Schatz Stays Hot in Cali
CALISTOGA, Cal. (April 12, 2015) – The California swing has been a good one for Donny Schatz, as the reigning World of Outlaws champion raced to his fourth win in nine California starts and fifth overall series win of the year in Sunday night’s 25-lap main event at Calistoga Speedway.
Schatz raced into the lead at the midway point and then survived a challenge from early leader Craig Dollansky after a lap 17 caution to pick up the win aboard the TSR Bad Boy Buggies No. 15.
“The bottom came in a little quicker than I expected, Jason (Sides) actually showed it to me there,” Schatz said of a lap 11 “Double down” challenge for second. “Our car just got better and better, this team just makes phenomenal decisions and it pays off.”
After starting from the pole position, Schatz chased fellow front row starter Dollansky in the early rounds. After Dollansky opened up a 3.5 second advantage in the opening six rounds, Schatz began closing the gap with Sides working past Joey Saldana and Shane Stewart on the low side to move up to third.
With Schatz nearing Dollansky’s tailtank, Sides poked his nose underneath Schatz in turns one and two in the race for second. Schatz wasted no time moving to the bottom of one and two and then took advantage of a Dollansky bobble off of turn two on the 13th lap to take command.
Slipping to third after that bobble, Dollansky battled back up to second and actually edged ahead of Schatz momentarily on the backstretch on a lap 18 restart.
While Dollansky was fast on the top side of one and two, Schatz was fast all the way around the big half-mile clay oval and ultimately slipped over the final five laps to put the win away.
Sides moved in to challenge Dollansky for second, nipping him at the line to take runner-up honors.
“I think we had a tire going down a little bit, so it took a couple laps or so after the restarts to get going,” Sides explained. “The longer it went, the better we were.”
Dollansky settled for third with Shane Stewart in fourth, while Kerry Madsen made a late move around David Gravel to round out the top five.
The Vitals…
Series: World of Outlaws Sprint Cars
Track: Calistoga Speedway (Calistoga, CA)
Car Count: 35
Quick Time: The 4th out among the field of 35, David Gravel set the standard of 16.799 seconds with next car out Shane Stewart second-quick. With the track falling off quickly, only four drivers (Donny Schatz, Jason Meyers, Bud Kaeding and Carson Macedo) that timed 17th or later made it into the 16-car invert.
Heat Winners (starting position in parentheses): Donny Schatz (2), Craig Dollansky (2), Bud Kaeding (1), Jason Meyers (2).
Notable Heat Race Moments: Trey Starks got the worst of a slide-job war with Cody Darrah in the first heat, getting upside down after contact and was done for the night. Dominic Scelzi battled his way past Kyle Hirst for the fifth and final transfer in the third heat. Logan Schuchart outlasted Kevin Swindell for what appeared to be the final transfer in the final heat, but both made the cut when D.J. Netto popped a right rear tire on the final lap.
“B” Main Winner (starting position in parentheses): Kyle Hirst (5).
B Moments: Hirst chased down Darrah in late traffic and made a last lap pass on the top side of turns one and two to take the win while Netto battled past Jojo Helberg in the closing rounds to advance to the main event.
“A” Main Cautions: Three
Lap 13 – Willie Croft rolled to a stop in four.
Lap 13 restart – Rico Abreu and Paul McMahan tangle on the backstretch battling for tenth. Both were done for the night, with the caution erasing a Shane Stewart rally from fifth to second on the restart.
Lap 17 – Austen Wheatley spins to a stop on the inner berm in turn four.
“A” Main Hard Charger: Logan Schuchart rallied forward 11 positions from 19th to eighth.
Best Supporting Role: The two-barrel non-wing Joe Hunt Magneto Sprint Cars put on entertaining feature with Colton Slack coming away with the victory although Joe Stornetta stole the show with some Hockett-esque sliders along the way.
The Box Score…
Qualifying: 1. 83-David Gravel 16.799, 2. 2-Shane Stewart 16.859, 3. 71m-Joey Saldana 19.999, 4. 7s-Jason Sides 17.132, 5. 9-Cody Darrah 17.167, 6. 29-Kerry Madsen 17.221, 7. 24-Rico Abreu 17.359, 8. 7h-Jojo Helberg 17.365, 9. 15-Donny Schatz 17.441, 10. 7-Craig Dollansky 17.463, 11. 31c-Justyn Cox 17.509, 12. 41-Jason Meyers 17.643, 13. 3c-Jonathan Allard 17.804, 14. 49-Brad Sweet 17.926, 15. 0-Bud Kaeding 17.978, 16. 21x-Carson Macedo 18.101, 17. 29w-Willie Croft 18.121, 18. 51-Paul McMahan 18.143, 19. 41x-Dominic Scelzi 18.159, 20. 1s-Logan Schuchart 18.176, 21. 55-Trey Starks 18.181, 22. 11k-Kraig Kinser 18.275, 23. 35m-Kyle Hirst 18.400, 24. 88n-D.J. Netto 18.401, 25. 98-Matt Jensen 18.448, 26. 3F-Geoff Ensign 18.575, 27. 37-Mitchell Faccinto 18.627, 28. 83jr-Kevin Swindell 18.627, 29. 94-Gordon Rogers 18.796, 30. 69-Brent Kaeding 18.853, 31. 1a-Jacob Allen 18.861, 32. 25-Bobby McMahan 19.251, 33. 44w-Austen Wheatley 19.450, 34. 12x-Jarrett Soares 20.366, 35. 68-Chase Johnson 29.964.
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz, 2. 83-David Gravel, 3. 3c-Jonathan Allard, 4. 29w-Willie Croft, 5. 44w-Austen Wheatley, 6. 9-Cody Darrah, 7. 98-Matt Jensen, 8. 55-Trey Starks, 9. 94-Gordon Rogers (DNS).
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 7-Craig Dollansky, 2. 29-Kerry Madsen, 3. 49-Brad Sweet, 4. 2-Shane Stewart, 5. 51-Paul McMahan, 6. 11k-Kraig Kinser, 7. 69-Brent Kaeding, 8. 12x-Jarrett Soares, 9. 3f-Geoff Ensign.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 0-Bud Kaeding, 2. 24-Rico Abreu, 3. 71m-Joey Saldana, 4. 31c-Justyn Cox, 5. 41x-Dominic Scelzi, 6. 35m-Kyle Hirst, 7. 37-Mitchell Faccinto, 8. 1a-Jacob Allen.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Meyers, 2. 21x-Carson Macedo, 3. 7s-Jason Sides, 4. 1s-Logan Schuchart, 5. 83jr-Kevin Swindell, 6. 7h-Jojo Helberg, 7. 25-Bobby McMahan, 8. 88n-D.J. Netto.
Dash (6 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz, 2. 7-Craig Dollansky, 3. 2-Shane Stewart, 4. 7s-Jason Sides, 5. 71m-Joey Saldana, 6. 41-Jason Meyers, 7. 83-David Gravel, 8. 0-Bud Kaeding.
“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 35m-Kyle Hirst, 2. 9-Cody Darrah, 3. 11k-Kraig Kinser, 4. 88n-D.J. Netto, 5. 7h-Jojo Helberg, 6. 69-Brent Kaeding, 7. 37-Mitchell Faccinto, 8. 25-Bobby McMahan, 9. 3f-Geoff Ensign, 10. 98-Matt Jensen, 11. 55-Trey Starks (DNS), 12. 1a-Jacob Allen (DNS), 13. 68-Chase Johnson (DNS).
“A” Main (25 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz (1), 2. 7s-Jason Sides (3), 3. 7-Craig Dollansky (2), 4. 2-Shane Stewart (4), 5. 29-Kerry Madsen (10), 6. 83-David Gravel (7), 7. 71m-Joey Saldana (5), 8. 1s-Logan Schuchart (19), 9. 49-Brad Sweet (14), 10. 41-Jason Meyers (6), 11. 3c-Jonathan Allard (12), 12. 21x-Carson Macedo (15), 13. 0-Bud Kaeding (8), 14. 9-Cody Darrah (9), 15. 31c-Justyn Cox (12), 16. 35m-Kyle Hirst (21), 17. 88n-D.J. Netto (22), 18. 44w-Austen Wheatley (24), 19. 83jr-Kevin Swindell (23), 20. 41x-Dominic Scelzi (18), 21. 24-Rico Abreu (11), 22. 51-Paul McMahan (17), 23. 29w-Willie Croft (16), 24. 11k-Kraig Kinser (20).
Lap leaders: Craig Dollansky 1-12, Donny Schatz 13-25.
