9/10/2015
Sprint Source
From His First Victory to his 201st, Donny Schatz Scores Again at Cottage Grove Speedway
The reigning series champion now has 28 wins on the season
COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. - Sept. 9, 2015 - Seventeen years ago at Cottage Grove Speedway, Donny Schatz picked up his first ever World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series victory. Wednesday night at the track, he added to the record books his 201st series win.
"Every one you win is incredible. You never know when it's going to be your last so I'm just enjoying the hell out of it at the moment," Schatz said. "This is the place I got my first win so it's always had a special place in my heart and I'm glad to be able to win here again tonight."
The win came as Schatz battled past Daryn Pittman in his No. 15 Bad Boy Buggies/Chevrolet Performance car on the second lap of the 35-lap feature and held him off through restarts all while effectively maneuvering through traffic.
"You just have to get through there the best that you can," said Schatz, who drives for Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing. "It forces you to change your line up a little bit. A lot of those guys want to be on the bottom so I had to try to run around the top. I just didn't seem to have as much speed there… It was awful snug the whole race and just kept getting better and better and better. That's what we strive for to make the thing better as the race goes on and be as good as we can at the end."
In addition to the win being career number 201, it was also the 28th of the season for Schatz - the most single-season wins of his career.
Pittman, who ended the night in second, started from the feature pole. He and Schatz battled in the opening laps with Pittman blocking him effectively on lap one, but Schatz got by to lead lap two. Through early cautions Pittman kept his No. 9 Great Clips/Sage Fruit car close to Schatz and then as racing got underway and traffic came in to play, Pittman ran down Schatz. Unfortunately for Pittman, a caution flag waved.
"For whatever reason, the first five laps, I was really struggling and just had no grip," Pittman said. "The longer the race went I felt like my car got better. The race was really getting good there before that caution or red there in the middle. We were right there in heavy lap traffic and had a shot but (Donny) doesn't make many mistakes."
Pittman said Cottage Grove has not historically been a good track for him, so he was happy to get the podium finish.
"It was a lot of fun," Pittman said. "You don't want to run second but I haven't had very many fun seconds this year."
Shane Stewart's path to podium was a bit more challenging as he faced off with Brad Sweet and Jason Solwold. Stewart fell back as far as sixth in his No. 2 Eneos/GoPro car in the first ten laps as he faced several restarts.
In front of him was Solwold, who battled to third on a restart four laps earlier. As the two drivers worked to complete lap 13, Stewart got around him to take the position.
By the midway point in the feature, Brad Sweet was on Stewart's tail and the two drivers fought for position.
"Me and Brad had a pretty good race there in the middle of the race and I could see him a couple of times, I just needed to hit my marks around the bottom," Stewart said.
Stewart was able to do that and he brought his car home in third. He said the track is a tough one for him, so he was happy to get a podium finish. This is fourth podium finish in the last five races for Stewart and his Larson Marks Racing team.
"Happy with a podium finish and we'll carry this momentum into Gold Cup and hopefully we can get some wins there and Antioch and on into the East," Stewart said.
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series returns to action Friday and Saturday for the 62nd annual Gold Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif. To find out more information and to learn how to buy tickets, visit http://woosprint.com/gold-cup-race-of-champions.
Follow the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WorldofOutlaws, like it on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WorldofOutlaws, or check out the latest videos on YouTube at www.youtube.com/WorldofOutlaws.
Cottage Grove Speedway Notebook
RACE NOTES: Donny Schatz's win tonight was the 28th World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series victory of the season for him… Donny Schatz's first ever World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series victory came at Cottage Grove on Aug. 24, 1998… Daryn Pittman picked up his second quick time of the season Wednesday after a lap of 10.021… Jared Peterson was the night's KSE Racing Hard Charger, advancing nine positions to finish in ninth.
CONTINGENCY WINNERS - MSD Ignitions ($25 cash): Jason Sides; MSD Ignitions ($50 cash): Donny Schatz; Sweet Manufacturing ($50 cash): Daryn Pittman; Penske Shocks ($50 cash): David Gravel; Mobil 1 ($50 cash): David Gravel; JE Pistons ($50 cash): Kerry Madsen; Lincoln Welders ($50 cash): Kerry Madsen; VP Racing Fuels ($50 cash): David Gravel; Edelbrock ($50 cash): Paul McMahan; Comp Cams ($50 cash): Paul McMahan; Cometic Gasket ($50 cash): Jason Johnson;Super Flow ($50 cash): Kraig Kinser; Sweet Manufacturing ($50 product certificate): Daryn Pittman;KSE Racing Products (No Certificate): Jared Peterson; Comp Cams ($50 product certificate): Donny Schatz;Mobil 1 (20% off Mobil1RacingStore.com): Reece Goetz; JE Pistons (Set of Rings): Allison Journey; JE Pistons (Set of Rings): Robbie Price.
SEASON WINNERS: Donny Schatz - 28 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 14, Stockton Dirt Track on March 21, Silver Dollar Speedway on March 28, Placerville Speedway on April 8, Calistoga Speedway on April 12, Devil's Bowl Speedway on April 26, Eldora Speedway on May 8, Eldora Speedway on May 9, Williams Grove Speedway on May 15, Weedsport Speedway on May 17, The Dirt Track at Charlotte on May 22, Knoxville Raceway on June 13, Huset's Speedway on June 14, Granite City Speedway on June 17, River Cities Speedway on June 19, Dakota State Fair Speedway on June 20, Beaver Dam Raceway on June 27, Lakeside Speedway on July 1, Dodge City Raceway Park on July 4, Cedar Lake Speedway on July 11, Lebanon Valley Speedway on July 26, Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on Aug. 8, Knoxville Raceway on Aug. 15, River Cities Speedway on Aug. 21, Nodak Speedway on Aug. 23, Castrol Raceway on Aug. 28, Grays Harbor Raceway on Sept. 7, Cottage Grove Speedway on Sept. 9); Shane Stewart - 8 (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 5, Keller Auto Speedway on April 17, Salina Highbanks Speedway on May 1, Crawford County Speedway on June 12, Eldora Speedway on July 17, Eldora Speedway on July 18, Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on Aug. 8, Skagit Speedway on Sept. 5); Daryn Pittman - 4 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 13, Antioch Speedway on March 29, New Egypt Speedway on May 19, Castrol Raceway on Aug. 29); Brad Sweet - 3 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 15, Calistoga Speedway on April 11, I-96 Speedway on June 25); Rico Abreu - 2 (Thunderbowl Raceway on March 14, Stockton Dirt Track on March 22); Dale Blaney - 2 (Attica Raceway Park on May 29, Lernerville Speedway on July 21); Paul McMahan - 2 (Perris Auto Speedway on April 18, Tri-State Speedway on May 3); Joey Saldana - 2 (Kokomo Speedway on June 3, Cedar Lake Speedway on July 12); Christopher Bell - 1 (Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on May 2); Brian Brown - 1 (USA Raceway on March 7); Cody Darrah - 1 (Lernerville Speedway on July 21); Danny Dietrich - 1 (Williams Grove Speedway on July 25); Stewart Friesen - 1 (Ohsweken Speedway on July 28); Greg Hodnett - 1 (Lincoln Speedway on May 13); Tim Kaeding - 1 (Thunderbowl Raceway on March 13); Danny Lasoski - 1 (I-80 Speedway on June 5); Kerry Madsen - 1 (Junction Motor Speedway on Aug. 18); Terry McCarl - 1 (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 5); Jason Sides - 1 (Dodge City Raceway Park on July 3); Stevie Smith - 1 (Williams Grove Speedway on July 25).
Submitted By: Ross VanEck