Donny Schatz has won at most of the tracks on the World of Outlaws circuit at some point during his 12-plus years on the road with the series. One track where the winner’s circle had eluded him was Canandaigua Speedway in New York, where the World of Outlaws returned on Monday for the first time since 1999. Schatz finished third at the track in 1998 and second in 1999 and bettered that one spot on Memorial Day, in dominating fashion to score his first victory at the half-mile known as the “Land of Legends.”
Schatz lined up second and battled 20-time series champion Steve Kinser for each of the first nine laps of the race, before making the pass for the lead and ultimately the win on the high side of turn two in lapped traffic. From there he pulled away and wound up winning by nearly nine seconds aboard the Armor All J&J for Tony Stewart Racing.
“It was a great night,” said Schatz. “We had an awesome car and I’m glad to get another win. This is the stuff I love to see. I love to see it when it’s tough to get the tires caught up. My car worked good and it suited my driving style. I was patient and you also had to save your tires.”
For Schatz, the $10,000 triumph was his sixth career win in the state of New York with the World of Outlaws and the 94th of his career as he closes in on becoming just the fifth driver in the 31-year history of the series to win at least 100 A-Feature events.
“New York has been very good to me in my career,” shared the three-time and defending series champion. “I have won at Lebanon Valley (Speedway), Rolling Wheels (Raceway Park) and Orange County (Speedway) as well. We enjoy coming up here and don’t get to come up here very often. The fans are always great and it’s awesome to come to these events. The pit area was packed here tonight.”
The 25-lap event, which ran non-stop in just 8 minutes and 2 seconds, began with Steve Kinser leading from the pole. Schatz nearly inched past him in turn three on the opening circuit, with Kinser charging off turn four to stay in front and officially lead the first lap. On the second lap, Schatz looked low off turn four, but was not able to make a pass.
Kinser and Schatz pulled away from the field by the third lap, with Kinser running up top and Schatz trying the lower groove. By the fifth lap, the duo was in traffic on Schatz closed back in on Kinser. On the sixth go-around, Schatz nearly took the lead off turns three and four, with Kinser fending him off down the front straightaway. The battle continued for the next couple of laps, with Schatz looking under Kinser in turns three and four and the pair running side-by-side, with Kinser retaining the top spot.
Schatz moved to the high side of the half-mile on the ninth lap and in traffic took the lead in turn two from Kinser. He quickly began to pull away as he continued to work his way through traffic.
“I kind of had to wait for my car to come in a bit and I had to search around on the race track,” he noted. “Second-place was a good place to be when I figured out where it was at. It was go from there. It was a great race.”
As the laps wound down, Schatz continued to work lapped traffic and at the same time widened the gap between himself and Kinser. The North Dakota native would lead a total of 17 laps en route to picking up his sixth win of the season, all of which have come on half-mile tracks.
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