Joey Saldana and Donny Schatz thrilled a large crowd at 34 Raceway near Burlington Wednesday night with a lead swapping dual through lapped traffic, and at the checkers it was Saldana celebrating in victory lane along with his car owner Kasey Kahne. This was the second trip ever for the World of Outlaws to the high-banked 3/8-mile oval and while the crowd was just a bit off of last year's debut, this show was twice as strong.
Saldana quickly grabbed the lead from his pole position start with the evening's quick qualifier Terry McCarl in hot pursuit. Schatz started seventh but by the second lap he was up to third and giving McCarl all that he wanted. The first of three cautions in the event came on lap eight when the leader's teammate Craig Dollansky launched his right rear wheel over the fence and into the cornfield beyond turn three before smacking the wall. Schatz went to work on Saldana on the restart and on lap twelve he squeezed by Joey on the inside of turn two to gain the advantage heading down the back straight. Saldana matched the pace of the new leader and even mounted a challenge or two in traffic before the caution waved again with twelve laps remaining, this time for last year's winner Tony Bruce Jr. who had slowed on the front stretch.
When the green flag returned Saldana continued to work the cushion all the way around the track while the leader Schatz chose a low line through one and two and the topside in three and four. With lapped traffic soon back into play it looked as though Schatz's lower line through turns one and two suddenly went away and with just five laps to go Saldana had a run on the leader down the backstretch. As most of the crowd cheered their approval, Saldana drove the Budweiser #9 hard into turn three and slid up nicely in front of Schatz to regain the lead with just four laps to go. Schatz was not through though as two lapped cars racing side-by-side gave him the opportunity that he was looking for and as they raced to the white flag it looked as though Schatz might go back in front only to have the caution come out instead for a spinning Sam Hafertepe.
With a clear track ahead of him there was no stopping Saldana as he closed out the final two laps going away for his series leading twelfth World of Outlaw main event victory in 2009. Schatz will use his runner-up finish to maintain his point lead, McCarl held on for third with Danny Lasoski and Jason Sides completing the top five. The point lead will actually grow for Schatz as the second ranked driver coming into the night Steve Kinser had a tough evening. The first of 35 cars out for qualifying, Kinser's lap was only good enough for 17th quick, one spot out of making the invert in the heat races and then his own son Kraig passed him late in his heat to knock him out of the fifth and final transfer spot putting him in the B-Main. Last year "The King" established the track record during qualifying and then ran second to Bruce in the main event, but on this night he never did crack the top ten.
WoO Notes.....Jac Haudenschild was up to fourth and charging hard before he slipped off the top side of turn two late in the feature race......Outlaw Rookie-of-the-Year-to-be Brian Ellenberger came from out of nowhere to make a pass on Rager Phillips in the final turns to earn the fourth and final transfer position out of the B-Main. Phillips also missed transferring out of his heat in the final laps when Brooke Tatnell slipped by him late.....Last year Josh Schneiderman was the Hometown Hero finishing third in the main event here behind Bruce and Kinser, but on this night he came up a bit short taking sixth in the B-Main. Just behind him was a fast charging Joey Moughan who finished seventh after restarting 14th following an early spin over the top of turn two......After winning the Dash to put him on the pole of the feature, Joey Saldana's crew went to work to put a new powerplant under the hood.....Randy Hannagan and Jason Meyers waged one of the best battles of the night as they swapped sliders for at least four straight laps while racing for third in the second heat race. Hannagan prevailed.....Austin McCarl caused the only red flag of the night when he bounced the #17A into the fence protecting the back pit area off of turn two. The youngster came back later to run the B-Main.....The car count of 35 was up considerbly from last year's 23 and a lot has to do with the timing of the event. Last year the Outlaws came to town on the Wednesday night before Knoxville's 360 c.i. Nationals where several regional drivers opted to save their equipment for that. Non-regulars that I have failed to mention so far included Kerry Madsen, Johnny Herrera, Bronson Maeschen, Mike Moore, Ryan Jamison, Toni Lutar, Jack Dover and Australian driver Matthew Reed......Austen Wheatley was also on hand, but never was able to even turn a full lap before scratching for the night, a tough break for the young driver out of the state of Washington.....Eighteen 305 c.i. Sprints provided some good support action as Jayson Dittsworth blew by John Draper for the lead following a lap seven restart and then cruised to the win ahead of Bobby Mincer, Dustin Whiting, Draper and Matt Krieger. Dittsworth was a rocket coming from the inside of row number six.
It was a great night of sprint car action at 34 Raceway. Keep your eye on the 2010 Outlaw schedule and hopefully they will be back around the same date in July. If so, let's get back to filling this place up for this show!
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