Two-In-a-Row for Lasoski at Calistoga: Sweeps Harvest Classic
Calistoga, CA—Sept. 2, 2007--By: Tony Veneziano, World of Outlaws PR Director
Danny Lasoski came close to sweeping the Harvest Classic last season at Calistoga Speedway in California, winning the preliminary feature and following that up with a second-place performance in the finale. After winning the opener this year on Saturday night, he was determined to sweep the weekend and did just that on Sunday night, as he picked up $10,000 for winning the finale of the event.
The win was his fifth of the season and again came with his car owners Dennis and Teresa Roth in attendance. It was his four overall Harvest Classic title and fifth A-Feature win at the half-mile located in the heart of the scenic Napa Valley wine country.
“This is a tribute to our team,” said Lasoski. “My guys never quit working hard. We’ve struggled since the Knoxville Nationals and for whatever reason we don’t know. Paul Kistler built us a new engine and Barry Jackson at JEI (Chassis) gave us a great race car.”
Lasoski lined up second for the 25-lap A-Feature and followed Jason Meyers the pole sitter into the first turn and quickly went to the high side of the track, taking the leading as the pair exited the second corner. He quickly began to pull away, as he did on Saturday night when he completely dominated the event.
Also on the first lap, Joey Saldana got around Jason Sides, with Sides battling back the next lap to retake the position.
As Lasoski continued to lead in open track, Daryn Pittman in third began to close on Jason Meyers who was running second. When Lasoski entered lapped traffic on the sixth lap, Meyers and Pittman both closed in.
Meyers dove low exiting the second turn in lapped traffic on the eighth lap to take the lead, with Lasoski fighting back a number of times, on the low side of the track on the exit of the second turn. Meyers would open a slight advantage on the back straightaway each lap.
“I got the lead and I gave it away,” noted Lasoski. “I tried to lap a car on the outside, which I thought I could do the first time and it wouldn’t stick. Jason (Meyers) got me and I followed him, knowing he would get to a lapped car sooner than he did. I took advantage of that.”
The trio again entered heavy lapped traffic on the 15th lap, with Lasoski and Pittman both closing in. Meyers got a little bottled up on the 18th lap, giving Lasoski the opening he needed to take the lead on the low side of the track exiting the second turn, reminiscent of the pass that Meyers had used to take the lead 10 laps earlier.
“You had to be patient and wait for your time to pass,” Lasoski said. “If you moved out (of line) you would get passed. I was patient and I ran my own race. I thought we would have tire issues, but we didn’t. We were lucky enough for that.”
For Lasoski, it was the 10th overall win of his career at Calistoga Speedway and the eighth for Dennis Roth as a car owner. The native of Dover, Missouri has won at least one race at the half-mile for each of the past five seasons. He has a simple reason for why he runs so strong at the track.
“I like the big fast half-miles,” smiled the 2001 World of Outlaws champion.
Meyers, who started on the pole for the finale of the Harvest Classic after earning his seventh Crane Cams Dash win of the season, finished second to earn his 28th Top-Five finish of the season. He closed to within one point of Steve Kinser, who is fourth in the championship standings.
“We had a good race car in traffic and even in open track, said Meyers, driver of the Primerica Financial Maxim. “We needed a little more gear in the car, but it was difficult to pass. You are only going to get one or two passes in a night and unfortunately we had three.”
Meyers, who won the first heat race of the night, used lapped traffic to his advantage to take the lead on the eight laps, but it worked against him in the late going, as he just could not clear a couple of cars.
“We were in traffic and I was trying to leave some distance between myself and the lapped cars and I thought I could get around (Brooke) Tatnell so I got behind him and got a little tight back there,” explained the native of Clovis, California. “That gave Danny (Lasoski) an opportunity there and he took advantage of it. I really didn’t leave that much of a hole, but he certainly found one. That’s just how it goes sometimes.”
Daryn Pittman finished third on Sunday night in the finale of the Harvest Classic. He started fourth, after winning the fourth heat to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash. On the opening lap, he got around Jason Sides to move into third. He would run in the final podium position for the rest of the event, closing in on the runner-up spot a couple of times in traffic.
“We got a good jump on the start,” said Pittman, driver of the Titan Garages Maxim. “We were right there all over them the whole time. We were a little cautious with the tires, but we had plenty left at the end. Maybe I should been more aggressive. We had a sixth and a third and that was a good solid weekend for us. We need wins, but all in all it was not a bad weekend.”
The event went non-stop for all 25 laps, providing the second and third-place cars a couple of chances in lapped traffic to make up ground on the leader. Pittman closed on Meyers several times while in lapped traffic as he was looking for the runner-up spot.
“The only passing was when we got in lapped traffic,” Pittman said. “The caution probably would have gotten us strung back out single file. The green to checker was a good thing. It probably created the best race we could have with the hot conditions.”
Jason Sides finished fourth in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim. The native of Bartlett, Tennessee began the night by winning the second heat race in very convincing fashion.
Joey Saldana finished fifth in the Open Joist JEI and was able to close to within 19 makers of the lead in the World of Outlaws championship standings.
Donny Schatz, the current point leader was sixth in the ParkerStore J&J, with Craig Dollansky seventh in the Karavan Trailers Maxim. Jac Haudenschild finished eighth in the Wright One Construction Maxim, with Steve Kinser coming home ninth in the Q Oil Maxim to earn the KSE Race Products Hard Charger Award. Jonathan Allard finished 10th in the GT Trends J&J.
The World of Outlaws return to action on Thursday, September 6 in the 54th Annual Gold Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California.
CALISTOGA SPEEDWAY NIGHT #2 NOTEBOOK
• MISSING IN ACTION: Justin Henderson’s night came to an early end, when he received second degree burns to his face and elbow, after his engine exploded during time trials. He was transported to the hospital and released later in the night, returning to the track after the checkered flag had flown.
• FAST QUALIFIER: Craig Dollansky paced the 31 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the semi-banked 1/2-mile oval in 17.052 seconds at 105.559 mph. For his qualifying effort, Dollansky earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Randy Hannagan (4), Danny Lasoski (3), Daryn Pittman (2) and Paul McMahan (1).
• QUALIFYING WINNERS: Jason Meyers, Jason Sides, Donny Schatz and Daryn Pittman won heat races… Roger Crockett won the B-Main… Jason Meyers won the Crane Cams dash.
•ON TELEVISION: The World of Outlaws will be televised 20 times this season on ESPN2 and SPEED while the World of Outlaws Late Model Series is set for six appearances on SPEED. The one-hour broadcasts will air on Sundays from May 13 to Nov. 4, when the series champions will be crowned during the World Finals from The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
The next scheduled broadcast for the World of Outlaws on SPEED will be Sunday, September 9 at 2 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m. Central, with the second of two events from Skagit Speedway that were taped last weekend.
• ON THE WEB: The Official World of Outlaws Web site is at http://www.worldofoutlaws.com. Among the features are updated driver biographies with individual statistics and pictures, race-by-race statistics, detailed track information and race coverage, series news and team press releases. Also, links to the Media Guide and 2007 Official Rulebook can be found at the bottom of the home page.
• LISTEN ONLINE: If fans can’t get to a track to see the series, they can experience the excitement of the World of Outlaws live through the DIRTVision.com Cybercast and on 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. For technical support or questions, e-mail webmaster@DIRTVision.com.
• UP NEXT: The 54th Annual Gold Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Speedway on September 6-8.
• UPCOMING EVENTS: The series inaugural visit to Clay County Speedway in Spencer, Iowa on August 12.
World of Outlaws Statistical Report; Calistoga Speedway; Calistoga, CA; Sept. 2, 2007
Qualifying
1) 7-Craig Dollansky 17.052
2) 1X-Randy Hannagan 17.290
3) 83-Danny Lasoski 17.331
4) 21-Daryn Pittman 17.497
5) 20-Paul McMahan 17.517
6) O-Jonathan Allard 17.528
7) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 17.529
8) 7N-Roger Crockett 17.541
9) 9-Joey Saldana 17.542
10) R19-Jason Solwold 17.640
11) 15-Donny Schatz 17.698
12) 35-Jac Haudenschild 17.744
13) 14-Jason Meyers 17.750
14) 7S-Jason Sides 17.750
15) 11-Steve Kinser 17.752
16) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr. 17.769
17) 6-Tim Shaffer 17.785
18) 24-Terry McCarl 17.821
19) 69-Brent Kaeding 17.867
20) 1-Ronnie Day 17.882
21) 92-Andy Forsberg 17.885
22) 29A-Jason Botsford 17.920
23) 8K-Chad Kemenah 17.923
24) 10-Tim Kaeding 17.928
25) D1-Justin Henderson 18.114
26) 10C-Jeremy Campbell 18.124
27) 2-Brooke Tatnell 18.165
28) 11H-Kerry Madsen 18.268
29) 5C-Chad Hillier 18.587
30) 24C-Greg DeCaires 18.835
31) 50-Jeff Griffin 18.835
32) 26-Tayler Malsam - ---
Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 14-Jason Meyers
2) 9-Joey Saldana
3) 7-Craig Dollansky
4) 20-Paul McMahan
5) 6-Tim Shaffer
6) 10C-Jeremy Campbell
7) 92-Andy Forsberg
8) 24C-Greg DeCaires
Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 7S-Jason Sides
2) R19-Jason Solwold
3) O-Jonathan Allard
4) 2-Brooke Tatnell
5) 24-Terry McCarl
6) 29A-Jason Botsford
7) 50-Jeff Griffin
8) 1X-Randy Hannagan
Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 15-Donny Schatz
2) 83-Danny Lasoski
3) 11-Steve Kinser
4) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.
5) 11H-Kerry Madsen
6) 8K-Chad Kemenah
7) 69-Brent Kaeding
8) 26-Tayler Malsam
Heat 4 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 21-Daryn Pittman
2) 35-Jac Haudenschild
3) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.
4) 1-Ronnie Day
5) 10-Tim Kaeding
6) 7N-Roger Crockett
7) 5C-Chad Hillier
Crane Cams Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) 14-Jason Meyers
2) 83-Danny Lasoski
3) 7S-Jason Sides
4) 21-Daryn Pittman
5) 15-Donny Schatz
6) 9-Joey Saldana
7) 35-Jac Haudenschild
8) R19-Jason Solwold
9) 7-Craig Dollansky
10) 20-Paul McMahan
B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 7N-Roger Crockett
2) 1X-Randy Hannagan
3) 8K-Chad Kemenah
4) 69-Brent Kaeding
5) 5C-Chad Hillier
6) 24C-Greg DeCaires [$180]
7) 10C-Jeremy Campbell [$175]
8) 26-Tayler Malsam [$160]
9) 29A-Jason Botsford [$150]
10) 92-Andy Forsberg [$150]
11) 50-Jeff Griffin [$150]
12) D1-Justin Henderson [$150]
A-main (25 laps) - Starting Position [#]
1) 83-Danny Lasoski[2] [$10,000]
2) 14-Jason Meyers[1] [$5,000]
3) 21-Daryn Pittman[4] [$3,000]
4) 7S-Jason Sides[3] [$2,700]
5) 9-Joey Saldana[6] [$2,500]
6) 15-Donny Schatz[5] [$2,200]
7) 7-Craig Dollansky[9] [$2,000]
8) 35-Jac Haudenschild[7] [$1,800]
9) 11-Steve Kinser[15] [$1,600]
10) O-Jonathan Allard[12] [$1,450]
11) R19-Jason Solwold[8] [$1,300]
12) 1X-Randy Hannagan[11] [$1,200]
13) 6-Tim Shaffer[17] [$1,100]
14) 20-Paul McMahan[10] [$1,000]
15) 24-Terry McCarl[16] [$950]
16) 69-Brent Kaeding[19] [$900]
17) 7N-Roger Crockett[14] [$850]
18) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[13] [$750]
19) 8K-Chad Kemenah[21] [$725]
20) 2-Brooke Tatnell[23] [$700]
21) 1-Ronnie Day[18] [$700]
22) 5C-Chad Hillier[24] [$700]
23) 10-Tim Kaeding[20] [$700]
24) 11H-Kerry Madsen[22] [$700]
(DNS): Tony Bruce, Jr. [$200]
Note: Chad Hillier was the alternate and started the A-Feature when Tony Bruce Jr. encountered problems prior to the green flag.
Lap Leaders: Danny Lasoski 1-7, 18-25; Jason Meyers 8-17
KSE Hard Charger Award: Steve Kinser