Donny Schatz wanted a victory at Bloomington Speedway since the last time the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series rolled out of the pit area. Unfortunately for Schatz, he didn’t know he would have to wait 11 years to do so, but made sure he wouldn’t let the chance slip away again by charging to the front and holding on during two green-white-checkered flag periods to win his fourth event of the season.
“This just feels so good,” said a smiling Schatz, of Fargo, N.D. “We wanted to win here really bad last time and I had no idea we’d have to wait this long to come back and do it. Ricky (Warner) and the crew really gave me a great piece tonight. It was good everywhere on the track.”
Schatz’s STP/Armor All/Chevrolet J&J was the fastest race car in clean air on the quarter-mile oval but lapped traffic made things interesting for the four-time champion as he had to fend off two challengers in Jason Sides and Lucas Wolfe.
“Jason actually got around me there for a little bit,” Schatz said. “He wound up having some issues and then Lucas got close. If anyone had to pass me for the win, I would have wanted it to be Lucas. He’s wanted one of these wins pretty bad for quite awhile now. But overall, I’m pumped and ready to go. The Ironman 55 is tomorrow night so we’re looking forward to that. We’ve also got our big track program figured out so we’re anxious to get up to Knoxville.”
Schatz started from the pole position and led 39 of the 40 laps in the feature. Sides challenged early on but went out with a broken U-joint near the mid-point of the race. Sides’ misfortune opened the door for Wolfe, a native of Mechanicsburg, Pa., who is closing in on his first World of Outlaws win in his #5w Allebach car.
“We had a great car tonight and we keep having good runs here as of late,” said Wolfe, the 2008 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year. “We’re looking forward to the Ironman since we ran really well there last year and then of course, Knoxville. We had a good setup there in the spring and hopefully we’ll get another great result.”
Paul McMahan, who won last weekend in Canada, surged through the pack to claim the third position. Had it not been for a called back start during the dash, McMahan felt like he could have contended for the win.
“The officials and I just saw the call differently, that’s all,” said McMahan, driver of the #83 Roth Motorsports/H.R. Cattle Maxim. “We probably could have gotten up there and raced Donny a bit had we not had that call in the dash. We’ll take a third though and we are looking forward to the Ironman.”
Ohio native Chad Kemenah was fourth with the night’s fastest qualifier and — new track record holder — Jason Meyers, rounding out the Top 5. Hometown hero Steve Kinser raced his way to a 6th-place finish in front of a standing room only crowd.
Saturday night the World of Outlaws invade Pevely, Mo., for the third annual Ironman 55 for 55 laps of intense racing on high-banked, 1/3-mile I-55 Raceway.
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