Ties Bobby Allen for 17th on the all-time wins list; both drivers have 25 career wins
HAUBSTADT, Ind. - May 3, 2015 - Paul McMahan lived up to his nickname, 'Pauls to the Walls,' Sunday night at Tri-State Speedway as he waged a fierce battle with Brady Bacon and scored his second World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series win of the season on a slider with eight laps to go.
"I'll tell you what, man I love this place," McMahan said in victory lane. "This place has been so good to me."
McMahan, who started the night in third, maintained through a caution plagued first third of the race. He got his opportunity to take a shot at the lead on lap 13.
Rico Abreu, who stole the show in the opening laps as he tried every possible line and move to get around Bacon, tried to cross under the leader in turns 1 and 2 for the lead. As he hit the middle of the corner, the lapped car of Kerry Madsen was on the bottom of the track. Abreu made contact with Madsen and subsequently flipped. He was OK.
That moved McMahan into the second position. On the restart, McMahan took up Abreu's mantle and searched for a way around the young driver.
"Brady had an awesome racecar," McMahan said. "In clean air he was a lot better than we were."
Bacon eventually got himself free of McMahan, but as he approached lapped traffic on lap 21, McMahan began closing the gap once again. The pivotal restart came on lap 32 after Shane Stewart got into the turns 1 and 2 wall and brought out a red flag.
"I had one shot at (Bacon) on that restart," McMahan said. "I was able to get a pretty good restart and get a good run on him. Instead of trying to slide him down there in one and two I just thought I'll follow him there and then try to slide him down there. Down in three and four, you get down in there and it takes off on you in the dust. I didn't know if I had enough room or not to go for the lead."
Bacon tried to block McMahan and got pushed up into the turn four wall.
"When he slid me into three I should have just let him go and just crossed back underneath him," Bacon said. "But I tried to block him and we both about crashed off of four."
Bacon lost momentum and was forced to hold off Joey Saldana running in third. He eventually ran McMahan back down but a caution flag came out with three to go.
"That yellow came out and he was just a little better on restarts than I was," Bacon said. "I need to get my car a little better on restarts, that's pretty much what cost me the race."
McMahan parked his car in victory lane, taking home his second World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series win of the season.
"We were getting better as the race went on but I still don't think I had enough for Brady until that caution came out," McMahan said.
The win came a night after McMahan got a DNF following an expired engine late in the feature at Pevely. McMahan credited his team and crew chief Barry Jackson with bouncing back after a frustrating night and some recent bad luck.
"Yesterday we were all down in the dumps when we lost a motor," McMahan said. "This is just the way our team is. We just bounce right back and come back and win the race."
With his win Sunday night, McMahan tied Bobby Allen for 17th on the World of Outlaws all-time wins list. Both drivers have 25 wins.
Joey Saldana, who started on the pole, spent much of the night fending off challenges from Kraig Kinser and, later, a surging Donny Schatz for the third position. Saldana briefly gave up the position to Kinser in the middle portion of the race but was able to hold Kinser and Schatz off through multiple restarts.
Saldana said he was disappointed with the night and the finish after starting up front.
"We just missed it," Saldana said. "We over adjusted on our racecar and never had anything for him. Just have to do a better job of it and head into next week. Hopefully we can continue to be consistent like this."
Late in the night Schatz battled with Saldana for the third position but was unable to make the move. He took home the KSE Racing Hard Charger Award after advancing 16 positions to finish in fourth.
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series returns to action next week at historic Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio for the 'Mother' of all sprint car weekends. The Series joins the USAC National Sprints for the first time ever on Friday, May 8 and Saturday, May 9. Tickets are just $25 for general admission. Find out more information about the event and how to buy tickets at http://woosprint.com/eldora-speedway.
Follow the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WorldofOutlaws, like it on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WorldofOutlaws, or check out the latest videos on YouTube at www.youtube.com/WorldofOutlaws.
Tri-State Speedway Notebook
RACE NOTES: Paul McMahan scored his second World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series victory of the season… Paul McMahan is now tied with Bobby Allen for 17th on the all-time wins list. Both drivers have 25 series wins… Shane Stewart collected his fourth quick time of the season tonight. He is now tied with Kerry Madsen for the most so far in 2015… Donny Schatz was the KSE Racing Hard Charger, advancing 16 positions to finish in fourth.
CONTINGENCY WINNERS - MSD Ignitions ($25 cash): Chad Kemenah; MSD Ignitions ($50 cash): Paul McMahan; Sweet Manufacturing ($50 cash): Shane Stewart; Penske Shocks ($50 cash): Donny Schatz; Mobil 1 ($50 cash): Donny Schatz; JE Pistons ($50 cash): Brad Loyet; Lincoln Welders ($50 cash): Brad Sweet; VP Racing Fuels ($50 cash): Jason Sides; Edelbrock ($50 cash): Paul May; Comp Cams ($50 cash): Paul May; Cometic Gasket ($50 cash): David Gravel; Super Flow ($50 cash): David Gravel; Sweet Manufacturing ($50 product certificate): Paul McMahan; KSE Racing Products ($100 product certificate): Donny Schatz; Comp Cams ($50 product certificate): Paul McMahan; Mobil 1 (20% off Mobil1RacingStore.com): Logan Schuchart; JE Pistons (Set of Rings): Jamie Veal; JE Pistons (Set of Rings): Logan Schuchart.
SEASON WINNERS: Donny Schatz - 6 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 14, Stockton Dirt Track on March 21, Silver Dollar Speedway on March 28, Placerville Speedway on April 8, Calistoga Speedway on April 12, Devil's Bowl Speedway on April 26); Shane Stewart - 3 (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 5, Keller Auto Speedway on April 17, Salina Highbanks Speedway on May 1); Rico Abreu - 2 (Thunderbowl Raceway on March 14, Stockton Dirt Track on March 22); Paul McMahan - 2 (Perris Auto Speedway on April 18, Tri-State Speedway on May 3); Daryn Pittman - 2 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 13, Antioch Speedway on March 29); Brad Sweet - 2 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 15, Calistoga Speedway on April 11); Christopher Bell - 1 (Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on May 2); Brian Brown - 1 (USA Raceway on March 7); Tim Kaeding - 1 (Thunderbowl Raceway on March 13); Terry McCarl - 1 (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 5).
- administrator on May 04, 2015
- Article Date: 5/4/2015