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DISCLAIMER: Read at the risk of falling out of your own chair while reading. For more information on The Report, please visit www.bigjreport.blogspot.com

World of Outlaws (33 cars)

Welcome Mat
Plenty of non-WoO guys show up including Sam Hafertepe, Jr., TK, T-Mac, Kerry Madsen, Chad Kemenah, Tony Bruce, Jr., Wayne Johnson, 2009 Knoxville Champ Johnny Herrera and runner-up Brian Brown. Plenty of other Knoxville guys make the tow up as well to

MIA
Savage, Brian Ellenberger (back home in PA), Erin Crocker, Shane Stewart, Chad Meyer, Jake Peters, Clint Garner

VIP
Me and the DudeFan both travel a couple hours to sit up top of section I with a view other friends including my boy Lusker.

Time Trials (2 laps each)
Madsen (1^st car out) broke Jason Meyers track record with a lap of 13.345 at an average speed of 101.161 MPH around the 3/8 clay oval. The Next 15 cars hitting the heat race inversion: Bronson Maeschen, Joey Saldana, McCarl, Danny Lasoski, Kraig Kinser, Lucas Wolfe, Jason Sides, Donny Schatz, Meyers, Scott Winters, Kemenah, Jac Haudenschild, Bruce, and TK.

Time Trials Grade: A-; track faded a little bit for the guys going out late, but it was great to see the track gradually slicking off at the beginning of the night.

Heats (Top 4 Inverted from TT, Top 5 to the A, Top 2 to the Dash)
Heat 1 Starting Order: 8 Laps

Heat 1 Finish: 15 63 6 55 14AJ/ 4w 7TAZ 19w 32

Heat 1 Notes: Schatz takes off with the lead and leaves the field in his dust. Lasoski was after Madsen for 3^rd but Madsen would shut the door on the still narrow track. But Lasoski was able to grab that 3^rd spot on the last lap off the bottom of turn two. Schatz's heat win was his series-leading 22^nd of the year.

Heat 2 Starting Order: 8 Laps

Heat 2 Finish: 14 R19 20 19 11/ 10 96 7

Heat 2 Notes: Haud gets the lead off of turn two while Maeschen was shuffled back to 7^th after a terrible start. That moved both S. Kinser and Dollansky up into transfer spots as Meyers would get Haud for the heat win, which was his 13^th of the year.

Heat 3 Starting Order: 8 Laps

Heat 3 Finish: 18 23w 5w 2w 9/ 15H 7K 12L (DNS)

Heat 3 Notes: Saldana tried a bonsai slider going into turn one on the start on Winters for a dash spot, but Winters narrowly drove around him on the top as Saldana shuffled back to 5^th with the missed slider. Hafertepe was able to gain ground on Saldana for that transfer spot but was blocked when trying to make a move for it. Bruce grabbed his 2^nd heat win of the year.

Heat 4 Starting Order: 8 Laps

Heat 4 Finish: 83 7s 24 13 21/ 13v 12 1A

Heat 4 Notes: McCarl rockets around Dobmeier to grab the 2^nd spot utilizing the high side with a noticeably high-pitched wing thrown back. TK grabbed the lead and took off while Sides slowly came after T-Mac for the dash spot and he got it at about the halfway spot as McCarl's car looked tight. Brown was able to come after Dobmeier but unable to grab 4^th from him. TK notched his 7^th heat win of the year.

Heat Grades: B; There was actually some good action going on throughout the four heats, but the track was still a little narrow and too fast. Madsen and Saldana would be the two guys getting into the dash on their times.

Crane Cams Dash
Starting Order: 6 Laps

Dash Finish: 18 14 63 9 7s R19 83 15 55 23w (DNF)

Dash Notes: A ragged start by the guys upfront saw them get on the gas briefly and then onto the brakes which resulted in Winters diving below Sides on the start and him climbing his left rear that got him upside down a couple of times at the bottom of turn four. Not what you want to have happen in a 6 lap dash. Anyways, Bruce checked out in the short six lapper to garner his first dash win of the year as Meyers grabbed a front row starting spot by getting by Kemenah coming off of turn four. They would battle and exchange that spot for the next lap, but Meyers hung on. Sides moved up a couple of spots by running the bottom of the track.

Last Chance Showdown (Top 4 Tag the A, 12 Laps)
Starting Order:

B Feature Finish: 15H 19w 7K 13v/ 96 10 1A 12L 4w 32 (DNF) 12 7TAZ 7

B Feature Grade/Notes: A-; Blandford blatantly jumped the initial start and was punished back a row as is Maeschen who was called for the same thing. Typical BS call from the Outlaws (more on this later) that moved former regular Hafertepe up to the poll. The next start had T. Phillips get sideways in turn two which resulted in Jeffrey getting upside down over the banking as he had nowhere to go. Wolfgang was also involved but would rejoin after changing a right rear. That start saw the 15H take off way before the cone, but wouldn't you know it, no penalty given.

A lap was in the book with Hafertepe in the lead and Valentine would spin and retire following his spin in turn three. The rest of the LCS would go non-stop and see some awesome racing going on for 2^nd between Weuve, Brahmer, Maeschen, and Gharst. Gharst would rocket around using the cushion and ended up finishing 3^rd right on Weuve's nerfbar as Maeschen ended up being the odd-man out for transferring to the big show after slowing down a bit at the end. Hafertepe dominated the LCS and won by over half a lap and was confirmed at the line with an 8.8 second victory.

A Feature (30 Laps)
Starting Order:

Finish: 14 9 R19 7s 24 15 63 18 83 19/ 11 15H 20 6 5w 14AJ 2w 13 23w 13v/ 7K 55 (DNF) 21 19w

Notes: Winters was able to make the call after changing both wings and the entire front end including torsion bars and radius rods, but the car was obviously not the same at the drop of the green. Meyers grabbed the lead on the start and set a blistering pace as Saldana grabbed 2^nd on the first lap. He was able to run him down as Meyers hit traffic six laps in and snatched the lead on lap eight off the bottom of turn four on a track that was slicking off and getting two grooves around the whole track.

Saldana then was able to put a couple of lapped cars between himself and Meyers until Weuve hit the infield tire at the bottom of turn two and he flipped on lap 14. That restart saw Saldana ahead of Meyers, Haudenschild, Kemenah, Sides, and Schatz. Just one lap would get in the books as Winters stopped on the next lap with a knocked in nose wing. But with that lap in the books, Schatz went over the banking on the narrow backstretch as TK and McCarl were both able to sneak by. Winters joined the end of the lead lap as the top five positions stayed the same with the restart with 16 to go.

The rest of the race would stay green and the large crowd was in for a treat before the checkers would fly. Saldana took off and had a good sized lead until he hit traffic where he narrowly missed Winters who went over the banking on the backstretch. That's when Meyers would gain on him as McCarl was patiently working his way forward getting by TK for 6^th and later Kemenah for a top five spot.

Anyways Meyers took over command with five laps to go coming off of the bottom of turn two and roaring down the backstretch. Saldana hung with Meyers and would get him back with a couple of laps later with three to go with a pass off of turn four! Meyers kept pace with Saldana as the white flag waved as Saldana went high into turn one and Meyers went for a HUGE slider that saw him complete the pass and had him bouncing off the cushion with all four tires coming off the track. He somehow hung onto the car and the lead and he hung on for his 8^th 'A' Feature win of the year with the Outlaws and 34^th of his career much to the delight of the enthusiastic crowd and it paid 10 grand to his Elite Racing team.. S. Kinser was the KSE hard charger coming from 21^st to 11^th. Lap leaders: Meyers 1-7, 26-27, 30; Saldana 8-25, 28-29

A Feature Grade: A++; Best Outlaw race of the year (and my life) that quickly topped the instant classic we seen up in Fargo which also had Meyers grabbing the victory up there over Dollansky. Just a great night to be a sprint car fan.

FOAW: N/A as Winters dumped it in the dash and Dobmeier went backwards in the A.

Crowd Pleasing Moment #1: The duel upfront between the leaders in lap traffic. Great racing on a track that was finally allowed to slick off by the Dunkin's. Two racing grooves in both turns and you combine that with lap traffic with the best drivers in the world and you get the best WoO feature of the year.

Crowd Pleasing Moment #2: Getting to see a great car count of 33 cars with plenty of guys coming from all over to support the show on a beautiful Iowa night that saw temperatures hovering at 80 at the start of race time.

WTF: Sides threw the wing back for his time trial effort and ran the middle of the track and was rewarded with an 8^th quick effort which was great for how late he went out.

World of Outlaws Moment of the Night: Sending Maeschen a row back for "jumping" the start (which he didn't) so they could move Hafertepe up a row. Hafertepe jumped the next start 100 times worse but wasn't disciplined. The Outlaw favoritism is absolutely terrible and is sickening to see as it screwed Maeschen out of a starting spot in the A. Can't wait to see how they try to screw over the Posse with the 3 A Mains they have left at the Grove.

Mulligan Moment: T-Mac having a dash spot in his heat and losing it with a tight race car. Also, the start of the dash that saw Winters getting on his lid and trashing a good chunk of equipment because the front row was playing a game of chicken.

Head Scratcher: The King was lost in qualifying, yet again for the third straight year at this show, and we know qualifying is damn near everything with the WoO. He only has two wins on the year and its looking like the end is near, unfortunately, for the greatest to ever strap into a sprint car.

Thumbs Up: My boy Lusker buying this poor college student a pork tenderloin sandwich from one of the fair vendors. Also loved the old school flagstand on the inside of the track.

Thumbs Down: The fairgrounds are a "dry" campus, something that does not make race fans happy. Just think how much money they would rake in for this one night if they would sell beer, but then again I don't think they're thinking there.

Prime Mover: The King did move up from 21^st to 11^th and Dollansky went 17^th to 10^th, but the most impressive might have been watching McCarl go from 11^th up to 5^th.

Trophy Queen Grade: Not bad as they make the Huset's girls look even more terrible looking then they already were.

Closing Stat of the Night: Meyers chops Schatz's point lead down from 29 to 17 with 11 more point races left on the bill.

Final Thought: Great night of racing with absolutely amazing weather with the best in the business in the house. Track conditions couldn't be better so there might be a surprise trip on Saturday to Deer Creek, otherwise we'll be back on Sunday to Huset's last race of the year for Cheater's Day that is paying 5 grand to win for anyone, and 10 grand to win for the guys who took the Back Row Challenge. That'll also be the last Report of the 2009 racing season.

BIG J

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

I still say the opening night at Pevely was a better race. 3-wide for the lead off the last corner of the last lap, and Dollansky getting the lead back from Schatz more than half-way through the race.

WFOB it's definitely a toss up between the races we seen at Fargo and last night at Spencer. Dollansky and Meyers put on a great show at Fargo but in both races the champion was the same.

As for the last lap... I am going to have to correct you. Saldana went LOW in turn 1 and slid up the track. Meyers entered turn 1 HIGH and rim-rided around Saldana in turn 2 and both drivers were "pedaling" there race cars to keep them from going all the way off the track.

Great move by Meyers to enter turn 3 low on the final lap and slide up coming out of turn 4 to the checkers to keep Saldana barely behind him.

GREAT LAST LAP!

Also... if anyone has a video of this race (or Fargo's race) please share the great races you captured.

I'd say it's just the end of Steve Kinser's domination.

he;s just down a notch - which means he's still better than 98% of sprint car drivers out there lol.

He's still competitive - still able to finish consistently well......and i bet we'll probably see him win some big races yet. Maybe even a Knoxville Nationals. There was prob a time when people were disgusted seeing kinser dominate knoxville - but i bet even those folks would love to see him knock of Schatz.

How much would could a wouldchuck chuck if a 
wouldchuck could chuck would

I haven't been to Spencer in about 20 years. I believe the track has been reconfigured since then(?) What do the comments about going over the bank on the narrow backstretch mean?

Ya murphy it has been re-configured it used to be a flat half-miler.I like the track but could use more banking coming out of the corners.

It is now a 4/10 banked clay oval not dirt. Wall only in turn 3&4. Very fast track well lit.

Nice track, well lit. Need to turn down the volume on Gibson's mic.

The ringing in my ears today is not because of the cars, its from JG and the music over the speakers.

They need to build a wall around 1&2 just like what is around 3&4.

The bottom of 1&2 is getting bowled out just like at Jackson, which also happens to need a wall around 1&2.

Every track I've been to that doesn't have a wall around the turns ends up getting bowled out because guys are reluctant to run on top. I'd imagine its hard to see where the banking ends and easy to get over the top.