RacingOne
Report
Donny
Schatz always has plenty
of motivation when he
comes to Williams Grove
Speedway and track officials
added 5,000 more reasons
on Saturday, as they raised
the winner’s share
for the Cleveland Brothers
Summer Nationals from
$20,000 to $25,000 prior
to the event.
The two-time
defending series champion
swept under Craig Dollansky
in the third turn on the
20th lap to take the lead
and proceeded to slice
his way through lapped
traffic for the remaining
10 laps to earn his series
leading 11th A-Feature
win of the season and
the 81st of his Advance
Auto Parts World of Outlaws
career, which places him
in a tie with 2001 series
champion Danny Lasoski
for fifth on the all-time
win list.
“It
feels good to get back
to victory lane,”
said Schatz, who visited
Victory Lane for the 15th
time in his career at
Williams Grove Speedway
and the second consecutive
in the Summer Nationals.
“It feels like it’s
been a little bit since
we won. We had an awesome
race car tonight, especially
at the end of the night.
We worked on it early
in the night and got going
and put ourselves in a
good position to get to
the front.”
After
leading late in the race
on Friday night, before
being passed by Daryn
Pittman with three laps
remaining, Schatz and
his team found a couple
of things that they tried
in the finale of the Cleveland
Brothers Summer Nationals
on Saturday night, which
worked for them.
“We
learn stuff every time
we hit the race track,”
he noted. “It doesn’t
matter if we have been
to Victory Lane here or
not, every time you hit
the track helps. The track
changed. It stayed longer
and it stayed wetter throughout
the night. These guys
did an awesome job with
the track.”
Schatz
lined up fourth for the
30-lap A-Feature on Saturday
night in the Armor All
J&J, and moved into
the second spot on the
opening lap getting around
multi-time Williams Grove
Speedway champion Fred
Rahmer, as well as pole
sitter Paul McMahan. While
he tried to track down
Dollansky early, Schatz
had his hands full with
Joey Saldana. After losing
the second spot to Saldana
on the third lap, he took
it back on the seventh
circuit, and then set
his sights on Dollansky.
Schatz patiently shadowed
Dollansky and worked lapped
traffic masterfully to
track him down and take
the lead.
“It’s
tough to pass anyone in
wide open race track anymore,”
explained the North Dakota
native. “I was able
cut the corner in three
and four on him and keep
up with him on exit to
get a good run on him.
I could get through traffic
pretty well and maneuver
around and I kept trying
to see where I could go.
I had a good night.”
After
a runner-up finish in
May at the track, Schatz
has 14 Top-Five finishes
in his last 16 starts
at the historic half-mile.
He made his first start
at Williams Grove in 1997
and picked up his first
Top-Five finish there
in 1999 and his first
win in 2000. He has racked
up 31 Top-Five finishes
in his career at the track
which is one of the most
challenging on the entire
World of Outlaws circuit.
“I
came here for a lot of
years with my tail between
my legs and couldn’t
get going and just got
really frustrated,”
he shared. “I worked
endlessly to try and figure
out how to drive this
place. It took quite a
while to get that. It’s
about car control and
feel. If you have good
car control and feel here,
then you are comfortable.
Pushing is probably the
worst thing you can do
sometimes because you
wear yourself out trying
to go faster. The last
few years this place has
really suited my style
and I’m glad to
come here.”
Dollansky
led the first 19 laps
of the race aboard the
Auto Value Parts Stores
Maxim, as he was looking
for his second win of
the season at Williams
Grove. He gained ground
a couple of times late
in the race in heavy lapped
traffic as he tried to
track Schatz back down.
“You
are never happy with second-place,
but we were decent early
and it seemed like we
had a left rear going
flat,” said Dollansky.
“We were kind of
hanging in there at the
end. It was a good run
for the Larry Woodward
team. Donny (Schatz) was
obviously strong and we
came up one spot short.”
Jason
Meyers followed up a fifth-place
finish in the opener of
the Summer Nationals with
a third-place performance
on Saturday night, as
he closes in on his first
career win at Williams
Grove. It was 25th Top-Five
finish of the season aboard
the GLR Investments KPC.
“It
was definitely a good
run,” said Meyers.
“This is the best
weekend the team has probably
ever had here, putting
two nights together. We
are happy with what we
learned here this weekend
and hopefully we can bring
it back in September and
win one of these darn
things.”
Fred
Rahmer was fourth in the
Miller Brothers J&J,
with Joey Saldana in fifth
aboard the Budweiser/Open
Joist Mopar-powered JEI.
Doug
Esh was sixth in the Pancho’s
Racing Products J&J.
Paul McMahan was seventh
in the Casey’s General
Stores Maxim, with Jac
Haudenschild eighth aboard
the Owens-Corning Fiberglass
Maxim, Kerry Madsen was
ninth in the TK Concrete
Maxim, with Stevie Smith
in the R.A.C.E. Foundation
JEI rounding out the Top-10.
The race
took two starts to get
going and both times Dollansky
shot to the lead, winning
a drag race down the front
straightaway with pole
sitter Paul McMahan, with
Schatz quickly jumping
into the second spot with
Saldana in third.
Dollansky
jumped out to about an
eight car length lead
while Saldana battled
with Schatz in the early
going. Saldana powered
his way around Schatz
on the high side of the
track in turns one and
two on the third lap.
This gave Dollansky an
opportunity to pull away
as he approached lapped
traffic. He reached traffic
on the sixth lap, allowing
Saldana to close back
in on him.
Dollansky
was slicing through traffic
on the seventh lap when
the second caution flag
of the night flew for
a spin right in front
of the leaders, who were
in heavy traffic.
The restart
saw Saldana keep pace
with Dollansky and try
a slide job on him in
turns one and two. Saldana
drifted up the track after
this, giving Schatz a
chance to close in on
him and take the second
spot in the third and
fourth turns. The leaders
were again in traffic
on the 11th lap with Dollansky
utilizing the high side
of the track to weave
his way through the slower
machines.
Dollansky
drifted high off turns
one and two on the 14th
lap, allowing Schatz to
make a bid for the lead
in the traffic. Schatz
tried to take the lead
by diving under Dollansky
on the 19th lap, but came
up just a little short.
The next lap saw Dollansky
caught up in a heavy traffic,
and Schatz took advantage
of this on by sweeping
past him on the bottom
of the track in turn three.
On the next lap, Dollansky
fought back in turns one
and two as he tried to
make a pass on the high
side of the track.
“Once
you get in some bad air
and into lapped traffic
that is what can make
you or break you,”
Dollansky stated. “We
had a good car early and
around the halfway point
it started to go away
from us. It was a good
run for the whole team
though. We are running
strong and leading laps
and the wins will come.”
As the
laps wound down, Schatz
ran on the bottom of the
track, while Dollansky
remained upstairs. With
eight laps to go, Dollansky
changed his line and tried
to dive under Schatz coming
off the fourth turn.
Schatz
did drift high a couple
of times as he maneuvered
through traffic, but Dollansky
was not close enough to
make a move on the leader.
With three laps to go
Schatz really began to
pull away and wound up
wining by over two full
seconds.
“It
depended on if something
would happen to him,”
Dollansky said of making
a late race pass. “They
had a good race car and
something would have to
mess him up. I think he
did mess up a few times,
but we weren’t able
to capitalize on it. Those
guys run strong here and
have a good package in
place here.”
Meyers
lined up sixth for the
30-lap event and lost
a spot on the opening
lap to Rahmer. He then
had to contend with pole
sitter Paul McMahan who
also lost a couple of
spots early. After getting
around McMahan, Meyers
set his sights on Rahmer
and Saldana. Once he made
it into third, he was
able to gain ground on
the leaders a couple of
occasions in heavy traffic.
“Green
flag runs always seem
to be good for us,”
he noted. “We have
our car set up for long
green flag runs and we
seem to get better and
better as they go. It
was a great car. Charlie
Garrett builds our motors
and he is from out here
and we really want to
win one here for him.
We are getting closer.”
Meyers,
who entered the weekend
with five career Top-Five
finishes at Williams Grove,
began the night by setting
fast time and also powered
his way to a win in the
first heat race to earn
a spot in the Crane Cams
Dash. With his third-place
performance, he extended
his streak of Top-Five
finishes to six races.
“Anytime
you come here and run
in the Top-10 is an accomplishment,”
said Meyers. “These
guys are doing a great
job and we are back on
track where we need to
be. We sure want to win
one of these money races.”
The Advance
Auto Parts World of Outlaws
Sprint Car Series returns
to action on Sunday, July
20 at Lebanon Valley Speedway
in West Lebanon, New York. |
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Summer
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