All good things come to those that wait ... even to World of Outlaws champions.


Photo Credit: Megan Hazel for the World of Outlaws
Kings Speedway is a high-banked, 3/8-mile high banked clay oval track. The Speedway is located near Hanford, California on the Kings County Fairgrounds. Like many tracks it is a motorplex, in other words it has more than one track on the site. Kings Speedway has both the 3/8-mile track and a 1/8-mile track for Karts, Micro Sprints, Quarter Midgets and TQs.

Although the track the Outlaws will be racing on itself is not nearly as old, the site has an historical background. A one mile dirt oval operated here from late September 1917 through around 1925. A 1/2-mile dirt oval operated in 1951 through August 29, 1959. The current 3/8-mile dirt oval opened on June 11, 1983 and the 1/8-mile dirt oval (Kart Track) on April 4, 1986.

The track record of 12.293 seconds or approximately 109.818 mph was established by Joey Saldana on Feb. 23, 2001.

A different winner has claimed each of the past eight features on the 3/8-mile dating back to 1999. Last night would continue that trend. 

Qualifying for the evening was fairly fast with only 27 cars in attendance. It was the first time all year that the Outlaws had less than 30 cars sign in. Quick Time was set by Chad Kemenah with a lap of 13.047 seconds or 103.472 mph. Less than three tenths of a second separated the top 10 qualifiers and saw a return to the names you expect to see at the top of the speed charts. 

The first heat race was a quick paced event that had a lot of hard racing for the final transfer position between Jason Meyers, Daryn Pittman and Cody Darrah. Sammy Swindelll would lead the field to the checkered flag followed by Jonathan Allard, Craig Dollansky, Chad Kemenah, Daryn Pittman and Jason Meyers.

The second heat was a great duel between two of the long standing heroes of the sport, Steve Kinser and Joey Saldana. Saldana would win the heat with Steve Kinser just a car length back and closing. The King's son, Kraig Kinser, would come home third followed by the newest Outlaw Paul McMahan. Also transferring to the A Main from the heat were Cory Eliason and Kerry Madsen.

The third heat race would be a barn burner of slide jobs and pushing the cushion all through the field. Tim Kaeding would come home victorious over Jason Sides, Donny Schatz, David Gravel, Kyle Hirst and Rico Abreu.

The Dash inversion was six turning the who’s who of wing sprints upside down. The six lap affair would be a hard fought battle between Tim Kaeding and the King of the Outlaws - Steve Kinser. Kaeding would come home first to win the pole for the 35 lap A Main. But the late race charge of five-time and defending champion Donny Schatz to come from eighth to third in two laps was a foretelling sign of things to come. 

The Last Chance Showdown put Brian Brown, Cody Darrah, Carson Macedo, Austen Wheatley, Wayne Johnson and D.J. Netto in the A Main. It sent Bill Rose, who was back in a sprint car for the first time since breaking his arm in Volusia in February, to the trailer. Rose opted not to take a provisional into the A Main.

The A Main saw nine lead changes in 15 laps, most of them between Tim Kaeding and Donny Schatz. On Lap 18, the complexion of the race would change when Tim Kaeding had a right rear tire go down and spun off the banking in Turn 2. That moved Chad Kemenah to second. The fight would begin in earnest for the next 17 laps Chad Kemenah and Donny Schatz would race side by side and exchange slide job after slide job for the lead. In the end, Donny Schatz would prove victorious for the first time at Kings Speedway.

Outlaws point leader Daryn Pittman put on an amazing show in the A Main spinning early in the race on the initial green and starting from the rear of the field. Pittman would work his way back up to a fourth place finish. 

Also putting on an incredible performance, was the hard charger of the race Kyle Hirst who climbed from 20th starting position to finish ninth. 

Reigning champion and race winner Donny Schatz remarked in victory lane, “This is awesome to get my first win at Hanford. We kept getting passed but it wasn’t on the race track it was on the restarts.”

Second place finisher Chad Kemenah had nothing but high praise for the track, “This is a beautiful track. The track was just perfect to race on.”

Third place finisher was Sammy Swindell, “We were able to get some really good restarts out there. But it was gonna be hard to get around those guys."

They say that good things come to those that wait. The Outlaws waited three years to get a race in at Kings Speedway but last night it all proved well worth the wait. The Outlaws put on the kind of show that they are known for - hard core, no fear, no holds barred racing. Man what a sight it was!

Qualifying Results: 1) Chad Kemenah 13.047 103.472 mph 2) Paul McMahan 3) Donny Schatz 4) Craig Dollansky 5) Steve Kinser 6) Tim Kaeding 7) Jonthan Allard 8) Joey Saldana 9) David Gravel 10) Sammy Swindell 11) Kraig Kinser 12) Jason Sides 13) Daryn Pittman 14) Brian Brown. 15) Rico Abreu 16) Cody Darrah 17) Cory Eliason 18) Greg Wilson 19) Jason Meyers 20) Kerry Madsen 21) Kyle Hirst 22) Carson Macedo 23) Austen Wheatley 24) Bill Rose 25) Dominic Scelzi 26) D.J. Netto 27) Warren Johnson.

First Heat Race Results: 1) Sammy Swindell 2) Jonthan Allard 3) Craig Dollansky 4) Chad Kemenah 5) Daryn Pittman 6) Jason Meyers 7) Cody Darrah 8) Carson Macedo 9) Dominic Scelzi

Second Heat Race Results: 1) Joey Saldana 2) Steve Kinser 3) Kraig Kinser 4) Paul McMahan 5) Cory Eliason 6) Kerry Madsen 7) Brian Brown 8) Austen Wheatley 9) D.J. Netto

Third Heat Race Results: 1) Tim Kaeding 2) Jason Sides 3) Donny Schatz 4) David Gravel 5) Kyle Hirst 6) Rico Abreu 7) Bill Rose 8) Greg Wilson 9) Wayne Johnson.

Dash Results: 1) Tim Kaeding 2) Steve Kinser 3) Donny Schatz 4) Craig Dollansky 5) Paul McMahan 6) Chad Kemenah 7) Joey Saldana 8) Jason Sides 9) Sammy Swindell 10) Jonathan Allard

Last Chance Showdown Results: 1) Brian Brown 2) Cody Darrah 3) Carson Macedo 4) Austen Wheatley 5) Wayne Johnson 6) D.J. Netto 7) Bill Rose 8) Greg Wilson 9) Dominic Scelzi

A Main Results: 1) Donny Schatz 2) Chad Kemenah 3) Sammy Swindell 4) Daryn Pittman 5) Kraig Kinser 6) Joey Saldana 7) Craig Dollansky 8) Paul McMahan 9) Kyle Hirst 10) Steve Kinser 11) Kerry Madsen 12) David Gravel 13) Tim Kaeding 14) Jason Sides 15) Jonthan Allard 16) Carson Macedo 17) Cody Darrah 18) Cory Eliason 19) Jason Meyers 20) Rico Abreu 21) D.J. Netto 22) Austen Wheatley 23) Wayne Johnson 24) Brian Brown.

Hard Charger of the Race: Kyle Hirst from 20th to ninth .
All good things come to those that wait ... even to World of Outlaws champions. All good things come to those that wait ... even to World of Outlaws champions. Reviewed by Unknown on Saturday, April 13, 2013 Rating: 5