Two wins in a week’s time have the TKS Motorsports #2KS team and driver Craig Dollansky on a roll at a good time. The Elk River, Minnesota driver picked up an $11,000 win last Friday night at Jackson Motorplex in Minnesota with the NSL. That followed the team’s first win at the Knoxville Raceway on July 16. This weekend finds the team competing in three NSL shows. Friday, they will vie for the $20,000 to win prize at Jackson, Saturday, they will be back at Knoxville and Sunday, they will travel to the Hancock County Speedway near Britt, Iowa. The team holds a slim lead over Danny Lasoski in the NSL standings heading in.
Craig timed in third quick at Knoxville on July 16 and seventh quick last Saturday. The team has come a long way in their qualifying at Knoxville. “We’ve been working on our setups at Knoxville,” says TKS Motorsports owner and crew chief, Troy Renfro. “Since mid-season, we haven’t gone there with the same setup. We’ve tried a lot of different things. I wouldn’t say we’re struggling at Knoxville, but we’re not quite where we want to be. We’re not quite where we both have been in the past, but it’s coming.”
The team currently sits fourth in the Knoxville Raceway point standings. “We’re probably going to end up where we’re at in points,” says Troy. “We could have made some gains there on the 16th, but Knoxville made that a non-points race, which I did not agree with.”
Troy feels good about the team’s engine program after his wins at Knoxville and Jackson. The team recorded another podium finish last Saturday at Knoxville. “We ran our 1 Way Technologies motor that Scott Gerkin takes care of on the 16th and at Jackson Friday,” he says. “It ran really well. We ran our HP motor this last Saturday at Knoxville, and it was great too.”
After qualifying seventh quick last Saturday at Knoxville, a second place heat finish had the team second in points for the night. With an invert of six, that meant starting the feature fifth. “We went back this weekend with a similar package as the week before,” says Troy. “We were pretty good. We were a little tight at the start and got bottled up. We fell backwards a ways, and came back strong. All in all, we were turning some really good lap times. We were pretty happy with that.”
The non-stop 25-lapper saw the team finish third. In their two previous wins, they started up front. “The draw is a big part of it anymore too,” says Troy. “You have to have things fall your way. Even if you start up front, you have to stay there and maintain it. You have to have some luck. It’s no different for anyone else. We qualified better than Brian Brown on Saturday. He usually qualifies really well. He ended up starting on the front row. So it falls that way for everyone. In the NSL deal, you have to get through your heat and accumulate points. Sometimes it falls your way, and sometimes it doesn’t.”
Troy says the mindset doesn’t change with three big races this weekend. “Our main thing right now is taking one race at a time. Right now, we are in a battle with (Danny) Lasoski in the NSL. They have a great team, and I feel like we have a great team as well. We look at it one race at a time and see where the cards fall. Everyone on our team is happy.”
He takes pride in where TKS Motorsports is right now in its second year. “I’ve done this my whole life, but I’ve never been a car owner,” says Troy. “Last year was a building year for us. This year, we’re trying to step it up. We’re a small team. We don’t have a hired crew on our team like the teams we’re competing against. But we have a really good team. Brad and Scott (Parker) and the others take time out of their lives and time off work to do this. I really appreciate what they do, and it makes me really proud of where we are as a team. It’s really satisfying when we run up front.”
Partnering with TKS Motorsports
TKS Motorsports is always open to new perspective partners! Whether you’d like to partner with the team for the full season, or put your company’s name on the nose wing for a night of your choice, contact Troy at tsrenfro8725@gmail.com!
TKS Motorsports would like to thank Casey's General Stores, Des Moines Industrial Products (DMIP), Aggressive Hydraulics, 1 Way Technologies, AL Driveline, AO Designs, All Star Performance, ATL Racing Fuel Cells, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Fibreworks Composites, FK Rod Ends, Hoosier, Indy Race Parts, KSE Racing Products, Mag Tech Ignition, Maxim Racing Chassis, Schoenfeld Headers, Schroeder Torsion Bars, Tony Moro Collision Center, Tony Moro Powdercoating & Sandblasting, Vahlco Wheels, Webb Family Farms, Wilwood, Winters Performance Products and Gail Dielman.
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Photo: The TKS team celebrates another $10,000 win at Jackson (Shannon Dyce Photography/NSL Photo)
- administrator on Jul 27, 2016
- Article Date: 7/27/2016