Wins the inaugural event at the track and scores his 24th win of the season, the most of any single season in his career
MARNE, Mich. - Sept. 27, 2014 - Donny Schatz made history Saturday night at Berlin Raceway. In winning the inaugural World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series event at the track, Schatz captured his 24th win of the season and set a new personal single season win record.
"Awesome race team. Awesome racecar. A great effort by this team," Schatz said in victory lane.
Schatz, who swept both Michigan races this season (I-96 Speedway on May 31 and Berlin Raceway on Sept. 27), came into Berlin following a win the night before at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway where he tied his single season win record at 23.
The five-time champion put together a dominant performance throughout the night at Berlin, scoring quick time early and battling from sixth to second in the dash.
The track, a paved 7/16 mile oval that has been covered with dirt, provided the Tony Stewart Racing driver with a racing surface that he is historically good on.
"We've always been good in the slick," Schatz said. "We haven't raced anything that slick in a long time - I've been looking forward to it. Just an awesome racecar - it was fun to drive, fun to get through traffic. It just did everything right tonight."
Schatz started the night on the outside front row next to 19-year-old Christopher Bell who he battled with for his win the night before. Bell held off the STP / Armor All car for the first lap as Schatz fought side-by-side with the young driver. On lap two, the battle continued into turn four where Schatz got around Bell and took over the lead. He never looked back.
Schatz's strongest competition of the night came from Daryn Pittman. The driver of the Great Clips car started the feature in fifth and quickly made headway through the field. He and Gary Taylor traded positions through the opening laps with Pittman taking over the third spot for good on lap five. Just two laps later he overtook Bell for the second spot.
As the feature wound down, the Kasey Kahne Racing driver closed the gap on Schatz but was not able to catch him as the two worked their way through lapped traffic.
"I had a good car," Pittman said. "We got to second and could hang with Donny there for a while and then a couple of lapped cars held me up and he checked out. But then he got held up there the last few laps pretty hard off of four. We at least got somewhat close."
Pittman said it is hard to know what to expect at a new racetrack but said it was fun racing all night. He said the track challenged his crew to make the right decisions and keep them competitive.
"It's hard to be happy with second, but sometimes that's the way it goes."
Pittman's Kasey Kahne Racing teammate Brad Sweet brought his SurePoint Medical / SureTestSupplies.com car home in third place. Sweet fell back to third on the start but battled back past Taylor and Bell to take over the third spot on lap 15.
"Donny's been on a roll lately so hats off to him for making it tough on everybody," Sweet said. "They're definitely setting the bar really high right now so we're happy to be up on the podium."
"I'll be honest, when I first showed up here I wasn't sure what to expect with just laying some dirt over the pavement and it being slick and dusty right out of the gate. It was a good racetrack all night. There was two grooves and you had to work on your car to get it right and I think it showed. There were cars out there that missed it a little bit and were going backwards and there were cars that were good that were going forward. We were lucky enough to be one of the ones going pretty far forward."
Schatz extended his championship points lead over Pittman to 288. Paul McMahan remains in third while Kerry Madsen now has a 24 point lead over Joey Saldana for fourth place.
Jason Sides was the KSE Hard Charger of the night after advancing seven positions to finish in 11th.
The World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series returns to Williams Grove Speedway for the final time this season to take on the Pennsylvania Posse at the National Open on Oct. 3 and 4. The Outlaws then join NAPA Super Dirt Week XLIII at Rolling Wheels Raceway on Oct. 11.
Follow the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WorldofOutlaws, like it on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WorldofOutlaws, or check out the latest videos on YouTube at www.youtube.com/WorldofOutlaws.
BERLIN RACEWAY NOTES: Donny Schatz picked up his eighth quick time of the season tonight after a turning a lap of 15.616…Donny Schatz win at the inaugural World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series event at Berlin Raceway gave him the 24th win of his career - a single season record for the five-time champion… Steve Kinser, Ryan Ruhl and Christopher Bell all won their heat races tonight… Jason Sides received the KSE Hard Charger Award after advancing seven positions to finish in 11th.
SEASON WINNERS: Donny Schatz - 24 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 15, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas on March 6, Devil's Bowl Speedway on April 19, Lawrenceburg Speedway on May 27, I-96 Speedway on May 31, River Cities Speedway on June 20, 34 Raceway on June 27, Cedar Lake Speedway on June 29, Lernerville Speedway on July 15, Autodrome Drummond on July 26, Cornwall Motor Speedway on July 27, Ohsweken Speedway on July 29, Knoxville Raceway on Aug. 9, Junction Motor Speedway on Aug. 12, Nodak Speedway on Aug. 17, Castrol Raceway on Aug. 22 and Aug. 23, Skagit Speedway on Aug. 29 and Aug. 30, Grays Harbor Raceway on Sept. 1, Kokomo Speedway on Sept. 16, Terre Haute Action Track on Sept. 17, Bloomington Speedway on Sept. 26 and Berlin Raceway on Sept. 27); Daryn Pittman - 13(Thunderbowl Raceway on March 14, Calistoga Speedway on April 6, Devil's Bowl Speedway on April 19, Williams Grove Speedway on May 16 and May 17, Orange County Fair Speedway, May 18, New Egypt Speedway, May 20, Dodge City Raceway Park on July 4 and 5, Lincoln Speedway on July 17, Fulton Speedway on July 23, River Cities Speedway on Aug. 15 and Southern Oregon Speedway on Sept. 3); Joey Saldana - 7 (Perris Auto Speedway on April 12, Salina Highbanks on April 25, The Dirt Track at Charlotte on May 23, I-80 Speedway on June 6, Jackson Speedway on June 13, Eldora Speedway on Sept. 19 and Lernerville Speedway on Sept. 20); Kerry Madsen - 6 (Stockton Dirt track on March 22, El Paso Speedway Park on April 15, Lakeside Speedway on June 7, Eldora Speedway on July 12 and Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on Aug. 3 and Antioch Speedway on Sept. 8); Paul McMahan - 5(The Dirt Track at Las Vegas on March 5, Tri-State Speedway on May 10, Limaland Motorsports Park on July 9, Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on Aug. 1 and Deer Creek Speedway on Sept. 13); Brad Sweet - 5 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 14, Tucson International Raceway on March 8, Calistoga Speedway on April 5, Knoxville Raceway on June 14 and Beaver Dam Raceway on June 28); David Gravel - 4(Merced Speedway on March 28, Eldora Speedway on May 3, Wilmot Raceway on May 9 and Lebanon Valley Speedway on July 20); Cody Darrah - 2 (Kings Speedway on April 11 and Lernerville Speedway on July 15); Shane Stewart - 2(Eldora Speedway on May 2 and Willamette Speedway on Sept. 2); Sammy Swindell - 2(Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on April 26 and Eldora Speedway on July 11); Rico Abreu - 1(Thunderbowl Raceway on March 15); Jonathan Allard - 1 (Silver Dollar Speedway, Sept. 6); Christopher Bell - 1(Jacksonville Speedway on May 7); Dale Blaney - 1 (Attica Raceway Park on May 30); Roger Crockett - 1(I-94 Speedway on June 21); Lance Dewease - 1 (July 20 at Williams Grove Speedway); Greg Hodnett - 1 (July 18 at Williams Grove Speedway); Mark Dobmeier - 1 (Huset's Speedway on July 2); Kraig Kinser - 1 (Clay County Fair Speedway on Sept. 12); Steve Kinser - 1 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 16); Carson Macedo - 1 (Silver Dollar Speedway on Sept. 5); Stevie Smith - 1 (Lincoln Speedway on May 14).
- administrator on Sep 29, 2014
- Article Date: 9/29/2014