Pittman Puts One Away at Royal Purple
BAYTOWN, Texas (February 27, 2016) – Daryn Pittman wasn’t going to let another one get away.
One night after another heart wrenching missed win at Cotton Bowl Speedway, the Owasso, OK, native bounced back by winning Saturday night’s 40-lap World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series feature at Royal Purple Raceway.
This one nearly got away as well though, with Pittman countering a Donny Schatz slider in turns three and four on the 35th round and then racing away over the final handful of circuits to capture the win aboard the KKR with Mike Curb Racing Great Clips No. 9 entry to give the KKR team four wins in five WoO events so far this season.
“It’s a big relief to win this one, I’ve had a lot of races get away lately as a driver,” Pittman commented in victory lane. “These races are hard to win, so when you’re in position and have a good car, you just can’t afford to let them slip away.”
Pittman’s first series win of the year didn’t count as a points win, as equal points for all was declared after a timing and scoring malfunction a dozen cars through qualifying for the 35-car field disrupted the evening. Qualifying was scrapped with heats lined up according to the draw.
After winning the Dash to earn the pole starting position, Pittman outgunned Sheldon Haudenschild for the original lead and then spent much of the race fending off fifth-starter Jason Johnson for the lead.
Slipping from third to fifth in the early rounds, Schatz was on the move. The reigning WoO king battled for position with Shane Stewart much of the way before racing past Johnson for second on the 26th round.
Schatz reeled in Pittman and challenged for the point, momentarily sliding by only to have Pittman power back by on the low side to retain command for the remaining handful of circuits.
Pittman drove away to victory lane with Schatz settling for second. Shane Stewart claimed the third position and current WoO points leader Brad Sweet rallied from 13th to fourth as Johnson rounded out the top five.
Results:
Qualifying – There was no qualifying after the Timing & Scoring systems malfunctioned a dozen cars into time trials.
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 1-Sammy Swindell [2]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [5]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel [3]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [7]; 5. 8M-T.J. Michael [4]; 6. 17X-Dustin Gates [8]; 7. 33M-Jon Agan [6]; 8. 1M-Freddie McCall [9]; 9. 13-Clyde Knipp [1]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 19M-Brent Marks [2]; 2. 17W-Bryan Clauson [1]; 3. 7-Paul McMahan [3]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe [5]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [7]; 6. 17-Josh Baughman [4]; 7. 21T-Ray Kulhanek [6]; 8. 45X-Johny Herrera [9]; 9. W20-Greg Wilson [8]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 2-Shane Stewart [1]; 2. 31B-Sheldon Haudenschild [2]; 3. 2C-Wayne Johnson [3]; 4. 5-David Gravel [5]; 5. 1A-Jacon Allen [4]; 6. 83-Joey Saldana [9]; 7. 82-Dusty Zomer [7]; 8. 19-Klint Angelette [6]; 9. 24-Terry McCarl [8]
Heat 4 – (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 41-Jason Johnson [2]; 2. 9-Daryn Pittman [1]; 3. 7S-Jason Sides [4]; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser [3]; 5. 33-Danny Lasoski [6]; 6. 29-Travis Rilat [5]; 7. 88-Scottie McDonald [7]; 8. 2M-Wes Miller [8]
Dash – (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 8 starting positions of A-feature) – 1. 9-Daryn Pittman [1]; 2. 31B-Sheldon Haudenschild [2]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz [4]; 4. 2-Shane Stewart [6]; 5. 41-Jason Johnson [5]; 6. 17W-Bryan Clauson [3]; 7. 1-Sammy Swindell [8]; 8. 19M-Brent Marks [7]
Last Chance Showdown – (12 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 83-Joey Saldana [3]; 2. 21T-Ray Kulhanek [6]; 3. 29-Travis Rilat [4]; 4. 82-Dusty Zomer [7]; 5. W20-Greg Wilson [14]; 6. 17X-Dustin Gates [1]; 7. 45X-Johny Herrera [10]; 8. 19-Klint Angelette [11]; 9. 88-Scottie McDonald [8]; 10. 33M-Jon Agan [5]; 11. 1M-Freddie McCall [9]; 12. 2M-Wes Miller [12]; 13. 17-Josh Baughman [2]; 14. 13-Clyde Knipp [13]; 15. 24-Terry McCarl [15]
A-Main – (40 Laps) – 1. 9-Daryn Pittman [1] [$10,000]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [3]; 3. 2-Shane Stewart [4]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [13]; 5. 41-Jason Johnson [5]; 6. 5-David Gravel [15]; 7. 17W-Bryan Clauson [6]; 8. 11K-Kraig Kinser [16]; 9. 31B-Sheldon Haudenschild [2]; 10. 83-Joey Saldana [21]; 11. 1S-Logan Schuchart [18]; 12. 87-Aaron Reutzel [9]; 13. 7-Paul McMahan [10]; 14. 7S-Jason Sides [12]; 15. 1-Sammy Swindell [7]; 16. 29-Travis Rilat [23]; 17. 19M-Brent Marks [8]; 18. 1A-Jacon Allen [19]; 19. 8M-T.J. Michael [17]; 20. 21T-Ray Kulhanek [22]; 21. 2C-Wayne Johnson [11]; 22. 33-Danny Lasoski [20]; 23. 82-Dusty Zomer [24]; 24. 15H-Sam Hafertepe [14]. Lap Leaders: Daryn Pittman 1-40. KSE Hard Charger Award: 83-Joey Saldana [+11]
