By T.J. Buffenbarger
Rossburg, OH — (July 15, 2016) — Daryn Pittman won the Knight before the Kings Royal in dominating fashion Friday night with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series at Eldora Speedway. Pittman started on the front row and drove away from the rest of the field during the non-stop 30-lap feature.
Pittman’s was quick to credit his Kasey Kahne Racing team for giving him the right setup to handle a very slick Eldora surface.
“Hats off to this Great Clips team. We had a really good car,” said Pittman in victory lane. “This is not a driver race track, this is a crew chief race track and my guys gave me a great race car. I did everything in my power to ruin it. I smoked the fence in turn four probably on lap five or six, and honestly I don’t think we’ve ever ran this slow around Eldora to be honest with you. I was out front and I just felt like my pace was too slow, it didn’t’ feel like I was getting through turns three and four fast enough, and I just tried to pick up the pace a bit. I jdidn’t think I was that close to the fence man and I hit it and hit it hard, so it wasn’t a little bit of a bump. I ran about the next three laps thinking I was going to have a flat or did some damage. I don’t know if I did or not but luckly the car held on. It just shows how good this Great Clips team is and how good of a car they put underneath me tonight.”
Pittman got a great start and pulled out immediately to a sizeable lead at the start with fellow front row starter Joey Saldana and Donny Schatz in his wake. Schatz had a brief challenge for third spot from Shane Stewart which was quickly thwarted. Schatz quickly began to pressure Saldana for second. After repeating challenges Schatz was able to move past Saldana for the runner up spot on lap 11 as Pittman entered slower traffic.
When Pittman first started to overtake the back half of the field he had cars racing side by side in front of him that allowed Schatz to close. That changed quickly though as some space opened up and allowed Pittman to extend his lead.
Further back Rico Abreu was on the move passing Stewart for fourth on lap 14 and Saldana on lap 19.
Up front though Pittman was never seriously challenged crossing the finish line by 6.08 seconds ahead of Schatz, Abreu, Kraig Kinser, and Thursday’s feature winner at Eldora David Gravel.
During qualifications Kerry Madsen took a violent flip in turn two. Madsen emerged from his car uninjured, but scratched for the night. Later in qualifying D.J. Foos tipped over in turn three and four and Brian Brown helicoptered down the track after making contact with the wall during his heat race. Foos and Brown were also uninjured.
Knight Before the Kings Royal
World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series
Eldora Speedway
Rossburg, OH
Friday July 15, 2016
Qualifying Group A: 1. 5 – David Gravel, 13.600; 2. 15 – Donny Schatz, 13.736; 3. 17W – Bryan Clauson, 13.856; 4. 83 – Joey Saldana, 13.885; 5. 1A – Jacob Allen, 13.928; 6. 1B – Dale Blaney, 13.935; 7. 14 – Christopher Bell, 13.958; 8. 29 – Kerry Madsen, 13.978; 9. 49 – Brad Sweet, 14.002; 10. 71 – Jamie Veal, 14.041; 11. 18 – Ian Madsen, 14.045; 12. 33 – Danny Lasoski, 14.066; 13. 1 – Sammy Swindell, 14.083; 14. 24 – Rico Abreu, 14.094; 15. 41 – Jason Johnson, 14.153; 16. 19M – Brent Marks, 14.205; 17. 11N – Randy Hannagan, 14.208; 18. 6M – Jac Haudenschild, 14.395; 19. 17 – Josh Baughman, 14.479; 20. 12 – Daniel Harding, 14.578; 21. 2M – Dustin Daggett, 14.616; 22. OO – Dane Lorenc, 14.978; 23. 22D – Josh Davis, 15.676; 24. 40 – Caleb Helms, NT
Qualifying Group B: 1. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 14.312; 2. 21 – Brian Brown, 14.442; 3. 23 – Trey Starks, 14.451; 4. 2 – Shane Stewart, 14.473; 5. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 14.482; 6. 3 – James McFadden, 14.528; 7. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 14.555; 8. 49X – Tim Shaffer, 14.570; 9. 93 – Sheldon Haudenschild, 14.613; 10. 70 – Danny Holtgraver, 14.623; 11. 7 – Paul McMahan, 14.628; 12. 7S – Jason Sides, 14.654; 13. 5T – Travis Philo, 14.712; 14. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 14.797; 15. 41X – Dominc Scelzi, 14.918; 16. W20 – Greg Wilson, 14.937; 17. 21C – Cap Henry, 15.049; 18. 71M – Dave Blaney, 15.196; 19. 94 – Ryan Smith, 15.251; 20. 13 – Clyde Knipp, 15.550; 21. 8M – T.J. Michael, 15.551; 22. 7W – Tasker Phillips, 15.592; 23. 57X – Andrew Palker, 15.771; 24. 83X – Adam Cruea, 16.399; 25. 38 – D.J. Foos, NT
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps): 1. 83 – Joey Saldana, 2. 5 – David Gravel, 3. 14 – Christopher Bell, 4. 1 – Sammy Swindell, 5. 71 – Jamie Veal, 6. 19M – Brent Marks, 7. 17 – Josh Baughman, 8. 00 – Dane Lorenc. (First three finishers transferred to the Feature)
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps): 1. 15 – Donny Schatz, 2. 24 – Rico Abreu, 3. 18 – Ian Madsen, 4. 11N – Randy Hannagan, 5. 1A – Jacob Allen, 6. 12 – Daniel Harding, 7. 22D – Josh Davis. DNS: 29 – Kerry Madsen. (First three finishers transferred to the Feature)
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps): 1. 1B – Dale Blaney, 2. 17 – Bryan Clauson, 3. 6 – Jac Haudenschild, 4. 49 – Brad Sweet, 5. 41 – Jason Johnson, 6. 2M – Dustin Daggett, 7. 33 – Danny Lasoski. DNS: 40 – Caleb Helms. (First three finishers transferred to the Feature)
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps): 1. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 2. 2 – Shane Stewart, 3. 70 – Danny Holtgraver, 4. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 5. W20 – Greg Wilson, 6. 94 – Ryan Smith 7. 5T – Travis Philo, 8. 7W – Tasker Phillips, 9. 38 – D.J. Foos. (First three finishers transferred to the Feature)
Heat Race #5 (8 Laps): 1. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 2. 49X – Tim Shaffer, 3. 10H – Chad Kemeneh, 4. 7 – Paul McMahan, 5. 21 – Cap Henry, 6. 57X – Andrew Palker, 7. 13 – Clyde Knipp, 8. 21 – Brian Brown. (First three finishers transferred to the Feature)
Heat Race #6 (8 Laps): 1. 3 – James McFadden, 2. 55 – Trey Starks, 3. 93 – Sheldon Haudenschild, 4. 7S – Jason Sides, 5. 41X – Dominic Scelzi, 6. 8M – T.J. Michael, 7. 71M – Dave Blaney, 8. 83 – Adam Cruea. (First three finishers transferred to the Feature)
Dash #1 (6 Laps): 1. 83 – Joey Saldana, 2. 15 – Donny Schatz, 3. 5 – David Gravel, 4. 17 – Bryan Clauson, 5. 24 – Rico Abreu, 6. 1B – Dale Blaney. (Finish determined the inside of the first six rows of the A-Main)
Dash #2 (6 Laps): 1. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 2. 2 – Shane Stewart, 3. 23 – Trey Starks, 4. 3 – James McFadden, 5. 11 – Kraig Kinser, 6. 49 – Tim Shaffer.
D-Main (8 Laps): 1. 7W – Tasker Phillips, 2. 8M – T.J. Michael, 3. 22D – Josh Davis, 4. 00 – Dan Lorenc, 5. 83X – Adam Creua. DNS: 40 – Caleb Helms, 57x – AndrewPalker, 38 – D.J. Foos, 29 – Kerry Madsen. (First two finishers transferred to the C-Main)
C-Main (10 Laps): 1. 19M – Brent Marks, 2. W20 – Greg Wilson, 3. 94 – Ryan Smith, 4. 17 – Ryan Boughman, 5. 11N – Randy Hannagan, 6. 21 – Cap Henry, 7. 12 – Daniel Harding, 8. 7M – Tasker Phillips, 9. 8M – T.J. Michael, 10. 2M – Dustin Daggett. DNS: 71M – Dave Blaney, 13 – Clyde Knipp. (First two finishers transfer to the feature)
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps): 1. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 2. 49 – Brad Sweet, 3. 1A – Jacob Allen, 4. 7S – Jason Sides, 5. 1 – Sammy Swindell, 6. 19M – Brent Marks, 7. 71 – Jamie Veal, 8. W20 – Greg Wilson, 9. 5T – Travis Philo, 10. 7 – Paul McMahan, 11. 41 – Jason Johnson, 12. 41X – Dominic Scelzi. DNS: 21 – Brian Brown, 33 – Danny Lasoski. (First six finishers transferred to the Feature)
Feature: 1. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 2. 15 – Donny Schatz, 3. 24 – Rico Abreu, 4. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 5. 5 – David Gravel, 6. 83 – Joey Saldana, 7. 1B – Dale Blaney, 8. 2 – Shane Stewart, 9. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 10. 49X – Tim Shaffer, 11. 23 – Trey Starks, 12. 49 – Brad Sweet, 13. 17W – Bryan Clauson, 14. 14 – Christopher Bell, 15. 1 – Sammy Swindell, 16. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 17. 3 – James McFadden, 18. 1A – Jacob Allen, 19. 93 – Sheldon Haudenschild, 20. 7S – Jason Sides, 21. 18 – Ian Madsen, 22. 19M – Brent Marks, 23. 70 – Danny Holtgraver, 24. 6M – Jac Haudenschild.
Lap Leaders: Pittman 1-30