California driver gets World of Outlaws victory
Jason Meyers isn't a name associated with winning World of Outlaws races at Lernerville Speedway, but the California native served notice Tuesday night.
“We've had a great start to this season,” Meyers said. “Taking the points lead tonight is a good thing, and it's where we want to be at the end of the season. We have worked hard for a lot of years. We've taken a lot of second- and third-place finishes to get to this point.”
Meyers took home $10,000 after winning the First Commonwealth Bank Clash — his second career feature win at Lernerville. Terry McCarl finished second and Chad Kemenah was third. Dale Blaney, who led the first eight laps, finished fourth, and Craig Dollansky was fifth.
“For the last few years, we have struggled here,” McCarl said. “We had a motor problem at the beginning of the night and never even got out to hot lap. The track was tricky tonight; you really had to drive it. We were good in traffic tonight, and that helped us.”
The most disappointed driver of the night had to be Ed Lynch Jr., who qualified second but completed just one lap in the feature before he pulled into the infield.
“Let's just say the fuel line came loose tonight,” Lynch said. “The car was 100 times better than it was this past weekend. I really thought we had something for them tonight. In the dash, I was just trying different things. It's disappointing; just put it to driver error.”
Saldana registered the fastest time of the night — 12.813 seconds — but he was well off the record pace he set May 14, 2002. That night Saldana set the track record with a time of 12.334 seconds.
Lynch was second fastest with a time of 12.828 seconds. Meyers was third with a 12.832; Greg Hodnett was fourth with a 12.845, and Jac Haudenschild rounded out the top five with a 12.846. In all, just 10 of the 44 cars recorded times less than 13 seconds.
Other qualifiers of note included Dale Blaney (13.063, 14th), Brian Ellenberger (13.070, 15th), 20-time WoO champion Steve Kinser (13.098, 18th), and Bobby Felmlee (13.104, 19th).
The top five in the heat races transferred to the feature. In the first heat, it was Chad Kemenah who took the checkered flag. Haudenschild was second with Brandon Wimmer in third and Saldana in fourth. Paul McMahan was in the final transfer spot.
In the second heat, Terry McCarl was never challenged on his way to the victory.
Dale Blaney followed him in second, Lynch was third, Steve Kinser fourth and Greg Wilson in fifth.
The Kinser name has been associated with almost everything that can be done in a Sprint Car, but it is a safe bet that Steve Kinser has never done what his son Kraig did in the third heat.
On the start, Kinser rolled his car at least two times between Turns 1 and 2.
That in itself was not unique, but the car came to a stop on its wheels, and it rolled for a bit before coming to a stop. Kinser was taken off the track on the hook but used one of his provisionals for the feature.
Lance Dewease was first, followed by Meyers, Donny Schatz, Ellenberger and Felmlee.
Kerry Madsen was first in the fourth and final heat.
Daryn Pittman, despite having a lot of smoke coming off his engine block, finished second.
Greg Hodnett was third. Fred Rahmer was fourth. Chad Blonde took the fifth and final transfer spot.
Randy Hannagan took the checkered flag in the C-Main to earn a spot in the B-Main.
In the six-lap Dash to set the front five rows for the feature, Haudenschild finished first and Dale Blaney finished second. Lynch finished ninth, and Dewease was 10th, and those two cars set the fifth row for the feature.
After the Dash, the B-Main took the top four finishers to the feature. Sam Hafertepe Jr. claimed the first spot, followed by Craig Dollansky, Mike Lutz and Jason Johnson. Notable drivers who did not earn a transfer spot included World of Outlaws regulars Timmy Shaffer and Lucas Wolfe. Shaffer was fifth and Wolfe sixth.
