PERRIS, Calif. — It didn’t really concern Kerry Madsen that he had never seen Perris Auto Speedway prior to Saturday, because his team had plenty of experience and a good deal of success at the half-mile track.
With veteran crew chief Sonny Kratzer turning the wrenches, Madsen was fast right out of the box and led all 30 laps for his second World of Outlaws victory of the season in the first event for the series at Perris since 2004.
The former Australian sprint-car champion had to endure a late caution with three laps to go, giving Jason Solwold and Danny Lasoski one more chance at him. A strong restart propelled him to a quick lead and he held off Lasoski by three-tenths of a second.
“I would have liked to have seen it run through, but I knew I was all right,” Madsen said. “I was good in traffic and had clear track. I knew that as long as I did not make too many mistakes that I would be all right.”
Madsen began the night by turning the sixth fastest lap in time trials. He backed that up with a second-place run in the second heat to earn a spot in the dash, which he won to earn his second pole position of the season.
In the A feature, he jumped to an early lead, with Solwold and Paul McMahan chasing him.
Madsen ran the high line early in the race, maintaining a comfortable lead. On the seventh lap, Solwold began to close on the leader exiting the third and fourth turns. Solwold was right on Madsen as the pair closed on lapped traffic and a couple of times he looked low for the lead but could not quite get enough momentum to make a pass. The first caution flew on the eighth lap, giving the leader open race track ahead of them.
With 10 laps to go, Madsen encountered lapped traffic, allowing Solwold and Donny Schatz to close in. All the while, Danny Lasoski quietly worked his way from the eighth starting position into fourth, eventually getting around Schatz on the 23rd lap.
Madsen continued to negotiate traffic as the laps wore down, with Solwold and Lasoski right behind him. With three laps remaining, the final caution flag flew, setting up a shootout at the front. Madsen used another strong restart to open a fair lead, while Lasoski charged around Solwold exiting the fourth turn coming to the white flag.
Lasoski predominately used the high side of the track Saturday night at Perris, where he has won twice in the past with the series to pick up a runner-up finish. He had his Roth Motorsports JEI set-up for late in the race, which was evident by him picking up five spots in the second half of the 30-lap contest.
“We were really good,” said Lasoski, who won Friday night at Manzanita Speedway. “The race track freed up and we were really moving on the outside of guys.”
Solwold finished third, with Schatz and Jason Meyers following.