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Kinser Returns to Victory Lane at Cedar Lake By Richard Day SOMERSET, WI (July 7) – It’s next to impossible to keep a living legend down. Steve Kinser, who 48 hours earlier lost eight positions in the final lap as a shredded right rear tire slowed is progress, passed Donny Schatz late in the 27th lap on his way to winning Monday’s O’Reilly World of Outlaws Series "A" Feature at Cedar Lake Speedway. "The King of the Outlaws" exchanged second place with his son, Kraig, midway through the race, then tracked down Schatz to claim his 14th main event victory of the series’ 25th Anniversary Season.
"I got to watching Kraig there at the beginning, and kind of forgot about racing myself," Kinser admitted. "I was working the bottom, and it started to go away so I went to the top, and it just got super fast up there, and I was able to catch up to Donny pretty quick. I was actually surprised that he got off the top when he did.
"I’m really proud of the way Kraig’s been running. I was kind of hoping he’d get his first win of the year tonight, but he’s done a great job out here. He’s only run parts of a couple of years, and we just got him graduated from high school. I didn’t get started racing until I was 20, so he’s got a couple of more years to practice yet. (Crew chief) Scott (Gerkin) has been doing a great job this year, and (brother) Randy (Kinser) has done great with Kraig’s car, so I think right now we’ve got two pretty good race teams out here."
Kinser, who saw O’Reilly World of Outlaws Series points leader Danny Lasoski break his single-lap record in time trials, was the second-fastest qualifier. "The Dude" chose the #6 inversion pill, putting himself and "The King of the Outlaws" outside the third row in the Dash Races. Kinser earned the right to start the 35-lap "A" Feature outside the second row by passing four cars in the Second Dash Race. Schatz, who won the First Dash Race, drove his #15 Parker Stores J&J past outside pole-sitter Brian Paulus as the green flag fell in the O’Reilly World of Outlaws Series’ 37th main event of the year.
Kraig Kinser passed both Schatz and Paulus with an inside move through turns three and four to take the lead late in the opening lap. Schatz raced past Paulus in the low groove between the first and second corners half a lap later. Third Heat Race winner Joey Saldana spun in turn two early in the fourth lap, bringing out the caution flag. Schatz kept pace with Kraig Kinser as the green flag replaced the yellow, and passed him for the lead high in the fourth corner as they entered lapped traffic late in lap eight. Paul McMahan and Sammy Swindell exchanged fourth place during the 10th and 14th laps.
"The King of the Outlaws" and his son took turns passing each other for second place during the 15th, 18th and 19th laps. Jeremy Campbell took the leaders out lapped traffic with a turn-two spin early in lap 20. Five lapped cars separated Schatz from Kinser as the race resumed. Kinser challenged Schatz for the lead throughout the 26th lap, then rode the rim around the 1997 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year one lap later. Schatz was threatening to regain the lead during the 30th lap before Kinser split Paulus and Brian Carlson. The daring move allowed "The King of the Outlaws" to extend his advantage to 12 car-lengths.
Carlson spun in the second corner early in lap 33, setting up a two-lap dash to the checkered flag. Kinser controlled the final restart and took the checkered flag as Schatz raced through turn three. The $10,000 victory was Kinser’s fifth at Cedar Lake Speedway – his first at the facility in 15 years.
"We’ve had the fastest car for the ‘A’ Feature pretty much every night this year," Kinser said, "but we fell out of too many races just because of some funny stuff happening – flat tires mostly. We’ve had some really good runs on the three-eighths miles and smaller tracks this year, and Danny has pretty much been spanking us on the bigger tracks. That’s kind of strange because the bigger tracks is where I used to win all of my races."
Swindell, who has won six main events at Cedar Lake Speedway, passed Kraig Kinser for third place late in the 24th lap. Lasoski raced into fifth place from inside the sixth row. Daryn Pittman finished sixth, ahead of McMahan, Jason Meyers, Saldana and Jason Sides. Brian Brown, Lasoski’s nephew, won the Second Heat Race and drove the #6 Casey’s General Stores Maxim past six cars to finish 11th in the "A" Feature. "The Dude" lowered Cedar Lake’s qualifying standard by .34 seconds with a 121.786-M.P.H. lap around the high-banked, 3/8-mile oval. Lasoski leads the series with 17 quick times.
Johnny Herrera, driving Guy Forbrook’s #5 MPD Hand Controls/Wirtgen America Maxim for the first time, surrendered third place in the First Dash Race when he stopped with rear end problems. The 1986 Rookie of the Year raced passed three cars to finish 12th in the main event. WoO
2003 O’Reilly World of Outlaws Series Cedar Lake Speedway, Somerset, WI Monday, July 7, Feature Program #37 Qualifying: 1. Danny Lasoski, Stewart 20, 11.085 (new single-lap record); 2. Steve Kinser, Kinser 11, 11.115; 3. Sammy Swindell, Roth 1, 11.136; 4. John Sernett, Sernett 91, 11.229; 5. Jason Meyers, Karavan Motorsports 7, 11.253; 6. Paul McMahan, Helm 11H, 11.260; 7. Kraig Kinser, Kinser 11K, 11.304; 8. Daryn Pittman, Sher-Don Motorsports 21, 11.323; 9. Johnny Herrera, Forbrook 5, 11.352; 10. Jason Sides, Sides Motorsports 7S, 11.374; 11. Donny Schatz, Schatz 15, 11.402; 12. Brian Paulus, P and P Motorsports 28, 11.416; 13. Justin Henderson, Carnahan R19, 11.450; 14. Jeremy Campbell, Campbell 10C, 11.460; 15. Joey Saldana, Saldana 17, 11.505; 16. Randy Hannagan, TH Racing 1X, 11.550; 17. Brian Brown, Parsons 6, 11.552; 18. Brian Carlson, Carlson 18, 11.597; 19. Bob Bennett, Acme Trailers 3, 11.687; 20. Brandon Wimmer, Two Winners Racing 7TW, 11.705; 21. Mike Rich, Rich 519, 11.748; 22. Mark Toews, Toews 5T, 11.778; 23. Roger Rager, Donahue 6R, 11.839; 24. Jerry Richart, Jr., Sibs Racing 45, 12.000; 25. Joe Kouba, Kouba 55, 12.384; 26. Tony Kaus, Kaus 73JR, no time.
First Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Justin Henderson, 2. Kraig Kinser, 3. Brian Carlson, 4. Brian Paulus, 5. Paul McMahan, 6. Danny Lasoski, 7. Bob Bennett, 8. Mark Toews, 9. Joe Kouba. (all nine qualified for the "A" Feature)
Second Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Brian Brown, 2. Donny Schatz, 3. Jeremy Campbell, 4. Daryn Pittman, 5. Jason Meyers, 6. Steve Kinser, 7. Brandon Wimmer, 8. Roger Rager. (all eight qualified for the "A" Feature)
Third Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Joey Saldana, 2. Randy Hannagan, 3. Johnny Herrera, 4. Sammy Swindell, 5. John Sernett, 6. Jason Sides, 7. Jerry Richart, Jr., 8. Mike Rich. (all eight qualified for the "A" Feature)
First Dash Race (five laps): 1. Donny Schatz, 2. Kraig Kinser, 3. Jason Meyers, 4. Sammy Swindell, 5. Justin Henderson, 6. Danny Lasoski, 7. Joey Saldana, 8. Johnny Herrera. (finish determined the inside starting positions in the first eight rows in the "A" Feature lineup)
Second Dash Race (five laps): 1. Brian Paulus, 2. Steve Kinser, 3. Paul McMahan, 4. Daryn Pittman, 5. Jason Sides, 6. Jeremy Campbell, 7. Randy Hannagan, 8. John Sernett. (finish determined the outside starting positions in the first eight rows in the "A" Feature lineup)
A Feature (35 laps): 1. Steve Kinser [4] ($10,000); 2. Donny Schatz [1] ($5,500); 3. Sammy Swindell [7] ($3,200); 4. Kraig Kinser [3] ($2,800); 5. Danny Lasoski [11] ($2,500); 6. Daryn Pittman [8] ($2,300); 7. Paul McMahan [6] ($2,200); 8. Jason Meyers [5] ($2,100); 9. Joey Saldana [13] ($2,050); 10. Jason Sides [10] ($2,000); 11. Brian Brown [17] ($1,500); 12. Johnny Herrera [15] ($1,200); 13. Randy Hannagan [14] ($1,100); 14. Brian Paulus [2] ($1,050); 15. Justin Henderson [9] ($1,000); 16. Brandon Wimmer [20] ($900); 17. Jerry Richart, Jr. [23] ($800); 18. Bob Bennett [19] ($800); 19. Roger Rager [22] ($800); 20. Mark Toews [21] ($800); 21. Brian Carlson [18] ($800); 22. Joe Kouba [24] ($800); 23. Jeremy Campbell [12] ($800); 24. John Sernett [16] ($800).
Lap leaders: Kraig Kinser 1-7, Donny Schatz 8-26, Steve Kinser 27-35