Donny Schatz nearly had a perfect night at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks on Friday night. After setting fast time in qualifying, he won the first heat race and wrapped up the night by dominating the 40-lap A-Feature event to score his eighth win of the 2009 campaign. The only blemish on the night for the three-time and defending World of Outlaws champion was a second-place finish in the Crane Cams Dash.
For the North Dakota native, it was his second consecutive win at River Cities Speedway which is located in his home state. It was the 96th A-Feature win of his World of Outlaws career, as he looks to become just the fifth driver in the 31-year history of the series to cross the century mark in wins.
“Anytime you can win in front of your fans at home is great,” said Schatz. “This is just like being at home sweet home. I’m glad to get this Armor All car to Victory Lane here tonight.”
Schatz lined up second for the 40-lap contest and battled 20-time series champion Steve Kinser from the outset, with Kinser leading the first lap on the low side of the track while Schatz worked up top. The next lap Schatz took the lead in turns one and two with the pair running side-by-side down the back straightaway with Kinser inching ahead in turn four, with Schatz officially being credited with leading the lap at the line. The pair continued to battle for next number of laps, running side-by-side. Kinser inched ahead a couple of times, but each time they got back to the start/finish line, it was Schatz officially being scored the leader. He would go on to pace the final 39 laps of the race to pick up the $10,000 top prize. in the Armor All J&J for Tony Stewart Racing.
“Everybody always asks me what my favorite race is and I say there is nothing better than the next one,” noted the winner. “We’re going to celebrate this one tonight. Normally we shrug it off and go to the next one, but we’re going to enjoy this one tonight and go on and try to get the same thing tomorrow.”
Schatz had a close call on the 17th lap when a lapped car in front of him was trying to exit the track, forcing him off the track in turn one and bringing out the caution. By way of World of Outlaws rules, Schatz retained his position because he kept going and did not stop on the track, with the scoring reverting back to the last completed lap.
“We had an awesome car,” he stated. “These guys never cease to amaze me. It would really drive forward well off of (turn) two and it was the opposite off four We got in traffic and that guy was trying to get off the race track and I was on the outside of him. I’m glad we didn’t get in the middle of that one and fall out.”
The final caution of the night flew with three laps remaining, setting up a shootout between Schatz and Kinser. On the restart, Kinser looked high in turns three and four, with Schatz holding the leading and pulling away over the last two laps.
Joey Saldana who won at River Cities Speedway in 2007 and had two consecutive wins entering Friday night’s event, finished second aboard the Budweiser Maxim. He snagged the runner-up spot from Steve Kinser on the final lap, as he ran the extreme high side of the track using the cushion lap after lap and getting a run on the 20-time series champion through turns three and four.
“We had a great car,” said Saldana. “It just takes so long to get to second when you start seventh with these guys. I wish we could have raced them because we had a pretty good car, but that’s our own fault. Hopefully we get better tomorrow.”
Saldana battled with his teammate Craig Dollansky for a number of laps while the pair ran fourth and fifth. Once he cleared Dollansky, he then challenged Jason Sides for a number of laps, before tracking down Kinser late in the going.
“My car was working really good in traffic,” he noted. “It’s just one of those deals. You put a guy like Donny Schatz up front and he is tough to beat. I’ll take a second and go on to Fargo.”
Kinser wound up third in the Quaker State Maxim after leading the opening lap and battling Schatz for the majority of the race. On each restart he tried the bottom of the track in turns one and two as he chased Schatz.
“I should have just stayed on the top the last lap,” said Kinser. “I tried to go to the bottom and missed the bottom and got hung up and let Joey (Saldana) get by me at the end.”
Jason Sides finished fourth in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim, with Craig Dollansky fifth in the DirecTV Maxim. Danny Lasoski was sixth in the Casey’s General Store JEI. Mark Dobmeier came from the 18th spot to finish seventh in the Senske & Son J&J to earn the KSE Race Products Hard Charger Award. Jason Meyers was eighth in the GLR Investments KPC, with Tony Bruce in ninth. Jac Haudenschild rounded out the Top-10 in the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim.
The World of Outlaws return to action on Saturday, June 20 at Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo, North Dakota in the finale of the annual Duel in the Dakotas.
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