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LAS CRUCES, NM (October 21) - On a night when three former Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series champions raced in the "B" Feature for the first time this season, it was ironic that another previous titlist won the main event.

The World of Outlaws kept the fans who packed Southern New Mexico Speedway on the edge of their seats all night. In the end, it was 1995 champion Dave Blaney claiming the $7,000 first prize.

Series points leader Sammy Swindell collided with several cars at the beginning of the First Heat Race and suffered a broken front end. Defending World of Outlaws champion Mark Kinser finished behind four former Rookies of the Year and a cagey veteran in the Third Heat Race. Steve Kinser, the series' 14-time champion, qualified early and could only watch as 19 other cars posted quicker time trials. It only got worse for "The King of the Outlaws" when he suffered a blown engine early in the Fourth Heat Race.

Swindell and the Kinser cousins came back strong in the feature races, but were no match for "The Buckeye Bullet." He won the Vivarin Dash for the right to start on the pole, then led all but six laps en route to this 10th "A" Feature victory this year. With Steve Kinser finishing 13th, Blaney increased his advantage to 35 points in their battle for second place in the standings.

"My guys had the Vivarin J&J fast all night long," Blaney said. "I want to thank Kenny (Woodruff) and Dwayne (Krieger). They work hard all the time and, because they never give up, we're able to win once in a while."

Blaney burst into the lead as the green flag fell in the 30- lap main event. Swindell, the Channellock Fast-Time Award winner, passed Tyler Walker, Joey Saldana and Peter Murphy before Jimmy Carr collided with Steve Kinser and suffered a broken front end. Kinser managed to keep his #11 Quaker State Maxim moving forward and maintained his 15th-place running position.

Jeff Swindell, who started outside the front row, kept pace with "The Buckeye Bullet" as the green flag replaced the yellow. He passed Blaney with a low move into turn three as they entered lapped traffic two laps later.

Mark Kinser drove the #5M Wirtgen Maxim into sixth place as Swindell caught the backmarkers during the ninth lap. Fourth Heat Race winner Danny Lasoski took the leaders out of lapped traffic two laps later when he spun between turns one and two.

Blaney took the high line into the third corner as the race resumed, then turned sharply into the low groove in turn four and won a front-straightaway drag race with Jeff to regain the lead.

Mark Kinser used an outside move to pass Johnny Herrera for fourth place during the 11th-lap restart. He continued racing in the high groove and took third from Stevie Smith two laps later.

"The Buckeye Bullet" increased his advantage from four car- lengths to a full straightaway between the 18th and 22nd laps.

Smith caught Kinser during lap 23 and regained third place when Mark jumped the cushion in the fourth corner. Smith continued his run toward the front, and passed Swindell on the front stretch with five laps remaining. He cut into Blaney's half-straightaway advantage during the final three laps, but was seven car-lengths behind when the checkered flag fell.

"This was a really tough race track," Blaney said. "You had to be very precise and hit the line every lap. I started messing around up there in three and four and let Jeff get under me.

"On the restart, I decided to just take a chance and go to the top because Jeff was going to the bottom. We got some really good breaks in traffic, and that allowed me to stretch my lead."

Jeff's third-place finish was his best since he finished third at Sweetwater Speedway on August 19th. Completing the top 10 were Mark Kinser, Sammy Swindell, Walker, 14th-starting Greg Hodnett, Herrera, Saldana and Craig Dollansky.

Andy Hillenburg, who won the World of Outlaws' first "A" Feature at Southern New Mexico Speedway last October 22nd, raced into 14th place from inside the 12th row.

The Rookie of the Year roller-coaster ride continued for Donny Schatz and Paul McMahan. For the third straight program, one of them failed to qualify for the feature race. This time, it was McMahan, who crashed early in the Fourth Heat Race then lost the final qualifying spot in the main event to Joe Gaerte with two laps remaining in the "B" Feature. McMahan's problems enabled Schatz to open a 63-point lead heading into this weekend's double-feature event at Perris Auto Speedway.

Qualifications: 1. Sammy Swindell, Swindell 1, 11.795; 2. Stevie Smith, Smith 19, 11.859; 3. Mark Kinser, Kinser 5M, 11.110; 4. Paul McMahan, Stanton 75, 11.142; 5. Dave Blaney, Blaney/Hylton 10, 11.157; 6. Jeff Swindell, Two Winners 7TW, 12.178; 7. Johnny Herrera, Sonner 47, 12.211; 8. Danny Lasoski, Black 1Z, 12.291; 9. Tyler Walker, Walker 35, 12.300; 10. Peter Murphy, Williams 0, 12.312; 11. Joey Saldana, Mox 17, 12.320; 12. Craig Dollansky, Wahlie 1W, 12.422; 13. Jeff Shepard, Stewart 4J, 12.442; 14. Jac Haudenschild, Elden 22, 12.444; 15. Greg Hodnett, Helm 11H, 12.480; 16. Dion Hindi, Hindi 11D, 12.543; 17. Donny Schatz, Schatz 15, 12.543; 18. Rick Ziehl, Ziehl 18Z, 12.554; 19. Keith Kauffman, Johnson U2, 12.590; 20. Steve Kinser, Kinser 11, 12.662; 21. Jimmy Carr, Holbrook 8H, 12.673; 22. Lance Blevins, Blevins 21, 12.673; 23. Joe Gaerte, Gaerte 3G, 12.680; 24. Rickey Hood, Herrera 45x, 12.697; 25. Ted Lee, Senior 44, 12.741; 26. Ham Diaz, Fuentes 28, 12.856; 27. Andy Hillenburg, Hillenburg 2, 12.857; 28. Dale Blaney, Blaney/Hylton 93, 12.886; 29. Bobby Davis, Davis 98, 13.102; 30. Danny Williams, Ray 1x, 13.215; 31. Shawn Sander, Sander 48, 13.227; 32. Chris Ikard, Miller 5, 13.549; 33. Marty Wilcox, Wilcox 3, 13.588; 34. Ronnie Yeatman, Yeatman 6, 13.592; 35. Ken McCutcheon, McCutcheon 4K, 13.697; 36. Jeff Slinkard, Stone 57, 13.723; 37. Mike Archuleta, Lee 21A, 13.842; 38. Joe Bustillos, Bustillos 37, 14.047; 39. Rick Johnson, Johnson 65, 14.129; 40. Pat Carney, Carney 5C, 14.162; 41. Cesar Fuentes, Fuentes 27, 14.252; 42. Mike Wells, Wells 56, no time.

First Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Donny Schatz, 2. Jimmy Carr, 3. Dave Blaney, 4. Tyler Walker, 5. Jeff Shepard, 6. Bobby Davis, 7. Mike Archuleta, 8. Ted Lee, 9. Cesar Fuentes, 10. Sammy Swindell, 11. Marty Wilcox. (first five qualified for the "A" Feature)

Second Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Rick Ziehl, 2. Peter Murphy, 3. Stevie Smith, 4. Jac Haudenschild, 5. Jeff Swindell, 6. Danny Williams, 7. Ronnie Yeatman, 8. Ham Diaz, 9. Lance Blevins, 10. Joe Bustillos. DNS - Mike Wells. (first five qualified for the "A" Feature) Third Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Greg Hodnett, 2. Joey Saldana, 3. Andy Hillenburg, 4. Keith Kauffman, 5. Johnny Herrera, 6. Mark Kinser, 7. Joe Gaerte, 8. Shawn Sander, 9. Rick Johnson, 10. Ken McCutcheon. (first five qualified for the "A" Feature)

Fourth Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Danny Lasoski, 2. Rickey Hood, 3. Craig Dollansky, 4. Dale Blaney, 5. Dion Hindi, 6. Paul McMahan, 7. Jeff Slinkard, 8. Steve Kinser, 9. Chris Ikard, 10. Pat Carney. (first five qualified for the "A" Feature)

Vivarin Dash (five laps): 1. Dave Blaney, 2. Jeff Swindell, 3. Johnny Herrera, 4. Stevie Smith, 5. Peter Murphy, 6. Danny Lasoski, 7. Joey Saldana, 8. Tyler Walker. (finish determined the first eight starting positions in the "A" Feature)

B Feature (12 laps): 1. Steve Kinser, 2. Mark Kinser, 3. Sammy Swindell, 4. Joe Gaerte, 5. Paul McMahan ($200); 6. Chris Ikard ($180); 7. Ted Lee ($150); 8. Lance Blevins ($110); 9. Bobby Davis ($90); 10. Shawn Sander ($80); 11. Mike Archuleta ($60); 12. Ronnie Yeatman ($60); 13. Ken McCutcheon ($50); 14. Jeff Slinkard ($50); 15. Rick Johnson ($50); 16. Ham Diaz ($50); 17. Cesar Fuentes ($50); 18. Danny Williams ($50); 19. Joe Bustillos ($50); 20. Marty Wilcox ($50); 21. Pat Carney ($50). DNS - Mike Wells. (first four qualified for the "A" Feature)

A Feature (30 laps): 1. Dave Blaney ($7,000); 2. Stevie Smith ($4,000); 3. Jeff Swindell ($3,000); 4. Mark Kinser ($2,520); 5. Sammy Swindell ($2,320); 6. Tyler Walker ($2,200); 7. Greg Hodnett ($2,100); 8. Johnny Herrera ($2,000); 9. Joey Saldana ($1,700); 10. Craig Dollansky ($1,600); 11. Jac Haudenschild ($1,200); 12. Donny Schatz ($1,150); 13. Steve Kinser ($1,120); 14. Andy Hillenburg ($1,050); 15. Keith Kauffman ($1,000); 16. Jeff Shepard ($700); 17. Joe Gaerte ($620); 18. Peter Murphy ($500); 19. Dale Blaney ($500); 20. Dion Hindi ($500); 21. Rickey Hood ($500); 22. Rick Ziehl ($500); 23. Danny Lasoski ($500); 24. Jimmy Carr ($500).

Lap leaders: Dave Blaney 1-5, 12-30; Jeff Swindell 6-11

Channellock Fast-Time Award: Sammy Swindell

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