Schatz Overtakes Hodnett And Dewease For Williams Grove Summer Nationals Win
Williams Grove Speedway
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
7/20/13
Mechanicsburg – North Dakota’s Donny Schatz became the third and final leader of the World of Outlaws Summer Nationals for sprint cars at Williams Grove Speedway on Saturday night, taking home a total of $15,000 for an exciting victory including laurels as the 2013 Morgan Cup Champion.
The win was the second in a row this season for Schatz at the track after also taking a victory at the oval in May.
It was a Pennsylvania Posse frenzy for most of the event as polesitter Lance Dewease took the lead over Schatz at the start.
The entire 30-lap event went non-stop with heavy and competitive lapped traffic coming into play in the event.
It was in the midst of hectic traffic on the 12th tour that Dewease was first passed for control by second starter Schatz however the Fayetteville flyer was able to muscle back into the lead before the tour could be completed.
Fourth starter Greg Hodnett drove into third on the third lap and when Dewease and Schatz spent time battling for the lead Hodnett put himself directly in the middle of the battle and took second from Schatz at the halfway mark.
And on the next circuit, he motored by Dewease for the lead and tried to begin stretching out an advantage.
Schatz had other ideas however and after finally getting by Dewease for second with eight laps to go, he set his sights on leader Hodnett.
It took him five laps to erase the margin that Hodnett had built up and on the 26th tour, Hodnett thwarted a Schatz attack in the first corner when he motored the low line through the corners.
But on the next lap he drove in high and that proved to be his undoing as Schatz drove handily underneath and up off of the bottom in the second turn to take final command.
He crossed the finish line .849 seconds ahead of Hodnett for his 18th carrer victory at Williams Grove.
“At one point when Greg got the lead I thought the sting of going from $20,000 to $10,000 (because the Friday show was rained out and the purse turned into a one-day structure) wasn’t going to be as bad,” Schatz said.
“I didn’t think we could win it.”
Hodnett shed some light on why he moved off of the bottom in a move that cost him the win.
“We lost a cylinder with about 10 laps to go and every time I’d slow down it (engine) would load up and crack and pop so I was trying to not load it up and keep my momentum up,” Hodnett said.
Dewease finished in third.
“We weren’t no good from the start of the race,” he said.
“We used up every part of the racetrack we could. We passed a lapped car or two and they decided they’d race back by but that’s all right. I’ll remember it for future reference,” Dewease commented.
Fred Rahmer rode home fourth followed by Craig Dollansky.
Sixth through 10th went to Jason Sides, Danny Dietrich, Brent Marks, Logan Schuchart and Chad Kemenah.
Fast time for the 44-car field was set by Schatz with a lap of 17.927 seconds.
Heats went to Schuchart, Tony Stewart, Kemenah and Marks.
Dewease took the dash while Jacob Allen won the C Main and TJ Stutts took the B Main.
July 20 2013 Feature Finish:
410 sprint cars, 30 laps: 1. Donny Schatz, 2. Greg Hodnett, 3. Lance Dewease, 4. Fred Rahmer, 5. Craig Dollansky, 6. Jason Sides, 7. Danny Dietrich, 8. Brent Marks, 9. Logan Schuchart, 10. Chad Kemenah, 11. Don Kreitz Jr., 12. Doug Esh, 13. Alan Krimes, 14. Tony Stewart, 15. Kraig Kinser, 16. TJ Stutts, 17. Daryn Pittman, 18. Joey Saldana, 19. Sam Hafertepe Jr., 20. Cody Darrah, 21. Gerard McIntyre Jr., 22. Dave Blaney, 23. Paul McMahan, 24. Brian Montieth, 25. David Gravel, 26. Sammy Swindell, 27. James McFadden, 28. Chad Layton
DNQ: Stevie Smith, Steve Buckwalter, Davey Sammons, Adam Wilt, Ryan Smith, Ryan Taylor, Troy Fraker, Kerry Madsen, Brian Leppo, Cory Haas, Jim Siegel, Tim Kaeding, Lucas Wolfe, Steve Kinser, Nicole Bower, Jacob Allen