Schatz Wins Williams Grove World Of Outlaws Racing At Its Best Friday
Saturday’s winner gets $5,000 bonus for Morgan Cup totaling $17,000 for 30-lap victory
5/17/13
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mechanicsburg – North Dakota’s Donny Schatz was the third and final leader of Friday night’s 25-lap World of Outlaws sprint car feature at Williams Grove Speedway after pulling off a thrilling last corner, last lap pass of Pennsylvania Posse favorite Greg Hodnett after starting in the sixth row.
Schatz took home $8,000 for the victory, the 17th of his career at Williams Grove overall.
If fans didn’t enjoy Friday night’s World of Outlaws event at Williams Grove then they would never enjoy a race as the event showcased dirt sprint car racing at its finest with WoO point leader Daryn Pittman, Paul McMahan and Schatz embroiled in the intense feature competition along with Hodnett and fellow PA Posse pilot and Williams Grove point leader Fred Rahmer.
McMahan started the feature event on the pole and during the first few laps made the race look like a run away over Hodnett and Rahmer but that only lasted about five laps.
That’s when fourth starter Pittman began running down leaders McMahan and Hodnett while Hodnett was heating up the race for command.
For a brief moment Pittman slipped by Hodnett for second in the fourth turn on the eighth tour only to see Hodnett reclaim the spot at the line and it seemed after that the Thomasville driver put his elbows up having been shown the bottom by Pittman.
He quickly finished closing the gap between himself and McMahan and with one big swoop he closed up several car lengths entering the third turn to blast right by McMahan low in turn four and take the lead with 11 laps down.
Shortly afterward the races only caution flag unfurled for a stopped Kerry Madsen in the second corner and Hodnett chose the inside lane for the double file restart flanked by McMahan with Pittman lined up third and Rahmer fourth with 12th starter Schatz up to seventh.
Rahmer rallied when green reappeared, racing Pittman hard into the first corner and back into third as Schatz hugged the inside and ran up to fifth.
A lap later Rahmer got by McMahan for second and the PA fans were feeling proud but then Pittman surged again and took second back from Rahmer with six laps left.
Pittman quickly closed in on Hodnett’s tail tank and began applying heavy pressure for the lead but Rahmer took the spot back with three left and that’s when Schatz seemingly came out of nowhere to spoil everyones party as the front three raced for the win.
Going low in the first and second turns, he motored by both Pittman and Rahmer to take second on the 24th circuit but found Hodnett running his line with the lead.
So, he chased Hodnett down the backchute and blasted the top entering the third turn and when Hodnett entered just a little too hard to hit his marks exiting the fourth turn, Schatz squeezed by on the top side of four and ran off the cushion to eek out the victory.
“I’m damn excited right now,” said Schatz after jumping out of his car.
“That was awesome.”
“Coming through the field, you can’t ask for more than that,” he said.
“I had one option if I wanted to win the race, I had to run up and slam the cushion and try to get a run to get by him,” Schatz said of his strategy in the final pair of turns to get by Hodnett.
Hodnett spoke of his loss at the line.
“The last corner, last lap, I figured I had to keep up some momentum and I gave it away,” he said.
Rahmer too recognized how good the race was for the fans.
“It was a good race. You don’t see many like that. Donny made a hell of a move.”
Hodnett settled for second followed by Rahmer, Pittman and McMahan.
Sixth through 10th went to Brad Sweet, Kraig Kinser, Craig Dollansky, Brent Marks and Sammy Swindell.
Heats for the 46-car field went to Dollansky, Kinser, Kyle Larson and Marks.
Don Kreitz Jr. took the C Main and Chad Kemenah took the B Main. McMahan earned the feature pole by winning the dash.
Fast time was set by Pittman with a lap of 16.534 seconds.
Williams Grove Speedway has added an additional $5,000 to the already posted $12,000 World of Outlaws winner’s share for the Saturday, May 18 program.
The 30-lap Saturday main will now pay a total of $17,000 to the winner, who will claim the Morgan Cup as part of his laurels and the extra $5,000 bonus.
Racing begins at 7:30 pm.
May 17, 2013 Feature Finishes:
410 sprint cars, 25 laps: 1. Donny Schatz, 2. Greg Hodnett, 3. Fred Rahmer, 4. Daryn Pittman, 5. Paul McMahan, 6. Brad Sweet, 7. Kraig Kinser, 8. Craig Dollansky, 9. Brent Marks, 10. Sammy Swindell, 11. Kyle Larson, 12. Joey Saldana, 13. Steve Kinser, 14. Sam Hafertepe Jr., 15. Brian Montieth, 16. Logan Schuchart, 17. David Gravel, 18. Cody Darrah, 19. Chad Layton, 20. Stevie Smith, 21. Danny Dietrich, 22. Pat Cannon, 23. Ryan Smith, 24. Tim Kaeding, 25. Chad Kemenah, 26. Gerard McIntyre Jr., 27. Davey Sammons, 28. Kerry Madsen