By Tony Veneziano, WoO Sprint Series PR Director: (Attica, OH) Two bullrings await the World of Outlaws this weekend, beginning on Friday, April 20 at the recently revamped Attica Raceway Park in Ohio. This will be the series first visit to the always racy facility since 2005, after last season’s event fell to rain. In the six previous A-Feature events contested at the track, there have been five different drivers visit victory lane.
Joey Saldana and Donny Schatz will continue their torrid battle atop the World of Outlaws standings as they head to Attica Raceway Park. The pair is separated by just four points heading into this weekend’s events.
Saldana, driving for NASCAR star Kasey Kahne has racked up four wins, including three in-a-row at the end of March. His first win of the season came at Thunderbowl Raceway in California, which like Attica Raceway Park is a high-banked 1/3-mile. The 1996 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year has 12 Top-10 finishes in the first 13 races of 2007. The native of Brownsburg, Indiana, leads the series in laps led with 122. He also has set fast time in qualifying on four occasions, which is also tops in the series. He also has a dash win which earned him a pole position earlier in the season. He has turned numerous laps at Attica in the past with the World of Outlaws as well as with the All Star Circuit of Champions.
Schatz, the reigning World of Outlaws champion is coming off a very strongsecond-place run at Eldora last weekend. It was his series leading 10th Top-Five finish of the season. The native of Fargo, North Dakota has three wins in 2007, including on the opening night of the season. He has led 68 laps on the season, in addition to winning two dashes to earn two pole positions. Also, the 1997 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year, has stopped the clocks first in time trials once this season. In the series last visit to Attica in 2005, Schatz earned a Top-10 finish.
Steve Kinser , the 20-time World of Outlaws Champion has won twice at Attica. He is the only driver to have multiple wins at the 1/3-mile in the series previous six visits. He won in the World of Outlaws inaugural trip to the track in 1990, and followed that up the next season with a victory as well. He earned his 534th win with the series earlier this season at USA Race Park in Arizona in his first ever visit to the track. The native of Bloomington, Indiana currently is eighth in championship points on the strength of seven Top-10 finishes.
Chad Kemenah, the reigning World of Outlaws Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year, who hails from Findlay, Ohio, which is right down the road from Attica, has had plenty of success at his home track over the years. He has won five times at the 1/3-mile with the All Star Circuit of Champions. He earned a season best finish of third, on April 6 at Paducah International Raceway in Kentucky.
Daryn Pittman enters the event at Attica third in points, on the strength of 10 Top-10 finishes. He picked up a win in the finale of the Florida DIRTcar Nationals in Florida in February. That win marked his 20th career triumph with the series for the former World of Outlaws Gumout Series champion. The native of Owasso, Oklahoma is only 104 points out of the top spot as he chases his first World of Outlaws title.
Danny Lasoski, the 2001 World of Outlaws champion, has been one of the mostconsistent drivers this season. He heads to Attica fourth in the points, after winning his first race of the season on April 6 at Paducah International Raceway in Kentucky. He has nine Top-10 finishes on the year and is only 158 markers behind Saldana.
Craig Dollansky ran a very solid third last time the World of Outlaws visited Attica in 2005. He won at the track in 2000 with the All Stars. The former World of Outlaws Gumout Series champion is fifth in points entering this weekend, on the strength of eight Top-10 finishes. He is one of only two drivers that have transferred to the A-Feature by way of his heat race, in each of the first 13 events of the season.
Terry McCarl who has won at Attica for the first time with the All Star Circuit of Champions in 1997, is sixth in points as he chases his first series title. The native of Altoona, Iowa, who is a multi-time Knoxville Raceway and Huset’s Speedway champion has eight Top-10 finishes on the year. He is just 15 markers out of the fifth spot in the standings.
Jason Meyers earned his first win of the season last weekend at Eldora Speedway and vaulted into the seventh spot in the point standings. He has six Top-10 finishes on the year. The native of Clovis, California has won two dashes so far this season to earn just as many pole positions. He also has set fast time once.
Jac Haudenschild moved into the ninth spot in points after a fourth-place finish at Eldora last weekend, in which he led a large portion of the event. The native of Wooster, Ohio has six Top-10 finishes on the season. He finished fourth in the World of Outlaws last event at Attica Raceway Park in 2005.
Brooke Tatnell, one of only two Australian-born drivers to have earned a World of Outlaws A-Feature triumph, is 10th in points heading to Attica. In his last visit to the track with the series, he picked up a runner-up finish. In his first season driving for Larry Woodward, the always affable driver has seven Top-10 finishes.
Other drivers that will be on-hand at Attica Raceway Park include: Paul McMahan driving for two-time NASCAR Champion Tony Stewart, Jason Solwold, who along with Dollansky has transferred from his heat race into each of the first 13 A-Feature events of the season, current Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year leader Kerry Madsen, from Australia, who earned his first series win during the Florida DIRTcar Nationals, 2003 Rookie of the Year Jason Sides, Tim Kaeding, who won earlier this season in California, 1999 Rookie of the Year Tim Shaffer, second-year driver Justin Henderson, 1995 Rookie of the Year Randy Hannagan, second-year driver Jeremy Campbell who has competed at Attica in the past with the All Stars, veteran Dion Hindi of New Mexico, second-year driver Jason Martin of Kansas, who earned a career-best finish of fourth on April 6, and veteran Brian Carlson, who has raced at Attica in the past with the All Stars.
A hearty crop of six Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award contenders will be on hand including: Tony Bruce Jr. of Kansas, Zach Chappell of Oklahoma, Sam Hafertepe Jr. of Texas, Chad Hillier of Washington, Madsen, and James Mosher of New Mexico.
On Friday April 20 at Attica Raceway Park, adult general admission tickets will be $28, with reserved tickets $30. General admission tickets for those ages 8-15 will be just $15, while children 7-under will be admitted free of charge.