5/2/06

Davenport Speedway

NST

26 cars

Shane Stewart (5th car out) set quick time on the ½ mile at 17.207 seconds on a quickly drying surface. Steve Kinser (3rd car out) was second quick, followed by Danny Lasoski (18th), Joey Saldana (20th), Tim Shaffer (2nd), Jason Sides (14th), Jason Meyers (7th), Jason Solwold (21st), Kerry Madsen (1st) and Paul McMahan (10th). Two 360s driven by Joey Beaver and Dave Anderson joined the field. A large crowd packed the fairgrounds grandstands on a beautiful night.

Heat one (started): 1. Saldana 9 (5) 2. Lynton Jeffrey 12 (1) 3. McMahan 20 (3) 4. Stewart 26 (6) 5. Meyers 14 (4) 6. Tim St. Arnold 7w (2) / 7. Kaley Gharst 44G (8) 8. Dave Anderson 53D (9) 9. Jesse Giannetto D1 (7)

Jeffrey shot out to an early lead, but the man on the move was Saldana on the high side. By lap six of ten, Saldana was on the leader and passed him, sailing away to a convincing win. McMahan and Stewart also had a nice battle for third.

Heat two (started): 1. Kinser 11 (6) 2. Shaffer 6 (5) 3. Solwold R19 (4) 4. Larry Ball Jr. 5J (1) 5. Lucas Wolfe 11H (2) 6. Wayne Johnson 10 (3) / 7. Trevor Green 11AU (8) 8. Rager Phillips 9P (7) 9. Michael Strader 7m (9)

Ball led early. Shaffer was on the move getting a jump on his fellow third row mate Kinser and flying by Ball on lap four. Kinser had his machine on a line low in turns one and two, flying up to second and then darting under Shaffer on lap six. The only caution of the night came out on lap seven for a spun Phillips, who was returning after his hard flip at Knoxville a week ago. Kinser led Shaffer, Ball, Solwold and Wolfe back to green flag racing, and won going away.

Heat three (started): 1. Lasoski 83 (6) 2. Tim Kaeding 11K (3) 3. Sides 7s (5) 4. Billy Alley 17G (2) 5. Madsen 55 (4) 6. Brian Paulus 28 (7) / 7. Bronson Maeschen 96 (1) 8. Joey Beaver 53 (8)

Alley led when the green fell. Behind him Lasoski was already battling Kaeding and Madsen in his move towards the front. By lap eight, Lasoski took the lead and walked away.

Dash one (started): 1. Lasoski (1) 2. Johnson (2) 3. Madsen (3) 4. Shaffer (5) 5. Stewart (6) 6. Meyers (4)

Junior fans drew starting positions for the top twelve drivers in two dashes determining the starting lineup. The 1 pill was all Lasoski needed as he left no doubt, cruising to victory in the six lapper.

Dash two (started): 1. Sides (1) 2. Kinser (3) 3. Saldana (6) 4. Solwold (5) 5. McMahan (2) 6. Kaeding (4)

Sides led throughout. On lap one, Kinser and Saldana made a sandwich of Kaeding, making it three-wide in a narrow turn four on the first go-around. Saldana and Kinser continued their duel, with Saldana running on the high side and Kinser low.

B main (started): 1. Maeschen (1) 2. Phillips (3) 3. Gharst (4) 4. Giannetto (2) 5. Green (5) 6. Beaver (6) / 7. Anderson (7) 8. Strader (8)

Maeschen led flag to flag in a mostly single-file 10 lapper.

A main (started): 1. Lasoski (1) 2. Sides (2) 3. Shaffer (7) 4. Solwold (8) 5. Kinser (4) 6. Meyers (11) 7. Saldana (6) 8. Stewart (9) 9. Johnson (3) 10. Kaeding (12) 11. Madsen (5) 12. McMahan (10) 13. Gharst (22) 14. Paulus (21) 15. Jeffrey (16) 16. Wolfe (14) 17. Alley (15) 18. Ball (17) 19. Green (23) 20. St. Arnold (13) 21. Giannetto (19) 22. Maeschen (18) 23. Phillips (20) 24. Beaver (24)

Lasoski dominated this 30 lapper from beginning to end, winning by 13.5 seconds and ¾ of a lap, lapping up to eighth place. The race behind him was tremendous. Sides somehow held on to second despite a collapsed left side panel on his top wing. Kinser trailed in third most of the race, but received constant heat from a rim-riding Solwold. On lap 24, Shaffer entered the fray and along with Sides the four drivers diced at high speed through heavy lapped traffic, exchanging positions along the way. Solwold was able to ride the cushion around Kinser, but on the last circuit, Shaffer ducked and dived under both to steal the show position. Meyers moved up nicely from row six to finish sixth. Gharst was the hard-charger moving up nine spots. In an informal vote the large throng voted for the NST to return to the ½ mile instead of the ¼ when they return in June.