Kasey Kahne Racing driver battles past Kaeding, Kinsers for breakthrough win
GRAND FORKS , N.D. - June 21, 2013 - Cody Darrah used everything he had to win the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series feature event win at River Cities Speedway on Friday night. Through start after restart after restart and countless assaults from the sport's best competitors, Darrah rose to the occasion to earn the victory.
Darrah eventually led the first 10 laps of the feature in the SurePointMedical.com GF1 after several attempts to start the race were thwarted by accidents occurring before a lap could be completed. Drivers involved in incidents included a pair Outlaws, Kerry Madsen and Jason Sides.
Joey Saldana was the first driver to take a run at Darrah, and after working up from the fourth position he took the lead on lap 11. The lead was brief as Saldana quickly encountered traffic, slowing him to allow Darrah back around on the next lap. Saldana's night then ended quickly as a tire went down sending him off track in turn one and over the banking, resulting in a hard impact with the outside wall. He walked away but would miss out on a chance to win for the third time in his career at River Cities.
With Saldana out of competition Tim Kaeding moved into the second spot. On the double file restart, Kaeding and Steve Kinser both got past Darrah, who dug deep and regained second from Steve Kinser after first getting around Kraig Kinser in the wild A-main action.
With just six laps to go Darrah recaptured the lead, and held off Kaeding to take the win.
In all, there were five official lead changes among three different drivers in the wild A-main.
"It was typical me, my features usually play out like a roller coaster," said Darrah, of Red Lion, Pa. "I have good runs, then there's one mistake where I fall back. It was kind of a good time for me to get back in a bad position. I was being timid and trying to save my tire when I was out in front, and when I got behind I just drove as hard as I could."
Kaeding, a short track specialist, held on for the second place finish.
"This Roth Enterprise H3 Cattle car has been running great all year, we came out to win races and hopefully we can keep doing that," said Kaeding, of San Jose, Calif. "Tonight showed we're definitely a top 5 car and a contender every night. We had a lot of brake issues throughout the night, and I'm not going to put anything on the brakes, it was me driving the car."
Third place exchanged hands several times throughout the night, but in the end it was Steve Kinser capturing the spot in the Bad Boy Buggies/J.D. Byrider Maxim.
"We were better, I went from tight to a little bit on the loose side," said Kinser, of Bloomington, Ind. "I've been trying some of the stuff I've always run the rest of my life, now I'm freeing this thing up and it feels better so we'll see what happens."
Daryn Pittman gave up points to second place in the championship standings, Donny Schatz, who finished fourth while Pittman was 11thafter starting 13th. Third-place in the champion standings, Paul McMahan, charged from the 22nd starting position to finish 7th.
Pittman still leads with 4,790 points while Schatz trails by 119 and McMahan sits third 136 behind Pittman.
The World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series is back on track tomorrow night at I-94 Speedway in Fergus Falls, Minn.
RIVER CITIES SPEEDWAY NOTEBOOK
NOTES - Sammy Swindell was the fastest qualifier around high-banked, 1/4-mile oval with a time of 10.151 seconds to earn five championship points. Also earning points were Donny Schatz (4 points), Kraig Kinser (3), Craig Dollansky (2) and Kerry Madsen (1). ... Sammy Swindell, Chris Shirek, Mark Dobmeier and Tim Kaeding won heat races. ... The dash draw was an 8 for the 10th time this year. ... Cody Darrah won the dash for the first time this year.
CONTINGENCY WINNERS - MSD Ignitions ($25 cash): Austin Pierce; MSD Ignitions ($50 cash): Tim Kaeding; STP ($50 cash): Tim Kaeding; Bruce High Performance Transporters ($50 cash): Steve Kinser; JE Pistons ($50 cash): Paul McMahan; UNOH ($50 cash): Mark Dobmeier; American Racing Custom Wheels ($50 cash): Paul McMahan; VP Racing Fuels ($50 cash): Craig Dollansky; Edelbrock ($50 cash): David Gravel; Comp Cams ($50 cash): David Gravel; Cometic Gasket ($50 cash): Chad Kemenah; Superflow ($50 cash): Jason Sides; Klotz Synthetic Lubricants ($50 cash): Ryan Wilson;KSE Racing Products ($100 certificate): Paul McMahan; Penske Shocks ($100 certificate): David Gravel;Armor All (case of product): Tim Kaeding; Comp Cams ($50 certificate): Cody Darrah; Bruce High Performance Transporters ($200 certificates): Paul McMahan, Chad Kemenah, Austin Pierce; JE Pistons (set of rings): Ryan Wilson and Kerry Madsen.
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- Admin Account on Jun 22, 2013
- Article Date: 6/22/2013