Madsen Masters Perris: Wins for Second Time in 2007

Perris, CA—October 20, 2007--By: Tony Veneziano, World of Outlaws PR Director

It didn’t really concern Kerry Madsen that he had never seen Perris Auto Speedway prior to Saturday afternoon, because his team has had plenty of experience and a good deal of success at the half-mile in the past. With veteran crew chief Sonny Kratzer turning the wrenches, the rookie driver was fast right out of the box in his first visit to the track located east of Los Angeles. Madsen capped off the night by leading all 30 laps of the A-Feature to earn his second win of the season in the World of Outlaws first event at the track since 2004.

Madsen earned his first career World of Outlaws A-Feature win back on February 10 at Volusia Speedway Park on the second night of the Florida DIRTcar Nationals. He is the only rookie driver to win an A-Feature event this season.

“I’m so excited to get another one,” said Madsen, driver of the Selma Shell Maxim. “We came out of the box strong in Florida and it took us this long to get another one. It’s good to have a really flawless night. I am excited to win for the Helm family. I hope that Dave was looking down on us for this one.”

The former Australian sprint car champion had to endure a late caution, with three laps to go, giving Jason Solwold and Danny Lasoski one more chance at him. A strong restart propelled him to a quick lead and he held off a very hard charging Lasoski by three-tenths of a second at the finish line.

“I would have liked to have seen it run through, but I knew I was all right,” explained the winner. “I was good in traffic and had clear track. I knew that as long as I did not make too many mistakes that I would be all right.”

Madsen began the night by turning the sixth fastest lap in time trials. He backed that up with a second-place run in the second heat to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash, which he won to earn his second pole position of the season.

In the A-Feature, he jumped to an early lead, with Solwold and Paul McMahan chasing him. While he opened a slight lead over Solwold, McMahan was racing three-wide with Jac Haudenschild and Joey Saldana, on the second lap.

Madsen ran the high line early in the race, maintaining a comfortable lead. On the seventh lap, Solwold began to close on the leader exiting the third and fourth turns. Solwold was right on Madsen as the pair closed on lapped traffic and a couple of times he looked low for the lead, but could not quite get enough momentum to make a pass. The first caution of the event flew on the eighth lap, giving the leader open race track ahead of them.

Madsen used a strong restart to jump to another quick lead, while Donny Schatz staged an entertaining battle with McMahan for the third spot. At the halfway point of the 30-lap event, Madsen had about an eight car length lead on Solwold as they again approached lapped traffic.

With ten laps to go, he encountered dense traffic, allowing Solwold and Schatz who had moved into third to close in on him. All the while, Danny Lasoski quietly worked his way from the eighth starting position into fourth, eventually getting around Schatz on the 23rd lap to take the third position and setting his sights on Solwold.

Madsen continued to negotiate traffic as the laps wore down, with Solwold and Lasoski right behind him. With three laps remaining, the final caution flag of the night flew, setting up a shootout at the front of the field. Madsen used another strong restart to open a fair lead, while Lasoski charged around Solwold on the high side of the track exiting the fourth turn coming to the white flag. The native of Dover, Missouri, gave it all he had on the last lap, trying to track Madsen down.

“It may have been my first time here, but the team has been here before, so I think that neutralized it a bit,” noted the native of San Souci, NSW, Australia. “You just to adapt and come out of the box with a good set-up. We were quick off the bat in qualifying and it all worked out. ”

Lasoski predominately used the high side of the track on Saturday night at Perris, where he has won twice in the past with the series to pick up a runner-up finish. He had his Roth Motorsports JEI set-up for late in the race, which was evident by him picking up five spots in the second half of the 30-lap contest.

“We were really good,” said Lasoski, who won on Friday night at Manzanita Speedway. “The race track freed up and we were really moving on the outside of guys.”

After suffering a flat tire on Friday night while leading at Manzanita Speedway, Solwold wanted nothing more than to pick up a win on Saturday night at Perris. For most of the race, he stayed right with Madsen, patiently waiting for the rookie to put a wheel wrong or make a mistake. Solwold finished a very solid third.

“We finished in the Top-Five and we haven’t done that for a while,” said Solwold. “We should have won it, just like we should have won last night. We tried something at the end on the last restart and it didn’t work out.”

Donny Schatz finished fourth on Saturday night, after starting sixth, as he continues to close in on his second consecutive World of Outlaws championship. The native of Fargo, North Dakota ran as high as third during the second half of the race.

“Obviously we were good enough to win, and I didn’t want to see that yellow,” said Schatz, driver of the ParkerStore J&J. “I lost a cylinder and I pushed this thing pretty hard. This is our experimental piece, so I guess it is fitting that it breaks, but it was still fast. We’re glad to finish, this hasn’t been one of my best tracks.”

Jason Meyers finish fifth in the Primerica Financial Maxim, to earn his 32nd Top-Five finish of the season, as he remains fifth in championship points.

Paul McMahan was sixth in the Bass Pro Shops Eagle. Craig Dollansky started 17th and finished seventh to earn the KSE Race Products Hard Charger Award aboard the Karavan Trailers Maxim. Joey Saldana was eight in the Open Joist JEI, with Steve Kinser ninth in the Q Oil Maxim. Daryn Pittman rounded out the Top-10 in the Titan Garages Maxim.

Madsen used the knowledge he gained early in the night, later in the night as he continued to dial his car in. His win was his second on a half-mile track this season.

“I didn’t feel that the car was as good as it was in the heat race or qualifying, but I got the wing back and the shocks wound down,” Madsen stated. “We ran the right part of the race track tonight. It paid to be up front tonight. I’m just so excited to get another win.”

A long green flag run after the lap eight caution, gave Lasoski ample opportunities to gain positions while in heavy lapped traffic. With the majority of the drivers running the low side of the track, he was able to close on them and use the momentum he gained on the high side to charge around them.

“It was a good thing to have traffic,” said Lasoski. “I got by (Donny) Schatz and kept on it on the high side. We plugged away at it all night.”

With just two events remaining on the 2007 calendar, Lasoski and his team are focused on one thing and one thing only, which is winning.

“The goal for the end of the year is two wins and we’ll go to Charlotte and see if we can put that together,” said the 2001 World of Outlaws champion.

Solwold was glad to see the extended period of green flag racing, which also gave him a stay close to Madsen and search for a way around the leader. On several occasions, he was just a car length of two behind as the pair weaved their way through traffic.

“Everyone was running the bottom in three and four and we were running the Top and it slowed Kerry (Madsen) down a little bit,” said Solwold. “I was hoping we could have gotten into traffic earlier.”

On the last restart with three laps to go, Solwold tried everything he could to get a run on Madsen. Though he was disappointed he did not win on Saturday night, his third-place finish was his best-career result at Perris with the series.

“I was hoping for a better restart, but we had some stumbling issues tonight and didn’t get enough momentum to slide him,” he said. “I guess you’ll get that. I was never anywhere near as good as we were tonight, so that was an improvement for me.”

Barring a catastrophic event, Schatz is on pace to wrap up his second consecutive World of Outlaws title during the inaugural Outlaws World Finals at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway in a couple of weeks. With 19 A-Feature wins on the season, he is focused on adding two more victories to that list.

“There’s really no pressure,” said Schatz. “We have a big enough advantage that some bad things would have to happen. We are on kill-mode right now. We are focused on winning races and that is all we can do. We have two races and hopefully we can come out with a big check and a lot of pride and emotion to finish this year out strong.”

The World of Outlaws return to action on November 1-3 with the inaugural Outlaws World Finals with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series from The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway in North Carolina.

PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY NOTEBOOK

• PAYING TRIBUTE: A moment of silence was observed prior to racing on Saturday night at Perris Auto Speedway to honor longtime Los Angeles Times motorsports writer Shav Glick who passed away on Saturday morning. The press box at Perris Auto Speedway in named after the legendary writer, who covered numerous races at the half-mile during his illustrious career.

• FAST QUALIFIER: Danny Lasoski paced the 32 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the semi-banked half-mile oval in 15.001 seconds at 107.993 mph. For his qualifying effort, Lasoski earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Joey Saldana (4), Jason Sides (3), Donny Schatz (2) and Steve Kinser (1).

• QUALIFYING WINNERS: Jason Meyers, Jason Solwold, Jac Haudenschild and Donny Schatz won heat races… Craig Dollansky won the B-Main … Kerry Madsen won the Crane Cams Dash.

 • FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 73 World of Outlaws A-Feature events held in 2007. The win list includes: Donny Schatz (February 9 at Volusia Speedway Park, March 3 at Manzanita Speedway, March 16 at Houston Raceway Park, April 28 at Knoxville Raceway, May 17 at Williams Grove Speedway, May 18 at Williams Grove Speedway, May 25 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway, June 25 at Black Hills Speedway, July 3 at Huset’s Speedway, July 14 at Eldora Speedway, July 18 at Lernerville Speedway, July 19 at Williams Grove Speedway, July 21 at Williams Grove Speedway, August 19 at Castrol Raceway, September 12 at Clay County Speedway, September 14 at Heartland Park Topeka, September 29 at Williams Grove Speedway, October 6 at Princeton Speedway and October 13 at Thunderbowl Raceway), Joey Saldana (February 23 at Thunderbowl Raceway, March 17 at Pike County Speedway, March 24 at Volunteer Speedway, March 31 at Dixie Speedway, April 20 at Attica Raceway Park, June 5 at Kokomo Speedway, June 9 at Eagle Raceway, June 29 at River Cities Speedway, July 7 at I-55 Raceway, August 29 at Cottage Grove Speedway, September 8 at Silver Dollar Speedway and September 21 at Eldora Speedway), Steve Kinser (March 2 at USA Race Park, April 21 at Tri-State Speedway, May 15 at Lernerville Speedway, May 20 at New Egypt Speedway, May 28 at Rolling Wheels Raceway Park, June 1 at Sharon Speedway, June 20 at Missouri State Fair Speedway, July 13 at Eldora Speedway and August 17 at Castrol Raceway), Danny Lasoski (April 6 at Paducah International Raceway, May 23 at Grandview Speedway, June 14 at Tri-City Speedway, September 1 at Calistoga Speedway, September 2 at Calistoga Speedway and October 19 at Manzanita Speedway), Daryn Pittman (February 11 at Volusia Speedway Park, May 5 at Riverside International Speedway, June 23 at Dodge City Raceway Park, August 14 at Nodak Speedway, September 16 at Charter Raceway Park and September 26 at Orange County Fair Speedway, Jason Meyers (April 13 at Eldora Speedway, May 11 at U.S. 36 Raceway, June 22 at Dodge City Raceway Park and July 22 at Lebanon Valley Speedway), Craig Dollansky (May 12 at Lake Ozark Speedway, July 27 at I-96 Speedway and August 25 at Skagit Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (June 30 at Red River Valley Speedway and July 11 at Limaland Motorsports Park), Kerry Madsen (February 10 at Volusia Speedway Park and October 20 at Perris Auto Speedway), Terry McCarl (June 16 at Knoxville Raceway and July 28 at K-C Raceway),  Paul McMahan (June 2 at Eldora Speedway and July 1 at Cedar Lake Speedway), Tim Kaeding (February 24 at Thunderbowl Raceway), Brian Leppo (July 20 tat Williams Grove Speedway),  Jason Sides (July 25 at Ohsweken Speedway), Jason Solwold (August 3 at Charter Raceway Park), Shane Stewart (August 27 at Grays Harbor Raceway) and Brooke Tatnell (August 24 at Skagit Speedway).

PRELIMINARY FEATURE WINNERS: There have been three World of Outlaws preliminary feature events held in 2007. The winners were: Jonathan Allard (September 6 at Silver Dollar Speedway), Chad Layton (September 28 at Williams Grove Speedway) and Joey Saldana (September 7 at Silver Dollar Speedway).

HALF-MILE WINNERS: Manzanita Speedway is a semi-banked half-mile. The World of Outlaws have raced 27 times this season on a track that size. The winners include: Donny Schatz (February 9 at Volusia Speedway Park, March 3 at Manzanita Speedway, April 28 at Knoxville Raceway, May 17 at Williams Grove Speedway, May 18 at Williams Grove Speedway, July 14 at Eldora Speedway, July 19 at Williams Grove Speedway, July 21 at Williams Grove Speedway and September 29 at Williams Grove Speedway), Steve Kinser (May 20 at New Egypt Speedway, June 20 at Missouri State Fair Speedway and July 13 at Eldora Speedway), Danny Lasoski (September 1 at Calistoga Speedway, September 2 at Calistoga Speedway and October 19 at Manzanita Speedway), Kerry Madsen (February 10 at Volusia Speedway Park and October 20 at Perris Auto Speedway), Jason Meyers (April 13 at Eldora Speedway and July 22 at Lebanon Valley Speedway), Craig Dollansky (July 27 at I-96 Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (June 30 at Red River Valley Speedway), Chad Layton (September 28 at Williams Grove Speedway), Brian Leppo (July 20 at Williams Grove Speedway), Terry McCarl (June 16 at Knoxville Raceway), Paul McMahan (June 2 at Eldora Speedway), Daryn Pittman (February 11 at Volusia Speedway Park) and Joey Saldana (September 21 at Eldora Speedway).

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. 3, when the series champions will be crowned LIVE ON SPEED during the World Finals from The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway on November 3 from 8-11 p.m. Eastern.

The next scheduled broadcast for the World of Outlaws on SPEED is the finale of the inaugural Outlaws World Finals on November 3 LIVE from 8-11 p.m. Eastern.

• 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 inaugural Outlaws World Finals at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway on November 1-3, with the finale being broadcast LIVE in SPEED on Saturday, November 3 from 8-11 p.m. Eastern.

World of Outlaws Statistical Report; Perris Auto Speedway; Perris, CA; Oct. 20, 2007

Qualifying

1) 83-Danny Lasoski 15.001

2) 9-Joey Saldana 15.082

3) 7S-Jason Sides 15.199

4) 15-Donny Schatz 15.280

5) 11-Steve Kinser 15.306

6) 11H-Kerry Madsen 15.318

7) 21-Daryn Pittman 15.430

8) 1X-Randy Hannagan 15.515

9) 14-Jason Meyers 15.548

10) R19-Jason Solwold 15.569

11) 35-Jac Haudenschild 15.585

12) 8K-Chad Kemenah 15.616

13) 20-Paul McMahan 15.620

14) 10C-Jeremy Campbell 15.626

15) 1HD-Shane Stewart 15.629

16) 24-Terry McCarl 15.631

17) 7-Craig Dollansky 15.657

18) D1-Justin Henderson 15.657

19) 6-Tim Shaffer 15.682

20) 5C-Chad Hillier 15.687

21) 45X-Johnny Herrera 15.720

22) 83JR-Brandon Wimmer 15.753

23) 24C-Greg DeCaires 15.757

24) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr. 15.787

25) 10-Tim Kaeding 15.871

26) 83V-Kyle Larson 15.876

27) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15.878

28) O-Jonathan Allard 15.959

29) 2-Brooke Tatnell 16.028

30) 22B-Ben Gregg 16.097

31) 9K-Brent Kronfuss 16.513

32) 87-Mike Mossi 18.858

 

Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 14-Jason Meyers

2) 20-Paul McMahan

3) 83-Danny Lasoski

4) 11-Steve Kinser

5) 10-Tim Kaeding

6) 7-Craig Dollansky

7) 2-Brooke Tatnell

8) 45X-Johnny Herrera

 

Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) R19-Jason Solwold

2) 11H-Kerry Madsen

3) D1-Justin Henderson

4) 9-Joey Saldana

5) 10C-Jeremy Campbell

6) 83JR-Brandon Wimmer

7) 83V-Kyle Larson

8) 22B-Ben Gregg

 

Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 35-Jac Haudenschild

2) 1HD-Shane Stewart

3) 7S-Jason Sides

4) 21-Daryn Pittman

5) 6-Tim Shaffer

6) 24C-Greg DeCaires

7) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.

8) 9K-Brent Kronfuss

 

Heat 4 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 15-Donny Schatz

2) 8K-Chad Kemenah

3) 1X-Randy Hannagan

4) O-Jonathan Allard

5) 24-Terry McCarl

6) 5C-Chad Hillier

7) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.

 8) 87-Mike Mossi

 

Crane Cams Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)

1) 11H-Kerry Madsen

2) R19-Jason Solwold

3) 20-Paul McMahan

4) 14-Jason Meyers

5) 35-Jac Haudenschild

6) 15-Donny Schatz

7) 9-Joey Saldana

8) 83-Danny Lasoski

9) 8K-Chad Kemenah

10) 1HD-Shane Stewart

 

B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 7-Craig Dollansky

2) 5C-Chad Hillier

3) 83JR-Brandon Wimmer

4) 45X-Johnny Herrera

5) 24C-Greg DeCaires [$200]

6) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [$180]

7) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr. [$175]

8) 83V-Kyle Larson [$160]

9) 2-Brooke Tatnell [$150]

10) 22B-Ben Gregg [$150]

11) 87-Mike Mossi [$150]

12) 9K-Brent Kronfuss [$150]

 

A-main (30 laps) - Starting Position [#]

1) 11H-Kerry Madsen[1] [$10,000]

2) 83-Danny Lasoski[8] [$5,500]

3) R19-Jason Solwold[2] [$3,200]

4) 15-Donny Schatz[6] [$2,800]

5) 14-Jason Meyers[4] [$2,500]

6) 20-Paul McMahan[3] [$2,300]

7) 7-Craig Dollansky[17] [$2,200]

8) 9-Joey Saldana[7] [$2,100]

9) 11-Steve Kinser[12] [$2,050]

10) 21-Daryn Pittman[13] [$2,000]

11) 1HD-Shane Stewart[10] [$1,500]

12) 8K-Chad Kemenah[9] [$1,200]

13) 6-Tim Shaffer[19] [$1,100]

14) 7S-Jason Sides[11] [$1,050]

15) O-Jonathan Allard[24] [$1,000]

16) 1X-Randy Hannagan[14] [$900]

17) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[25] [$0]

18) 45X-Johnny Herrera[21] [$800]

19) 24-Terry McCarl[16] [$800]

20) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.[26] [$0]

21) 10-Tim Kaeding[23] [$800]

22) D1-Justin Henderson[18] [$800]

23) 83JR-Brandon Wimmer[22] [$800]

24) 5C-Chad Hillier[20] [$800]

25) 10C-Jeremy Campbell[15] [$800]

26) 35-Jac Haudenschild[5] [$800]

 

Lap Leaders:  Kerry Madsen  1-30

KSE Hard Charger Award: Craig Dollansky

Note: Sam Hafertepe Jr. and Tony Bruce Jr. used World of Outlaws provisionals to start the A-Feature.

 

 

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