Dollansky Slides to Win at Eldora
By Tony Veneziano, World of Outlaws PR Director
Rossburg, OH - Eldora Speedway has always been known for high speeds, thrilling racing and countless slide jobs, and on Friday night, Craig Dollansky used a textbook slide job to take the lead from Donny Schatz on a late restart to earn his second Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature win of the season.
Dollansky lined up second behind Schatz on a restart with 10 laps to go and slid under the two-time defending Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion exiting the second turn. Schatz battled back down the stretch, with Dollansky holding him off after a restart with just two laps remaining. The current World of Outlaws championship point leader earned $10,000 for his 23rd career A-Feature win with the series.
“It was a great run for this race team,” said Dollansky. “I’m very happy for this Larry Woodward team and everyone that is supporting it. To get win number two this early in the season and have a strong start to the year is very important. We just have to keep working hard and working hard at wining races.”
Dollansky aboard the Auto Value Parts Stores Maxim began the night by turning in the sixth fastest lap in time trials, and he followed that up with a strong run in the third heat to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash. He finished fifth in the dash, to earn a starting spot on the inside of the third row for the 30-lap A-Feature. He powered his way past Kerry Madsen on the third lap to move into fourth. After shadowing Shane Stewart for a number of laps, Dollansky got around him on the 18th circuit to move into third.
“We learned some things tonight and got stronger as the night went on, which is important to us,” noted the native of Elk River, Minnesota, who has six Top-Five finishes this season in the same number of starts. “We began sputtering on the last lap. The car was stumbling on the restarts, but we got a good run on Donny (Schatz) and I felt real strong once we got the lead and felt like he would have to be real strong on a restart to slide back by us. It was a great team effort and I am happy for everyone.”
The race began with Joey Saldana leading from the pole position in the Budweiser/Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI. Early in the race, he opened a comfortable lead over Schatz. Saldana was out front for the first 20 laps, before he suffered a flat left rear tire, giving the lead to Schatz under caution. There were a number of drivers that had flat tires while running in the Top-10 over the course of the 30-lap event. There were also a couple of drivers that ran out of fuel late in the going.
“I don’t know what was going on with the tires for some of those guys,” said Dollansky. “They did a great job preparing this race track, with all the rain they had. This race track, you could pass on it pretty nice. It had a top and a bottom and you could do slide jobs. It was typical Eldora. Our tires held up and the car was great.”
Schatz, the two-time defending Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion, lined up second and ran there for the entire distance, after being the fastest driver in time trials and finishing second in the Crane Cams Dash.
Several times early in the race he caught Saldana right as the pair was about to enter lapped traffic, only to have the caution flag fly. For Schatz, it was his fourth runner-up finish of the season in the Armor All J&J for Tony Stewart Racing. While he inherited the lead under caution, he was never officially credited with leading a lap under green flag conditions.
“You’re always going to get yellows,” said Schatz. “It’s never fun when its cold out, but once you get in the car and put the helmet on, its time to go racing. We would have liked to have had some long runs, but it wouldn’t have mattered for us. We couldn’t get there quick enough and the guy that finished ahead of us deserved to.”
Jason Sides recorded his best finish of the season, coming home third on Friday night. The native of Bartlett, Tennessee driving the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim, who won the Kings Royal in 2004 at Eldora started ninth on Friday night and steadily worked his way to front, passing Chad Kemenah and Kerry Madsen in the middle of the race and taking advantage of some bad luck that plagued Terry McCarl and Shane Stewart late.
“It seems like we have hit on something here,” said Sides. “Last year we had a good run here the first time around. Usually when its cooler like it was, it stays a little more wet and a little bit better for me around the bottom. We got around the top some, but we on the bottom most of the time. We’ll take them anyway we can get them.”
Kerry Madsen finished fourth on Friday night driving the TK Concrete Maxim, to earn his first Top-Five finish of the season. The reigning Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year started sixth and found himself locked in an early battled with Terry McCarl. He too gained a couple of spots late when Stewart suffered a flat tire and McCarl ran out of fuel.
“It’s always good to get a Top-Five,” stated Madsen. “I think we had a better car than fourth, but we had some problems and got a few breaks with a few guys dropping out. All in all, we’ll take a Top-Five. We’re very happy and looking forward to the next run.”
Tim Shaffer earned the KSE Race Products Hard Charger Award, after lining up 23rd and finishing fifth aboard the Casey’s General Store Maxim. It was the second consecutive Top-Five finish for the native of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania.
A full night of racing from Eldora Speedway on Saturday, April12, which will again see the winner take home $10,000. If fans can’t get to a track to see the series, they can experience the excitement of the World of Outlaws live on DIRTVision.com through 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.
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