Madsen takes The Brad Doty Classic
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[/media-credit]The Brad Doty Classic at Limaland Motorsports Park would hold many surprises as the night unfolded not the least of which would be who didn’t make the show.
The Brad Doty Classic ran tonight on the 1/4 mile semi banked oval in Lima Ohio. The night was full of anticipation. The field was full of top names who made for a very very deep talent talent pool in the pits. Top names like Kinser, Stewart, Kahne, Swindell, Schatz, Gravel, Haudenschild, and Sweet had all arrived to contest for the $10,000 to win purse. The excitement in the near sell out crowd was obvious. The anticipation in the pits was just as obvious.
The first hint that this might not be a typical night with the World of Outlaws came in qualifying when top name visitors Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne finished outside the inversion by a significant distance. Stewart would post a time of 11.246 seconds and was only 23rd quick. Kahne would post a time 11.278 which was only good enough for 26th in the 43 car field. Quick time was set by Craig Dollansky with a time of 10.998 seconds. It was Dollansky’s 3rd quick time of the year thus far. The track record of 10.763 set by Joey Saldana in July of 2009 remains intact.
The heat races would make it clear that this was not going to be a night of visiting stars. The first heat would be dominated by Stevie Smith with Kraig Kinser coming home second to make the transfer to the Dash. Dollansky would solidify his Dash position by transferring to the A Main in the 4th position. The second heat race would see Sam Hafertepe Jr take his first victory of the season with Donny Schatz in hot pursuit in second. Kerry Madsen would solidify the final open dash spot by transferring in 5th. The first big surprise of the evening came in this heat race, when Kasey Kahne finished a weak 9th out of 11 cars to be relegated to the B Main. The third and without a doubt the most challenging of the 4 heat races was heat number 3. The heat would be won by the 20 time champion Steve Kinser with Byron Reed taking the second spot. But relegated to B Main were two huge names, Sammy Swindell who finished 7th and Tony Stewart who pulled off the track at lap 2 and finished 11th out of 11 cars. The final heat of the night was won by Daryn Pittman with second going to Brian Brown. With the dash line up set, the inversion of 4 was drawn putting Steve Kinser on the outside of the front row and Stevie Smith on the pole. The dash was a hard core no holds barred 8 lap affair that saw Stevie Smith take the victory in very dominating fashion over Kerry Madsen, Sam Hafertepe Jr, Daryn Pittman, and Steve Kinser.
The C Main would transfer only the top 2 to the Last Chance Showdown which would only transfer 4 to the A Main. Outlaws regular Lucas Wolfe would dominate the race. Dean Jacobs would come home second. The rest of 9 car field would go home. But they wouldn’t be alone. The B Main would show the hand of the night and send many others home with them.
The B Main was full of big names Swindell, Sides, Haudenschild, Kahne, Stewart, and Larson. When the dust cleared only Sammy Swindell, Sheldon Haudenschild, David Gravel, and Bryan Sebbetto would transfer to the big show. Kasey Kahne, Kyle Larson, Tony Stewart, Chad Kemenah, Lucas Wolfe, Jason Sides all would be done for the evening.
The promoter of the event, Brad Doty choose not to carry forward any of those drivers on a promoters option, leaving only full time Outlaws drivers with provisionals to get into the A Main. Chad Kemenah and Bill Rose both opted for provisionals to run the 40 lap A Main. With the now 26 car field set, the battle was about to begin. The race itself was full of power slides for position back and forth and 3 wide racing throughout the pack, but when the checkers waved 9 cars were sitting at the trailers. 3 of which had been upside down and damaged badly. The others had front and rear end damage severe enough to prevent them from continuing or engine problems that ended their night prematurely. But when the dust settled, it was “The Mad Man” Kerry Madsen who stood on the top of the podium. Stevie Smith would come home second and David Gravel would come home third. The KSE Hard Charger Award went to Greg Wilson who started 17th and finished 4th.
Steve Kinser and Donny Schatz officially tied atop the standings going into the Kings Royal weekend at Eldora. The first tie breaker is wins, and both have three. Second tie breaker of top fives gives Kinser the edge, 17-14, but there’s a lot of racing left this season to worry about tie breakers going into a $50,000-to-win event.
The next stop on the World of Outlaws tour is the legendary Eldora Speedway on Friday for the Night before the Royal and then again on Saturday for the $50,000 to win Kings Royal.
Feature Results: 1, Kerry Madsen. 2, Stevie Smith. 3, David Gravel. 4, Greg Wilson. 5, Donny Schatz. 6, Craig Dollansky. 7, Daryn Pittman. 8, Sammy Swindell. 9, Steve Kinser. 10, Tim Shaffer. 11, Dale Blaney. 12, Kraig Kinser. 13, Brad Sweet. 14, Bryan Sebetto. 15, Joey Saldana. 16, Cody Darrah. 17, Tim Kaeding. 18, Byron Reed. 19, Chad Kemenah. 20, Shane Stewart. 21, Sam Hafertepe Jr. 22, Jac Haudenschild. 23, Bill Rose. 24, Sheldon Haudenschild. 25, Brian Brown. 26, Paul McMahan.
Hot 20 over the past 10 – Kahne and Bowyer remain solidly in the hunt for a place in the Chase
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[/media-credit]Eight races to go before the dozen contenders for the 2012 championship are determined. The top ten look solid to stay there, barring some very bad luck, leaving just the two wildcard spots for those holding the most wins. Clint Bowyer has a 31 point lead over Carl Edwards in the battle for tenth, while Kasey Kahne has a win but the way he is running seems to indicate that he is not quite finished visiting Victory Circle just yet.
Of course, the Chase came to be after Matt Kenseth gave up wins for consistency to take the crown back in 2003. Isn’t ironic that, nine years later, Kenseth once again leads the way, with just a single win to his credit?
Here is a look at our hottest 20 drivers over the past ten events…
()=Official ranking
1 (1) Matt Kenseth – 381 pts – (0 Wins, 4 Top Fives, 8 Top Tens)
We’ve learned that winning even a championship sometimes does not keep the love alive.
2 (2) Dale Earnhardt Jr – 360 pts – (1-4-7)
Dare we dream.
3 (9) Brad Keselowski – 356 pts – (2-3-5)
A star is born.
4 (10) Clint Bowyer – 345 pts – (1-2-6)
Running well, and with a 31 point lead over Edwards, he is doing just fine.
5 (4) Jimmie Johnson – 343 pts – (2-5-7)
Mrs. Johnson liked the beard, he kept it. Would she also like another trophy in the case at home?
6 (16) Kasey Kahne – 334 pts – (1-4-7)
Three points out of a wild card spot, and he is hot, hot, hot.
7 (5) Tony Stewart – 321 pts – (1-6-6)
Winner at Daytona, even though he got hosed before the race.
8 (3) Greg Biffle – 320 pts – (0-3-4)
Outside Top 20 in back to back races.
9 (6) Kevin Harvick – 299 pts – (0-1-3)
Got to go buy a tiny firesuit.
10 (12) Kyle Busch – 298 pts – (1-4-5)
Winning isn’t everything. Yah, right.
11 (7) Denny Hamlin – 295 pts – (0-5-5)
Outside Top 20 only four times, but three have come in the last four events.
12 (11) Carl Edwards – 290 pts – (0-0-4)
Best finish of the year was 5th. Needs to improve that by four.
13 (13) Paul Menard – 289 pts – (0-0-1)
6th at Daytona in February remains his high water mark of 2012.
14 (8) Martin Truex Jr – 287 pts – (0-1-3)
He and Harvick are the only two Chase contenders minus a victory
15 (17) Jeff Gordon – 285 pts – (0-1-4)
Only needs to win two of next eight.
16 (19) Marcos Ambrose – 283 pts – (0-0-4)
Did not need that wreck at Daytona.
17 (14) Joey Logano – 282 pts – (1-2-5)
If he makes the Chase, does he still get the boot?
18 (20) Jamie McMurray – 272 pts – (0-0-1)
Has been known to lead a few laps, but not so much this year.
19 (18) Jeff Burton – 269 pts – (0-1-2)
October 11, 2008 marked his last win and his last year in the Chase.
20 (15) Ryan Newman – 253 pts – (0-1-1)
Will Newman retreat next season along with the U.S. Army?
Josh Williams: A Driver’s Eyes in the Sky
A key component for success for a driver is the help they receive by their team each weekend. One of the most important roles on the team is the spotter. The spotter tells the driver what they can’t see on the track. Whether it’s from a wreck ahead or if a car is approaching high or low. Without the spotter, a driver would have a much harder time navigating around the track and staying out of trouble.
Josh Williams isn’t a veteran spotter but he knows what to do. He spots for the 
Nationwide Series driver T.J Bell and Sprint Cup Series driver Scott Speed. He grew up around racing and that’s basically all he knows. His racing background led him into the type tier of racing in North America, NASCAR.
Josh was kind enough to take some time out of his hectic schedule to answer some questions about his job.
What’s a normal race day like for you?
“A normal race day for me is show up with the team early around 8 am and we usually have a strategy meeting and talk about the plan for that day. I usually head to the spotters stand about 1:30 before race time to get my spot and look at our pit box location and get sorted out for the race.”
What are the hardest tracks to spot on and why?
“The hardest for me are places like Atlanta and California where there are multiple grooves and tires fall off a lot, makes it more difficult to judge the runs and usually there are green flag stops there so a lot of different strategies going on. Bristol is a different beast but it just happens so fast there is why it’s difficult; it’s a lot of fun if you can just slow things down in your mind and not get caught up in the rest of the show.”
Have you ever had to spot through a wild wreck, if so explain how you maneuvered your driver through it?
“Not really thankfully but this year in the Daytona Nationwide race there was some big wrecks near the end and we missed most of them until the last one. Basically you just go off of your quickest judgment and try and help them one way or the other and it’s up to the drivers with a little bit of luck involved.”
Who is easier to spot for, Scott Speed or T.J Bell, and why?
“I wouldn’t say one is easier than the other because they both are very competitive people. The hardest thing for me is going between the two of them, I spot for TJ more than Scott because he runs the full Nationwide schedule so I have to remember Scott wants a little more information and remind myself of that during the race. They’re both great friends and fun to work with.”
Did you grow up around racing?
“Yes, my grandfather was the general manager at the Martinsville speedway and my dad sold souvenirs for Dale Earnhardt Sr and still works for Motorsports Authentics. I’ve been around it since I was 8 months old so pretty much all I know.”
Who was your first spotting job for?
“My very 1st spotting experience was for my cousin (Blaine Atkins) in the Allison legacy series. My 1st NASCAR spotting job was with Scott last year and my 1st race was Bristol, no pressure there!”
What are the main equipment do you use to spot with?
“I use Motorola ex 600 xls radios, 1 I use to scan NASCAR and to listen to myself and the other is strictly for our team communications. I use racing radios headset and racing radios does all of my programming for radios.”
What’s your favorite track to spot on and why?
“My favorite track by far is Daytona! It’s such a blast being in the pack trying to judge runs and which lane is best to be in! Bristol is my 2nd favorite.”
On twitter, you are always talking with Scott Speed about golf. What has been your favorite golf experience so far and who is a better golfer, Scott or you?
“I play professional golf in my free time so I have a lot of golf experiences, my favorite with Scott has to be going to play at TPC sawgrass when we were in Daytona this year and I shot 67 from the back tees. I’m definitely the better golfer but Scott is so competitive and always working at it, he’s getting pretty good and it’s not a stretch to say he’s the best golfing race car driver. I’ve seen him shoot 71 before.”
Do you like hang out with your drivers off-track? If so, what do you like to do?
“Yes definitely, Scott’s like my brother I never had so were always needling each other and giving each other a hard time. He’s super competitive so he is up for anything that can be a competition. Anything from; golf, running, swimming and to even playing games on our iPhone’s. About the only thing I beat him in is golf so I remind him of that daily!”
