From Brian Hulbert
WEEDSPORT, N.Y. (July 31, 2021) — For the second straight night, New York fans were treated to late-race drama with The Greatest Show on Dirt.
Sheldon Haudenschild essentially had the win in the bag as he set a torrid pace through lap traffic, but a collision with James McFadden sent his NOS Energy Drink #17 spinning from the lead with only two laps remaining.
David Gravel inherited the race lead and took full advantage of the situation. The Watertown, CT native survived a green-white-checkered restart with Donny Schatz and Brad Sweet on his heels to win the Empire State Challenge at Weedsport Speedway.
The sudden victory was reminiscent of what happened at Attica Raceway Park in May when Haudenschild fell victim to lap traffic trouble and gifted Gravel another win. Ultimately, Saturday’s incident gave the Big Game Motorsports #2 their seventh win of the year and Gravel the 65th win of his World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.
Unfortunately for Sheldon, it was another case of what could have been. The Weedsport loss was the sixth occurrence this year of Haudenschild leading in the final 10 laps, but failing to appear in victory lane. The argument could easily be made that the Wooster, OH native would be the winningest driver on tour in 2021 if lady luck cooperated.
“He was running a wild pace up there and really living and dying by the top,” Gravel said on Haudenschild. “Those lappers finally moved up and took his lane away, then he just got into the back of them. I don’t think I would’ve won, but I felt like I could keep him kind of close. I was better on the bottom of turns one and two, but he was full send and bangin’ it off the wall on the other end. That’s just such a hard pace to keep.”
Before Haudenschild and Gravel swapped fortunes, Oklahoma City’s Wayne Johnson was the story of the night early on. The Two-C Racing pilot set a season-best qualifying effort (4th), won his first Drydene Heat Race of the season, made his first DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash of the season, earned a season-best starting position (5th), and ultimately tied his season-best Feature finish.
However, it was 10-time Series champion, Donny Schatz, on the pole position of the 30-lap NOS Energy Drink Feature. Looking to snap an 18-race drought since his 300th career win at Dubuque, Iowa last month, the Fargo, ND native flexed his muscle in the early stages as he built a large lead and raced into lap traffic.
The top-five of Schatz, Gravel, Haudenschild, Sweet & Macedo ran patiently through the first half, but the pace ratcheted up once the cross flags waved. On Lap 19, Haudenschild built his momentum and rocketed by Gravel to take second. He wasn’t done, though. Three laps later, he stormed right by Schatz to take command of the lead on Lap 22.
It took only a handful of circuits for Haudenschild to build a massive lead, but at a moment’s notice, it was all gone. Receiving the two-to-go signal, the #17 collided with McFadden’s #9 on entry to turn one, and suddenly the win was stripped away as Haudenschild went spinning to a stop.
The first and only stoppage of the race created a green-white-checkered finish with Gravel gifted the race lead. He lined up with Schatz and Sweet right on his tail tank, but never wavered once in the final two laps. The #2 pulled away once the green flag dropped and pulled away to win it by 1.738-seconds.
“I know it’s been over a month since we won, so this one was much needed,” Gravel admitted. “I just love winning here in New York, too. These fans in the whole northeast are awesome. Our t-shirt trailer was busy all day. I can’t thank these fans enough.”
Capitalizing on the restart, Brad Sweet snuck by Schatz to put the Kasey Kahne Racing, NAPA Auto Parts #49 in second place.
“I’ll take it,” Sweet said. “I think we had a fourth-place car tonight, but Sheldon had his trouble and we got Donny on the bottom there. This place is tricky. I’m looking forward to these next few weeks with some more big races coming up.”
After leading the opening 21 laps, Donny Schatz slipped back to third as he earned his 15th podium of the year aboard the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing, Ford Performance #15.
“We just needed to better,” Schatz mentioned. “You’re not gonna be that bad at the end of the race and end up winning. I guess we lucked into a third place tonight.”
Carson Macedo and Jason Johnson Racing extended their streak to 16 consecutive top-seven finishes with a fourth-place run at Weedsport. Rounding out the top-five on Saturday night was Logan Schuchart, who set Slick Woody’s QuickTime in the Shark Racing, Drydene Performance Products #1S.
Danny Varin of Sharon Springs, NY finished sixth-from-15th and earned KSE Hard Charger honors. Kraig Kinser followed Friday’s podium with a seventh-place effort. Cicero, NY native Paulie Colagiovanni turned in another strong effort in eighth-place. Wayne Johnson recorded a season-best result of ninth in the Two-C Racing #2C. Brock Zearfoss collected another top-10 aboard the #3Z.
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
Weedsport Speedway
Weedsport, New York
Saturday, July 31, 2021
Slick Woody’s Qualifying
1. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.582
2. 1A-Jacob Allen, 13.618
3. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.705
4. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 13.765
5. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.78
6. 9-James McFadden, 13.807
7. 41-Carson Macedo, 13.821
8. 97-Greg Wilson, 13.84
9. 2-David Gravel, 13.891
10. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 13.907
11. 10-Paulie Colagiovanni, 13.992
12. 83-Aaron Reutzel, 14.063
13. 10K-Joe Kata, 14.12
14. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 14.158
15. OO-Danny Varin, 14.222
16. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 14.278
17. 98-Joe Trenca, 14.29
18. 99L-Larry Wight, 14.311
19. 11-Carl Bowser, 14.367
20. 7NY-Matt Farnham, 14.409
21. 7S-Jason Sides, 14.463
22. 35-Jared Zimbardi, 14.645
23. 2L-Landon Lalonde, 14.676
24. 22-Jonathan Preston, 14.719
25. 2X-Dave Axton, 14.749
26. 36-Mike Stelter, 14.922
27. 49K-Scott Kreutter, 15.117
DRYDENE Heat Race ##1 (8 Laps)
Top 6 Transfer
1. 2C-Wayne Johnson [2]
2. 41-Carson Macedo [3]
3. 1S-Logan Schuchart [1]
4. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [4]
5. 11K-Kraig Kinser [6]
6. 35-Jared Zimbardi [8]
7. 10K-Joe Kata [5]
8. 2X-Dave Axton [9]
9. 11-Carl Bowser [7]
DRYDENE Heat Race ##2 (8 Laps)
Top 6 Transfer
1. 49-Brad Sweet [2]
2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [5]
3. 1A-Jacob Allen [1]
4. 10-Paulie Colagiovanni [4]
5. 98-Joe Trenca [6]
6. 97-Greg Wilson [3]
7. 7NY-Matt Farnham [7]
8. 2L-Landon Lalonde [8]
9. 36-Mike Stelter [9]
DRYDENE Heat Race ##3 (8 Laps)
Top 6 Transfer
1. 15-Donny Schatz [1]
2. 2-David Gravel [3]
3. 9-James McFadden [2]
4. 83-Aaron Reutzel [4]
5. OO-Danny Varin [5]
6. 99L-Larry Wight [6]
7. 7S-Jason Sides [7]
8. 49K-Scott Kreutter [9]
9. 22-Jonathan Preston [8]
DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash (6 Laps)
1. 15-Donny Schatz [2]
2. 2-David Gravel [4]
3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [6]
4. 49-Brad Sweet [5]
5. 2C-Wayne Johnson [1]
6. 41-Carson Macedo [3]
Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps)
Top 6 Transfer
1. 10K-Joe Kata [1][-]
2. 7NY-Matt Farnham [3][-]
3. 11-Carl Bowser [2][-]
4. 7S-Jason Sides [4][-]
5. 22-Jonathan Preston [9][-]
6. 49K-Scott Kreutter [7][-]
7. 2L-Landon Lalonde [6][$300]
8. 2X-Dave Axton [5][$250]
9. 36-Mike Stelter [8][$225]
NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps)
1. 2-David Gravel [2][$10,000]
2. 49-Brad Sweet [4][$6,000]
3. 15-Donny Schatz [1][$3,500]
4. 41-Carson Macedo [6][$2,800]
5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [7][$2,500]
6. OO-Danny Varin [15][$2,300]
7. 11K-Kraig Kinser [13][$2,200]
8. 10-Paulie Colagiovanni [11][$2,100]
9. 2C-Wayne Johnson [5][$2,050]
10. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [10][$2,000]
11. 9-James McFadden [9][$1,600]
12. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [3][$1,400]
13. 83-Aaron Reutzel [12][$1,200]
14. 99L-Larry Wight [18][$1,100]
15. 1A-Jacob Allen [8][$1,050]
16. 7NY-Matt Farnham [20][$1,000]
17. 10K-Joe Kata [19][$1,000]
18. 97-Greg Wilson [17][$1,000]
19. 49K-Scott Kreutter [24][$1,000]
20. 7S-Jason Sides [22][$1,000]
21. 11-Carl Bowser [21][$1,000]
22. 98-Joe Trenca [14][$1,000]
23. 35-Jared Zimbardi [16][$1,000]
24. 22-Jonathan Preston [23][$1,000]
Lap Leaders: Donny Schatz 1-20, Sheldon Haudenschild 21-28, David Gravel 29-30
KSE Hard Charger Award: OO-Danny Varin[+9]