Donny Schatz didn’t recognize Clay County Fair Speedway when he walked through the pit gates on Wednesday afternoon. The last time he had raced at the track located in Spencer, Iowa was over 10 years ago, when the then sprawling half-mile was predominately used for horse racing. He took a quick liking to the new 3/8-mile highbanked surface on Wednesday night as he claimed his 15th A-Feature win of the season in the World of Outlaws inaugural visit to the track before a crowd of well over 7,000 spectators.
Schatz took the lead on the 12th lap from Tim Shaffer and went on to win by nearly four seconds, as he a lead by a whole straightaway at one point in the ParkerStore J&J. After a quick yellow flag on the third lap, the remainder of the 30-lap event went caution free, with Schatz working his way through heavy lapped traffic for the majority of the last 15 laps of the race.
“It was a good night for us, ” said the winner. “I’m glad to get to get the victory. We’re trying to get every win that we can. We had to pass some cars to get up there, starting sixth. We had a great car. We just had to do things right and we had to move around on the track. ” Schatz was able to maneuver almost anywhere he wanted on Wednesday night, as was evident on the 11th lap, when he dove low to get around Joey Saldana and then worked the high side of the track to nearly get around Tim Shaffer and then make the pass for the lead and ultimately the win on the following lap up high on the track.
“You have to be able to move around and not be married to one spot and that is what won us the race, ” explained Schatz. “Our car would go all over. That is a credit to this race team. These guys bust their tails and we are one guy short right now. Shane (Bowers), Ricky (Warner) and Dave (Lawrence) are doing an awesome job. ” The race began with Joey Saldana, the pole sitter leading into the first turn, with Tim Shaffer charging by him on the high side exiting the second turn to take the lead. Shaffer would go on to lead the first 11 laps.
The only caution of the night flew on the third lap. “Anytime you can go start to finish that is good for the fans, ” said Schatz, a native of Fargo, North Dakota. “We got to be in lapped traffic and that is what you like as a driver. That can make or break your race. We got into lots of lapped traffic tonight and that was very good for us. ”
Early in the race, Saldana shadowed Shaffer and looked low a number of times for the lead, but could not quite get even with the leader. Schatz nearly took the lead on the 11th lap as he dove to the inside of Joey Saldana exiting the first turn and then went high into turn two and almost got around Shaffer. On the next lap, Schatz used lapped traffic to his advantage to take the lead from Shaffer.
Saldana aboard the Open Joist JEI had a spirited battle with Dollansky for most of the second half of the race, taking the runner-up spot with just three laps remaining. Each time one would pull away, lapped traffic would close the gap between them. He finished second to earn his 37th Top-Five finish of the season.
“It was a good race and a solid run for us, ” said Saldana. “We fell back to I think fourth and worked our way back to second. We had a good car all night. Hopefully we can go to Topeka (Heartland Park on Friday) and have another good run. ”
Dollansky started fourth and gained a spot on the opening lap, before setting his sights on Saldana. The pair battled for the final 16 laps of the race and traded the runner-up spot three times. Dollansky wound up third to earn his 40th Top-10 finish of the season. “I felt like we had a good car, ” said Dollansky, driver of the Karavan Trailers Maxim.
“We were a little loose on top, but we were definitely in the hunt. Donny (Schatz) did a good job. There was a lot of passing and it was a great race for the fans. We were in the mix and came home third. It would have been great to have won the race, but ultimately I wanted the fans to see a good race and I think it all went pretty well. ”
Shaffer, who led the first 11 laps of the event finished fourth to earn his 20th Top-Five finish of the season.
“It was a good night, ” said Shaffer, driver of the Casey’s General Stores Maxim. “We’re running in the Top-Four so I can’t complain about that. I just want to get the guys a win, because they have been working their tails off. We’ll just keep at it. ”
Paul McMahan finished fifth in the Bass Pro Shops Eagle after starting seventh. Randy Hannagan was sixth in the Penthouse Magazine Maxim, with Terry McCarl in the Big Games Treestands Eagle in seventh. Kerry Madsen finished eighth after starting 20th in the Selma Shell Maxim to earn the KSE Race Products Hard Charger Award. Jason Solwold who began the night by setting a new track record in time trials was ninth in the City Wide Insulation Maxim, with Brooke Tatnell rounding out the Top-10 in the Wirtgen Maxim.
| 
|