Herrera Takes Williams Grove Spring Classic Opener
                            By Richard Day
    MECHANICSBURG, PA (May 24) - Johnny Herrera could hardly contain
his excitement after leading all 20 laps to win Friday's Skoal Outlaw
Series Preliminary Feature at the inaugural Williams Grove Spring
Classic.
    "This is a good time to start running well," said Herrera, whose
victory earned him the pole position in Saturday's Vivarin Dash
televised live on TNN:  The Nashville Network. Herrera, the World of
Outlaws Rookie of the Year in 1988, has won four "A" Features in his
career, the last coming on July 10, 1993, at Red River Valley
Speedway.
    Herrera, the fifth-fastest qualifier in the 44-car field, received
the luxury of starting Friday's Vivarin Dash on the pole when EcoWater
Quick-Time Award winner Mark Kinser picked the #4 inversion pill and
Steve Kinser and Joe Gaerte failed to qualify for the feature in the
Quaker State heat races. Johnny won the five-lap race for the right to
start the Preliminary Feature on the pole.
    Herrera burst into the lead as the green flag fell in the feature.
Sammy Swindell, who started next to him on the front row, took the low
line into turn one and raced wheel-to-wheel with Johnny into turn two.
Herrera steered the #47 Casey's General Stores Maxim high into the
second corner to maintain the lead, however.
    Herrera opened a comfortable, 10-car-length advantage within three
laps and was approaching lapped traffic when Swindell passed him deep
in the fourth corner three laps later. The pass was nullified,
however, when the #77 Manheim Auto Auctions J&J suffered a flat right
rear tire, forcing Fred Rahmer to stop in the fourth corner.
    Herrera restarted the race at the front of the field and quickly
expanded his lead as Mark challenged Swindell for the runner-up spot.
Keeping the #47 in the high groove, Johnny was eight car-lengths ahead
of his closest pursuers midway through the race despite clipping the
outside guard rail several times.
    The battle for fourth place between Andy Hillenburg and 1990
Williams Grove track champion Steve Smith raged for seven laps before
Hillenburg surged ahead with nine laps remaining.
    Although Swindell dropped into the low groove in his pursuit of
the leader, Herrera was 10 car-lengths ahead when he caught the
backmarkers again during the 13th lap.
    Defending Skoal Outlaw Series champion Dave Blaney caught Kinser
two laps later and almost threaded the #10 Vivarin J&J between Mark
and the outside guard rail in turn two when he ran out of real estate.
Hillenburg made it a three-car battle for third place during lap 16.
    Swindell caught Herrera as the leaders took the white flag and
surged ahead with a low move in the first corner. But, just as he had
done 19 laps before, Herrera maintained the lead by taking the high
line through turn two. He was five car-lengths ahead when he took the
checkered flag.
    Blaney and Kinser claimed the final two automatic starting
positions in Saturday's Vivarin Dash by finishing third and fourth,
respectively. Rounding out the top 10 in the Preliminary Feature were
Hillenburg, Quaker State Heat Race winners Stevie Smith, Steve Smith,
and Danny Lasoski, 23rd-starting Donnie Kreitz, Jr., and Jeff
Swindell.
    Former Williams Grove track champion Bobby Davis, Jr., made his
debut in Gary Stanton's #75 Mopar Maxim and qualified 11th-quick,
finished fifth in the Fourth Quaker State Heat Race and ran 14th in
the feature.
    While Sammy, Davis and Blaney - the other former World of Outlaws
titlists in the field - had rather typical performances, the night was
anything but for 14-time champion Steve Kinser. After qualifying
third-quick, He was involved in a first-lap crash with Jac
Haudenschild in the third heat race that destroyed the #11 Quaker
State Maxim. Bringing out a backup car meant he had to start at the
rear of the 23-car field in the "B" Feature. He finished sixth, and
would not have made it into the evening's main event had Cris Eash and
Keith Kauffman not scratched. Starting at the back of the pack, "The
King of the Outlaws" passed 12 sprinters on his way to a 12th-place
finish in the Preliminary Feature. WoO
              1996 World of Outlaws/Skoal Outlaw Series
                       Inaugural Spring Classic
              Williams Grove Speedway, Mechanicsburg, PA
                 Friday, May 24, Preliminary Program
    Qualifications:  1. Mark Kinser, Kinser 5M, 17.660; 2. Sammy
Swindell, Swindell 1, 17.824; 3. Steve Kinser, Kinser 11, 17.858; 4.
Dave Blaney, Luna 10, 17.917; 5. Joe Gaerte, Gaerte 3G, 17.986; 6.
Johnny Herrera, Sonner 47, 18.041; 7. Stevie Smith, Motter 71M,
18.169; 8. Lance DeWease, Dyer 461, 18.140; 9. Steve Smith, Smith 19,
18.169; 10. Andy Hillenburg, Hillenburg 2, 18.180; 11. Jeff Swindell,
Two Winners 7TW, 18.288; 12. Bobby Davis, Jr., Stanton 75, 18.314; 13.
Bill Brian, Jr., Scarpitta 59, 18.315; 14. Ed Lynch, Jr., Lynch 2L,
18.338; 15. Jac Haudenschild, Elden 22, 18.351; 16. Billy Pauch,
Zemaitis 1Z, 18.365; 17. Kevin Gobrecht, Gobrecht 92, 18.399; 18.
Danny Lasoski, Forbrook 5, 18.431; 19. Fred Rahmer, Hamilton 77,
18.476; 20. Greg Hodnett, Helm 11H, 18.482; 21. Steve Siegel, Walker
1J, 18.496; 22. Lance Blevins, Blevins 21, 18.513; 23. Todd Shaffer,
Beam 88, 18.513; 24. Cris Eash, E&G Classics 17E, 18.518; 25. Donnie
Kreitz., Jr., Kreitz 69K, 18.557; 26. Mark Richard, Kronenburg 5R,
18.605; 27. Jeff Shepard, Wahlie 1W, 18.625; 28. Keith Kauffman, Apple
Motorsports 12, 18.658; 29. Len Thompson, Thompson 10T, 18.679; 30.
Mike Wagner, Wagner 55, 18.689; 31. Phil Walter, Taylor 39, 18.693;
32. Joey Saldana, Roth 83, 18.743; 33. Richard Thomas, Thomas 77T,
18.750; 34. Jim Carr, McCarr 7M, 18.792; 35. Bob Bennett, Mickle 3,
18.811; 36. Jeff Thompson, Neiderer 10N, 18.863; 37. Brian Paulus, P&P
Motorsports 28, 18.890; 38. Mike Erdley, Kirchner 117, 18.975; 39.
Randy Wolfe, Allebach 75W, 18.990; 40. Judi Bates, Mourar 121, 19.047;
41. Bobby Allen, Allen 1a, 19.196; 42. Dave Haight, Haight 07, 19.266;
43. George Koerber, Koerber 5K, 19.448; 44. Brian Kaltreider,
Kaltreider 22K, 20.542;
    First Quaker State Heat Race (eight laps):  1. Steve Smith, 2.
Mark Kinser, 3. Steve Siegel, 4. Bill Brian, Jr., 5. Kevin Gobrecht,
6. Donnie Kreitz, Jr., 7. Joe Gaerte, 8. Richard Thomas, 9. Len
Thompson, 10. Brian Paulus, 11.  Bobby Allen. (first five qualified
for the Preliminary Feature)
    Second Quaker State Heat Race (eight laps):  1. Danny Lasoski, 2.
Andy Hillenburg, 3. Sammy Swindell, 4. Ed Lynch, Jr., 5. Johnny
Herrera, 6. Mark Richard, 7. Lance Blevins, 8. Mike Wagner, 9. Jim
Carr, 10. Dave Haight, 11. Mike Erdley. (first five qualified for the
Preliminary Feature)
    Third Quaker State Heat Race (eight laps):  1. Stevie Smith, 2.
Todd Shaffer, 3. Fred Rahmer, 4. Jeff Swindell, 5. Jac Haudenschild,
6. Jeff Shepard, 7. Phil Walter, 8. Randy Wolfe, 9. George Koerber,
10. Steve Kinser, 11. Bob Bennett ($10). (first five qualified for the
Preliminary Feature)
    Fourth Quaker State Heat Race (eight laps):  1. Billy Pauch, 2.
Greg Hodnett, 3. Cris Eash ($135); 4. Dave Blaney, 5. Bobby Davis,
Jr., 6.  Lance DeWease, 7. Keith Kauffman, 8. Jeff Thompson, 9. Judi
Bates, 10. Brian Kaltreider, 11. Joey Saldana. (first five qualified
for the Preliminary Feature)
    Vivarin Dash (five laps):  1. Johnny Herrera, 2. Sammy Swindell,
3. Mark Kinser, 4. Dave Blaney, 5. Stevie Smith, 6. Steve Smith, 7.
Andy Hillenburg, 8. Jeff Swindell. (finish determined the first eight
starting positions in the Preliminary Feature)
    B Feature (12 laps):  1. Lance Blevins, 2. Lance DeWease, 3.
Donnie Kreitz, Jr., 4. Joe Gaerte, 5. Keith Kauffman ($160); 6. Steve
Kinser, 7. Jeff Shepard ($110); 8. Mike Wagner ($85); 9. Mark Richard
($70); 10. Phil Walter ($60); 11. Jeff Thompson ($40); 12. Bobby Allen
($40); 13. Dave Haight ($40); 14. Richard Thomas ($40); 15. Joey
Saldana ($40); 16. Jim Carr ($40); 17. George Koerber ($40); 18. Judi
Bates ($40); 19. Brian Kaltreider ($40); 20. Randy Wolfe ($40); 21.
Brian Paulus ($40); 22. Len Thompson ($40); 23. Mike Erdley ($40). DNS
- Bob Bennett. (first four qualified for the Preliminary Feature)
    Preliminary Feature (20 laps):  1. Johnny Herrera ($4,010); 2.
Sammy Swindell ($2,310); 3. Dave Blaney ($1,610); 4. Mark Kinser
($1,410); 5. Andy Hillenburg ($1,260); 6. Stevie Smith ($1,160); 7.
Steve Smith ($1,110); 8. Danny Lasoski ($1,060); 9. Donnie Kreitz, Jr.
($1,055); 10. Jeff Swindell ($1,010); 11. Joe Gaerte ($930); 12. Steve
Kinser ($730); 13. Jac Haudenschild ($610); 14. Bobby Davis, Jr.
($510); 15. Lance DeWease ($330); 16. Steve Siegel ($310); 17. Kevin
Gobrecht ($260); 18. Greg Hodnett ($260); 19. Billy Pauch ($260); 20.
Todd Shaffer ($260); 21. Fred Rahmer ($260); 22. Lance Blevins ($280);
23. Bill Brian, Jr. ($260); 24. Ed Lynch, Jr. ($260). DNS - Cris Eash,
Keith Kauffman.
                   Lap leader:  Johnny Herrera 1-20
            EcoWater Quick-Time Award winner:  Mark Kinser
                                 WoO