Saldana Doubles Down in Dodge City
June 14, 2009 by admin
Filed under Race Results
Joey Saldana celebrates his back-to-back Dodge City wins.
Mother Nature tried her best to slow down Joey Saldana after his win on Friday night, as heavy rain led to a three-hour delay on Saturday night after the first seven laps of the A-Feature were in the books for the World of Outlaws at Dodge City Raceway Park. Saldana was out front when the rains hit and he and his team overcame a blown engine during hot laps leading up to the resumption of the race, to lead the remaining laps to sweep the Boot Hill Showdown with the cameras from SPEED capturing all the action.
Saldana has four career wins at Dodge City to lead all drivers and also leads the series this season with 10 A-Feature wins in 2009. He used the victory in the finale of the Boot Hill Showdown to move into the second spot in the World of Outlaws championship standings as he chases his first career title aboard the Budweiser Maxim.
“My guys did an awesome job,” said Saldana. “We blew up in hot laps and made a pretty quick motor change. We didn’t get to work on our car and definitely didn’t have the best car. I guess we led the lap that mattered most. My guys did a tremendous job tonight. I don’t know too many teams that could have pulled that off. This all goes out to them.”
Saldana and his hard-working crew.
“I watched a little TV and was hoping we would get it in,” said the winner of what he did during the delay. “This is a great facility and it would have been a shame to have lost it to rain, so I am glad we got it in.”
When the race resumed, some three hours and 22 minutes later, Saldana quickly pulled out to a sizeable lead over Schatz. The pair got to lapped traffic late in the race, with Schatz gaining ground over the last few laps. With just two laps to go, Schatz ran side-by-side with Saldana through turns one and two, with the latter pulling away on the back straightaway. On the final lap, Schatz went high off turn four and came up just 18-thousandths of a second short at the line.
“That was the only chance I really had, when we got to a little traffic,” said Schatz. “It was just one of those nights.”
SpeedTV winner interview.
A standing room only crowd was on hand for the event, with a hearty bunch waiting out the rain delay to see Saldana pick up the 49th win of his World of Outlaws career. He is now just two behind Jac Haudenschild for eighth on the all-time list.
“Thank you guys for staying,” said the second generation driver to the diehard fans that stuck out the delay. “It sure was some crazy weather tonight. This is a great facility and you are lucky to have it, so support it every week. Hopefully we’ll get to come back next year.”
Sam Hafertepe Jr. battled Schatz for second early in the race taking the spot on the opening lap in turn two, with the latter retaking the position down the back straightaway. For Hafertepe, it was his third Top-Five finish of the season in the Fusion Energy Boost machine.
“Everyone stuck it out tonight and they did a heck of a job getting the track back in shape,” said Hafertepe. “I wish we could have gotten it in before the rain. I appreciate all the fans for sticking around. It’s great to come to a facility like this and hopefully we’ll come back next year.” Read complete story at WorldofOutlaws.com