Craig Dollansky and the TKS Motorsports team traveled to New Richmond, Wisconsin just east of Minneapolis this past weekend to battle the World of Outlaws in front of many hometown fans. In 17 appearances at the high-banked 3/8-mile dating back to 1993, ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ has recorded two victories to go along with 6 top-ten finishes.
After timing in 8th fastest among the 31 cars for the first night of action on Saturday, Dollansky was in a good position for heat two starting on the outside pole. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned as the Aggressive Hydraulics backed entry was called for jumping the start and then ran out of fuel in the last few laps of the 10-lap event due to all the laps run under caution. Relegated to the B-Main, Dollansky started on the pole and led all 12 circuits transferring into the feature and getting his qualifying time back.
Lining up inside row five for the 35-lap A-Main, the Casey’s General Stores Maxim got off to a bit of a rough start dropping a couple positions before the first yellow on lap 3. When the green replaced the yellow, the Elk River, Minnesota native battled around the top-ten until just after the halfway point when a packed right rear tire forced the #2KS to come to a stop on lap 19. Able to rejoin the tail end of the field, Dollansky primarily worked the bottom of the track the remainder of the feature advancing to 15th before the checkered flag waved.
Back at Cedar Lake Speedway on Sunday for the finale of the Outlaw Showdown presented by Aggressive Hydraulics, ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ was the fastest car after getting a feel for the car in hotlaps. Unfortunately, similar to Saturday, the night hit a bit of a hole in qualifying as Dollansky missed the 12-car heat inversion in qualifying by a mere .004” seconds. Starting inside row three in heat competition, the Des Moines Industrial Products (DMIP) sprinter would finish 4th to transfer directly into the A-Main.
Starting mid-pack outside row six in the Sunday night feature, Dollansky maintained position before a pair of caution by lap 8. Following a long stretch of green flag action, the Stone Mountain Access backed entry battled around the top ten by lap 22 and then gained a couple positions to run 9th four circuits later. With just nine laps remaining, the field bottled up on the ensuing restart and Dollansky dropped a couple spots but rebounded on the final restart with two to go surging to a top-ten finish in 8th.
“I was really happy with the continued progress that we have made in a short time racing together,” commented Dollansky. “The 2KS team and I are getting stronger as Troy and I work very well together and we’re also complimented with great people support systems. Saturday our results didn’t reflect what they should have been had we not had the heat and feature issues. Sunday we drew a late number to qualify but I was happy with our car and speed after hotlaps, although the track slowed down in qualifying we gained positions in the heat and A-Main. The entire TKS Motorsports team did a great job, we just all need to continue working hard together and the wins will come.”
Team owner and well-known crew chief Troy Renfro is also encouraged about where the team is headed as they continue to improve.
“Scott Parker, Chad Lander, and everyone on the team did a great job,” commented Renfro. “Racing with the Outlaws you see where your program is at as we continue to get better and make more changes since Craig came on board. We were happy to get up to Cedar Lake not only to support the event Aggressive Hydraulics sponsored, but also a good change of scenery that we needed.
“Visiting with Craig’s family was also enjoyable and they are all great people. For me it used to be about being on the road but now it’s about family and having them all be a part of this is the best thing I’ve done.”
Check out Craig Dollansky Racing online at facebook.com/dollanskyracing for the latest information on the TKS Motorsports team including action shots from Cedar Lake Speedway.
- Craig Dollansky Racing on Jul 14, 2015
- Article Date: 7/14/2015 by Reid VanEck - CDR Public Relations