The month of May opened up on Saturday for Craig Dollansky and the Big Game Treestands #7 team as they prepared for another night of action at Knoxville Raceway on a beautiful day for racing in southern Iowa.
Following hotlaps the 410 sprints prepared for qualifying with Dollansky turning a lap of 15.456 seconds, 4th fastest among the 33 drivers. Sixteen cars inverted in four heat races then put the Eyecon Trail Cameras Maxim outside row two of heat four where Dollansky chased Ian Madsen to the checkered flag finishing in the runner-up position.
In the 20-lap A-Main the Elk River, Minnesota native took the green from inside row three. After a red flag on lap 6 and a caution two circuits later, a great restart saw Dollansky pass Ian Madsen and run fourth before the final caution just after the halfway point. With only nine laps remaining, the Aggressive Hydraulics #7 took third from Lynton Jeffrey on the restart and set his sights on Terry McCarl and leader Brian Brown but took a podium finish in 3rd when the checkered flag waved.
“It was a solid night all the way through for our team. We didn’t get a very good pill draw and went out late but it was a good qualifying effort,” explained the pilot of the Big Game #7. “In the feature we were able to get a top three and continued to make progress. We’re not where we want to be with our car but I’m happy with the progress made.”
On Sunday the Big Game Treestands #7 team concluded the weekend with a late decision to travel to Oshkosh Speedzone Raceway in Wisconsin for a Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprint Series event that was postponed from a couple weeks prior due to inclement weather.
With the program starting a bit earlier than normal, the #7 team arrived just before qualifying as 25 sprints signed in for competition. Battling sunny and windy conditions, Dollansky was the final car to qualify and timed in 13th but capitalized on a front row starting spot in heat one jumping out to the point and winning the 10-lap event.
A redraw of ninth for the 25-lap A-Main then put the Aggressive Hydraulics backed sprinter inside row five where Dollansky went to work early methodically working his way to the front before claiming the top spot before a yellow on lap 8. Following another caution six circuits later, ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ continued to set the pace opening up his advantage on the field and working the highside through lapped traffic the final few laps before claiming his 10th career IRA triumph.
“It was a spur of the moment decision to go to Oshkosh but I’m glad we did, it’s good to get on a different type of track with different conditions,” commented Dollansky. “We ended up starting in the fifth row and the track was pretty racy the first ten laps and we were able to get the lead and learn some things getting the win. It was a good weekend for our team and Scott, Brian, and Garrett did a great job.”
- Craig Dollansky Racing on May 05, 2014
- Article Date: 5/5/2014 by Reid VanEck - CDR Public Relations