Shaffer Captures World of Outlaws Sprint Series Debut at Lake Ozark Speedway

Eldon, MOMay 6, 2005 — By Chris Dolack, World of Outlaws Senior Writer

Tim Shaffer cruised to the checkered flag Friday night in the World of Outlaws Sprint Series debut at Lake Ozark Speedway as Steve Kinser edged Paul McMahan in a furious, crowd-thrilling battle for second.

Shaffer worked the low groove for nearly the entire 40-lap feature, sliding into the lead in Turn 4 on Lap 7 when pole-sitter Daryn Pittman was hung up in traffic. Shaffer then began to stretch his lead as McMahan started slicing toward the front from his seventh-place starting position.

With Shaffer working the bottom on the 1/3-mile oval, Pittman kept the pressure on by carrying his momentum along the cushion. But as he was figuring his next move on Shaffer, Pittman caught some debris with 12 laps to go, sending him to the pits with a flat right rear tire and dropping him to the back of the field.

Kinser and McMahan were already engaged in a battle for the third position. With Pittman’s tire trouble, the fight for third suddenly became even more important as Shaffer would have to hold off Kinser and the hard-charging McMahan on the restart.

Shaffer shot out fast, almost too fast. He was so quick into Turn 1 he wound up going through the turns on the high side of the track for the first time all night. Kinser saw the opening and tried to get to the bottom to steal the lead, but Shaffer scrambled to the inside and locked his Lonny Parsons-owned car back into the low groove.

Another caution with nine laps to go would be Kinser’s last chance, but Shaffer smoothly powered back to about a four-car advantage on the restart before winning for the second time this season. Instead, Kinser was forced to hang onto second by fending off McMahan and his David Helm-owned machine. First McMahan went to the outside of Kinser, then he cut back to the bottom looking for any room to grab the position.

But Kinser didn’t leave an inch, fighting off McMahan all the way to the checkered flag to finish second. Following the top three were Stevie Smith, Sammy Swindell and Joey Saldana, who continues to post strong runs since some early-season motor woes.

“Last week the guys talked me into putting this new car together, and it’s been awesome ever since,” said Shaffer, who collected $10,000 for the effort. “Friday night at Knoxville we didn’t make the show and Saturday night we actually ran pretty good, from the back to eighth. I was hoping it wasn’t a fluke, so tonight’s showing that we’re still going good. We need to keep it going, but the neat thing about it is we’re all working together as a team and it’s a lot of fun.”

With Kinser and McMahan bearing down on him, Shaffer never was convinced he had the victory wrapped up until he saw the checkered flag.

“The last five laps, I could hear Steve breathing back there waiting for a mistake,” said Shaffer, whose earlier victory was at 1/3-mile Thunderbowl Raceway. “But I didn’t hear him go around the outside of me so I just held my own and made good laps and tried not to make mistakes.”

After Shaffer got the better of Kinser in the second Dash, Parsons believed his team had a shot at winning the feature, especially once Pittman encountered trouble. Of course, as a car owner, Parsons started thinking of all the things that could go wrong after the final retstart.

“At that point of the race, you’re thinking about all kinds of things,” Parsons said. “We were watching to make sure tires were staying up. We were concerned about fuel because we ran off a lot of caution laps. I felt fairly comfortable after running in the Dash with Steve. I felt that maybe we had something for Steve so I felt better with him behind us than Pittman.”

As it turned out, Kinser had his hands full with McMahan.

“I couldn’t keep up on the bottom,” said Kinser, who increased his lead in the standings to 114 points over Craig Dollansky. “Then Paul just about got by me in the middle so I thought I’d take one last stab and almost got it, but I dragged the wing back a little bit too far and was pushing a little bit. I just couldn’t get it to drive out of there right. Then on the last lap I went back to the bottom and actually cut Paul off and got into him a little bit, but I was worried if I stayed up there I would lose another spot coming to the checkers. We just got outrun tonight.

“It’s never fun when you get outrun, but it is fun to be in a good race. It’s a lot more fun to get in a good race and win it, but we can’t complain. We’re still hanging around the top two all the time and it’s hard to complain about that.”

McMahan might have had the fastest car in the feature, but he needed long green-flag runs to show it off. The caution with nine laps to go virtually ended his chance at a victory.

“Our car was real good. The longer we ran, the better we got,” McMahan said. “I didn’t need that last yellow flag because we were running real good. I think we had something for Steve — and Shaffer if I could have gotten by Steve. Once I got next to Steve, he kind of started racing me harder than he was racing for the win. We’ll take a third. It was a good night. Hopefully we can move on up to Granite City tomorrow night and have the same run.”

Pittman easily won the Stacker 2® Dash, giving him the pole for the second time in the past four race nights with Stevie Smith, Saldana, McMahan, McCarl and Kraig Kinser rounding out the finishers. In the second Dash, Shaffer fought off Kinser early and stretched his lead to win. Behind Kinser was Sammy Swindell, Brian Paulus, Shane Stewart and Kevin Swindell.

In the B-main, Danny Lasoski got a quick jump before a caution came out only three laps in. Lasoski again showed off his horsepower that helped him turn the fastest lap of the night in time trials by charging out to a huge lead on the restart.

In the first heat race, Shane Stewart grabbed the lead coming off Turn 4 and led flag-to-flag while Lasoski came up short in a battle with Jason Solwold for the final transfer spot. In the second heat, Brooke Tatnell cruised to a victory while Sammy Swindell picked up the final transfer position. In the third heat, Jason Meyers shot out to the lead while Joey Saldana held off Craig Dollansky to transfer.

Lasoski set the quick time in the World of Outlaws Sprint Series debut at Lake Ozark Speedway with a lap around the 1/3-mile oval in 11.907 seconds at 100.771 mph.

The World of Outlaws Sprint Series heads May 7 to Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Ill., and May 9 to Tri-State Speedway in Pocola, Okla., before hitting K-C Raceway May 14 in Chillicothe, Ohio, for The Ohio Challenge with the All Star Circuit of Champions.

If fans can’t get to a track to see the series, they can experience the excitement of the World of Outlaws Sprint Series live on Dirtvision.com through the DIRT Radio Network. To listen to the audio broadcasts, log on to www.dirtvision.com and click on the DIRT Radio Network logo. Listeners will need Windows Media Player 9 or higher to listen to the DIRT Radio Network. Companies interested in advertising on the new DIRT Radio Network should contact Mark Noble, DIRT MotorSports VP Sales and Marketing, at 719-884-2141. For technical support or questions, e-mail webmaster@dirtvision.com.

The World of Outlaws Sprint Series is brought to the fans across the country by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors Hoosier Racing Tire, VP Racing Fuels, Stacker 2®, and The Outdoor Channel. Promotional Partners include AMB i.t., RACEceiver, HUMMERSGONEWILD.COM, Zippo Lighters, The University of Northwestern Ohio, Timberwolf, and Race Punk apparel. Slick 50 is an Associate Program Sponsor and Contingency sponsors include DART Machinery, MSD Ignitions, and Wrisco Industries.

World of Outlaws Sprint Series Statistical Report; Lake Ozark Speedway; May 6, 2005
Qualifying
1) Danny Lasoski, Stewart 20, 11.907
2) Terry McCarl, McCarl 24, 11.968
3) Brian Paulus, Pender 28, 12.003
4) Joey Saldana, Woodward 2, 12.051
5) Sammy Swindell, Forbrook 5, 12.056
6) Stevie Smith, Smith 19, 12.061
7) Steve Kinser, Kinser 11, 12.081
8) Daryn Pittman, Titan Racing USA 21, 12.105
9) Tim Shaffer, Parsons 6, 12.109
10) Paul McMahan, Helm 11H, 12.111
11) Kevin Swindell, Swindell 1, 12.117
12) Kraig Kinser, Kinser 11K, 12.122
13) Shane Stewart, Rudeen Racing 26, 12.137
14) Donny Schatz, .Schatz 15, 12.152
15) Jason Meyers, Elite Racing Team 14, 12.204
16) Tim Kaeding, Roth 83, 12.208
17) Brooke Tatnell, Rush Racing 8, 12.217
18) Brandon Wimmer, Wimmer-Luck Motorsports 7TW, 12.223
19) Jason Solwold, Carnahan R19, 12.233
20) Jason Sides, Sides Motorsports 7S, 12.250
21) Adam Jones, Jones 1A, 12.352
22) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Fast Effects 40R, 12.373
23) Travis Rilat, Wright 35, 12.423
24) Craig Dollansky, Karavan 7, 12.429
25) Bill Rose, Rose 6R, 12.467
26) Sean Walden, Walden 14W, 12.538
27) Derek O’Dell, O’Dell 11D, 12.586
28) Mike Deavers, Deaver 72, 12.640
29) Chris Sloan, Sloan D12, 12.921
30) Eddie Lynch, Lynch 29, 12.923
31) Kent Buckley, Buckley 1B, 13.295

First Heat Race (10 laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Shane Stewart
2) Brandon Wimmer
3) Steve Kinser
4) Kraig Kinser
5) Stevie Smith
6) Jason Solwold
7) Danny Lasoski
8) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
9) Bill Rose
10) Kent Buckley
11) Mike Deavers

Second Heat Race (10 laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Tim Shaffer
2) Donny Schatz
3) Daryn Pittman
4) Kevin Swindell
5) Terry McCarl
6) Sammy Swindell
7) Jason Sides
8) Travis Rilat
9) Sean Walden
10) Eddie Lynch

Third Heat Race (10 laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Jason Meyers
2) Tim Kaeding
3) Tim Shaffer
4) Paul McMahan
5) Brian Paulus
6) Joey Saldana
7) Craig Dollansky
8) Derek O’Dell
9) Adam Jones
10) Chris Sloan

Stacker 2® Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined inside first 6 rows of A-feature)
1) Daryn Pittman
2) Stevie Smith
3) Joey Saldana
4) Paul McMahan
5) Terry McCarl
6) Kraig Kinser

Second Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined outside first 6 rows of A-feature)
1) Tim Shaffer
2) Steve Kinser
3) Sammy Swindell
4) Brian Paulus
5) Shane Stewart
6) Kevin Swindell

B-main (12 laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Danny Lasoski [$20]
2) Craig Dollansky [$20]
3) Jason Sides [$20]
4) Bill Rose [$20]
5) Travis Rilat [$20]
6) Sean Walden [$20]
7) Derek O’Dell [$200]
8) Mike Deavers [$180]
9) Eddie Lynch [$175]
10) Kent Buckley [$160]
11) Chris Sloan [$150]
12) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. [$150]
13) Adam Jones [$150]

A-main (40 laps)
1) Tim Shaffer [$10,000]
2) Steve Kinser [$5,500]
3) Paul McMahan [$3,200]
4) Stevie Smith [$2,800]
5) Sammy Swindell [$2,500]
6) Joey Saldana [$2,300]
7) Brian Paulus [$2,200]
8) Shane Stewart [$2,100]
9) Craig Dollansky [$2,050]
10) Tim Kaeding [$2,000]
11) Terry McCarl [$1,500]
12) Jason Meyers [$1,200]
13) Travis Rilat [$1,100]
14) Donny Schatz [$1,050]
15) Daryn Pittman [$1,000]
16) Brandon Wimmer [$900]
17) Kraig Kinser [$800]
18) Jason Solwold [$800]
19) Brooke Tatnell [$800]
20) Bill Rose [$800]
21) Jason Sides [$800]
22) Danny Lasoski [$800]
23) Kevin Swindell [$800]
24) Sean Walden [$800]
Lap leaders: Daryn Pittman 1-6, Tim Shaffer 7-40
Notes: Adam Jones was running 3rd in the B-main when he stopped in Turn 1. Jones was unable to restart. … Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. was running 4th in the B-main when he stopped on the backstretch. Stenhouse could not restart.

World of Outlaws Sprint Series Standings (Unofficial)
Rk. Driver Points Back
1 Steve Kinser 2496 0
2 Craig Dollansky 2382 -114
3 Kraig Kinser 2295 -201
4 Jason Meyers 2293 -203
5 Donny Schatz 2239 -257
6 Danny Lasoski 2231 -265
7 Joey Saldana 2143 -353
8 Daryn Pittman 2141 -355
9 Tim Kaeding 2119 -377
10 Tim Shaffer 2115 -381
11 Paul McMahan 2112 -384
12 Shane Stewart 2103 -393
13 Terry McCarl 1970 -526
14 Brian Paulus 1961 -535
15 Jason Sides 1923 -573
16 Brooke Tatnell 1882 -614
17 Jason Solwold 1837 -659
18 Brandon Wimmer 1746 -750
19 Sammy Swindell 1511 -985
20 Mark Kinser 1333 -1163
21 Randy Hannagan 1306 -1190
22 Kevin Swindell 1200 -1296
23 Chad Kemenah 1048 -1448
24 Danny Smith 946 -1550
25 Peter Murphy 836 -1660