It has been four years since the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Cars have visited 34 Raceway near Burlington, but after the success of Friday night's event it is a good bet that the Outlaws will be back to the southeast Iowa speedplant on a regular basis. There were still a few open seats left in the grandstand although they would have quickly disappeared had the large group gathered around the beer stand near turn one ever decided to stray away from the fresh iced down supply of their favorite beverage. It was the largest crowd that I have ever seen here and, to make it even better, the pit area was nearly overflowing with Sprint Cars as twenty-five 305's came out in support of a whopping forty-three car field of Outlaws.
That field of forty-three was whittled down to twenty-four starters in the $10,000-to-win 34-lap main event with "The Crowd Pleaser" Craig Dollansky starting alongside young Cody Darrah in the front row. Dollansky would vault to the lead at the drop of the green with the third starter Joey Saldana giving chase in second. Just as the leaders approached traffic the race was red-flagged on lap six when the sixth place car, the #6 of David Gravel got upside down in turn two. The top rookie-of-the-year contender in the World of Outlaws was uninjured and asked the wrecker crew to take him quickly back to the work area to see if his crew could make repairs in time for the restart.
The green flag waved again before Gravel could return, but on that restart Sam Hafertepe Jr. entered turn three too high, smacked the retaining wall and went for a tumble ending his night. Without another lap in the scorebook Gravel's crew was able to finish their work and send him back out on the track for the next restart.
Again Dollansky set a fearsome pace as the race to watch was back for fourth where Terry McCarl went to work on Paul McMahan. McCarl had shown that he could be a contender tonight by passing a couple of cars in the dash to start fifth and on the eighth lap he put a slider on McMahan to take over the fourth position. On the next lap though McCarl caught the cushion wrong in turn one, bicycled, hopped and then spun off the top side of turn two to bring out the caution sending this contender to the back of the field.
With this restart the man on the move appeared to be current point leader Daryn Pittman who had started the Great Clips #9 in eighth and was now up to challenge Jason Johnson for fifth. On lap thirteen the two cars came off of turn two wheel-to-wheel with Johnson low and Pittman high and as they reached the back stretch where the universal barriers round down from the pit entrance they ran out of room and contact put Pittman into those barriers knocking down his right rear tire and causing enough damage that he would experience his first DNF of the 2013 season.
On the restart Dollansky again pulled away from the field as he had built up a full straightaway advantage when McMahan made the pass of Saldana for second lap seventeen. With the backmarkers of Josh Schneiderman and Kraig Kinser racing side-by-side ahead of him Dollansky's pace was slowed for a couple of laps and McMahan chopped down that lead quickly. But just as he was back within striking distance Dollansky made a dazzling move around the outside of both of those cars in turns one and two and the race for the lead essentially ended right there.
As Dollansky drove away there was still plenty of good racing to be found back in the pack to keep the huge crowd entertained and when the checkers waved over Dollansky the runner-up McMahan was just halfway down the back stretch. Saldana, the winner here at 34 the last time that the Outlaws came to town in 2009 would finish in the third spot, Donny Schatz faded early from his seventh starting position only to rally back to take fourth while Wednesday night's winner in Kokomo Tim Kaeding was again strong moving from thirteenth to fifth. Darrah posted a sixth place finish, Kerry Madsen started in the eighth row and finished seventh, Jason Johnson was eighth, Steve Kinser moved from eighteenth to ninth and Sammy Swindell rounded out the top ten.
STP WoO 34 Notes......A forty-three car field of Outlaws is virtually unheard of unless you are at Knoxville or Williams Grove. The count was bolstered by solid support by MOWA regulars such as A.J. Bruns, Jim Moughan Jr., Paul Nienheiser, Jordan Goldesberry, Ben Wagoner and Logan Faucon as well as Sprint Invader drivers Brett Tripplett, Matt Harms, Matt Sutton and Tim Moore. There was even three drivers who did double duty as Dave Getchell, Dustin Clark and Jarrod Schneiderman also raced in the 305 division.....Fastest qualifier Daryn Pittman noted how good the track preparation was during his interview as he was the next-to-last car to take to the track during time trials.....The first three heat races saw the front row finish first and second to transfer to the dash and the same was about to happen in the fourth heat before a frightening incident with just two laps remaining. The second place car of Bronson Maeschen jumped the cushion in turn two going off the topside of the track. Not wanting to give up his qualifying spot Maeschen stayed on the gas only to realize that he was headed straight for the retaining barriers that protect the pit area bleachers just beyond where the cars exit the track to go back to the pits beyond the back stretch. Maeschen made the split second decision to instead turn right and make a high speed entrance to the pit area. Just as he disappeared from our view from the grandstand you could see wheels and tires go bouncing and when the fire crew and ambulance scrambled almost immediately the worst was feared. The crowd was hushed for a few minutes and there was a collective sigh of relief when announcer Johnny Gibson informed the crowd that everybody, including Maeschen was okay......Maeschen's misfortune was a break for McMahan who then finished second to qualify for the dash.......Fifteen-year-old Chris Martin from Des Moines bicycled his car in turn one with two laps remaining, but had a big enough lead that he was able to settle his #44 back down and win the C-Main......Maeschen made a triumphant return to win the B-Main ahead of Ian Madsen, Chad Kemenah and Danny Smith as the veteran from Indiana made the pass of Danny Lasoski mid-race to take the final transfer position.....Other non-qualifiers included IRA champion Billy Balog, Dustin Selvage, Bill Rose and Wayne Johnson.....Former Sprint Car racer and NASCAR development driver Natalie Sather handled trackside announcing duties for the Outlaws.....The STP Outlaws move to Lakeside Speedway outside of Kansas City tonight and then on to I-80 Speedway between Lincoln and Omaha on Sunday night. Next week the series will be in Jackson, Minnesota, on Friday night before returning to the Knoxville Raceway on Saturday night.
The 305 Sprints put on some great racing in support and had much of the large crowd on their feet at times cheering on their local heroes. Ryan Jamison spent the day planting beans and then hustled to the track to drive the #85 car normally wheeled by young Chase Wanner. Starting from the outside of the front row Jamison established himself as the man to beat in the twenty-lap feature that was slowed twice by cautions on lap seven and lap eleven. Shane Quam and Donnie Steward had been swapping the second spot back and forth, but on the lap eleven restart Steward took control of the position and then closed in on Jamison. With the leader working the cushion Steward found a nice bite off the bottom of turn two and picked up the lead with six laps remaining to go on and take the win. Jamison would hold back Andy Huston to take the second spot, Quam continues to show improvement in fourth and last week's winner John Schulz came from twelfth to finish fifth.
Everybody at 34 Raceway will take a well-deserved rest tonight (Saturday) before returning to weekly racing action next Saturday night as Bobcat of Burlington will host a Fan Appreciation night where for just a five dollar bill race fans will get to see six classes in action headlined by the UMP Super Late Models!
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