Steve Kinser Captures the
Writer
Some things keep improving with age.
After 26 years of
26 laps Saturday night to capture
the Commonwealth Clash.
The victory is his seventh this
season, the 520th of his career, and
increases his advantage in the standings to
174 points as he takes aim this
season at a remarkable 20th
To accomplish the victory Saturday
night, Kinser first had to figure out a
way around Joey Saldana, who dominated
the Preliminary Feature on Friday and
the Stacker 2® Dash to start on the
pole Saturday night.
Kinser made his move on Lap 9 of the
35-lap, $12,000-to-win feature. After
running on the high side of the 4/10th-mile
oval, he pushed his Steve Kinser
Racing machine under Saldana in
Turns 1 and 2 and raced down the
backstretch, making his advantage stick coming
out of Turn 4.
“He was down there on the bottom so
I just started blasting around the top
in Turns 3 and 4 and got a little run
on him and got by him,” said Kinser,
50, whose team changed engines in
less than 10 minutes before the Stacker
2® Dash. “I think Joey got loose as he went,
but everybody did.”
From that point, Kinser smoothly negotiated
traffic to stretch his lead
while
turned the third quickest lap of the night
in time trials, got past Brooke
Tatnell and local favorite Ed Lynch
Jr. to slide into third, then on Lap 27
he caught and passed Saldana coming
out of Turn 2. That’s when Swindell,
who also has 15 wins at Lernerville,
set his sights on Saldana and snuck
past him to finish third.
Saldana wound up fourth followed by
Daryn Pittman, Brooke Tatnell, Donny
Schatz and Lynch,
who was fourth quickest in time trials.
“We just ran out of time,” said
Meyers, who is third in points. “He
was having a tough time with lapped
traffic and our car was really, really
good tonight. The guys did a great job,
made a little adjustment on that
[open] red
and made it even better. We really didn’t have a great car all
night long until the main event. The guys
made some good calls and made some
changes and pulled it all together for us.”
The open red flag came about after
several attempts to start the
Commonwealth Clash resulted in
dinged racecars, and with multiple cars
making use of the work area. When Rob Eyler flipped violently in Turn 1, the
field was shut down to allow crews access
to their cars. For some, like
Meyers, the advice from his crew
made a difference.
“We were all over the place,” Meyers
said. “I started out on the
bottom and I was real good down there then
I saw that Steve and Joey went up
to the top so I went up to the top and
I actually felt real good up there
for a couple of laps. Then I had to
move down to go around a lapped car and
actually stuck and got a little bit of a run
on Joey and after that I moved
back to the bottom. Joey, he kind of was
searching around and we were able
to get down on the bottom and get
around him. I think the bottom was better,
but you had to hit. You really had to
hold the car down off the exits of the
corners, which was hard to do. Our car just
rotated the corner really nice
tonight. We were catching Steve, we just
ran out of laps.”
Swindell was mired in traffic,
sneaking past Tatnell and Lynch into third as
the laps wound down.
“If we could have cleared those
guys, I could have gone on a little
easier,” Swindell said. “The track had a
couple of different lanes in
it. You had to run a little bit
different and if you missed it, you really
slowed up. If you caught it right, you got
a good run. I had to pass Lynch
on the top and Brooke on the bottom.”
For Saldana, who has had several
strong runs in recent weeks, a top-five
finish coming off the Preliminary Feature
win is a strong boost for the team
as the series heads May 24 into
Grandview Speedway, May 26-27 into Williams
Grove
“It’s huge for us,” Saldana said.
“This year we’ve been fighting
the car and the motor and stuff like
that. Tonight, definitely Steve had the
best car but I gave away second. Once
Steve got by me, I just moved around
on the racetrack and I should have
stayed doing what I was doing.”
Pittman’s team recovered from
mechanical trouble that prevented him from
taking the green flag in the Stacker 2®
Dash to earn his fourth top-five
finish of the season. Pittman finished
fourth Friday in the Preliminary
Feature.
“You never want to be happy with
fifth, but the way our night started
there in the Dash we were definitely
happy to get back up there,” said
Pittman, who won earlier this year
in
to eighth at one point. We spent the
whole time right before the feature
trying to get it fixed and really didn’t
get to work on the setup. Any
time you go into Williams Grove with two
top-fives, I feel like we’re
starting to get things on track and be a lot
more consistent.”
In the Stacker 2® Dash, Saldana
picked up where he left off Friday night by
leading from flag-to-flag while Kinser
wound up second followed by Tatnell,
Lynch, Meyers. Pittman never made it
back from the work area to take the
green flag.
In the B-main, Jason Solwold started on the inside of Row 2 when Kraig
Kinser had to go to the work area. Solwold drove off with the victory while
Kinser missed the transfer spot.
Brandon Wimmer cruised along while the
fight for the final transfer spot came
down to a three-car battle with Rob
Eyler and Bob Felmlee
getting the positions by 0.031-seconds over
In the first heat race, Donny Schatz
held onto the win while Stevie Smith,
Tim Kaeding,
and
No. 2, Danny Lasoski opened a huge
lead and won while contact knocked out
Brandon Wimmer, the second fastest
qualifier. Craig Dollansky, Jack Sodeman
Jr. and Jason Sides rounded out the
qualifiers. In Heat #3, Shane Stewart
powered to victory after a side-by-side
battle with Kevin Swindell. Sammy
Swindell and
Paul McMahan led Shaffer, Lynch, and
McCarl into the A-main.
By making it through their heats,
Meyers and Lynch accomplished something
they couldn’t on Friday – advancing to
the A main feature. They timed in
as the third and fourth on hanlde
Kraig Kinser paced the 37-car field
with a lap around the 4/10-mile oval in
12.951 seconds at 125.087 mph. Joey
Saldana established the single-lap
record of 12.334 seconds on
“We’re getting to run tracks now for
the second time around,” said
Kraig Kinser, the 2004 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award winner.
“We’re just hitting things a little
bit better, the guys are doing a
little bit better. Hopefully we’ll keep it
going for the whole season.”
The
Hagerstown Speedway then begins a
trip across
All the action from
and June 1 on The Outdoor Channel.
If fans can’t get to a track to see
the series, they can experience the
excitement of the
through the DIRT Radio Network. To listen
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The
by several sponsors and partners,
including series sponsors Hoosier Racing
Tire, Stacker 2®, and The Outdoor Channel. Promotional Partners include AMB
i.t., RACEceiver,
HUMMERSGONEWILD.COM, Zippo Lighters, The University of
Northwestern Ohio,
Timberwolf, and Race Punk apparel. Slick 50 is an
Associate Program Sponsor and
Contingency sponsors include DART Machinery,
MSD Ignitions,
and Wrisco Industries.
WoO Sprint Series Statistical Report;
Commonwealth Clash; Lernerville
Speedway; May 21, 2005
Qualifying
1) Kraig Kinser, Kinser 11K, 12.951
2) Brandon Wimmer, Wimmer-Luck
Motorsports 7TW, 12.972
3)
4) Ed Lynch, Jr., Lynch 2L, 12.982
5) Terry McCarl, McCarl 24, 12.994
6) Sammy Swindell, Forbrook 5, 13.011
7) Craig Dollansky, Karavan 7,
13.036
8) Donny Schatz, Schatz 15, 13.041
9)
10) Danny Lasoski, Stewart 20,
13.052
11) Shane Stewart, Rudeen Racing 26, 13.060
12) Tim Shaffer, Parsons 6, 13.060
13) Paul McMahan, Helm 11H, 13.065
14) Kevin Swindell, Swindell 1,
13.068
15) Jack Sodeman,
Jr., Rudzik 49, 13.125
16) Stevie Smith, Smith 19, 13.144
17) Tim Kaeding, Roth 83, 13.145
18) Jason Sides, Sides Motorsports
7S, 13.161
19) Jason Solwold,
Carnahan R19, 13.169
20) Bob Felmlee,
Covell 81, 13.258
21) Jimmy Seger,
Seger 2J, 13.290
22) Kevin Schaeffer, Schaeffer 9,
13.381
23) Rob Eyler,
Eyler 5A, 13.383
24) Dan Shetler,
Shetler 7K, 13.498
25) Mike Shearer, Shearer 25, 13.511
26) Travis Rilat,
Wright 35, 13.568
27) Cory Good, Dunbar X, 13.887
28) Charlie Holben,
Holben 42G, 13.925
29) Gary Rankin, Rankin 16, 14.188
30) Brent Matus,
Matus 33, 14.220
31) Davey
Jones, Jones 76, 14.346
32) Bill Kiley,
Kiley 4K, 14.726
33) Joe Butera,
Matus 33M, 15.401
34) Sheila Rankin, Rankin 6R, 15.633
Top 4 finishers in preliminary
A-feature (locked into first 4 starting
positions in Dash):
Joey Saldana, Woodward 2; Steve
Kinser, Kinser 11; Brooke Tatnell, Rush
Racing 8; Daryn Pittman, Titan
Racing USA 21
First Heat Race (8 laps, top 4
finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Donny Schatz
2) Stevie Smith
3) Tim Kaeding
4)
5) Kraig Kinser
6) Jimmy Seger
7) Gary Rankin
8) Joe Butera
9) Mike Shearer
Second Heat Race (8 laps, top 4
finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Danny Lasoski
2) Craig Dollansky
3) Jack Sodeman,
Jr.
4) Jason Sides
5) Travis Rilat
6) Brandon Wimmer
7) Kevin Schaeffer
8) Brent Matus
9) Sheila Rankin
Third Heat Race (8 laps, top 4
finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Shane Stewart
2) Kevin Swindell
3) Sammy Swindell
4)
5) Jason Solwold
6) Rob Eyler
7) Davey
Jones
8) Cory Good
Fourth Heat Race (8 laps, top 4
finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Paul McMahan
2) Tim Shaffer
3) Ed Lynch, Jr.
4) Terry McCarl
5) Bob Felmlee
6) Dan Shetler
7) Bill Kiley
8) Charlie Holben
Stacker 2 Dash (6 laps, finishing
order determined first 6 starting
positions of A-feature)
1) Joey Saldana
2) Steve Kinser
3) Brooke Tatnell
4) Ed Lynch, Jr.
5)
6) Daryn Pittman
B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers
transferred to A-feature)
1) Jason Solwold
[$20]
2) Brandon Wimmer [$20]
3) Rob Eyler
[$20]
4) Bob Felmlee
[$20]
5) Kraig Kinser [$200]
6) Travis Rilat
[$180]
7) Jimmy Seger
[$175]
8) Mike Shearer [$160]
9) Dan Shetler
[$150]
10) Cory Good [$150]
11) Kevin Schaeffer [$150]
12) Davey Jones
[$150]
13) Gary Rankin [$150]
14) Brent Matus
[$150]
15) Joe Butera
[$150]
16) Sheila Rankin [$150]
17) Bill Kiley
[$150]
18) Charlie Holben
(DNS) [$150]
A-main (35 laps)
1) Steve Kinser [$12,000]
2)
3) Sammy Swindell [$4,000]
4) Joey Saldana [$3,500]
5) Daryn Pittman [$3,300]
6) Brooke Tatnell [$3,100]
7) Donny Schatz [$3,000]
8) Ed Lynch, Jr. [$2,500]
9) Paul McMahan [$2,100]
10) Danny Lasoski [$2,050]
11) Craig Dollansky [$2,000]
12) Terry McCarl [$1,600]
13) Shane Stewart [$1,500]
14) Kraig Kinser [$1,200]
15) Kevin Swindell [$1,100]
16) Tim Kaeding [$1,000]
17) Brandon Wimmer [$900]
18) Jason Sides [$800]
19) Stevie Smith [$800]
20) Jason Solwold
[$800]
21)
22) Kevin Schaeffer [$800]
23) Bob Felmlee
[$800]
24) Rob Eyler
[$800]
25) Tim Shaffer [$800]
26) Jack Sodeman,
Jr. [$800]
Lap leaders: Joey Saldana 1-8, Steve
Kinser 9-35
Notes:
changed engines after warm-ups. … Daryn
Pittman had mechanical problems
while lining up for the Stacker 2 dash,
and was unable to start. He was
credited with 6th in the event. … Kraig
Kinser stopped on the frontstretch
with electrical problems while lining up
for the B-main. Kinser pitted for
repairs, and started at the back of the
field. …
In the A-main, Kraig Kinser and Kevin Schaeffer used provisionals to start
the A-main. … Jack Sodeman,
Jr. flipped on the frontstretch at the start
of the A-main. Sodeman
was uninjured, but could not restart. … Before the
field could complete a lap, Tim Shaffer
stopped in turn 4 with damage to the
front end of the car. Under caution, Tim
Kaeding and Rob Eyler pitted.
Kaeding was able to restart, as was Eyler. … Rob Eyler got upside
down in
turn 1 on lap 4. Eyler
was able to walk away.
WoO Sprint Series Standings
(Unofficial) through Commonwealth Clash 5-21-05
Rk. Driver Points Back
1 Steve
Kinser 2823 0
2 Craig
Dollansky 2649 -174
3
4 Kraig
Kinser 2589 -234
5 Donny
Schatz 2541 -282
6 Danny
Lasoski 2529 -294
7 Joey
Saldana 2451 -372
8 Daryn
Pittman 2448 -375
9 Shane
Stewart 2394 -429
10 Paul
McMahan 2393 -430
11 Tim
Shaffer 2388 -435
12 Tim
Kaeding 2381 -442
13 Terry
McCarl 2244 -579
14
15 Jason
Sides 2208 -615
16 Brooke
Tatnell 2174 -649
17 Jason
Solwold 2081 -742
18 Brandon
Wimmer 1877 -946
19 Sammy
Swindell 1837 -986
20 Kevin
Swindell 1457 -1336
21 Mark
Kinser 1333 -1490
22 Randy
Hannagan 1306 -1517
23 Chad
Kemenah 1048 -1775
24 Danny
Smith 946 -1877
25 Peter Murphy 836 -1987