(Bill W) May 14, 2013 – Before his engine started faltering with about seven laps to go at the Elko Speedway in Minnesota, Kerry Madsen and the Keneric Racing #29 team appeared on their way to their second consecutive victory with the World of Outlaws in as many Fridays. A red flag at the right time preserved a second place finish, however, and the St. Mary’s, New South Wales driver drove from 10th to finish 4th at the Knoxville Raceway on Saturday. The team heads to another hotbed of sprint cars in central Pennsylvania starting tomorrow night at Lincoln Speedway near Abbottstown.
A field of 34 stout sprint cars signed in at Elko on Friday. Kerry registered the tenth quick time of the night before winning his heat and finishing second in the Dash, putting him outside row one for the feature.
Kerry dogged pole-sitter Craig Dollansky in traffic, before taking command on lap 15 of the scheduled 40-lapper. He appeared poised to sail to victory, but after lap 30, the motor sounded sour. “We blew a motor up,” he says. “I can’t exactly tell you what lap…probably about seven laps before the finish. I lost a cylinder. I kept going, because I was leading.”
That’s when he changed his line. “I was running the top, and I looked at the board with about seven laps to go,” says Kerry. “I knew I couldn’t make it. I just dropped to the bottom to try to protect the motor a bit.”
That’s when Tim Kaeding passed by on lap 34. Fortunately, for Kerry, a red flag period would see rain fall and the race called, offering him a chance to preserve the second place finish.
“It was good to run well and get a good result,” he says. “There was some luck involved to be sure. I was actually going to stop when Tim went around me. That’s when the red flag came out. I had no plans to restart after that.”
Fifty-one sprinters invaded Knoxville Saturday. Kerry came out 50th in the order and made the heat invert by qualifying 17th (5 heats were run). “To be honest, we never felt that great at Knoxville,” he says. “We had a throttle pedal break in qualifying, which cost us some speed at half throttle. It was pretty impressive how well the track held out in qualifying. We were pretty much the last car, had our troubles, and still made the top 20.”
Finishing second in his heat put Kerry in another Dash. He would start the feature outside of row five and move up to fourth. “It was a pretty uneventful race for us,” he says. “I didn’t have a whole lot going on the top, so I kind of rode around the bottom. We were able to get a top five that way, so that was pretty cool. To not feel good and still finish fourth was encouraging.”
The WoO hits Lincoln Speedway tomorrow night, and Williams Grove Speedway near Mechanicsburg on Friday and Saturday. The PA Posse lies in wait. “We ran well at Elko,” says Kerry. “The tracks aren’t that similar, but we seem to be running reasonably well right now. I’m starting to get the feel for the racecar, but nonetheless, it’s going to be a tough three nights coming up.”
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Kerry Madsen (KMR) Bob & Peter Gavranich (Keneric Racing)
Earthex (Des Johnstone & Murray Lumsden) Morrison Motors (Brian Morrison) KPC Chassis (Steve Kent)
Attached: Kerry at Elko Speedway (Rob Kocak Photo)
Article Credit: Bill Wright