Concord, NC—July 26, 2010—
Morgan Cup On Tap in 2011-Williams Grove Speedway officials released details recently of the inaugural Morgan Cup that will take place in May of 2011, pitting the Top-Five World of Outlaws finishers and the Top-Five Pennsylvania Posse in this year’s Morgan Hughes Nationals against each other in a 12-lap dash, which will pay $10,000 to-win, with the victor also earning the coveted Morgan Cup. With Lance Dewease and Greg Hodnett’s wins last weekend, the PA Posse has now won eight straight against the World of Outlaws at Williams Grove heading into the National Open in the fall.
The level of competition just keeps rising: Lance Dewease won the opener of the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup Twin 30’s at Lernerville Speedway on July 20 to become the 14th different driver to visit Victory Lane with the World of Outlaws in 2010. Greg Hodnett and Doug Esh followed with wins on Saturday and Sunday, to bring the total number of winners this season with the series to 16. A total of 16 drivers were victorious last season in 67 total races. A total of 26 drivers have led laps in feature events thus far in 2010 with the World of Outlaws, surpassing the 25 that paced the field in 2009.
Mr. Consistent: Paul McMahan led the first 10 laps last Friday night in the opener of the Summer Nationals at Williams Grove Speedway, after winning the dash to earn the pole position. He jumped to an early lead over Chad Layton and Steve Kinser. He wound up fourth after his tires went away late in the race to earn his eighth Top-Five finish in a nine-race stretch. He led again the follow night coming home second to earn his ninth Top-10 in a 10 races, which was the most of any driver on the tour over that span. He wrapped up the weekend with a Top-10 at Lebanon Valley Speedway and has more Top-10 finishes in the last 11 races than any other drive on the tour. The veteran is currently sixth in points, less than 50 points out of the fifth spot.
It’s been a while: Jonathan Allard made his first visit to Williams Grove Speedway since 2004 last weekend for the Summer Nationals. He timed in 13th in a very strong 48-car field in the opener and won The Last Chance Showdown to earn a spot in the main event on Friday night, where he finished a very respectable 17th, which was a career-best effort at the half-mile. The two-time King of California came up just a couple of spots short of racing his way into the main event in the finale of the Summer Nationals.
A career-best finish: Danny Dietrich scored his best World of Outlaws finish last Friday night in the opener of the Summer Nationals at Williams Grove Speedway. The 22-year old lined up 18th in the 25-lap event and steadily made his way to the front, finishing a very solid seventh to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award for passing the most cars in the main event.
Running up front: Don Kreitz Jr., who has nine career World of Outlaws A-Feature wins, picked up his best finish with the series since 2005 last Friday night in the opener of the Summer Nationals at Williams Grove Speedway, coming home sixth. He began the night by turning in the seventh fastest lap in time trials of the 48 cars that took to the track. Kreitz followed that up with a second-place finish in the third heat race to earn a spot in the dash, where he would finish eighth. The veteran has won six times over the year with the World of Outlaws at Williams Grove.
Mactching a career-best run: David Gravel matched his best career World of Outlaws finish on Sunday night in his second start at Lebanon Valley Speedway coming home seventh. The Connecticut native finished seventh last year at Eldora Speedway with the series, and has two career Top-10 performances. He opened the night by turning the fourth fastest lap in time trials, which also matched a career-best, as he also timed in fourth at Eldora. Gravel earned a spot in the dash at Lebanon Valley Speedway, which marked the first time in his career he was in the dash with the World of Outlaws.
Hard charger: Brian Ellenberger came from the 25th starting spot in the opener of the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup Twin 30’s at his home track of Lernerville Speedway to finish 13th to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award for the third time this season, which is third-best in the series.
First time in the dash: Danny Holtgraver, the current Lernerville Speedway point leader, finished second in the third heat during the Silver Cup to earn a spot in the World of Outlaws dash for the first time in his career. The 20-year old finished 10th in the dash to earn a fifth row starting spot in the opener of the Twin 30’s. He finished 19th in the opener and was a career-best 14th in the finale as he made his third and fourth career A-feature starts with the World of Outlaws.
Leading some laps: Tyler Walker led his first laps with the World of Outlaws since 2003 last week in the finale of the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup Twin 30’s. He lined up on the pole of the inverted race and paced the first five circuits before a spin coming off turn two. The Californian native finished as the last car on the lead lap, in the 14th spot in the opener of the Silver Cup thus earning him the pole for the finale, as the lead lap finishers from the opener were inverted.
First A-Feature event: Steve Lines raced his way into the Silver Cup through The Last Chance Showdown to start 18th in the opener to qualify for his first A-Feature event with the World of Outlaws. He was not able to start the finale after having the steering on his machine break. Lines, who is a three-time South Australia title winner, has made a trip to the United States each of the last two years in the summer to compete in a number of races in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio before heading back to his native land.
On the air: Joey Saldana, who won the finale of the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup last week and is the current World of Outlaws point leader, will make an appearance on The Race Reporters with host Michael Knight this Wednesday, July 28 at 7 p.m. Eastern online on The Power Up Motorsports Channel. Knight will be joined for the journalists’ roundtable by noted motorsports writer/author/broadcaster Dave Argabright and Mike Kerchner, of National Speed Sport News. The Race Reporters can be heard “live,” downloaded into an iPod, or accessed for listening on a delayed basis by clicking on the show icon at www.PowerUpChannel.com. The show also re-airs several times later in the week.
Photo galleries: The Media Gallery section of www.worldofOutlaws.com continues to be updated after each event. Visit http://www.worldofoutlaws.com/sprint/MediaGallery.aspx to see Photo Galleries from all 2010 World of Outlaws events. Photo Galleries from the Summer Nationals at Williams Grove Speedway along with the race at Lebanon Valley Speedway will be posted soon.
Keep up with all the action: The number of “Followers” keeping up with the World of Outlaws via Twitter online and through text messages on cell phones continues to grow and recently surpassed the 4,500 “Follower” mark. Updates are provided throughout race nights beginning with hot laps and continuing all the way through the final checkered flag of the night. To sign-up visit: http://twitter.com/worldofoutlaws and receive live race updates, anywhere, anytime.
On sale now: Tickets for a number of premier World of Outlaws events are currently on-sale, including the Ironman 55 at I-55 Raceway on August 6-7. Also on sale now are tickets for the World of Outlaws stop at Rolling Wheels Raceway Park in New York on October 9 and the World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, November 4-6. For tickets visit www.WorldofOutlaws.com/tickets.
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: Armor All (Official Car Care Products), Chizmark & Larson Insurance, Goodyear Tires (Official Tire), SuperClean (Official Cleaner-Degreaser), VP Racing (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to contingency sponsors, Jake’s Custom Golf Carts, KSE Race Products, Penske Shocks, R2C Performance, Racing Electronics, S&S Volvo; Engine Builder's Challenge participants Don Ott Racing Engines, Kistler Engines, Shaver Specialties and Speedway Engines; and Chassis Builder’s Challenge participants J&J Auto Racing, Maxim Racing and XXX Race Company.
- Tony Veneziano on Jul 27, 2010
- Article Date: 7/26/2010