Some drivers always feel confident going to a particular race track. Lebanon Valley Speedway in New York has become that type of track for Craig Dollansky who has claimed two of the last three World of Outlaws victories at the half-mile. On Sunday, the Big Game Treestands #7 team continued the East Coast swing traveling further north for their annual visit to the high-banked facility in West Lebanon.
23 drivers signed in for battle to get the night of racing underway and in qualifying ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ darted around the half-mile oval faster than anyone else at an average speed of 130 miles per hour to score his 7th quick-time of the season. In heat #1 the Aggressive Hydraulics sponsored sprinter started outside row two and motored into 2nd to earn a spot in the dash. After the four pill inversion was drawn for the dash, Dollansky again started outside row two and similar to the heat race powered up to 2nd by the completion of the 6-lap event.
In the 25-lap A-Main the MobileStar #7 started outside the front row alongside Joey Saldana. As the main event got underway Saldana jumped out to the early lead with Dollansky in tow as the top duo approached lapped traffic by just the sixth circuit. As the laps quickly clicked off, Dollansky stuck right with the #9 and looked to assume the point on the bottom with 5 laps to go but couldn’t quite secure it. On the next go-around ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ worked the high side in turn 1 & 2 to rocket into the top spot down the backstretch and lead lap 21. Following the only caution, Dollansky used a great double-file restart to maintain his lead and then widened the gap between himself and the competition in the remaining four laps cruising to the checkered flag for the 6th time this season.
“I owe it to my crew after Saturday night. DJ, Luke, Nathan, and Sean who has been helping us work extra hard,” commented Dollansky who moved to within 11 points of 1st in the championship standings. “What a great job by them and this entire race team; Brian Morrison does a great job with our motor program, Maxim Chassis, Integra Shocks, and everyone behind this team. Like I always say it’s always a team effort and takes everybody to win and do their job.”
The victory was not only the third of the last four events at Lebanon Valley Speedway but also marked the 50th career World of Outlaws win for the Elk River, Minnesota native.
“I love this race track, it’s a fun track and definitely wasn’t a gimme. Joey got us on the start and was running a good pace but when we circled around him while dealing with lapped traffic I felt like we had a pretty good race car and felt comfortable. What a great win for Big Game Treestands, Aggressive Hydraulics, MobileStar, Aeroquip, and Spectro Oil which is located up here.”
Additional photos of Sunday's win can be found on the CDR website, www.dollanskyracing.com/content/lebanon-valley-victory.
The Big Game Treestands #7 team now travels across the border for four events in Canada beginning on Friday, July 27th, at Autodrome Granby in Quebec.
Photos courtesy of Ayers Racing Images
- Craig Dollansky Racing on Jul 23, 2012
- Article Date: 7/23/2012 by Reid VanEck - CDR Public Relations