Dollansky Rolls to Win at Lake Ozark
World of Outlaws Sprint Cars
By Tony Veneziano, World of Outlaws PR Director

ELDON, MO. (May 12) - Sometimes getting the first win of a racing season can be the toughest one for a driver and team. Often, once they have the first win under their belt, several more follow. Craig Dollansky hopes this is the case, for him and his team.

On Saturday night in the series return to Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Missouri, he left no doubt about who had the strongest car, leading all 35 laps, to pick up his first A-Feature win of the season and 19th of his career.

The native of Elk River, Minnesota shot out to an early lead and was in lapped track just eight laps into the event. He battled heavy traffic all night, which allowed Tim Shaffer to close in over the last few laps. At the line, Dollansky won by 0.2 second.

“It’s definitely nice to get our first win of the year, and get that monkey off of our back,” said Dollansky, driver of the Karavan Trailers Maxim. “My crew guys have been working hard. We knew that first win would come, and it’s nice to get it for the whole team.”

After winning his second Crane Cams Dash of the season, Dollansky lined up on the pole for the 35-lap contest on the 1/3-mile. A couple of mid-race cautions bunched the field, but each time on the restart, Dollansky charged down the front straightaway and opened a commanding lead by the time he reached the back straightaway.

“We had a good race car and I felt comfortable with the track the way it was,” he said. “Toward the middle of the race I got down on the bottom and stayed down there. That was the place to be.”

While Shaffer tried his best to track down Dollansky, the latter knew that as long as kept his car glued to the bottom he would be in good shape. For Dollansky, the win was his seventh Top-Five finish of the season as he sits solidly in the fourth position in the championship standings.

“I knew at the end that it would be pretty tough for someone to go around us on the outside, and I was just going to run conservative on the bottom,” explained the winner. “Getting to that point and being in that position was the tough thing. We were fortunate to be in that position and it was a total team effort. Hopefully we can get some momentum out of this and keep working on this race car and get some more wins.”

Shaffer who started in the third spot fell back to fourth on the opening lap of the event, and charged right back on the next lap. He powered around Steve Kinser and Joey Saldana on the 12th lap to take the second spot. The native of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania made up some ground at the end, as evidenced by turning the fastest lap of the race on the 27th circuit, as he earned the runner-up finish.

“It was a good night all together,” said Shaffer, driver of the Casey’s General Stores Maxim. “We qualified decent and ran good in the heat race. We fell back a little in the dash, but we recovered pretty well in the feature.”

With heavy lapped traffic plaguing the leaders with under five laps to go, Shaffer was able to significantly cut into Dollansky’s advantage and made a couple of late runs at him, reminiscent of late charges he had earlier in the season at Volunteer Speedway in Tennessee and Dixie Speedway in Georgia.

“I definitely thought I had a chance at the end,” said Shaffer. “One little slip up and I could have lost a spot, and if he would have slipped up he would have lost a spot. I was getting greedy there at the end and pushed the car pretty hard. My team did a great job. They had the car right all night.”

After earning his seventh Top-Five finish of the season, Shaffer is confident that his first win of the season is just around the corner. On Tuesday, he will return to his home track, Lernerville Speedway in Pennsylvania where he was the 1993 track champion. He won his first World of Outlaws event at the track in 2005.

“If you can keep banging on the door and running in the Top-Five and Top-Three, the wins will come,” he said. “Our goal is to be consistent and as long as we are, the wins will follow.”

After finishing ninth in the series inaugural visit to the 1/3-mile in 2005, the former World of Outlaws Gumout Series Champion was impressed with the hard work of track officials and their staff as they treated the fans to a great night of racing.

“It’s a beautiful facility and it’s great to come here and race,” said Dollansky. “Kevin Gundaker is doing a great job. Hopefully the fans enjoyed the show.”

With the schedule picking up next week, Dollansky and his team are ready to take to the track five times in a six-day period as part of the first East Coast swing of the season. While the win on Saturday night was their first in World of Outlaws action this season, the team won in early February at East Bay Raceway in Florida as a tune-up for the World of Outlaws season.

“I think we are headed in the right direction,” he said. “We still have some work to do, but we’ll keep at it. We have a long way to go in the season. We didn’t have the start to the season that I wanted, but we’ll keep working and hard and see where it goes.”

Joey Saldana charged from the ninth starting spot to finish third, earning his 12th Top-Five finish of the season, as he continues to chase Donny Schatz in the point standings. The native of Brownsburg, Indiana gained a spot on the second lap of the race, and two more on the following circuit. He found himself in the Top-Five on the fifth lap, as he staged an entertaining battle with Steve Kinser and then Shaffer.

“We needed a solid run tonight,” said Saldana, driver of the Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI. “We’ve struggled a bit on the little sticky tracks, and this one tonight got a little slick and that helped us out. It seems like what we are doing to our cars works better when the track gets slick.”

Saldana, the 1996 World of Outlaws Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year believes his team is ready as the schedule picks up next week on the East Coast. The more he races, the better rhythm he believes he gets into.

“I enjoy it when the schedule picks up,” said Saldana. “I have a really good team behind me, and they work very hard. They do a great job preparing the car. For me it would be great to run seven days a week, but for the sake of the crews, you could not do that. It’s always tough to race on the East Coast, where they definitely support 410-sprint car racing.”

Steve Kinser has a very solid night in the Q Oil Maxim, finishing in the fourth position. He inherited the second spot on the 11th lap as Terry McCarl who was in the runner-up position spun. He battled Saldana for a number of laps, taking the third spot on the 16th lap, before the former got back around him. For Kinser, it was his eighth Top-Five finish of the season.

Daryn Pittman ran steady all night long, as he wound up in the fifth spot aboard the Titan Garages Maxim. He lined up 15th for the A-Feature and patiently worked his way up in the field as well as through traffic.

Donny Schatz raced his way into the A-Feature by virtue of winning the B-Main. He picked up his 17th Top-10 finish of the season on Saturday, with a sixth-place effort, as he continues to lead the World of Outlaws standings in the ParkerStore J&J. Danny Lasoski finished seventh in the Roth Motorsports Eagle, to wrap up the doubleheader weekend in his home state. Jason Meyers, who won on Friday night at U.S. 36 Raceway, finished in the eight spot in the Primerica Financial Maxim, with Jason Solwold in ninth in the City Wide Insulation Maxim, and Chad Kemenah was 10th in the Arizonatools.com Maxim.

The World of Outlaws will return to action on Tuesday, May 15 in the First Commonwealth Bank Clash at Lernerville Speedway.

Qualifying
1) 8K-Zach Chappell 11.705 2) 7S-Jason Sides 11.866 3) 14-Jason Meyers 11.886 4) 83-Danny Lasoski 11.889 5) 11-Steve Kinser 11.897 6) 9-Joey Saldana 11.932 7) R19-Jason Solwold 11.938 8) 6-Tim Shaffer 11.970 9) 24-Terry McCarl 12.040 10) 7-Craig Dollansky 12.052 11) 5C-Chad Hillier 12.056 12) 10C-Jeremy Campbell 12.061 13) 15-Donny Schatz 12.070 14) 3X-Chad Kemenah 12.107 15) 21-Daryn Pittman 12.109 16) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr. 12.126 17) 35-Jac Haudenschild 12.139 18) 2-Tim Kaeding 12.156 19) 1X-Randy Hannagan 12.158 20) 18-Brian Carlson 12.216 21) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 12.234 22) 20-Paul McMahan 12.265 23) 36-Jason Martin 12.267 24) 14M-Randy Martin 12.307 25) 11H-Kerry Madsen 12.386 26) D1-Justin Henderson 12.408 27) 11D-Dion Hindi 12.592 28) 1A-Adam Jones 12.641 29) 11T-Tyler Thompson 12.849 30) D12-Doc Sloan 13.135

Heat 1 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 7-Craig Dollansky 2) R19-Jason Solwold 3) 83-Danny Lasoski 4) 20-Paul McMahan 5) 8K-Zach Chappell 6) 11H-Kerry Madsen 7) 15-Donny Schatz 8) 1X-Randy Hannagan 9) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr. 10) 1A-Adam Jones

Heat 2 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 6-Tim Shaffer 2) 11-Steve Kinser 3) 35-Jac Haudenschild 4) 7S-Jason Sides 5) 5C-Chad Hillier 6) 36-Jason Martin 7) 3X-Chad Kemenah 8) D1-Justin Henderson 9) 11T-Tyler Thompson

Heat 3 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 10C-Jeremy Campbell 2) 24-Terry McCarl 3) 14-Jason Meyers 4) 9-Joey Saldana 5) 21-Daryn Pittman 6) 2-Tim Kaeding 7) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 8) D12-Doc Sloan 9) 14M-Randy Martin 10) 11D-Dion Hindi

Crane Cams Dash (8 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) 7-Craig Dollansky 2) 24-Terry McCarl 3) 6-Tim Shaffer 4) R19-Jason Solwold 5) 11-Steve Kinser 6) 83-Danny Lasoski 7) 14-Jason Meyers 8) 7S-Jason Sides 9) 10C-Jeremy Campbell 10) 8K-Zach Chappell

B-main (12 laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 15-Donny Schatz 2) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr. 3) 3X-Chad Kemenah 4) 1X-Randy Hannagan 5) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr 6) D1-Justin Henderson 7) 14M-Randy Martin [$200] 8) 11D-Dion Hindi [$180] 9) 1A-Adam Jones [$175] 10) D12-Doc Sloan [$160] 11) 11T-Tyler Thompson [$150] 12) 18-Brian Carlson [$150]

A-main (35 laps) - Starting Position [#]
1) 7-Craig Dollansky[1] [$10,000] 2) 6-Tim Shaffer[3] [$5,500] 3) 9-Joey Saldana[11] [$3,200] 4) 11-Steve Kinser[5] [$2,800] 5) 21-Daryn Pittman[15] [$2,500] 6) 15-Donny Schatz[13] [$2,300] 7) 83-Danny Lasoski[6] [$2,200] 8) 14-Jason Meyers[7] [$2,100] 9) R19-Jason Solwold[4] [$2,050] 10) 3X-Chad Kemenah[14] [$2,000] 11) 1X-Randy Hannagan[19] [$1,500] 12) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.[16] [$1,200] 13) 10C-Jeremy Campbell[9] [$1,100] 14) 8K-Zach Chappell[10] [$1,050] 15) 36-Jason Martin[21] [$1,000] 16) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[23] [$900] 17) 11H-Kerry Madsen[22] [$800] 18) 20-Paul McMahan[20] [$800] 19) 7S-Jason Sides[8] [$800] 20) 2-Tim Kaeding[18] [$800] 21) D1-Justin Henderson[24] [$800] 22) 35-Jac Haudenschild[17] [$800] 23) 24-Terry McCarl[2] [$800] 24) 5C-Chad Hillier[12] [$800]

Lap Leader: Craig Dollansky, 1-35





UMP Modifieds

A-Main -- 1. Mike Harrison, Highland, Ill.; 2. Steve Cain, Columbia; 3. Curt Rackers, Holts Summit; 4. David Payne, Holts Summit; 5. Kyle Thoenen, Jefferson City; 6. Robert Knaebel, Russellville; 7. Richard Kimberling, Slater; 8. Jason Russell, Henley; 9. Austin Jones, Ashland; 10. Earl Roark, Henley; 11. Jamie Carter, New Bloomfield; 12. Darrell Jones, Columbia; 13. Bobby Regot, Saint Peters; 14. Danny Resinger, Farmington; 15. Kevin Graf, Hazelwood; 16. Danny Crane, Columbia; 17. Dean Vickers, Winfield; 18. Howard Hall, Columbia; 19. Vance Wilson, Frankford; 20. Rowland Blythe, Ashland; 21. Mark Caldwell, Jefferson City; 22. Bob Test, Jefferson City.

B-Main -- 1. Jason Russell, Henley; 2. Rowland Blythe, Ashland; 3. Mark Caldwell, Jefferson City; 4. Kevin Graf, Hazelwood; 5. Terry McClintock, Saint Charles; 6. Adam Toalson, Eldon; 7. Thomas Howard, Eldon; 8. Don Williams, Osage Beach; 9. Steve Payne, Fulton.

Heat 1 -- 1. Mike Harrison, Highland, Ill.; 2. Robert Knaebel, Russellville; 3. Dean Vickers, Winfield; 4. Kyle Thoenen, Jefferson City; 5. Richard Kimberling, Slater; 6. Bobby Regot, Saint Peters; 7. Terry McClintock, Saint Charles; 8. Adam Toalson, Eldon; 9. Jason Russell, Henley.

Heat 2 -- 1. Vance Wilson, Frankford; 2. Darrell Jones, Columbia; 3. David Payne, Holts Summit; 4. Howard Hall, Columbia; 5. Bob Test, Jefferson City; 6. Danny Resinger, Farmington; 7. Mark Caldwell, Jefferson City; 8. Don Williams, Osage Beach; 9. Steve Payne, Fulton.

Heat 3 -- 1. Curt Rackers, Holts Summit; 2. Steve Cain, Columbia; 3. Danny Crane, Columbia; 4. Jamie Carter, New Bloomfield; 5. Austin Jones, Ashland; 6. Earl Roark, Henley; 7. Rowland Blythe, Ashland; 8. Kevin Graf, Hazelwood; 9. Thomas Howard, Eldon.

Qualifying Dash -- 1. Mike Harrison, Highland, Ill.; 2. Vance Wilson, Frankford; 3. Robert Knaebel, Russellville; 4. Steve Cain, Columbia; 5. Curt Rackers, Holts Summit; 6. Darrell Jones, Columbia.