Merced Speedway
March 28, 2014
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Gravel Powers to World of Outlaws win at Merced Speedway

MERCED, Calif. – March 28, 2014 – Reigning Merced Speedway IMCA champ Rodney Freitas was the surprise victor Friday night in the modified stock half of the World of Outlaws double header. David Gravel of Watertown, Connecticut hopped in a California sprint car to take his third career World of Outlaws event.

Gravel was in the first of three cars numbered “83” that crossed the finish line in an unlikely finish that is extremely rare in racing. Gravel was driving for Rod Tiner of Sacramento, long time keeper of the “83” in the capital area. Fresno’s Dennis Roth owns both the second place car, driven by Kyle Hirst and the third place finisher Tim Kaeding.

“It is a good way to start the season – winning here in Merced,” said Gravel. “I just waited patiently and made my move near the end.”

Gravel will continue driving the same car for the remaining World of Outlaws events in California. Then, he will jump to another car, numbered “59”. He’s hoping to compete in nearly all of the World of Outlaw tour, which crisscrosses the nation and Canada throughout the year.

“I was followed Kyle Hirst, and stayed on the bottom, and then had a chance to pass him,” Gravel continued. “I knew Tim (Kaeding) was coming. He knows his way around this place. All I could see was a scoreboard full of 83’s – I didn’t which 83 was behind me.”

Freitas Shocked at Mod Victory



“What is this – NASCAR Sprint Cup or something?” laughed Freitas as he exited his car in victory lane after a spectacular modified feature. “What happened? How did I win? I have no idea. Cars were running out of gas, missing the restart, and crashing all over the place.”

Cody Burke of Salinas had a commanding lead throughout the feature, which saw excellent three wide racing, a couple of pileups and a driver parking his car and arguing with officials in front of the grandstands.

Burke sort of ran out of gas on the last lap coming for the checkered flag.

His fuel pump belt failed just seconds away from victory.

Paul Stone of Winton, last week’s feature winner, would have inherited the lead, but he failed to accelerate on the previous restart. His radio failed and he did not know the green flag would be flying.

That put third place Freitas into second, and eventually gave him the win when Burke’s car failed.

“Merry Christmas, Rodney,” Stone joked in victory lane. “That won’t happen again.”

Burke coasted to second at the line. Robert Marsh of Salinas also topped Stone on the restart and he hung on to third, as Stone was about to pass him. Stone was fourth with Antioch Speedway’s Aaron Crowell taking fifth.

Racing continues on Saturday night, April 5. Merced Speedway will feature the IMCA modifieds, IMCA Sport mods, hobby stocks and mini stocks.


World of Outlaws Sprint Cars

A-Main - (40 Laps): 1. 83SA-David Gravel [5] [$10,000]; 2. 83-Tim Kaeding [12] [$5,500]; 3. 83JR-Kyle Hirst [1] [$3,200]; 4. 71M-Joey Saldana [3] [$2,800]; 5. 51-Paul McMahan [9] [$2,500]; 6. 15-Donny Schatz [10] [$2,300]; 7. 49-Brad Sweet [7] [$2,200]; 8. 9-Daryn Pittman [8] [$2,100]; 9. 88-Terry McCarl [13] [$2,050]; 10. 24-Rico Abreu [15] [$2,000]; 11. 3C-Jonathan Allard [17] [$1,500]; 12. OO-Jason Statler [24] [$1,200]; 13. 21T-Tommy Tarlton [6] [$1,100]; 14. O-Bud Kaeding [23] [$1,050]; 15. 7S-Jason Sides [18] [$1,000]; 16. 88N-DJ Netto [11] [$900]; 17. 11K-Kraig Kinser [21] [$800]; 18. OOX-Cory Eliason [20] [$800]; 19. 4-Cody Darrah [16] [$800]; 20. 29-Kerry Madsen [2] [$800]; 21. 11-Steve Kinser [14] [$800]; 22. 22-Mason Moore [19] [$800]; 23. 1-Sammy Swindell [4] [$800]; 24. 21-Brian Brown [22] [$800]. Lap Leaders: Kyle Hirst 1-13, 19-24; Kerry Madsen 14-18; David Gravel 25-40. KSE Hard Charger Award: OO-Jason Statler [+12]

Qualifying: 1. 83SA-David Gravel, 10.589; 2. 71M-Joey Saldana, 10.617; 3. 49-Brad Sweet, 10.726; 4. 9-Daryn Pittman, 10.814; 5. 51-Paul McMahan, 10.819; 6. 15-Donny Schatz, 10.870; 7. 88N-DJ Netto, 10.883; 8. 83-Tim Kaeding, 10.897; 9. 29-Kerry Madsen, 10.909; 10. 88-Terry McCarl, 10.911; 11. 11-Steve Kinser, 10.914; 12. 83JR-Kyle Hirst, 10.915; 13. 24-Rico Abreu, 10.916; 14. 1-Sammy Swindell, 10.921; 15. 21T-Tommy Tarlton, 10.940; 16. 4-Cody Darrah, 10.949; 17. 3C-Jonathan Allard, 10.961; 18. 7S-Jason Sides, 10.983; 19. 22-Mason Moore, 11.022; 20. OOX-Cory Eliason, 11.030; 21. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 11.061; 22. 21-Brian Brown, 11.085; 23. O-Bud Kaeding, 11.098; 24. 1A-Jacob Allen, 11.102; 25. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 11.176; 26. 121-Shane Golobic, 11.247; 27. 98-Matt Jensen, 11.366; 28. OO-Jason Statler, 11.387; 29. 41-Dominic Scelzi, 11.672; 30. 26-Sean McMahan, 11.715; 31. 78-Mark Barroso, 12.075; 32. 68-Jason Toft, nt

Heat 1 - (10 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature): 1. 29-Kerry Madsen [2]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu [1]; 3. 51-Paul McMahan [3]; 4. 83SA-David Gravel [4]; 5. 3C-Jonathan Allard [5]; 6. 11K-Kraig Kinser [6]; 7. 41-Dominic Scelzi [8]; 8. 1S-Logan Schuchart [7]

Heat 2 - (10 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature): 1. 1-Sammy Swindell [1]; 2. 88-Terry McCarl [2]; 3. 71M-Joey Saldana [4]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz [3]; 5. 7S-Jason Sides [5]; 6. 121-Shane Golobic [7]; 7. 26-Sean McMahan [8]; 8. 21-Brian Brown [6]

Heat 3 - (10 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature): 1. 21T-Tommy Tarlton [1]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet [4]; 3. 11-Steve Kinser [2]; 4. 88N-DJ Netto [3]; 5. O-Bud Kaeding [6]; 6. 98-Matt Jensen [7]; 7. 22-Mason Moore [5]; 8. 78-Mark Barroso [8]

Heat 4 - (10 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature): 1. 83JR-Kyle Hirst [2]; 2. 4-Cody Darrah [1]; 3. 83-Tim Kaeding [3]; 4. 9-Daryn Pittman [4]; 5. OO-Jason Statler [7]; 6. OOX-Cory Eliason [5]; 7. 1A-Jacob Allen [6]; 8. 68-Jason Toft [8]

Dash - (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature): 1. 83JR-Kyle Hirst [1]; 2. 29-Kerry Madsen [2]; 3. 71M-Joey Saldana [3]; 4. 1-Sammy Swindell [5]; 5. 83SA-David Gravel [4]; 6. 21T-Tommy Tarlton [6]

Last Chance Showdown - (12 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature): 1. 22-Mason Moore [1] [-]; 2. OOX-Cory Eliason [2] [-]; 3. 11K-Kraig Kinser [3] [-]; 4. 21-Brian Brown [4] [-]; 5. 121-Shane Golobic [7] [$200]; 6. 1S-Logan Schuchart [6] [$180]; 7. 1A-Jacob Allen [5] [$175]; 8. 98-Matt Jensen [8] [$160]; 9. 78-Mark Barroso [11] [$150]; 10. 41-Dominic Scelzi [9] [$150]; 11. 26-Sean McMahan [10] [$150]; 12. 68-Jason Toft [12] [$150]


IMCA Modifieds

A-Main
1 8 25F Rodney Freitas
2 1 20 Cody Burke
3 9 22 Robert Marsh
4 10 66P Paul Stone
5 11 1C Aaron Crowell
6 18 98 Alex Stanford
7 17 49 Troy Foulger
8 6 19 Bob Williamson
9 12 25A Austin Burke
10 5 36 Alex Wilson
11 14 13 Vance Beltran
12 16 17 Nick DeCarlo
13 2 7 Robert Dias
14 13 66 Kevin Fitzgerald
15 15 56S Nick Silva
16 3 1J Jeff Streeter
17 4 39 Kyle Wilson
18 7 5R Karl Rose

B-Main
1 17 Nick DeCarlo
2 98 Alex Stanford
3 49 Troy Foulger
4 14P Ryan Porter
5 8 J.R. Harper
6 15E Bill Egleston
7 1X Steve Streeter
8 78 Jarod Fast
9 32 John Osgood
10 21 Gary Marsh

Heat #1
1 1J Jeff Streeter
2 20 Cody Burke
3 25F Rodney Freitas
4 36 Alex Wilson
5 66 Kevin Fitzgerald
6 8 J.R. Harper
7 14P Ryan Porter
8 98 Alex Stanford
9 49 Troy Foulger

Heat #2
1 66P Paul Stone
2 19 Bob Williamson
3 22 Robert Marsh
4 1C Aaron Crowell
5 13 Vance Beltran
6 21 Gary Marsh
7 1X Steve Streeter
8 32 John Osgood

Heat #3
1 39 Kyle Wilson
2 7 Robert Dias
3 5R Karl Rose
4 25A Austin Burke
5 56S Nick Silva
6 17 Nick DeCarlo
7 78 Jarod Fast
8 15E Bill Egleston