Swindell Sweeps Inaugural Baxter Auto Parts / Auto Value Classic
Portland clay to his liking as he swept both the preliminary feature on
Friday and the 30-lap "A" main event on Saturday night. The Baxter Auto
Parts/Auto Value Classic was the first World of Outlaws event to be held at
the newly renovated North Portland facility.
Mark Kinser set the initial track record Friday night with a lap of 16.431,
but that was as close to the front as he would get the rest of the night.
The NAPA heat races were won by Danny Lasoski, Sammy Swindell, and Brian
Paulus. Sammy Swindell bested the other top qualifiers by winning the
Channellock Dash over Lasoski, Paulus, M. Kinser, and Stevie Smith.
With 18 cars locked into the "A" main, 12 sprint cars lined up for the "B"
with the #12 of Greg Hodnett taking the pole after a NAPA heat race flip.
Hodnett's crew got the car back together and he motored to victory in the 12
lap sprint. He was followed to the line by Kevin Journey, Greg Brown, Tony
Thomas, Rich Brown, and Mike Crawford, all of which transferred to the "A".
Twenty-four thundering sprint cars lined up for the "A" feature lead by
Sammy Swindell. As the cars lined up in their traditional four abreast
salute to the enthusiastic crowd, fireworks ignited over turn 2, sending
these winged warriors of to do battle. The race was slowed four times, as
drivers learned to negotiate the new racing surface. Sammy Swindell led
wire to wire to claim the $5,000 dollar preliminary victory. Mark Kinser
finished in second, with Steve Kinser up to third from his 12th starting
position. Joey Saldana and Dean Jacobs rounded out the top five.
Saturday nights action saw a little different track from the night before,
but the results were the same. Sammy Swindell again led flag to flag as the
sprinters went green, white, checker for the 30-lap race in front of the
largest crowd ever at the historic Portland Speedway. "The track was real
smooth and very drivable. The lapped cars posed a little problem at times,
but you could race them on the outside," Swindell stated in victory lane.
Mark Kinser finished second, with Danny Lasoski coming home third after
mechanical gremlins forced him to a 13th place finish on Friday. "The track
was in real good shape, you could tell these guys put a lot of work into it,
it is one of the best surfaces we race on all year," Lososki stated.
Rounding out the top five were Joey Saldana and Donny Schatz.
The World of Outlaws will return to Portland in 2001 for the 2nd Annual
Baxter Auto Parts/Auto Value Classic. Event tickets will go on sale around
the first of the year. Log onto to www.portlandspeedway.com for all the
latest news and information about "The Dirt Track" at Portland Speedway.
Pennzoil World of Outlaws
Portland Speedway August 26, 2000
Vivarin Qualifying
1) Danny Lasoski, Roth 83, 17.130 2) Randy Hannagan, THR Motorsports 1X,
17.234 3) Donny Schatz, Schatz 15, 17.274 4) Greg Hodnett, Millennium
Motorsports V12, 17.308 5) Jac Haudenschild, Elden 22, 17.432 6) Brian
Paulus, P&P Motorsports 28, 17.586 7) Andy Hillenburg, Hillenburg 2, 17.683
8) Stevie Smith, Smith 19, 17.743 9) Johnny Herrera, DOCC Motorsports 20,
17.790 10) Tim Shaffer, Helm 11H, 17.812 11) Dean Jacobs, Holbrook 8H,
17.823 12) Dale Blaney, DB Racing 93, 17.907 13) Danny Wood, Woodburn 21W,
18.070 14) Daryn Pittman, Pittman 3, 18.085 15) Peter Murphy, Williams 0,
18.147 16) Jimmy Carr, Parsons 6, 18.247 17) Barry Martinez, Pierce 6PK,
18.985 18) Shannon Wheatly, Wheatly 45, 19.166 19) Donny Fry, Fry 34,
19.560 20) Kevin Journey, Journey 4J, 19.967 21) Rich Brown, Brown 17I,
20.321 22) Tony Thomas, Thomas 91, 20.428 23) Mike Crawford, Petruskin 8C,
20.612 24) Dan Dunlap, Dunlap 21D, 23.156 25) Mike Hinkle, Hinkle 9, No
Time 26) Bob McCord, McCord 33X, No Time 27) Brooke Tatnell, Parsons 6L,
No
Time
Locked into Channellock Dash by virture of top four finish in Friday
Preliminary Feature: Sammy Swindell, Swindell 1, Mark Kinser, Kinser 5M,
Steve Kinser, Kinser 11, Joey Saldana, Saldana 17
First NAPA heat race (8 laps)--1) Danny Lasoski 2) Greg Hodnett 3) Andy
Hillenburg 4) Tim Shaffer 5) Danny Wood 6) Jimmy Carr 7) Donny Fry 8)
Tony Thomas 9) Mike Hinkle (Top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
Second NAPA heat race (8 laps)--1) Randy Hannagan 2) Jac Haudenschild 3)
Dean Jacobs 4) Stevie Smith 5) Daryn Pittman 6) Barry Martinez 7) Mike
Crawford 8) Bob McCord 9) Kevin Journey (Top 5 finishers transferred to
A-feature)
Third NAPA heat race (8 laps)--1) Donny Schatz 2) Brian Paulus 3) Johnyn
Herrera 4) Dale Blaney 5) Peter Murphy 6) Rich Brown 7) Shannon Wheatly
8) Dan Dunlap (Top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
CHANNELLOCK DASH (6 laps)--1)Sammy Swindell 2) Mark Kinser 3) Joey Saldana
4) Steve Kinser 5) Danny Lasoski 6) Randy Hannagan 7) Donny Schatz
B-main (8 laps)--1)Jimmy Carr 2) Barry Martinez 3) Donny Fry 4) Shannon
Wheatly 5) Mike Crawford 6) Tony Thomas 7) Rich Brown 8) Kevin Journey
9) Bob McCord 10) Dan Dunlap 11) Mike Hinkle (Top 5 finishers transferred
to A-feature)
A-main (30 laps)--1) Sammy Swindell 2) Mark Kinser 3) Danny Lasoski 4)
Joey Saldana 5) Donny Schatz 6) Steve Kinser 7) Andy Hillenburg 8) Randy
Hannagan 9) Greg Hodnett 10) Brian Paulus 11) Johnny Herrera 12) Dean
Jacobs 13) Tim Shaffer 14) Stevie Smith 15) Daryn Pittman 16) Jac
Haudenschild 17) Dale Blaney 18) Danny Wood 19) Peter Murphy 20) Jimmy
Carr 21) Shannon Wheatly 22) Barry Martinez 23) Donny Fry 24) Mike
Crawford
Lap leaders: Sammy Swindell 1-30