[b Schatz Continues His Dominance of K-C Raceway: Wins for 4th Time on Saturday Night]
[i Alma, OH - August 1 2009]
Every single time that Donny Schatz has competed at K-C Raceway in Ohio with the World of Outlaws, he has been in contention for the win. After finishing fourth in his debut at the track in 2004, he picked up his first victory at the track the following season. He followed that up with two more triumphs including a victory last season and the three-time and defending series champion made it two wins in a row at the high-banked bullring on Saturday night.
For Schatz, it was his 11th A-Feature win of the season aboard the Armor All J&J and the 99th of his World of Outlaws career, as he looks to become just the fifth driver in 31-plus year history of the series to accomplish that feat.
He started on the pole and paced the field for the entire distance, withstanding an early challenge from Dale Blaney followed by a late race battle with 20-time series champion Steve Kinser.
“I always look forward to coming here,” said Schatz. “This has been a good track to me. We’ve managed to get some wins here fighting hard and tonight we had a fading race car there at the end, but it was enough to get the job done I guess. It’s always fun here. It’s always slick and hard to get your race car stuck, but we seem to be a little bit above what everyone else has, so that is a good thing.”
The race began with Schatz leading from the pole, with Kinser and Blaney in tow. Blaney shot around Kinser to move into second coming off turn four on the opening lap. The first caution of the night came out on the fourth lap. Schatz led on the restart, with Blaney keeping pace with him as they neared lapped traffic on the eighth lap. The caution flew again on the 12th lap as the leaders were in very heavy traffic.
Schatz led on the ensuing restart, with Kinser charging around Blaney on the high side of turn four to take the second spot. Near the halfway point of the 40-lap contest, the leaders were back in heavy lapped traffic with Kinser gaining a lot of ground on Schatz. At this time, Blaney also began to close back in on the leader and Joey Saldana found himself in the lead pack as well.
“That’s what we want to see,” noted Schatz. “We want to see the traffic. If it’s hard for me to get by them and I’m out front, then it might be as hard for the second-place guy to get by and we can put some room in there. On the restarts my car was awesome and then each lap it got a little worse. I couldn’t figure out how to drive it different to get it right. We’ll keep working on it and we’re making a lot of changes and had some good runs and a couple of seconds
On the 27th lap Kinser went high exiting turn four and nearly took the lead from Schatz. He used the same move two laps later to again nearly take the top spot. As the laps wound down the leaders continued to work lapped traffic, with Kinser, Blaney and Joey Saldana going three-wide down the back straightaway on the 34th go-around. This allowed Schatz to extend his lead slightly. Kinser held the second spot after the furious battle with Blaney and Saldana. He cleared a couple of lapped cars down the stretch as he tried everything he could to track down Schatz.
“This place has always been pretty slick and hard to get a hold of and that kind of suits my style,” shared the winner when asked about his success at the track. “If you qualify halfway decent and get into the top-two in your heat race, you’ll be in a good spot. If you look at the time, they continually slow down all night so you don’t need all of that horsepower. Your car is stuck so hard that you keep working on it and that’s normally where we excel. It’s fun to be in that position.”
Kinser wound up second in the Quaker State Maxim to earn his 24th Top-Five finish of the season as he chases his first World of Outlaws win at K-C Raceway.
Blaney finished third aboard the Ti-22 Performance Maxim to earn his third podium finish in his last four starts with the World of Outlaws at K-C, which is in his home state of Ohio. He challenged Schatz early in the race after going from fourth to second on the opening lap getting around Steve Kinser and Jim Nier. He had a spirited battled late in the race with Kinser, Saldana and Meyers as all four looked to take the second spot.
“It seems like every time we come to K-C (Raceway) Donny (Schatz) is up in there,” said Blaney. “I think I have run second, second and third in the last few years. We seem to always run well here and have a good set-up. George (Fisher) who owns the cars live about an hour away so this is kind of his home track. We always run good here and been trying to get a win here. Overall, the way we have been going with our motor situation, we are ecstatic with a third.”
Jason Meyers lined up ninth for the main event and ended up fourth in the 40-lap contest. He was running eighth on the 12th lap before charging to the front in the GLR Investments KPC. He got around Craig Dollansky, Kraig Kinser and Jim Nier to move into the Top-Five. On the 36th lap he got around Blaney to take the third spot, though the latter retook it on the next lap.
“We had a great car,” explained Meyers. “After about 10 laps I really got going. It’s unfortunate that when I got to third I got mixed up with a lapped car and fell back a little bit. We had a great car tonight and it was a matter of a bad pill draw tonight and trying to recover from that. The guys did a great job and I’m really happy with our run here.”
Joey Saldana wound up fifth in the Budweiser Maxim, with former K-C Raceway track owner Jim Nier sixth aboard the B&J Contracting J&J. Craig Dollansky was seventh in the DirecTV Maxim, with Kraig Kinser eighth piloting the Bass Pro Shops Maxim. Aaron Higgins started 18th and finished ninth in the Bill Ison Log Acquisition JEI to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award. Butch Schroeder rounded out the Top-10 in the All Star Heating & Plumbing Maxim.
The World of Outlaws return to action with the inaugural Ironman 55 Friday, August 7 and Saturday, August 8 at I-55 Raceway near St. Louis, Missouri, with the winner of the 55-lap finale earning $20,000.
K-C RACEWAY NOTES
• FAST QUALIFIER: Jason Meyers paced the 38 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked 3/8-mile oval at 11.803 seconds at 100.986 mph. For his qualifying effort, Meyers earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Jim Nier (4), Jac Haudenschild (3), Danny Smith (2), and Donny Schatz (1).
• QUALIFYING WINNERS: Donny Schatz, Lucas Wolfe, Danny Lasoski and Craig Dollansky won heat races. Donny Schatz won the Crane Cams Dash. Brian Ellenberger won the B-Main.
• FEATURE WINNERS: There has been 46 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature event held in 2009. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Volusia Speedway Park, Silver Dollar Speedway, Thunderbowl Raceway, Lone Star Speedway, Houston Raceway Park, The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway, Lawrenceburg Speedway, Dodge City Raceway Park-twice, U.S. 36 Raceway and 34 Raceway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park-twice, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Knoxville Raceway, Eldora Speedway, Canandaigua Speedway, Lawrenceburg Speedway, River Cities Speedway, Cedar Lake Speedway, Eldora Speedway and K-C Raceway), Danny Lasoski (Delaware International Speedway, Nodak Speedway, Eagle Raceway, Charter Raceway Park and Lernerville Speedway), Jason Meyers (Silver Dollar Speedway, Paducah International Raceway, I-96 Speedway, Red River Valley Speedway and Ohsweken Speedway), Greg Hodnett (Williams Grove Speedway-twice), Steve Kinser (Tri-State Speedway and Limaland Motorsports Park), Terry McCarl (Knoxville Raceway and Eldora Speedway), Dale Blaney (Attica Raceway Park), Craig Dollansky (Lebanon Valley Speedway), Randy Hannagan (Thunderbowl Raceway), Tim Kaeding (Riverside International Speedway),Chad Kemenah (Manzanita Speedway), Jason Sides (Ohsweken Speedway) and Stevie Smith (Lernerville Speedway).
• 3/8-MILE WINNERS: K-C Raceway is a high-banked 3/8-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced 12 times on a track that size this season. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Lawrenceburg Speedway, Dodge City Raceway Park-twice, U.S. 36 Raceway and 34 Raceway), Donny Schatz (Lawrenceburg Speedway, Cedar Lake Speedway and K-C Raceway) Jason Meyers (Paducah International Raceway and Ohsweken Speedway, Danny Lasoski (Nodak Speedway) and Jason Sides (Ohsweken Speedway).
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; K-C Raceway; Alma, OH; August 1, 2009
Qualifying
- 14-Jason Meyers 11.803
- OO-Jim Nier 11.871
- R19-Jac Haudenschild 11.918
- 4-Danny Smith 11.964
- 15-Donny Schatz 11.979
- 84-Jimmy Stinson 11.982
- 63-Chad Kemenah 12.002
- 19-Craig Dollansky 12.033
- 3C-Cale Conley 12.081
- 5W-Lucas Wolfe 12.082
- 9-Joey Saldana 12.085
- 11-Steve Kinser 12.092
- 4B-Tom Busch 12.111
- 20-Kraig Kinser 12.112
- 6-Danny Lasoski 12.181
- 22-Brian Ellenberger 12.209
- 51-Aaron Higgins 12.236
- B20-Butch Schroeder 12.239
- 7S-Jason Sides 12.240
- 7K-Rob Chaney 12.266
- 2-Dale Blaney 12.270
- 22C-Cole Duncan 12.298
- 1B-Keith Baxter 12.317
- 4K-Kody Kinser 12.385
- 6X-Nick Naber 12.530
- 11N-Edward Neumeister 12.554
- 22D-Josh Davis 12.576
- 8H-Justin Henderson 12.595
- 60C-Kory Crabtree 12.646
- 4X-Eddie Slone 12.648
- O6-Brandy Bower 12.726
- 39-Alec Martin 12.736
- 22X-Brandon Martin 12.737
- 65-Adam Strausser 12.769
- 78L-Kirk Jeffries 12.839
- 40-Mark Imler 13.178
- 11D-Bryce Dickson 13.310
- 7A-Dave Dickson 13.352
Heat 1 (10 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
- 15-Donny Schatz
- 2-Dale Blaney
- 3C-Cale Conley
- 14-Jason Meyers
- 4B-Tom Busch
- 51-Aaron Higgins
- 22X-Brandon Martin
- 11D-Bryce Dickson
- 60C-Kory Crabtree
- 6X-Nick Naber
Heat 2 (10 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
- 5W-Lucas Wolfe
- 20-Kraig Kinser
- OO-Jim Nier
- 84-Jimmy Stinson
- B20-Butch Schroeder
- 22C-Cole Duncan
- 65-Adam Strausser
- 11N-Edward Neumeister
- 4X-Eddie Slone
- 7A-Dave Dickson
Heat 3 (10 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
- 6-Danny Lasoski
- 9-Joey Saldana
- 7S-Jason Sides
- R19-Jac Haudenschild
- 63-Chad Kemenah
- 1B-Keith Baxter
- 22D-Josh Davis
- 78L-Kirk Jeffries
- O6-Brandy Bower
Heat 4 (10 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
- 19-Craig Dollansky
- 11-Steve Kinser
- 7K-Rob Chaney
- 4-Danny Smith
- 8H-Justin Henderson
- 4K-Kody Kinser
- 39-Alec Martin
- 22-Brian Ellenberger
- 40-Mark Imler
Crane Cams Dash (8 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
- 15-Donny Schatz
- 11-Steve Kinser
- OO-Jim Nier
- 2-Dale Blaney
- 9-Joey Saldana
- 20-Kraig Kinser
- 5W-Lucas Wolfe
- 6-Danny Lasoski
- 14-Jason Meyers
- 19-Craig Dollansky
B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)
- 22-Brian Ellenberger
- 51-Aaron Higgins
- 1B-Keith Baxter
- 4K-Kody Kinser
- 22C-Cole Duncan [$200]
- 11N-Edward Neumeister [$180]
- 60C-Kory Crabtree [$175]
- 40-Mark Imler [$160]
- 4X-Eddie Slone [$150]
- 11D-Bryce Dickson [$150]
- O6-Brandy Bower [$150]
- 22X-Brandon Martin [$150]
- 78L-Kirk Jeffries [$150]
- 22D-Josh Davis [$150]
- 65-Adam Strausser [$150]
- 7A-Dave Dickson [$150]
- 39-Alec Martin [$150]
- 6X-Nick Naber [$150]
A-main (40 laps) - Starting Position [#]
- 15-Donny Schatz[1] [$10,000]
- 11-Steve Kinser[2] [$5,500]
- 2-Dale Blaney[4] [$3,200]
- 14-Jason Meyers[9] [$2,800]
- 9-Joey Saldana[5] [$2,500]
- OO-Jim Nier[3] [$2,300]
- 19-Craig Dollansky[10] [$2,200]
- 20-Kraig Kinser[6] [$2,100]
- 51-Aaron Higgins[18] [$2,050]
- B20-Butch Schroeder[19] [$2,000]
- 63-Chad Kemenah[14] [$1,500]
- 4-Danny Smith[12] [$1,200]
- R19-Jac Haudenschild[11] [$1,100]
- 7K-Rob Chaney[21] [$1,050]
- 6-Danny Lasoski[8] [$1,000]
- 84-Jimmy Stinson[13] [$900]
- 5W-Lucas Wolfe[7] [$800]
- 3C-Cale Conley[15] [$800]
- 1B-Keith Baxter[22] [$800]
- 7S-Jason Sides[20] [$800]
- 4B-Tom Busch[16] [$800]
- 4K-Kody Kinser[23] [$800]
- 22-Brian Ellenberger[17] [$800]
- 8H-Justin Henderson[24] [$800]
- 40-Mark Imler[25] [$0]
Note: Mark Imler used a K-C Raceway track provisional to start the A-Feature.
Lap Leaders: Donny Schatz 1-40
SuperClean Start of the Night Award: Dale Blaney
Penske Power Position Award: Dale Blaney
KSE Hard Charger Award: Aaron Higgins
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: Armor All (Official Car Care Products), Crane Cams (Official Valvetrain), Hoosier Racing Tires (Official Racing Tires), Fusion Energy Boost (Official Energy Boost), Quaker State (Official Motor Oil), SuperClean (Official Cleaner-Degreaser), VP Racing (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to contingency sponsors, Jake’s Custom Golf Carts, KSE Race Products, Penske Shocks, Racing Electronics, S&S Volvo; Engine Builder's Challenge participants Don Ott Racing Engines, Kistler Engines, Shaver Specialties and Speedway Engines; and Chassis Builder’s Challenge participants J&J Auto Racing, Maxim Racing and XXX Race Company.
- Tony Veneziano on Aug 03, 2009
- Article Date: 8/3/2009