth place finish in the last two weeks as well. A busy weekend looms in California, with the prestigious Gold Cup at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, followed by a date in Calistoga Sunday and Antioch Monday.
The win at Skagit in Friday’s prelim was a bit of a surprise for the St. Mary’s, New South Wales native. “We haven’t always run well there,” says Kerry. “I can’t tell you why. It definitely didn’t hurt that we put ourselves in position by winning the Dash. We can say that, but we had a great racecar. We went out late and qualified well (8th) and we were good in the heat (2nd).”
Kerry ran second in the early going, but asserted himself to win in the Keneric Racing #29. “(Donny) Schatz got the lead the first ten laps,” he says. “On a restart, we rubbed wheels, and he ended up with a flat tire. There was another restart with three to go and Sammy (Swindell) beside me. You can’t underestimate Sammy. He’s got all the tricks in the book. We got a good start and held our breath for three laps to get it done.”
Saturday’s finale at Skagit saw Kerry repeat his Dash win of the night prior and he started on the pole. “Kraig Kinser was beside me (at the start of the main event), and I don’t know if he hit the brakes or had a stumble,” he says. “He probably had a stumble. That made it look like I had too good of a start and they put me back.”
Kerry would checker fourth. “I was running second behind Travis (Jacobson) and Schatz got me,” he says. “We were running third and having a pretty good race. I was running it hard. I tried to get back by Schatz and made a bit of a mistake on the high side. (Jason) Sides got by me and we ran fourth. We had a good car. We were hoping to get the broom out, but it didn’t happen. It was a good weekend. Our last win had been in the middle of July, so it was good to get some wins again. We’d like to get a couple more. Why not?”
The win at Lebanon came Monday night. “We qualified decent for when we went out (6th),” says Kerry. “We were good in the heat (2nd) and the draw went our way for the Dash (starting and finishing second).”
Car owners Bob and Pete Gavranich had made a pledge at Skagit in the finale that they would donate all their earnings to Jeff Gordon’s “Kick it for Cancer” charity. After the win at Lebanon, they will make a $10,000 donation. “We were able to get out front at the start, and led all thirty,” says Kerry. “The team had the car really good, and it was cool that Bob and Pete were able to give our winnings to the ‘Kick It for Cancer’ charity.”
Last week, Kerry finished sixth at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Washington. “At Elma, we qualified seventh,” he says. “Sammy got by us in the heat and we ran third. That put us out of the Dash. We were able to run up to sixth (after starting 11th). We had another great racecar. We just got strung out there at the end and couldn’t make up the ground.”
Friday and Saturday, August 24 and 25, the World of Outlaws visited Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Kerry finished fifth in the prelim. “We were able to pass Schatz and Sammy and we were running second to (Craig) Dollansky,” he says. “I actually passed him once, but he passed me back. There was a restart with two to go, and we lost some pressure in the tires. I didn’t have the speed I had before and we ran fifth. That was disappointing.”
Kerry would finish eighth in the finale. “We just qualified like crap (15th),” he says. “We had a great racecar for the feature, and ran up to eighth (from 15th).”
Follow Kerry Madsen on his Website and on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter!
Follow Kerry Madsen at his website located at www.KenericRacing.com! Also keep up with him on Facebook and Twitter (which also can be accessed at the website) at the following links…
Facebook link = http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Official-Fan-Page-for-Kerry-Madsen/101145169933686
Twitter link = http://twitter.com/#!/kmr29
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The Team
Kerry Madsen (KMR / Keneric Racing), Bob & Peter Gavranich (Keneric Racing), Earthex, Morrison Motors, KPC Chassis.
