Kinser Defends Gold Cup Race of Champions Title

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Richard Day

CHICO, CA (September 6) – Steve Kinser passed Joey Saldana early and held off hard-charging Danny Lasoski Saturday at Silver Dollar Speedway on his way to successfully defending his Gold Cup Race of Champions title.

“The King of the Outlaws” drove his #11 Quaker State Maxim past Saldana in the low groove between turns three and four late in the 11th lap and beat Lasoski under the checkered flag by two car-lengths to claim his 11th Gold Cup championship. The $20,000 victory also pushed Kinser 13 points ahead of “The Dude” in their battle for the O’Reilly World of Outlaws Series’ 25th Anniversary title.

“I’ve been coming back here a long time,” said Kinser, who won his first Gold Cup championship in 1979. “I won my first Gold Cup at West Capital (Speedway in Sacramento), so that tells you how long I’ve been coming here. John (Padjen, the promoter) does a great job for the fans with the fairgrounds and the race track, and we just have a lot of fun here. I’m not sure how much longer I can keep running like this – I guess until these kids start beating me – but until then we’ll just keep coming back.”

Saldana and Kinser tied for the preliminary points lead with 535. Saldana, who started on the pole because he won the Preliminary Feature on opening night, drove his family’s #17 Eagle Raceway Maxim into the lead as the green flag fell in the 40-lap main event.

Jeff Hodgson and Kevin Plylant collided and flipped into Blake Robertson in turn three early in the third lap. The red flag was flying again three laps later when 2002 Silver Dollar Speedway champion Jonathan Allard spun and turned over in the fourth corner. Jac Haudenschild, who won Gold Cup titles in 1998 and 1999, slid over the bank in turn four within a lap after the race resumed, bringing out the caution flag.

Two-time Silver Dollar Speedway champion Tim Kaeding took the high line through turns three and four to pass Dennis Moore, Jr., and Jason Meyers for eighth place on the ensuing restart. Paul McMahan, who won Friday’s Preliminary Feature, used a similar move between the first and second corners to pass Sammy Swindell for sixth place two laps later.

Kinser took the lead late in lap 11 and was three car-lengths ahead of Saldana when he entered lapped traffic three laps later. Lasoski, who won the 2000 Gold Cup, steered NASCAR Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart’s #20 J.D. Byrider Eagle into the low groove in turn four to pass Saldana for the runner-up spot late in the 14th lap.

Peter Murphy’s second-corner spin tightened the field and opened the track ahead of the leaders midway through the race. Tim Shaffer collided with Saldana while trying to pass him for third place and flipped in the fourth corner within a lap after the green flag replaced the yellow.

Moore and McMahan raced around Meyers in turn one for fifth and sixth place as the race resumed. Shaffer stopped in turn four, Allard pitted to replace a flat right rear tire and Saldana’s coasted off the track with front end problems late in lap 21.

Kinser controlled the restart and opened a straightaway advantage within five laps. Lasoski narrowed the gap to eight car-lengths in dense lapped traffic by the 33rd lap, then closed to within two car-lengths three laps later when “The King of the Outlaws” had problems passing Shaffer. Lasoski caught Kinser the next time around and threatened to take the lead during the final three laps, but finished two car-lengths behind.

“I’d pretty much made my mind up that I was going to run the bottom,” Kinser said. “I knew I wouldn’t get by Joey off the top on the start, but my biggest concern was beating Danny to the bottom in turn one. From there, I just paced myself and waited to see what would happen to the high side of the track. I never did really get up on the top until right at the end there. I don’t know what I was doing messing around up there, but I was really handling on the bottom in three and four.”

McMahan finished in third place, ahead of Meyers, Jason Sides, Swindell, 14th-starting Donny Schatz, Andy Forsberg, Daryn Pittman and Kaeding. Forsberg and Pittman each passed 11 cars to finish eighth and ninth, respectively. Peter Murphy raced into 11th place from outside the 12th row.

The O’Reilly World of Outlaws Series will run a $51,600 event at Hollywood Hills Speedway in San Felipe Pueblo, NM, Saturday. WoO

2003 O’Reilly World of Outlaws Series

50th Annual Gold Cup Race of Champions

Silver Dollar Speedway, Chico, CA

Saturday, September 6, Feature Program #56

Qualifying points (scored during the preliminary programs; the first four qualified for the first four starting positions in the “A” Feature; ties were broken by the finishing positions in the Preliminary Features): 1. Joey Saldana, Saldana 17, 535; 2. Steve Kinser, Kinser 11, 535; 3. Danny Lasoski, Stewart 20, 534; 4. Tim Shaffer, Roth 83, 533; 5. Jason Sides, Sides Motorsports 7S, 529; 6. Jac Haudenschild, Woodward 4, 538; 7. Paul McMahan, Helm 11H, 527; 8. Greg DeCaires, Kumar 1K, 527; 9. Sammy Swindell, Roth 1, 522; 10. Jason Meyers, Karavan Motorsports 7, 514; 11. Jonathan Allard, Wright 35W, 512; 12. Kevin Pylant, Pylant 14P, 507; 13. Dennis Moore, Jr., Williams 0, 500; 14. Donny Schatz, Schatz 15, 498; 15. Tim Kaeding, Cowen 7T, 497; 16. Jim Carter, Rudeen 26, 495; 17. Jeff Hodgson, Hodgson V8, 492; 18. Brad Furr, Furr 2, 491; 19. Andy Forsberg, Forsberg 92, 490; 20. Daryn Pittman, Sher-Don Motorsports 21, 482; 21. Johnny Herrera, Forbrook 5, 480; 22. Roger Crockett, Doyle 11C, 475; 23. Nick Rescino, Jr., Rescino 65N, 471; 24. Jason Statler, Statler 00, 470; 25. Tommy Tarlton, Tarlton 21T, 470; 26. Brent Kaeding, Kaeding 69, 467; 27. Blake Robertson, McMillan 10, 466; 28. Chad Riolo, Riolo 17R, 460; 29. Peter Murphy, Elite 1M, 459; 30. Randy Hannagan, TH Racing 1X, 456; 31. Mike Henry, Henry 93, 453; 32. Johnny Gray, Gray 71, 446; 33. Craig Stidham, Stidham 3C, 444; 34. Toni Lutar, Lutar 4X, 444; 35. Brian Paulus, P and P Motorsports 28, 442; 36. Todd Carmichael, Lacy 2T, 442; 37. Davey Key, Key 15K, 435; 38. Sean Becker, Perkins 23, 435; 39. Jason York, York 25, 434; 40. Billy Wallace, Jacobson 30, 433; 41. Stephen Allard, Finley 77F, 431; 42. Garrett Ishi, Ishi 71G, 430; 43. Jim Skinner, Skinner 73, 421; 44. Brad Sweet, Moral 15B, 420; 45. Ryan Flynn, Flynn F1, 420; 46. Doug Lippincott, Lippincott 4L, 415; 47. Kyle Schild, Schild 16, 395; 48. Shain Matthews, Matthews 67, 393; 49. Jimmy Trulli, Trulli 33, 390; 50. Wayne Williams, Williams 68, 387; 51. Shawna Wilskey, Pierce 5SP, 381; 52. Colby Weisz, Weisz 21W, 378; 53. Steve Fehrman, Fehrman 30F, 376; 54. Destiny Hays, Hays 20D, 368; 55. Carl Enns, Enns 80, 365; 56. Rick Fowzer, Fowzer 5F, 359; 57. Jon Maiwald, Maiwald 6M, 357; 58. Dave Angus, Angus 9, 350; 59. Korey Lovell, Lovell 71L, 349; 60. Danny Ochs, Ochs 11N, 347; 61. Matt Shelton, Shelton 44, 344; 62. Tony Sousa, Moore 22, 344; 63. Mark Hall, Hall 54, 342; 64. Emory Gray, Gray 82, 341; 65. Marc Mackay, Mackay 86, 338; 66. Kevin Lovell, Lovell 81, 335; 67. Mark Tabor, Sr., Tabor 36N, 335; 68. Gerald Hopping, Hopping 9H, 329; 69. Beau Perkins, Perkins 18X, 316; 70. Chuck Gurney, Jr., Vertullo 83V, 314; 71. Geoff Duppman, Duppman 96, 312; 72. Troy Hovey, Hovey 37, 312; 73. Robert Stice, Stice 11S, 294; 74. Jeff Parady, Parady 6C, 288; 75. Bernie Sloop, Sloop 65, 287; 76. Andy Jacobson, Jacobson 59, 282; 77. Jeff Halleib, Halleib 72, 282; 78. Mark Tabor, Jr., Tabor 38N, 275; 79. Shawn Schmitz, Schmitz 88, 272; 80. Mike Schriver, Willette 72W, 270; 81. Tommy Fogarty, Fogarty 66TF, 262; 82. Carl Driovold, Driovold 17D, 261; 83. Jason Webb, Webb 18, 256; 84. Pat Harvey, Harvey 15C, 255; 85. Nick Ringo, Jr., Ringo 1R, 255; 86. Kevin Sharrah, Sharrah 1S, 254; 87. Bob Maiwald, Maiwald 7M, 253; 88. David Robinson, Runkle 14R, 252; 89. Gregg Sherman, Sherman 00Z, 247; 90. Marv Magouirk, Magouirk 64L, 246; 91. Randall Ditgen, Ditgen 08, 241; 92. Brian Evans, Evans 12, 237; 93. Tom Baker, Baker 3T, 233.

F Feature (10 laps): 1. Mike Schriver, 2. Tommy Fogarty, 3. Pat Harvey, 4. Bob Maiwald, 5. Shawn Schmitz, 6. Nick Ringo, Jr. ($100); 7. Gregg Sherman ($50); 8. Tom Baker ($50); 9. Randall Ditgen ($50); 10. Marv Magouirk ($50). (first five qualified for the “E” Feature)

E Feature (10 laps): 1. Marc Mackay, 2. Kevin Lovell, 3. Mark Tabor, Sr., 4. Bernie Sloop, 5. Robert Stice ($100); 6. Geoff Duppman ($50); 7. Jeff Parady ($50); 8. Tommy Fogarty ($100); 9. Mark Tabor, Jr. ($50); 10. Mike Schriver ($100); 11. Andy Jacobson ($50); 12. Pat Harvey ($100); 13. Shawn Schmitz ($100); 14. Bob Maiwald ($100); 15. Beau Perkins ($50); 16. Troy Hovey ($50). (first four qualified for the “D” Feature)

D Feature (12 laps): 1. Shawna Wilskey, 2. Colby Weisz, 3. Steve Fehrman, 4. Destiny Hays ($100); 5. Carl Enns ($75); 6. Rick Fowzer ($75); 7. Danny Ochs ($50); 8. Dave Angus ($50); 9. Korey Lovell ($50); 10. Bernie Sloop ($100); 11. Tony Sousa ($50); 12. Marc Mackay ($100); 13. Mark Tabor, Sr. ($100); 14. Jon Maiwald ($50); 15. Matt Shelton ($50); 16. Kevin Lovell ($100). (first three qualified for the “C” Feature)

C Feature (15 laps): 1. Sean Becker, 2. Billy Wallace, 3. Jason York, 4. Davey Key ($300); 5. Garrett Ishi ($250); 6. Brad Sweet ($200); 7. Shawna Wilskey ($200); 8. Stephen Allard ($150); 9. Colby Weisz ($125); 10. Shain Matthews ($100); 11. Jimmy Trulli ($100); 12. Wayne Williams ($100); 13. Steve Fehrman ($125); 14. Doug Lippincott ($100); 15. Jim Skinner ($100); 16. Kyle Schild ($100). (first three qualified for the “B” Feature)

B Feature (20 laps): 1. Brent Kaeding, 2. Blake Robertson, 3. Tommy Tarlton, 4. Peter Murphy, 5. Sean Becker ($525); 6. Johnny Gray ($400); 7. Mike Henry ($350); 8. Johnny Herrera ($325); 9. Brian Paulus ($300); 10. Roger Crockett ($250); 11. Toni Lutar ($225); 12. Randy Hannagan ($200); 13. Craig Stidham ($175); 14. Jason Statler ($150); 15. Billy Wallace ($175); 16. Nick Rescino, Jr. ($150); 17. Chad Riolo ($150); 18. Jason York ($175). (first four qualified for the “A” Feature)

A Feature (40 laps): 1. Steve Kinser [2] ($20,000); 2. Danny Lasoski [3] ($11,000); 3. Paul McMahan [7] ($5,500); 4. Jason Meyers [10] ($4,700); 5. Jason Sides [5] ($4,000); 6. Sammy Swindell [9] ($3,200); 7. Donny Schatz [14] ($3,000); 8. Andy Forsberg [19] ($2,500); 9. Daryn Pittman ([20] $2,200); 10. Tim Kaeding [15] ($2,100); 11. Peter Murphy [24] ($2,050); 12. Brent Kaeding [21] ($2,025); 13. Jonathan Allard [11] ($1,500); 14. Tim Shaffer [4] ($1,400); 15. Greg DeCaires [8] ($1,200); 16. Blake Robertson [22] ($1,125); 17. Jim Carter [16] ($1,050); 18. Jac Haudenschild [6] ($800); 19. Brad Furr [18] ($800); 20. Tommy Tarlton [23] ($825); 21. Dennis Moore, Jr. [13] ($800); 22. Joey Saldana [1] ($800); 23. Kevin Pylant [12] ($800); 24. Jeff Hodgson [17] ($800).

Lap leaders: Joey Saldana 1-10, Steve Kinser 11-40
 




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