World of Outlaws

Grandview: Race report

'The King' Returns to Victory Lane at Grandview Speedway BECHTELSVILLE, PA (May 30) -- It's almost impossible to keep a champion out of victory lane for long, especially when that champion is "King of the Outlaws" Steve Kinser. The ...

Published: Jun 1, 2004, 5:16 AM

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'The King' Returns to Victory Lane at Grandview Speedway

BECHTELSVILLE, PA (May 30) -- It's almost impossible to keep a champion out of victory lane for long, especially when that champion is "King of the Outlaws" Steve Kinser.

The World of Outlaws Sprint Series' defending and 18-time champion was on a victory mission Sunday at Grandview Speedway after losing the lead late in the "A" Features at Williams Grove Speedway and Hagerstown Speedway the previous two nights.

The series' points leader drove his #11 Quaker State Maxim past seven cars, including front row starter Joey Saldana, to win the 503rd main event of his incomparable career. Kinser's seventh "A" Feature victory of the season extended his advantage to 115 points over Danny Lasoski.

"We've been pretty good all through this swing," Kinser said. "We've actually had a good enough car to win just about every night, but I just gave one away last night. I ran over a lapped car, and it was completely my fault. But, like I said, we've had a really good racecar everywhere. Donnie (Kreitz) got by us at the end at Williams Grove (Friday), but he's tough to beat there. So we really can't complain about the way the swing has gone, except for messing up last night.

"We've run pretty well all year long, with the exception of about a three-week stretch there. These Pennsylvania guys race you hard. That's the way it's always been and the way it always will be.

I enjoy coming out here and racing. They have good race fans here.

"The car was working pretty good in the middle, and that allowed us to get by some of the slower cars. We were better on the bottom, but we could at least get around a little better than a lot of guys in the middle. I just about got taken out there when those guys got together on the backstretch. I thought, 'Oh no, here we go again,' but I was able to squeeze by on the top."

Kinser was 10 car-lengths ahead of Lance Dewease with seven laps remaining when Second Heat Race winner Tim Shaffer, Brian Paulus and Mark Smith collided in front of him. "The King of the Outlaws" controlled the final restart, and took the checkered flag with a straightaway to spare.

Kinser, the second-fastest qualifier in the 40-car field, had his crew replace the engine in his #11 Quaker State Maxim after time trials. "The King of the Outlaws" earned the right to start the "A" Feature inside the fourth row by following his son, Kraig, Jeff Shepard and Craig Dollansky across the finish line in the First Dash Race.

Saldana, who won the Second Dash Race, won a front-stretch drag race with Kraig Kinser to take the lead as the green flag fell in the World of Outlaws Sprint Series' 19th main event of the season. The 1996 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year was approaching lapped traffic late in the third lap when Billy Pauch spun in turn three.

Kinser, who passed Paulus during the opening lap, took fifth place with an inside move past Dollansky between the third and fourth corners within a lap after the green flag replaced the yellow. "The King of the Outlaws" passed Shepard high in turn four late in lap seven.

Saldana opened a 10-car-length advantage as Donny Schatz challenged Kraig Kinser for second place 10 laps into the race. Steve Kinser joined the battle for second three laps later, and raced wheel-to-wheel with his son and Schatz before taking over third place. "The King of the Outlaws" passed Schatz deep in turn four the next time around.

Kinser completed his run to the front midway through the 18th lap, beating Saldana down the back straightaway. Dewease, who started outside the fifth row, used an inside move in the second corner to pass Schatz for the runner-up spot two laps later, but was unable to keep "The King of the Outlaws" from winning for the fourth time at Grandview Speedway.

Schatz's second straight third-place finish pushed him past Jason Meyers into third place in the World of Outlaws Sprint Series point standings. Saldana finished fourth, ahead of Jeff Shepard and Chad Layton.

Fred Rahmer, who raced past 11 cars during the first 28 laps, passed Brian Brown and Kraig Kinser during the 30th and 33rd laps to claim seventh place. Greg Hodnett won the Third Heat Race and passed 13 cars, including Kraig Kinser with 1¾ laps remaining, to finish eighth in the main event.

Brown, a Rookie of the Year candidate, finished in the top 10 for the second time in as many races.

Lasoski paced the qualifying session with a 12.087-second lap around the high-banked, 1/3-mile oval. "The Dude" failed to qualify for the main event in the First Heat Race, which kept him from racing in the First Dash Race. The 2001 World of Outlaws Sprint Series champion raced into 11th place from inside the ninth row.

-WoO

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