After finishing third on Friday night in the opener of the Six Nation Showdown at Ohsweken Speedway to earn his fourth straight podium finish at the track, Donny Schatz couldn’t wait to climb back in his race car a night later in search of his first win at the always racy 3/8-mile. Mother Nature had other ideas though, postponing the finale of the two-day event until Sunday. The wait was certainly worth it for Schatz as he dominated the race on Sunday night to score his first career win at Ohsweken Speedway and his second overall triumph in Canada with the World of Outlaws.
The win was the third of the season for Schatz and the 103rd of his World of Outlaws career. He is currently four wins behind Hall of Famer Doug Wolfgang who is fourth on the all-time list.
“It feels good to be back in Victory Lane,” said Schatz. “I guess if you keep knocking on the door long enough somebody is going to let you in. It’s kind of how I feel right now. We had an awesome car and we’ve always been pretty good here. We learned something in the dash tonight about this place and about our car in general and were really excited about that. It didn’t feel the greatest in the car inside, but it would turn under guys and it’s great to have that. We’re pretty pumped.”
Schatz started on the pole and gunned to an early lead over his teammate, 20-time series champion Steve Kinser. The four-time and defending series champion was out front for four double file restarts, with Kinser lined up to the outside of him each and every time. Schatz used four strong restarts to power his way into turns one and two and stay out front.
“Steve (Kinser) is one of the toughest guys to start next to,” noted the winner. “I probably could have done some things on those restart to screw him up, but being teammates we show each other respect and try not to do that. The car took off good and I stayed down there and that’s all there is to it. The race track was great tonight. It had some moisture on the bottom and a little bit in the middle and you could throw stuff up and catch it. It just was good all over the place and seemed to like my car tonight.”
Schatz set a blistering pace in the 30-lapper, finding himself in lapped traffic for a majority of the contest. He lapped all the way up to the 14 th-place finisher aboard the Armor All/STP J&J. Following the first caution of the night on the fourth lap, it took Schatz just five laps to be in traffic after the restart.
“I love the traffic,” he stated. “That is what you grit your teeth for. In racing, you want to get yourself in that position and I feel like I can maybe get a guy that way or if he makes a mistake or a lapped car forces a guy down, I feel like that is where the races are won and lost. If I’m leading the race, I want to get to traffic, so I can maneuver through there better and put a little ground there or if I am behind maybe snooker a few guys. I wish we had 40 car races every night, but I guess that wouldn’t go over real well. It’s fun to be in traffic and I grit my teeth every time we are in it.”
Joey Saldana, the current World of Outlaws point leader, finished second to earn his second straight Top-Five at Ohsweken Speedway in the Budweiser Maxim. He stared third and ran in that spot for most of the race as he did all he could to track down Kinser and Schatz, who were ahead of him.
“It was a great effort,” Saldana said. “We didn’t quite have enough for Donny (Schatz) at the end. We had a very good car and worked hard on the car both nights and had solid results. I’ll take it go on to Fulton (Speedway). We just have to keep running strong.”
Saldana lined up on the inside of the second row on each of the double file restarts as he battled Steve Kinser for the second spot. He took the runner-up position from Kinser coming off turn four on the 21st go-around and gained a little bit of ground on Schatz in the late going.
“I was in the spot I wanted to be, but at the same time I was in a bad spot, with the leader being able to control things how he wants on the restarts,” explained the second generation driver of the double file restarts on Sunday night. “You just have to make do and you really can’t worry about what you do coming off (turn) four, you have to worry about what you do coming off (turn) two. Every time coming off two, I would be right with Steve (Kinser) again.”
Steve Kinser ended up third in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim to earn his series leading 29th Top-Five and 41st Top-10 finish of the season. He began the night by qualifying in the third spot to gain three bonus points in the standings and now trails Saldana by just 30 markers as he chases his record 21st title.
Paul McMahan continued his strong East Coast swing coming home fourth in the Great Clips Maxim to earn his 11th Top-Five finish in the last 14 races.
Jason Meyers, who is currently third in points, finished fifth on Sunday night aboard the GLR Investments KPC. He set fast time to open the night to earn five bonus points in the standings and is currently 57 points behind Saldana as he chases his first series title.
Kraig Kinser finished sixth after starting 12th in the Quaker State Maxim, with Jason Sides seventh in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim. Danny Lasoski came home eighth in the Casey’s General Stores JEI, with Sam Hafertepe Jr. ninth aboard the Lone Star Speedway Maxim. Craig Dollansky rounded out the Top-10 in the Big Game Treestands Maxim coming from the 17th starting spot to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award.
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