8/19/2015
Craig Dollansky
TKS Motorsports Learning in First Knoxville Nationals
The sprint car world converged on Knoxville, Iowa this past week for the 55th Annual Knoxville Nationals. For TKS Motosports team it was their first ever run at the prestigious event with this season being their first year in action with veteran driver Craig Dollansky behind the wheel.
Set to go on a hot and sunny day in southern Iowa, a late draw for qualifying put the Casey’s General Stores Maxim in an early hole as the track dropped off as time trials progressed. Eight cars inverted into each of five heats put Dollansky inside row five where the Elk River, Minnesota native held the same spot finishing 9th. Relegated to the C-Main, the Vahlco Wheels #2KS transferred through the 10-lap feature and then advanced from the final spot in the B-Main up to 18th before the checkered flag flew.
“We had a couple of issues qualifying that just put us too far behind for the rest of the night,” commented crew chief Troy Renfro. We never gave up and just put it behind us. Thursday I went back to the shop and completely gutted the car making sure every single thing was right.”
With Wednesday in the rear view mirror and not looking back, the team regrouped for Friday’s program that got off to a much better start qualifying 9th in the 2nd flight. With attention then shifted to heat race competition, the Aggressive Hydraulics backed entry started outside pole of heat six and finished 2nd to secure a top-three transfer.
Starting outside row seven for the 25-lap A-Main, Dollansky worked his way into the top-ten by lap 7 waging a great battle with Tim Shaffer. As the feature resumed, the Des Moines Industrial Products #2KS raced inside the top-ten until taking the checkered flag in 10th.
“We had a good lap for going out at the end of qualifying and we made the best of it fighting our way back,” explained Renfro. “No one gave up. Not the guys that help us and not the people that support us. We’re focused on figuring things out and getting better.”
With points tabulated and feature line-ups set for Saturday, the TKS Motorsports team prepared for competition on another hot, sunny day at Knoxville Raceway in front of a huge crowd. Inside row eight for the 22-lap B-Main, Dollansky gained a couple spots just three laps into the feature until the field began stringing out running the cushion around the ½-mile. As laps wound down, the Stone Mountain Access Maxim made more progress but ran out of laps finishing just outside the top-ten in 11th.
“We didn’t have the Knoxville Nationals that we all had wanted,” commented Dollansky. “There are still positives we can take away from it and continue to build as a team.”
Article Credit: Reid VanEck
Submitted By: Craig Dollansky Racing
