Down to the Wire: Jason Meyers Wins Thriller over Joey Saldana on Last Lap at Clay County
Spencer, IA— September 16, 2009— Jason Meyers saved his best for last on Wednesday night at Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer, Iowa as he charged around Joey Saldana on the high side of turn two on the final lap to pick up a thrilling win in the third annual Arnold Motor Supply Shootout.For Meyers it was his first career win at the 3/8-mile located at the historic fairgrounds and his eighth A-Feature victory of the season. He traded the lead with Saldana four times en route to the $10,000 triumph before a packed grandstand, including on three occasions over the final five laps.
“That’s a race right there,” said Meyers in Victory Lane. “Joey (Saldana) has been fast all season and we are tight in this points deal so you have to go for it. You have to go hard or go home. Joey didn’t get a good run off (turn) four and kind of went to the middle and I just gave it all I had up top and it about turned over and it got tight up there on the cushion and we jumped it. I don’t know how it came back down on all fours.”
Meyers led early in the race before Saldana took a commanding lead in the middle portion of the 30-lapper. Meyers retook the top spot on the 26th lap on the back straighthaway. With just two laps to go, Saldana charged off the top of turn four to take back the point. Meyers used a strong run exiting the second turn on the white flag lap to get around Saldana on the high side of the track, with the pair nearly making contact and both having to get on their brakes. Meyers charged down the back strightaway and held off Saldana to earn the 34th A-Feature win of his World of Outlaws career aboard the GLR Investments KPC.
“I can’t say enough about this team and all the people involved in this and makes this car go around,” said Meyers, who hails from Clovis, California. “They give me a great race car each night.”
Meyers started on the outside of the front and took the lead from Tony Bruce Jr. who started on the pole, in turn two of the opening circuit. By the second lap, Meyers had opened about an eight car length lead over Saldana who moved from fourth to second on the opening lap.
Meyers encountered lapped traffic for the first time on the sixth lap, allowing Saldana to close right in on him. On the eighth lap, Saldana looked high off turn two and nearly took the lead, then dove low in turn four and moved into the top spot, as the pair split a lapped car. Saldana opened up a sizeable lead at this point as Meyers was held up in traffic when the first caution of the night flew on the 14th lap.
Another caution on the next lap kept the leaders in open track at the halfway point of the 30-lap contest. With 10 laps to go they were in traffic again, allowing Meyers to close back in. Over the last five laps they traded the lead three times.
“With a guy like Joey (Saldana) or Donny (Schatz) you can’t be patient,” noted Meyers after the race. “You have to go and get to them and get to them as fast as you can. I gave it all I had the whole race and I just needed traffic to slow him up a little bit. I knew I had to be there when we got to traffic too. It was a great race track here tonight. It had a top groove and a bottom groove. Good race tracks make good races. They did a heck of a job here tonight.”
Meyers gained 12 points on Donny Schatz in the series championship standings after the latter finished sixth, and the gap between the two is now just 17 markers with 10 point paying events remaining on the schedule, as Meyers chases his first series title.
“We’ve had a good car for the last two or three months and have had some breaks come our way as well, which we hadn’t been getting,” shared Meyers. “We’ve had some good pill draws and things like that here lately. You can’t lie about that, that helps. The breaks are coming our way and we are capitalizing on them and that’s what it takes to win championships and we’re getting closer.”
Saldana led a race-high 22 laps as he made a bid for his 18th A-Feature win of the season, coming up just three-tenths of a second short at the line in the Budweiser Maxim. He gained 11 points in the standings and remains third, 54 markers out of the lead as he too chases his first title.
“It was a great race, I just lost,” said Saldana. “He (Meyers) did a great job. I had a great car and I totally gave it away and came home with a second. We’ll go on to the next race and hopefully can do better.”
Jac Haudenschild finished third for the sixth time this season in the Owens Corning Fiberglass Maxim. He started sixth and worked his way all the way to third by the third lap, getting around pole sitter Tony Bruce Jr. along with Jason Sides and Chad Kemenah as he worked the high side of the track.
“The car felt good tonight and ran pretty good,” said Haudenschild. “We were right there and keeping up with those guys. A couple of breaks and we would have been there, but we ended up third.”
Early in the race there was smoke coming from Saldana’s machine as he came down the front straighthaway, though that didn’t seem to slow him down as he kept pace with Meyers. Prior to the first caution of the night on the 14th lap, the native of Brownsburg, Indiana has opened a commanding lead as he weaved his way through lapped traffic.
“It was just really cold and these motors don’t like to be cold,” explained Saldana. “It just didn’t have any heat in it and that’s why it blew oil out. It ran fine, these motors are always strong. I just got beat driving.”
For Haudenschild the podium finish was his 13th Top-Five of the season as he continues to close in on his first win of the campaign. He began the night by finishing second in the second heat to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash.
“The track was real nice tonight and you could run anywhere on it,” shared Haudenschild. “I’m just glad to be back up front.”
Jason Sides picked up his 22nd Top-Five finish of the season on Wednesday night coming home fourth in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim to earn the best finish of his career at Clay County Fair Speedway.
Terry McCarl was fifth in the Big Game Treestands Maxim, with three-time and defending World of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz sixth aboard the Armor All J&J. Chad Kemenah wound up seventh in the Hampshire Racing Engines Maxim, with Tony Bruce Jr. in eighth. Tim Kaeding was ninth in the DTR Transport KPC, with race promoter Craig Dollansky rounding out the Top-10 in the DirecTV Maxim.
The World of Outlaws return to action on Saturday, September 19 at Deer Creek Speedway in Minnesota for an event postponed by rain last month.
CLAY COUNTY FAIR SPEEDWAY NOTES
• FAST QUALIFIER: Kerry Madsen paced the 33 cars that took time with a record setting AMB i.t. timed lap around the semi-banked 3/8-mile oval at 13.345 seconds at 101.161 mph. For his qualifying effort, Madsen earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Bronson Maeschen (4), Joey Saldana (3), Terry McCarl (2), and Danny Lasoski (1).
• QUALIFYING WINNERS: Donny Schatz, Jason Meyers, Tony Bruce Jr. and Tim Kaeding won heat races. Tony Bruce Jr. won the Crane Cams Dash. Sam Hafertepe Jr. won the B-Main.
There has been 57 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature event held in 2009. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Volusia Speedway Park, Silver Dollar Speedway-twice, Thunderbowl Raceway, Lone Star Speedway, Houston Raceway Park, The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway, Lawrenceburg Speedway, Dodge City Raceway Park-twice, U.S. 36 Raceway, 34 Raceway, I-55 Raceway, Castrol Raceway-twice and Skagit Speedway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park-twice, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Knoxville Raceway, Eldora Speedway, Canandaigua Speedway, Lawrenceburg Speedway, River Cities Speedway, Cedar Lake Speedway, Eldora Speedway, K-C Raceway and Dacotah Speedway), Jason Meyers (Silver Dollar Speedway, Paducah International Raceway, I-96 Speedway, Red River Valley Speedway, Ohsweken Speedway, Skagit Speedway, Cottage Grove Speedway and Clay County Fair Speedway), Danny Lasoski (Delaware International Speedway, Nodak Speedway, Eagle Raceway, Charter Raceway Park and Lernerville Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lebanon Valley Speedway, I-55 Raceway and River Cities Speedway), Greg Hodnett (Williams Grove Speedway-twice), Steve Kinser (Tri-State Speedway and Limaland Motorsports Park), Terry McCarl (Knoxville Raceway and Eldora Speedway), Dale Blaney (Attica Raceway Park), Randy Hannagan (Thunderbowl Raceway), Tim Kaeding (Riverside International Speedway),Chad Kemenah (Manzanita Speedway), Jason Sides (Ohsweken Speedway) and Stevie Smith (Lernerville Speedway).
• PRELIMINARY FEATURE WINNERS: There has been two World of Outlaws preliminary features this season. The winners include: Jason Meyers (Silver Dollar Speedway) and Joey Saldana (Silver Dollar Speedway).
• 3/8-MILE WINNERS: Clay County Fair Speedway is a semi-banked 3/8-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced 16 times on a track that size this season. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Lawrenceburg Speedway, Dodge City Raceway Park-twice, U.S. 36 Raceway, 34 Raceway and Castrol Raceway-twice), Donny Schatz (Lawrenceburg Speedway, Cedar Lake Speedway, K-C Raceway and Dacotah Speedway), Jason Meyers (Paducah International Raceway, Ohsweken Speedway and Clay County Fair Speedway), Danny Lasoski (Nodak Speedway) and Jason Sides (Ohsweken Speedway).
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Clay County Fair Speedway; Spencer, IA; September 16, 2009
Qualifying
1) 55-Kerry Madsen 13.345
2) 96-Bronson Maeschen 13.509
3) 9-Joey Saldana 13.518
4) 24-Terry McCarl 13.551
5) 6-Danny Lasoski 13.581
6) 20-Kraig Kinser 13.590
7) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 13.608
8) 7S-Jason Sides 13.619
9) 15-Donny Schatz 13.637
10) 14-Jason Meyers 13.651
11) 23W-Scott Winters 13.701
12) 13-Mark Dobmeier 13.703
13) 63-Chad Kemenah 13.726
14) R19-Jac Haudenschild 13.776
15) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. 13.783
16) 83-Tim Kaeding 13.791
17) 19W-Bob Weuve 13.826
18) 19-Craig Dollansky 13.845
19) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 13.849
20) 21-Brian Brown 13.870
21) 14AJ-Wayne Johnson 13.881
22) 11-Steve Kinser 13.888
23) 2W-Johnny Herrera 13.904
24) 13V-Seth Brahmer 14.007
25) 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips 14.087
26) 10X-Rager Phillips 14.097
27) 7K-Kaley Gharst 14.139
28) 12-Lynton Jeffrey 14.162
29) 4W-Matt Wasmund 14.179
30) 7-Sid Blandford 14.435
31) 12L-John Lambertz 14.531
32) 1A-Robby Wolfgang 14.576
33) 32-Greg Valentine 15.218
Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 15-Donny Schatz
2) 63-Chad Kemenah
3) 6-Danny Lasoski
4) 55-Kerry Madsen
5) 14AJ-Wayne Johnson
6) 4W-Matt Wasmund
7) 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips
8) 19W-Bob Weuve
9) 32-Greg Valentine
Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 14-Jason Meyers
2) R19-Jac Haudenschild
3) 20-Kraig Kinser
4) 19-Craig Dollansky
5) 11-Steve Kinser
6) 10X-Rager Phillips
7) 96-Bronson Maeschen
8) 7-Sid Blandford
Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.
2) 23W-Scott Winters
3) 5W-Lucas Wolfe
4) 2W-Johnny Herrera
5) 9-Joey Saldana
6) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.
7) 7K-Kaley Gharst
8) 12L-John Lambertz
Heat 4 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 83-Tim Kaeding
2) 7S-Jason Sides
3) 24-Terry McCarl
4) 13-Mark Dobmeier
5) 21-Brian Brown
6) 13V-Seth Brahmer
7) 12-Lynton Jeffrey
8) 1A-Robby Wolfgang
Crane Cams Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.
2) 14-Jason Meyers
3) 63-Chad Kemenah
4) 9-Joey Saldana
5) 7S-Jason Sides
6) R19-Jac Haudenschild
7) 83-Tim Kaeding
8) 15-Donny Schatz
9) 55-Kerry Madsen
10) 23W-Scott Winters
B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.
2) 19W-Bob Weuve
3) 7K-Kaley Gharst
4) 13V-Seth Brahmer
5) 96-Bronson Maeschen [$200]
6) 10X-Rager Phillips [$180]
7) 1A-Robby Wolfgang [$175]
8) 12L-John Lambertz [$160]
9) 4W-Matt Wasmund [$150]
10) 32-Greg Valentine [$150]
11) 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips [$150]
12) 12-Lynton Jeffrey [$150]
13) 7-Sid Blandford [$150]
A-main (30 laps) – Starting Position [#]
1) 14-Jason Meyers[2] [$10,000]
2) 9-Joey Saldana[4] [$5,500]
3) R19-Jac Haudenschild[6] [$3,200]
4) 7S-Jason Sides[5] [$2,800]
5) 24-Terry McCarl[11] [$2,500]
6) 15-Donny Schatz[8] [$2,300]
7) 63-Chad Kemenah[3] [$2,200]
8) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.[1] [$2,100]
9) 83-Tim Kaeding[7] [$2,050]
10) 19-Craig Dollansky[17] [$2,000]
11) 11-Steve Kinser[21] [$1,500]
12) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[18] [$1,200]
13) 20-Kraig Kinser[13] [$1,100]
14) 6-Danny Lasoski[12] [$1,050]
15) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[14] [$1,000]
16) 14AJ-Wayne Johnson[20] [$900]
17) 2W-Johnny Herrera[22] [$800]
18) 13-Mark Dobmeier[15] [$800]
19) 23W-Scott Winters[10] [$800]
20) 13V-Seth Brahmer[23] [$800]
21) 7K-Kaley Gharst[24] [$800]
22) 55-Kerry Madsen[9] [$800]
23) 21-Brian Brown[19] [$800]
24) 19W-Bob Weuve[16] [$800]
Lap Leaders: Jason Meyers 1-7, 26-27, 30; Joey Saldana 8-25, 28-29
SuperClean Start of the Night Award: Joey Saldana
Penske Power Position Award: Jac Haudenschild
KSE Hard Charger Award: Steve Kinser
