The last time that Craig Dollansky visited Huset’s Speedway on June 13 with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, he picked up a win over Donny Schatz, snapping a three-race win streak by the two-time defending series champion. On Thursday night, it was déjà vu, as Dollansky won for the second time this season at the high-banked 3/8-mile and again snapped a three race win streak that Schatz had going.
Dollansky led all 35 laps after starting on the outside of the front row to earn his fifth Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature win of the season and his sixth career victory at Huset’s Speedway. The triumph was worth $10,000 for the native of Elk River, Minnesota.
“It’s great to win twice at Huset’s,” said Dollansky. “This is leading into the “Month of Money” and it’s a very good start. This was a full team effort and everyone on this Larry Woodward team did a great job. My crew chief Mike Woodring is doing an excellent job on the cars. We’re trying to keep our equipment strong and we have a lot of races coming up. We hope to win some of the big money races coming up. This is a good time of the year to be running strong. We have good power from these Charlie Garrett engines and the Maxim cars are operating well.”
Dollansky lined up second and charged to the high side of turn one to pull ahead of pole sitter Jac Haudenschild at the start. Jason Meyers moved into the second spot on the opening lap, while Schatz gained two positions to move into fourth. Dollansky was in lapped traffic just five laps into the race, and would be in traffic for most of the race until a caution with 10 laps to go gave him clear race track ahead of him.
“This is one of the most action packed tracks we go to,” he noted. “The track was in great shape tonight and held up really well, for it being July and hot like it is. There was a low groove and a high groove here and you could get after it. This is such a great place with the atmosphere and the way the track is laid (down in a valley). I always enjoy coming here, it’s a great place to race.”
Early in the race, Dollansky sliced his way through traffic in a specially painted Snap-on Tools Maxim, as Meyers and Schatz were help up by the slower machines. This allowed Steve Kinser and Jac Haudenschild to close on the pair, as the four cars were all within a few feet of each other and could be thrown under a blanket. While they all battled for the runner-up spot, Dollansky continued to extend his lead.
“I felt pretty comfortable in traffic,” he said. “I was getting through it pretty decent. I did get held up a couple of times by a few cars, but the game was to focus on getting through them as quick as I could, yet being somewhat conservative unless someone was challenging us.”
Dollansky had one anxious moment early in the race as he got into the wall, but he kept going and really didn’t really lose any ground. He used a strong restart with 10 laps to go to cement the win, which was the 26th of his Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series career and moved him into 15th on the all-time win list.
“The cushion was a little thin up by the wall and I rubbed the wall a little bit,” he shared of his early race excursion. “I didn’t feel like it affected anything once I was going. It didn’t hard enough to really concern me.”
On the restart with 10 laps to go, Schatz, who was running second in the Armor All J&J, looked low on Dollansky exiting the fourth turn, but could not get a strong enough run him to make a pass. He was hoping for the race to go green to checkers and really did not want to see the caution flag wave. He would finish second to earn his 19th Top-Five finish of the season, as he continues to lead the championship standings.
“We were pretty good tonight,” said Schatz. “We had to come from the back of the dash. We didn’t need that yellow to come out when it did. We were right up on Craig (Dollansky) and we needed to have him in lapped track. We won one that way and we lost one that way tonight and that’s just the way that racing is. We’ll have another chance on Saturday and one on Sunday.”
Kinser battled with Schatz for a number of laps on Thursday night, as well as with Meyers and Jac Haudenschild. The 20-time series champion ended up third, to earn his second consecutive podium finish in the Q Oil Maxim. He is now tied with Haudenschild for the fifth spot in the championship standings, after earning his ninth Top-Five finish of the season.
“I got messed up at the beginning of the race and fell back to fifth and that killed me,” explained Kinser. “I got going pretty good at end, but there still was not quite enough smoke to do it. It wasn’t a bad night. It’s better than what is has been.”
Jason Meyers started fourth on Thursday night and used a strong start to get around Kinser and Haudenschild on the opening lap to move into second. He would chase Dollansky for the first half of the race before Schatz and Kinser got around him. He would wind up fourth in the GLR Investments KPC, to earn his 19th Top-Five finish of the season, which is tied for the series lead in that category. He began the night by setting fast time for the fourth time this season.
“We started off really well tonight and just chose the wrong tires and we know better than that,” said Meyers. “We always run harder tires here and we gambled tonight and it didn’t work. These guys are doing a great job, and we made some changes to our race car tonight and felt like I had a great car. We’ll go at it again on Saturday and hopefully can be up front.”
Haudenschild was fifth in the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim. Sam Hafertepe Jr. picked up his 10th Top-10 finish of the season, coming home sixth in the G.H. Plumbing J&J. Terry McCarl, the winningest driver in Huset’s Speedway history finished seventh aboard the Big Game Treestands Maxim.
Paul McMahan was eighth in the Casey’s General Stores Maxim, to earn his second Top-10 finish in just three starts in that machine. He also was second quickest in time trials for the second consecutive race. Shane Stewart came from the 19th starting spot to finish ninth in the Roth Motorsports KPC, to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award. Chad Kemenah rounded out the Top-10 in the Kantor Oil Company Maxim.
Schatz battled his way through the dense traffic that was present for most of the race until the lone caution flag flew on the 26th lap. The North Dakota native, who is chasing his third consecutive series title, extended his streak of being the only driver that has finished in the Top-10 in each and every event this season.
“It’s our job to pass them,” Schatz commented of the lapped cars. “It does get tough when the track lays a little bit of rubber. Those guys were all over the place and it was fun racing them until the yellow came out. It is what it is, and it happened with the yellow. That wrecked our opportunity to win and helped the (No.) 2 car. It’s done and over with and we have to worry about the next one now.”
Kinser, who lined up third found himself battling Schatz early in the race for the fourth position after he fell back to fifth at the outset. He moved into fourth on the 16th lap before losing the spot on the next lap to Haudenschild. Kinser powered by the fellow veteran driver on the 18th lap and worked on Meyers for a number of laps before moving into third. He closed in on Schatz a couple of times as the laps wound down, but could not quite get a run him.
“I was just hanging on late in the race,” he said. “The car was pretty loose and I really didn’t need that last yellow. My tires had just got some good heat in them and I was coming pretty good until then.”
The Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series returns to action on Saturday, July 5 at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Arkansas.
HUSET’S SPEEDWAY NOTEBOOK
• FAST QUALIFIER: Jason Meyers paced the 28 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked 3/8-mile oval at 10.596 seconds at 127.732 mph. For his qualifying effort, Meyers earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Paul McMahan (4), Donny Schatz (3), Terry McCarl (2), and Craig Dollansky (1).
• QUALIFYING WINNERS: Kerry Madsen, Craig Dollansky and Sam Hafertepe Jr. won heat races… Jac Haudenschild won the Crane Cams Dash…. Shane Stewart won the B-Main.
• FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 25 Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature events held in 2008. The winners include: Donny Schatz (Knoxville Raceway-twice, Attica Raceway Park, Eldora Speedway, Tri-City Speedway, Sedalia’s State Fair Speedway, Dodge City Raceway Park, River Cities Speedway and Cedar Lake Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Volusia Speedway Park, Eldora Speedway, Huset’s Speedway-twice and Eagle Raceway.), Jason Meyers (Volusia Speedway Park, Manzanita Speedway, I-55 Raceway, Lernerville Speedway and Virginia Motor Speedway), , Steve Kinser (Williams Grove Speedway and Rolling Wheels Raceway Park), Lance Dewease (The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway), Danny Lasoski (Volusia Speedway Park), Joey Saldana (Dodge City Raceway Park) and Shane Stewart (Knoxville Raceway).
• 3/8-MILE WINNERS: Huset’s Speedway is a high-banked 3/8-mile oval. The Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series raced six times on a track that size this season. The winners include: Donny Schatz (Tri-City Speedway, Dodge City Raceway Park and Cedar Lake Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Huset’s Speedway-twice) and Joey Saldana (Dodge City Raceway Park).
• UP NEXT: A return to Riverside International Speedway in Arkansas on Saturday, July 5, for the first ¼-mile race of the season.
• UPCOMING EVENTS: A stop at Tri-State Speedway in Indiana, followed by a trip to Ohio for the Brad Doty Classic at Limaland Motorsports Park, followed by the Knight Before the Kings Royal and the Kings Royal.
Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Huset’s Speedway; Brandon, SD; July 3, 2008
Qualifying
1) 14-Jason Meyers 10.569
2) 6-Paul McMahan 10.605
3) 15-Donny Schatz 10.654
4) 24-Terry McCarl 10.667
5) 2-Craig Dollansky 10.671
6) R19-Jac Haudenschild 10.707
7) D1-Justin Henderson 10.711
8) 11-Steve Kinser 10.714
9) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 10.735
10) 55-Kerry Madsen 10.748
11) 11X-Gregg Bakker 10.779
12) 23W-Scott Winters 10.853
13) 8K-Chad Kemenah 10.854
14) 7S-Jason Sides 10.858
15) 20-Kraig Kinser 10.873
16) 9-Joey Saldana 10.887
17) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. 10.900
18) 5C-Chad Hillier 10.901
19) 83-Shane Stewart 10.903
20) 12L-John Lambertz 10.908
21) 21-Daryn Pittman 10.913
22) 96-Bronson Maeschen 10.944
23) 57X-Jake Peters 10.945
24) 33-Gordy Vogelaar 11.104
25) 4W-Matt Wasmund 11.140
26) 71R-Ryan Anderson 11.170
27) 9M-Marlon Jones 11.242
28) 28-Mitch Runge 11.316
Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 55-Kerry Madsen
2) D1-Justin Henderson
3) 14-Jason Meyers
4) 8K-Chad Kemenah
5) 9-Joey Saldana
6) 24-Terry McCarl
7) 83-Shane Stewart
8) 28-Mitch Runge
9) 4W-Matt Wasmund
10) 96-Bronson Maeschen
Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 2-Craig Dollansky
2) 11-Steve Kinser
3) 11X-Gregg Bakker
4) 6-Paul McMahan
5) 7S-Jason Sides
6) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.
7) 12L-John Lambertz
8) 57X-Jake Peters
9) 71R-Ryan Anderson
Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.
2) R19-Jac Haudenschild
3) 15-Donny Schatz
4) 21-Daryn Pittman
5) 5C-Chad Hillier
6) 20-Kraig Kinser
7) 9M-Marlon Jones
8) 23W-Scott Winters
9) 33-Gordy Vogelaar
Crane Cams Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) R19-Jac Haudenschild
2) 2-Craig Dollansky
3) 11-Steve Kinser
4) 14-Jason Meyers
5) D1-Justin Henderson
6) 15-Donny Schatz
7) 55-Kerry Madsen
8) 6-Paul McMahan
9) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.
10) 24-Terry McCarl
B-main (10 laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 83-Shane Stewart
2) 23W-Scott Winters
3) 12L-John Lambertz
4) 96-Bronson Maeschen
5) 57X-Jake Peters
6) 4W-Matt Wasmund
7) 33-Gordy Vogelaar [$200]
8) 9M-Marlon Jones [$180]
9) 28-Mitch Runge [$175]
10) 71R-Ryan Anderson [$160]
A-main (35 laps) - Starting Position [#]
1) 2-Craig Dollansky[2] [$10,000]
2) 15-Donny Schatz[6] [$5,500]
3) 11-Steve Kinser[3] [$3,200]
4) 14-Jason Meyers[4] [$2,800]
5) R19-Jac Haudenschild[1] [$2,500]
6) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[9] [$2,300]
7) 24-Terry McCarl[10] [$2,200]
8) 6-Paul McMahan[8] [$2,100]
9) 83-Shane Stewart[19] [$2,050]
10) 8K-Chad Kemenah[13] [$2,000]
11) D1-Justin Henderson[5] [$1,500]
12) 21-Daryn Pittman[21] [$1,200]
13) 7S-Jason Sides[14] [$1,100]
14) 23W-Scott Winters[12] [$1,050]
15) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.[17] [$1,000]
16) 20-Kraig Kinser[15] [$900]
17) 9-Joey Saldana[16] [$800]
18) 5C-Chad Hillier[18] [$800]
19) 11X-Gregg Bakker[11] [$800]
20) 12L-John Lambertz[20] [$800]
21) 57X-Jake Peters[23] [$800]
22) 4W-Matt Wasmund[24] [$800]
23) 96-Bronson Maeschen[22] [$800]
24) 55-Kerry Madsen[7] [$800]
Lap Leaders: Craig Dollansky 1-35
KSE Hard Charger Award: Shane Stewart