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Dollansky Takes Mini Gold Cup for First Win of 2011

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Photos by Steven Cox[/caption]

CHICO, CA (3-12-11) - The last two times Craig Dollansky led the most laps in a World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series event this season, he came up just short of the checkers. The third time proved to be Dollansky's charm as he drove away from the field on Saturday night in the exciting 35-lap Mini Gold Cup at Silver Dollar Speedway.

"This truly is a team effort," said Dollansky, a native of Elk River, Minn., who led all 35 laps to win in his Big Game Treestands/Aggressive Hydraulics Maxim. "We had a few of them get away from us in Florida at the DIRTcar Nationals but we were able to put together the whole deal here tonight."

Heavy rain in the area led to track conditions that rewarded patience. Donny Schatz was able to power is STP/Armor All/Chevrolet/J&J to the pole position by virtue of an impressive win in the dash. From the outside of the front row at the high-banked quarter-mile oval, Dollansky had a big jump to lead until the first caution on Lap 7. With the field reset for a double-file restart, Dollansky chose the outside lane and charged out from the field again.

A late-race red flag bunched the field once more with nine laps to go. On the double-file restart, Kasey Kahne Racing star Joey Saldana made his presence known in the Red Bull Maxim by making an daring pass to the outside of Schatz in Turn 1. Saldana tried to carry his momentum to get around Dollansky, but there was nothing Saldana could do as the Dollansky surged ahead and cruised to victory.

"We really gave it a shot tonight and we were competitive out here," said Saldana, a former Gold Cup Race of Champions winner at Silver Dollar Speedway. "That's a great feeling to have and we're feeling really good about the rest of the races out west."

Schatz managed to get back around Saldana in the closing laps to finish second.

"It certainly was a great night for us," said Schatz, who also is a former Gold Cup Race of Champions winner on the high-banked quarter-mile in northern California. "We just came up one spot short."

The action wasn't limited to the drivers up front as the entire field traded positions back and forth. Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year candidate Cody Darrah spun early in the A-main and was able to race his way back to the 17th position. The season's winningest driver, Steve Kinser, stumbled early yet managed to bring the Bass Pro Shops/J.D. Byrider/Chevrolet/Maxim home in the 13th position to maintain his lead atop the championship standings over Saldana. California native Paul McMahan charged to fourth while Sammy Swindell rounded out the top five.

Jason Meyers, the defending Gold Cup Race of Champions winner at Silver Dollar Speedway who was making his first start in his native Golden State as the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion, finished eighth and is now third in the championship standings.

With the Mini Gold Cup in the review mirror, the Outlaws continue their California swing two nights of action next weekend beginning Friday (March 18) at Giant Chevrolet Kings Speedway in Hanford, Calif., and Saturday (March 19) at Thunderbowl Speedway in Tulare, Calif. The World of Outlaws California Spring Break then heads April 1 to Merced Speedway and April 2 to Calistoga Speedway.

MINI GOLD CUP NOTEBOOK

QUICKTIME - Sammy Swindell was the night's fastest qualifier at a 12.545, earning five more championship points. Lucas Wolfe, Paul McMahan, Jason Meyers and Kraig Kinser also earned qualifying points.

WINNERS - There have been eight World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series feature event winners in 2011. They include Steve Kinser (2-Volusia Speedway Park, Pike County Speedway, the Dirt Track at Las Vegas); Craig Dollansky (1-Silver Dollar Speedway); Jason Sides (1-Volusia Speedway Park); Sammy Swindell (1-Royal Purple Raceway); and Joey Saldana (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas).

NEW ONLINE HOME - Make sure to check out the all-new WorldofOutlaws.com for the latest news and results, plus exclusive driver interviews, video and pictures. Also listen to every event live at DIRTVision.com .

World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Silver Dollar Speedway; Chico, Calif.; March 12, 2011

A-main (35 laps) - Starting Position [#] - 1) 7-Craig Dollansky[2] [$10,000]; 2) 15-Donny Schatz[1] [$5,500]; 3) 9-Joey Saldana[6] [$3,200]; 4) 83-Paul McMahan[4] [$2,800]; 5) 1-Sammy Swindell[5] [$2,500]; 6) 83SR-Jac Haudenschild[8] [$2,300]; 7) 83JR-Tim Kaeding[21] [$2,200]; 8) 14-Jason Meyers[12] [$2,100]; 9) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[11] [$2,050]; 10) 121-Shane Golobic[16] [$2,000]; 11) O-Jonathan Allard[7] [$1,500]; 12) 6-Kraig Kinser[13] [$1,200]; 13) 11-Steve Kinser[14] [$1,100]; 14) 29-Bud Kaeding[19] [$1,050]; 15) 2F-Brad Furr[10] [$1,000]; 16) 99-Kyle Larson[15] [$900]; 17) 91-Cody Darrah[17] [$800]; 18) OO-Jason Statler[23] [$800]; 19) 5D-Josh Dewitt[22] [$800]; 20) 25-Bobby McMahan[20] [$800]; 21) 63-Chad Kemenah[9] [$800]; 22) 69-Brent Kaeding[24] [$800]; 23) 6R-Bill Rose[3] [$800]; 24) 7S-Jason Sides[18] [$800]. Lap Leaders: Craig Dollansky 1-35; KSE Hard Charger Award: Tim Kaeding.

Qualifying - 1) 1-Sammy Swindell 12.545; 2) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 12.562; 3) 83-Paul McMahan 12.592; 4) 14-Jason Meyers 12.593; 5) 6-Kraig Kinser 12.605; 6) 15-Donny Schatz 12.608; 7) 11-Steve Kinser 12.682; 8) 99-Kyle Larson 12.691; 9) 63-Chad Kemenah 12.696; 10) 33E-Evan Suggs 12.717; 11) 7-Craig Dollansky 12.750; 12) 6R-Bill Rose 12.753; 13) 83SR-Jac Haudenschild 12.756; 14) 121-Shane Golobic 12.791; 15) O-Jonathan Allard 12.843; 16) 9-Joey Saldana 12.858; 17) 1X-Brett Miller 12.859; 18) 92-Andy Forsburg 12.976; 19) 91-Cody Darrah 13.003; 20) 7S-Jason Sides 13.015; 21) 94-Zach Zimmerly 13.056; 22) 2F-Brad Furr 13.076; 23) 2B-Ben Gregg 13.100; 24) 5H-Mason Moore 13.101; 25) 29-Bud Kaeding 13.105; 26) 25-Bobby McMahan 13.114; 27) 83JR-Tim Kaeding 13.138; 28) 82-Robbie Whitchurch 13.149; 29) 19-Tyler Wolf 13.169; 30) 5D-Josh Dewitt 13.184; 31) 44W-Austen Wheatley 13.214; 32) OO-Jason Statler 13.258; 33) 69-Brent Kaeding 13.259; 34) 3C-Cody Lamar 13.340; 35) 26-Sean McMahan 13.618; 36) 55-Trey Starks 13.679; 37) 28X-Billy Strange 13.717; 38) 2-Brenton Nugent 16.220.

Heat 1 (10 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature) - 1) 63-Chad Kemenah[2]; 2) 83SR-Jac Haudenschild[1]; 3) 1-Sammy Swindell[4]; 4) 29-Bud Kaeding[7]; 5) 69-Brent Kaeding[9]; 6) 94-Zach Zimmerly[6]; 7) 19-Tyler Wolf[8]; 8) 1X-Brett Miller[5]; 9) 28X-Billy Strange[10]; 10) 6-Kraig Kinser[3].

Heat 2 (10 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature) - 1) 2F-Brad Furr[6]; 2) 15-Donny Schatz[3]; 3) 121-Shane Golobic[1]; 4) 25-Bobby McMahan[7]; 5) 5D-Josh Dewitt[8]; 6) 3C-Cody Lamar[9]; 7) 33E-Evan Suggs[2]; 8) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[4]; 9) 92-Andy Forsburg[5]; 10) 2-Brenton Nugent[10].

Heat 3 (10 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature) - 1) 7-Craig Dollansky[2]; 2) O-Jonathan Allard[1]; 3) 11-Steve Kinser[3]; 4) 91-Cody Darrah[5]; 5) 83-Paul McMahan[4]; 6) 83JR-Tim Kaeding[7]; 7) 2B-Ben Gregg[6]; 8) 44W-Austen Wheatley[8]; 9) 26-Sean McMahan[9].

Heat 4 (10 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature) - 1) 9-Joey Saldana[1]; 2) 6R-Bill Rose[2]; 3) 99-Kyle Larson[3]; 4) 7S-Jason Sides[5]; 5) OO-Jason Statler[8]; 6) 5H-Mason Moore[6]; 7) 55-Trey Starks[9]; 8) 14-Jason Meyers[4]; 9) 82-Robbie Whitchurch[7].

Dash (8 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) - 1) 15-Donny Schatz[4]; 2) 7-Craig Dollansky[2]; 3) 6R-Bill Rose[1]; 4) 83-Paul McMahan[5]; 5) 1-Sammy Swindell[6]; 6) 9-Joey Saldana[9]; 7) O-Jonathan Allard[8]; 8) 83SR-Jac Haudenschild[7]; 9) 63-Chad Kemenah[3]; 10) 2F-Brad Furr[10].

B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature) - 1) 14-Jason Meyers[2]; 2) 83JR-Tim Kaeding[10]; 3) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[1]; 4) 6-Kraig Kinser[3]; 5) 94-Zach Zimmerly[7] [$200]; 6) 5H-Mason Moore[9] [$180]; 7) 1X-Brett Miller[5] [$175]; 8) 82-Robbie Whitchurch[11] [$160]; 9) 33E-Evan Suggs[4] [$150]; 10) 55-Trey Starks[16] [$150]; 11) 3C-Cody Lamar[14] [$150]; 12) 44W-Austen Wheatley[13] [$150]; 13) 28X-Billy Strange[17] [$150]; 14) 26-Sean McMahan[15] [$150]; 15) 2-Brenton Nugent[18] [$150]; 16) 92-Andy Forsburg[6] [$150]; 17) 2B-Ben Gregg[8] [$150]; 18) 19-Tyler Wolf[12] [$150].

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