DIRTcar Nationals

Camargo, IL (2-4-10) – By Kelly Brown –Public Relations Director –Tonight Saldana won his first race of the season in a convincing fashion after running second on the previous night at Volusia.

Starting on the front row of tonight’s feature event was Craig Dollansky and Greg Hodnett. When the green banner waved over the A-main, Hodnett quickly took the lead. Drag racing down the back stretch on the first lap Saldana was able to move up to second, after beginning his night in the fifth position, while Dollansky settled into third. It only took until the second revolution of the track for Saldana to take the lead in Turn 4. Hodnett would fight back in the low line, while Saldana stayed high. For about three laps the two traded the lead in about every corner, but Saldana was able to establish himself in the lead.

While the top two were battling, Dollansky was being pursued by Donny Schatz as the two fought for third. Dollansky would get the edge, and Schatz would fall into the clutches of Steve Kinser. Kinser would get around Schatz for fourth momentarily. The two then ran wheel-to-wheel for a lap, but Schatz got the edge retaking the fourth position. Just as Saldana and Hodnett were running side-by-side in traffic, the first caution flag of the night came out on Lap 8. It was for Doug Esh who has slowed in Turn 1 with a flat tire.

On the restart, the track did not stay green for long. One lap was recorded before Hodnett who was running second at the time slowed with a flat left rear tire. When racing resumed, it would be Saldana, Dollansky, Kinser, Lasoski and Schatz lining up in the top-five. The Green Flag would fly again, but almost instantly the track went yellow as Schatz slowed with a flat right rear and a missing right front tire.

When the Green Flag flew, Saldana would favor the high side and stretch out his lead using his chosen high line. At the halfway point of tonight’s race the leader began to encounter traffic again. Dollansky began to close on the number 9 Budweiser car, but on Lap 17 the Yellow Flag would fly again as Esh came to a stop on the course. At this point there had been so many laps run under caution, the officials of the O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions decided to unveil the Red Flag for a fuel stop.

On the restart both Lucas Wolfe and Sam Hafertepe Jr. were on the move as both got past Lasoski to pick up the fourth and fifth positions on the track. At the front Saldana was stretching his lead out again, but it was erased with another Yellow Flag with eight laps to go. Lance Dewease slowed on the track with a flat tire and was unable to make it to the pit area.

The next time the Green Flag was unveiled, Kinser would reel in Dollansky for second, but their battle had to be put on hold when the final caution of the night came out on Lap 26 when Jac Haudenschild had a flat tire. When the field restarted Saldana held on tight to the lead leaving Dollansky and Kinser to continue their skirmish. As Kinser ran low and Dollansky ran high, Wolfe caught the two and joined the battle.

With the Checkered Flag in the air, Saldana picked up his first win of the 2010 season and his seventh win overall at Volusia. Behind him it would be Dollansky holding on to second, while Kinser would cross the line in third, with Wolf and Hafertepe rounding out the top-five.

One of the hardest chargers of tonight was Tim Kaeding who started the race on the tail of the field after having a fuel leak prior to the Green Flag. He was able to climb all the way to ninth before the end of the race. Carrying the banner for the All Stars was Dale Blaney who turned in another remarkable race. After starting twenty-second he was able to pick up twelve spots to finish tenth.

Next up for the All Star Circuit of Champions is East Bay Raceway Park. On Thursday, February 11th the tickets will run $20, with pit passes running $30. Then on Friday night admission will be $25 and pit passes will be $32. On the final night of race action tickets can be purchased for $30 and the pit passes will be $35. The track is offering a three-day general admission race package, which will run $70.

Qualifying

1) 83JR-Tim Kaeding 14.187 2) 9-Joey Saldana 14.200 3) 7-Craig Dollansky 14.205 4) 22-Greg Hodnett 14.313 5) 15-Donny Schatz 14.331 6) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 14.336 7) 1-Stevie Smith 14.353 8) 6-Danny Lasoski 14.356 9) 14-Jason Meyers 14.363 10) 11K-Kraig Kinser 14.376 11) 11-Steve Kinser 14.381 12) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 14.396 13) 13-Paul McMahan 14.398 14) 49-Brad Sweet 14.429 15) 22E-Brian Ellenberger 14.481 16) 1J-Bronson Maeshen 14.505 17) 17-Daryn Pittman 14.511 18) 3C-Cale Conley 14.519 19) 97-Dean Jacobs 14.524 20) W20-Greg Wilson 14.569 21) 24-Terry McCarl 14.576 22) R19-Jac Haudenschild 14.598 23) 7M-Mark Smith 14.609 24) 91-Cody Darrah 14.634 25) 2-Dale Blaney 14.674 26) 30C-Lance Dewease 14.706 27) 83-Tim Shaffer 14.741 28) 39-Doug Esh 14.770 29) 63-Chad Kemenah 14.793 30) 51-Fred Rahmer 14.854 31) 11E-Mike Erdley 14.991 32) 6F-Bob Felmlee 15.048 33) 6R-Bill Rose 15.075 34) 89G-David Gravel 15.118 35) 12-Jared Ridge 15.150 36) 2B-Ben Gregg 15.181 37) O-Brandon Wimmer 15.302 38) O4-Cap Henry III 15.402 39) OS-Glenn Styres 15.552 40) 6W-Brad Wickham 16.803 41) 4B-Tom Busch 17.029

Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 24-Terry McCarl 2) 15-Donny Schatz 3) 13-Paul McMahan 4) 2-Dale Blaney 5) 83JR-Tim Kaeding 6) 14-Jason Meyers 7) 63-Chad Kemenah 8) 17-Daryn Pittman 9) O-Brandon Wimmer 10) 6R-Bill Rose 11) 4B-Tom Busch

Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 9-Joey Saldana 2) 3C-Cale Conley 3) R19-Jac Haudenschild 4) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 5) 49-Brad Sweet 6) 30C-Lance Dewease 7) 11K-Kraig Kinser 8) 51-Fred Rahmer 9) 89G-David Gravel 10) O4-Cap Henry III

Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 7M-Mark Smith 2) 1-Stevie Smith 3) 11-Steve Kinser 4) 7-Craig Dollansky 5) 97-Dean Jacobs 6) 22E-Brian Ellenberger 7) 83-Tim Shaffer 8) 11E-Mike Erdley 9) 12-Jared Ridge 10) OS-Glenn Styres

Heat 4 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 2) 22-Greg Hodnett 3) W20-Greg Wilson 4) 6-Danny Lasoski 5) 39-Doug Esh 6) 6F-Bob Felmlee 7) 91-Cody Darrah 8) 1J-Bronson Maeshen 9) 2B-Ben Gregg 10) 6W-Brad Wickham

Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)

1) 7-Craig Dollansky 2) 22-Greg Hodnett 3) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 4) 83JR-Tim Kaeding 5) 9-Joey Saldana 6) 15-Donny Schatz 7) 1-Stevie Smith 8) 6-Danny Lasoski 9) 11-Steve Kinser 10) 5W-Lucas Wolfe

B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 14-Jason Meyers 2) 22E-Brian Ellenberger 3) 30C-Lance Dewease 4) 11K-Kraig Kinser 5) 17-Daryn Pittman 6) 83-Tim Shaffer 7) 51-Fred Rahmer 8) 89G-David Gravel 9) 1J-Bronson Maeshen 10) 91-Cody Darrah 11) 6R-Bill Rose 12) 6F-Bob Felmlee 13) OS-Glenn Styres 14) 6W-Brad Wickham 15) 4B-Tom Busch 16) O-Brandon Wimmer 17) 11E-Mike Erdley 18) O4-Cap Henry III 19) 63-Chad Kemenah 20) 12-Jared Ridge 21) 2B-Ben Gregg

A-main (30 laps) - Starting Position [#]

1) 9-Joey Saldana[5] 2) 7-Craig Dollansky[1] 3) 11-Steve Kinser[9] 4) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[10] 5) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[3] 6) 1-Stevie Smith[7] 7) 6-Danny Lasoski[8] 8) 14-Jason Meyers[11] 9) 83JR-Tim Kaeding[4] 10) 2-Dale Blaney[22] 11) 13-Paul McMahan[13] 12) 49-Brad Sweet[14] 13) W20-Greg Wilson[18] 14) 11K-Kraig Kinser[12] 15) 3C-Cale Conley[16] 16) 24-Terry McCarl[19] 17) 22E-Brian Ellenberger[15] 18) R19-Jac Haudenschild[20] 19) 30C-Lance Dewease[23] 20) 7M-Mark Smith[21] 21) 39-Doug Esh[24] 22) 22-Greg Hodnett[2] 23) 15-Donny Schatz[6] 24) 97-Dean Jacobs[17]

Lap Leaders: Greg Hodnett 1, Joey Saldana 2-30