SPRINT: Eldora Big One report 96-08-15

• shall@4are.com (scott hall)
• Imperium Internet
• Tue Aug 13 23:02:52 EDT 1996

   ROSSBURG, OH - For Mark Kinser, it was the biggest win of his
career Saturday night at Eldora Speedway in the $193,725 Historical
Big One (HBO) IV sprint car feature. Kinser had to get around his
cousin Steve Kinser to lead the final 26 of 40 laps and score a
$100,000 payday. Joey Saldana moved the Gary Stanton Stealth-
Mopar from 11th to second at the finish, but was still a full
straightaway behind when the checkered flag fell. Sammy Swindell mo
ved from the last row to finish third in the Channellock Gambler, with
Charlie Fisher crossing the line fourth and Kings Royal
winner Johnny Herrera fifth.
     "Before the rubber laid down Steve was running strong," Mark said
of his race. "He was running right up against the wall and I hadn't
made my mind up where to run. I followed him around a little bit then
faded back to fifth. Then I picked up a few cars and started coming
along and about the time I got to Steve the rubber had come in
progressively harder and I just did a sweeping move in three and
four." Kinser's winning machine is the Wirtgen Maxim, wrenched by Karl
Kinser and riding on Goodyear tires. 
   Polesitter Dale Blaney led the first two laps with outside pole man
Fisher in second for a lap until fourth starting Steve Kinser took the
runner-up spot. Steve dove under Blaney to take the lead on lap three
and maintained that spot when Dave Blaney hit the turn one concrete,
collecting Dean Jacobs in the process. Both left the speedway
on the back of a wrecker.
    Steve maintained the lead on the restart, with Fisher in second
and Mark, Saldana and Herrera passing Blaney during the next lap.
Steve pulled away from Fisher until he entered lapped traffic on lap
10, allowing Fisher's self-built mount to close in on Kinser's Quaker
State Maxim. The top three ran nose to tail as they snaked through
traffic, and Mark took second from Fisher with a turn two pass on lap
13 and he swept around Steve exiting turn four a lap later.
   The order was now Mark, Steve, Fisher, Saldana, Herrera, Jeff
Swindell, Paul McMahan, Kenny Jacobs and S. Swindell.
    Fisher was applying the pressure to Steve as Mark extended his
lead, but Fisher couldn't get by. Saldana kept close, and got by
Fisher for third on lap 21 with a low turn one move and had just
passed Steve for second when a yellow came out on lap
23 for Kevin Gobrecht's flat tire on the Pennzoil Maxim. The caution
nullified Saldana's pass of Steve,
   The restart order was Mark, Steve, Saldana, Fisher, Herrera and J.
Swindell ahead of S. Swindell. Mark puled away again when the green
reappeared, with Saldana diving under Steve for second. By lap 25, S.
Swindell passed Herrera to take fifth as Mark led by a quarter lap.
Traffic loomed again, with S. Swindell getting past Fisher for spot
number four on lap 30.
     Saldana was catching Mark when eighth runner K. Jacobs shredded a
left rear tire, bringing out a yellow, which became a red for a fuel
stop.
    "I was just trying to keep the car up front and keep it in one
piece," Saldana said of his second place run. "We loosened the car up
(on the red) and it helped in three and four and hurt me in one and
two so we should have left it alone. I might have been able to run
down Mark in the clear, but passing him would have been another
thing."  
      After getting his right rear regrooved under the red, Mark
pulled away easily on the restart as he had a three lapped car
advantage over Saldana. Mark amassed a full straightaway lead when the
checkered flew.
  J. Swindell rode home sixth, with Steve fading in the last few laps
to seventh. Danny Smith started 19th and drove a steady race forward
to eighth, with 12th starting Jeff Shepard ninth and K. Jacobs
rebounding from his flat for tenth.
   Kenny Jacobs was the quick timer over the 51 car field and won his
heat. The other heats went to Joey Saldana, Steve Kinser, Bobby Allen,
Jeff Shepard and Bobby Davis Jr. Tim Shaffer won the C main and Dale
Blaney won the B main.
The summary:
   Time Trials: 1. Kenny Jacobs, Ashworth 92, 15.252; 2. Andy
Hillenburg, Hillenburg 2, 15.258; 3. Steve Kinser, Kinser 11, 15.346;
4. Mark Kinser, Kinser 5m, 15.411; 5. Charlie Fisher, Fisher 48,
15.414; 6. Dale Blaney, Hughes 94, 15.511; 7. Dave Blaney, Luna 10,
15.545; 8. Jeff Swindell, Two Winners 7tw, 15.601; 9. Sammy Swindell,
Swindell 1, 15.763; 10. Dean Jacobs, Jacobs 1F, 15.825; 11.
Johnny Herrera, Sonner 47, 16.012; 12. Kevin Gobrecht, Elden 22,
16.100; 13. Joe Gaerte, Gaerte 3G, 16.101; 14. Joey Saldana, Stanton
75, 16.117; 15. Jim Carr, McManus 7m, 16.120; 16. Frankie Kerr, Shoff
23s, 16.168; 17. Jeff Shepard, Wahlie 1w, 16.176; 18. Paul McMahan,
Roth 83, 16.213; 19. Butch Schroeder, Gottschalk 17, 16.265; 20. Randy
Hannigan, M&M 2m, 16.280; 21. Rocky Hodges, Holbrook 8H, 16.332; 22.
Ed Lynch, Jr., Lynch 2L, 16.376; 23. Todd Kane, Kane 78,
16.380; 24. Greg Hodnett, Helm 11, 16.409; 25. James Fisher, Fisher
48J, 16.452; 26.  Stevie Smith, Motter 71m, 16.618; 27. Van Gurley
Jr., Gurley 3B, 16.631; 28. Bobby Allen, Allen 1a, 16.701; 29. Danny
Smith, Bodkins 00, 16.719; 30. Rob Chaney, Chaney 42, 16.727; 31.
Byron Reed, B&S 5, 16.733; 32. Craig Dollansky, Lindsey 2D, 16.747;
33. Tim Engler, Engler 73, 16.808; 34. Tim Kuhn, Kuhn 11,
16.840; 35. Brian Paulus, P&P 28, 16.871; 36. Bobby Davis Jr., Davis
4, 16.874; 37. Ray Shank, Shank 7x, 16.876; 38. Tim Shaffer, J&M 55,
16.987; 39. Daniel Coggeshell, Coggeshell 3, 16.989; 40. Jeff
Williams, McCullough 10, 17.016; 41. Dave Freed, Freed 8, 17.135; 42.
Kevin Huntley, Johnson U2, 17.218; 43. Randy
Kinser, Kinser 14, 17.247; 44. Rick Martin, M&M 44, 17.382; 45. Brian
Carlson, SC Motorsports 18, 17.458; 46. Kent Wolters, Wolters 25,
17.504; 47. Mark Christman, Christman 34, 17.545; 48. Jeremy Minton,
Minton 13, 17.796; 49. Terry Pletch, Pletch 29, 17.856; 50. Todd
Kelley, Kelley 21K, 17.878; 51. Gerry Hart, Hart 39, 18.064.
   Heat (8 laps): 1. K. Jacobs 2. Dave Blaney 3. J. Fisher 4. Gaerte
5. Schroeder 6. R. Kinser 7. Shank 8. Reed 9. Pletch,
   Heat (8 laps): 1. Saldana 2. Hillenburg 3. J. Swindell 4. S. Smith
5. Hannigan 6. Dollansky 7. Shaffer 8. Martin 9. Kelley. 
   Heat (8 laps): 1. S. Kinser 2. Engler 3. Hodges 4. Gurley 5. S.
Swindell 6. Carr 7. Coggeshell 8. Carlson 9. Hart.
   Heat (8 laps): 1. Allen 2. Kuhn 3. M. Kinser 4. Kerr 5. Lynch 6. D.
Jacobs 7. Williams 8. Wolters.
   Heat (8 laps): 1. Shepard 2. D. Smith 3. Herrera 4. Paulus 5. C.
Fisher 6. Kane 7. Freed 8. Christman.
   Heat (8 laps): 1. Davis 2. Hodnett 3. McMahan 4. Chaney 5. Dale
Blaney 6. Gobrecht 7.Huntley 8. Minton.
   C Main (10 laps): 1. Shaffer 2. Shank 3. Williams 4. Coggeshell 5.
Martin 6. Christman 7. Carlson 8. Kelley 9. Pletch 10. Hart 11.
Wolters 12. Freed 13. Minton 14. Reed - DNS 15. Huntley - DNS.
   B Main (12 laps): 1. Dale Blaney 2. C. Fisher 3. Gobrecht 4. Lynch
5. S. Swindell 6. D. Jacobs 7.  Carr 8. Hannigan 9. S. Smith 10. Kane
11. Gaerte 12. Coggeshell 13. Dollansky 14. R. Kinser 15. Shaffer 16.
Gurley 17. Shank 18. Kerr 19. Schroeder 20. Paulus 21. Chaney 22.
Williams.
    A Main (40 laps): 1. M. Kinser ($100,000); 2.  Saldana ($20,000);
3. S. Swindell  ($10,000); 4. C. Fisher ($6,000): 5. Herrera ($5,000);
6. J. Swindell ($4,000): 7. S. Kinser ($3,500); 8. D. Smith ($3,000);
9. Shepard ($2,500); 10. K. Jacobs ($2.200); 11. McMahan ($2,000); 12.
Hillenburg ($1,900); 13. Hodges ($1,800); 14. Hodnett ($1,750);  15.
Dale Blaney ($1,725); 16. Lynch ($1,700); 17. Gobrecht ($1,675); 18.
Davis ($1,650); 19. Allen ($1,625); 20. Engler ($1,600); 21. J. Fisher
($1,575); 22. Kuhn ($1,550); 23. Dave Blaney ($1,525); 24. D. Jacobs
($1,500).