WOO: Kinser Wins Third Consecutive Silver Cup Title
31 July 1998
By Richard DaySARVER, PA - The special relationship between Mark Kinser and the late Don Martin lives on.
"I'm sure Don is up there looking over us," Kinser said Tuesday when the largest crowd in the history of Lernerville Speedway watched him win his third straight Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup event. "This is just a great place to come and race."
While Mark led all 35 laps in his first two Silver Cup victories, he battled 1992 champion Sammy Swindell for 20 laps before driving the #5M Wirtgen Maxim into the lead Tuesday. He beat polesitter Danny Lasoski under the checkered flag by two car-lengths to claim the $31,000 first prize.
"We've had a tough year, and the money will sure help us out," Mark said. "We should have won a couple of races, but the driver made some mistakes and didn't get the job done."
Although he collided with Swindell a split-second after taking the lead, Kinser steered clear of mistakes during his seventh "A" Feature victory of the Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series' 20th Anniversary Season.
Mark's qualifying lap was only .045 seconds off Swindell's Vivarin Fast-Time Award-winning pace. After finishing second in the Second Racing Champions Heat Race, he earned the right to start the main event inside the second row by following Lasoski and Sammy across the finish line in the Channellock Dash.
Swindell drove his #1 Channellock Stealth around "The Dude" in the fourth corner as the green flag fell in the "A" Feature, and was racing away from the field when First Racing Champions Heat Race winner Fred Rahmer flipped on the back stretch three laps into the race.
Kinser and Lasoski exchanged second place three times during the two laps after the green flag replaced the red. Mark regained the position with a low move into turn four late in the fifth lap.
Swindell was 15 car-lengths ahead of Mark when he entered lapped traffic during the seventh lap. His lead disintegrated the next time around, however, when his brother, Jeff Swindell, took the #104+ Octane Boost J&J for a spin in the second corner.
Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series points leader Steve Kinser raced into eighth place from outside the eighth row during the first six laps, then passed Stevie Smith for seventh as the green flag replaced the yellow.
Swindell was 10 car-lengths ahead of Kinser when he caught the backmarkers again during the 13th lap. Mark narrowed the gap to four car-lengths within a lap, however.
Kinser caught Swindell early in lap 15, and challenged him in every turn during the next five laps. Mark passed Sammy for the lead in the low groove as they headed out of the first corner early in lap 21. Swindell lost six positions when he collided with Mark and almost slid over the bank in turn two.
"We got into some lapped traffic, I had the preferred line and I came away with the lead," Mark said of the winning pass.
Andy Hillenburg stopped on the front stretch after his #2 J&J jumped out of gear midway through the 26th lap. Kinser controlled the ensuing restart and was a half-straightaway ahead of Lasoski when he caught the backmarkers again with five laps remaining.
"The Dude" drove the #83 Beef Packers Eagle to within five car-lengths of Kinser in dense lapped traffic within two laps. He caught Mark early in lap 34, and they raced wheel-to-wheel through the first and second corners. Lasoski battled Mark in every turn throughout the final 1 1/2 laps, but was two car- lengths behind when Kinser took the checkered flag. It was Lasoski's third second-place finish in the last five events.
Steve Kinser held off hard-charging Johnny Herrera for third. Completing the top 10 in the World of Outlaws' 43rd event of the season were Jeff Shepard, Swindell, Jac Haudenschild, Smith, 22nd-starting Kenny Jacobs and Tyler Walker.
Sammy received his seventh Vivarin Fast-Time Award of the year after pacing the qualifying session with a 12.964-second, 138.846-m.p.h., lap around the high-banked, 1/2-mile oval.
Former Lernerville Speedway champion Tim Shaffer made his debut in the #11H Vivarin Eagle and finished 19th in the "A" Feature.
1998 Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series Seventh Annual Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup Lernerville Speedway, Sarver, PA Tuesday, July 28, Feature Program #43
Qualifications: 1. Sammy Swindell, Swindell 1, 12.964; 2. Mark Kinser, Kinser 5M, 13.009; 3. Jeff Shepard, Stewart 4J, 13.167; 4. Tyler Walker, Walker 35, 13.175; 5. Danny Lasoski, Roth 83, 13.203; 6. Ed Lynch, Jr., Lynch 2L, 13.215; 7. Stevie Smith, Smith 19, 13.239; 8. Garry Brazier, Brazier 21AU, 13.270; 9. Brian Paulus, P&P Motorsports 28, 13.289; 10. Jac Haudenschild, Elden 22, 13.310; 11. Lance Dewease, Dyer 461, 13.322; 12. Johnny Herrera, Sonner 47, 13.377; 13. Frankie Kerr, Shoff 23S, 13.385; 14. Kevin Gobrecht, Zemaitis 1Z, 13.391; 15. Dale Blaney, Hylton-Blaney 93, 13.398; 16. Steve Kinser, Kinser 11, 13.439; 17. Fred Rahmer, Hamilton 77, 13.458; 18. Joe Gaerte, Holbrook 8H, 13.497; 19. Tim Shaffer, Helm 11H, 13.513; 20. Donny Schatz, Schatz 15, 13.516; 21. Andy Hillenburg, Hillenburg 2, 13.535; 22. Kenny Jacobs, Hughes 94, 13.540; 23. Jeff Swindell, Two Winners 104+, 13.571; 24. Dean Jacobs, Jacobs 1F, 13.589; 25. Paul McMahan, Stanton 75, 13.600; 26. Ralph Spithaler, Spithaler 56, 13.765; 27. Brian Ellenberger, Ellenberger 20, 13.774; 28. Lance Blevins, Blevins 21, 13.787; 29. Bob Felmlee, Felmlee 6, 13.843; 30. Jimmy Hawley, Proffit C3, 13.898; 31. Scott Bonnell, Bonnell 3, 13.919; 32. Arnie Kent, Kent 18K, 13.983; 33. Richard Kerstetter, Kerstetter 11K, 14.171; 34. Bob Altmeyer, Altmeyer 14A, 14.325; 35. Tommy Marshall, Dionise 15V, 14.490; 36. Davey Jones, Jones 76, 14.842; 37. Brent Matus, Matus 33, 14.932; 38. Fred Bratchie, Kiley 4K, 14.979; 39. John Stickley, Stickley L7, 15.409; 40. Chuck Kirk, Kirk 3K, 15.873; 41. Mike Sub, Sub 78, 16.099; 42. Glenn Noland, Noland 34, 16.490; 43. Jerry Frew, Frew 4F, 17.303; 44. Butch Bahr, Bahr 25, no time.
First Racing Champions Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Fred Rahmer, 2. Sammy Swindell, 3. Andy Hillenburg, 4. Danny Lasoski, 5. Frankie Kerr, 6. Brian Paulus, 7. Paul McMahan, 8. Bob Felmlee, 9. Mike Sub, 10. Richard Kerstetter, 11. Brent Matus. (first five qualified for the "A" Feature)
Second Racing Champions Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Kenny Jacobs, 2. Mark Kinser, 3. Joe Gaerte, 4. Kevin Gobrecht, 5. Ed Lynch, Jr., 6. Ralph Spithaler, 7. Bob Altmeyer, 8. Jac Haudenschild, 9. Fred Bratchie, 10. Glenn Noland, 11. Jimmy Hawley. (first five qualified for the "A" Feature)
Third Racing Champions Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Jeff Swindell, 2. Tim Shaffer, 3. Dale Blaney, 4. Jeff Shepard, 5. Stevie Smith, 6. Lance Dewease, 7. Brian Ellenberger, 8. Tommy Marshall, 9. Scott Bonnell, 10. John Stickley, 11. Jerry Frew. (first five qualified for the "A" Feature)
Fourth Racing Champions Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Donny Schatz, 2. Steve Kinser, 3. Dean Jacobs, 4. Johnny Herrera, 5. Tyler Walker, 6. Garry Brazier, 7. Lance Blevins, 8. Davey Jones, 9. Arnie Kent, 10. Butch Bahr, 11. Chuck Kirk. (first five qualified for the "A" Feature)
Channellock Dash (five laps): 1. Danny Lasoski, 2. Sammy Swindell, 3. Mark Kinser, 4. Jeff Shepard, 5. Johnny Herrera, 6. Ed Lynch, Jr., 7. Stevie Smith, 8. Tyler Walker. (finish determined the first eight starting positions in the "A" Feature)
C Feature (10 laps): 1. Davey Jones, 2. Richard Kerstetter, 3. Tommy Marshall, 4. Brent Matus, 5. Bob Altmeyer ($125); 6. John Stickley ($100); 7. Fred Bratchie ($80); 8. Chuck Kirk ($70); 9. Jerry Frew ($60); 10. Mike Sub ($50); 11. Glenn Noland ($40); 12. Butch Bahr ($30). (first four qualified for the "B" Feature)
B Feature (12 laps): 1. Lance Dewease, 2. Jac Haudenschild, 3. Garry Brazier, 4. Brian Paulus, 5. Brian Ellenberger ($200); 6. Ralph Spithaler, 7. Jimmy Hawley, 8. Arnie Kent ($175); 9. Davey Jones ($170); 10. Brent Matus ($120); 11. Richard Kerstetter ($110); 12. Scott Bonnell ($80); 13. Paul McMahan ($60); 14. Tommy Marshall ($70); 15. Bob Felmlee ($50); 16. Lance Blevins. (first four qualified for the "A" Feature)
A Feature (35 laps): 1. Mark Kinser ($31,000); 2. Danny Lasoski ($10,000); 3. Steve Kinser ($6,000); 4. Johnny Herrera ($3,500); 5. Jeff Shepard ($3,200); 6. Sammy Swindell ($2,500); 7. Jac Haudenschild ($2,320); 8. Stevie Smith ($2,200); 9. Kenny Jacobs ($2,100); 10. Tyler Walker ($2,000); 11. Garry Brazier ($1,520); 12. Joe Gaerte ($1,400); 13. Dale Blaney ($1,300); 14. Frankie Kerr ($1,200); 15. Lance Dewease ($1,020); 16. Brian Paulus ($1,020); 17. Andy Hillenburg ($800); 18. Jeff Swindell ($600); 19. Tim Shaffer ($600); 20. Kevin Gobrecht ($600); 21. Dean Jacobs ($600); 22. Donny Schatz ($600); 23. Jimmy Hawley ($620); 24. Ralph Spithaler ($620); 25. Lance Blevins ($620); 26. Ed Lynch, Jr. ($600); 27. Fred Rahmer ($600). Provisional starters - Ralph Spithaler, Jimmy Hawley, Lance Blevins
Lap leaders: Sammy Swindell 1-20, Mark Kinser 21-35
Vivarin Fast-Time Award winner: Sammy Swindell
