HammerDownUSA.com
Lasoski wins NST show
in Fonda
By Craig Murphy
With Danny Lasoski
starting so close to the front, competing National Sprint Tour drivers should
have known they were in trouble Tuesday night at Fonda Speedway in
The last two races,
Lasoski had to restart at the rear following a first lap crash, and came back
to finish sixth. Last race out, Lasoski started 15th and stormed
through the field to finish second.
So when Lasoski
started eighth on July 18, piece of cake, right?
Pretty much, yes.
“That’s halfway from
where I’ve been (starting),” Lasoski joked afterwards.
The NST point leader
rocketed to fourth on the opening lap while Jason Sides led. Lasoski was third
on lap 2, and second on lap 3. On lap 7, Lasoski got by Sides for a lead he wouldn’t
relinquish.
“I was just going to
go where they weren’t,” Lasoski said of his strategy in the opening laps.
“Dennis Roth gave us a great team. However hard we need to work, that’s what we
do. We really believe in each other. You need to believe in each other to do
well.”
While Lasoski was
cruising up front, the now-regular battle of the Jasons – Sides, Solwold, and
Meyers – played out in the battle for second, which was also contested by Steve
Kinser.
Solwold took the
high line around Sides for second on lap 11, with Meyers also getting by Sides
a lap later. Sides tangled with a lapped car on lap 15, bringing out the first
yellow of the 25-lap race.
Lasoski got a good
jump on the restart to pull away from Solwold, who slowed to a stop on lap 19 with
a broken torque tube. Lasoski wasn’t even aware of Solwold’s problems.
“I had never seen
anybody the whole race,” ‘The Dude’ said.
On the final
restart, Lasoski once again pulled away as Meyers and Kinser fought for second.
Despite getting bogged down behind a lapped car on the final lap, Meyers was
able to claim the spot.
“Another second,”
lamented Meyers, whose car owner Guy Stockbridge is a new co-owner of the NST.
“We had a great car. The guys are getting a handle on things. I should have
gone up top at the start. That was my mistake. Danny went up top and got around
us. If I had gone up there first, things would probably have been different.”
Meyers, who said
more help with lapped traffic was his only hope for passing Lasoski, enjoyed
the battle for second throughout the race.
“We were
side-by-side with the battle for second,” he said. “One of us would get it,
then someone else would get it the next turn. It was great racing. We’ve had
great racing all year. You know you can race hard with those guys.”
Kinser kept trying
to find a faster way to get by the Jasons.
“It was fair,”
Kinser said of his race. “I was trying to slip by them, but we were all the
same speed. I was trying to get the low groove to work. We were just too even.
I needed more traffic.”
Kinser believes
Tuesday’s show was another positive for the series, started last winter by Fred
Brownfield, who tragically passed away last month. Kinser is one of the new
co-owners.
“We have good shows,
and good crowds,” said Kinser, a longtime friend of the Brownfield family.
“That’s all you can ask for. I never was one to be much in ownership, but I
didn’t want Debbie Brownfield to have to deal with it either.”
Behind the front
three, a couple of local drivers had strong runs. Craig Keel finished fourth
while Jessica Zemken was fifth.
“It’s not like
winning,” Keel said. “I got close to Steve. Sometimes lapped traffic helps you,
sometimes it don’t. We got a top-five, so that’s good.”
Zemken, relatively
new to 410 Sprint cars, started fourth and hung out near the front the whole
race.
“I definitely
surprised myself,” said Zemken, who signed autographs for a huge throng of
fans. “I had guys like Kinser and Lasoski behind me at the start. It was very
intimidating. Once in lapped traffic, those guys took my line away.”
Zemken admitted to
being star struck at one point in the evening.
“Lasoski came up to
me after the dashes and asked about my tires,” she recalled. “I almost fell
over.”
Trophy dashes were won
by Brian Paulus and Sides, with Paulus choosing to start on the inside pole for
the 25-lap main event.
Heat races were won
by Shane Stewart, Kerry Madsen and Tim Kaeding. Paul McMahan was the fastest of
25 qualifiers with a time of 15.663 seconds, his fourth fast time of the year.
The National Sprint
Tour next races Friday, July 21 at
Qualifying Results
Pos First Last No.
Best Tm
1 PAUL McMAHAN 20 15.663
2 Lucas Wolfe 5W 15.780
3 STEVE KINSER 11 15.815
4 DANNY LASOSKI 83 15.924
5
Justin Barger 32
15.990
6 JASON SOLWOLD R19 16.050
7 BRIAN PAULUS 28 16.081
Jesica Zemken 1Z 16.151
9
Craig Keel 9
16.387
10 JASON SIDES 7S 16.411
11 JASON MEYERS 14 16.476
12 DEAN JACOBS 6 16.544
13
Blake Breen 8
16.783
14 KERRY MADSEN 11H 16.837
15 TIM KAEDING 11K 16.864
16
SHANE STEWART 26 16.921
17 Lance Younge 17J 17.046
18 John Karklin 69K 17.098
19 John Smith 22E
17.324
20 Blase Regina 45
17.613
21 Warren Alexson 3A 17.739
22 Riki Likowski 7R 17.860
23 Bobby Breen 9B 17.963
24
Mike Stelter 36 18.151
25 Dick Spadaro 29 18.418
Heat One Line-Up
26 - 8
7S - 28
83 - 20
22E - 7R
29
Heat One Finish
1 SHANE STEWART 26
2 BRIAN PAULUS 28
3 DANNY LASOSKI 83
4 JASON SIDES 7S
5 Blake Breen 8
6 PAUL McMAHAN 20
7 John Smith 22E
8 Riki Likowski 7R
9 Dick Spadaro 29
Heat Two Line-Up
17J - 11H
14 - 1Z
32 - 5W
45 - 9B
Heat Two Finish
1 KERRY MADSEN 11H
2 JASON MEYERS 14
3 Lance Younge 17J
4 Jesica Zemken 1Z
5 Justin Barger 32
6 Lucas Wolfe 5W
7 Blase
8 Bobby Breen 9B
Heat Three Line-Up
69K - 11K
6 - 9
R19 - 11
3A - 36
Heat Three Finish
1
TIM KAEDING 11K
2 Craig Keel 9
3 STEVE KINSER 11
4 DEAN JACOBS 6
5 JASON SOLWOLD R19
6 John Karklin 69K
7 Mike Stelter 36
8
Dash One Line-Up
28 - 32
11 - 14
9 - 20
Dash One Finish
1 BRIAN PAULUS 28
2 Justin Barger 32
3 JASON MEYERS 14
4 STEVE KINSER 11
5 Craig Keel 9
6 PAUL McMAHAN 20
Dash Two Line-Up
7S - 6
83 - R19
1Z - 5W
Dash Two Finish
1 JASON SIDES 7S
2 Jesica Zemken 1Z
3 JASON SOLWOLD R19
4 DANNY LASOSKI 83
5 DEAN JACOBS 6
6 Lucas Wolfe 5W
** Brian Paulus has lane choice.
He chose the inside.
A-Feature Line- Up - 25 LAPS
28
- 7S
32 - 1Z
14 - R19
11 - 83
9 - 6
20 - 5W
8 - 11H
11K - 26
17J - 69K
22E - 45
3A - 7R
9B - 36
29
A-Feature Finish
1 DANNY LASOSKI 83
2 JASON MEYERS 14
3 STEVE KINSER 11
4 Craig Keel 9
5 Jesica Zemken 1Z
6 BRIAN PAULUS 28
7 Justin Barger 32
8 DEAN JACOBS 6
9 PAUL McMAHAN 20
10 TIM KAEDING 11K
11 Lucas Wolfe 5W
12 SHANE STEWART 26
13 KERRY MADSEN 11H
14 JASON SIDES 7S
15 John Smith 22E
16 Blake Breen 8
17 John Karklin 69K
18 Mike Stelter 36
19 Warren Alexson 3A
20 Riki Likowski 7R
21 JASON SOLWOLD R19
22 Lance Younge 17J
23 Blase Regina 45
24 Richard Spadaro 29