9/19/09
Deer Creek Speedway
Spring Valley, MN
WoO
28 cars
Sam Hafertepe Jr. (20th car out to time) led 19 cars under Travis Whitney's track record (11.927), by registering a lap of 11.583 second lap around the banked 3/8 mile oval in front of a packed house.. Jason Sides (28th car out) was second quick, followed by Terry McCarl (24th), Joey Saldana (21st), Jason Meyers (11th), Chad Kemenah (15th), Steve Kinser (5th), Kraig Kinser (7th), Mark Dobmeier (27th) and Danny Lasoski (16th). Conditions remained heavy through the heats, which saw little real action besides the speeds, and were non-stop. Matt Wasmund was the only driver who had ever competed previously at the facility.
Heat one (started): 1. S. Kinser 11 (2) 2. Lasoski 6 (1) 3. Hafertepe Jr. 15H (4) 4. Saldana 9 (3) 5. Craig Dollansky 19 (5) 6. Jac Haudenschild R19 (7) / 7. Lucas Wolfe 5w (6) 8. Skip Jackson 2 (8) 9. John VanDenBerg K9 (9) 10. Tony Kaus 3TK (10)
Heat two (started): 1. K. Kinser 20 (2) 2. Donny Schatz 15 (1) 3. Meyers 14 (3) 4. Sides 7s (4) 5. Johnny Herrera 2w (6) 6. Tim Kaeding 83 (7) / 7. Kaley Gharst 7K (5) 8. Tony Bruce Jr. 18 (8) 9. Lynton Jeffrey 12 (9)
Heat three (started): 1. Dobmeier 13 (2) 2. McCarl 24 (4) 3. Davey Heskin 56 (1) 4. Brian Ellenberger 22 (5) 5. Scott Winters 23w (6) 6. Brian Brown 21 (7) / 7. Matt Wasmund 4w (8) 8. Rob Kubli 7KX (9) 9. Kemenah 63 (3)
Kemenah came to a stop and exited before a lap could be completed. McCarl used a move on the high side to get around Heskin for second on the first lap. Kubli drove a Williams 7K team car to Gharst in his first ever 410 start. The winner of a 305 feature earlier this year, also had won in his first ever 360 start at Cedar Lake.
Dash (started): 1. Schatz (2) 2. K. Kinser (1) 3. Saldana (8) 4. Sides (5) 5. Meyers (7) 6. Dobmeier (9) 7. Lasoski (4) 8. McCarl (3) 9. S. Kinser (6) 10. Hafertepe Jr. (10)
Hafertepe flipped as the 6-lapper began in turn one. S. Kinser had talked about there needing to be more lighting on the track so he could see, then promptly ran over McCarl's right rear and flipped after the red was thrown for Hafertepe. He was uninjured. WoO rules dictate no tire changes for the dash, so McCarl was done as well with a flat. Schatz led the distance, while Saldana cruised into third. Dobmeier passed Lasoski on the high side at the halfway point to grab a row three starting spot in the feature.
B main (started): 1. Gharst (2) 2. Kemenah (1) 3. Wolfe (3) 4. Jackson (4) 5. Wasmund (6) 6. Bruce Jr. (5) / 7. Jeffrey (8) 8. Kubli (9) 9. VanDenBerg (7) 10. Kaus (10)
Kemenah led the 10-lapper early, but Gharst had the faster car and took control on lap four. Using the high side, he cruised to a 1/4 lap win in the non-stop event.
A main (started): 1. Saldana (3) 2. Schatz (1) 3. Meyers (5) 4. Lasoski (7) 5. S. Kinser (9) 6. Kemenah (11) 7. Haudenschild (19) 8. Sides (4) 9. Dollansky (13) 10. Heskin (12) 11. Kaeding (20) 12. Bruce Jr. (24) 13. Ellenberger (15) 14. K. Kinser (2) 15. Herrera (17) 16. Jackson (22) 17. Brown (21) 18. Wolfe (16) 19. Wasmund (23) 20. Gharst (14) 21. Dobmeier (6) 22. McCarl (8) 23. Winters (18) 24. Hafertepe Jr. (10)
Before a lap could be completed in the 35-lapper, Kaeding contacted the rear of Winters in turn three, and both went for a spin. They both got repairs made in the pit area and rejoined the field. K. Kinser took the early lead, but teammate Schatz took the advantage on lap six. Four laps later, K. Kinser had a flat, and Brown came to a stop at the bottom of turn two. Both would restart, with K. Kinser getting the tire changed. Kaeding, who had restarted at the tail, was already up to tenth. Schatz led Saldana, Meyers, Dobmeier and Sides back to green. One more lap was in the books when a fifth running Dobmeier slid up turn two and backed into the wall before flipping. McCarl tried to make quick maneuvers to avoid him, but fell to the same fate, as both went off on the hook. Gharst was more than holding his own running twelfth, when he too met the turn two wall and turned over. No one was hurt. Schatz led Saldana, Meyers, Sides and Lasoski back to green flag racing. Kaeding was continuing his quest forward and had the momentum to pass S. Kinser for sixth in turn four. Unfortunately, the King veered in front of him and Kaeding hammered the brakes sending himself into a spin. He again rejoined the pack at the tail on lap 16. Schatz was still the leader ahead of Saldana and Meyers. Lasoski had taken fourth ahead of Sides and S. Kinser. The remaining 19 laps went non-stop with the the lead trio, who are also in a tight points battle rode the high side around Deer Creek. With five laps to go, strategy came into play, and Saldana slid briefly in front of Schatz in turn four. The leader used his momentum to retain the lead. Meyers took a shot at Saldana shortly after, and Schatz pulled away a bit as they dueled. Saldana regained his momentum, and shot under Schatz coming off turn four coming for the white flag. He held the spot to claim the $10,000 win. Haudenschild was the hard-charger.
Underdog bonuses...
If I understand correctly, Deer Creek gave the following bonuses as part of their "Underdog Awards"...
1. $1000 to the highest finisher finishing in the C back at the Knoxville Nationals - (Sides)
2. $1000 to the highest finisher in the top 10 in Knoxville points (Heskin)
3. $1000 to the highest finisher in the top 10 in IRA points (None)
$500 to next highest finisher in the above categories (Herrera)