WOO: Williams Grove report 96-08-01

• Richard Day
• World of Outlaws Racing
• Fri Aug 2 22:31:00 EDT 1996

'King of the Outlaws' Wins Williams Grove Opener
                         By Richard Day
    MECHANICSBURG, PA (August 1) - A year ago, Steve Kinser was
hailed "Mr. August" after winning $200,000 in successive
weekends. He started laying claim to the nickname again Thursday
when the Skoal Outlaw Series opened a double-feature event at
Williams Grove Speedway.
    Kinser, winner of 21 World of Outlaws main events at the
legendary 1/2-mile oval, passed Keith Kauffman for the lead early
in the fourth lap, then cruised to his third Preliminary Feature
victory of the year.
    "We finally got this stumbling engine to run," Steve said as
he exited his #11 Quaker State Maxim in victory lane.
    Engines were at a premium on a night when a lengthy rain
delay ran the preliminary program into the wee hours of Friday
morning. Kauffman's #12 Apple Chevrolet Gambler suffered two
blown power plants, Johnny Herrera's crew changed the engine in
the #47 Casey's General Stores Maxim after the Quaker State Heat
Races, a blown engine knocked Dale Blaney out of fourth place
early in the evening's main event and Joey Kuhn's motor problems
kept him from starting the feature race.
    Skoal Outlaw Series points leader Mark Kinser continued to
dominate the EcoWater Quick-Time Award, earning his 27th of the
season. His 18.134-second qualifying lap was the quickest in the
36-car field - .124 seconds faster than Sammy Swindell, who
posted the second-fastest time trial.
    Mark put himself outside the third row in the Vivarin Dash
lineup, however, when he picked the #6 inversion pill. Kauffman
won the five-lap race from the pole. Dave Blaney and Billy Pauch,
the ninth- and 10th-fastest qualifiers, were inserted into the
Vivarin Dash when Bobby Allen and Herrera failed to qualify for
the feature through the Quaker State Heat Races.
    Andy Hillenburg, who started outside the front row, drove his
#2 STP J&J around Kauffman as the green flag fell in the feature,
only to have Kauffman and Steve Kinser pass him deep in turn two
seconds later.
    Kauffman, who opened a five-car-length lead within a lap, saw
his advantage disintegrate midway through the third lap when Dale
Blaney stopped on the back straightaway with a blown power plant.
After a couple of second-corner spins by Third Quaker State Heat
Race winner Len Thompson and Van Gurley, Jr., Kauffman raced away
from the field again. Dave Blaney steered the #10 Vivarin J&J
high into turn four to pass Hillenburg for third place within
seconds after the race resumed.
    "The King of the Outlaws" took the low line through the
second corner to pass Kauffman for the lead two laps later.
Hillenburg was closing in on "The Buckeye Bullet" when he
bicycled in turn one and flipped over the guard rail in the
second corner the next time around. Blaney was forced to
surrender third place during the red period when he discovered
the #10 had a broken drive-line coupler.
    Kinser was 10 car-lengths ahead of his closest pursuers when
Pauch drove the #1Z Zemco Speed Equipment Maxim past Kauffman to
take over the runner-up spot during the seventh lap.
    Pauch narrowed the gap to three car-lengths while Mark
challenged Kauffman for third place two laps later. At the same
time, Swindell and Jac Haudenschild took turns exchanging fifth
place. Mark drove the #5M Wirtgen Maxim into third place while
Sammy and "The Wild Child" joined the battle for fourth during
the 12th lap.
    Kinser entered lapped traffic with six laps remaining, and
maintained a five-to-10-car-length advantage until he took the
checkered flag.
    Kauffman was racing through turn four with the checkered flag
in sight when his power plant exploded. Swindell and Haudenschild
passed him as he coasted toward the finish line. Completing the
top 10 were Lance Blevins, 20th-starting Todd Shaffer, Stevie
Smith and Joe Gaerte.
    After qualifying 29th-quick and finishing seventh in the
First Quaker State Heat Race, Jeff Swindell salvaged an otherwise
miserable evening by claiming the final starting position in the
main event with a fourth-place run in the "B" Feature. He had the
#7TW Gold Eagle Maxim flying in the Preliminary Feature, passing
nine sprinters to finish 14th. WoO
            1996 World of Outlaws/Skoal Outlaw Series
           Williams Grove Speedway, Mechanicsburg, PA
             Thursday, August 1, Preliminary Program
    Qualifications:  1. Mark Kinser, Kinser 5M, 18.134; 2. Sammy
Swindell, Swindell 1, 18.258; 3. Dale Blaney, Hughes 94, 18.268;
4. Bobby Allen, Allen 1a, 18.356; 5. Steve Kinser, Kinser 11,
18.398; 6. Andy Hillenburg, Hillenburg 2, 18.455; 7. Johnny
Herrera, Sonner 47, 18.502; 8. Keith Kauffman, Apple Motorsports
12, 18.526; 9. Dave Blaney, Luna 10, 18.541; 10. Billy Pauch,
Zemaitis 1Z, 18.559; 11. Cris Eash, E&G Classics 17E, 18.575; 12.
Joe Gaerte, Gaerte 3G, 18.584; 13. Lance Blevins, Blevins 21,
18.599; 14. Jac Haudenschild, Elden 22, 18.600; 15. Stevie Smith,
Motter 71M, 18.655; 16. Lance DeWease, Dyer 461, 18.677; 17. Greg
Hodnett, Helm 11H, 18.688; 18. Van Gurley, Jr., Gurley 3B,
18.727; 19. Len Thompson, Thompson 10T, 18.752; 20. Steve Smith,
Smith 19, 18.786; 21. Todd Shaffer, Beam 88, 18.788; 22. Jeff
Shepard, Wahlie 1W, 18.885; 23. Kevin Gobrecht, Gobrecht 92,
18.892; 24. Tim Kuhn, Kuhn 11A, 18.919; 25. Joey Saldana, Stanton
75, 18.960; 26. Paul McMahan, Roth 83, 18.990; 27. Dave Calaman,
Weikert 29, 19.017; 28. Brian Paulus, P&P Motorsports 28, 19.031;
29. Jeff Swindell, Two Winners 7TW, 19.133; 30. Fred Rahmer,
Hamilton 77, 19.140; 31. Mark Richard, Kronenburg 5K, 19.204; 32.
Jim Carr, McCarr 7M, 19.235; 33. Jess Thomas, Thomas 77T, 19.352;
34. Bob Howard, Howard 49, 19.420; 35. Bob Bennett, Mickle 3,
19.733; 36. Jeff Thompson, Neiderer 10N, 19.751.
    First Quaker State Heat Race (eight laps):  1. Dave Blaney,
2. Lance Blevins, 3. Mark Kinser, 4. Greg Hodnett, 5. Steve
Kinser, 6. Todd Shaffer, 7. Jeff Swindell, 8. Joey Saldana, 9.
Jess Thomas. (first five qualified for the Preliminary Feature)
    Second Quaker State Heat Race (eight laps):  1. Jac
Haudenschild, 2. Billy Pauch, 3. Andy Hillenburg, 4. Jeff
Shepard, 5. Sammy Swindell, 6. Paul McMahan, 7. Fred Rahmer, 8.
Bob Howard, 9. Van Gurley, Jr. (first five qualified for the
Preliminary Feature)
    Third Quaker State Heat Race (eight laps):  1. Len Thompson,
2. Kevin Gobrecht, 3. Stevie Smith, 4. Dale Blaney, 5. Cris Eash,
6. Mark Richard, 7. Johnny Herrera, 8. Bob Bennett. DNS - Dave
Calaman. (first five qualified for the Preliminary Feature)
    Fourth Quaker State Heat Race (eight laps):  1. Steve Smith,
2. Lance DeWease, 3. Joe Gaerte, 4. Keith Kauffman, 5. Tim Kuhn
($160); 6. Bobby Allen, 7. Brian Paulus, 8. Jeff Thompson. DNS -
Jim Carr. (first five qualified for the Preliminary Feature)
    Vivarin Dash (five laps):  1. Keith Kauffman, 2. Andy
Hillenburg, 3. Steve Kinser, 4. Dale Blaney, 5. Dave Blaney, 6.
Mark Kinser, 7. Sammy Swindell, 8. Billy Pauch. (finish
determined the first eight starting positions in the Preliminary
Feature)
    B Feature (12 laps):  1. Todd Shaffer, 2. Johnny Herrera, 3.
Van Gurley, Jr., 4. Jeff Swindell, 5. Paul McMahan, 6. Fred
Rahmer ($135); 7. Bobby Allen ($110); 8. Joey Saldana ($85); 9.
Brian Paulus ($70); 10. Mark Richard ($60); 11. Jess Thomas
($50); 12. Jeff Thompson ($50); 13. Bob Howard ($50); 14. Bob
Bennett ($50); 15. Dave Calaman ($40); 16. Jim Carr ($40). (first
four qualified for the Preliminary Feature)
    Preliminary Feature (20 laps):  1. Steve Kinser ($4,010); 2.
Billy Pauch ($2,310); 3. Mark Kinser ($1,610); 4. Sammy Swindell
($1,410); 5. Jac Haudenschild ($1,260); 6. Keith Kauffman
($1,160); 7. Lance Blevins ($1,110); 8. Todd Shaffer ($1,080); 9.
Stevie Smith ($1,035); 10. Joe Gaerte ($1,010); 11. Johnny
Herrera ($930); 12. Cris Eash ($710); 13. Lance DeWease ($610);
14. Jeff Swindell ($530); 15. Steve Smith ($310); 16. Kevin
Gobrecht ($310); 17. Len Thompson ($260); 18. Paul McMahan
($280); 19. Greg Hodnett ($260); 20. Van Gurley, Jr. ($280); 21.
Jeff Shepard ($260); 22. Dave Blaney ($260); 23. Andy Hillenburg
($260); 24. Dale Blaney ($260). DNS - Tim Kuhn; replaced by Paul
McMahan
       Lap leaders:  Keith Kauffman 1-4, Steve Kinser 5-20
         EcoWater Quick-Time Award winner:  Mark Kinser
                               WoO