Story By: ANTHONY CORINI / WORLD OF OUTLAWS – GRAND FORKS, ND – Six days after winning sprint car’s biggest prize – the 5-Hour ENERGY Knoxville Nationals – for the 10th time, Donny Schatz landed in Victory Lane in his home state, twice. Schatz outdueled Brad Sweet to win his 17th feature of the 2017 season at River Cities. To make things sweeter, Schatz also picked up the NLRA Late Model feature earlier in the night.
When asked if he learned anything from winning the 25-lap Late Model feature, Schatz said with a smile, “I learned that I am not in as good of shape as I think I am.”
Sheldon Haudenschild led the first eight laps, in search of his first career World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series victory, before getting loose off of turn two and losing the lead to Brad Sweet. Schatz worked underneath Haudenschild shortly after and was second when the red flag flew for Canadian driver Thomas Kennedy, who was uninjured in the accident, on lap 12.
Sweet led the next three laps before Schatz pulled ahead with grip on the bottom on the 16th circuit. A lap 17 yellow for sixth place running Dominic Scelzi was the final stoppage of the event. Following the caution, Schatz and Sweet continued their duel and were side by side for multiple laps with Sweet being scored as the leader on the 18th lap. Schatz regained the lead on lap 19 and never looked back masterfully maneuvering through lapped traffic.
“It’s a huge weekend for this race team. Speaking of this race team…it is incredible what they do and an honor to drive their race car,” Schatz said.
Sweet settled for second. “The Ollie’s Bargain Outlet car was fast all night. I probably should have ran the bottom, but it’s hard to judge traffic when you are the leader. Donny’s always the guy to beat here, we’ll take our second and move on,” the Grass Valley, CA native said.
Australian Kerry Madsen finished on the podium, thanked his GoMuddy.com team and Guy Forbook for a great race car and praised River Cities Speedway with the statement, “Grand Forks never disappoints.”
Daryn Pittman and Jason Johnson completed the top five. Mark Dobmeier was the KSE Hard Charger coming from 21st to finish sixth.
Saturday night the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series returns to the Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo, ND. The race was originally scheduled for June 17th, but Mother Nature postponed it.
RACE RESULTS FROM : River Cities Speedway – August 18, 2017
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz [5][$10,000]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet [4][$5,500]; 3. 2M-Kerry Madsen [8][$3,200]; 4. 9-Daryn Pittman [7][$2,800]; 5. 41-Jason Johnson [6][$2,500]; 6. 13JT-Mark Dobmeier [21][$2,300]; 7. 4-Paul McMahan [16][$2,200]; 8. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [1][$2,100]; 9. 2-Shane Stewart [3][$2,050]; 10. 5-David Gravel [15][$2,000]; 11. 11K-Kraig Kinser [9][$1,500]; 12. 18-Ian Madsen [14][$1,200]; 13. 7S-Jason Sides [2][$1,100]; 14. 3-Tim Kaeding [18][$1,050]; 15. W20-Greg Wilson [19][$1,000]; 16. 1S-Logan Schuchart [10][$900]; 17. 24-Terry McCarl [24][$800]; 18. 82-Dusty Zomer [13][$800]; 19. 2A-Austin Pierce [23][$800]; 20. 35-Jamie Veal [17][$800]; 21. 9N-Wade Nygaard [20][$800]; 22. 17-Jac Haudenschild [22][$800]; 23. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [11][$800]; 24. 21K-Thomas Kennedy [12][$800];Lap Leaders: Sheldon Haudenschild 1-8; Brad Sweet 9-15, 18; Donny Schatz 16-17, 19-40 KSE Hard Charger Award: 13JT-Mark Dobmeier[+15]
Qualifying Flight-A: 1. 7S-Jason Sides, 9.985; 2. 2M-Kerry Madsen, 9.99; 3. 41-Jason Johnson, 10.002; 4. 15-Donny Schatz, 10.003; 5. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 10.055; 6. 5-David Gravel, 10.188; 7. 82-Dusty Zomer, 10.19; 8. 41S-Dominic Scelzi, 10.215; 9. 35-Jamie Veal, 10.222; 10. W20-Greg Wilson, 10.243; 11. 17-Jac Haudenschild, 10.257; 12. 13JT-Mark Dobmeier, 10.276; 13. 13-Clyde Knipp, 10.293; 14. 24-Terry McCarl, 10.303; 15. 26-Tayler Malsam, 10.408; 16. 8-Casey Mack, 10.412; 17. 19-Brent Marks, 10.426; 18. O-Nick Omdahl, 10.582; 19. 26X-Blake Egeland, 11.175
Qualifying Flight-B: 1. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 10.056; 2. 2-Shane Stewart, 10.063; 3. 49-Brad Sweet, 10.079; 4. 9-Daryn Pittman, 10.087; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 10.198; 6. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, 10.22; 7. 18-Ian Madsen, 10.222; 8. 4-Paul McMahan, 10.23; 9. 3-Tim Kaeding, 10.322; 10. 9N-Wade Nygaard, 10.353; 11. 19P-Paige Polyak, 10.362; 12. 2A-Austin Pierce, 10.426; 13. 6N-Greg Nikitenko, 10.433; 14. 1A-Jacob Allen, 10.5; 15. 8H-Jade Hastings, 10.599; 16. 7T-Trent Stengl, 10.601; 17. 20A-Jordan Adams, 10.708; 18. 8B-Jack Croaker, 10.838; 19. 99-Jordan Graham, 10.866; 20. 14-Tom Egeland, 11.707
Heat #1 – Flight (A) (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer 1. 7S-Jason Sides [1]; 2. 41-Jason Johnson [2]; 3. 11K-Kraig Kinser [3]; 4. 82-Dusty Zomer [4]; 5. 35-Jamie Veal [5]; 6. 13-Clyde Knipp [7]; 7. 19-Brent Marks [9]; 8. 17-Jac Haudenschild [6]; 9. 26-Tayler Malsam [8]; 10. 26X-Blake Egeland [10]
Heat #2 – Flight (A) (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer 1. 15-Donny Schatz [2]; 2. 2M-Kerry Madsen [1]; 3. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [4]; 4. 5-David Gravel [3]; 5. W20-Greg Wilson [5]; 6. 8-Casey Mack [8]; 7. 13JT-Mark Dobmeier [6]; 8. 24-Terry McCarl [7]; 9. O-Nick Omdahl [9]
Heat #3 – Flight (B) (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer 1. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [1]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet [2]; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart [3]; 4. 18-Ian Madsen [4]; 5. 3-Tim Kaeding [5]; 6. 6N-Greg Nikitenko [7]; 7. 8H-Jade Hastings [8]; 8. 20A-Jordan Adams [9]; 9. 19P-Paige Polyak [6]; 10. 99-Jordan Graham [10]
Heat #4 – Flight (B) (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer 1. 2-Shane Stewart [1]; 2. 9-Daryn Pittman [2]; 3. 21K-Thomas Kennedy [3]; 4. 4-Paul McMahan [4]; 5. 9N-Wade Nygaard [5]; 6. 2A-Austin Pierce [6]; 7. 8B-Jack Croaker [9]; 8. 1A-Jacob Allen [7]; 9. 7T-Trent Stengl [8]; 10. 14-Tom Egeland [10]
Craftsman Club Dash (8 Laps) 1. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [2]; 2. 7S-Jason Sides [1]; 3. 2-Shane Stewart [4]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [6]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz [3]; 6. 41-Jason Johnson [5]; 7. 9-Daryn Pittman [8]; 8. 2M-Kerry Madsen [7]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer 1. 13JT-Mark Dobmeier [3][-]; 2. 17-Jac Haudenschild [1][-]; 3. 2A-Austin Pierce [4][-]; 4. 24-Terry McCarl [7][-]; 5. 8H-Jade Hastings [10][$300]; 6. 6N-Greg Nikitenko [6][$250]; 7. 7T-Trent Stengl [12][$225]; 8. 26-Tayler Malsam [9][$200]; 9. 13-Clyde Knipp [5][$200]; 10. 8-Casey Mack [11][$200]; 11. 1A-Jacob Allen [8][$200]; 12. 19P-Paige Polyak [2][$200]
C-Main (10 Laps) – Top 2 Transfer 1. 8-Casey Mack [1][-]; 2. 7T-Trent Stengl [2][-]; 3. 20A-Jordan Adams [4][$150]; 4. 19-Brent Marks [3][$150]; 5. O-Nick Omdahl [5][$150]; 6. 99-Jordan Graham [8][$125]; 7. 8B-Jack Croaker [6][$125]; 8. 26X-Blake Egeland [7][$125]; 9. 14-Tom Egeland [9][$125]
CONTINGENCY WINNERS: MSD Ignitions ($25 cash): Jac Haudenschild; MSD Ignitions ($50 cash): Donny Schatz; JE Pistons ($50 cash): Jason Johnson; VP Racing Fuels ($50 cash): Sheldon Haudenschild; Edelbrock ($50 cash): Shane Stewart; Comp Cams ($50 cash): David Gravel; Extended Stay America ($50 cash): Kraig Kinser; Cometic Gasket ($50 cash): Jason Sides; Super Flow ($50 cash): Tim Kaeding; Craftsman Club Fast Five ($100 cash): Sheldon Haudenschild, Jason Sides, Brad Sweet, Shane Stewart, Jason Johnson; Craftsman/Sears: Kerry Madsen; KSE Hard Charger: Mark Dobmeier; Comp Cams ($50 product certificate): Donny Schatz; JE Pistons (Set of Rings): Logan Schuchart; JE Pistons: Wade Nygaard