Schatz wins Saturday feature at Eldora

By T.J. Buffenbarger

Rossburg, OH – (May 9, 2015) – After not winning a World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series feature at Eldora Spedway for several years Donny Schatz is making up for lost time. After going winless at Eldora for six years Schatz collected his second feature victory of the weekend on Saturday night during the “Mother of All Sprint Car Weekends” on Saturday. Schatz held off Gary Taylor through a green, white, checkered restart for the victory.

“I don’t know if we dominated, it’s a great race team, they do a great job every time we hit the track. Thank you fans for sticking with us, I didn’t know if we were going to get this in or not. The weather was iffy, and I didn’t we were going to get it in, but we did. Hats off to everyone that worked to get this in, the push truck drivers, the fans for sticking with it.

The track was so good. We could carry so much speed (into the corner), I don’t remember the last time we could run that quick around Eldora in the feature. We were worried about making it on fuel, when the track’s that locked down it takes a lot of fuel to go through the motor to keep it from burning up.”

Schatz and Jamie Veal started on the front row for the 30-lap feature event. Schatz and Veal raced side by side for most of the first lap until Schatz nosed ahead. Taylor then began pressuring Veal for the second spot, taking over the spot on lap five.

Following a caution for David Gravel slowing in turn one Schatz took the lead with Taylor hanging close and Shane Stewart diving into the third spot. Taylor hung with Schatz, looking under him for the lead until Schatz was able to pull away on lap eight.

Schatz then caught and blasted through all of the slower traffic opening up a sizeable lead until a caution appeared on the final lap for flat tires on Shane Stewart and Logan Schuchart’s cars.

During the green, white, checkered finish Taylor kept right on Schatz’s back bumper, looking under Schatz coming down to the white flag. Schatz moved down to block and was able to hang on the final lap for the victory over Taylor and Paul McMahan. Joey Saldana and Kerry Madsen rounded out the top five.

Rico Abreu was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 12.989 seconds, the only driver to break into the 12 second bracket in qualifications. McMahan, Veal, Schatz, and Stewart won heat race events, Schatz won the dash, while Craig Dollansky won the B-Main event.

World of Outlaws
Mother of All Sprint Car Weekends
Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, OH
Saturday May 9, 2015

Qualifications: 1. 24 – Rico Abreu, 12.989; 2. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 13.006; 3. 1 – Dale Blaney, 13.029; 4. 1ST – Gary Taylor, 13.032; 5. 71M – Joey Saldana, 13.047; 6. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 13.072; 7. 7S – Jason Sides, 13.079; 8. 29 – Kerry Madsen, 13.097; 9. 7 – David Gravel, 13.118; 10. 41 – Jamie Veal, 13.136; 11. 15 – Donny Schatz, 13.141; 12. 5T – Travis Philo, 13.141; 13. 51 – Paul McMahan, 13.153; 14. 67 – Christopher Bell, 13.170; 15. 99 – Brady Bacon, 13.179; 16. 2 – Shane Stewart, 13.187; 17. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 13.198; 18. 83 – Craig Dollansky, 13.215; 19. 89 – Cody Darrah, 13.229; 20. W20 – Greg Wilson, 13.266; 21. 9K – Kevin Thomas, Jr. , 13.266; 22. 49 – Brad Sweet, 13.277; 23. 63 – Kody Swanson, 13.294; 24. 59 – Danny Holtgraver, 13.316; 25. 19 – Paige Polyak, 13.322; 26. 21 – D.J. Foos, 13.330; 27. 93 – Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.332; 28. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 13.348; 29. 2M – Dustin Daggett, 13.468; 30. 55F – Taylor Ferns, 13.473; 31. 71MX – Paul May, 13.516; 32. 11 – Steve Kinser, 13.569; 33. 9P – Parker Price-Miller, 13.593; 34. 11N – Randy Hannagan, 13.651; 35. 1A – Jacob Allen, NT;

Heat Race #1 (8 Laps): 1. 51 – Paul McMahan, 2. 71M – Joey Saldana, 3. 7 – David Gravel, 4. 24 – Rico Abreu, 5. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 6. 19 – Paige Polyak, 7. 17RW – Kevin Thomas, Jr., 8. 2M – Dustin Daggett. (First five finishers transferred to the A-Main)

Heat Race #2 (8 Laps): 1. 41 – Jamie Veal, 2. 67 – Christopher Bell, 3. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 4. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 5. 49 – Brad Sweet, 6. 83 – Craig Dollansky, 7. 21 – D.J. Foos, 8. 11N – Randy Hannagan. (First five finishers transferred to the A-Main)

Heat Race #3 (8 Laps): 1. 15 – Donny Schatz, 2. 1 – Dale Blaney, 3. 99 – Brady Bacon, 4. 7S – Jason Sides, 5. 89 – Cody Darrah, 6. 93 – Sheldon Haudenschild, 7. 63 – Kody Swanson, 8. 71M – Paul May. (First five finishers transferred to the A-Main)

Heat Race #4 (8 Laps): 1. 2 – Shane Stewart, 2. 5T – Travis Philo, 3. 1ST – Gary Taylor, 4. 29 – Kerry Madsen, 5. 59 – Danny Holtgraver, 6. 11 – Steve Kinser, 7. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 8. W20 – Greg Wilson. (First five finishers transferred to the A-Main)

Dash (6 Laps): 1. 15 – Donny Schatz, 2. 41 – Jamie Veal, 3. 1 – Dale Blaney, 4. 1ST – Gary Taylor, 5. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 6. 2 – Shane Stewart, 7. 51 – Paul McMahan, 8. 24 – Rico Abreu. (Finish determined the lineup of the first four rows for the A-Main)

B-Main (12 Laps): 1. 83 – Craig Dollansky, 2.63 – Kody Swanson, 3. W20 – Greg Wilson, 4. 21 – D.J. Foos, 5. 9K – Kevin Thomas, Jr., 6. 19 – Paige Polyak, 7. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 8. 2M – Dustin Daggett, 9. 93 – Sheldon Haudenschild, 10. 71M – Paul May, 11. 11N – Randy Hannagan. DNS: 11 – Steve Kinser, 55F – Taylor Ferns, 9P – Parker Price-Miller.

A-Main (30 Laps): 1. 15 – Donny Schatz, 2. 1ST – Gary Taylor, 3. 51 – Paul McMahan, 4. 71M – Joey Saldna, 5. 29 – Kerry Madsen, 6. 7S – Jason Sides, 7. 24 – Rico Abreu, 8. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 10. 67 – Christopher Bell, 11. 2 – Shane Stewart, 12. 49 – Brad sweet, 13. 89 – Cody Darrah, 14. 83 – Craig Dollansky, 15. 5T – Travis Philo, 16. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 17. 59 – Danny Holtgraver, 18. 21 – D.J. Foos, 19. 1 – Dale Blaney, 20. 1S – Logan Shuchart, 21. 99 – Brady Bacon, 22. 63 – Kody Swanson, 23. W20 – Greg Wilson, 24. 7 – David Gravel.

Lap Leaders: Schatz 1-30