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Southern Oregon race report 2006-08-30

Lasoski Slides to Victory at Southern Oregon Speedway Medford, OR--August 30, 2006 -- Danny Lasoski slid past Donny Schatz in heavy traffic on Wednesday night at Southern Oregon Speedway and drove to his second World of Outlaws Sprint Series ...

Lasoski Slides to Victory at Southern Oregon Speedway

Medford, OR--August 30, 2006 -- Danny Lasoski slid past Donny Schatz in heavy traffic on Wednesday night at Southern Oregon Speedway and drove to his second World of Outlaws Sprint Series victory of the season.

Lasoski charged from the outside of the third row in the Roth Motorsports Eagle and used the bottom lane to work his way forward in the Outlaws first visit since 1999 to the 3/8-mile oval in Medford, Ore. Schatz, the current World of Outlaws points leader who set the quick time of the night, started on the outside of the second row and quickly surged to the front at the completion of Lap 9, riding the top groove but eventually settling for a fifth-place finish.

"I'll tell you what, that was exciting," said Lasoski. "The track was racy. The track got heavier all night. When we run in the Midwest a lot, we don't get a lot of sticky places, so it took us a while to get dialed in. When the main event came around, we got it done. That is a tribute to Dennis Roth for giving us a great team, and a lot of guys that believe in us."

Jac Haudenschild used a victory in the 12-lap B-main to gain a little more seat time on the track, and it paid off. Haudenschild's Wright One Construction Maxim came from 11th to take the checkered flag in second.

"I needed a couple more laps, and I think we could have been right there," Haudenschild said. "It's 30 laps and the race is over, and we were glad to run second."

Craig Dollansky's Karavan Trailers/Team Race Chic Maxim, Paul McMahan's Bass Pro Shops Eagle and Schatz's ParkerStore J&J rounded out the top five.

For Dollansky, it was his third straight finish of third. Since July 25, the native of Elk River, Minn. has finished outside the top-10 only once. He currently is third in the Championship standings, only 27 points out of the second spot.

"All in all, it was a good run for the Karavan team," said Dollansky. "Tonight our car got better as we kept going, unlike at Skagit where we got worse as the race wore on. It was nice to get a good run for the team. Charlie Fischer did a good job getting this motor back to us, and it is running good."

McMahan started on the pole and led the first eight laps of the race, until Schatz slipped under him for the lead on the back straight-a-way. McMahan fought back and took the lead back with a move on the low side of turn three, but Schatz got a run on the high side going through turn four to officially be scored the leader at the flagstand.

"We were pretty fast at the beginning," said McMahan. "When you are out front, you really don't know what the best line is. Donny (Schatz) got by me in the middle. I tried it a couple times and missed it and slid to the top and a couple cars got around me. All in all, the Bass Pro Shops car was running good tonight. I can't say enough for Paul Kistler and the Mopar motors. He gives me something to win races with. We have run in the top-four the last four races we have run these last couple weeks. If we keep doing that we'll get a win here shortly."

Schatz who also led eight laps, extended his lead in the standings as he chases his first ever series title. He started the race in fourth and wasted little time making his way to the front, as he was in the second spot when the lone caution flag of the race flew on the fourth lap.

"We were awfully good at the beginning and good in the middle," said Schatz. "We had a really good race going, with Danny (Lasoski) being committed to the bottom and we were committed to the top."

With Schatz battling traffic, Lasoski bided his time and made his move for the lead on the 17th lap of the 30-lap A-Feature. He went low in the third turn as the pair sliced their way through the slower cars.

"The sticky track had us searching all night for the A-Main, and we got it loose enough to go," said Lasoski. "I was just going to go where Donny (Schatz) wasn't. He was running around the top, and my car was really good on the bottom. I got by him and did not know if he was close to me or not. We were just picking and choosing through traffic."

Lasoski began the night by qualifying in the 11th spot, and his crew worked diligently on the car all night to make sure it was ready for the feature. A sixth place finish in the dash not only gave him a good starting position in the feature, but also gave him valuable track time to calculate the track conditions and what he thought the surface would be like when we rolled back out for the main event. He continued making adjustments all night long, even from the cockpit while battling for the lead as well as the lapped cars.

"It seemed like all the lapped cars were running at the top," said Lasoski. "I had to get my wing and everything adjusted, and it worked pretty good. We changed everything from A-Z (after qualifying), wheel spacing, torsion bars, weight in the car, everything."

While some drivers would have liked to have had another caution, Lasoski was happy that the final 26 laps of the event went green. He did not even want to think about having a caution that would have bunched the field up, and given him a clean track.

"Our race car was working all over the place, so I don't know if open track would have been better," Lasoski said.

Haudenschild passed more cars than anyone on the track, and was ecstatic at how well prepared the track was and how racy it stayed all night long. Though he wanted to be standing in RacinSoles Victory Lane, he knew he made the most of the night and got everything out of his car.

"The track was good," Haudenschild said. "You could race the top or bottom of it. You could race all over on it, and it ended up being a good track, especially for the fans. The guys had the car working good and we could run anywhere on the race track. We just had a good car tonight. The Rick Wright car has been running good all year. If we get a couple breaks, maybe we will win a couple more races."

With some momentum on his side, the native of Wooster, Ohio is looking forward to heading to Northern California for the next couple weeks of racing. This coming weekend, he will seek his second win in the Harvest Classic at Calistoga Speedway, an event he won in 1989.

"We're excited to go to California," said Haudenschild. "The car has been running good, and hopefully we can pull of a win down there."

Dollansky, who started eighth, used the whole track to work his way to the front. He quickly picked off a few cars in the opening laps and engaged in an entertaining battle with Brooke Tatnell, who was coming off a $25,000 win last Saturday night at Skagit Speedway. It took him a few laps, but Dollansky passed not only Tatnell but also Schatz to move into the second spot, all on the same lap.

"We were hitting the bottom, hitting the middle, and the top," Dollansky said. "We we're able to maneuver at any area of the track. We were pretty tight, but got better as the race wore on. We got held up there a few times and it was kind of costly for us. Once we broke free of that, we seemed to get our momentum going, and got going pretty good there at the end. It was close there for second at the end. Coming out here tonight with all that lap traffic, and all that was going on out there, it was a good run."

After the early caution, the leaders were setting a blistering pace, and it took Dollansky a few extra laps to work his way through the slower cars as he made his march to the front. The traffic played perfectly into how the team had the car set-up for a longer run.

"I would not have minded one more caution," Dollansky said. "Actually I did not mind getting into lapped traffic. A lot of times that can either go your way or not go your way. Tonight it seemed like lapped traffic was more in our favor, and it's just one of those deals. The last race we had a lot of yellows and cautions, and it's just something that can happens sometimes. Tonight we only had the one (yellow flag). The track was in great condition and it was good to come here to Medford, Oregon and race and hopefully the fans enjoyed the show."

McMahan pondered after the race what the effects of another caution flag or two would have been for him, after he got a very strong initial start to the race.

"You never know," said McMahan. "It's always great to have a caution when you get into lapped traffic. Actually it was going to be lapped traffic all night. Sometimes it hurts you and sometimes it helps you. It's a roll of the dice to see what it's going to do for you. I'm happy with a fourth place finish, but hopefully we can move up over the next few days."

Despite having something go wrong with his car late in the race, Schatz still managed to bring home a fifth place run. He leads the series with 33 top-five finishes. He did not mind weaving his way through traffic as that is where he took the lead on the eighth lap.

"We always like to see races go non-stop," said Schatz. "That is really the only way you get in lapped traffic. The race track was so good, and so wet and fast, that is was awful hard for anyone to get through there. I know I could barely get past any lapped cars, and struggled to get by the few I did. Then we started to go backwards. That's just the way it is. Some nights are like that and we're glad we don't run on stuff like that every night. The race track definitely stayed good all night."

Schatz also set a new track record in qualifying shaving well over a half-second off of the previous record, and turning the first every lap in the 10-second range on the 3/8-mile track as he toured the oval in 10.930 seconds.

The rest of the top-10 was Manny Moore in sixth in the Doyle's Harley-Davidson Maxim. Randy Hannagan was seventh in the Penthouse Racing Maxim. Brooke Tatnell came home eighth in the Race Outfitters Eagle. Daryn Pittman was ninth in the Titan Garages & Carports Maxim. Jonathan Allard was 10th in the Ronald McDonald House Maxim.

The World of Outlaws next head down the Pacific Coast for the Harvest Classic on Saturday and Sunday at Calistoga Speedway, where Schatz is the defending champion of the event in the Napa Valley.

SOUTEHRN OREGON SPEEDWAY NOTEBOOK

* FAST QUALIFIER: Donny Schatz paced the 35 cars in time trials with a record setting AMB i.t.-timed lapped around the 3/8-mile semi-banked oval at 10.930 seconds at 109.578 mph. For his qualifying effort, Schatz earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Terry McCarl (4), Jac Haudenschild (3), Brooke Tatnell (2), and Manny Moore (1).

* QUALIFYING EVENT WINNERS: Heat race winners included: Justin Henderson, Tony Bruce Jr., Dion Hindi, and Donny Schatz. ... Jac Haudenschild won the B-Main. ... Paul McMahan picked up the win in the dash.

* FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 14 different winners in 45 A-feature events to visit the RacinSoles Victory Lane with the World of Outlaws this season. The win list includes: Donny Schatz (March 9 at The Dirt Track @ Las Vegas Motor Speedway, March 31 at Batesville Speedway, April 1 at I-55 Raceway, May 16 at Grandview Speedway, May 30 at Rolling Wheels Raceway Park, June 18 at Red River Valley Speedway, June 30 at 81 Speedway, July 18 at Lernerville Speedway, July 23 at Lebanon Valley Speedway, July 25 at Fulton Speedway, August 5 at K-C Raceway, and August 17 at Black Hills Speedway), Joey Saldana (Feb.10 at Volusia, June 4 at Terre Haute, June 23 at Knoxville Raceway, July 1 at Dodge City Raceway Park, July 13 at Limaland Motorsports Park, July 15 at Eldora Speedway, and August 4 at Eldora Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (May 6 at U.S. 36 Raceway, May 20 at Sharon Speedway, June 14 at The Raceway @ Powercom Park, and July 7 at Lawrenceburg Speedway), Craig Dollansky (April 15 at Tri-State Speedway, June 4 at Eldora Speedway, July 14 at Eldora Speedway, and Aug. 2 at Butler Speedway), Brooke Tatnell (May 7 at Huset's Speedway, May 29 at Orange County Fair Speedway, July 8 at I-55 Raceway, and August 26 at Skagit Speedway), Daryn Pittman (June 10 at Eagle Raceway, July 22 at Williams Grove, and July 29 at Princeton Speedway), Danny Lasoski (March 3 at Manzanita, August 30 at Southern Oregon Speedway) Terry McCarl (July 3 at Huset's Speedway and August 19 at Nodak Speedway), Sammy Swindell (April 8 at Eldora Speedway and March 10 at the Dirt Track @ Las Vegas Motor Speedway), Dean Jacobs (May 31 at Lernerville Speedway), Chad Kemenah (Feb. 9 at Volusia), Paul McMahan (March 4 at USA Race Park), Fred Rahmer (May 27 at Williams Grove), and Kevin Swindell (May 24 at The Dirt at Lowe's Motor Speedway).

* PRELIMINARY FEATURE WINNERS: There have been eight preliminary features run this season by the World of Outlaws. The winners list includes: Daryn Pittman who won the prelim night at Eagle Raceway on June 9, and at Princeton Speedway on July 28, Donny Schatz who won the prelim night June 17 at Red River Valley and at Skagit Speedway on August 25, Fred Rahmer, who won the prelim night on May 26 at Williams Grove Speedway Sammy Swindell, who won the prelim night on April 7 at Eldora Speedway, Terry McCarl who won the prelim night at Williams Grove on July 20, and Craig Dollansky who won the prelim night at Williams Grove on July 21.

* 3/8-MILE WINNERS: Southern Oregon Speedway is a 3/8-mile oval. The World of Outlaws Sprint Series has raced 12 times this season on a track that size. Winners include: Donny Schatz (Batesville Speedway, 81 Speedway, Fulton Speedway, K-C Raceway, and Black Hills Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (U.S. 36 Raceway and Sharon Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Butler Speedway), Danny Lasoski (Southern Oregon Speedway), Terry McCarl (Nodak Speedway), Paul McMahan (USA Race Park), and Joey Saldana (Dodge City Raceway Park).

* ON TELEVISION: The Outdoor Channel will air at 8 p.m. (ET) on Wednesday Sept. 6, the finale of the two-day event from Skagit Speedway. Outdoor Channel is available nationwide through the DISH Network (Channel 153) and DIRECTV (Channel 606).

* ON THE WEB: The Official World of Outlaws Sprint Series Web site -credit: woo

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