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Eldora
Speedway…
Madsen captures second World
of Outlaws Sprint win; Shaffer takes NRA
Knight Before the
Kings Royal is Final Tune-Up for the Kings Crown
ROSSBURG, OH (July 12, 2013) — STP World of Outlaws (WoO) sprint car
driver Kerry Madsen and NRA Sprint Invaders hotshoe Tim Shaffer tuned
up for Saturday’s 30th annual Kings Royal with victories Friday night
at Eldora Speedway.
On the Knight Before the Kings Royal, Madsen rallied for his second win
in three WoO races at the 0.500-mile speedplant. But first he had to
find a way around Brad Sweet. Sweet, who started on the front row with
pole sitter Joey Saldana, roared high along the wall to rocket into the
lead. He established a 1.4-second margin over Saldana with three laps
clicked off and held a comfortable margin over the field in the 30-lap
race.
Madsen, who started fourth, began reeling in Sweet. He cut the deficit
to 0.289 seconds with 10 laps down but couldn’t find a way past Sweet
over the next nine laps. He took advantage of his best opportunity with
10 laps to go as Sweet went low and Madsen high to split the lapped car
of Craig Dollansky. Madsen carried the momentum to the lead and used
another lapped car, this one of Steve Kinser, to hold Sweet at bay.
As Madsen clicked off the final laps, Sweet battled; trying to find a
way around Kinser. Once Sweet put Kinser behind him it was too late to
make up ground on Madsen, who picked up his second World of Outlaws
victory this season.
“It was a blast. Once I got the lead I was thinking where’s the
checkered, man?” said Madsen, who also won the WoO feature at Eldora
Speedway on May 3. “It finally came out. What a night, what a crew.”
Sweet finished second and was followed by Saldana, WoO points leader
Daryn Pittman and Jac Haudenschild.
“Insane race,” said Madsen, who established himself as a driver to beat
for the 30th annual Kings Royal after also setting fast time in the
two-lap qualifying session with a quick lap of 13.216 seconds (137 mph)
to top a field of 44 cars. “A couple of times I thought I was going to
hit the wall but I got away with it. Whew! It was fun.”
Sweet did tag the wall on lap 17, which helped Madsen close the gap and
eventually slip past.
“A little frustrated. We gave it away a little bit but Kerry was really
fast,” Sweet said. “The fans got to see a good race. … To have momentum
you have to be comfortable up against the wall. We’ll come back and try
it again (Saturday).”
In the NRA Sprint Invaders feature, Shawn Dancer looked strong early by
pacing the field for the first 10 laps. Shaffer, who went door-to-door
with Dancer coming out of Turns 3-4 on lap 7, grabbed the lead a few
laps later and looked to run away from the pack.
But a red flag on lap 18 bunched up the field to give them another shot
at Shaffer. No matter. Shaffer rode the high line around Eldora to run
off the final laps in the 25-lap feature. Randy Hannagan crossed the
finish line 1.58 seconds behind Shaffer for second. Butch Schroeder,
Jared Horstman and Darren Long rounded out the top five.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been up here,” Shaffer said. “We’ve
been working hard on both the 410 and 360 (sprint cars). We came up a
little short in the 410 but the 360 win means a lot to me. … I felt
pretty strong but in this game here you better run every lap your
hardest.”
Track owner and three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart
raced with the Outlaws and qualified 40th with a fast lap of 13.922
seconds. Stewart finished third in the C-Main to miss qualifying for
the last chance B-Main by one spot.
Eldora Speedway returns to action Saturday for the 30th annual Kings
Royal. Admission gates open at noon. Afternoon festivities include the
National Sprint Car hall of Fame auction at 2:30 p.m., a Q&A with
Steve Kinser and Donny Schatz at 3:30 p.m. and a driver autograph
session from 4-5 p.m. Hot laps start at 6:30 p.m., pre-race festivities
are at 7:30 p.m. and racing starts at 8 p.m.
Complete event information, along with ticket and campsite purchase
opportunities, may be obtained by visiting the track’s
websitehttp://www.eldoraspeedway.com/, or by calling the speedway
office at (937) 338-3815. Additionally, race fans and race
teams can get behind-the-scenes access by following @EldoraSpeedway on
Twitter, hitting ‘Like’ at Facebook.com/EldoraSpeedway and view video
highlights at YouTube.com/EldoraSpeedwayInc. The new Eldora
Speedway app for the iPhone, iPad and Android is now available for
download via iTunes and Google Play.
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