Donny Schatz could have easily written himself off after qualifying 35th of the 55 cars that were on hand at Williams Grove Speedway on Thursday night, but he did not. The reigning World of Outlaws champions put his head down and drove as hard as he could each and every lap and by the end of the night, found himself in the winner’s circle for the fifth time this season.
Schatz started the A-Feature in the third position and patiently followed Greg Hodnett and Jeff Shepard in the early stages of the race. On the 16th lap, he shot around Shepard to move into the runner-up spot. He continued to chase Hodnett as the pair got into lapped traffic with the laps winding down. With just three laps remaining, Schatz used the low side of the track to take the lead from Hodnett.
Joey Saldana made a late charge, also getting around Hodnett and closing in on Schatz as the checkered flag flew, to finish second.
Hodnett, the 1993 World of Outlaws Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year held on to finish third ahead of Jason Meyers, with Kenny Jacobs rounding out the Top-Five.
“We’re glad to get back to victory lane and get everyone’s confidence back up on the team, ” said Schatz, driver of the ParkerStore J&J. “Hopefully we can keep this going and win some more races this weekend. ”
Schatz started his march to victory in the third heat as he lined up in the ninth position, needing to get to at least fifth to transfer to the A-Feature. An early red flag moved him up a couple spots on a restart, and he wound up racing his way into the second position to earn a spot in the Crane Cams dash, where he finished third.
“That is good racing that the fans want to see, with cars coming from the back, ” Schatz said in Victory Lane. “If we wouldn’t have made it through the heat race, we would have been in the C-main or in the back of the B-Main. It was a great feeling to get through that heat race and into the dash. We passed some good cars to do it. That made our night a little easier, starting toward the front. ”
While he could have said the car was not working right or the crew made a mistake, Schatz himself squarely took the blame for the slow start to the night in time trials, and more than made up for it as he won for the 10th time overall at Williams Grove.
“I made a big mistake qualifying and I needed to push harder, ” said the winner. “Usually Williams Grove does not have that big of a curb and it is not that fast early in the night. I think you saw that the guys that were super fast in qualifying on the ledge, did not make it that far later in the night. The harder you pound that ledge the more trouble you get into later in the night. I can’t run 25 laps on a cushion like that, so I don’t do it. Smarts is probably the biggest key here. Knowing that I cannot run the cushion is probably a benefit. That helps me to move around in traffic and be there at the end of the race. ”
Schatz is excited to return to the track on Friday for another full night of racing, when the event will be 30 laps and pay $12,000-to win. He now has led 217 laps at the half-mile, and has finished in the Top-Five in nine of the last ten events he has competed in at the track.
“The cars are getting better the longer they go, and that is good to see, ” said the defending Knoxville Nationals winner. “I’m glad they get faster as they go. I assume the track will be slower tomorrow, and I look forward to that. Hopefully we can come back and get ourselves in a position to qualify at the front of the feature and win another race. It’s all about winning races. ”
Saldana made a valiant charge late, after falling back to ninth on the second lap of the 25- lap event, after staring in the seventh spot. He gained five spots over the last nine laps of the race. He passed several strong cars late in the race, including: Meyers, Hodnett, Shepard, and Jacobs.
“We were good, ” said Saldana, driver of the Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI. “I haven’t really been that good here in the past. The car was really good. The yellows hurt me a little bit. I needed some longer green flag runs. I just could not get going. Once we got going we were good. We ran a little short. It was a very good run and the team is working well. ”
The native of Brownsburg, Indiana had one of the fastest cars on the track as the laps wound down. The runner-up finish was his 14th Top-Five finish of the season as he continues to be locked in a classic dual with Schatz for the championship points.
“I wish we had the five extra laps tonight, ” lamented Saldana. “For me, I think we have the car to run the five more laps. The car just keeps getting better and better. The five laps would have helped us tonight, but then again the other guys will learn from what they did tonight and will probably get better as well. It will be a tough deal and you have to qualify well to get into the dash to give yourself a shot. ”
Early in the race Hodnett looked like he was well on his way to his eighth World of Outlaws victory, but he lost ground in heavy traffic late in the race, giving Schatz the opening he needed to take the lead. The native of Thomasville, Pennsylvania started on the pole in the A-Feature after winning the Crane Cams Dash.
“The guys did a good job tonight, and I feel like I kind of let them down in traffic, ” said Hodnett, driver of the J&S Fabrication J&J. “I was not very good around other cars, and good air helped me, bad air was a hindrance. We would have been better if there would have been a couple more cautions. ”
Hodnett, who has finished in the Top-10 in World of Outlaws points four times in his career, now calls Williams Grove Speedway home. Having 30 career wins at the track, he is usually one of the cars to beat when the World of Outlaws come to town.
“We run here every week so that is not a whole lot we learn, ” said Hodnett. “The big thing is that we have to stay on top of the situation, and whatever that may be tomorrow. If it rains the track will be heavy, or if they may pack it hard because they think it may rain it may be really slick. We have to be ready for anything. ”
Jason Meyers continued his streak of Top-10 finishes coming home in the fourth spot. He has 10 straight Top-10 finishes, including wins at Eldora Speedway and U. S. 36 Raceway. In the process he gained another spot in the World of Outlaws championship standings, as he is now up to the fourth position.
“You have to be happy anytime you come here and run in the Top-Five, ” said Meyers, driver of the Primerica Financial Maxim. “With the (Pennsylvania) Posse and some of the Outlaws that run good here every time, we are definitely happy with our finish. We had a good consistent night. ”
Kenny Jacobs started the A-Feature in the 10th spot after Lucas Wolfe had trouble in the Crane Cams Dash. The veteran aboard the Weikerts Livestock JEI steadily worked his way to the front, finishing in the fifth spot.
The rest of the Top-10 was Daryn Pittman in sixth in the Titan Garages Maxim, Jason Sides in seventh in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim, Fred Rahmer in eight in the C&S Lawn J&J, Danny Lasoski in ninth in the Roth Motorsports Eagle, and Doug Esh in 10th in the Kinard Trucking J&J.
The World of Outlaws are back in action at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night, in a 30-lap $12,000-to win event.
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