By T.J. Buffenbarger
ROSSBURG, Ohio (July 14, 2018) – Donny Schatz is now the only person to have won three consecutive Kings Royal crowns following his victory on Saturday at Eldora Speedway with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series. Schatz from Fargo, North Dakota had to hold off a charge by Brad Sweet on the final lap to win by just 0.189 seconds to collect the crown and the $50,000 top prize.
Schatz was relishing the victory during the post-race press conference discussing how his car lost the handle towards the end knowing he the lead was in doubt towards the ned.
“Somebody had to be coming,” said Schatz about Sweet nearly catching him. “When you feel that bad, I couldn’t get the tire caught up on the exit. I was trying to move down on the bottom of one and two and I’d have to go clear to the top and try to get a little bit of that meat. Just wasted so much time if felt off. When you are leading you have everything to lose and nothing to gain. You have to move around but you have to be smart with it, and I could not find anything. I was hanging. I had the wing in the trunk, I was trying every trick in the book. We got pretty lucky it was only 40 laps and not 41 tonight.”
Trey Starks and Paul McMahan started on the front row for the 40-lap finale. Hunter Schurenberg ended up backwards in turn three on the initial start on the top of the race track while Sheldon Haudenschild and Brock Zearfoss ended up tangled on the bottom of the track in the same corner to bring out the caution flag. All three teams were able to make repairs for the cars to join the second attempt at the start.
Starks drove to the lead on the opening lap with McMahan and Schatz dicing for the second spot. McMahan was able to keep Schatz at bay until lap three. Schatz finally gathered enough momentum to drive by McMahan off turn four to take the spot.
Behind Starks and Schatz, McMahan was involved in a three-car race for the third spot with Cory Eliason and Brad Sweet. Eliason drove by McMahan on lap seven while Sweet moved into fourth around McMahan one lap later.
10 laps into the event Starks started to encounter slower traffic which allowed Schatz to close for a moment but was able pull away when Eliason caught Schatz to challenge for the second spot. Schatz and Eliason exchanged side jobs for the position with Schatz holding the spot. Then on lap 12 Eliason bounced off the fence in turn one.
While Eliason and Schatz were racing for second they managed to catch Starks for the lead. Eliason had one more look under Schatz through three and four, but Schatz drove back around Eliason and found enough momentum to challenge Starks for the lead. Starks was able to hold off Schatz’s initial challenge, but it was short lived as Schatz drove into the lead down the backstretch off turn two to take the lead.
Starks found himself under fire again with Eliason and Sweet driving by to take second and third position on lap 17. Starks continued to drop back at Schatz’s Tony Stewart Racing teammate Christopher Bell moved into fourth position around Starks on lap 21.
Sweet began to put pressure on Eliason for second and was able to make the pass in turn three on lap 27. On that same lap Bell encountered mechanical issues and slowed down the front straightaway and pulled into the pit area to avoid causing a caution flag.
Sweet moved past Eliason for the second spot with 12 laps to go and started to quickly close on Schatz for the lead through slower traffic. Sweet was quickly closing the gap between himself and Schatz when Sweet’s Kasey Kahne Racing teammate Daryn Pittman slide back in front of him while Sweet was trying to put him a lap down in turn two. This allowed Schatz to open a sizeable lead before Sweet could clear Pittman.
Over the final five laps Sweet quickly closed the gap as Schatz the handle was steadily going away on Schatz’s car. On the final lap Sweet was almost close enough to challenge Schatz for the lead but came up short at the finish as Schatz held on for the victory. Sweet was followed by Eliason, Lee Jacobs from 16th starting spot and Kraig Kinser from 13th starting position finished fifth.
With recent events in mind Schatz seemed to be enjoying the victory more in in that moment than he had in the past.
“Whether its three, five, whatever, count your blessings on this. Jason lost his life not too long ago. It could have been any one of us at any time at any moment. I’m going to look past the fifth one, third in a row, and just enjoy it for today. It was a solid, solid weekend. I think one thing that really helped us probably get a little lucky tonight is we were consistent both nights. We were one of the few cars that was consistent. We were third and first. I felt terrible when I was third and I felt ok last night when I won last night. That consistency sometimes rewards you. I think it did tonight. My car was awesome in the heat race. We did start up front from qualifying terrible. But hey, we were good enough to put our self in a far enough forward position in that feature to where at the end (Sweet) was obviously coming, but we were there when it counted at the checkered. One more lap might have been a different story, we’ll never know.”
Eldora Speedway
Rossburg, OH
Saturday July 14, 2018
Qualifying: 1. 14 – Christopher Bell, 13.144; 2. 5 – David Gravel, 13.195; 3. 7S – Jason Sides, 13.207; 4. 17 – Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.214; 5. 49X – Tim Shaffer, 13.219; 6. 18 – Ian Madsen, 13.250; 7. 87 – Aaron Reutzel, 13.270; 8. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 13.325; 9. 2 – Shane Stewart, 13.331; 10. 97G – Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.332; 11. 71 – Giovanni Scelzi, 13.333; 12. 3Z – Brock Zearfoss, 13.347; 13. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 13.354; 14. W20 – Greg Wilson, 13.364; 15. 2M – Kerry Madsen, 13.387; 16. 4 – Parker Price-Miller, 13.416; 17. 24 – Rico Abreu, 13.421; 18. 1A – Jacob Allen, 13.427; 19. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 13.431; 20. 94 – Ryan Smith, 13.446; 21. 15 – Donny Schatz, 13.450; 22. 81 – Lee Jacobs, 13.450; 23. 13 – Paul McMahan, 13.467; 24. 44 – Trey Starks, 13.474; 25. 83 – Cory Eliason, 13.483; 26. 49 – Brad Sweet, 13.508; 27. 91 – Cale Thomas, 13.510; 28. 17B – Bill Balog, 13.525; 29. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 13.541; 30. 5T – Travis Philo, 13.543; 31. 71H – Randy Hannagan, 13.550; 32. 19 – Brent Marks, 13.552; 33. 83H – Justin Henderson, 13.557; 34. 12N – Cole Duncan, 13.578; 35. 41S – Dominic Scelzi, 13.618; 36. A79 – Brandon Wimmer, 13.632; 37. 3 – Jac Haudenschild, 13.653; 38. 3G – Carson Macedo, 13.665; 39. 21 – Brian Brown, 13.673; 40. 17C – Caleb Helms, 13.681; 41. 70 – Dave Blaney, 13.682; 42. 26 – Joey Saldana, 13.683; 43. 11N – Cap Henry, 13.734; 44. 19J – Josh Schneiderman, 13.803; 45. 71H – Ryan Ruhl, 13.806; 46. 97 – Mitch Wormall, 13.858; 47. 28 – Brian Paulus, 13.927; 48. 45 – Trevor Baker, 13.938; 49. 22M – Dan McCarron, 13.981; 50. 8J – Jess Stiger, 14.148; 51. 83C – Adam Cruea, 14.993.
Heat Race #1 (10 Laps): 1. 83 – Cory Eliason, 2. 14B – Christopher Bell, 3. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 4. 87 – Aaron Reutzel, 5. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 6. 3 – Jac Haudenschild, 7. 71M – Randy Hannagan, 8. 49J – Josh Schneiderman, 9. 8J – Jess Stiger. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #2 (10 Laps): 1. 49 – Brad Sweet, 2. 94 – Ryan Smith, 3. 5 – David Gravel, 4. W20 – Greg Wilson, 5. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 6. 19 – Brent Marks, 7. 21 – Brian Brown, 8. 71H – Ryan Ruhl, 9. 83C – Adam Cruea. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #3 (10 Laps): 1. 15 – Donny Schatz, 2. 2 – Shane Stewrt, 3. 18 – Ian Madsen, 4. 91 – Cale Thomas, 5. 7S – Jason Sides, 6. 83H – Justin Henderson, 7. 17C – Caleb Helms, 8. 97 – Mitch Wormall. DNS: 3G – Carson Macedo. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #4 (10 Laps): 1. 4 – Parker Price-Miller, 2. 17B – Bill Balog, 3. 81 – Lee Jacobs, 4. 97G – Hunter Schuerenberg, 5. 17 – Sheldon Haudenschild, 6. 70 – Dave Blaney, 7. 12N – Cole Duncan, 8. 28 – Brian Paulus. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #5 (10 Laps): 1. 13 – Paul McMahan, 2. 49X – Tim Shaffer, 3. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 4. 71 – Giovanni Scelzi, 5. 24 – Rico Abreu, 6. 41S – Dominic Scelzi, 7. 45T – Trevor Baker, 8. 26 – Joey Saldana. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #6 (10 Laps): 1. 44 – Trey Starks, 2. 1A – Jacob Allen, 3. 3Z – Brock Zearfoss, 4. 18 – Ian Madsen, 5. 5T – Travis Philo, 6. 11N – Cap Henry, 7. A79 – Brandon Wimmer, 8. 22M – Dan McCarron. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)
C-Main (12 Laps): 1. 21 – Brian Brown, 2. A79 – Brandon Wimmer, 3. 71M – Randy Hannagan, 4. 49J – Josh Schneiderman, 5. 71H – Ryan Ruhl, 6. 22M – Dan McCarron, 7. 45T – Trevor Baker, 8. 97W – Mitch Wormall, 9. 83C – Adam Cruea. DNS: 28 – Brian Paulus, 26 – Joey Saldana, 8J – Jess Stiger, 3G – Carson Macedo. (First six finishers transferred to the B-Main)
B-Main (15 Laps): 1. W20 – Greg Wilson, 2. 97G – Hunter Schuerenberg, 3. 18 – Ian Madsen, 4. 24 – Rico Abreu, 5. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 6. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 7. 71 – Giovanni Scelzi, 8. 70 – Dave Blaney, 9. 21 – Brian Brown, 10. 5T – Travis Philo, 11. 41S – Dominic Scelzi, 12. 11N – Cap Henry, 13. 3 – Jac Haudenschild, 14. 12N – Cole Duncan, 15. 71M – Randy Hannagan, 16. 19 – Brent Marks, 17. 83H – Justin Henderson, 18. 49J – Josh Scheiderman, 19. 91 – Cale Thomas, 20. 17C – Caleb Helms, 21. 22M – Dan McCarron, 22. 87 – Aaron Reutzel, 23. 71H – Ryan Ruhl, 24. A79 – Brandon Wimmer.
A-Main (40 Laps): 1. 15 – Donny Schatz, 2. 49 – Brad Sweet, 3. 83 – Cory Elaison, 4. 81 – Lee Jacobs, 5. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 6. 1A – Jacob Allen, 7. 13 – Paul McMahan, 8. 5 – David Gravel, 9. 24 – Rico Abreu, 10. 18 – Ian Madsen, 11. 44 – Trey Starks, 12. 2M – Kerry Madsen, 13. W20 – Greg Wilson, 14. 94 – Ryan Smith, 15. 2 – Shane Stewart, 16. 3Z – Brock Zearfoss, 17. 4 – Parker Price-Miller, 18. 97G – Hunter Schuerenberg, 19. 9 – Daryn Pittman, 20. 7S – Jason Sides, 21. 17 – Sheldon Haudenschild, 22. 17B – Bill Balog, 23. 14 – Christopher Bell, 24. 49X – Tim Shaffer.