Madsen Steals FVP Western
 
Spring Shootout Win at Stockton

Aussie uses final-lap pass for World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Victory

STOCKTON, Calif. — March 22, 2014 — Kerry Madsen led just a single lap in the FVP Western Spring Shootout on Saturday night at the Stockton Dirt Track, but he made it count. Madsen surged ahead of Donny Schatz in the final corner, then won a drag race with the five-time champion in front of the packed grandstands to earn his first World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series victory of the season by about half a car-length.

An ecstatic Madsen joked in victory lane, “I’d have done some doughnuts, but I didn’t even know the race was over.”

Schatz crossed the line just 0.115 seconds behind Madsen with Joey Saldana, who led the most laps, in third. Jason Meyers was fourth and polesitter Bud Kaeding was fifth.

Saldana drove around Kaeding to take the early lead before a caution fell on the second lap when defending series champion Daryn Pittman, his Kasey Kahne Racing teammate Brad Sweet and current points leader Paul McMahan all got together. Another incident on the ensuing restart then forced a single-file restart.

Schatz took his first lead seven laps into the 30-lap A-main, cruising around Saldana through the middle of the track. Schatz built a strong advantage until lap 13, when red flag flew. Schatz chose the outside lane on the double-file restart and Saldana powered back into the lead on the bottom of the 3/8-mile dirt oval.

Saldana grew his lead for several laps until Schatz made another started to close the gap with eight laps to go. Schatz challenged Saldana for several circuits with several pushes to take the lead. Finally, with two to go, Schatz charged to the bottom of turn one to reclaim the lead.

Madsen followed Schatz into second with one to go after running third much of the race. Then, on the final lap, Madsen put his American Racing Custom Wheels car on the tail of Schatz’s STP/Armor All machine. Entering turn three Madsen went to the bottom as Schatz battled lapped traffic and the two were in a straight-line race to the checkered flag with Madsen taking the win by about half a car length.

“That was actually really exciting because Donny and Joey were just battling and I’m like I think I’ve got a shot here,’” said Madsen, a native of St. Marys, N.S.W., Australia. “It was one of those races where I think it paid to be behind the leader, because I found that line and I just got patient with it. I’m just rattled that we won that, I just did not expect that, that’s cool.”

After starting eighth, Schatz gave it all he could to win in his Tony Stewart Racing.

“Naturally I thought I won,” said Schatz, of Fargo, N.D. “I guess you always think that. I did everything I could, but Joey got us on the start. I didn’t expect anyone to come there on the bottom. I guess Kerry snuck by us on the bottom and got the win, good for him. I’d like to leave here with a win, but third last year, second tonight, may be next time we’ll get a win.”

Saldana was pleased with a top-three finish in the Motter Equipment HE&M Saw #71M.

“It’s just so hard to win one of these races,” said Saldana, of Brownsburg, Ind. “You can see how much effort you put into these cars. I definitely got some gifts there on some restarts. I was thinking Donny had the right groove there for the middle, but definitely there in lapped traffic you had to be right on the bottom and [Kerry Madsen] got us both.”

McMahan recovered from the early spin to finish 11th and maintain the championship lead, down to a six-point advantage over Schatz. Pittman is third with Kerry Madsen and Steve Kinser rounding out the top five. The top five drivers are separated by only 30 points.

The World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series continues its California Spring Break on Friday, March 28, at Merced Speedway, and Saturday, March 29, in the Mini Gold Cup at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico.

THE FVP WESTERN SPRING SHOOTOUT at THE STOCKTON DIRT TRACK NOTES – Joey Saldana was the fastest qualifier around the semi-banked, 3/8-mile of the Stockton Dirt Track with a time of 12.869 seconds to earn five championship points. Also earning points were Kerry Madsen (4 points), Paul McMahan (3), Brad Sweet (2) and Daryn Pittman (1). Rico Abreu, DJ Netto, Terry McCarl and Donny Schatz won heat races. ... The dash draw was a 4 for the third time this year... Bud Kaeding won the dash for the first time this year.

World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Stockton (Calif.) Dirt Track (FVP Western Spring Shootout); March 23, 2014

A-Main - (30 Laps) - 1. 29-Kerry Madsen [4] [$10,000]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [8] [$5,500]; 3. 71M-Joey Saldana [2] [$3,200]; 4. 21M-Jason Meyers [5] [$2,800]; 5. O-Bud Kaeding [1] [$2,500]; 6. 83-Tim Kaeding [19] [$2,300]; 7. 11-Steve Kinser [15] [$2,200]; 8. 9-Daryn Pittman [13] [$2,100]; 9. 88-Terry McCarl [9] [$2,050]; 10. 83JR-Kyle Hirst [20] [$2,000]; 11. 51-Paul McMahan [11] [$1,500]; 12. 3C-Jonathan Allard [7] [$1,200]; 13. 7S-Jason Sides [6] [$1,100]; 14. 88N-DJ Netto [10] [$1,050]; 15. 55-Trey Starks [18] [$1,000]; 16. 121-Shane Golobic [21] [$900]; 17. 11K-Kraig Kinser [24] [$800]; 18. 21-Brian Brown [16] [$800]; 19. 4-Cody Darrah [22] [$800]; 20. 49-Brad Sweet [12] [$800]; 21. 1-Sammy Swindell [14] [$800]; 22. 1S-Logan Schuchart [23] [$800]; 23. 33E-Evan Suggs [17] [$800]; 24. 24-Rico Abreu [3] [$800]. Lap Leaders: Joey Saldana 1-6, 14-27; Donny Schatz 7-13, 28-29; Kerry Madsen 30. KSE Hard Charger Award: 83-Tim Kaeding [+13]

Qualifying - 1. 71M-Joey Saldana, 12.869; 2. 29-Kerry Madsen, 13.125; 3. 51-Paul McMahan, 13.176; 4. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.186; 5. 9-Daryn Pittman, 13.186; 6. 1-Sammy Swindell, 13.193; 7. 11-Steve Kinser, 13.237; 8. 21-Brian Brown, 13.245; 9. 24-Rico Abreu, 13.270; 10. O-Bud Kaeding, 13.271; 11. 21M-Jason Meyers, 13.310; 12. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.331; 13. 3C-Jonathan Allard, 13.340; 14. 88N-DJ Netto, 13.343; 15. 88-Terry McCarl, 13.383; 16. 7S-Jason Sides, 13.434; 17. 33E-Evan Suggs, 13.461; 18. 55-Trey Starks, 13.534; 19. OO-Jason Statler, 13.572; 20. 83-Tim Kaeding, 13.609; 21. 83JR-Kyle Hirst, 13.609; 22. 121-Shane Golobic, 13.612; 23. 4-Cody Darrah, 13.716; 24. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.739; 25. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 13.877; 26. 41-Dominic Scelzi, 13.956; 27. 44W-Austen Wheatley, 14.133; 28. 68-Jason Toft, 14.176; 29. 1A-Jacob Allen, 14.417; 30. 89-Branden Mansfield, 14.655; 31. 77-Chris Magoon, 14.842; 32. 7-Clayton Snow, 15.014; 33. 15H-Pat Harvey Jr., 15.808; 34. 22-Mason Moore, nt; 35. 27-Sean Becker, nt

Heat 1 - (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) - 1. 24-Rico Abreu [2]; 2. 3C-Jonathan Allard [1]; 3. 9-Daryn Pittman [3]; 4. 33E-Evan Suggs [5]; 5. 71M-Joey Saldana [4]; 6. 83JR-Kyle Hirst [6]; 7. 11K-Kraig Kinser [7]; 8. 1A-Jacob Allen [8]; 9. 15H-Pat Harvey Jr. [9]

Heat 2 - (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) - 1. 88N-DJ Netto [1]; 2. O-Bud Kaeding [2]; 3. 29-Kerry Madsen [4]; 4. 1-Sammy Swindell [3]; 5. 121-Shane Golobic [6]; 6. 55-Trey Starks [5]; 7. 41-Dominic Scelzi [7]; 8. 89-Branden Mansfield [8]; 9. 22-Mason Moore [9]

Heat 3 - (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) - 1. 88-Terry McCarl [1]; 2. 21M-Jason Meyers [2]; 3. 11-Steve Kinser [3]; 4. 51-Paul McMahan [4]; 5. 4-Cody Darrah [6]; 6. OO-Jason Statler [5]; 7. 44W-Austen Wheatley [7]; 8. 77-Chris Magoon [8]; 9. 27-Sean Becker [9]

Heat 4 - (8 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) - 1. 15-Donny Schatz [2]; 2. 7S-Jason Sides [1]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet [4]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart [6]; 5. 21-Brian Brown [3]; 6. 83-Tim Kaeding [5]; 7. 7-Clayton Snow [8]; 8. 68-Jason Toft [7]

Dash - (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) - 1. O-Bud Kaeding [1]; 2. 71M-Joey Saldana [4]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [2]; 4. 29-Kerry Madsen [3]; 5. 21M-Jason Meyers [5]; 6. 7S-Jason Sides [10]; 7. 3C-Jonathan Allard [7]; 8. 15-Donny Schatz [6]; 9. 88-Terry McCarl [9]; 10. 88N-DJ Netto [8]

Last Chance Showdown - (12 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature) - 1. 83JR-Kyle Hirst [4] [-]; 2. 83-Tim Kaeding [3] [-]; 3. 55-Trey Starks [1] [-]; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser [5] [-]; 5. OO-Jason Statler [2] [$200]; 6. 41-Dominic Scelzi [6] [$180]; 7. 1A-Jacob Allen [9] [$175]; 8. 44W-Austen Wheatley [7] [$160]; 9. 15H-Pat Harvey Jr. [13] [$150]; 10. 89-Branden Mansfield [10] [$150]; 11. 77-Chris Magoon [11] [$150]; 12. 7-Clayton Snow [12] [$150]; 13. 68-Jason Toft [8] [$150]; 14. 27-Sean Becker [15] [$150]; 15. 22-Mason Moore [14] [$150]

World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series Championship Standings

The World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: American Racing Custom Wheels (Official Custom Wheel), Armor All (Official Car Care Products), Lincoln Welders (Official Welder), STP (Official Fuel Treatment), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to contingency sponsors, including: Bruce High Performance Transporters, Cometic Gasket, Comp Cams, Edelbrock, JE Pistons, KSE Racing Products, MSD, Sweet Manufacturing, and Superflow Dynos; along with manufacturer sponsors, including: ButlerBuilt, Intercomp, J&J Auto Racing, Jake’s Carts, Racing Electronics, S&S Volvo and TNT Rescue.