Steve Kinser does what he does best — win

Print Story

Email to Friend

Discuss this story

Joey Saldana started on the pole Friday night, but Kinser, a native of Bloomington, Ind., prevailed.

HARTFORD — Steve Kinser's birthday is not until Saturday, but he gave himself an early present Friday night at Sharon Speedway, winning his second straight World of Outlaws A-Feature event and sixth of the season before a capacity crowd at the 3/8-mile track.

The 20-time series champion dove under Joey Saldana coming off the second turn on lap 18 and powered his way to the lead down the back straightway. He led the rest of the way, recording his fourth A-Feature win with the series at the track, and pocketed the $10,000 top prize.

"I've always run well here, and I enjoy racing here," said Kinser, driver of the Q Oil Maxim. "We had a good night."

Withstands restarts

Kinser lined up third for the 35-lap event, with Ed Lynch Jr. taking the initial lead, and pacing the first three circuits. Kinser fell back to the fourth spot in the early going. He got around Lynch on the 12th lap to claim the third position and set his sights on Jason Solwold, charging past him on the 17th lap, before making the pass for the lead and ultimately the win on the next go-around. The native of Bloomington, Ind., had to withstand two late restarts that gave Saldana a couple of chances to battle for the top spot.

"We had a good car," said Kinser. "I had a good line, and they would have had to have done it on the first lap [on the restart] to get a good run on me. After a lap, I felt pretty comfortable out there."

Similar to his win Monday night at Rolling Wheels Raceway Park, Kinser patiently waited for his car to come to him over the course of the 35-lap event. In traffic he continually gained on the leaders and like he did on Monday night, he used this to his advantage. In open race track he pulled away in the late going.

Too tight early

"I was a little bit too tight early and that was killing some speed," he explained. "Once I was able to swing it out a little wider, I got a little bit better."

Saldana started on the pole Friday night after winning the Crane Cams Dash and ran second for the first three laps behind Lynch before going to the low side of the track in turn four to take the lead. The native of Brownsburg, Ind., held the point until the lead pack entered heavy traffic, giving Kinser the opening he needed to pounce on the lead.

"It was another good run for us," said Saldana, driver of the Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI. "I was really good in the dash, and I think we freed our car up way too much for the feature. We paid the price at the end."

Entertaining battle

Saldana's runner-up finish was his 17th top five finish of the season as he continues to chase to Donny Schatz for the top spot in the championship standings. He and Schatz staged an entertaining battle over the last five laps of the race, with Saldana retaining the position. The 1996 rookie of the year then held off a late charge by Danny Lasoski at the finish line by less than a tenth of a second.

"I wish we could do this all over again, because I think we would have had a better car," said Saldana. "It's always easier saying that after the fact. Steve [Kinser] had a good car and we were hanging in there. We got a shot at him on the restart, but had nothing for him. We hung on and we'll go on to the next race and try not to make the same mistake again."

Sunday, June 3, 2007