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Dollansky Conquers Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup at Lernerville

NASCAR’s Tony Stewart earns his second career World of Outlaws feature victory

SARVER, Pa. - July 17, 2012 - Conservative was a little harder than Craig Dollansky anticipated on a humid Tuesday evening at Lernerville Speedway.

Dollansky climbed from his sprint car in Victory Lane, visibly exhausted after a pair of 30-lap, $10,000-to-win features at the 21st annual Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup Presented by GottaRace.com. After he and NASCAR star Tony Stewart split the main event victories, Dollansky was declared the overall champion because he had a higher average finish than Stewart.

"With all the stuff that went on in the first one, I really just wanted to try to run a conservative race but get us a decent finish out of it to win the overall title," Dollansky said after earning the $5,000 bonus and talking to the television cameras for the event, which is scheduled to air on SPEED on Saturday, Aug. 11, at 1 p.m. (Eastern).

"That wasn't easily done. There was a lot going on back there. You definitely had to go into survival mode a little bit."

Dollansky dominated his heat race, the dash and the first feature, when he had to survive 10 cautions en route to his first career World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series win at Lernerville Speedway. However, all of the drivers who finished in the top 20 were on the lead lap, which determined the inversion for the second feature - the largest in the history of the twin feature format.

That started Dollansky on the outside of the 10th row, while Stewart started on the outside of the front row after being involved in the 10 th-and-final caution with two laps remaining in the first main event.

"We got caught in a crash with like three (laps) to go or whatever and that put us to the back," said Stewart, who finished 19th. "That actually ended up being a blessing in disguise."

Polesitter Greg Hodnett took the early lead with Stewart in tow for the first half of the race. As the duo began to encounter traffic, Stewart capitalized on the outside lane and rode the cushion to the lead on the backstretch of lap 17.

He then pulled away until Donny Schatz, who drives for Stewart, found grip on the bottom and quickly disposed of Hodnett for the runner-up position on lap 23. Schatz reeled in Stewart and the two competed nearly side by side before the final caution with five laps remaining after Tim Shaffer hit the frontstretch wall and flipped while running seventh.

Stewart executed a near-perfect restart and Jason Sides maneuvered from fourth to second in turns one and two. Schatz later passed Sides entering turn three on the final lap to secure the runner-up spot.

"I felt like we were good once we could get to clean air," Stewart said. "It was going to be won in the first lap of the restart for sure.

"It's hard to win these races. When you come up to Pennsylvania you've got the best of both worlds. You've got the best touring guys and the best guys from the Posse that run, so it's a pretty big honor to win one of these things."

Meanwhile, Dollansky was mired in his own battle in the middle of the pack. He restarted 15th with five laps remaining and had to avoid several sliding cars in the closing laps to hang on to a 16th-place finish. His average finish was 8.5, while Stewart's was 10th.

"Very special," Dollansky said. "This is one of the crown jewels of our sport. We've been close here a few times, but to finally get it done here tonight, it's a great accomplishment for our entire team.

"It was a long first race and it didn't seem any shorter in the second one, although there was a lot less restarts."

Local favorite Danny Holtgraver earned the KSE Hard Charger Award after working his way from 19th to second in the first feature. Holtgraver drove from 19th to 10th in the second main event.

Chad Kemenah, Stevie Smith and Kerry Madsen were the only other drivers who recorded a top-10 finish in each feature.

Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup Notebook

NOTES - This race marked the exact midpoint of the season. … Tim Shaffer established quick time in qualifying for the first time this season. … Sammy Swindell picked up his series-leading 13th heat race victory, Brad Sweet his third, Stevie Smith his third and Craig Dollansky his eighth of the season. … Marty Perovich became the sixth different C Main winner in as many events this year. … Dollansky won his third dash of the season. … Daryn Pittman claimed his second Last Chance Showdown of the season. … Dollansky also won a race at Lernerville Speedway on April 14, 2000, with the World of Outlaws Gumout Series en route to winning the inaugural championship that year. … Dollansky advanced to second in the championship standings - the highest he has been this season.

CONTINGENCY WINNERS (First feature) - Penske Shocks ($100 certificate): Bill Rose; MSD Ignitions ($50 cash): Craig Dollansky; Comp Cams ($50 certificate): Steve Kinser; Armor All (case of product): David Gravel; STP ($50 cash): Steve Kinser; UNOH ($50 cash): David Gravel; Gravely Tractors ($50 cash): Chad Kemenah; VP Racing Fuel ($50 cash): Bill Rose; Comp Cams ($50 cash): Sammy Swindell; JE Pistons (set of rings): Paul McMahan; Cometic Gasket ($50 cash): Joey Saldana; Wix Filters ($50 cash): Joey Saldana; Superflow ($50 cash): Joey Saldana; JE Pistons ($50 cash): Paul McMahan; JE Pistons (set of rings): Paul McMahan; MSD Ignitions ($25 cash): Tim Kaeding; Klotz Synthetic Lubricants ($50 cash): Jason Sides.

CONTINGENCY WINNERS (Second feature) - MSD Ignitions ($50 cash): Donny Schatz; STP ($50 cash): Donny Schatz; UNOH ($50 cash): Chad Kemenah; Gravely Tractors ($50 cash): Joey Saldana; VP Racing Fuel ($50 cash): Kerry Madsen; Comp Cams ($50 cash): Daryn Pittman; Cometic Gasket ($50 cash): Daryn Pittman; Wix Filters ($50 cash): Paul McMahan; Superflow ($50 cash): Paul McMahan; JE Pistons ($50 cash): David Gravel; MSD Ignitions ($25 cash): Bill Rose; Klotz Synthetic Lubricants ($50 cash): David Gravel.

WINNERS - Sammy Swindell - 7 (Eldora Speedway on July 14, Lakeside Speedway on June 30, Red River Valley Speedway on June 16, Eldora Speedway on May 5, Knoxville Raceway on April 28, Missouri State Fair Speedway on April 20 and Merced Speedway on March 30); Craig Dollansky - 5 (Lernerville Speedway on July 17, I-96 Speedway on June 2, Hagerstown Speedway on May 20, Tri-State Speedway on April 21 and Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19); Kraig Kinser - 4 (Beaver Dam Raceway on July 7, Dodge City Raceway Park on June 23, River Cities Speedway on June 15 and Kokomo Speedway on June 5); Joey Saldana - 4 (Eldora Speedway on July 13, The Dirt Track at Charlotte on May 25, Paducah International Raceway on April 13 and Perris Auto Speedway on March 10); Tim Kaeding - 3 (Cedar Lake Speedway on July 6, Thunderbowl Raceway on March 16 and The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 8); Steve Kinser - 3 (Dodge City Raceway Park on June 22, Orange County Fair Speedway on May 19 and Williams Grove Speedway on May 12); Kerry Madsen - 3 (Limaland Motorsports Park on July 11, Belleville High Banks on June 29 and Knoxville Raceway on June 9); Donny Schatz - 3 (Farmer City Raceway on April 25, Silver Dollar Speedway on March 23 and Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19); Chad Kemenah - 2 (Lawrenceburg Speedway on May 28 and Eldora Speedway on May 4); Danny Dietrich - 1 (Lincoln Speedway on May 10); Mark Dobmeier - 1 (Huset's Speedway on July 3); Danny Lasoski - 1 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 18); Paul McMahan - 1 (Rolling Wheels Raceway Park on May 16); Fred Rahmer - 1 (Williams Grove Speedway on May 11); Tony Stewart - 1 (Lernerville Speedway on July 17) and Brad Sweet - 1 (Clay County Fairgrounds on June 8).

TIME TRIALS - Tim Shaffer was the fastest qualifier around the 4/10-mile oval with a time of 13.354 seconds to earn five championship points. Also earning points were Joey Saldana (4 points), Donny Schatz (3), Jason Sides (2) and Cody Darrah (1).

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

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