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Wednesday, September 26, 2001

By Chris Dolack, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Mark Kinser and Danny Lasoski are waging one of the classic championship duels in World of Outlaws history.

	Danny Lasoski, left, tries to gain an edge on Andy Hillenburg during Heat 2 of the World of Outlaws visit at Lernerville. (Matt Freed, Post-Gazette)

There were 29 sprint cars trying to make the field for last night's feature at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver. Nine of the drivers were trying to prove themselves against the Outlaws regulars while another 18 were just trying to move up in the circuit's standings for a bigger paycheck at the end of the 105-race season. But for Kinser and Lasoski, who were separated by 28 points after a weekend of racing in Nebraska, last night began a 15-race battle to decide the championship.

In the feature, the two started next to each other in the second row, but neither could catch Danny Wood, who earned his first career Outlaws feature victory.

"I just held it wide open and hung on for the ride," Wood said. "You just got to go all out every lap."

Lasoski edged ahead of Kinser as soon as the green flag waved, but Wood and pole-sitter Johnny Herrera set a fast pace on the high side of the half-mile track.

Coming out of Turn 4 on lap 16, Wood darted past Herrera for the lead. Lasoski, who had distanced himself from Kinser, began to work on Herrera for second. With three laps to go, Lasoski got around Herrera in Turn 2 but wasn't able to chase down Wood.

Kinser picked up his pace late and finished fourth. He leads Lasoski by 24 points, setting the stage for the closest championship finish in Outlaws history. In 1978, Steve Kinser, Mark's cousin, beat Rick Ferkel by 54 points.

Mark Kinser won Outlaws titles in 1996 and '99. Lasoski has never won a series championship but finished a career-best second to Kinser in '99.

Kinser, who earned his 16th feature victory last weekend, has 34th top-five finishes. Lasoski has four wins and 29 top-five finishes. They also had 47 top-10 finishes in 55 feature races.

"The consistency of Danny is remarkable," said Kinser, who won the 10th annual Silver Cup event in July at Lernerville. "We've won a lot more races than him, but when we haven't won races it seems like our consistency level has been down. He's going to be tough to beat. Everybody always says wait until August to worry about points. It's going to go right down to the last race."

In his first year driving a car owned by NASCAR Winston Cup star Tony Stewart, Lasoski is in his best position to win his first title.

"I know in 1999 we had a real close race going, too, but it wasn't quite this close," he said. "Anytime you get two great teams putting out the effort that our crews put out, and two drivers who want to win as bad as Mark and I, that's what you get.

"The bottom line is that we've got two great teams working hard. You can't take anything away from [Kinser's] team or [my] team. He's had his unfortunate bad luck and we've had our unfortunate bad luck. He's put four good races together and we've run second to him. We thought maybe we had a little advantage going to California [earlier this month], and that's probably the best I've seen him run through California. That's why their team has been champions before. They know how to get the job done."

Another driver who knows how to win is Stewart, a former USAC and Indy Racing League champion.

"Tony Stewart probably is my best friend," he said. "The guy has a true love of the World of Outlaws sport, and without him we never could have had our own team. He put together this deal because he wanted to help my family and myself to have something after racing."