Kraig Kinser Grabs the Win at Grays Harbor Raceway
Elma, WA — Kraig Kinser took the lead from Washington native Jayme Barnes on the 24th lap in traffic and used a strong restart with two laps to go to pull away and claim the $10,000 victory, which was the eighth of his Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series career.
“This is awesome,” said Kinser. “I am tickled to death. I have to thank Tony (Stewart) for giving me the opportunity in this deal. I’m happy to get the 20 car rolling again. Hopefully we can keep this momentum going through the end of the year.”
The 2004 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year began the night by turning in the fourth quickest lap in time trials. He lined up fourth n the fourth heat-race and powered his way to a runner-up finish to earn a spot in the Cane Cams Dash where he ran second to earn a front row starting spot in the 30-lap A-Feature aboard the Bass Pro Shops Chevy-powered Maxim.
“My hat is off to my team,” he said with a smile. “We had a good run in qualifying and a good heat race. We were just that one spot off all of the time, and thankfully we got our chance in the feature.”
The race began with Barnes who started on the pole, dashing to the lead with Kinser chasing him down. Also at the drop of the green, Chad Kemenah battled Steve Kinser for the fourth spot, while Jason Meyers picked up a couple of spots using the high side of the track to move from sixth to fourth.
By the fourth lap, Barnes had opened a large lead, though one lap later he was in lapped traffic, which allowed Kinser to close back in on him. In heavy traffic on the seventh lap, Kinser was right on Barnes looking for a way around him. The next lap, Kinser was held up in traffic which again allowed Barnes to pull away.
Just prior to the halfway point of the 30-lap contest Barnes was again help up in traffic, giving Kinser a shot to close in on him. At the same time, Steve Kinser also closed in on the lead duo. With nine laps to go, Barnes did a wheelstand coming off the fourth turn, again giving Kraig Kinser a chance to close in.
“I knew that whoever got through traffic better would have the lead,” explained Kraig Kinser, who is a native of Bloomington, Indiana “You really couldn’t get underneath them. Jayme (Barnes) kept pushing the lapped cars pretty hard and he slipped up just a little and that gave me a chance to get under him. I was just kind of sitting there waiting. At the beginning of the race he slipped up a couple of times, but he was so far out there, that there was no way I was going to get him. I finally got close enough to him that I was able to take advantage of the little mistake he made.”
Kinser made the pass for the lead and ultimately the win on the 24th lap, as Barnes drifted a little high in turns three and four as he was negotiating lapped traffic. Kinser swept under him and charged down the front straightaway.
“I knew with how the track was that it would take someone with an awesome handling car to get around me on the outside,” he shared. “I just trying to get myself as close as I could to Jayme (Barnes) and not get out of shape. I stuck on the bottom and was very patient.”
The only caution of the race came just as the white flag was flown. By way of World of Outlaws rules, two consecutive green flag laps must be run, thus extending the 30-lap event to 31 laps. A strong restart helped Kinser pull away from Barnes during the final two laps.
“I knew that unless someone had an awesome jump on me that I had plenty of open track to work with,” said Kinser. “With the way the track was, I knew that in clean air I would be tough to get by. I felt really good the last few laps after the restart.”
Barnes who wound up second in the Here to Wire Eagle won the third heat race to score his first heat race win with the series. He followed that up by taking the checkered flag in the Crane Cams Dash to earn his first career pole position with the series. He led the first 24 laps of the A-Feature en route to his best career finish with the World of Outlaws.
“I’m happy, but disappointed at the same time,” said Barnes. “How often is a local guy that close to winning one of these, especially on the West Coast. I’m happy though. Usually I am the lapped car in the way and usually I move for them. This time I didn’t get a break and I made a mistake and it cost us. It’s my own mistake and we’ll take second, we are happy with that a lot.”
A number of times over the course of the 30-lap event, Barnes was held up in lapped traffic. He was able to clear the slower machines all but one time and that time was the opening that Kinser needed to take the lead.
“I was half throttle behind a few of those cars and got underneath one a couple of times and they really didn’t give me any room,” he explained. “A couple guys did give me some room when they saw me, but that last one didn’t. I missed the bottom following him and that’s all it took.”
Barnes entered the event on Monday night with three wins at Grays Harbor Raceway in 2008 and five overall victories including the famed Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway.
“We’ve had a really good season, and have won some really big races at home here,” he said with a smile. “We’ve been running well and we have no budget. We have a tiny budget out of my back pocket and a 10-year old motor. We’re just trying to get by. We are down 100 horsepower to these guys.”
Steve Kinser wound up third in the Q Oil Maxim, as he tried to track down his son and Barnes on Monday night. It was the 24th Top-Five finish of the season for the Indiana native.
“Kraig ran a good race tonight and had a fast car,” said the 20-time series champion. “I am very happy for him. They have been gaining quite a bit lately. This win will definitely help them as we continue down the road.”
Danny Lasoski, the 2001 World of Outlaws champion finished fourth aboard the Doyle’s Harley-Davidson Eagle. Chad Kemenah was fifth in the Kantor Oil Company Maxim. Jason Meyers finished sixth in the GLR Investments KPC, which snapped his streak of 20 consecutive Top-Five finishes, though he was able to gain 22 points on two-time defending series champion Donny Schatz in the standings and now trails him by 60 markers. Schatz wound up 15th on Monday night to snap his streak of 47 consecutive Top-10 finishes. Terry McCarl was seventh in the Big Game Treestands Maxim, with Craig Dollansky in eighth aboard the Snap-on Tools Maxim. Jason Sides was ninth in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim, with Roger Crockett rounding out the Top-10 in the Omlid & Swinney Fire Protection KPC.
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