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Hard Fought Win for Saldana at I-55 Raceway!

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM I-55 RACEWAY Pevely, MO?July 7, 2007--By: Tony Veneziano, World of Outlaws PR Director Joey Saldana earned every penny of the $10,000 he pocketed on Saturday night at I-55 Raceway for winning the fourth event of the ?SuperClean Summer of Money? on ESPN2 for the World of Outlaws. After starting on the pole on a very hot and humid night, he lost a couple of positions on the opening lap and found himself in third for the first 17 laps of the race. He then lost another position on the 18th lap to fall to fourth, before working his way back to the front and ultimately making the pass for the lead and the win on Danny Lasoski on the 29th lap. ?It?s huge to get this win,? said Saldana, driver of the Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI. ?Being on ESPN2 is everything we have dreamed about. To have a first-class ride with Kasey Kahne Racing and to do this on ESPN2 is huge for myself and this team. Hopefully there is more to come and we can win some big races.? The 40-lap race on the high-banked 1/3-mile started with Saldana on the pole. He lead into the first turn, but contact with Danny Lasoski exiting the second turn put Lasoski in the lead and dropped Saldana to third. Brooke Tatnell battled with Lasoski early in the race for the lead, as both ran the high side of the track. A couple of early cautions kept the leaders in open race track. Lasoski began to pull away on the fifth lap, with Tatnell and Saldana battling for the runner-up position. Lasoski got a little bottled up in traffic just about a quarter of the way into the race, giving Tatnell the chance he needed to close back in. A red flag came out on lap 19 and was opened up, giving the crews an opportunity to work on their cars. Lasoski?s crew found a hold in the right rear tire of his machine and patched it for the remaining 21 laps. Lasoski led on the restart, with Daryn Pittman making an impressive move to get around a few cars to move into the runner-up position. Before he was officially scored in second though, Pittman got into the wall very hard coming off the fourth turn, causing a caution and dropping him to the rear of the field with a flat right rear tire. Lasoski led on this final restart, with Saldana right on his bumper. Saldana passed Lasoski on the 27th lap, but Lasoski got back around as the pair headed off the fourth turn and was scored the leader at the line. Saldana passed him on the next lap to take the lead and ultimately the win. Lasoski slipped back to fifth, as he nursed his car home with the patched right rear tire. ?It was a hard fought win, that?s for sure,? said Saldana. ?It was a good, strong race. We had to work for it, it wasn?t given to us. I?ll take it.? After he fell back to fourth on lap 19, Saldana got around both Tatnell and Schatz to take the second spot, just two laps later. He patiently followed Lasoski, waiting for an opportunity to make a move. Prior to that, his team made a couple slight adjustments under the open red flag. ?I got a little frustrated under that red and Justin (Adams) told me to stay patient that the car would come around,? explained the winner. ?We left the car pretty tight and it paid off in the end. In these 40 lap races you definitely have to struggle with the car for the first half and then it comes around in the second half.? Schatz lined up fourth for the A-Feature and wasted little time battling for the lead, as he, Saldana, Tatnell and Lasoski all went four wide into the third and fourth turn on the opening lap. His second-place finish was his 37th Top-10 of the year. ?Second is all right here,? said Schatz, driver of the ParkerStore J&J. ?We were good here last year. We didn?t know what to expect with the race track and probably didn?t go as far as we should have. We know how we got beat and it?s not the end of the world.? Steve Kinser started the 40-lap event in the ninth spot, and patiently worked his way to the front. The middle and late stages of the race are when he made up a significant amount of ground. He moved into the Top-Five on the 30th lap, and in the late going had a very entertaining battle with rookie Tony Bruce Jr., as he ran the high side of the track and Bruce ran the low side. In the end, the 20-time World of Outlaws champion used his experience to get around the rookie and take the final podium position. ?I can?t complain,? said Kinser, driver of the Q Oil Maxim. ?This is better than where we have been lately.? Bruce started the race 24th after earning the final transfer spot in the B-Main. He gained six spots on the opening lap, with a couple of those being cars that were involved in an accident. He found himself in 15th on the eighth lap, and broke into the Top-10 at the halfway point on the 40-lap event. His march to the front continued on the 35th lap as he moved into the Top-Five. He ran third for three laps at the end, before finishing fourth to earn his second Top-Five of the season. ?We found something there at the beginning,? said Bruce, driver of the Best Well Services Eagle. ?The top went away and the car came to us on the bottom and we kept going to the front. Anytime we can get up there and run with them (the veteran drivers), shows we are going in the right direction. That?s what we are aiming for, to keep getting better.? Schatz and his crew made a number of changes to the car during the red flag at the mid-point of the race. The reigning series champion and current point leader was disappointed that the caution flag kept flying just as the leaders were set to get into lapped traffic. ?We tried to tighten the car up a little bit,? said Schatz. ?We probably put too hard of a tire on. We played it a bit conservative and that probably bit us. The tires were reacting opposite of what they normally do. They took off really good and the longer we went the worse trouble we were in. It?s a decent night, but one of those nights that you would rather forget. We wish we would have been there closer racing with them at the end.? Kinser also made some changes to his car under the red flag, and was very pleased with how his car operated during the second half of the race, as he earned his 26th Top-10 finish of 2007. ?We adjusted a little on the car during the car and that helped us a little bit,? said Kinser. ?Up until then I wasn?t getting around too good. The adjustments were good and they helped the car. I wish we would have been like that to start, but coming from the fifth row it?s pretty tough to have a shot at winning.? Lasoski led the first 28 laps of the event and finished fifth in the Roth Motorsports JEI. He opened some sizeable advantages in the early stages of the race, as he earned his 30th Top-10 finish of the season. Paul McMahan finished sixth in the Bass Pro Shops Eagle, with Jac Haudenschild charging from the 22nd starting spot to finish seventh in the Wright One Construction Maxim. Jason Meyers was eighth in the Primerica Financial Maxim, with Tim Shaffer ninth in the Casey?s General Store Maxim, and Brooke Tatnell rounded out the Top-10 in the Volcano Joe?s Coffee Schnee. The World of Outlaws return to action on Wednesday, July 11 with the 19th Annual Brad Doty Classic, which will be held again this season at Limaland Motorsports Park in Ohio. I-55 RACEWAY NOTEBOOK ? A HELPING HAND: Rookie Sam Hafertepe Jr. of Texas had three-time World of Outlaws champion Sammy Swindell turning the wrenches on his car on Saturday night at I-55 Raceway. Swindell competed with the series in three events earlier this season. ? FAST QUALIFIER: Tim Shaffer paced the 30 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked 1/3-mile oval in 10.430 seconds at 114.938 mph. For his qualifying effort, Shaffer earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Jason Meyers (4), Joey Saldana (3), Steve Kinser (2) and Paul McMahan (1). ? QUALIFYING WINNERS: Donny Schatz, Brooke Tatnell and Daryn Pittman won heat races? Dion Hindi won the B-Main? Joey Saldana won the Crane Cams dash. ? FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 41 World of Outlaws A-Feature events held in 2007. The win list includes: Joey Saldana (February 23 at Thunderbowl Raceway, March 17 at Pike County Speedway, March 24 at Volunteer Speedway, March 31 at Dixie Speedway, April 20 at Attica Raceway Park, June 5 at Kokomo Speedway, June 9 at Eagle Raceway, June 29 at River Cities Speedway and July 7 at I-55 Raceway), Donny Schatz (February 9 at Volusia Speedway Park, March 3 at Manzanita Speedway, March 16 at Houston Raceway Park, April 28 at Knoxville Raceway, May 17 at Williams Grove Speedway, May 18 at Williams Grove Speedway, May 25 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe?s Motor Speedway, June 25 at Black Hills Speedway and July 3 at Huset?s Speedway), , Steve Kinser (March 2 at USA Race Park, April 21 at Tri-State Speedway, May 15 at Lernerville Speedway, May 20 at New Egypt Speedway, May 28 at Rolling Wheels Raceway Park, June 1 at Sharon Speedway and June 20 at Missouri State Fair Speedway), Danny Lasoski (April 6 at Paducah International Raceway, May 23 at Grandview Speedway and June 14 at Tri-City Speedway), Jason Meyers (April 13 at Eldora Speedway, May 11 at U.S. 36 Raceway and June 22 at Dodge City Raceway Park), Daryn Pittman (February 11 at Volusia Speedway Park, May 5 at Riverside International Speedway and June 23 at Dodge City Raceway Park), Paul McMahan (June 2 at Eldora Speedway and July 1 at Cedar Lake Speedway), Craig Dollansky (May 12 at Lake Ozark Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (June 30 at Red River Valley Speedway), Tim Kaeding (February 24 at Thunderbowl Raceway), Kerry Madsen (February 10 at Volusia Speedway Park) and Terry McCarl (June 16 at Knoxville Raceway). ? 1/3-MILE WINNERS: I-55 Raceway is a high-banked 1/3-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced seven times this season on a track that size. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Thunderbowl Raceway, Attica Raceway Park, Eagle Raceway and I-55 Raceway), Craig Dollansky (Lake Ozark Speedway), Tim Kaeding (Thunderbowl Raceway) and Danny Lasoski (Grandview Speedway). ?ON TELEVISION: The World of Outlaws ?SuperClean Summer of Money? on ESPN2 continues on Sunday, July 8 with the event from I-55 Raceway on July 7. The event will air on ESPN2 on Sunday, July 8 at 11:30 a.m. Eastern, 10:30 a.m. Central. The World of Outlaws will be televised 20 times this season on ESPN2 and SPEED while the World of Outlaws Late Model Series is set for six appearances on SPEED. The one-hour broadcasts will air on Sundays from May 13 to Nov. 4, when the series champions will be crowned during the World Finals from The Dirt Track @ Lowe?s Motor Speedway. ? ON THE WEB: The Official World of Outlaws Web site is at http://www.worldofoutlaws.com. Among the features are updated driver biographies with individual statistics and pictures, race-by-race statistics, detailed track information and race coverage, series news and team press releases. Also, links to the Media Guide and 2007 Official Rulebook can be found at the bottom of the home page. ? LISTEN ONLINE: If fans can?t get to a track to see the series, they can experience the excitement of the World of Outlaws live through the DIRTVision.com Cybercast and on the DIRT Radio Network. To listen to the audio broadcasts, log on to www.DIRTVision.com and click on the DIRT Radio Network logo. Listeners will need Windows Media Player 9 or higher to listen to the DIRT Radio Network. For technical support or questions, e-mail webmaster@DIRTVision.com. ? UP NEXT: The Brad Doty Classic at Limaland Motorsports Park on Wednesday, July 11. ? UPCOMING EVENTS: The Knight Before the Kings Royal on Friday, July 13 at Eldora Speedway and the Kings Royal on Saturday, July 14. World of Outlaws Statistical Report: I-55 Raceway; Pevely, MO; July 7, 2007 Qualifying 1) 6-Tim Shaffer 10.430 2) 14-Jason Meyers 10.520 3) 9-Joey Saldana 10.561 4) 11-Steve Kinser 10.563 5) 20-Paul McMahan 10.598 6) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 10.686 7) 83-Danny Lasoski 10.723 8) 2-Brooke Tatnell 10.751 9) 8K-Chad Kemenah 10.788 10) 15-Donny Schatz 10.833 11) 10C-Jeremy Campbell 10.843 12) 21-Daryn Pittman 10.855 13) 7S-Jason Sides 10.878 14) 11H-Kerry Madsen 10.944 15) D1-Justin Henderson 10.960 16) 11D-Dion Hindi 10.983 17) R19-Jason Solwold 11.011 18) 24-Terry McCarl 11.097 19) 7-Craig Dollansky 11.100 20) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr. 11.107 21) 1X-Randy Hannagan 11.135 22) 36-Jason Martin 11.137 23) 18-Brian Carlson 11.182 24) 5C-Chad Hillier 11.199 25) 35-Jac Haudenschild 11.211 26) 57D-Tom Dickerman 11.227 27) 2M-Joey Moughan 11.513 28) 8S-Steve Short 11.557 29) 96-Nathan Charron 11.637 30) 28-Jason Keith 11.887 Heat 1 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) 1) 15-Donny Schatz 2) 83-Danny Lasoski 3) 6-Tim Shaffer 4) 11-Steve Kinser 5) 7S-Jason Sides 6) 35-Jac Haudenschild 7) 7-Craig Dollansky 8) 8S-Steve Short 9) 36-Jason Martin 10) 11D-Dion Hindi Heat 2 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) 1) 2-Brooke Tatnell 2) 10C-Jeremy Campbell 3) 14-Jason Meyers 4) 20-Paul McMahan 5) R19-Jason Solwold 6) 11H-Kerry Madsen 7) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr. 8) 18-Brian Carlson 9) 96-Nathan Charron 10) 57D-Tom Dickerman Heat 3 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) 1) 21-Daryn Pittman 2) 9-Joey Saldana 3) 5C-Chad Hillier 4) D1-Justin Henderson 5) 1X-Randy Hannagan 6) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 7) 2M-Joey Moughan 8) 28-Jason Keith 9) 8K-Chad Kemenah 10) 24-Terry McCarl Crane Cams Dash (8 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) 1) 9-Joey Saldana 2) 83-Danny Lasoski 3) 2-Brooke Tatnell 4) 15-Donny Schatz 5) 21-Daryn Pittman 6) 6-Tim Shaffer 7) 10C-Jeremy Campbell 8) 14-Jason Meyers 9) 11-Steve Kinser 10) 20-Paul McMahan B-main (12 laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) 1) 11D-Dion Hindi 2) 8K-Chad Kemenah 3) 7-Craig Dollansky 4) 36-Jason Martin 5) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr. 6) 24-Terry McCarl 7) 2M-Joey Moughan [$200] 8) 18-Brian Carlson [$180] 9) 28-Jason Keith [$175] 10) 96-Nathan Charron [$160] 11) 8S-Steve Short [$150] 12) 57D-Tom Dickerman [$150] A-main (40 laps) - Starting Position [#] 1) 9-Joey Saldana[1] [$10,000] 2) 15-Donny Schatz[4] [$5,500] 3) 11-Steve Kinser[9] [$3,200] 4) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.[23] [$2,800] 5) 83-Danny Lasoski[2] [$2,500] 6) 20-Paul McMahan[10] [$2,300] 7) 35-Jac Haudenschild[22] [$2,200] 8) 14-Jason Meyers[8] [$2,100] 9) 6-Tim Shaffer[6] [$2,050] 10) 2-Brooke Tatnell[3] [$2,000] 11) 11H-Kerry Madsen[14] [$1,500] 12) 1X-Randy Hannagan[19] [$1,200] 13) 5C-Chad Hillier[21] [$1,100] 14) 7-Craig Dollansky[18] [$1,050] 15) 8K-Chad Kemenah[12] [$1,000] 16) 21-Daryn Pittman[5] [$900] 17) 10C-Jeremy Campbell[7] [$800] 18) 11D-Dion Hindi[16] [$800] 19) 24-Terry McCarl[24] [$800] 20) 7S-Jason Sides[13] [$800] 21) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[11] [$800] 22) R19-Jason Solwold[17] [$800] 23) D1-Justin Henderson[15] [$800] 24) 36-Jason Martin[20] [$800] Lap Leaders: Danny Lasoski 1-28, Joey Saldana 29-40 KSE Hard Charger Award: Tony Bruce, Jr.

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