Bloomington, Ind.—March 24, 2013— Kraig Kinser has only raced in the Mini Gold Cup at Silver Dollar Speedway three times in his career, but he has turned in solid performances and finished among the top-10 in each of those races. He continued the trend this past weekend as he recorded an eighth-place finish at the quarter-mile bullring located in Chico, Calif., as the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series continued their early season West Coast swing.
Kinser began the 40-lap main event on Saturday, March 23 in the 14th spot aboard the Casey’s General Store/Mesilla Valley Transportation Maxim, with an opening lap caution necessitating a complete restart. The native of Bloomington, Ind., found himself 14th on the second start. After falling back a spot early, he began to move forward and was up to 11th by the 10th go-around. He would run in that position for the majority of the race, before working his way into the top-10 on a lap-34 restart, and would gain a couple more positions in the late going. The race was extended to 41 laps by a caution on the original white flag lap. Kinser took the checkered flag in the eighth spot to earn his fifth top-10 finish of the season.
“After the tough night we had at Stockton, it was good to be in the top-10 at Chico,” said Kinser. “We qualified well with a very strong field of cars, so that is very encouraging. We need to make into the dash though, so we can start a little further up front in the main event. To start 14th and continue to move forward, we can’t complain about that. Each time we hit the track this year we keep learning things that will help us as the season goes on.”
The Mini Gold Cup began for the third-generation driver with a seventh-place effort in time trials, with a very strong 41-car field timing in. Kinser started third in the third 10-lap heat race and finished fourth to earn a spot in the main event.
Kinser opened the weekend on Friday, March 22 in the inaugural World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series event at the brand-new Stockton 99 Dirt Track, before a sold-out crowd. He timed in 21st-fastest of the 44 entries that took to the three-eighths-mile. Kinser lined up sixth in the first eight-lap heat race and finished in that same spot, coming up just one position short of transferring to the 35-lap main. He was in a transfer spot in the B-main coming to the white flag, when he ran out of fuel. Kinser took a provisional to the start the A-Feature where he battled mechanical problems and wound up 26th.
“That was just one of those nights, where you try to forget about it as quick as you can and move on,” he noted. “Thankfully there was a race the next night, so we didn’t really have much time to dwell on it. With how much we race, you have to have a short memory and look ahead as usually there is another race pretty soon after you’ve had a tough night.”
Following the first 10 races of the 2013 World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series season, Kinser is ninth in points. He has five top-10 finishes, of which two are top-five showings. He’ll return to action on Friday, March 29 at Merced Speedway as the series continues a nine-race stretch in California.
“We’re working hard to get better each week,” he stated. “Right now, just racing on the weekends can make it tough to get into a rhythm, but it gives us plenty of time during the week to go through the car and work on little things. Out here, all you can do is keep after it and usually things will start to click.”
Kraig Kinser Racing would like to thank Casey’s General Stores, Mesilla Valley Transportation, Maxim, Aerodine Composites, Sander Engineering, Integra Shocks, All Star Performance, FK Rod Ends, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Bell, KSE Racing Products, ButlerBuilt,Schoenfeld Headers, Donovan Engineering, Fel-Pro, Brodix, Wilwood, Dyer’s, Barnes Systems, Ringer Gloves, Jakes Custom Golf Carts, and Ben Cook Racing Limited for their continued support.
Stockton 99 Dirt Track & Silver Dollar Speedway Results
| Date | Time Trials |
Heat Start |
Heat Finish | Dash Start | Dash Finish | Feature Start | Feature Finish | Points |
| March 22 | 21st | 6th | 6th | N/A | N/A | 26th | 26th | 10th |
| March 23 | 7th | 3rd | 4th | N/A | N/A | 14th | 8th | 9th |
Keep up with all the action
For the latest news on Kraig Kinser, visit http://www.kraigkinser.com, and follow Kraig on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kraigkinser11k and receive live updates from the track each and every race night.
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