Donny Schatz Sets Pace At Sedalia’s State Fair Speedway
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Jun 12, 2008
This began an epic clash between Schatz and Saldana in traffic. On the 18th lap, Schatz looked high off the fourth turn for the lead and then again low in the second turn, to no avail. Saldana was able to open a slight advantage as he cleared a few of the slower machines, though Schatz gained momentum off the high side of the fourth turn to nearly take the lead with five laps to go.
The pair went side-by-side down the back straightaway on the next lap, with Schatz creeping ahead, but it was Saldana inching ahead on the front straightaway to officially retain the lead. On the 22nd lap while still in heavy traffic, Schatz darted under Saldana exiting the second turn, with a move that was similar to the one he used last Saturday night at Knoxville to take the lead from Saldana.
“It was a good run for us, because I felt like I was struggling all night,” Saldana said. “We definitely got the car a lot better for the feature. We still didn’t have what it took to win. I knew at the start I was pretty good and saw that Craig (Dollansky) was running the top and I was running the bottom and I thought I could get him.”
Saldana aboard the Budweiser/Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI, did all he did over the last three laps of the race, as he tried to track Schatz back down.
“I felt like in the lapped cars I did the right thing,” said the second generation driver. “His car was working better than mine. When we were in traffic he could turn off the top and run on the bottom. I couldn’t do it. He had a better car.”
Dollansky aboard the Auto Value Parts Stores Maxim led the first 16 laps of the event and wound up finishing third to earn his 17th Top-10 finishes in 18 starts, with 11 of those being in the Top-Five.
“We definitely would have been happier to have come home with a win, but it was a good team effort,” said Dollansky. “I felt loose starting that race and thought that we may run into some trouble later. To come out with a Top-Three is good. We are working on some things here to get our program stronger and we’ll just keep working at it.”
Jason Meyers continued his strong start to the season with another Top-Five performance, as he was fourth on Wednesday night. He leads the series with 15 Top-Five runs, as he remains second in the championship standings heading into two events this weekend, driving the GLR Investments KPC.
“A top-four is not going to get it done,” Meyers lamented. “We certainly need to be better than that. We missed the set-up tonight and struggled at a track we are usually a lot better at. We were kind of just sitting here talking about it, writing some notes of what we did wrong. We’re going to have to run better than fourth each night to get back up there in the points. We learned a few things and we’ll pack up tonight and head to Sioux Falls and see if we can’t get them there.”
Kraig Kinser finished fifth in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim on Wednesday night, with 2001 World of Outlaws champion Danny Lasoski in sixth in the American Compressed Steel JEI. Jac Haudenschild was seventh in the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim, with Kerry Madsen in eighth in the TK Concrete Maxim. Brian Brown was ninth in the SuperClean Maxim. Daryn Pittman rounded out the Top-10 in the Titan Garages Maxim.
The Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series returns to action on Friday, June 13 at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, South Dakota.
