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Solwold Cruises to Victory on Night Two
Thursday, 08 February 2007
BARBERVILLE, FL (2-7-07) The O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions continued
the 36th Annual DIRTcar Nationals with another record car count. The pits were
packed with 60 winged 410 sprint cars for the second event of the All Star
season. Several World of Outlaws drivers joined the All Stars for this event to
prepare for their season opener on Feb. 9th. Steve Kinser and Tim Kaeding
made their first appearance of the 2007 season. Drivers from all over the country
made the trip to Florida this year to participate in the early season racing events.
New track record holder Jason Solwold started on the pole of the A-main and
when he took the green flag he never looked back on his way to victory in the 25
lap event. The event only saw one caution for Zach Chappel on lap 3. On the
restart McCarl jumped into the 3rd place spot. Craig Dollansky, McCarl, Brian
Paulus, and Joey Saldana ran nose to tail and side by side lap after lap. Solwold
navigated lapped traffic like a pro and held off several challenges by Dollansky.
McCarl looked as though he was going to make a run on the top two at the
midway point of the race but never quite got the momentum to get around them.
Paulus was able to hold off the previous night’s winner Saldana who challenged
him for the 4th spot time after time. Rounding out the top 10 were Donny Schatz,
Tony Bruce, Jr., Danny Smith, Mark Smith, and Greg Hodnett.
“I want to thank Leonard Lee,” said Solwold from victory lane. “We run good
here. I had to conserve my tires but we ran them pretty hard at the end. We got
lucky.” Solwold went on to thank the fans. “I want to thank everyone for coming
out here in the cold weather to watch the race. I hope we have a good week from
here on out.”
Craig Dollansky, who finished second the night before, said, “We did pretty good
there toward the end but Jason did a great job in lapped traffic. We hope to do a
little better tomorrow night. I’m happy with the results but we were just a little short
the last two nights.”
Terry McCarl was excited to get a 3rd place finish. “We started 10th and the car
got tight early. We had a hard tire on and it started to slip and slide for a few
laps. We had a great car and I’m real excited about this year. It’s going to be
tough and there will be a lot of tough teams out on the road.”
Once again the high car count forced the need for a Last Chance race for those
not making the top 48 spots. The top 4 would tag the tail of the heat races.
Robbie Vaughan won the event followed by Justin Collett, Brandon Martin, and O’
Reilly All Star rookie contender Craig Mintz who has had mechanical problems
since arriving in the sunshine state.
Heat races were won by Terry McCarl, Jason Meyers, Jeff Busby, and Randy
Hannagan. Heat race action was fast and furious fighting for the final transfer
spots.
It was evident that the number of cars on hand combined with the talent level of
those drivers would make for a very tough night for a lot of teams. The C-main
was packed with a star studded cast trying to make their way into the B-main.
Lucas Wolfe won over Daryn Pittman, Lance Dewease, and Fred Rahmer. Ten
other drivers were done for the evening.
The B-main was just as packed with 18 drivers that would make for a great A-
main anywhere in the country. Huggins Cams fast Danny Martin Jr. ran away with
the race followed by Chad Kemenah, Dustin Lindquist, and Greg Hodnett. Paul
McMahan just missed the transfer spot and loaded up early. McMahan has been
chasing mechanical problems and has had a frustrating week so far.
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