4/14/2015
Craig Dollansky
Big Gains Yield Solid Finishes of Three Top-Tens
Following a rare weekend off for the Destiny Motorsports #7 team, Craig Dollansky and the rest of the World of Outlaws roared back into action with a trio of events beginning at Placerville Speedway for the first time ever for ‘The Greatest Show on Dirt’.
After getting a feel for the bullring in hotlaps, Dollansky timed in 13th fastest in qualifying and capitalized on a front row start spot for heat action going on to take the victory in the 10-lap event. Gaining a spot in the dash to earn a third row starting spot for the main event, the Aggressive Hydraulics Maxim ran sixth primarily running the bottom. When an accident on lap 21 prompted a lengthy red flag, ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ battled with Paul McMahan when the feature resumed but dropped a couple positions finishing in 9th.
“I enjoyed going to Placerville for the first time, it was a great little track and had a couple grooves which is what you always want in order to put on a good show for the fans,” commented Dollansky. “We were able to get a top-ten out of it but weren’t quite where we wanted to be with our car and I ran a conservative race as we continue to work on getting our cars more comfortable.”
Making the short trip to the west side of Sacramento, up next was the Wine Country Outlaw Showdown at Calistoga for the Destiny Motorsports #7 team beginning on Friday.
Making the sixteen car inversion once again to start the night in qualifying, the Rick Rogers Construction backed entry led heat four field to the green and set the pace on all laps to secure a spot in the all-important dash. Finishing eighth in the dash meant the Elk River, Minnesota native would start the main event from outside row four. Racing inside the top-ten in the early stages of the A-Main, Dollansky claimed sixth by lap 17. With just eight laps remaining and a caution on lap 22 set up a three lap dash to the checkers, Dollansky battled with Donny Schatz and Kerry Madsen before taking the checkered flag in 7th.
“Calistoga was as nice as I’ve ever seen it after the improvements they made since I was last there in 2013,” explained the pilot of the #7. “The first night we would have finished in the top-five had it not been for the last red flag where we lost some air pressure and had to hang on at the end with a seventh place finish.”
Looking to build on their solid finish from Friday, ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ signed into picturesque Calistoga Speedway and began the night strong turning the 10th fastest lap around the ½-mile among the 35 drivers competing. Scoring his third straight heat victory, the MonDak Portables Maxim found some luck of the draw for the dash as the six-pill put Dollansky on the pole and finished 2nd.
Starting outside pole for the 25-lap A-Main, ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ shot into the lead through turn two and led the charge down the backstretch. Opening up a sizable three second lead in the opening circuits running the cushion, the preferred line quickly shifted to the bottom as the lead diminished until lap 12 when Donny Schatz and Jason Sides battled with the Aggressive Hydraulics #7. After a caution with just eight laps remaining, a great restart saw Dollansky power into turn one on the cushion and steal the lead back momentarily before losing it out of turns 3 & 4 where the topside had slowed down. Not backing down easily, the Elk River, Minnesota driver raced hard to the checkered with a podium finish in 3rd.
“Saturday we had a car in the game and a car I feel was good enough to win,” commented the driver of the MonDak Portables #7. “We led early running the top but the cushion started coming apart and developing ruts and more challenging to make speed to the point we started to struggle.
“We had a solid finish and I’m very proud of the entire team and hard work and effort each week they put in to help us get stronger. As much as we all would have liked to win this past weekend, we made some big gains and if we keep working hard together as a team we will get those checkered flags.”
The Destiny Motorsports #7 team will conclude the West Coast early season swing this coming weekend with visits to Keller Auto Speedway at King’s Fairground in Hanford followed by Perris Auto Speedway in Perris, CA on Saturday.
Article Credit: Reid VanEck
Submitted By: Craig Dollansky Racing
