Lake Ozark Speedway

Sometimes getting the first win of a racing season can be the toughest one for a driver and team. Often, once they have the first win under their belt, several more follow. Craig Dollansky hopes this is the case, for him and his team.

On Saturday night in the series return to Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Missouri, he left no doubt about who had the strongest car, leading all 35 laps, to pick up his first A-Feature win of the season and 19^th of his career.

The native of Elk River, Minnesota shot out to an early lead and was in lapped track just eight laps into the event. He battled heavy traffic all night, which allowed Tim Shaffer to close in over the last few laps. At the line, Dollansky won by 0.2 second.

“It’s definitely nice to get our first win of the year, and get that monkey off of our back,” said Dollansky, driver of the Karavan Trailers Maxim. “My crew guys have been working hard. We knew that first win would come, and it’s nice to get it for the whole team.”

After winning his second Crane Cams Dash of the season, Dollansky lined up on the pole for the 35-lap contest on the 1/3-mile. A couple of mid-race cautions bunched the field, but each time on the restart, Dollansky charged down the front straightaway and opened a commanding lead by the time he reached the back straightaway.

“We had a good race car and I felt comfortable with the track the way it was,” he said. “Toward the middle of the race I got down on the bottom and stayed down there. That was the place to be.”

While Shaffer tried his best to track down Dollansky, the latter knew that as long as kept his car glued to the bottom he would be in good shape. For Dollansky, the win was his seventh Top-Five finish of the season as he sits solidly in the fourth position in the championship standings.

“I knew at the end that it would be pretty tough for someone to go around us on the outside, and I was just going to run conservative on the bottom,” explained the winner. “Getting to that point and being in that position was the tough thing. We were fortunate to be in that position and it was a total team effort. Hopefully we can get some momentum out of this and keep working on this race car and get some more wins.”

Shaffer who started in the third spot fell back to fourth on the opening lap of the event, and charged right back on the next lap. He powered around Steve Kinser and Joey Saldana on the 12^th lap to take the second spot. The native of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania made up some ground at the end, as evidenced by turning the fastest lap of the race on the 27^th circuit, as he earned the runner-up finish.

“It was a good night all together,” said Shaffer, driver of the Casey’s General Stores Maxim. “We qualified decent and ran good in the heat race. We fell back a little in the dash, but we recovered pretty well in the feature.”

With heavy lapped traffic plaguing the leaders with under five laps to go, Shaffer was able to significantly cut into Dollansky’s advantage and made a couple of late runs at him, reminiscent of late charges he had earlier in the season at Volunteer Speedway in Tennessee and Dixie Speedway in Georgia.

“I definitely thought I had a chance at the end,” said Shaffer. “One little slip up and I could have lost a spot, and if he would have slipped up he would have lost a spot. I was getting greedy there at the end and pushed the car pretty hard. My team did a great job. They had the car right all night.”

After earning his seventh Top-Five finish of the season, Shaffer is confident that his first win of the season is just around the corner. On Tuesday, he will return to his home track, Lernerville Speedway in Pennsylvania where he was the 1993 track champion. He won his first World of Outlaws event at the track in 2005.

“If you can keep banging on the door and running in the Top-Five and Top-Three, the wins will come,” he said. “Our goal is to be consistent and as long as we are, the wins will follow.”

After finishing ninth in the series inaugural visit to the 1/3-mile in 2005, the former World of Outlaws Gumout Series Champion was impressed with the hard work of track officials and their staff as they treated the fans to a great night of racing.

“It’s a beautiful facility and it’s great to come here and race,” said Dollansky. “Kevin Gundaker is doing a great job. Hopefully the fans enjoyed the show.”

With the schedule picking up next week, Dollansky and his team are ready to take to the track five times in a six-day period as part of the first East Coast swing of the season. While the win on Saturday night was their first in World of Outlaws action this season, the team won in early February at East Bay Raceway in Florida as a tune-up for the World of Outlaws season.

“I think we are headed in the right direction,” he said. “We still have some work to do, but we’ll keep at it. We have a long way to go in the season. We didn’t have the start to the season that I wanted, but we’ll keep working and hard and see where it goes.”

Joey Saldana charged from the ninth starting spot to finish third, earning his 12^th Top-Five finish of the season, as he continues to chase Donny Schatz in the point standings. The native of Brownsburg, Indiana gained a spot on the second lap of the race, and two more on the following circuit. He found himself in the Top-Five on the fifth lap, as he staged an entertaining battle with Steve Kinser and then Shaffer.

“We needed a solid run tonight,” said Saldana, driver of the Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI. “We’ve struggled a bit on the little sticky tracks, and this one tonight got a little slick and that helped us out. It seems like what we are doing to our cars works better when the track gets slick.”

Saldana, the 1996 World of Outlaws Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year believes his team is ready as the schedule picks up next week on the East Coast. The more he races, the better rhythm he believes he gets into.

“I enjoy it when the schedule picks up,” said Saldana. “I have a really good team behind me, and they work very hard. They do a great job preparing the car. For me it would be great to run seven days a week, but for the sake of the crews, you could not do that. It’s always tough to race on the East Coast, where they definitely support 410-sprint car racing.”

Steve Kinser has a very solid night in the Q Oil Maxim, finishing in the fourth position. He inherited the second spot on the 11^th lap as Terry McCarl who was in the runner-up position spun. He battled Saldana for a number of laps, taking the third spot on the 16^th lap, before the former got back around him. For Kinser, it was his eighth Top-Five finish of the season.

Daryn Pittman ran steady all night long, as he wound up in the fifth spot aboard the Titan Garages Maxim. He lined up 15^th for the A-Feature and patiently worked his way up in the field as well as through traffic.

Donny Schatz raced his way into the A-Feature by virtue of winning the B-Main. He picked up his 17^th Top-10 finish of the season on Saturday, with a sixth-place effort, as he continues to lead the World of Outlaws standings in the ParkerStore J&J. Danny Lasoski finished seventh in the Roth Motorsports Eagle, to wrap up the doubleheader weekend in his home state. Jason Meyers, who won on Friday night at U.S. 36 Raceway, finished in the eight spot in the Primerica Financial Maxim, with Jason Solwold in ninth in the City Wide Insulation Maxim, and Chad Kemenah was 10^th in the Arizonatools.com Maxim.

The World of Outlaws will return to action on Tuesday, May 15 in the First Commonwealth Bank Clash at Lernerville Speedway.

• HONORING A LEGEND: Prior to racing action on Saturday night, there was a moment of silence observed to honor George Tatnell, the father of World of Outlaws driver Brooke Tatnell who passed away on Saturday in Australia. Brooke who returned to Australia last week to be with his father, attributed everything he learned about racing to his father, who was an Australian racing legend.

“The whole Larry Woodward Racing team supports Brooke and his family,” said Crew Chief Troy Renfro. “Brooke is like a brother to me and this is a very hard time for him. Not too many people realize how close Brooke was to his father. His father was his hero.”

• INJURY UPDATE: Brian Carlson sustained an injury to his left leg after hard contact with the wall in time trials on Saturday night. The native of Linden, Indiana was transported to a local hospital for observation, where he was kept overnight for precautionary measures.

• FAST QUALIFIER: Zach Chappell paced the 30 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the semi-banked 1/3-mile oval in 11.705 seconds at 102.418 mph. For his qualifying effort, Chappell eared five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Jason Sides (4), Jason Meyers (3), Danny Lasoski (2) and Steve Kinser (1).

• QUALIFYING WINNERS: Craig Dollansky, Tim Shaffer and Jeremy Campbell won heat races… Donny Schatz won the B-Main… Craig Dollansky won the Crane Cams dash.
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• FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 19 World of Outlaws A-Feature events held in 2007. The win list includes: Joey Saldana (February 23 at Thunderbowl Raceway, March 17 at Pike County Speedway, March 24 at Volunteer Speedway, March 31 at Dixie Speedway, and April 20 at Attica Raceway Park), Donny Schatz (February 9 at Volusia Speedway Park, March 3 at Manzanita Speedway, March 16 at Houston Raceway Park, and April 28 at Knoxville Raceway), Steve Kinser (March 2 at USA Race Park and April 21 at Tri-State Speedway), Jason Meyers (April 13 at Eldora Speedway and May 11 at U.S. 36 Raceway), Daryn Pittman (February 11 at Volusia Speedway Park and May 5 at Riverside International Speedway), Craig Dollansky (May 12 at Lake Ozark Speedway), Tim Kaeding (February 24 at Thunderbowl Raceway), Danny Lasoski (April 6 at Paducah International Raceway), and Kerry Madsen (February 10 at Volusia Speedway Park).

• 1/3-MILE WINNERS: Lake Ozark Speedway is a semi-banked 1/3-mile oval. . The World of Outlaws have raced four times this season on a track that size. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Thunderbowl Raceway and Attica Raceway Park), Craig Dollansky (Lake Ozark Speedway) and Tim Kaeding (Thunderbowl Raceway).

ON TELEVISION
• The World of Outlaws return to television on May 13 at 2 p.m. Eastern. The Sprint Car stars from the World of Outlaws return to SPEED at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 13, with the warriors from the 360 OTC World of Outlaws Late Model Series making their 2007 SPEED debut on Sunday, May 20.

The World of Outlaws will be televised 20 times this season on ESPN2 and SPEED while the World of Outlaws Late Model Series is set for six appearances on SPEED. The one-hour broadcasts will air on Sundays from May 13 to Nov. 4, when the series champions will be crowned during the World Finals from The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

• ON THE WEB: The Official World of Outlaws Web site is at http://www.worldofoutlaws.com. Among the features are updated driver biographies with individual statistics and pictures, race-by-race statistics, detailed track information and race coverage, series news and team press releases. Also, links to the Media Guide and 2007 Official Rulebook can be found at the bottom of the home page.

• LISTEN ONLINE: If fans can’t get to a track to see the series, they can experience the excitement of the World of Outlaws live on DIRTVision.com through the DIRT Radio Network. To listen to the audio broadcasts, log on to www.DIRTVision.com and click on the DIRT Radio Network logo. Listeners will need Windows Media Player 9 or higher to listen to the DIRT Radio Network. For technical support or questions, e-mail webmaster@DIRTVision.com.

• UP NEXT: The First Commonwealth Bank Clash is set for Tuesday, May 15 at Lernerville Speedway in Pennsylvania.

• UPCOMING EVENTS: The first pair of events at the famed Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania are on tap for Thursday, May 17 and Friday, May 18. A trip the sprawling 5/8-mile Orange County Speedway in New York is set for Saturday, May 19. A return to New Egypt Speedway in New Jersey dots the schedule the following night, Sunday, May 20.

World of Outlaws Statistical Report; Lake Ozark Speedway; Eldon, MO.; May 12, 2007

Qualifying
1) 8K-Zach Chappell 11.705 2) 7S-Jason Sides 11.866 3) 14-Jason Meyers 11.886 4) 83-Danny Lasoski 11.889 5) 11-Steve Kinser 11.897 6) 9-Joey Saldana 11.932 7) R19-Jason Solwold 11.938 8) 6-Tim Shaffer 11.970 9) 24-Terry McCarl 12.040 10) 7-Craig Dollansky 12.052 11) 5C-Chad Hillier 12.056 12) 10C-Jeremy Campbell 12.061 13) 15-Donny Schatz 12.070 14) 3X-Chad Kemenah 12.107 15) 21-Daryn Pittman 12.109 16) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr. 12.126 17) 35-Jac Haudenschild 12.139 18) 2-Tim Kaeding 12.156 19) 1X-Randy Hannagan 12.158 20) 18-Brian Carlson 12.216 21) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 12.234 22) 20-Paul McMahan 12.265 23) 36-Jason Martin 12.267 24) 14M-Randy Martin 12.307 25) 11H-Kerry Madsen 12.386 26) D1-Justin Henderson 12.408 27) 11D-Dion Hindi 12.592 28) 1A-Adam Jones 12.641 29) 11T-Tyler Thompson 12.849 30) D12-Doc Sloan 13.135

Heat 1 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 7-Craig Dollansky 2) R19-Jason Solwold 3) 83-Danny Lasoski 4) 20-Paul McMahan 5) 8K-Zach Chappell 6) 11H-Kerry Madsen 7) 15-Donny Schatz 8) 1X-Randy Hannagan 9) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr. 10) 1A-Adam Jones

Heat 2 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 6-Tim Shaffer 2) 11-Steve Kinser 3) 35-Jac Haudenschild 4) 7S-Jason Sides 5) 5C-Chad Hillier 6) 36-Jason Martin 7) 3X-Chad Kemenah 8) D1-Justin Henderson 9) 11T-Tyler Thompson

Heat 3 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 10C-Jeremy Campbell 2) 24-Terry McCarl 3) 14-Jason Meyers 4) 9-Joey Saldana 5) 21-Daryn Pittman 6) 2-Tim Kaeding 7) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 8) D12-Doc Sloan 9) 14M-Randy Martin 10) 11D-Dion Hindi

Crane Cams Dash (8 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) 7-Craig Dollansky 2) 24-Terry McCarl 3) 6-Tim Shaffer 4) R19-Jason Solwold 5) 11-Steve Kinser 6) 83-Danny Lasoski 7) 14-Jason Meyers 8) 7S-Jason Sides 9) 10C-Jeremy Campbell 10) 8K-Zach Chappell

B-main (12 laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 15-Donny Schatz 2) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr. 3) 3X-Chad Kemenah 4) 1X-Randy Hannagan 5) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr 6) D1-Justin Henderson 7) 14M-Randy Martin [$200] 8) 11D-Dion Hindi [$180] 9) 1A-Adam Jones [$175] 10) D12-Doc Sloan [$160] 11) 11T-Tyler Thompson [$150] 12) 18-Brian Carlson [$150]

A-main (35 laps) - Starting Position [#]
1) 7-Craig Dollansky[1] [$10,000] 2) 6-Tim Shaffer[3] [$5,500] 3) 9-Joey Saldana[11] [$3,200] 4) 11-Steve Kinser[5] [$2,800] 5) 21-Daryn Pittman[15] [$2,500] 6) 15-Donny Schatz[13] [$2,300] 7) 83-Danny Lasoski[6] [$2,200] 8) 14-Jason Meyers[7] [$2,100] 9) R19-Jason Solwold[4] [$2,050] 10) 3X-Chad Kemenah[14] [$2,000] 11) 1X-Randy Hannagan[19] [$1,500] 12) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.[16] [$1,200] 13) 10C-Jeremy Campbell[9] [$1,100] 14) 8K-Zach Chappell[10] [$1,050] 15) 36-Jason Martin[21] [$1,000] 16) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[23] [$900] 17) 11H-Kerry Madsen[22] [$800] 18) 20-Paul McMahan[20] [$800] 19) 7S-Jason Sides[8] [$800] 20) 2-Tim Kaeding[18] [$800] 21) D1-Justin Henderson[24] [$800] 22) 35-Jac Haudenschild[17] [$800] 23) 24-Terry McCarl[2] [$800] 24) 5C-Chad Hillier[12] [$800]

When the Gundaker family bought Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon Missouri a few weeks ago, they set out to make it one of the most fan friendly race tracks in the Midwest. So now, as the new owners, they are proud to announce the new lower prices for admission. It seems that with the cost of everything on the rise these days, race fans would find it refreshing to see ticket prices actually go down. General Admission will now be $11.00 and Seniors and Military admission being $10.00. Children 12 and under are FREE. Race fans can also save additional money by purchasing a Season Pass for all “Regular Weekly Racing Events”. Adult Season Passes are $160.00. Seniors and Military Season Passes are $145.00.

The lower ticket prices are just one step in the Gundaker’s quest to make Lake Ozark Speedway the premier short track in Missouri. They have also expanded the 2007 schedule to include 2 World of Outlaw Sprint Car races, a visit by the M.A.R.S Late Models on July 7^th and the

Illinois-Missouri Modified Challenge, that pays $2000.00 to win. There will also be a “Fan Appreciation Night” on August 18^th with half price admission.

The 2007 season will kickoff with an Open Practice Session for all classes on Saturday, April 7^th and will be FREE to the Public.

Fans can secure their World of Outlaw Tickets NOW for both events, May 12^th & Sept 15^th by calling 800-617-9077.

For more information on Lake Ozark Speedway, visit our website at www.LakeOzarkSpeedway.com or call 1.800.617.9077!

The new owners of Lake Ozark Speedway, Kevin and Tammy Gundaker, will be hosting a meeting with all "core" employees at 11:00 AM on February 3rd. There will then be a rules meeting for ALL CLASSES that will be running in 2007 at 2:00 PM. The meetings will be held at The Lodge of Four Seasons in Lake Ozark, MO. Both meetings will be held in the Marbella conference room. We will also be signing up people for their 2007 memberships, the fees will be the same as last year. Kevin and Tammy are looking forward to meeting all of the teams and employees. They will be available to answer any questions that you may have.

Lake of the Ozarks, MO (January 19, 2007) G&G Motorsports of St. Charles, MO reached an agreement with Lake Ozark Speedway owner Howard Schrock to purchase the 1/3 mile clay oval located in Eldon, MO. The agreement is effective immediately and G&G Motorsports will take over day to day operations on Monday, January 22, 2007.

G&G Motorsports will announce a rules/drivers meeting date in the near future. However, the current classes scheduled to race at Lake Ozark Speedway will remain the classes that run in 2007 which include 360 Winged Sprints, C.A.R.S. Late Models, Modifieds & Street Stocks. The World of Outlaw Sprint Car Series shows that are scheduled for May 12th and September 15th will also remain on the schedule.

G&G Motorsports also owns Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, IL. Kevin & Tammy Gundaker will continue to promote and perform day to day operations at Tri-City Speedway while a track manager will be hired to take care of day to day operations at Lake Ozark Speedway.

Lake Ozark Speedway is a premier racing facility in central Missouri with amentities including 5000 Seats, Handicap Parking & Seating, Full Concessions, Playground, MUSCO Lighting, Closed Circuit TV, Motorcycle Parking, Transponder Timing & Scoring With a 20 Place Scoreboard.

For questions and more information on the new Lake Ozark Speedway ownership group, please email kevin@lakeozarkspeedway.com

Lake Ozark Speedway (LOS) is proud to announce that they are bringing back Winged 360 Sprint Cars on a weekly basis for the 2007 season. After taking a season off, the requests have been pouring in by the fans in Central Missouri to bring back the Sprint Cars to the 1/3 mile banked oval. Lake Ozark Speedway will be the only place in Missouri that fans will be able to see the 700 horsepower openwheel cars run every Saturday night. LOS will be running the same rules as the ASCS and Winged Outlaw Warriors, for more information about LOS, go to www.LakeOzarkSpeedway.com or call 800-617-9077