Drummondville, QC — Steve Kinser has an amazing record over the years when he visits a track for the first time with the World of Outlaws, having scored well over 50 wins in debut events for the series.
The 20-time series champion added to that remarkable list on Tuesday night as he was victorious in the World of Outlaws first-ever race at Autodrome Drummond in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada before a standing room only crowd on a picture perfect night.
Kinser started on the outside of the front row and battled his teammate Donny Schatz in the early going, taking the top spot from him on the fifth lap as the pair exited turn four, using the low side of the four-tenths-mile to surge ahead. He would quickly pull away in lapped traffic. The native of Bloomington, Indiana would pace the final 31 circuits of the 35-lap contest to score his sixth A-Feature win of the season and the 558th of his amazing career.
“It is special,” said Kinser in Victory Lane of scoring another inaugural event win. “I thought we may have been jinxed earlier when Johnny (Gibson) said earlier how we have won a lot of races in our first time at a track and I know we have, but you sort of hate hearing it before you go out there. To get another first win is great.”
Kinser was out front for three double file restarts and chose the low line each and every time. He led Donny Schatz into turns one and two on the first two and had Paul McMahan lined up on his outside on the final restart with six laps remaining. Kinser used strong restarts each time to stay in front aboard the Bass Pro Shops Maxim.
“The leader gets to set the pace with the line he chooses, so I choked them down a bit and caught the moisture getting off (turn) four,” explained the Hall of Famer. “I didn’t want them to get up to speed and get a run at me coming off four. They were pretty slow starts, but that’s what you have to do sometimes, pick a spot and do what you can.”
Schatz, who led the first four laps of the race on Tuesday night, used a strong restart on the 22nd lap to look high off turns one and two in his bid for the lead. He used the same strategy on the following lap, but could not quite make the pass. The final restart of the night would come with six laps remaining, after Schatz stopped on the track with a mechanical problem while running second.
“I didn’t really know when to move back up and Donny (Schatz) showed himself and I moved back up on top,” Kinser noted. “Then I started running out of fuel on the last five laps and didn’t think I was going to make it to the checker on the last lap. It was spitting and sputtering, but we made and that’s what matters.”
Paul McMahan ended up second on Tuesday night to earn his 10th Top-Five finish in the last 12 races, which is the most of any driver during that span. The veteran started fourth in the Great Clips Maxim and ran in the Top-Five all night, getting around Chad Kemenah late in the going for third, before moving into second when Schatz dropped out.
“We’ve been real good,” said McMahan. “The car was awesome fast all night long. It’s just great to be back in Canada. The fans are great and it’s unbelievable how packed the place is. Hopefully we’ll be back many times down the road.”
Joey Saldana, the current World of Outlaws point leader finished third after lining up 11th in the Budweiser Maxim to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award. The second generation driver holds a 29-point advantage over Kinser as he chases his first title.
“We were struggling with our car all night and weren’t too bad in the feature,” said Saldana. “It’s hard racing with these guys when you start in the 11th spot and it’s tough to make it up. We had a good solid car and just came home third.”
McMahan lined up on the outside of Kinser on the final restart with six laps to go. He dove to the low side of turns one and two to no avail as he kept pace with Kinser on the restart. Coupled with Saldana’s third-place finish it was the fourth time this season that both Kasey Kahne Racing cars have finished on the podium on the same night.
“My motor wasn’t taking off very good so I was trying to get down to the bottom as fast as I could,” shared McMahan. “I got down there and had one shot at Steve (Kinser) and he was better than we were. I was probably a third-place car until Donny (Schatz) broke. We came home second and it was a great night for Kasey Kahne Racing.”
Jason Meyers, who is currently third in points, finished fourth in the GLR Investments KPC. Sam Hafertepe Jr. used a strong restart following the lap-29 caution to power his way from 10th to fifth in the final six laps in the Lone Star Speedway Maxim.
Chad Kemenah scored a sixth-place finish in the Golden Flavor Sesame Sticks Maxim, with Kraig Kinser seventh in the Quaker State Maxim. Lucas Wolfe was eighth in the Allebach Racing Maxim with Danny Lasoski ninth aboard the Casey’s General Stores Maxim. Jason Sides rounded out the Top-10 in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim.
The World of Outlaws return to action on Friday, July 30 and Saturday, July 31 at Ohsweken Speedway in Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada for a two-night event.
AUTODROME DRUMMOND NOTES
•FAST QUALIFIER: Lucas Wolfe paced the 20 cars that took time with a record setting AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked four-tenths-mile oval at 13.788 seconds at 104.439 mph. For his qualifying effort, Wolfe earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Donny Schatz (4), Paul McMahan (3), Chad Kemenah (2) and Steve Kinser (1).
•AUTODROME DRUMMOND QUALIFYING WINNERS: Chad Kemenah, Donny Schatz and Jason Meyers won heat races. Donny Schatz won the dash.
• FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 44 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature events held in 2010. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, I-55 Raceway, Eldora Speedway-twice, Dodge City Raceway Park, River Cities Speedway, LaSalle Speedway, Beaver Dam Raceway and Lernerville Speedway), Virginia Motor Speedway, I-96 Speedway and North Central Speedway), Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park, Jackson Speedway, River Cities Speedway, Lakeside Speedway, Eldora Speedway and Autodrome Drummond), Jason Meyers (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, Tri-State (Okla.) Speedway, Jason Sides (Houston Raceway Park , Tri-City Speedway and Missouri State Fair Speedway), Lance Dewease (Lernerville Speedway and Williams Grove Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lone Star Speedway and Cedar Lake Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (Paducah International Raceway and Knoxville Raceway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park and The Dirt Track at Charlotte), Sammy Swindell (Dodge City Raceway and Huset’s Speedway), Brooke Tatnell (Knoxville Raceway and Junction Motor Speedway), Dale Blaney (Limaland Motorsports Park), Doug Esh (Lebanon Valley Speedway), Greg Hodnett (Williams Grove Speedway), Chad Layton (Williams Grove Speedway), Paul McMahan (Eldora Speedway) and Fred Rahmer (Williams Grove Speedway).
•FOUR-TENTHS-MILE-WINNERS: Autodrome Drummond is a high-banked four-tenths-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced six times this season on a track that size. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Volunteer Speedway and Lernerville Speedway), Lance Dewease (Lernerville Speedway), Steve Kinser (Autodrome Drummond), Jason Meyers (Volunteer Speedway), and Donny Schatz (The Dirt Track at Charlotte).
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Autodrome Drummond; Drummondville, QC; July 27, 2010
Qualifying
1) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 13.788
2) 15-Donny Schatz 13.813
3) 91-Paul McMahan 13.871
4) 63-Chad Kemenah 14.228
5) 11-Steve Kinser 14.244
6) 14-Jason Meyers 14.254
7) 11K-Kraig Kinser 14.264
8) 6-Danny Lasoski 14.286
9) 7-Craig Dollansky 14.289
10) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 14.335
11) 9-Joey Saldana 14.379
12) R19-Doug Esh 14.475
13) 2B-Ben Gregg 14.519
14) 14Z-Jessica Zemken 14.526
15) 8B-Alain Bergeron 14.527
16) 7S-Jason Sides 14.653
17) 4X-Toni Lutar 14.784
18) 28FM-Steve Poirier 14.895
19) 52L-Daniel Lampron 15.591
20) 50-Normand Beaudreault 15.856
Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) – Starting Position [#]
1) 63-Chad Kemenah[3]
2) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[1]
3) 11K-Kraig Kinser[2]
4) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[4]
5) 7S-Jason Sides[6]
6) 2B-Ben Gregg[5]
7) 52L-Daniel Lampron[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) – Starting Position [#]
1) 15-Donny Schatz[4]
2) 6-Danny Lasoski[2]
3) 11-Steve Kinser[3]
4) 9-Joey Saldana[1]
5) 14Z-Jessica Zemken[5]
6) 4X-Toni Lutar[6]
7) 50-Normand Beaudreault[7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) – Starting Position [#]
1) 14-Jason Meyers[3]
2) 7-Craig Dollansky[2]
3) R19-Doug Esh[1]
4) 91-Paul McMahan[4]
5) 8B-Alain Bergeron[5]
6) 28FM-Steve Poirier[6]
Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) – Starting Position [#]
1) 15-Donny Schatz[3]
2) 11-Steve Kinser[5]
3) 63-Chad Kemenah[1]
4) 91-Paul McMahan[2]
5) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[4]
6) 14-Jason Meyers[6]
7) 11K-Kraig Kinser[7]
8) 7-Craig Dollansky[9]
9) 6-Danny Lasoski[8]
10) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[10]
A-main (30 laps) – Starting Position [#]
1) 11-Steve Kinser[2] [$10,000]
2) 91-Paul McMahan[4] [$5,500]
3) 9-Joey Saldana[11] [$3,200]
4) 14-Jason Meyers[6] [$2,800]
5) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[10] [$2,500]
6) 63-Chad Kemenah[3] [$2,300]
7) 11K-Kraig Kinser[7] [$2,200]
8) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[5] [$2,100]
9) 6-Danny Lasoski[9] [$2,050]
10) 7S-Jason Sides[16] [$2,000]
11) R19-Doug Esh[12] [$1,500]
12) 2B-Ben Gregg[13] [$1,200]
13) 14Z-Jessica Zemken[14] [$1,100]
14) 4X-Toni Lutar[17] [$1,050]
15) 28FM-Steve Poirier[18] [$1,000]
16) 52L-Daniel Lampron[19] [$900]
17) 15-Donny Schatz[1] [$800]
18) 8B-Alain Bergeron[15] [$800]
19) 7-Craig Dollansky[8] [$800]
20) 50-Normand Beaudreault[20] [$800]
Lap Leaders: Donny Schatz 1-4, Steve Kinser 5-35
KSE Hard Charger Award: Joey Saldana
Penske Power Position Award: Ben Gregg
World of Outlaws Championship Standings through July 27
1. Joey Saldana 5907
2. Steve Kinser 5878 -29
3. Jason Meyers 5860 -47
4. Donny Schatz 5735 -172
5. Jason Sides 5687 -220
6. Paul McMahan 5648 -259
7. Lucas Wolfe 5493 -414
8. Craig Dollansky 5420 -487
9. Kraig Kinser 5304 -603
10. Danny Lasoski 5286 -621
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: Armor All (Official Car Care Products), Chizmark & Larson Insurance, Goodyear Tires (Official Tire), SuperClean (Official Cleaner-Degreaser), VP Racing (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to contingency sponsors, Jake’s Custom Golf Carts, KSE Race Products, Penske Shocks, R2C Performance, Racing Electronics, S&S Volvo; Engine Builder’s Challenge participants Don Ott Racing Engines, Kistler Engines, Shaver Specialties and Speedway Engines; and Chassis Builder’s Challenge participants J&J Auto Racing, Maxim Racing and XXX Race Company.
