SCHATZ SIZZLES AT ATTICA FOR ADVANCE AUTO PARTS WORLD OF OUTLAWS WIN
By Brian Liskai: (Attica, OH) Donny Schatz has been so close to the victory lane so many times this year, only to come up just short. The Fargo, N.D. driver drove around Nashville, Tenn.hot shoe Paul McMahon on lap 11 and went on to take the 40-lap Kistler Engines Classic at Attica Raceway Park Friday night, May 30. It was the second Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws victory of 2008 for the two-time and defending series champion.
“I love racing on a wide, slick track like this…it’s racey and you can make passes,” said the driver of the Tony Stewart Motorsports Armorall sponsored #15. “The crew has been working extremely hard…all we need is to get some racing in…it seems if you need rain all you have to do is schedule a World of Outlaws race. We got the breaks we needed tonight.”
Schatz not only had 25 other drivers chasing him on Friday night, but he also had Mother Nature knocking at his door, as she tried her best to derail the racing.
“It was a good night for us,” said Schatz. “We keep working hard to get that feel I like back and each day we keep making big strides. I think we have our hand on what it is, and I am very excited about that.”
The race began with a light mist, which intensified throughout the event, though with 24 cars running all over the surface on the high-banked 1/3-mile, there was not much room for the rain to actually hit the track. The checkered flag flew just around 9:30 p.m. as officials did everything they could to make sure the capacity crowd was able see the full 40 lap event.
“You could see it a little, but it wasn’t coming down real bad,” Schatz said of the rain late in the event. “My car was stuck so good through the middle and the top that it didn’t really affect me. I know there are some people that probably would have wished it would have rained halfway through while they were leading, but not me. Every lap I do, I get better and I need every lap I can get. I’m glad to run all 40 laps and get away with a victory.”
McMahon, piloting the Rick and Kathy Ferkel owned, Shorty’s Recycling backed #0 bolted into the early lead with Wooster, Ohio’s Jac Haudenschild in the City Insulation R19, Schatz and Steve Kinser in the Q Power Motoroils #11 racing hard for second. Schatz would dispose of Haudenschild for the second apot on lap five and would quickly begin moving in on McMahon. He drove around the outside for the lead exiting turn four on lap 11 and was into lapped traffic a lap later.
ImageMeanwhile, the huge crowd was treated to great action for the third spot between Haudenschild, Findlay’s Chad Kemenah in the Kantor Oil sprinter, Joey Saldana in the Kasey Kahne Racing, Budweiser #9 and Kinser. Shane Stewart in the Roth Motorsports sprinter would enter that fight by lap 14. The action would slow for a caution on lap 17, with the running order Schatz, McMahon, Haudenschild, Saldana and Kemenah. Kemenah would get a great restart and pass both Saldana and Haudenscild for the third spot. At the halfway mark, Schatz had built a comfortable lead over McMahon, Kemenah and a good battle for fourth spot between Haudenschild, Saldana and Kinser.
While Schatz pulled away, Kemenah, McMahon, Saldana, Haudenschild and Kinser would wage a great batle for the second spot, with Kemenah holding the advantage from laps 21-27. Saldana, last year’s World of Outlaws victor at Attica, would move into third on lap 22 and began to put pressure on Kemenah for the runner-up spot.
Schatz would hit lapped traffic again on lap 26 before the yellow would fly, giving him a clear track once again. Saldana would drive around Kemenah into second on lap 28, just before the caution would fly for Kinser, who went pitside with rear end woes.The cars on the move were Tim Shaffer in the Casey’s General Store backed #6, and Byron Reed in the Reebar Diecasting #5, moving from 25th and 24th starting spots respectively. Shaffer was up to 10th by lap 29, while Reed was 12th.
Again on the restart, Schatz drove away with Saldana, and now a closing Stewart and Kemenah in tow. Schatz hit lapped traffic again on lap 36, allowing Saldana to close the gap. But, Saldana ran out of laps and Schatz took he win. Saldana, Stewart, Kemenah, Jason Meyers and Haudenschild would follow to the checkers.
“I knew we would be good when we got to traffic,” Schatz noted. “We just had to wait through our car a little bit. We had a really good car, but had to wait for the fuel load to come off. That’s something we have been working on all year, to get our car better late in the race, like it’s been the last couple of years, and we got it tonight.”
Schatz is currently second in World of Outlaws points, as he chases his third consecutive title. He is in his first season behind the wheel for two-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart. Schatz was looking forward to calling his boss after picking up the win on Friday night, before heading to Eldora Speedway tomorrow, which Stewart also owns.
“He is pushing us, as he should be and that’s no different than my dad would,” said the second generation driver of his car owner. “My dad is pushing us too. I’m glad to have that. That says a lot when you get pushed. That’s what we need. That’s what these guys need and that’s what I need. We’re going there tomorrow and will try to get out of there with a victory.”
Saldana earned his seventh top-five finish of the season aboard the Budweiser/Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI. After lining up fourth, he was engaged in a number of battles over the course of the 40-lap event, including with 20-time series champion Steve Kinser, Jac Haudenschild and then Chad Kemenah in the late going.
“It was a good run for us,” said Saldana, driver of the Kasey Kahne Racing entry. “We had a driver error in qualifying and I had to redeem myself inthe heat race. We got up through there in the (Crane Cams) Dash. In the feature, we kind of fell back and stuck with it and got going. I thought Iwas catching him with five to go. I was catching him off of (turn) two, but catching him is one thing and passing him is another. It was definitely a good run for us.”
Stewart earned his third top-five finishi n the last four events, driving a Steve Kent-built machine for the Roth Motorsports team. He also wrapped up the title in the Qwik Liner Cup, after turning the second fastest lap in time trials, to take the crown over Craig Dollansky by a single point. He will be awarded the Qwik Liner Cup at Knoxville Raceway next weekend.
“It was a great race,” Stewart said. “We don’t get to see that many tracks that are slick from the top to the bottom like that. Generally when they get that slick they take rubber, but the guys here at Attica did a great job. We were steady all night. We weren’t spectacular but we were good enough to get up there. It was another strong finish and I’m happy with it.”
As is usually the case at a high-banked bullring like Attica Raceway Park, the leaders were in traffic for a majority of the race. This allowed several drivers to make up ground late in the race. Saldana was able to close in a little bit on Schatz in the late going, but also had some trouble getting around a few of the lapped machines.
“We were running a different line than they were,” noted the native of Brownsburg, Indiana. “The biggest problem for me was that my car was so tight that I had to run the top and the guys that I was trying to pass were sliding across the top. Every time I would get a run on them it was hard for me to get underneath them. It was a tough race for us as tight as we were.”
Shane Stewart used restarts on the 27th and 29th laps to gain a number of positions. He first got around Jason Meyers on a restart, and then on the final restart he charged past Jac Haudenschild and Chad Kemenah both exiting the second turn.
“I found a little bit of moisture coming off of (turn) two,” Stewart shared. “You had to go in there so slow and it was a restart thing. I was fortunate enough to get a few cars on each restarts. I just inched my way up to the front. I think once I got to third that was about as far as I was going to do. I don’t think I had anything for (Donny) Schatz or (Joey) Saldana.”
After an accident in the second heat race, Daryn Pittman was taken to a local hospital for precautionary reasons after having pain in his back. After observation, he released and will return to action on Saturday night.
In the Service Drive Solutions UMP Attica Late Models, Brad Eitnear scored his first career Attica win in the rain-shortened feature over defending track champion Ken Hahn, Jeremy Canada, Michael Stiltner and Ryan Missler.
Attica Raceway Park will be back in action on Friday, June 6 as Burns Electric presents the Mid-Season Championship with double points for the 410 sprints, 305 sprints, late models and dirt trucks.
For more information log onto www.atticaracewaypark.com
(Tony Veneziano, World of Outlaws PR Director, contributed to this report)
Attica Raceway Park (5-30-08)
Kistler Engines Classic
Qualifying
1) 24H-Rob Chaney 12.414 2) 83-Shane Stewart 12.419 3) 14-Jason Meyers 12.511 4) R19-Jac Haudenschild 12.533 5) O-Paul McMahan 12.649 6) 2-Craig Dollansky 12.651 7) 55-Kerry Madsen 12.676 8) 15C-Chris Andrews 12.692 9) 20-Kraig Kinser 12.695 10) 15-Donny Schatz 12.695 11) 9X-Kevin Huntley 12.696 12) 8K-Chad Kemenah 12.720 13) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 12.736 14) 10-David Harrison 12.772 15) 9-Joey Saldana 12.785 16) 48S-Andy Shammo 12.826 17) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. 12.889 18) 21-Daryn Pittman 12.890 19) 11-Steve Kinser 12.906 20) 5B-Chad Blonde 13.005 21) 2B-Dale Blaney 13.016 22) 83X-Phil Gressman 13.041 23) 11M-Brandon Martin 13.056 24) 16-Lee Jacobs 13.088 25) 5C-Chad Hillier 13.103 26) 98-Bruce Robenalt 13.104 27) W20-Greg Wilson 13.105 28) 7S-Jason Sides 13.115 29) X-Mark Keegan 13.167 30) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 13.200 31) 12-Caleb Griffith 13.206 32) 11B-Brock Mayes 13.214 33) 69-Scott Curren 13.245 34) 1X-Randy Hannagan 13.265 35) 312-Mike Linder 13.299 36) 27-Scott Euler 13.334 37) O4-Cap Henry 13.429 38) 6-Tim Shaffer 13.447 39) 6X-Mike Dussel 13.466 40) 5-Byron Reed 13.552 41) 75-Jeremy Campbell 13.612 42) 75H-Mike Hogan 13.717 43) 91-Aaron Middaugh 13.934 44) 24-Terry McCarl 14.330 45) 51M-Roger Campbell 15.998 46) 63-Roddy Bellbowen 18.357
Heat 1 (10 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 20-Kraig Kinser 2) O-Paul McMahan 3) 2B-Dale Blaney 4) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 5) 24H-Rob Chaney 6) 5C-Chad Hillier 7) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. 8) O4-Cap Henry 9) X-Mark Keegan 10) 75-Jeremy Campbell 11) 69-Scott Curren 12) 51M-Roger Campbell
Heat 2 (10 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 15-Donny Schatz 2) 2-Craig Dollansky 3) 10-David Harrison 4) 83-Shane Stewart 5) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 6) 1X-Randy Hannagan 7) 83X-Phil Gressman 8) 98-Bruce Robenalt 9) 75H-Mike Hogan 10) 6-Tim Shaffer 11) 63-Roddy Bellbowen 12) 21-Daryn Pittman
Heat 3 (10 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 11-Steve Kinser 2) 9-Joey Saldana 3) 9X-Kevin Huntley 4) 55-Kerry Madsen 5) 14-Jason Meyers 6) 11M-Brandon Martin 7) 312-Mike Linder 8) 12-Caleb Griffith 9) W20-Greg Wilson 10) 6X-Mike Dussel 11) 91-Aaron Middaugh
Heat 4 (10 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 8K-Chad Kemenah 2) R19-Jac Haudenschild 3) 48S-Andy Shammo 4) 5B-Chad Blonde 5) 5-Byron Reed 6) 7S-Jason Sides 7) 16-Lee Jacobs 8) 15C-Chris Andrews 9) 11B-Brock Mayes 10) 27-Scott Euler 11) 24-Terry McCarl
Crane Cams Dash (8 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) R19-Jac Haudenschild 2) O-Paul McMahan 3) 15-Donny Schatz 4) 9-Joey Saldana 5) 11-Steve Kinser 6) 83-Shane Stewart 7) 8K-Chad Kemenah 8) 2-Craig Dollansky 9) 20-Kraig Kinser 10) 24H-Rob Chaney
C-Main (10 laps, top 2 finishers transferred to B-main)
1) 312-Mike Linder [] 2) 1X-Randy Hannagan [] 3) 6-Tim Shaffer [$125] 4) 75-Jeremy Campbell [$125] 5) 75H-Mike Hogan [$125] 6) 51M-Roger Campbell [$100] 7) 63-Roddy Bellbowen [$100] 8) 27-Scott Euler [$100] 9) 91-Aaron Middaugh [$100] 10) 6X-Mike Dussel [$100] 11) 24-Terry McCarl [$100] 12) O4-Cap Henry [$100]
B-Main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 15C-Chris Andrews [] 2) 11M-Brandon Martin [] 3) 16-Lee Jacobs [] 4) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. [] 5) 11B-Brock Mayes [$200] 6) 312-Mike Linder [$180] 7) X-Mark Keegan [$175] 8) 5C-Chad Hillier [$160] 9) W20-Greg Wilson [$150] 10) 98-Bruce Robenalt [$150] 11) 1X-Randy Hannagan [$150] 12) 12-Caleb Griffith [$150] 13) 7S-Jason Sides [$150] 14) 69-Scott Curren [$150] 15) 83X-Phil Gressman [$150] 16) 21-Daryn Pittman [$150]
A-Main (40 laps) – Starting Position [#]
1) 15-Donny Schatz[3] [$10,000] 2) 9-Joey Saldana[4] [$5,500] 3) 83-Shane Stewart[6] [$3,200] 4) 8K-Chad Kemenah[7] [$2,800] 5) 14-Jason Meyers[11] [$2,500] 6) R19-Jac Haudenschild[1] [$2,300] 7) 55-Kerry Madsen[12] [$2,200] 8) 6-Tim Shaffer[25] [$1,300] 9) 2B-Dale Blaney[20] [$2,050] 10) 2-Craig Dollansky[8] [$2,000] 11) 20-Kraig Kinser[9] [$1,500] 12) 10-David Harrison[16] [$1,200] 13) 5-Byron Reed[24] [$1,100] 14) 11M-Brandon Martin[21] [$1,050] 15) 15C-Chris Andrews[13] [$1,000] 16) 48S-Andy Shammo[17] [$900] 17) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.[18] [$800] 18) 16-Lee Jacobs[22] [$800] 19) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[23] [$800] 20) 7S-Jason Sides[26] [$] 21) O-Paul McMahan[2] [$800] 22) 11-Steve Kinser[5] [$800] 23) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[15] [$800] 24) 5B-Chad Blonde[19] [$800] 25) 9X-Kevin Huntley[14] [$800] 26) 24H-Rob Chaney[10] [$800]
Note: Tim Shaffer and Jason Sides used World of Outlaws provisionals to start the A-Main
Lap Leaders: Paul McMahan 1-10, Donny Schatz 11-40
Chicken Hawk Hot Lap Award: Paul McMahan
Penske Power Position: Shane Stewart
KSE Hard Charger Award: Tim ShafferService Drive Solutions UMP Attica Late Models
Heat 1 – Tin Lizzy Collision (8 laps)
1. 27-Ken Hahn; 2. 50-Ryan Missler; 3. 41-Randy Pollock; 4. 23C-Jeremy Canada; 5. 45-Mike Marteney; 6. 1-John Mayes Jr.; 7. 88D-Larry Kingseed; 8. 83-Noah Wagner (R); 9. 12H-Joe Hartlaub (R); 10. 77C-Craig Corfman; 11. 63-Cody Scott
Heat 2 – Ultra Shield Race Products (8 laps)
1. B4U-Brad Eitnear; 2. 3R-Chuck Rolle (R); 3. 15B-Mike Bores; 4. 12-Michael Stiltner; 5. 5H-Ernie Haynes; 6. 2D-Curtis Deisenroth; 7. 18-Jamie Reed; 8. 99-Steve Sabo; 9. 48-John Bores; 10. 30-Nate Potts
A-Main Starting Position [#]
1. B4U-Brad Eitnear[2]; 2. 27-Ken Hahn[11]; 3. 23C-Jeremy Canada[6]; 4. 12-Michael Stiltner[3]; 5. 50-Ryan Missler[10]; 6. 48-John Bores[18]; 7. 2D-Curtis Deisenroth[9]; 8. 45-Mike Marteney[4]; 9. 99-Steve Sabo[16]; 10. 63-Cody Scott[21]; 11. 77C-Craig Corfman[19]; 12. 1-John Mayes Jr.[12]; 13. 18-Jamie Reed[14]; 14. 5H-Ernie Haynes[7]; 15. 12H-Joe Hartlaub (R)[17]; 16. 30-Nate Potts[20]; 17. 15B-Mike Bores[1]; 18. 41-Randy Pollock[8]; 19. 3R-Chuck Rolle (R)[5]; 20. 83-Noah Wagner (R)[15]; 21. 88D-Larry Kingseed[13]