Pittman by a Nose on Volusia Night Two!
BARBERVILLE, Fla. (February 12, 2015) – The second night of Sprint Car action at Volusia Speedway Park’s DIRTcar Nationals boiled down to a good old-fashioned shootout between Daryn Pittman and Donny Schatz.
The most recent pair of World of Outlaws champions battled it out in side-by-side fashion over the closing laps atop the lightning fast ½-mile clay oval, with Pittman beating Schatz to the stripe by just .078-seconds to win Thursday night’s 30-lap All Star Circuit of Champions main event.
“That was a lot of fun,” Pittman exclaimed after picking up the win in Kasey Kahne’s Great Clips No. 9.
The 2013 World of Outlaws Sprint Car champ rode the high line in the final rounds to fend off Schatz, who rallied from 15th on the low side to nearly steal the win.
“I wasn’t sure about it, but I’m glad we stuck with our line and won it that way,” the Owasso, OK, native explained of his high side heroics.
Starting from the pole, Pittman outgunned fellow front row starter Danny Lasoski at the outset and paced the early rounds with Kerry Madsen making his way past Lasoski for second by the fourth round.
While the leaders worked the low side, Brad Sweet was working the cushion from his seventh starting position, taking second from Madsen by the tenth round and setting sights on KKR teammate Pittman out front.
Sweet reeled in Pittman and raced by for the lead on the 17th lap only to have Pittman return the favor a half lap later in traffic before the race’s first caution flew soon after for a Jason Johnson 360 degree spin along the frontstretch with 21 laps in the books.
Still back in sixth as Pittman and Sweet led the way on the restart, Schatz made a swift move past Greg Hodnett, Lasoski and Madsen to move to third by the time a caution flew for Paul McMahan’s engine woes two laps later.
Schatz pounced on Sweet for second on the restart and the stage was set for the final showdown when the race’s final caution flew with four laps to go when Lasoski spun to a stop in turn one with a pair of punctured front tires after contact.
Moving to the top after Sweet’s earlier advances, Pittman stayed true to the cushion while Schatz worked the bottom that had propelled him to the front. Schatz edged ahead exiting turn two on the final lap, but Pittman carried the momentum of the top side to the finish line to take the hard-earned win.
“Donny raced me clean there, he could have used me up pretty easy if he wanted to,” Pittman said.
Schatz settled for second in the TSR Bad Boy Buggies No. 15, explaining that, “We had a good enough car to win, I probably just didn’t use up enough racetrack. It’s fun to race with Daryn like that, you know he will race you clean.”
Sweet settled for the show position for the second night in a row aboard Kasey Kahne’s Ollie’s Bargain Outlet No. 49, commenting that, “It’s a good start but the real season starts tomorrow, we need to get a couple of spots better.”
Wednesday night winner Greg Hodnett was fourth with Madsen fifth for the second night in a row. Joey Saldana was sixth with David Gravel in seventh. Cody Darrah rounded out a strong night for Kahne’s trio of entries by charging from 23rd to eighth with Jason Sides and Terry McCarl completing the top ten.
Madsen set a quick time of 12.912 seconds in qualifying for the 31-car field with Schatz, McCarl, Kraig Kinser and Pittman winning the heat races. Jason Johnson took the “B” Main win on the final round when race leader Shane Stewart suffered a broken left front hub.
All Star Circuit of Champions – Thursday, February 12, 2015 Results:
Qualifying: 1. 29-Kerry Madsen 12.912, 2. 9-Daryn Pittman 12.992, 3. 2L-Danny Lasoski 13.013, 4. 1z-Lucas Wolfe 13.022, 5. 2-Shane Stewart 13.031, 6. 98h-Dave Blaney 13.039, 7. 51-Paul McMahan 13.066, 8. 49-Brad Sweet 13.072, 9. 27-Greg Hodnett 13.072, 10. 83-David Gravel 13.094, 11. 7s-Jason Sides 13.111, 12. 71m-Joey Saldana 13.123, 13. 59-Danny Holtgraver 13.186, 14. 24-Terry McCarl 13.193, 15. 11k-Kraig Kinser 13.201, 16. 15-Donny Schatz 13.204, 17. 63-Kody Swanson 13.215, 18. 1s-Logan Schuchart 13.223, 19. 45-Tim Shaffer 13.272, 20. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 13.279, 21. 14k-Dale Blaney 13.297, 22. 41-Jason Johnson 13.345, 23. 7-Craig Dollansky 13.376, 24. 10h-Chad Kemenah 13.389, 25. 11-Steve Kinser 13.405, 26. 1a-Jacob Allen 13.407, 27. 77x-Wayne Johnson 13.417, 28. 4s-Danny Smith 13.443, 29. 4-Cody Darrah 13.457, 30. 12-Robbie Stillwaggon 13.496, 31. I07-Steve Buckwalter 13.585.
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz, 2. 59-Danny Holtgraver, 3. 51-Paul McMahan, 4. 83-David Gravel, 5. 29-Kerry Madsen, 6. 1z-Lucas Wolfe, 7. 41-Jason Johnson, 8. 45-Tim Shaffer, 9. 11-Steve Kinser, 10. I07-Steve Buckwalter, 11. 4s-Danny Smith.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 24-Terry McCarl, 2. 63-Kody Swanson, 3. 9-Daryn Pittman, 4. 49-Brad Sweet, 5. 7-Craig Dollansky, 6. 7s-Jason Sides, 7. 2-Shane Stewart, 8. 4-Cody Darrah, 9. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 10. 1a-Jacob Allen.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 11k-Kraig Kinser, 2. 27-Greg Hodnett, 3. 2L-Danny Lasoski, 4. 1s-Logan Schuchart, 5. 71m-Joey Saldana, 6. 98h-Dave Blaney, 7. 14k-Dale Blaney, 8. 12-Robbie Stillwaggon, 9. 10h-Chad Kemenah. DNS: 77x-Wayne Johnson.
Dash (6 Laps): 1. 9-Daryn Pittman, 2. 2L-Danny Lasoski, 3. 29-Kerry Madsen, 4. 51-Paul McMahan, 5. 98h-Dave Blaney, 6. 1z-Lucas Wolfe.
“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 11-Steve Kinser, 3. 4-Cody Darrah, 4. 12-Robbie Stillwaggon, 5. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 6. 45-Tim Shaffer, 7. 77x-Wayne Johnson, 8. 1a-Jacob Allen, 9. 4s-Danny Smith, 10. 2-Shane Stewart. DNS: 14k-Dale Blaney, 10h-Chad Kemenah, i07-Steve Buckwalter.
“A” Main (30 Laps): 1. 9-Daryn Pittman (1), 2. 15-Donny Schatz (15), 3. 49-Brad Sweet (7), 4. 27-Greg Hodnett (8), 5. 29-Kerry Madsen (3), 6. 71m-Joey Saldana (11), 7. 83-David Gravel (9), 8. 4-Cody Darrah (23), 9. 7s-Jason Sides (10), 10. 24-Terry McCarl (13), 11. 98h-Dave Blaney (5), 12. 41-Jason Johnson (20), 13. 1s-Logan Schuchart (17), 14. 11k-Kraig Kinser (14), 15. 59-Danny Holtgraver (12), 16. 63-Kody Swanson (16), 17. 12-Robbie Stillwaggon (24), 18. 2L-Danny Lasoski (2), 19. 1z-Lucas Wolfe (6), 20. 11-Steve Kinser (22), 21. 51-Paul McMahan (4), 22. 7-Craig Dollansky (21), 23. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr. (19), 24. 45-Tim Shaffer (18).
Lap leaders: Daryn Pittman 1-16, Brad Sweet 17, Pittman 18-30.
