COTTAGE GROVE, Oregon — A spectacular race between father and son had Kraig Kinser and his Dad, Steve Kinser of Bloomington, IN, in a duel to the finish, to take the victory of the forty lap World of Outlaw Sprint Series race at Cottage Grove Speedway in Oregon. Kraig Kinser took the opening lead with Jason Sides (TN) racing second and Steve Kinser grabbing third. Kraig piloted around the quarter mile, high banked clay oval in a very strong run, but Steve was also racing strong. On the sixth lap, Steve had moved into second and on the ninth lap it was Steve in front. As this father and son were racing hard to take the win Craig Dollansky had moved back into the third slot with Sides in fourth and Donny Schatz (ND) in fifth. There was great racing through out the field, but I believe all eyes were on the Kinser's.
"A big thanks to Casey's General Store for staying with me."— Kraig Kinser
With seven laps to go, Kraig got a run on Steve, to fly back into the lead and raced it to score his first 2011 WoO, season, victory.
"A big thanks to Casey's General Store for staying with me. It's so good to get a win here (at Cottage Grove) I had my first win here in the beginning. You always like the track when you win. I've been struggling all year. This win is just so good. You don't get many chances to get around my Dad (Steve Kinser) when you try a pass, but I was in a good spot and he got a bit side ways. I want to thank all of my family, all of my team and again, all of the Casey's General Store, who are like a second family to me. My son Cash, gets a much bigger smile, than what you see now, he is always in my heart." said Kraig Kinser
After so many years of racing, it still amazes me to see Steve Kinser always bombarded with fans of all ages. Steve stands there at the end of the race, signing autographs, posing for pictures, with a line of fans, that looks like it will never end. So with this in mind, I kept my interview short and Steve said, "I was just following his rubber (rubber put down from Kraig's tires) and I got too conservative. It was fun racing with Kraig. If you're going to lose to somebody, it couldn't be to a better person." S. Kinser, driving the Tony Stewart Racing, Bass Pro Shop #11, has earned at least seven feature wins thus far this season.
Craig Dollansky, having scored eight WoO Sprint victories this season was on a mission, when taking the green in this race. Dollansky left Skagit Speedway's second WoO race, on Saturday night, (09/03/2011) with a DNF, having been involved in a crash, that caused too much damage to continue in the race.
Tonight, Dollansky had qualified sixth fast, won his Heat race, finished fourth in the Dash and took the checkered flag in third.
"We had to get another car ready to run tonight and to get a top three, it's a good run for us. I'm looking forward to the Gold Cup Race of Champions in Chico (WoO Sprints next race). I won the Mini Gold there in the Spring. It's a good race on our schedule. I enjoy racing at Chico. We've won our share of races this year. We would like to win a few more and I think we can." said Dollansky.
Sammy Swindell of Germantown, TN, raced his Quiring Big Game Tree Stands #1 Sprint, around this oval in just 10.754 seconds, to score fast time in qualifying. Paul McMahan (TN) turned a 10.870 second run for second fast, with Donny Schatz (ND) running a 10.871 second, for third fast, S. Kinser's lap was 10.882 seconds and Jason Meyers (CA), rounded out the top five qualifiers with his 10.906 second run.
It was a good run for of all of the twenty-four sprint car field. I had an up and personal view point at this race, as I rode in the pace car thanks to Frank Carr, who offered me this chance. It's was quite a thrill and so neat to be able see this whole race, so close to all of the contenders.
It was a good race and cautions were minimal, causes were tires and no injuries reported.
Roger Crockett (OR) raced from a twentieth start to finish in tenth, unofficially I believe he was the hard charger of the race.
Fourth place went to Sides, followed by Schatz, McMahan, Swindell, Chad Kemenah (OH), Meyers, Crockett, Tim Kaeding (CA), Brad Sweet (CA), Lucas Wolfe (PA), Jason Solwold (WA), Bobby McMahan (CA), Cody Darrah (PA), Trey Starks (WA), Austen Wheatley (WA), Kerry Madsen (AUS), Tyler Wolf (CA), Bill Rose (IN), Heath Shelton (OR), Jonathan Allard (CA) and Steve Vague (WA). Allard rolled the Williams #0 Sprint in heat race, got back into the race and earned a transfer into the "A", but lost a tire with just one lap to go.
Ten lap Heat Races (six transfer into the "A" Feature, top two finishers get into the Dash, finishes as follows: Heat #1: K. Kinser, Sweet, S. Kinser, Swindell, L. Wolfe, B. McMahan, Rose, T. Wolf. Heat #2: Kemenah, Sides, Meyers, P. McMahan, Solwold, Starks, Crockett, Vague. Heat #3: Dollansky, Madsen, Darrah, Kaeding, Schatz, Allard, Shelton, Wheatley. The Dash finish, lines up the first ten drivers in the "A" Feature. DASH: K. Kinser, Sides, Dollansky, S. Kinser, Sweet, Swindell, Madsen, Schatz, P. McMahan, Kemenah. Last Chance Showdown transfer top six finishers into the "A": Crockett, Wheatley, Rose, Vague, T. Wolf, Shelton, Randy DuBois (WA).
