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Rolling Right Along: Schatz Wins at Clay County to Earn 14th Victory of 2008

SPENCER, IA (Sept 10) — Donny Schatz may not have led the most laps on Wednesday night at Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer, Iowa, but he led the most important ones, the last four as he edged his teammate Kraig Kinser to pick up his 14th Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature win of the season. His car got faster as the 30-lap event wore on, which went green-to-checkers non-stop.

On the 27th lap while running third, Schatz dove under Kinser who was leading and also second-place runner Joey Saldana to take the lead in lapped traffic exiting the second turn, as the trio charged down the back straightaway. By the time they reached turns three and four, Schatz was in command en route to the $10,000 win which was the 84th A-Feature triumph of his Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series career, as he led a one-two finish for Tony Stewart Racing.

“It was a good night for us and we needed that,” said the winner. “It’s bittersweet to have to beat your teammate, but it is racing. My job is to win and his job is to win. It’s pretty cool to have a TSR (Tony Stewart Racing) one-two night. I’m pretty sure the boss will be happy tonight. I’ll let those guys call him and maybe we all won’t be in trouble tomorrow.”

Kinser started on the pole and led from the drop of the green flag, with Brian Brown and Saldana chasing him early on. The leaders were in lapped traffic by just the sixth lap and would have to negotiate it for the majority of the 30-lap contest. Traffic would give first Saldana a chance to close in on Kinser and then Schatz.

“It’s fun racing in lapped traffic,” Schatz said with a smile. “Kraig (Kinser) was doing a hell of a job. I guess when you are in second, you are sitting in the cat bird’s seat in that situation. I was good on the bottom and the top and his car just wouldn’t stay on the bottom. I went where they weren’t and I went on the bottom and they got bottled up. It got me a good run and I was able to get by them.”

Schatz, aboard the Armor All J&J, fell back to fifth near the halfway point of the race, as Jason Meyers shot around him. He would battle back, and at one point, went three-wide into the second turn with Meyers and Brian Brown as the trio battled for the third spot. Meyers took the position with Schatz getting around Brown to move into fourth. Just a couple of laps later, Meyers was held up by a lapped car, giving Schatz the opening he needed to dive under him to move into third exiting turn two. He then began to track down the lead pair.

“You don’t give up,” Schatz pointed out. “Sometimes you have to lose some to gain some. When your car is decent you can lose that spot and when you get back by easily you know you have a decent car. We just kept on trucking and we had to run those guys down. The race was definitely different at the end than it was at the beginning. You have to keep the car underneath you and this is where these guys do wonders with my race cars. I would have liked to have seen 40 laps, but all it took us was 30. I’m just glad to get a victory.”

With less than 10 laps to go, Kinser had pulled away to a slight lead, but impending traffic gave Saldana and Schatz the opportunity they needed to battle for the win. Schatz took full advantage of this as he was able to get around both drivers ahead of him while in traffic.

“You had a good caliber of cars here,” said Schatz, who is a North Dakota native. “There weren’t a ton of cars, but the ones that were here are not guys that cause a lot of drama. They just go out and race and that’s good to see. It’s fun to go out and not have to play the yellow game. That’s part of racing. The yellows have helped us win some races, but all in all we feel we are better off without them. “

Kinser led the first 26 laps of the race in his first career start at Clay County Fair Speedway en route to his fifth consecutive Top-10 finish aboard the Bass Pro Shops Maxim. After Schatz took the lead from him, he battled his teammate back by using the high side of the track.

“It was a good night for the team,” said Kinser. “It feels good to get to second, but even with a teammate ahead of you, it still stings. We had a good car tonight and they had a good car as well. “

Saldana lined up fourth for the main event and got around Schatz on the opening lap to move into third. He then battled Brian Brown for a number of laps before taking over the second spot. After closing in on Kraig Kinser several times during the race and battling him for the lead when Schatz slipped underneath the pair, Saldana wound up third in the Budweiser/Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI to earn his 29th Top-Five finish of the season.

“It was a good run for us,” said Saldana. “We have struggled the last few races since we won at Skagit (Speedway). It was nice to come here and get on a really good race track that we were able to race on. We worked on our car all night and were pretty solid. We were second quick and were second in our heat and then advanced in the dash. We put ourselves in a good position. We got a little free at the end of the night. We were fast enough to win”

Jason Meyers wound up fourth in the GLR Investments KPC, after setting a new track record to begin the night in time trials.

Brian Brown was fifth in the SuperClean Maxim, with Paul McMahan in sixth driving the Casey’s General Store Maxim. Sam Hafertepe Jr. was seventh in the Fusion Energy Boost J&J, with Terry McCarl in eighth piloting the Big Game Treestands Maxim. Jac Haudenschild lined up 17th and finished ninth to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award aboard the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim. Kerry Madsen rounded out the Top-10 in the TK Concrete Maxim.

Like Schatz, Kinser was not surprised that the race went green-to-checkers without any interruptions. Late in the race he was battling a couple of cars very hard trying to put them a lap down, as he chased his second win of the season.

“Traffic tonight was our Achilles heel,” explained the third generation driver. “I got to traffic first and they were able to close in there. I wish I would have gotten to the bottom sooner, but it was still a very good run.”

Kinser began the night by winning the first heat race in his debut at the 3/8-mile. He followed that up with his second win of the season in the Crane Cams Dash to earn a pole position. He will visit two more tracks this weekend for the first time in his career as the World of Outlaws continue a busy string in the Midwest that will see them compete four times in a five day period.

“You run with the Outlaws so much that you get used to running at all kinds of different tracks,” he shared. “We really never see the same track twice very often. A lot of it just goes back to experience. I have raced on a lot of different tracks over the years.”

Saldana earned his second consecutive podium finish at Clay County Fair Speedway as he looks to break into the winner’s circle at the 3/8-mile located in Northwest Iowa. With another capacity crowd in attendance, Saldana was thrilled that the fans got to see such a good race, which was promoted by fellow driver Craig Dollansky and his wife Julie, who originally is from Spencer, Iowa.

“The track was really racy last season as well,” said Saldana. “It’s very well lit and a good racing surface and often when you have that you have less caution flags. There was a good turn out and some great fans here. Hopefully we come back here again.”

The Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series returns to action on Friday, September 12 at U.S. 36 Raceway for the Third Annual Missouri High-Banked Nationals.

CLAY COUNTY FAIR SPEEDWAY NOTEBOOK

• FAST QUALIFIER: Jason Meyers paced the 28 cars that took time with a record setting AMB i.t. timed lap around the semi-banked 3/8-mile oval at 13.437 seconds at 100.409 mph. For his qualifying effort, Meyers earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Joey Saldana (4), Danny Lasoski (3), Sam Hafertepe Jr. (2), and Terry McCarl (1).


• QUALIFYING WINNERS: Kraig Kinser, Paul McMahan and Brian Brown won heat races… Kraig Kinser won the Crane Cams Dash...Jac Haudenschild won the B-Main.

• UP NEXT: The Missouri High-Banked Nationals at U.S. 36 Raceway in Missouri on Friday, September 12.

• UPCOMING EVENTS: A stop at Heartland Park Topeka in Kansas on Saturday, September 13 and the series inaugural visit to Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri on Sunday, September 14.

Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Clay County Fair Speedway; Spencer, IA; September 10, 2008

Qualifying
1) 14-Jason Meyers 13.437
2) 9-Joey Saldana 13.469
3) 33-Danny Lasoski 13.548
4) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 13.560
5) 24-Terry McCarl 13.605
6) 55-Kerry Madsen 13.618
7) 8K-Chad Kemenah 13.642
8) 6-Paul McMahan 13.649
9) 15-Donny Schatz 13.655
10) 20-Kraig Kinser 13.684
11) 2-Craig Dollansky 13.699
12) 21X-Brian Brown 13.700
13) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 13.710
14) 11-Steve Kinser 13.711
15) 7S-Jason Sides 13.727
16) 5C-Chad Hillier 13.750
17) R19-Jac Haudenschild 13.751
18) 5-Brooke Tatnell 13.773
19) 21-Daryn Pittman 13.779
20) 5Z-Dusty Zomer 13.827
21) 9P-Rager Phillips 14.052
22) 22-Billy Alley 14.091
23) 23W-Scott Winters 14.106
24) 4W-Matt Wasmund 14.125
25) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. 14.183
26) 7K-Justin Zimmerman 14.240
27) 33X-Gordy Vogelaar 14.382
28) 29-Russ Hall 14.910

Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 20-Kraig Kinser
2) 8K-Chad Kemenah
3) 14-Jason Meyers
4) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.
5) 5W-Lucas Wolfe
6) 21-Daryn Pittman
7) 5C-Chad Hillier
8) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.
9) 29-Russ Hall
10) 22-Billy Alley

Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 6-Paul McMahan
2) 9-Joey Saldana
3) 2-Craig Dollansky
4) 24-Terry McCarl
5) 11-Steve Kinser
6) 23W-Scott Winters
7) 5Z-Dusty Zomer
8) 7K-Justin Zimmerman
9) R19-Jac Haudenschild

Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 21X-Brian Brown
2) 15-Donny Schatz
3) 55-Kerry Madsen
4) 33-Danny Lasoski
5) 7S-Jason Sides
6) 5-Brooke Tatnell
7) 9P-Rager Phillips
8) 33X-Gordy Vogelaar
9) 4W-Matt Wasmund

Crane Cams Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) 20-Kraig Kinser
2) 21X-Brian Brown
3) 15-Donny Schatz
4) 9-Joey Saldana
5) 14-Jason Meyers
6) 6-Paul McMahan
7) 8K-Chad Kemenah
8) 24-Terry McCarl
9) 33-Danny Lasoski
10) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.

B-main (10 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) R19-Jac Haudenschild
2) 5C-Chad Hillier
3) 5Z-Dusty Zomer
4) 4W-Matt Wasmund
5) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.
6) 7K-Justin Zimmerman
7) 29-Russ Hall [$0]
8) 9P-Rager Phillips [$0]
9) 22-Billy Alley [$175]
10) 33X-Gordy Vogelaar [$160]

A-main (30 laps) - Starting Position [#]
1) 15-Donny Schatz[3] [$10,000]
2) 20-Kraig Kinser[1] [$5,500]
3) 9-Joey Saldana[4] [$3,200]
4) 14-Jason Meyers[5] [$2,800]
5) 21X-Brian Brown[2] [$2,500]
6) 6-Paul McMahan[6] [$2,300]
7) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[10] [$2,200]
8) 24-Terry McCarl[8] [$2,100]
9) R19-Jac Haudenschild[17] [$2,050]
10) 55-Kerry Madsen[11] [$2,000]
11) 33-Danny Lasoski[9] [$1,500]
12) 8K-Chad Kemenah[7] [$1,200]
13) 7S-Jason Sides[15] [$1,100]
14) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[13] [$1,050]
15) 11-Steve Kinser[14] [$1,000]
16) 2-Craig Dollansky[12] [$900]
17) 21-Daryn Pittman[19] [$800]
18) 5-Brooke Tatnell[18] [$800]
19) 5C-Chad Hillier[16] [$800]
20) 5Z-Dusty Zomer[20] [$800]
21) 9P-Rager Phillips[26] [$800]
22) 29-Russ Hall[24] [$800]
23) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.[22] [$800]
24) 4W-Matt Wasmund[21] [$800]
25) 23W-Scott Winters[25] [$200]
26) 7K-Justin Zimmerman[23] [$180]

Note- Russ Hall and Rager Phillips made the A-Feature as the first and second alternates, after Scott Winters and Justin Zimmerman scratched from the A-Feature.

Lap leaders: Kraig Kinser 1-26; Donny Schatz 27-30

Chicken Hawk Hot Lap Award: Kraig Kinser
Penske Power Position Award: Joey Saldana
SuperClean Start of the Night Award: Joey Saldana
KSE Hard Charger Award: Jac Haudenschild