2/12/2018
RacinBoys
Schatz claims his first Gator Championship
By WOO Sprint Series PR (Barberville, FL) -- Donny Schatz is starting 2018 firing on all cylinders, which is bad news for the rest of the competition. Schatz fought off a pesky Brian Brown early in the race and held off charges from Sheldon Haudenschild and Brad Sweet late to capture his fourth win in five nights at Volusia Speedway Park. Schatz, who has won just about everything to win in Sprint Car racing, captured his first ever DIRTcar Nationals Big Gator Championship.
Brian Brown won the Craftsman Club Dash earning the pole of the 30-lap Feature alongside Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year contender Parker Price-Miller. Brown was strong leading the opening circuit before Schatz flew underneath the FVP No.21 to lead lap two.
Rico Abreu brought out the lone yellow flag of the Feature on lap six. On the ensuing restart, Brown muscled his way back by Schatz to lead laps seven and eight before Schatz overtook him once again to lead lap nine and the rest of the way, despite challenges from Haudenschild and Sweet.
“We slowed down in traffic a lot,” Schatz said in Victory Lane. “We thought we had a solid car in the Dash, but this is the time to learn,” said the driver who won four of five Features at DIRTcar Nationals. “Sometimes you win some you shouldn’t, I think we were lucky we started up front,” a humble Schatz added before being awarded his first ever Big Gator trophy.
Friday night’s Feature winner Sheldon Haudenschild worked forward from his 13th starting spot into the top three on lap 12 and moved by Brown into second on lap 16. Haudenschild, who is in his first year with the Stenhouse Jr. – Marshall Racing No.17, brought the capacity crowd to their feet as he closed in on the Tony Stewart Racing No.15 but couldn’t pull the trigger.
“Catching Donny Schatz and passing Donny Schatz are two completely different things,” Sheldon said with a smile. While Sheldon had his eyes set on the No.15, Brad Sweet powered his NAPA Racing No.49 around the cushion, eventually overtaking Sheldon in turn two with five laps remaining.
Sweet closed on Schatz, but was never able to mount a series charge and settled for second - his fourth podium in five nights. “My guys worked hard all week and we are still chasing the 15. He makes us better though and we’ll take second,” Sweet said.
Jason Johnson finished his strong week with a fourth-place finish and 15th-starting Chad Kemenah completed the top five. Haudenschild picked up KSE Hard Charger honors advancing 10 positions.
That completes the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series portion of the 47th Annual DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park. The Outlaws return to action in two weeks in Texas at the Cotton Bowl Speedway in Paige, TX on Friday, February 23, 2018 and then LoneStar Speedway in Kilgore, TX the following night Saturday, February 24. If you can’t make it to the track, you can catch all the action live on http://www.DIRTVision.com!
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz [4][$10,000]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet [9][$5,500]; 3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [13][$3,200]; 4. 41-Jason Johnson [3][$2,800]; 5. 10H-Chad Kemenah [15][$2,500]; 6. 2-Shane Stewart [5][$2,300]; 7. 21-Brian Brown [1][$2,200]; 8. 13X-Paul McMahan [6][$2,100]; 9. 5-David Gravel [18][$2,050]; 10. 4-Parker Price-Miller [2][$2,000]; 11. 49X-Tim Shaffer [16][$1,500]; 12. 27-Greg Hodnett [8][$1,200]; 13. 11K-Kraig Kinser [22][$1,100]; 14. 18-Ian Madsen [14][$1,050]; 15. 26-Joey Saldana [11][$1,000]; 16. 2M-Kerry Madsen [20][$900]; 17. 9-Daryn Pittman [25][$]; 18. 1K-Kyle Larson [10][$800]; 19. 7S-Jason Sides [17][$800]; 20. 1S-Logan Schuchart [21][$800]; 21. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [24][$800]; 22. 70-Dave Blaney [12][$800]; 23. W20-Greg Wilson [26][$]; 24. 44-Trey Starks [19][$800]; 25. 24-Rico Abreu [7][$800]; 26. 1A-Jacob Allen [23][$800]; 27. 13-Clyde Knipp [27][$] Lap Leaders Brian Brown 1, 7-8 Donny Schatz 2-6, 9-30; KSE Hard Charger Award: 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[+10]
Qualifying: 1. 13X-Paul McMahan, 13.058; 2. 21-Brian Brown, 13.083; 3. 41-Jason Johnson, 13.198; 4. 2-Shane Stewart, 13.22; 5. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.238; 6. 4-Parker Price-Miller, 13.268; 7. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.29; 8. 27-Greg Hodnett, 13.348; 9. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 13.349; 10. 24-Rico Abreu, 13.367; 11. 7S-Jason Sides, 13.428; 12. 70-Dave Blaney, 13.44; 13. 44-Trey Starks, 13.458; 14. 26-Joey Saldana, 13.471; 15. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.529; 16. 1K-Kyle Larson, 13.577; 17. 18-Ian Madsen, 13.598; 18. 1A-Jacob Allen, 13.635; 19. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 13.638; 20. 2M-Kerry Madsen, 13.644; 21. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.648; 22. 49X-Tim Shaffer, 13.664; 23. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 13.681; 24. 5-David Gravel, 13.698; 25. 19-Brent Marks, 13.749; 26. OO-Dane Lorenc, 13.799; 27. 83-Cory Eliason, 13.815; 28. 9-Daryn Pittman, 13.84; 29. 30-CJ Leary, 13.965; 30. W20-Greg Wilson, 14.093; 31. 13-Clyde Knipp, 14.220
Heat #1 (8 Laps) - Top 6 Transfer: 1. 2-Shane Stewart [2]; 2. 13X-Paul McMahan [1]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [4]; 4. 1K-Kyle Larson [6]; 5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [3]; 6. 49X-Tim Shaffer [8]; 7. 11K-Kraig Kinser [7]; 8. 19-Brent Marks [9]; 9. 9-Daryn Pittman [10]; 10. 44-Trey Starks [5]; 11. 13-Clyde Knipp [11]
Heat #2 (8 Laps) - Top 6 Transfer: 1. 15-Donny Schatz [2]; 2. 21-Brian Brown [1]; 3. 27-Greg Hodnett [3]; 4. 26-Joey Saldana [5]; 5. 18-Ian Madsen [6]; 6. 7S-Jason Sides [4]; 7. 2M-Kerry Madsen [7]; 8. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [8]; 9. 30-CJ Leary [10]; 10. OO-Dane Lorenc [9]
Heat #3 (8 Laps) - Top 6 Transfer: 1. 41-Jason Johnson [1]; 2. 4-Parker Price-Miller [2]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet [5]; 4. 70-Dave Blaney [4]; 5. 10H-Chad Kemenah [3]; 6. 5-David Gravel [8]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart [7]; 8. 1A-Jacob Allen [6]; 9. 83-Cory Eliason [9]; 10. W20-Greg Wilson [10]
Craftsman Club Dash (6 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown [2]; 2. 4-Parker Price-Miller [1]; 3. 41-Jason Johnson [4]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz [5]; 5. 2-Shane Stewart [6]; 6. 13X-Paul McMahan [3]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps) - Top 6 Transfer: 1. 44-Trey Starks [1][-]; 2. 2M-Kerry Madsen [4][-]; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5][-]; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser [3][-]; 5. 1A-Jacob Allen [2][-]; 6. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [6][-]; 7. 9-Daryn Pittman [10][$300]; 8. 83-Cory Eliason [9][$250]; 9. W20-Greg Wilson [12][$225]; 10. 13-Clyde Knipp [13][$200]; 11. OO-Dane Lorenc [8][$200]; 12. 30-CJ Leary [11][$200]; 13. 19-Brent Marks [7][$200]
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
