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Eldora
Speedway...
Intense
World of Outlaws Sprint
67 Feature
Wins Among Top Five in Current Points Chase Going Into Outlaw Thunder
by
Goodyear
ROSSBURG,
Ohio (April 30) – A hotly contested points chase within the World of
Outlaws
(WoO) Sprint Car Series, could get even more intense when the
travelling tour
invades Eldora Speedway Friday and Saturday for the Outlaw Thunder by
Goodyear
weekend. Four of
the top five drivers in
the 2012 cumulative points chase have combined for a total of 67
feature wins
on the fabled .500 mile clay oval since the series made its debut in
1978, to
account for 48% of the 137 completed events.
Seven times
this season the WoO points chase has swapped hands and going into
Friday’s
Eldora chase Sammy Swindell, an 18 time Eldora winner heads up the
current
tally, with that much of a margin – seven – over Donny Schatz, who has
prevailed at Eldora four times. Joey
Saldana, with 10 Eldora triumphs, sits in third, 25 markers behind
Swindell,
while Steve Kinser, the leading Eldora winner at 35 checkered flags,
holds down
fourth, 57 points behind the leader, and son Kraig Kinser, still
seeking his
first Eldora win, is one more point behind his father.
Swindell, a
three-time WoO champion, is coming off his third victory of the season
as he
enters the Eldora weekend in pursuit of his first victory there since
2006.
That is a long dry spell by Swindell standards and with his confidence
level
running high, it could leave the balance of the field chasing for
runner-up honors.
Also
experiencing Eldora dry spells are Schatz and Steve Kinser, who look
back at
their Kings Royal victories in 2009 and 2010 respectively as their last
visits
to the hallowed Eldora victory stage.
Meanwhile, Saldana is coming into the
Goodyear sponsored weekend with
two Eldora WoO wins in 2011, including the season opener and closer. It was the
season closing win in September
that was a confidence boost for Saldana.
He had crashed badly during the Kings
Royal with injuries that took him
off the tour and a possible chase for the championship.
He returned to racing two days prior to
the
September Four Crown win and won with vengeance.
Hoping to
crack into the top five during the Eldora WoO doubleheader weekend is
Craig
Dollansky. Dollansky
is the quickest
driver to ever have toured the Eldora high-banks, with a clocking of
12.707
seconds in 2002, and he has registered feature wins four times. But it has been since 2008
that he has tasted
victory there. He
finds himself sitting
7th in the WoO points chase going into Friday, only 45 points out of
the top
five.
While those
six drivers will be competing in their own race within a race, the
balance of
the field will be chasing the checkered flag each night as well, in
search of a
coveted win and a position in Eldora Speedway history.
A complete
program of WoO Sprint Car racing will take place Friday and Saturday in
the
Goodyear sponsored weekend, with Eldora’s Stock Cars rounding out the
doubleheader program on Friday night and the UMP DIRTcar Modifieds on
Saturday
night. The event will be another flame, firework and pyrotechnic-filled
weekend
of sensory overloading excitement, mixed with unleashed horsepower.
Tickets for the Outlaw Thunder by Goodyear,
the Kings Royal weekend, and all other Eldora events are available
through the
track office at (937) 338-3815 or online 24 hours a day at
www.EldoraSpeedway.com. Like
us at
www.Facebook.com/EldoraSpeedway or catch all the behind-the-scenes
preparation
for the event on Twitter @EldoraSpeedway.
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