KERRY MADSEN FINALLY DONS ELDORA’S KINGS ROYAL CROWN

After Knocking on the Door Many Times, Madsen Becomes First Australian King of Historic Event

Courtesy WoO and Eldora reports

ROSSBURG, OH (July 12) –Kerry Madsen did something Saturday night few before him have ever done – he won the Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway, one of the most coveted prizes on the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series schedule, and the right to be called  ‘King.’   Also getting to sit upon the fabled throne was Dustin Daggett who swept the non-stop NRA Sprint Invaders featured event leading up to the Kings Royal.

In front of an overflowing crowd, ‘King Kerry’ was crowned by Sovererign Shane Carson.  He was emotional and at times speechless in victory lane as he thanked the fans, his team owners, crew members and sponsors.

“I just want to thank Eldora Speedway for just letting me be part of this fantastic race,” Madsen said. “I moved over from Australia and this is pretty much the race that hooked me on American racing.”

Madsen, who started seventh, took over the lead from David Gravel on lap 13.

“I got an awesome run,” Madsen said. “David and Donny were kind of battling there and it just left the topside open. I had the wing kind of in the trunk and the thing just sat down there and rolled around that corner wide open and we just pulled it off. We got a lot of momentum and track position after that.”

As the laps ticked by, Madsen built an impressive lead, maneuvering through lapped traffic and holding off challenges from Schatz and Gravel. A caution on the last lap presented Madsen with one final obstacle.

“I was just really, really trying to hold my concentration in the last ten laps,” Madsen said. “Just stay motivated and hit my marks and I have to admit I started counting the laps down when there was five to go. Backed the pace down, brought her a little away from the wall. And the white flag lap I thought we have a shot here and then, what do you know; the yellow comes out.”

After coming so close to winning the famed event in years past, Madsen was focused on the competition behind him and keeping them there.

“When you have a champion like Donny behind you, you know you can’t make a mistake… and obviously David was strong all weekend and he was going to be a presence at some point as well,” Madsen said. “Fortunately for me, [my team] gave me that good a car that it just did its own thing anyways.”

This was Madsen’s third Outlaws win at Eldora. The win for the St. Marys, New South Wales, Australia native also makes him the first Australian to win the Kings Royal. This was the seventh WoO podium finish in a row for Madsen and his fourth win of the season.

As the green flag flew to start the race, pole sitter David Gravel jumped out to an early lead in the Kings Royal over second place starter Donny Schatz. The two battled early, with Schatz eventually taking over the lead on lap nine after he closed the gap on Gravel and slid past out of turn four.

Meanwhile, Madsen, who started seventh, was working his way through the field. He found a fast line high near the wall and following a lap 12 restart, Madsen used that speed to power past Schatz as Gravel took the lead back over.

Just one lap later, Madsen passed Gravel for first. It was not however smooth sailing for Madsen as he faced three cautions and subsequent restarts. Each time, Madsen maintained his lead, holding Schatz and Gravel back.

A caution that flew on lap 38 eventually turned onto an open red after the Outlaws had reached max laps. Madsen again faced the challenge of maintaining what he had built on the restart. Schatz and Gravel gave one last try at finding a way around Madsen on the green-white-checkered, but it was not to be. Madsen won the Kings Royal.

Second place finisher Schatz said he’s not sure whether the restarts hurt or helped his team but said a changing racetrack affected his night.

“Kerry was definitely a better racecar,” Schatz said. “He got up there and went and was awful fast. When he got there it was hard to even keep up with him. Hats off to those guys, they did a phenomenal job. He’s been knocking at the door of this race for a long time so I’m glad to see him win it.”

“The STP guys did an awesome job – second was the best we could do tonight. All you can do is build on it. We get to race again on Tuesday and try to get ourselves a little better spot.”

Gravel, who finished the night in third after leading ten laps, including the first eight, congratulated Madsen’s crew chief Tyler Swank, who served in the same role with Gravel in previous seasons.

“I know starting on the pole we wanted to win there but to get on the podium my second Kings Royal that I made was pretty good,” Gravel said. “Eldora treats me awesome. All you fans here, I don’t know how many are there, but you guys are awesome.”

“I thought the race was coming towards me with the lapped traffic but that’s the way it goes. We’re going to be happy for the rest of the ‘Month of Money’.”

Daggett was simply the class of the NRA field as he was able to hold back all-time NRA winner Tim Allison, the previous night’s victor Randy Hannagan, Butch Schroeder and Robbie Stillwagon.

Eldora now shifts its focus towards NASCAR’s only annual event on the dirt; the 1-800 CarCash Mudsummer Classic for the Camping World Truck Series. Remaining race tickets and campsites for that historic event or any other exciting Eldora event are available by going online to www.EldoraSpeedway.com. Additionally, tickets and campsites may be purchased through the Eldora offices during normal business hours by calling (937) 338-3815 or on race day.

Race fans and race teams can get behind-the-scenes access by following @EldoraSpeedway on Twitter, hitting ‘Like’ at Facebook.com/EldoraSpeedway and view video highlights at YouTube.com/EldoraSpeedwayInc. Mobile device users can access the Eldora Speedway app for the iPhone, iPad and Android which are available for download via iTunes and Google Play.

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Event: Kings Royal
Date: July 12, 2014

WORLD OF OUTLAWS SPRINTS

TIME TRIALS – 1. 29-Kerry Madsen [13.234]; 2. 63-Chad Kemenah [13.289]; 3. 1-Sammy Swindell [13.291]; 4. 9-Daryn Pittman [13.297]; 5. 14K-Dale Blaney [13.303]; 6. 83-David Gravel [13.304]; 7. 4-Cody Darrah [13.312]; 8. 11K-Kraig Kinser [13.318]; 9. 2L-Ed Lynch Jr [13.363]; 10. 71-Joey Saldana [13.367]; 11. 15-Donny Schatz [13.400]; 12. 1S-Logan Schuchart [13.433]; 13. 51-Paul McMahan [13.433]; 14. 71S-Kevin Swindell [13.438]; 15. 49-Brad Sweet [13.451]; 16. 19M-Brent Marks [13.454]; 17. 2-Shane Stewart [13.454]; 18. 7S-Jason Sides [13.493]; 19. 11-Steve Kinser [13.494]; 20. 20W-Greg Wilson [13.517]; 21. 11N-Randy Hannagan [13.534]; 22. 83X-Jason Meyers [13.565]; 23. 40-Caleb Helms [13.571]; 24. 53-Chris Bell [13.571]; 25. 44W-Austen Wheatley [13.580]; 26. 21-Brian Brown [13.580]; 27. 10H-Danny Holtgraver [13.600]; 28. 81-Lee Jacobs [13.613]; 29. 59K-Tim Kaeding [13.622]; 30. 49X-Cole Duncan [13.634]; 31. 24A-Rico Abreu [13.644]; 32. 82C-Roger Crockett [13.649]; 33. 5T-Travis Philo [13.708]; 34. 45S-Tim Shaffer [13.729]; 35. 48-Danny Dietrich [13.734]; 36. 19P-Paige Polyak [13.758]; 37. 3G-James McFadden [13.766]; 38. 1A-Jacob Allen [13.803]; 39. 60-Kory Crabtree [13.805]; 40. 9W-Jac Haudenschild [13.809]; 41. 21M-Dallas Hewitt [13.838]; 42. 2S-Nathan Skaggs [13.874]; 43. 28-Brian Paulus [13.945]; 44. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [13.989]; 45. 2M-Dustin Daggett [14.083]; 46. 16-Danny Mumaw [14.148]; 47. 59P-Chris Jones [14.319];

HEAT 1 – 1. 11-Steve Kinser [1]; 2. 29-Kerry Madsen [4]; 3. 24A-Rico Abreu [6]; 4. 4-Cody Darrah [3]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [2]; 6. 3G-James McFadden [7]; 7. 44W-Austen Wheatley [5]; 8. 28-Brian Paulus [8];

HEAT 2 – 1. 20W-Greg Wilson [1]; 2. 71S-Kevin Swindell [2]; 3. 21-Brian Brown [5]; 4. 63-Chad Kemenah [4]; 5. 11K-Kraig Kinser [3]; 6. 82C-Roger Crockett [6]; 7. 1A-Jacob Allen [7]; 8. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [DNF];

HEAT 3 – 1. 11N-Randy Hannagan [1]; 2. 1-Sammy Swindell [4]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet [2]; 4. 2L-Ed Lynch Jr [3]; 5. 2M-Dustin Daggett [8]; 6. 10H-Danny Holtgraver [5]; 7. 5T-Travis Philo [6]; 8. 60-Kory Crabtree [DNF];

HEAT 4 – 1. 2-Shane Stewart [2]; 2. 9-Daryn Pittman [4]; 3. 83X-Jason Meyers [1]; 4. 71-Joey Saldana [3]; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs [5]; 6. 45S-Tim Shaffer [6]; 7. 9W-Jac Haudenschild [7]; 8. 16-Danny Mumaw [8];

HEAT 5 – 1. 15-Donny Schatz [3]; 2. 19M-Brent Marks [2]; 3. 14K-Dale Blaney [4]; 4. 59K-Tim Kaeding [5]; 5. 40-Caleb Helms [1]; 6. 48-Danny Dietrich [6]; 7. 21M-Dallas Hewitt [7];

HEAT 6 – 1. 83-David Gravel [2]; 2. 51-Paul McMahan [1]; 3. 7S-Jason Sides [3]; 4. 53-Chris Bell [4]; 5. 49X-Cole Duncan [5]; 6. 2S-Nathan Skaggs [6]; 7. 19P-Paige Polyak [DNF];

C FEATURE – 1. 5T-Travis Philo [2]; 2. 9W-Jac Haudenschild [3]; 3. 28-Brian Paulus [1]; 4. 60-Kory Crabtree [6]; 5. 21M-Dallas Hewitt [4]; 6. 19P-Paige Polyak [5]; 7. 59P-Chris Jones [8]; 8. 16-Danny Mumaw [DNS];

B-FEATURE – 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart [1]; 2. 53-Chris Bell [6]; 3. 11K-Kraig Kinser [2]; 4. 59K-Tim Kaeding [5]; 5. 71-Joey Saldana [4]; 6. 82C-Roger Crockett [8]; 7. 81-Lee Jacobs [10]; 8. 2L-Ed Lynch Jr [3]; 9. 45S-Tim Shaffer [16]; 10. 2M-Dustin Daggett [9]; 11. 49X-Cole Duncan [12]; 12. 9W-Jac Haudenschild [20]; 13. 5T-Travis Philo [19]; 14. 40-Caleb Helms [11]; 15. 10H-Danny Holtgraver [15]; 16. 28-Brian Paulus [21]; 17. 3G-James McFadden [7]; 18. 60-Kory Crabtree [22]; 19. 44W-Austen Wheatley [13]; 20. 1A-Jacob Allen [14]; 21. 19P-Paige Polyak [DNF]; 22. 48-Danny Dietrich [DNF]; 23. 21M-Dallas Hewitt [DNF]; 24. 2S-Nathan Skaggs [DNF];

A FEATURE – 1. 29-Kerry Madsen [7]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [2]; 3. 83-David Gravel [1]; 4. 71S-Kevin Swindell [8]; 5. 51-Paul McMahan [12]; 6. 20W-Greg Wilson [5]; 7. 14K-Dale Blaney [17]; 8. 24A-Rico Abreu [13]; 9. 9-Daryn Pittman [10]; 10. 7S-Jason Sides [18]; 11. 53-Chris Bell [22]; 12. 11-Steve Kinser [6]; 13. 21-Brian Brown [14]; 14. 63-Chad Kemenah [19]; 15. 1S-Logan Schuchart [21]; 16. 4-Cody Darrah [20]; 17. 1-Sammy Swindell [9]; 18. 83X-Jason Meyers [16]; 19. 19M-Brent Marks [11]; 20. 71-Joey Saldana [25]; 21. 2-Shane Stewart [DNF]; 22. 11K-Kraig Kinser [DNF]; 23. 11N-Randy Hannagan [DNF]; 24. 49-Brad Sweet [DNF]; 25. 59K-Tim Kaeding [DNF];

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NRA SPRINTS

TIME TRIALS – 1. 22H-Randy Hannagan [14.362]; 2. 20B-Butch Schroeder [14.378]; 3. 49T-Gregg Dalman [14.580]; 4. 11-Tim Allison [14.609]; 5. 5G-Curt Michael [14.663]; 6. 49-Shawn Dancer [14.682]; 7. 6K-Chad Kemenah [14.735]; 8. 2MD-Dustin Daggett [14.737]; 9. 16-Ryan Ruhl [14.757]; 10. 28H-Hud Horton [14.770]; 11. 89-Robbie Stillwaggon [14.775]; 12. 6S-Max Stambaugh [14.801]; 13. 10X-Dustin Stroup [14.805]; 14. 17-Jared Horstman [14.809]; 15. 23-Devon Dobie [14.877]; 16. 3B-Brad Greer [14.893]; 17. 35-Ron Blair [14.932]; 18. 18-Todd Heuerman [14.952]; 19. 12CS-Cody Swanson [14.956]; 20. 22R-Kevin Roberts Jr [14.963]; 21. 00N-Jim Nier [14.974]; 22. 45S-Tim Shaffer [14.979]; 23. 98-Joe Trenca [14.984]; 24. 6JS-Jr Stewart [15.026]; 25. 97-Bryan Sebetto [15.031]; 26. 12R-Nick Roberts [15.059]; 27. 31-Andy Teunessen [15.084]; 28. 79-Jordan Thomas [15.086]; 29. 2MS-Beau Stewart [15.168]; 30. 11N-Ed Neumeister [15.192]; 31. 8J-Jess Stiger [15.242]; 32. 23P-Nick Patterson [15.953]; 33. 14C-Andy Conley [16.108]; 34. 15-Brandon Ferguson [99.999];

HEAT 1 – 1. 22H-Randy Hannagan [6]; 2. 16-Ryan Ruhl [4]; 3. 10X-Dustin Stroup [3]; 4. 2MS-Beau Stewart [8]; 5. 35-Ron Blair [2]; 6. 00N-Jim Nier [DNF]; 7. 97-Bryan Sebetto [DNF]; 8. 5G-Curt Michael [DQ]; 9. 14C-Andy Conley [DNS];

HEAT 2 – 1. 20B-Butch Schroeder [6]; 2. 18-Todd Heuerman [2]; 3. 17-Jared Horstman [3]; 4. 49-Shawn Dancer [5]; 5. 12R-Nick Roberts [7]; 6. 11N-Ed Neumeister [8]; 7. 28H-Hud Horton [DNF]; 8. 45S-Tim Shaffer [DQ]; 9. 15-Brandon Ferguson [DNS];

HEAT 3 – 1. 89-Robbie Stillwaggon [4]; 2. 12CS-Cody Swanson [2]; 3. 49T-Gregg Dalman [6]; 4. 98-Joe Trenca [1]; 5. 23-Devon Dobie [3]; 6. 31-Andy Teunessen [7]; 7. 8J-Jess Stiger [8]; 8. 6K-Chad Kemenah [DNF];

HEAT 4 – 1. 11-Tim Allison [6]; 2. 6JS-Jr Stewart [1]; 3. 2MD-Dustin Daggett [5]; 4. 22R-Kevin Roberts Jr [2]; 5. 6S-Max Stambaugh [4]; 6. 3B-Brad Greer [3]; 7. 79-Jordan Thomas [7]; 8. 23P-Nick Patterson [DNS];

B-FEATURE – 1. 5G-Curt Michael [1]; 2. 6S-Max Stambaugh [4]; 3. 31-Andy Teunessen [12]; 4. 3B-Brad Greer [6]; 5. 23-Devon Dobie [5]; 6. 35-Ron Blair [7]; 7. 8J-Jess Stiger [15]; 8. 12R-Nick Roberts [11]; 9. 79-Jordan Thomas [13]; 10. 11N-Ed Neumeister [DNF]; 11. 6K-Chad Kemenah [DNS]; 12. 28H-Hud Horton [DNS]; 13. 00N-Jim Nier [DNS]; 14. 45S-Tim Shaffer [DNS]; 15. 97-Bryan Sebetto [DNS]; 16. 23P-Nick Patterson [DNS]; 17. 14C-Andy Conley [DNS];

A FEATURE – 1. 2MD-Dustin Daggett [1]; 2. 11-Tim Allison [3]; 3. 22H-Randy Hannagan [6]; 4. 20B-Butch Schroeder [5]; 5. 89-Robbie Stillwaggon [8]; 6. 17-Jared Horstman [10]; 7. 18-Todd Heuerman [11]; 8. 49-Shawn Dancer [2]; 9. 10X-Dustin Stroup [9]; 10. 6JS-Jr Stewart [15]; 11. 5G-Curt Michael [17]; 12. 49T-Gregg Dalman [4]; 13. 12CS-Cody Swanson [12]; 14. 16-Ryan Ruhl [7]; 15. 6S-Max Stambaugh [18]; 16. 2MS-Beau Stewart [16]; 17. 3B-Brad Greer [20]; 18. 22R-Kevin Roberts Jr [13]; 19. 31-Andy Teunessen [19]; 20. 98-Joe Trenca [14];