PETERSEN MEDIA: Craig Dollansky and his Destiny Motorsports team came back refreshed after having a week off, as Dollansky was able to tally three Top-10 finishes, including a third place run on Sunday night.
The busy three-race week kicked off last Wednesday night as Dollansky made his first ever start at the Placerville Speedway in Placerville, CA in what was the series’ first appearance at the track in 23 years.
37 cars took to the high-banked ¼ mile bullring, and Dollansky got his night started off by timing in 13th quickest, before winning his heat race in convincing fashion. Moving into the dash, the Elk River, MN driver would finish in the sixth position, putting the MonDak Portables/Aggressive Hydraulics/Benic Enterprises No. 7 machine in the third row for the 35-lap feature event.
The feature event saw Dollansky hook up in a very hard fought battle with California driver, Jonathan Allard, as they raced for position inside the Top-10. A racy track saw multiple grooves develop, and Dollansky stayed in the hunt through the duration of the night. A couple of attempts at a green-white-checkered finish shook things up, and Dollansky would cross the stripe with a ninth place finish.
“I enjoyed going to Placerville Speedway for the first time, it was a great little track,” Dollansky said. “It had a couple of grooves, which is what you want in order to put on a good show for the fans. We were able to get a Top-10 out of it. We weren’t quite where we wanted to be with our car, and I ran a conservative race as we continue to work on getting our cars comfortable for me.”
Saturday and Sunday saw the series invade the Calistoga Speedway for a pair of events. Timing in 16th fastest, Dollansky would make the heat race inversion, and go on to win his second heat race of the week, and put the Rick Rogers Construction/Maxim Chassis/Boss Signs and Graphics No. 7 machine in the Dash.
Following an eighth place run in the Dash, Dollansky would line up in the fourth row for the 25-lap man event, and as the laps clicked off, ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ seemed to get better and better and he worked his way forward.
Late in the race, Dollansky battled with Kerry Madsen for the fifth spot, and would take the position until the red flew on the 22nd lap. The ensuing restart did not go Dollansky’s way, but he was able to finish in the seventh spot.
The Sunday night program was a very strong night for the Destiny Motorsports team, and Dollansky, and it started out with a 10th quick effort in time trials.
Grabbing his third heat race win of the week, Dollansky would run second in the dash to six time series champion, Donny Schatz, and start on the front row for the final race of the week.
Beating Schatz in a drag race into turn one, Dollansky rode the Calistoga Speedway cushion into the lead, and began opening it up, as he pulled away from the field. Looking very strong up front, Schatz and Jason Sides would begin to erase Dollansky’s lead as the cushion became difficult to maneuver on.
Exiting turn two on the 13th lap, Schatz would grab the lead as Dollansky drifted up the track. Falling back to the third spot, Dollansky would gather his machine up and go back after Schatz and Sides.
A late restart saw Dollansky power by Sides, and pull along Schatz as the battle for the lead intensified with Dollansky all over Schatz’s rear bumper. With Schatz able to break away in the closing laps, Sides would sneak by Dollansky for the second spot at the finish line.
“Calistoga was as nice as I have ever seen it after the improvements they made since the last time I was there in 2013,” Dollansky noted. “The first night we would have finished in the Top-5 somewhere had it not have been for the last red flag. We lost some air pressure, and had to hang on at the end to get a seventh place finish out of it. Sunday night we had a car in the game, and a car I feel was good enough to win with. We led early running the top, but the cushion started coming apart and developing ruts, and became more challenging to make speed, and at that point we started to struggle some. The bottom became to preferred line half way through the main event after they reworked it following the B Main. I felt like we were better off running the cushion. I am very proud of my entire team, and the hard work and effort each week that they put in to help us get stronger. We have made some big gains, and as much as we all would have liked to win this past weekend, if we keep working hard together as a team we will get to winning some races.”
Destiny Motorsports would like to thank MonDak Portables, Aggressive Hydraulics, Benic Enterprises, Rick Rogers Construction, Maxim Chassis, Boss Signs and Graphics, Dakota Fluid Power, Bob’s Bike Shop, Rod End Supply, Ft. Union Supply and Trading, Driver Websites, Petersen Media, , GME Manufacturing, ButlerBuilt, Simpson Race Products, Parker Engines, Keizer Wheels, DMI, Red Devil Brakes, Champion Oil, All Pro Cylinder Heads, Fibreworks, Stone Mountain Access, and Hoosier Tire for their support in 2015.
ON TAP: Craig Dollansky and his Destiny Motorsports team will be in action this Friday night in Hanford, CA before closing out their extended stay in California on Saturday night at the Perris Auto Speedway.
2015 DESTINY MOTORSORTS BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-22, Wins-0, Top 5’s-2, Top 10’s-6
STAY CONNECTED: Stay updated with Destiny Motorsports by connecting via social media, www.facebook.com/destinymotorsports, and on Twitter, @DestinyMS7. You can also check us out on the web at www.destinymotorsportsinc.com. To stay up to speed with Craig Dollansky you can follow him on Twitter @CraigDollansky or visit his website at www.dollanskyracing.com.
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- Petersen Media on Apr 15, 2015
- Article Date: 4/15/2015