World Traveler: Saldana Wins Opener of Oil City Cup at Castrol Raceway
Heading into the 2009 season, Joey Saldana had won sprint car races in Australia, New Zealand and numerous ones in the United States, though one place missing from that list was Canada, where the World of Outlaws have competed a total of eight times over the last three years. The native of Brownsburg, Indiana changed that on Friday night in the opener of the third annual Oil City Cup at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, picking up the win to add a win north of the border on Canada to the list of countries he has won in.For Saldana, it was his series leading 14th A-Feature of the season and the 53rd of his World of Outlaws career. He has now won six times on 3/8-mile tracks this season to lead the series aboard the Budweiser Maxim.
“It’s huge to win here,” said Saldana in Victory Lane. “This is a long trip up here and to come and race at a facility like this is nice. I wish there was more tracks like this and people that support 410’s (sprint cars). If you want to see good racing, this what it is, the World of Outlaws.”
Saldana lined up second and blasted his way into the lead on the high side of the track in turn two after Danny Lasoski led the field into turn one after starting on the pole. He quickly jumped to a big lead as Donny Schatz moved into second with Lasoski retaking that spot on the third lap, setting up a battle between Schatz and Kinser for the third position.
The leaders found themselves in lapped traffic for the first time on the sixth lap with Saldana continuing to use the high side of the track, as he worked through heavy traffic for the next eight laps before the first caution of the night flew on the 14th go-around. Saldana would endure five cautions over the course of the 35-lap contest with 20-time series champion Steve Kinser lining up second on each of the subsequent restarts.
“It was definitely better the longer the runs went,” noted Saldana of his car. “I saw Steve (Kinser) down there on the bottom a couple of times and I think that the longer we ran the better we got. I felt really good and I thought we may have put a little too soft of a tire on and if we had put a little bit harder tire on we would have been really good. It was a great effort by the team.”
Saldana used the high side of the track on each restart, with Kinser looking low entering turns one and two each time. On a restart on the 19th lap Kinser nearly got even with Saldana heading into turns three and four. Saldana used strong restarts each time to maintain his lead, including on the final restart of the night with just two laps remaining.
“It was a great race for us tonight and a great track,” Saldana stated. “It was awesome, I like tracks like that. It was a good run for the entire team. We worked hard all night. We drew the 10 (in the dash) and won the race. That’s hard to do with these guys.”
Kinser lined up fourth and battled Donny Schatz early in the race taking the third spot from him on the third circuit. He then tracked down Danny Lasoski and got around him on the 10th go-around before setting his sights on Saldana. Kinser would end up second in the Quaker State Maxim.
“We definitely gained a lot tonight from where we have been the last three or four races,” shared Kinser. “I feel like we have a car that we can get up front and we’ll work with it and see what we got tomorrow night.”
Schatz started third and moved into second on the opening lap getting around Danny Lasoski, with the latter retaking the spot on the very next lap. Schatz challenged Kinser a number of times for the third spot over the course of the 35-lapper. The three-time and defending series champion ended up third in the Armor All J&J.
“My brain wouldn’t let me get up there on the cushion and climb the fence,” said Schatz. “I tried to do everything I could everywhere else. I had a great race car and that’s the way it goes sometimes. You’ll have those nights where you are back there and trying to battle for a win, but your just not close enough.”
Kinser had a couple of close calls, including having a lapped car spin right in front of him in turn four on the 30th lap. He took evasive action and continued on. This came after a lap-23 brush with the turn three wall at full speed. For Kinser it was his 39th Top-10 finish of the season.
“It was pretty close,” explained Kinser of the lapped car that spun in front of him. “I got around him and we had a good run. We’ve been struggling a little bit and got a little more on pace here tonight. It felt pretty good to be able to drive the car pretty hard.”
The podium finish for Schatz was his series leading 33rd Top-Five finish of the season as he chases his fourth consecutive title. In five career starts at Castrol Raceway dating back to 2007, the North Dakota native has four finishes of third or better including a win.”
“Tonight we kind of played around and tried some different things with our car,” said Schatz. “We have been pretty decent most of the times we have come here. We’ll just work a little harder tomorrow. We have a few things that we know we can change and try to get a little better. That’s all we can do.”
Craig Dollansky charged all the way from the 13th starting spot to finish fourth in the DirecTV Maxim to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award. Danny Lasoski was fifth in the Casey’s General Store JEI, with Jason Meyers sixth aboard the GLR Investments KPC. Kraig Kinser was seventh piloting the Bass Pro Shops Maxim, with Jason Sides who set fast times in time trials, eighth in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim. Brian Ellenberger was ninth in the Ti-22 Performance J&J. Lucas Wolfe rounded out the Top-10 in the Allebach Racing Maxim.
The World of Outlaws return to action on Saturday, August 29 with the finale of the third annual Oil City Cup at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
OIL CITY CUP AT CASTROL RACEWAY NIGHT #1 NOTES
• FAST QUALIFIER: Jason Sides paced the 24 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the semi-banked 3/8-mile oval at 13.225 seconds at 102.079 mph. For his qualifying effort, Sides earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Jason Meyers (4), Donny Schatz (3), Joey Saldana (2), and Steve Kinser (1).
• QUALIFYING WINNERS: Paul McMahan, Danny Lasoski and Donny Schatz won heat races. Danny Lasoski won the Crane Cams Dash.
There has been 51 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature event held in 2009. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Volusia Speedway Park, Silver Dollar Speedway, 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 and Castrol Raceway), 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), Danny Lasoski (Delaware International Speedway, Nodak Speedway, Eagle Raceway, Charter Raceway Park and Lernerville Speedway), Jason Meyers (Silver Dollar Speedway, Paducah International Raceway, I-96 Speedway, Red River Valley Speedway and Ohsweken 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).
• 3/8-MILE WINNERS: Castrol Raceway is a semi-banked 3/8-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced 14 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), Donny Schatz (Lawrenceburg Speedway, Cedar Lake Speedway, K-C Raceway and Dacotah Speedway), Jason Meyers (Paducah International Raceway and Ohsweken Speedway, Danny Lasoski (Nodak Speedway) and Jason Sides (Ohsweken Speedway).
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Oil City Cup at Castrol Raceway Night #1; Edmonton, AB; August 28, 2009
Qualifying
1) 7S-Jason Sides 13.225
2) 14-Jason Meyers 13.420
3) 15-Donny Schatz 13.453
4) 9-Joey Saldana 13.470
5) 11-Steve Kinser 13.503
6) 8-Travis Rutz 13.514
7) 20-Kraig Kinser 13.555
8) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 13.577
9) V8-Jeff Hodgson 13.632
10) 39C-Paul McMahan 13.659
11) 6-Danny Lasoski 13.664
12) 7-Jayme Barnes 13.677
13) 19-Craig Dollansky 13.744
14) 22-Brian Ellenberger 13.751
15) R19-Toni Lutar 13.849
16) 11EH-Marc Duperron 13.968
17) 4-Tim Gee 14.089
18) 12-Casey Adams 14.184
19) 38-Trevor Turnball 14.203
20) 6M-Sean Moran 14.458
21) 15K-Gord Kynoch 14.639
22) 7F-Wade Fleming 14.706
23) 97-Jessica Lavallee 15.481
24) 44-Kelly Miller 14.357
Heat 1 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 39C-Paul McMahan
2) 20-Kraig Kinser
3) 7S-Jason Sides
4) 9-Joey Saldana
5) 19-Craig Dollansky
6) 11EH-Marc Duperron
7) 38-Trevor Turnball
8) 7F-Wade Fleming
Heat 2 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 6-Danny Lasoski
2) 14-Jason Meyers
3) 5W-Lucas Wolfe
4) 22-Brian Ellenberger
5) 11-Steve Kinser
6) 6M-Sean Moran
7) 97-Jessica Lavallee
8) 4-Tim Gee
Heat 3 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 15-Donny Schatz
2) 7-Jayme Barnes
3) 8-Travis Rutz
4) V8-Jeff Hodgson
5) R19-Toni Lutar
6) 15K-Gord Kynoch
7) 12-Casey Adams
8) 44-Kelly Miller
Crane Cams Dash (8 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) 6-Danny Lasoski
2) 9-Joey Saldana
3) 15-Donny Schatz
4) 11-Steve Kinser
5) 7S-Jason Sides
6) 20-Kraig Kinser
7) 8-Travis Rutz
8) 7-Jayme Barnes
9) 39C-Paul McMahan
10) 14-Jason Meyers
A-main (35 laps) – Starting Position [#]
1) 9-Joey Saldana[2] [$10,000]
2) 11-Steve Kinser[4] [$5,000]
3) 15-Donny Schatz[3] [$3,000]
4) 19-Craig Dollansky[13] [$2,700]
5) 6-Danny Lasoski[1] [$2,500]
6) 14-Jason Meyers[10] [$2,200]
7) 20-Kraig Kinser[6] [$2,000]
8) 7S-Jason Sides[5] [$1,800]
9) 22-Brian Ellenberger[14] [$1,600]
10) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[11] [$1,450]
11) 15K-Gord Kynoch[18] [$1,300]
12) 11EH-Marc Duperron[16] [$1,200]
13) 12-Casey Adams[20] [$1,100]
14) V8-Jeff Hodgson[12] [$1,000]
15) 4-Tim Gee[19] [$950]
16) 6M-Sean Moran[17] [$900]
17) R19-Toni Lutar[15] [$850]
18) 97-Jessica Lavallee[21] [$750]
19) 8-Travis Rutz[7] [$725]
20) 39C-Paul McMahan[9] [$700]
21) 7-Jayme Barnes[8] [$700]
22) 38-Trevor Turnball[23] [$700]
23) 7F-Wade Fleming[24] [$700]
24) 44-Kelly Miller[22] [$700]
Lap Leaders: Joey Saldana 1-35
SuperClean Start of the Night Award: Joey Saldana
Penske Power Position Award: Donny Schatz
KSE Hard Charger Award: Craig Dollansky
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), Crane Cams (Official Valvetrain), Hoosier Racing Tires (Official Racing Tires), Fusion Energy Boost (Official Energy Boost), Quaker State (Official Motor Oil), SuperClean (Official Cleaner-Degreaser), VP Racing (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to contingency sponsors, Jake’s Custom Golf Carts, KSE Race Products, Penske Shocks, 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.
