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WoO: Saldana Wins Paul Sawyer Memorial
Written by: Tony Veneziano
World of Outlaws   http://www.worldofoutlaws.com
05/24/2009
Jamaica, VA
 
Joey Saldana joined an elite group of drivers on Saturday night, after winning the Paul Sawyer Memorial at Virginia Motor Speedway to break into the Top-10 on the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series all-time win list. The $10,000 victory was the 46th of his career and places him in a tie with former series champion Bobby Davis Jr. for 10th all time.
Joey Saldana leads the World of Outlaws with seven wins this season. (WoO) ยป More Photos

Saldana started on the pole and dominated the event from start to finish, lapping all the way up to the 13th-place finisher in an event that went non-stop green to checker, after an opening lap red flag led to a compete restart.

“This was a complete team effort again tonight,” said Saldana in Victory Lane. “My crew just kept plugging away. This is a very special win as well being my 46th. I looked up to Bobby Davis and I actually got to work on his car a few times and that was pretty cool. Hopefully we can get the next guy and get up there with guys like Doug Wolfgang and Donny Schatz.”

Saldana's team worked feverishly to change an engine after time trials in preparation for the third heat race, in which he would finish second to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash. He won the dash to earn the pole for the 30-lap main event with Sam Hafertepe Jr. starting next to him on the front row at the state-of-the-art half-mile.

“We were pretty good on the top or the bottom,” Saldana stated. “These cars with the new wings, you have to chase your car all night. You can't give up on what you have. We qualified 12th and put ourselves in the right position and came out with a win. We did the same thing last night (at Charlotte). My team doesn't give up.”

Saldana leads the World of Outlaws with seven wins this season, already surpassing his win total from last year by two victories. He has won at seven different tracks ranging in size from a ¼-mile bullring to the big half-mile at Virginia Motor Speedway in the Budweiser Maxim. Saldana looks to extend his win streak to three on Monday as a busy Memorial Day weekend wraps up for the World of Outlaws at Canadaigua Speedway in New York.

“Now we have to go on to the next race and it's hard to stay on top with these guys,” noted the second generation driver. “It seems right now like it's easy to win, but it's not. It's a great team effort. I can't thank Kasey (Kahne) and Budweiser and everyone enough for all that they do.”

Sam Hafertepe Jr. chased Saldana for the entire race and got close to him a couple of times in lapped traffic, but never was able to get a run on him to try to make a pass for the lead. The third-year driver wound up second to earn his best career World of Outlaws finish in the Fusion Energy J&J.

“I don't know what it is about this place, but we seem to get around it pretty good,” said Hafertepe. “I tried everything I could in lapped traffic and my hat is off to Joey (Saldana). He just got through there a little bit better than I did. We just got way too tight in traffic and I feel like I let the team down a little bit. Joey
(Saldana) and Craig (Dollansky) have a lot of experience, so I am happy to be up here running with them.”

The race began with Saldana and Hafertepe running side by side in turns one and two, with Jason Meyers charging on the high side to come from fourth to second by the time the field entered turns three and four and he looked to challenge Saldana on the front straightaway, before the only stoppage of the night occurred leading to a red flag, leading to a complete restart.

One the second start, Saldana led the field into turns one and quickly began to open a lead on Hafertepe and Meyers. By the third lap, the leaders were already in traffic and Saldana was able to slice his way through the slower machines, though toward the middle of the race he got tied up a couple of times behind a lapped car, allowing Hafertepe to close the gap.

“I went down in there and tried to run the bottom and slide back underneath him, but it didn't work too well,” noted Hafertepe of the complete restart. “I decided to let him have the high line and run the high line behind him. I held Jason (Meyers) off on that second restart.”

Craig Dollansky used a late pass of Jason Meyers to finish third in the DirecTV Maxim for Kasey Kahne Racing. He lined up sixth and battled Donny Schatz for several laps before setting his sights on Lucas Wolfe and Meyers.

“As the race wore on and the track slowed down a bit we gained a lot of ground,” shared Dollansky. “We started back a bit after a bad dash draw and worked out way to sixth. We were able to pick some cars off late in the race. We still have some work to do, but we are working hard and we'll get there.”

Meyers, who won at Virginia Motor Speedway in the World of Outlaws debut at the track last season finished fourth on Saturday night in the GLR Investments KPC. He remains fourth in the series championship standings.

“We've been pretty good at this place,” Meyers said. “We had another good race car tonight and had a great start the first time and had a shot at the lead and the red flag came out. It's unfortunate that we showed our cards that early and there was not a lot of passing tonight. I had third for most of the night and probably should have come home there, but these guys did a great job.”

Lucas Wolfe finished fifth to earn his second Top-Five finish in the last four races and his third overall on the season in the Allebach Racing Maxim. The reigning Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year began the night by turning the quickest lap in time trials.

Danny Lasoski was sixth in the Casey's General Store Maxim, with current point leader Donny Schatz seventh aboard the Armor All J&J. Ed Lynch Jr. was eighth piloting the Howard Concrete J&J, with 20-time series champion Steve Kinser ninth in the Quaker State Maxim. Jason Sides rounded out the Top-10 in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim.

The World of Outlaws return to action on Monday, May 25 at Canadaigua Speedway in New York.
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