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Schatz Makes History

Donny Schatz has won at some of the most historic tracks in sprint car racing over the course of his 20 seasons on the road with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series. The seven-time and defending series champion added the legendary Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin to that list on Sunday night as he picked up the win in the Sun Prairie Sprint Car Classic, featuring the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series and Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprint Car Series in a co-sanctioned event.

For Schatz, it was his series-leading 18th win of the season as he added to his point lead, as he chases his eighth series title. Schatz has now won at 79 different tracks in his career with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series. In five starts in the state of Wisconsin this year, he finished on the podium in all five, including picking up a pair of wins.

“This place has a ton of history and is very unique,” said Schatz. “It threw us for a loop with gear and everything. This race team is unreal with what they do with this race car when they unload every night. It was fast right out of the box and got us qualified well and we normally don’t qualify that well. It feels good to finally have your name on a track record.”

Schatz started second and battled Daryn Pittman in the early going, nearly taking the lead a couple of times. Schatz got by Pittman on the back straightaway on lap-17, but Pittman re-took the top spot before that lap was official. On the following circuit, Schatz used a strong restart, following a red flag, to power his way to the lead, on the low side of the track, exiting turn-two. He would pace the remainder of the 40-lap contest.

“The car worked better on the bottom,” he noted. “The top, I would get rolled over and a little bit too tight. I’ve been driving a late model the last three nights and I think that gave me a heads up on what rolling on the right rear feels like. The top was tricky. In (turns) one and two it was right up against the fence and you had to hit it just right to be able to keep your speed. The race track was just awesome. We had a good race with Daryn (Pittman). He had a good pace early and I wasn’t sure if we would be able to keep up with him. The longer we went, the better the car got.”

The 40-lap main event got off to a slow start, with a caution flag flying on the second lap, followed by a red flag, after a restart on that same circuit. Pittman led from the pole on the initial start as well as the ensuing two restarts. Schatz, who started third, moved into second on the opening lap and kept pace with Pittman, as the leaders encountered lapped traffic just five laps into the race.
“This is a fun place,” said Schatz. “I didn’t really know what the track was going to do. There was a top for a little bit and then a bottom. We were actually able to make the middle work as well. It was great to see a great crowd here tonight on such a short notice for a race. It was great to see all of the people and enthusiasm.”

Just past the halfway point of the race, the leaders were in heavy lapped traffic, with Pittman closing back in on Schatz, who got hung up by a couple of slower machines. With 10 laps to go, Pittman was right on Schatz, but once the latter was able to clear a couple of lapped machines, he was able to pull away in the late going. Pittman led the first 17 laps from the pole.

“I just got beat,” said Pittman. “I had a good car early and a pretty decent car late and the track changed a lot and got really slick on the top to a huge curb. Like Donny (Schatz) said, it just wanted to get you rolled up into it, especially off (turn) two. We hung with him for the longest time and then he cleared a few of those lapped cars with five or six (laps) to go and pulled away. This is a fun race track. It was great to see a big crowd. It’s always fun to run in front of capacity crowds at these race tracks.”

Brad Sweet started on the outside of the front row and fell back a spot on the opening lap. For the second straight race, he had a spirited battle with David Gravel. This time it was for the third position. Sweet would claim the spot to secure two position on the podium for Kasey Kahne Racing.

“This place is known for getting that huge curb, right up by the wall,” said Sweet. “That creates great racing. It was really technical and you had to really watch for the lapped cars and try not to mess up. It seemed like with that curb, if you messed up you were basically in the wall. Thanks to all of the fans for coming out on short notice. We appreciate it.”

Gravel finished fourth to pick up his 35th top-five finish of the season. Logan Schuchart charged from the 11th starting spot to finish fifth. Shane Stewart crossed the line sixth, with Jason Johnson in seventh. Joey Saldana was eighth, with Jacob Allen ninth, to put both Shark Racing cars in the top-10. Paul McMahan rounded out the top-10. Mike Reinke was the highest finishing Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprint Car Series driver, crossing the line 12th.

The World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series returns to action on Friday, August 26 at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, North Dakota, for the Second Leg of the Gerdau Northern Tour.

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