Eldora Speedway | 13929
St Route 118 | New Weston | OH | 45348
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SALDANA
AND RUHLMAN KICK OFF CHEVY’S AN AMERICAN REVOLUTION WEEKEND
An Even Dozen: Saldana Wins 12th Event of 2007 at Eldora
Rossburg, OH—Sept. 21, 2007--By: Tony Veneziano, World
of Outlaws PR Director
Last season
Joey Saldana won five times on half-mile tracks. Heading into
action on Friday night at Eldora Speedway, he had won 11 times
in 2007 through 67 A-Feature events, but had yet to earn a victory
on a half-mile.
That all
changed on Friday night as used a fast race car and a little
bit of luck to earn his 12th World of Outlaws A-Feature win
of the season at Eldora Speedway in the opener of the American
Revolution Weekend Presented by Chevrolet. Chad Ruhlman outlasted
Scott Orr to capture the UMP (United Midwestern Promoters) Modified
portion of the doubleheader.
Saldana
was running third when leader Donny Schatz had a right rear
tire explode on the 10th lap. On the ensuing restart, Saldana
battled Steve Kinser and took the lead on the 12th lap exiting
the fourth turn and would go on to lead the remainder of the
race.
“It
was definitely a hard fought race,” said Saldana, driver
of the Open Joist JEI. “We had a strong car. We’ve
had a very good season so far and we just have to continue to
do what we are doing.”
Saldana
lined up third for the 30-lap contest and dove low exiting the
second turn on the opening lap to take the runner-up spot from
Paul McMahan. He then fell back to third as Steve Kinser got
around him for the second position. Saldana then chased Kinser
for seven laps before taking the lead.
“We
were pretty tight and once the track freed up about halfway
through, we started running pretty good on the top,” explained
the winner. “It was smooth sailing from there on out.
Obviously the middle was good for a while and at the end, you
had to be up on the top to keep the speed up.”
The race
began with pole sitter Donny Schatz jumping to a quick lead.
The reigning World of Outlaws champion had opened an eight car
length advantage on the second lap when the caution flag flew
for the first time on the night.
On the
restart, Saldana went to the high side of the track as he stayed
with Schatz. At the same time, Steve Kinser slid underneath
McMahan for the third spot and set his sights on Saldana in
second. Kinser dove under Saldana exiting the fourth turn on
the sixth lap to take the runner-up position.
The leaders
began to encounter lapped traffic on the seventh go-around,
with Schatz running the middle of the track and Kinser down
low. The 20-time champion began to close on Schatz, as the pair
exited the fourth turn on the ninth lap. Schatz came to a stop
in turn one after his right rear tired exploded while leading,
handing the lead over to Kinser.
Kinser
led on the restart, with Saldana close behind him. Saldana made
the pass for the lead and ultimately the win on the 13th lap
as he dove under Kinser coming off the fourth turn. Kinser fought
back on the next lap through turns one and two, before Saldana
opened a slight advantage.
“I
was pretty good during the first part of the race,” said
Kinser, driver of the Q Oil Maxim. “After the first yellow,
I sealed the tires off. I tried a few things tonight and just
got the car too free on the long runs. We either needed to be
a little more free or had it so I could have run above which
would have been hard for me to do.”
As the
race neared its midpoint, Saldana began to encounter heavy traffic
as he used the high side of the track. With 10 laps to go, Kinser
got held up in traffic as Saldana continued to slice his way
through the slower machines. A caution flew on the 24th lap,
which ultimately led to a red flag for a fuel stop.
Saldana
used a strong restart to charge into the first turn ahead of
Kinser. Daryn Pittman got around McMahan on the 25th lap to
move into third, with McMahan taking the spot back on the next
circuit.
“The
car was pretty good tonight,” said McMahan, driver of
the Bass Pro Shops machine. “We tried a new chassis from
what we have been running. It seemed to help. We qualified well
enough to start up front and won our heat race. It’s good
to have a podium finish at Eldora. We were a good third-place
run.”
The leaders
again encountered lap traffic on the final two laps, with Saldana
opening a sizeable lead and taking the checkered flag nearly
a second-and-a-half ahead of Kinser, with McMahan in third and
Pittman in fourth.
When the
final caution flew with six laps remaining, Saldana had opened
up a sizeable lead and had a couple of lapped car between himself
and Kinser. By way of World of Outlaws rules in 2007, those
cars went to the rear of the field and put Kinser right on Saldana’s
bumper on the restart.
“On
the last restart, I knew that as long as I hit my marks, I would
be all right,” said Saldana. “I had a few lapped
cars between us that were taken away, but that’s just
how it goes.”
Saldana
and his crew put enough fuel in the car under the red flag with
six laps to easily get them to the finish, but also a fuel load
that would not disrupt the balance of the car, as happened earlier
this season on a fuel stop when Saldana was battling for a win.
“At
Edmonton (Castrol Raceway) we put 10 or 15 gallons in it and
it really messed me up,” Saldana said. “Tonight,
we just put five gallons in and it didn’t upset the car
at all.”
Pittman
finished fourth on Friday night to earn his 45th Top-10 finish
of the season. In the process, he moved into the fourth spot
in points, just 28 markers behind Danny Lasoski who is in third.
“Fourth
at Eldora with my track record here the last few years is awesome,”
smiled Pittman, driver of the Titan Garages Maxim. “We
built a new car this week and built it with the hope that it
would be good at this race track and it was good. We’ll
keep running it. It was a good point night for us as well and
we qualified well. You’re never happy to say you ran fourth,
but tonight I am.”
Terry McCarl
started eighth and finished fifth aboard the Big Game Treestands
Eagle to earn his 31st Top-10 finish of the season.
Dale Blaney
was sixth in the Hoosier Tires Maxim. In the final 20 laps,
Schatz worked his way back to finish seventh in the ParkerStore
J&J, as he continues to chase his second consecutive series
championship. Randy Hannagan was eighth in the Penthouse Magazine
Maxim, with Jason Solwold ninth in the City Wide Insulation
Maxim. Jac Haudenschild rounded out the Top-10 in the Wright
One Construction Maxim after starting 24th to earn the KSE Race
Products Hard Charger Award.
Shaun Smith
led many of the early laps of the Modified finale which actually
served as the kick-off to the annual Four Crown Nationals at
Eldora Speedway.
Several
caution periods kept the field bunched up during the early stages
of the 25-lap contest, and that was in Ruhlman’s favor.
On each ensuing restart, he would perform one of his patented
Eldora ‘slide jobs’ to advance positioning and just
prior to the half-way mark, he shot into the lead he was to
hold to the finish.
Multi-time
champion Orr also diced his way through the field and with six
laps to go, found himself on the tail of Ruhlman. That resulted
in a classic battle that had the crowd in a frenzy. Ruhlman
admitted in victory lane that he was exhausted after his attempt
to hold back Orr, who he also gave praise to for the ‘clean’
contest.
