By Richard Day
LAS VEGAS, NV (November 7) – Just because Steve Kinser clinched his 17th drivers championship last Sunday at Hollywood Hills Speedway doesn’t mean this weekend’s Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will be anticlimactic.
Three positions involving seven drivers must be determined before the point fund checks can be written for Sunday’s 25th Annual Awards Banquet at the Monte Carlo Resort & Casino.
The pit gates will open at 3 p.m. and the spectator gates at 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Hot laps will start at 5:30 p.m. and the green flag is scheduled to fall in the First O’Reilly Auto Parts Heat Race at 7 p.m. each evening.
Despite missing four events due to injuries suffered in a July 26th crash during the Cleveland Brothers Summer Nationals at Williams Grove Speedway, defending series champion Danny Lasoski is locked in a battle with Craig Dollansky for the runner-up spot. Dollansky, the 2000 World of Outlaws Gumout Series champion, is only 23 points behind "The Dude" entering Friday’s preliminary program in Las Vegas.
Dollansky and Lasoski were running 1-2 with 3 ¾ laps remaining in the Preliminary Feature on opening night of the Sixth Annual Silver State Shootout at Las Vegas Motor Speedway February 28th when the collided with Mark Kinser. Johnny Herrera restarted the race in the lead and beat Sammy Swindell under the checkered flag by 1.2 seconds to claim the $5,000 first prize.
Mark Kinser didn’t let cold symptoms slow him down during the second preliminary program March 1st. The two-time series champion put together a near-perfect performance on his way to winning the feature race. Steve Kinser drove his #11 Quaker State Maxim into the low groove between the third and fourth corners to pass longtime rival Sammy Swindell for the lead late in the fifth lap of the Silver State Shootout finale. "The King of the Outlaws" held off a late charge by Joey Saldana to claim the $20,000 first prize and his first victory in 12 races in Las Vegas.
"The Dude" drove NASCAR Winston Cup star Tony Stewart’s #20 J.D. Byrider Maxim into the top three twice last weekend at Hollywood Hills, while Dollansky finished seventh in the Preliminary Feature and sixth in the main event.
Dollansky has driven Karavan Racing’s #7 V-Mac/Polydome Maxim into the top 10 four more times than "The Dude," but has 10 fewer top-fives. Lasoski has won a career-high 13 "A" Features this season, while Dollansky has won main events at Eldora Speedway and Nebraska Raceway Park.
Only 54 points separate Brad Furr, Donny Schatz and Stevie Smith in their battle for seventh place. Schatz, the 1997 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year, has the most impressive statistics – $300,080 in purse earnings, 41 top-10s, including 24 in the top five and two main event victories – but is 14 points behind Furr. Furr has recorded 36 top-10s, 14 top-fives and has won "A" Features at Texas Motor Speedway, Watsonville Speedway and Port Royal Speedway. Smith, the 1990 Rookie of the Year, has 40 top-10s, including 17 top fives and a pair of victories.
Schatz, who led the first 13 laps of Saturday’s Preliminary Feature, finished in the top eight in both features at Hollywood Hills. Furr received the final automatic starting position in Sunday’s O’Reilly’s Auto Parts Dash by finishing fourth in the Preliminary Feature and ran sixth in the main event, while Smith suffered through a forgettable weekend.
Oklahomans Danny Wood and Daryn Pittman exchanged 11th place twice at Hollywood Hills Speedway. Pittman passed the 2000 Rookie of the Year by racing into 11th place from inside the ninth row in the Preliminary Feature, only to have Wood pass him with an 11th-place run in Sunday’s main event. Pittman, who missed nine events in the spring due to a back injury, enters Friday’s preliminary program at Las Vegas Motor Speedway only three points behind Wood.
LAS VEGAS, NV (November 7) – Just because Steve Kinser clinched his 17th drivers championship last Sunday at Hollywood Hills Speedway doesn’t mean this weekend’s Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will be anticlimactic.
Three positions involving seven drivers must be determined before the point fund checks can be written for Sunday’s 25th Annual Awards Banquet at the Monte Carlo Resort & Casino.
The pit gates will open at 3 p.m. and the spectator gates at 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Hot laps will start at 5:30 p.m. and the green flag is scheduled to fall in the First O’Reilly Auto Parts Heat Race at 7 p.m. each evening.
Despite missing four events due to injuries suffered in a July 26th crash during the Cleveland Brothers Summer Nationals at Williams Grove Speedway, defending series champion Danny Lasoski is locked in a battle with Craig Dollansky for the runner-up spot. Dollansky, the 2000 World of Outlaws Gumout Series champion, is only 23 points behind "The Dude" entering Friday’s preliminary program in Las Vegas.
Dollansky and Lasoski were running 1-2 with 3 ¾ laps remaining in the Preliminary Feature on opening night of the Sixth Annual Silver State Shootout at Las Vegas Motor Speedway February 28th when the collided with Mark Kinser. Johnny Herrera restarted the race in the lead and beat Sammy Swindell under the checkered flag by 1.2 seconds to claim the $5,000 first prize.
Mark Kinser didn’t let cold symptoms slow him down during the second preliminary program March 1st. The two-time series champion put together a near-perfect performance on his way to winning the feature race. Steve Kinser drove his #11 Quaker State Maxim into the low groove between the third and fourth corners to pass longtime rival Sammy Swindell for the lead late in the fifth lap of the Silver State Shootout finale. "The King of the Outlaws" held off a late charge by Joey Saldana to claim the $20,000 first prize and his first victory in 12 races in Las Vegas.
"The Dude" drove NASCAR Winston Cup star Tony Stewart’s #20 J.D. Byrider Maxim into the top three twice last weekend at Hollywood Hills, while Dollansky finished seventh in the Preliminary Feature and sixth in the main event.
Dollansky has driven Karavan Racing’s #7 V-Mac/Polydome Maxim into the top 10 four more times than "The Dude," but has 10 fewer top-fives. Lasoski has won a career-high 13 "A" Features this season, while Dollansky has won main events at Eldora Speedway and Nebraska Raceway Park.
Only 54 points separate Brad Furr, Donny Schatz and Stevie Smith in their battle for seventh place. Schatz, the 1997 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year, has the most impressive statistics – $300,080 in purse earnings, 41 top-10s, including 24 in the top five and two main event victories – but is 14 points behind Furr. Furr has recorded 36 top-10s, 14 top-fives and has won "A" Features at Texas Motor Speedway, Watsonville Speedway and Port Royal Speedway. Smith, the 1990 Rookie of the Year, has 40 top-10s, including 17 top fives and a pair of victories.
Schatz, who led the first 13 laps of Saturday’s Preliminary Feature, finished in the top eight in both features at Hollywood Hills. Furr received the final automatic starting position in Sunday’s O’Reilly’s Auto Parts Dash by finishing fourth in the Preliminary Feature and ran sixth in the main event, while Smith suffered through a forgettable weekend.
Oklahomans Danny Wood and Daryn Pittman exchanged 11th place twice at Hollywood Hills Speedway. Pittman passed the 2000 Rookie of the Year by racing into 11th place from inside the ninth row in the Preliminary Feature, only to have Wood pass him with an 11th-place run in Sunday’s main event. Pittman, who missed nine events in the spring due to a back injury, enters Friday’s preliminary program at Las Vegas Motor Speedway only three points behind Wood.
