Shane Stewart is Ironman – Collects $20K at I-55

PEVELY, Mo. (August 8, 2015) – Shane Stewart took advantage of a late restart to take the $20,000 winner’s share in Saturday night’s World of Outlaws Ironman 55-lap main event at the Federated Auto Parts I-55 Raceway.

After wrestling the lead away from Donny Schatz on a lap 45 restart, Stewart survived another caution just three laps later to take another lucrative win aboard the Larson-Marks No. 2 to Knoxville after a $50,000 Kings Royal score just three weeks ago.

“You don’t ever give that number 15 a second chance,” Stewart said in victory lane.

That second chance for Schatz came when a final caution flew with just eight laps to go. And Stewart was faced with a mightily difficult decision.

“I kept asking myself, ‘Where do I go, where do I go?” Stewart explained afterward. He ultimately opted for the top side of the track on what proved to be the final restart.

“I was waiting for Schatz to slide me off two and I didn’t see him,” Stewart continued. “It was a gamble, it paid off for us tonight.”

While pole starter and defending Ironman champ Kerry Madsen set the pace in the early going, third-starter Stewart slipped back a couple of positions in the early going.

Stewart battled his way back around Daryn Pittman and Paul McMahan by the midway point before following Schatz past Madsen to move back into second on the 34th lap.

But with Schatz slipping away out front, it almost seemed a certain 23rd win of the season for the current World of Outlaws points leader until James McFadden slowed with a flat left rear tire after 44 laps and an open red flag ensued.

“I’m not sure that we needed that open red,” Schatz said afterward. “We didn’t make any adjustments, but I made that call and maybe we should have. Tomorrow is another race.”

Stewart slid past Schatz for the lead on the restart and then made the right call to retain the lead following one final caution three laps later to preserve the lead and his seventh overall win of the year.

After starting ninth, Rico Abreu was on the move in the closing laps and rallied into the runner-up position by the finish. It was his second runner-up finish of the night after chasing Thomas Meseraull to the line in the POWRi Midget feature.

Schatz settled for third with Paul McMahan and Joey Saldana rounding out the top five.

The Vitals…                                                           

Series: World of Outlaws

Track: Federated Auto Parts I-55 Raceway “Ironman 55” (Pevely, MO)

Car Count: 32

Quick Time: Perpetual quick timer Joey Saldana was the first one out and set the standard at 10.641 seconds.

Heat Winners (starting position in parentheses): Kerry Madsen (2), Brent Marks (1), Brad Loyet (1), Shane Stewart (3).

Heat Moments: Crazy action ensued with the final two heats ranking among the best of the year with sliders galore throughout.

“A” Main Cautions: Two

Lap 4 – Cale Thomas gets into the turn three wall with what proved to be race-ending damage.

Lap 13 – Greg Wilson comes to a stop against the inner wall getting into turn on.

Lap 16 – Brent Marks loses a right rear tire and comes to a stop atop turn four.

Lap 44 – James McFadden slows with a flat left rear tire. The red flag flies for a fuel stop after several laps of pacing.

Lap 47 – Kerry Madsen, leader of the opening 32 rounds, slows with a flat left rear and rejoins after a quick visit to the work area.

“A” Main Hard Charger: Logan Schuchart gets the nod for the second night in a row, this time rallying from 24th after mechanical issues in qualifying to finish eighth in the feature.

The Box Score…

Qualifying: 1. 71M-Joey Saldana, 10.641; 2. 51-Paul McMahan, 10.726; 3. 15-Donny Schatz, 10.788; 4. 9-Daryn Pittman, 10.791; 5. 24-Rico Abreu, 10.804; 6. 7-David Gravel, 10.894; 7. 49-Brad Sweet, 10.917; 8. 2-Shane Stewart, 10.943; 9. 29-Kerry Madsen, 11.049; 10. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 11.059; 11. 3G-James McFadden, 11.087; 12. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg, 11.116; 13. 67-Christopher Bell, 11.135; 14. 19M-Brent Marks, 11.145; 15. O5-Brad Loyet, 11.161; 16. 1A-Jacob Allen, 11.164; 17. 35AU-Jamie Veal, 11.195; 18. 6-Bill Rose, 11.209; 19. 7S-Jason Sides, 11.219; 20. 9X-Paul Nienhiser, 11.255; 21. 41-Jason Johnson, 11.306; 22. 71MX-Paul May, 11.375; 23. W20-Greg Wilson, 11.412; 24. 23D-Trey Datweiler, 11.473; 25. 14T-Jimmy Bridgeman, 11.628; 26. 97-Tommy Worley, 11.658; 27. 17M-Joey Moughan, 11.693; 28. 91-Cale Thomas, 11.748; 29. 52F-Logan Faucon, 11.787; 30. 72-Kevin Petty, 12.258; 31. 99-Kory Weyant, 12.301; 32. 1S-Logan Schuchart, nt

Heat 1 – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 29-Kerry Madsen [2]; 2. 67-Christopher Bell [1]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [3]; 4. 71M-Joey Saldana [4]; 5. 41-Jason Johnson [6]; 6. 35AU-Jamie Veal [5]; 7. 52F-Logan Faucon [8]; 8. 14T-Jimmy Bridgeman [7]

Heat 2 – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 19M-Brent Marks [1]; 2. 51-Paul McMahan [4]; 3. 7-David Gravel [3]; 4. 6-Bill Rose [5]; 5. 11K-Kraig Kinser [2]; 6. 97-Tommy Worley [7]; 7. 71MX-Paul May [6]; 8. 72-Kevin Petty [8]

Heat 3 – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. O5-Brad Loyet [1]; 2. 3G-James McFadden [2]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet [3]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz [4]; 5. W20-Greg Wilson [6]; 6. 17M-Joey Moughan [7]; 7. 7S-Jason Sides [5]; 8. 99-Kory Weyant [8]

Heat 4 – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 2-Shane Stewart [3]; 2. 1A-Jacob Allen [1]; 3. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg [2]; 4. 9-Daryn Pittman [4]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [8]; 6. 91-Cale Thomas [7]; 7. 23D-Trey Datweiler [6]; 8. 9X-Paul Nienhiser [5]

Dash – (8 Laps, finishing order determined first 8 starting positions of A-feature) – 1. 29-Kerry Madsen [1]; 2. 9-Daryn Pittman [3]; 3. 2-Shane Stewart [2]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz [4]; 5. 51-Paul McMahan [5]; 6. 71M-Joey Saldana [6]; 7. 19M-Brent Marks [7]; 8. O5-Brad Loyet [8]

Last Chance Showdown – (12 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 35AU-Jamie Veal [1] [-]; 2. 7S-Jason Sides [2] [-]; 3. 91-Cale Thomas [8] [-]; 4. 23D-Trey Datweiler [4] [-]; 5. 14T-Jimmy Bridgeman [5] [$300]; 6. 97-Tommy Worley [6] [$250]; 7. 17M-Joey Moughan [7] [$225]; 8. 99-Kory Weyant [10] [$200]; 9. 52F-Logan Faucon [9] [$200]; 10. 71MX-Paul May [3] [$200]; 11. 9X-Paul Nienhiser [11] [$200]; 12. 72-Kevin Petty [12] [$200]

A-Main – (55 Laps) – 1. 2-Shane Stewart [3] [$20,000]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu [9] [$6,000]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz [4] [$3,750]; 4. 51-Paul McMahan [5] [$3,250]; 5. 71M-Joey Saldana [6] [$2,750]; 6. 3G-James McFadden [13] [$2,500]; 7. 9-Daryn Pittman [2] [$2,400]; 8. 1S-Logan Schuchart [24] [$2,300]; 9. 49-Brad Sweet [11] [$2,200]; 10. 35AU-Jamie Veal [17] [$2,100]; 11. 29-Kerry Madsen [1] [$1,700]; 12. O5-Brad Loyet [8] [$1,400]; 13. 7-David Gravel [10] [$1,300]; 14. 1A-Jacob Allen [16] [$1,200]; 15. 41-Jason Johnson [20] [$1,100]; 16. 7S-Jason Sides [19] [$1,000]; 17. 11K-Kraig Kinser [12] [$1,000]; 18. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg [14] [$1,000]; 19. 6-Bill Rose [18] [$1,000]; 20. 67-Christopher Bell [15] [$1,000]; 21. 19M-Brent Marks [7] [$1,000]; 22. 23D-Trey Datweiler [22] [$1,000]; 23. W20-Greg Wilson [21] [$1,000]; 24. 91-Cale Thomas [23] [$1,000].

Lap leaders: Kerry Madsen 1-32, Donny Schatz 33-44, Shane Stewart 45-55.