Saldana Takes WoO Prelim at Knoxville Summer Meet
Friday, June 23, 2006
By Bob Wilson
Knoxville, Iowa - June 23 - Joey Saldana drove the Kahne-Curb JEI to a convincing preliminary victory during the World of Outlaws (WoO) Knoxville Summer Meet at Knoxville Raceway Friday night. The win was Saldana's fourth win here and paid the Indiana driver $5,000 for his efforts.
The race went red right off the bat when 19th starter Tim Shaffer bicycled his car in turn one, lost the wing early and did a series of endos. The Knoxville Raceway rescue crew took considerable time extracting Shaffer from the wrecked sprinter. He was then transferred to Knoxville Area Community Hospital for observation. No news of his condition was known at press time.
When the race finally went green, Knoxville regular Billy Alley utilized his pole position start to roar into turn one with the lead as he successfully blocked Saldana in turn two to take the lead on lap one. A yellow for Craig Dollansky's stop on the track on the second lap brought the field of 24 to a single file alignment. Dollansky was unable to make repairs quickly enough to re-enter the race.
Alley again used a blocking maneuver on the restart and kept Saldana at bay. Alley ran the cushion while Saldana sprinted on the bottom. To mix lines around, Alley drove the bottom in three and four on several laps and held the lead when Daryn Pittman's right-rear tire exploded shortly after the leaders had completed lap eight. Pittman was able to restart on the tail.
With one lapped car between himself and Saldana, Alley was able to get a tremendous restart and lay claim to lap nine. The tenth go around would be Saldana's, however, as he made use of the low line around the half mile oval and exit turn four with the lead. It was close at the flag stand, but Saldana had the top spot, a position he would keep the rest of the way in this ten-mile sprint.
Once in the lead, Saldana began to pull away from the Alley machine. The final slow down of the event happened on lap thirteen when debris was spotted on the track.
Saldana again set sail when the race resumed. Alley tried a maneuver in turn two in an attempt to catch Saldan and block Donny Schatz. The move nearly cost him dearly as he jumped the cushion and came close to striking the turn two fence. This allowed Donny Schatz to get by him. The Lincoln, Nebraska youngster regrouped quickly but the damage was done and on the next circuit Brooke Tatnell made a pass of him too.
With the laps winding down, Saldana pulled out to a considerable advantage and was never seriously challenged. When he took the checkered flag he was 25 car-lengths ahead of second place finisher Schatz. Tatnell claimed third and Alley remained in fourth. Those four cars would be locked in to the feature event for Saturday night. Fifth went to Jason Solwold.
Rounding out the top ten on this preliminary night were Randy Hannagan, Danny Lasoski from a 23rd starting spot, Jac Haudenschild, Kerry Madsen who started just in front of Lasoski and Justin Henderson. Forthy-six 410 sprinters pulled through the pit gate on this night
In a companion 360 sprint program, Jake Peters showed his form of 2005 in leading the distance to capture the 15-lap feature event. It was Peters' sixth career win here.
Starting on the front row enabled Peters to jump to a quick lead over fellow front row starter Davey Heskin. Heskin stayed close in the opening laps but he could not match the skill of the defending track champion.
Peters had found a fast line around this historic fairgrounds oval which saw him run on the top in turns one and two and the bottom in turns three and four. That line enabled him to pull out to a near straight away lead by lap six.
A yellow flag flew on lap eight for a stopped car and when the race resumed Peters again was in command of the race. This time, however, he was chased by David Hall, the driver who started right behind him for the initial green. Hall could not keep pace with Peters either as the Sioux Falls driver continued to set a blistering pace. Also getting by Heskin was Troy Meyer who held down the third place spot.
With ten laps in the books, Peters had again built a substantial lead. And, that's the way it would finish when he took the checkers for the $1,750 win as Hall exited out of turn four. Meyer remained in third while Jeff Mitrisin drove all the way from a 12th place start to take fourth. Josh Higday, a B Main transfer who started 17th, finished fifth. Completing the top ten were John Kearney, Heskin, Johnny Anderson, Joe Beaver, an eighth row starter and John Schulz. Thirty-seven 360 sprinters competed on the night.
For a look at the complete results go to RESULTS on the menu bar.
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