Schatz gets first World of Outlaws win of 2023 with late race pass!

By Brian Liskai

ATTICA, Ohio – Something you never thought you would hear – “it’s May and Donnie Schatz hasn’t won.” The 10 time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series champion got the monkey off his back Friday, May 19 at Attica Raceway Park, taking the lead on the white flag lap and earning his first series’ victory of 2023.

Schatz and his CarQuest, Ford Performance, Curb, Sage Fruit, Mad Jax Xseries team have been rolling as of late, posting four podium finishes in the last five World of Outlaw events. The team had to be excited to come to Attica where Schatz has always run very well. His win in the Kistler Engines Classic Friday is the fifth at Attica and the 308th series win of his career.

“I think moving around there is what helped us get there. When we got to lapped traffic it was hard to get through. Everybody is so equal…those lapped cars are pretty good. That’s how we were able to get there. Hats off to these guys. They’ve been digging. We haven’t had the results we’ve wanted….this is a tough game. This is kind of a build back program. It’s good to get a win,” said Schatz.

“One of the guys I grew up racing with, Kenny Woodruff, he used to say ‘man even monkeys fall out of trees,’ so we won a race tonight,” Schatz quipped.

After a multi-car tangle at the start, the action in the 35 lap feature heated up quickly with Rico Abreu taking the lead with Carson Macedo, Schatz, Stuart Brubaker and David Gravel in pursuit. A caution on lap nine kept the leaders out of thick lapped traffic and when the green flew Abreu built up a nearly two second lead over Macedo and Schatz. Behind the lead trio was a fantastic battle between Gravel, Sheldon Haudenschild and Logan Schuchart.

By lap 23 heavy lapped traffic came into play and Macedo closed on Abreu with Schatz staying within striking distance. Schatz, utilizing the very bottom groove where the lapped cars weren’t took second with three laps to go and was side by side with Abreu racing to lap 33. Exiting turn four coming to the white flag, Schatz powered off the bottom into the lead while Macedo threw a slider on Abreu in turns one and two but Abreu drove back under.

Schatz drove to the checkers by .481 seconds over Abreu, Macedo, Haudenschild and Gravel.

“Was really aero dependent there. An incredible job by my guys again. I feel like I let them down a little bit there. But you put yourself in different circumstances when you are leading races and judging your pace off lapped traffic and you can feel the intensity behind you by guys like Donny and Carson and you know they are knocking on the door. If I don’t move around and lose the race then I’m mad at myself for putting myself in that position. I was getting really really tight getting in and when the cars peeled off I was a little bit free getting in. It was just difficult for me to manage lapped traffic at the end. I started to just float around and try to keep my speed up as much as much as I could. It was an unbelievable job by Ricky and Jack and Brady and all our partners. To finish second with the Outlaws and it’s like our ninth or 10th top five finish this year,” said Abreu of his Curb Agajanian Racing, Toste Construction, The Osler Group backed machine

“It felt like we had a shot to win there and we end up running third. All three of us were really going for it. You had to be so patient to run the bottom. I debated on moving down in three and four like Donny was. I felt like when I did move down I didn’t slow down enough and crowd around those tires to get off the corner. It was wild. Lapped traffic really changed the race. This was wild,” said Macedo of his Albaugh Your Alternative, MVT, Tarleton & Son backed #41.

Attica Raceway Park will be back in action Friday, May 26 with the Callie’s Performance Products 410 Sprints, the Dirt Nerds powered by Propane UMP Late Models and the Fremont Fence 305 sprints in action.

For more information go to www.atticaracewaypark.comor follow the track on Twitter @atticaracewyprk or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/atticaracewaypark and Instagram at attica_raceway_park.

About Kistler Engines

Kistler Engines, located just outside of Fremont, Ohio, was established in 1993 and builds lightweight, high performance racing engines with a commitment to quality. Kistlers pride themselves in high tech, innovative designs, producing highly competitive engines for sprint cars (410 c.i., 360 c.i. & 305 c.i.), as well as, late models and midgets. Kistler Engines has also earned a great reputation for service among professional race teams due to their quick turnaround time on engine rebuilds.

Kistlers uses state-of-the art equipment, the highest standard quality parts and invests in constant research and development. Kistler Engines is setting the standard in the ultra competitive field of dirt track racing today. Customers powered by Kistler engines have set numerous quick times, track records. They have also won on the local level as well as on national traveling series such as the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, All Star Circuit of Champions and USAC.

Attica Raceway Park

Friday, May 19, 2023

World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series

Qualifying Group A – 1. 24-Rico Abreu, 12.513; 2. 41-Carson Macedo, 12.599; 3. 33W-Cap Henry, 12.858; 4. 15C-Chris Andrews, 12.877; 5. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 12.886; 6. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 12.904; 7. 5-Byron Reed, 12.961; 8. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.022; 9. 1A-Jacob Allen, 13.053; 10. 49x-Cale Thomas, 13.079; 11. 3J-Trey Jacobs, 13.161; 12. 1-Nate Dussel, 13.195; 13. 19-Paige Polyak, 13.228; 14. Dale Blaney, 13.311; 15. 7S-Robbie Price, 13.359; 16. 5D-Jacob Dykstra, 13.396; 17. 12-Kyle Capodice, 13.410; 18. 6-Bill Rose, 13.709; 19. 75-Jerry Dahms, 14.275

Qualifying Group B – 1. 5-Spencer Bayston, 12.768; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 12.931; 3. 15-Donny Schatz, 12.963; 4. 83-James McFadden, 12.975; 5. 2-David Gravel, 12.978; 6. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 12.985; 7. 09-Craig Mintz, 13.202; 8. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 13.231; 9. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.240; 10. 32-Bryce Lucius, 13.279; 11. 29-Cole Macedo, 13.290; 12. 91-Tyler Gunn, 13.335; 13. 2X-Ricky Peterson, 13.372; 14. 99-Skylar Gee, 13.374; 15. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.386; 16. 7N-Darin Naida, 13.472; 17. 20G-Noah Gass, 13.511; 18. 5T-Travis Philo, 14.202; 19. 15K-Creed Kemenah, 14.471.

Heat 1 (10 laps, starting spot [x]) – 1. Abreu [1]; 2. Henry [2]; 3. Scelzi [3]; 4. Reed [4];5. Allen [5]; 6. Polyak [7]; 7. Jacobs [6]; 8. Price [8]; 9. Capodice [9]; 10. Dahms [10]

Heat 2 (10 laps, starting spot [x]) – 1. Ca. Macedo [1]; 2. Brubaker [3]; 3. Andrews [2]; 4. Dussel [6]; 5. Sweet [4]; 6. Thomas [5]; 7. Blaney [7]; 8. Rose [9]; 9. Dykstra [8]

Heat 3 (10 laps, starting spot [x]) – 1. Schatz [2]; 2. Gravel [3]; 3. Bayston [1]; 4. Schuchart [5]; 5. Mintz [4]; 6. Co Macedo [6]; 7. Peterson [7]; 8. Gass [9]

Heat 4 (10 laps, starting spot [x]) – 1. Haudenschild [1]; 2. McFadden [2]; 3. Gunn [6]; 4. Spithaler [3]; 5. Zearfoss [4]; 6. Gee [7]; 7. Lucius [5]; 8. Philo [9]; 9. Naida [8]

Dash – 1. Ca Macedo [2]; 2. Abreu [4]; 3. Brubaker [1]; 4. Schatz [5]; 5. Haudenschild [3]; 6. Gravel [6]; 7. Henry [8]; 8. McFadden [7]

Last Chance Showdown (Top 4 to A) – 1. Co. Macedo [4]; 2. Lucius [2]; 3. Jacobs [5]; 4. Peterson [8]; 5. Polyak [3]; 6. Thomas [1]; 7. Philo [12]; 8. Price [9]; 9. Gee [6]; 10. Naida [14]; 11. Rose [11]; 12. Gass [10]; 13. Dykstra [15]; 14. Dahms [16]; 15. Capodice [13]; 16. Blaney [7]; 17. Wilson (DNS); 18. Kemenah (DNS)

A-Main (35 laps) – 1. Schatz [4]; 2. Abreu [2]; 3. Ca Macedo [1]; 4. Haudenschild [5]; 5. Gravel [6]; 6. Henry [7]; 7. Schuchart [14]; 8. Brubaker [3]; 9. Sweet [19]; 10. Bayston [10]; 11. Scelzi [9]; 12. Reed [13]; 13. Zearfoss [20]; 14. Spithaler [16]; 15. McFadden [8]; 16. Allen [17]; 17. Jacobs [23]; 18. Gunn [18]; 19. Co Macedo [21]; 20. Dussel [15]; 21. Andrews [11]; 22. Lucius [22]; 23. Peterson [24]; 24. Mintz [18]