Schatz Wins the Knight Before the Kings Royal

Donny Schatz. (Bob Buffenbarger photo)

By T.J. Buffenbarger

ROSSBURG, Ohio (July 13, 2018) — Donny Schatz put in a textbook performance to win the Knight Before the Kings Royal Friday night at Eldora Speedway. Schatz ran down Hunter Schuerenberg and Brian Brown to from third to first and drove away from the field for the victory.

After having an off night with setups that the team was experimenting with on Thursday Schatz and his Tony Stewart Racing team quickly regained their wining form on Friday.

“It got slick,” Schatz said regarding the racing surface. “We tried a little something in the dash to try and get ourselves better there and it worked.”

Schatz also had to content with Greg Wilson closing in quickly in the later stages of the feature.

“At the end of the race Wilson was coming,” said Schatz. “Greg’s really good when the track is like that right on the bottom. I had to do something to keep my speed up, so I did what I thought was right was right and got to traffic and it took a moment to figure out how to adjust my car.”

Brian Brown took the lead from Schuerenberg at the start. Tim Shaffer hung with the lead duo until coming under fire from Schatz for third. Shaffer and Schatz exchanged the position before Schatz took the third spot for good on lap five.

Schatz quickly ran down Schuerenberg and Brown driving by Scheuerenberg for second off the fourth corner on lap nine and passing Brown the following lap on the backstretch. By the halfway point Schatz amassed a full straightaway lead.

While Schatz pulled away the attention turned to Greg Wilson’s charge through the field. Wilson, who started 14th, was up to fourth position and moving forward by the halfway point and drove by both Brown and Schuerenberg in one corner to go from fourth to second in one lap.

During the closing laps while Schatz was cruising through slower traffic Wilson was over a half a second faster than the leader but did not have enough time to challenge as Schatz cruised to the victory. Wilson scored a popular second place finish in his home state while Sheldon Haudenschild moved past Brown for the third spot. Dave Blaney picked up hard charger honors going from 22nd starting spot to rounding out the top five.

Schatz was made aware of Wilson closing in after the event and was already looking for areas for improvement if the track were to get that slick again for Saturday’s finale.

“They said (Wilson) was coming at the end, but we were kind of floating and we need to be better for tomorrow night if we’re racing in these conditions or else he’s probably going to kick our ass. But that’s what this game is, that’s why we’re here. Hero one day, zero the next. We enjoy the racing, we enjoy the competition. He pushes us to be better and we push him do, and that’s what we love about it.”

The Knight Before the Kings Royal
Eldora Speedway
Rossburg, OH
Friday July 13, 2018

Qualifying Group #1: 1. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 13.863; 2. 15 – Donny Schatz, 13.906; 3. 21 – Brian Brown, 14.031; 4. 17 – Sheldon Haudenschild, 14.057; 5. 44 – Trey Starks, 14.164; 6. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 14.297; 7. 1A – Jacob Allen, 14.306; 8. 26 – Joey Saldana, 14.313; 9. 28 – Brian Paulus, 14.373; 10. 18 – Ian Madsen, 14.382; 11. 49 – Brad Sweet, 14.487; 12. 7S – Jason Sides, 14.539; 13. 2M – Kerry Madsen, 14.579; 14. 3 – Jac Haudenschild, 14.596; 15. 2 – Shane Stewart, 14.604; 16. 19 – Brent Marks, 14.620; 17. 81 – Lee Jacobs, 14.765; 18. 49J – Josh Schneiderman, 14.865; 19. 83H – Justin Henderson, 14.928; 20. 71 – Giovanni Scelzai, 15.034; 21. 17B – Bill Balog, 15.161; 22. 94 – Ryan Smith, 15.373; 23. 8J – Jess Stiger, 15.614; 24. 83C – Adam Cruea, 16.122; 25. 3S – Sammy Swindell, 99.000; 26. 49D – Shawn Dancer, 99.000;

Qualifying Group #2: 1. W20 – Greg Wilson, 14.461; 2. 4 – Parker Price-Miller, 14.624; 3. 13 – Paul McMahan, 14.641; 4. 49X – Tim Shaffer, 14.717; 5. 12N – Cole Duncan, 14.726; 6. 5 – David Gravel, 14.729; 7. 3G – Carson Macedo, 14.747; 8. 87 – Aaron Reutzel, 14.774; 9. 5T – Travis Philo, 14.874; 10. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 14.881; 11. 3Z – Brock Zearfoss, 14.952; 12. 70 – Dave Blaney, 15.021; 13. 91 – Cale Thomas, 15.036; 14. 83 – Cory Eliason, 15.114; 15. G1 – Justin Peck, 15.118; 16. 24 – Rico Abreu, 15.120; 17. 97G – Hunter Schuerenberg, 15.273; 18. 17 – Caleb Helms, 15.313; 19. 11N – Cap Henry, 15.354; 20. A79 – Brandon Wimmer, 15.373; 21. 19P – Paige Polyak, 15.449; 22. 41S – Dominic Scelzi, 15.490; 23. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 15.514; 24. 97 – Mitch Wormall, 15.571; 25. 71M – Randy Hannagan, 15.596; 26. 45T – Trevor Baker, 15.934

Heat Race #1 (8 Laps): 1. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 2. 17 – Sheldon Haudenschild, 3. 1A – Jacob Allen, 4. 19 – Brent Marks, 5. 2M – Kerry Madsen, 6. 18 – Ian Madsen, 7. 84H – Justin Henderson, 8. 94 – Ryan Smith, 9. 3S – Sammy Swindell. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)

Heat Race #2 (8 Laps): 1. 15 – Donny Schatz, 2. 49 – Brad Sweet, 3. 71 – Giovanni Scelzi, 4. 44 – Trey Starks, 5. 81 – Lee Jacobs, 6. 8J – Jess Stiger, 7. 26 – Joey Saldana, 8. 3 – Jac Haudenschild. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)

Heat Race #3 (8 Laps): 1. 21 – Brian Brown, 2. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 3. 2 – Shane Stewart, 4. 28 – Brian Paulus, 5. 17B – Bill Balog, 6. 7S – Jason Sides, 7. 83C – Adam Cruea, 8. 49J – Josh Schneiderman. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)

Heat Race #4 (8 Laps): 1. 49X – Tim Shaffer, 2. 3G – Carson Macedo, 3. W20 – Greg Wilson, 4. 70 – Dave Blaney, 5. 5T – Travis Phillo, 6. 41S – Dominic Scelzi, 7. 11N – Cap Henry, 8. 71M – Randy Hannagan, 9. G1 – Justin Peck. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)

Heat Race #5 (8 Laps): 1 . 97G – Hunter Schuerenberg, 2. 87 – Aaron Reutzel, 3. 4 – Parker Price-Miller, 4. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 5. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 6. 12N – Cole Duncan, 7. 91 – Cale Thomas, 8. A79 – Brandon Wimmer, 9. 45T – Trevor Baker. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)

Heat Race #6 (8 Laps): 1. 24 – Rico Abreu, 2. 13 – Paul McMahan, 3. 5 – David Gravel, 4. 3Z – Brock Zearfoss, 5. 83 – Cory Eliason, 6. 17C – Caleb Helms, 7. 19P – Paige Polyak, 8. 97W – Mitch Wormall. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)

D-Main (8 Laps): 1. 94 – Ryan Smith, 2. 41S – Dominic Scelzi, 3. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 4. 97W – Mitch Wormall, 5. 8J – Jess Stiger, 6. 71M – Randy Hannagan, 7. 45T – Trevor Baker, 8. 83C – Adam Cruea. DNS: 3S – Sammy Swindell. (First two finishers transferred to the C-Main)

C-Main (10 Laps); 1. 19 – Brent Marks, 2. 83 – Cory Eliason, 3. 11N – Cap Henry, 4. 3 – Jac Haudenschild, 5. 83H – Justin Henderson, 6. 17C – Caleb Helms, 7. 94 – Ryan Smith, 8. 41S – Dominic Scelzi, 9. 49J – Josh Schneiderman, 10. G1 – Justin Peck, 11. A97 – Brandon Wimmer, 12. 19P – Paige Polyak. DNS: 81 – Lee Jacobs, 17B – Bill Balog. (First two finishers transferred to the B-Main)

Dash #1 (4 Laps): 1. 21 – Brian Brown, 2. 15 – Donny Schatz, 3. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 4. 93 – Sheldon Haudenschild, 5. 49 – Brad Sweet, 6. 10H – Chad Kememah. (Finish determined the inside six rows of the A-Main)

Dash #2 (4 Laps): 1. 97G – Hunter Schuerenberg, 2. 49X – Tim Shaffer, 3. 87 – Aaron Reutzel, 4. 3G – Carson Macedo, 5. 24 – Rico Abreu, 6. 13 – Paul McMahan. (Finish determined the outside six rows of the A-Main)

B-Main (12 Laps): 1. 44 – Trey Starks, 2. 12N – Cole Duncan, 3. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 4. 70 – Dave Blaney, 5. 26 – Joey Saldana, 6. 3Z – Brock Zearfoss, 7. 18 – Ian Madsen, 8. 28 – Brian Paulus, 9. 2M – Kerry Madsen, 10. 7S – Jason Sides, 11. 91 – Cale Thomas, 12. 5T – Travis Philo, 13. 83 – Cory Eliason, 14. 19 – Brent Marks. (First six finishers transfer to the A-Main)

Feature: 1. 15 – Donny Schatz, 2. W20 – Greg Wilson, 3. 17 – Sheldon Haudenschild, 4. 21 – Brian Brown, 5. 70 – Dave Blaney, 6. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 7. 3G – Carson Macedo, 8. 97G – Hunter Schuerenberg, 9. 1A – Jacob Allen, 10. 87 – Aaron Reutzel, 11. 49 – Brad Sweet, 12. 49X – Tim Shaffer, 13. 5 – David Gravel, 14. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 15. 18 – Ian Madsen, 16. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 17. 24 – Rico Abreu, 18. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 19. 3Z – Brock Zearfoss, 20. 12N – Cole Duncan, 21. 4 – Parker Price-Miller, 22. 71 – Giovanni Scelzi, 23. 2 – Shane Stewart, 24. 44 – Trey Starks, 25. 26 – Joey Saldana, 26. 13 – Paul McMahan.