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An Amazing Race: Jason Meyers Wins Ironman 55 & $20,000 in
Thrilling Fashion over Lucas Wolfe
PEVELY, MO (August 7) - 55 laps at I-55 Raceway and the Second Annual
Ironman 55 came down to the final one and just a couple of feet on the race
track as Jason Meyers won a thriller over Lucas Wolfe on the final circuit.
Wolfe used a huge slide job coming off turn four to take the lead on the
55th and final lap, with Meyers winning a drag race down the front
straightaway by a mere 0.092 seconds, which was the closest finish of the
season.
The $20,000 win for Meyers was his eighth of the season and his second
career triumph at I-55 Raceway, where he has finished in the Top-10 in each
of his last seven starts at the high-banked 1/3-mile co-owned by Ken
Schrader and Ray Marlar. The win helped Meyers close to within 46 markers of
current point leader Joey Saldana, who finished fifth, while he is just 37
points behind Steve Kinser, who finished sixth on Saturday night and is
currently second in the standings.
"To win any race here, let alone a 55-lap race is pretty special," said
Meyers. "We had a great race car tonight and learned some things last night
that we were able to use tonight. We just keep getting better day after day.
We struggled a bit here in the middle of the season and kept digging and
kept our heads down. This entire team is doing an amazing job."
Meyers took the lead from Tim Shaffer on the 29th lap on the low side of
turns one and two and quickly opened a gap once out front. The native of
Clovis, California was credited with leading a total of 26 laps en route to
the victory. He started on the outside of the front row aboard the GLR
Investments KPC and chased Tim Shaffer who started on the pole in the early
going, before Sam Hafertepe Jr. took the second spot on the seventh lap.
Meyers would move back into the runner-up spot 10 laps later and then worked
on Shaffer for the next 13 laps.
"It was a long race and we were a little tight at the beginning, but we set
up for that," explained the winner. "I waited for the car to kind of come to
me and it did after the fuel came off a little bit. It ended up being a very
good car tonight."
Wolfe closed the gap on Meyers over the last three laps on Saturday night
and with two to go, was all over his back bumper. Coming to the checkered
flag Wolfe used a monstrous slide job in turns three and four to take the
top spot and charge down the front straightaway with Meyers right behind
him. Meyers went low at the start finish/line to inch out the native of
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
"I was thinking I made the wrong decision when he came by me, but I was able
to get back by him," shared Meyers of the last lap last corner action. "He
drove a great race and is a very good driver and has many good years ahead
of him. It's great to race guys like that."
Wolfe, who lined up third, fell back to fifth on the seventh lap. He worked
his way around Joey Saldana on lap-16 to move into fourth, before taking
third from Sam Hafertepe Jr. on the 24th go-around. He gained significant
ground on Meyers in the late going, giving him a chance at scoring his fist
career World of Outlaws A-Feature win.
"I was close there and got a good opportunity at the end to slide him and
was pretty good the whole time," Wolfe said. "At least I got a shot at him.
I was following him and kind of biding my time waiting to get a shot and it
all came together good there at the end. I just wasn't quite able to hold
him off
Wolfe had a steady night aboard the Allebach Racing Maxim, opening the
finale of the Ironman 55 by turning the ninth fastest lap in qualifying,
finishing second in a heat race and third in the dash to earn the inside
second row starting spot in the 55-lap main event. Following the stock car
main event, the track crew at I-55 Raceway did a complete rebuild of the
high-banked bullring, providing a very racy surface for the main event.
"It was a great track tonight and I'm glad they worked on it," said Wolfe.
"I wish we raced here more. It was a lot of fun and hopefully we come here a
few times next year."
Tim Shaffer, who opened the Ironman Weekend with a win on Friday night,
started on the pole in the finale and led early en route to a third-place
finish in the Kistler Engines J&J. He and Sam Hafertepe Jr. traded the top
spot unofficially six times over a three lap period from lap 10-12, with
Hafertepe officially being credited with the top spot at the line each time,
as he used slide jobs in turns three and four to retake the top spot each
time after Shaffer used slide jobs in turns one and two to move back out
front.
"It was a great race," stated Shaffer. "We were just a little too tight and
those guys were a lot freer. I thought the track would get slicker. We're
happy with third. It was 55 laps and we survived. It was a very good weekend
for us."
Kraig Kinser finished fourth in the Quaker State Maxim to earn his fifth
fourth-place finish of the season as he continues to close in on his first
win of the 2010 campaign.
Joey Saldana came home fifth in the Budweiser Maxim, one spot ahead of Steve
Kinser in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim, to gain a couple of points on the
20-time series champion the series standings. Saldana currently has a
nine-point lead over Kinser as he chases his first title.
Donny Schatz came home seventh in the Armor All/STP J&J on Saturday night,
with Paul McMahan eighth in the Great Clips Maxim. Kerry Madsen was ninth in
the Hall Haulage KPC, with Jason Sides rounding out the Top-10 in the
Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim.
The World of Outlaws return to action on Friday, August 20 and Saturday,
August 21 with the Magic City Showdown at Nodak Speedway in Minot, North
Dakota, to kick off the 2010 Gold Rush Tour.
IRONMAN 55 NIGHT #2 NOTES
•FAST QUALIFIER: Sam Hafertepe Jr. paced the 31 cars that took time with an
AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked 1/3-mile oval at 10.827 seconds at
110.723 mph. For his qualifying effort, Hafertepe earned five bonus points.
The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Craig
Dollansky (4), Donny Schatz (3), Joey Saldana (2) and Chad Kemenah (1).
•I-55 RACEWAY QUALIFYING WINNERS: Kraig Kinser, Jason Meyers and Jason Sides
won heat races. Tim Shaffer won the dash. Fred Rahmer won the Last Chance
Showdown.
• FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 49 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series
A-Feature events held in 2010. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Thunderbowl
Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, I-55 Raceway, Eldora Speedway-twice, Dodge City
Raceway Park, River Cities Speedway, LaSalle Speedway, Beaver Dam Raceway
and Lernerville Speedway), Jason Meyers (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway, Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, Tri-State (Okla.)
Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway, I-96 Speedway, North Central Speedway and
I-55 Raceway), Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park, Jackson Speedway, River
Cities Speedway, Lakeside Speedway, Eldora Speedway, Autodrome Drummond and
Fulton Speedway), Jason Sides (Houston Raceway Park , Tri-City Speedway,
Missouri State Fair Speedway and Ohsweken Speedway), Donny Schatz (Volusia
Speedway Park, The Dirt Track at Charlotte and Ohsweken Speedway), Lance
Dewease (Lernerville Speedway and Williams Grove Speedway), Craig Dollansky
(Lone Star Speedway and Cedar Lake Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (Paducah
International Raceway and Knoxville Raceway), Sammy Swindell (Dodge City
Raceway and Huset's Speedway), Brooke Tatnell (Knoxville Raceway and
Junction Motor Speedway), Dale Blaney (Limaland Motorsports Park), Doug Esh
(Lebanon Valley Speedway), Greg Hodnett (Williams Grove Speedway), Chad
Layton (Williams Grove Speedway), Paul McMahan (Eldora Speedway), Fred
Rahmer (Williams Grove Speedway) and Tim Shaffer (I-55 Raceway).
•1/3-MILE-WINNERS: I-55 Raceway is a high-banked 1/3-mile oval. The World of
Outlaws have raced seven times on a track that size this season. The winners
include: Jason Meyers (Thunderbowl Raceway, North Central Speedway and I-55
Raceway), Joey Saldana (Thunderbowl Raceway, I-55 Raceway and Beaver Dam
Raceway), and Tim Shaffer (I-55 Raceway).
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; I-55 Raceway; Pevely,
MO; August 7, 2010
Qualifying
1) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 10.827
2) 7-Craig Dollansky 10.875
3) 15-Donny Schatz 10.963
4) 9-Joey Saldana 10.986
5) 63-Chad Kemenah 11.062
6) 91-Paul McMahan 11.090
7) 11K-Kraig Kinser 11.227
8) 14-Jason Meyers 11.306
9) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 11.317
10) 83X-Tim Shaffer 11.326
11) 11-Steve Kinser 11.354
12) 7S-Jason Sides 11.355
13) 51-Fred Rahmer 11.359
14) 3-Kerry Madsen 11.400
15) R19-Doug Esh 11.447
16) 4X-Toni Lutar 11.458
17) 3B-Brad Greer 11.473
18) 71M-Paul May 11.507
19) 6-Danny Lasoski 11.568
20) 6R-Bill Rose 11.692
21) 44-AJ Bruns 11.694
22) 58-Wade Oliver 11.695
23) 30C-Lance Dewease 11.748
24) 2B-Ben Gregg 11.753
25) O4-Cap Henry III 11.756
26) 57D-Tom Dickerman 11.912
27) W20-Greg Wilson 11.972
28) 3X-Mark Shirshekan 12.023
29) 12-Jared Ridge 12.189
30) 35-Jimmy Hurley 12.246
31) 89G-David Gravel 16.837
Heat 1 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) - Starting
Position [#]
1) 11K-Kraig Kinser[2]
2) 83X-Tim Shaffer[1]
3) 9-Joey Saldana[3]
4) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[4]
5) 4X-Toni Lutar[6]
6) 3X-Mark Shirshekan[10]
7) 51-Fred Rahmer[5]
8) 6-Danny Lasoski[7]
9) 89G-David Gravel[11]
10) O4-Cap Henry III[9]
11) 58-Wade Oliver[8]
Heat 2 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) - Starting
Position [#]
1) 14-Jason Meyers[2]
2) 11-Steve Kinser[1]
3) 63-Chad Kemenah[3]
4) 7-Craig Dollansky[4]
5) 30C-Lance Dewease[8]
6) 3-Kerry Madsen[5]
7) 57D-Tom Dickerman[9]
8) 6R-Bill Rose[7]
9) 12-Jared Ridge[10]
10) 3B-Brad Greer[6]
Heat 3 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) - Starting
Position [#]
1) 7S-Jason Sides[1]
2) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[2]
3) 15-Donny Schatz[4]
4) 91-Paul McMahan[3]
5) W20-Greg Wilson[9]
6) R19-Doug Esh[5]
7) 2B-Ben Gregg[8]
8) 71M-Paul May[6]
9) 35-Jimmy Hurley[10]
10) 44-AJ Bruns[7]
Dash (8 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of
A-feature) - Starting Position [#]
1) 83X-Tim Shaffer[1]
2) 14-Jason Meyers[3]
3) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[2]
4) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[8]
5) 11K-Kraig Kinser[4]
6) 9-Joey Saldana[5]
7) 15-Donny Schatz[6]
8) 11-Steve Kinser[9]
9) 7-Craig Dollansky[7]
10) 7S-Jason Sides[10]
B-main (12 laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature) - Starting
Position [#]
1) 51-Fred Rahmer[1]
2) 6-Danny Lasoski[4]
3) 71M-Paul May[3]
4) 6R-Bill Rose[5]
5) 3B-Brad Greer[2]
6) 44-AJ Bruns[6]
7) 2B-Ben Gregg[8] [$200]
8) 12-Jared Ridge[11] [$180]
9) 57D-Tom Dickerman[10] [$175]
10) 89G-David Gravel[13] [$160]
11) O4-Cap Henry III[9] [$150]
12) 35-Jimmy Hurley[12] [$150]
13) 58-Wade Oliver[7] [$150]
A-main (55 laps) - Starting Position [#]
1) 14-Jason Meyers[2] [$20,000]
2) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[3] [$6,000]
3) 83X-Tim Shaffer[1] [$3,750]
4) 11K-Kraig Kinser[5] [$3,250]
5) 9-Joey Saldana[6] [$2,750]
6) 11-Steve Kinser[8] [$2,500]
7) 15-Donny Schatz[7] [$2,400]
8) 91-Paul McMahan[12] [$2,300]
9) 3-Kerry Madsen[14] [$2,200]
10) 7S-Jason Sides[10] [$2,100]
11) 30C-Lance Dewease[20] [$1,700]
12) 63-Chad Kemenah[11] [$1,400]
13) R19-Doug Esh[15] [$1,300]
14) 6-Danny Lasoski[18] [$1,200]
15) W20-Greg Wilson[21] [$1,100]
16) 6R-Bill Rose[19] [$1,000]
17) 71M-Paul May[17] [$1,000]
18) 4X-Toni Lutar[16] [$1,000]
19) 3B-Brad Greer[23] [$1,000]
20) 44-AJ Bruns[24] [$1,000]
21) 7-Craig Dollansky[9] [$1,000]
22) 51-Fred Rahmer[13] [$1,000]
23) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[4] [$1,000]
24) 3X-Mark Shirshekan[22] [$1,000]
Lap Leaders: Tim Shaffer 1-9, 13-28; Sam Hafertepe Jr. 10-12; Jason Meyers
29-55
KSE Hard Charger Award: Lance Dewease
Penske Power Position Award: Toni Lutar
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