Determined Sprint Car Community Overcomes Mother Nature
ROSSBURG, Ohio (May 9, 2015) – Donny Schatz swept the ‘Mother of All Sprint Car Weekends’ by winning both Friday and Saturday’s World of Outlaws (WoO) Sprint Car races and Justin Grant made a last lap pass to win the United States Auto Club (USAC) Sprint Car race at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
It was Schatz’s eighth World of Outlaws victory in 2015 as he led all 30 laps after starting from the pole.
“I don’t know if we dominated, but we have a great race team,” Schatz said. “These guys do a phenomenal job every time we hit the track. Thanks to the fans for sticking with us. The weather was iffy and I didn’t think we were going to get it in. Hats off to everybody for sticking with it.”
Schatz last won at Eldora at the Kings Royal in July 2009, but came back to dominate winning both Friday’s and Saturday’s race. Gary Taylor was second, while Paul McMahan, Joey Saldana and Kerry Madsen rounded out the top-five.
“We love winning at Eldora, so to get two wins here is awesome,” Schatz said. “The track was so good. You could carry so much speed and the times were way down. I don’t remember the last time you could run around that fast through the feature. We got to watch the non-wing race too and the guy won it on the last lap with a slide job, so that was pretty cool to see.”
Grant was that guy as he passed C.J. Leary on the last lap to win the USAC Sprint Car race. It was Grant’s third career USAC Sprint Car win and a heartbreaker for Leary who is still seeking his first victory.
As they took the white flag, Grant went low, while Leary went high as they both passed a lapped car. Grant slid ahead in turn one and led the rest of the lap to take the win. Leary led the other 29 laps after starting on the pole.
“After the first five laps, I knew our car was better,” Grant said. “I was trying to not mess anything up and we got an opening as he got caught in lapped traffic. I figured we are going to win this thing or end up in a big ball down in turn one. It all worked out.”
Following Leary in third place was Tracy Hines, while Aaron Farney and Robert Ballou rounded out the top-five. Ballou won Friday night’s USAC Sprint car race.
“This is awesome,” Grant said. “I wanted to win a USAC race here forever. C.J. did an awesome job. You want to be heartbroken for him, as long as you’re not the one that beat him.”
The next event at Eldora Speedway is the always exciting Family Fireworks Night featuring the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds and a double feature for the Eldora Stocks.
In addition to the exciting racing, there are Bounce Houses, balloon twisting clowns and an autograph session. After the race, there is a fireworks extravaganza, the largest in Eldora Speedway history. Gates open at 5 p.m., with hot laps at 6:30 p.m. and the racing starting at 7:30 p.m.
Kids 12 and under are free, while for those over the age of 13 tickets are just $8.
USAC National Sprint Cars
Qualifying – 1. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-16.432; 2. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-16.544; 3. Tracy Hines, 4, THR-16.834; 4. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-17.051; 5. Brandon Whited, 15, Whited-17.063; 6. Chris Windom, 21x, Pollock-17.206; 7. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-17.224; 8. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-17.375; 9. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-17.408; 10. Dallas Hewitt, 16, Hewitt-17.451; 11. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-17.498; 12. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-17.511; 13. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-17.600; 14. Kevin Thomas Jr., 17RW, Dutcher-17.684; 15. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-17.737; 16. Landon Simon, 24, LSR-17.741; 17. Adam Cruea, 83, Cruea-17.802; 18. Daron Clayton, 66, Amati-17.835; 19. Tyler Hewitt, 24p, Paul-17.916; 20. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-18.020; 21. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-NT.
Heat 1 – (8 laps) – 1. Simon, 2. Grant, 3. Stockon, 4. D.Hewitt, 5. Stanbrough, 6. Swanson, 7. T.Hewitt.
Heat 2 – (8 laps) – 1. Thomas, 2. Leary, 3. Darland, 4. Farney, 5. Cruea, 6. Whited, 7. Bell.
Heat 3 – (8 laps) – 1. Ballou, 2. Clayton, 3. Windom, 4. Hines, 5. Bacon, 6. Goodnight.
A-Feature – (30 laps) – 1. Justin Grant, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Tracy Hines, 4. Aaron Farney, 5. Robert Ballou, 6. Dave Darland, 7. Jon Stanbrough, 8. Brady Bacon, 9. Chase Stockon, 10. Kevin Thomas Jr., 11. Chris Windom, 12. Dallas Hewitt, 13. Landon Simon, 14. Kody Swanson, 15. Adam Cruea, 16. Brandon Whited, 17. Tyler Hewitt, 18. Robert Bell, 19. Matt Goodnight, 20. Daron Clayton, 21. Jerry Coons, Jr.
Lap Leaders: 1-29 Leary, Lap 30 Grant.
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World of Outlaws Sprint Cars
Qualifying – 1. 24-Rico Abreu, 12.989; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.006; 3. 1-Dale Blaney, 13.029; 4. 1ST-Gary Taylor, 13.032; 5. 71M-Joey Saldana, 13.047; 6. 9-Daryn Pittman, 13.072; 7. 7S-Jason Sides, 13.079; 8. 29-Kerry Madsen, 13.097; 9. 7-David Gravel, 13.118; 10. 41-Jamie Veal, 13.136; 11. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.141; 12. 5T-Travis Philo, 13.141; 13. 51-Paul McMahan, 13.153; 14. 67-Christopher Bell, 13.170; 15. 99-Brady Bacon, 13.179; 16. 2-Shane Stewart, 13.187; 17. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 13.198; 18. 83-Craig Dollansky, 13.215; 19. 89-Cody Darrah, 13.229; 20. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.266; 21. 9K-Kevin Thomas Jr, 13.266; 22. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.277; 23. 63-Kody Swanson, 13.294; 24. 59-Danny Holtgraver, 13.316; 25. 19-Paige Polyak, 13.322; 26. 21-D.J. Foos, 13.330; 27. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.332; 28. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 13.348; 29. 2M-Dustin Daggett, 13.468; 30. 55F-Taylor Ferns, 13.473; 31. 71MX-Paul May, 13.516; 32. 11-Steve Kinser, 13.569; 33. 9P-Parker Price-Miller, 13.593; 34. 11N-Randy Hannagan, 13.650
Heat 1 – (8 Laps) – 1. 51-Paul McMahan [1]; 2. 71M-Joey Saldana [3]; 3. 7-David Gravel [2]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu [4]; 5. 11K-Kraig Kinser [5]; 6. 19-Paige Polyak [7]; 7. 9K-Kevin Thomas Jr [6]; 8. 2M-Dustin Daggett [8]; 9. 9P-Parker Price-Miller [9]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps) – 1. 41-Jamie Veal [2]; 2. 67-Christopher Bell [1]; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart [4]; 4. 9-Daryn Pittman [3]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet [6]; 6. 83-Craig Dollansky [5]; 7. 21-D.J. Foos [7]; 8. 11N-Randy Hannagan [9]; 9. 55F-Taylor Ferns [8]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps) – 1. 15-Donny Schatz [2]; 2. 1-Dale Blaney [4]; 3. 99-Brady Bacon [1]; 4. 7S-Jason Sides [3]; 5. 89-Cody Darrah [5]; 6. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [7]; 7. 63-Kody Swanson [6]; 8. 71MX-Paul May [8]
Heat 4 – (8 Laps) – 1. 2-Shane Stewart [1]; 2. 5T-Travis Philo [2]; 3. 1ST-Gary Taylor [4]; 4. 29-Kerry Madsen [3]; 5. 59-Danny Holtgraver [6]; 6. 11-Steve Kinser [8]; 7. 10H-Chad Kemenah [7]; 8. W20-Greg Wilson [5]
Dash – (6 Laps) – 1. 15-Donny Schatz [1]; 2. 41-Jamie Veal [2]; 3. 1-Dale Blaney [4]; 4. 1ST-Gary Taylor [3]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5]; 6. 2-Shane Stewart [8]; 7. 51-Paul McMahan [7]; 8. 24-Rico Abreu [6]
B-Feature – (12 Laps) – 1. 83-Craig Dollansky [1] [-]; 2. 63-Kody Swanson [4] [-]; 3. W20-Greg Wilson [2] [-]; 4. 21-D.J. Foos [6] [-]; 5. 9K-Kevin Thomas Jr [3] [$300]; 6. 19-Paige Polyak [5] [$250]; 7. 10H-Chad Kemenah [8] [$225]; 8. 2M-Dustin Daggett [9] [$200]; 9. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [7] [$200]; 10. 71MX-Paul May [10] [$200]; 11. 11N-Randy Hannagan [12] [$200]; 12. 11-Steve Kinser [11] [$200]; 13. 55F-Taylor Ferns [13] [$200]; 14. 9P-Parker Price-Miller [14] [$200]
A-Feature – (30 Laps) – 1. 15-Donny Schatz [1] [$10,000]; 2. 1ST-Gary Taylor [4] [$5,000]; 3. 51-Paul McMahan [7] [$3,000]; 4. 71M-Joey Saldana [9] [$2,700]; 5. 29-Kerry Madsen [12] [$2,500]; 6. 7S-Jason Sides [11] [$2,200]; 7. 24-Rico Abreu [8] [$2,000]; 8. 9-Daryn Pittman [10] [$1,800]; 9. 41-Jamie Veal [2] [$1,600]; 10. 67-Christopher Bell [15] [$1,450]; 11. 2-Shane Stewart [6] [$1,300]; 12. 49-Brad Sweet [21] [$1,200]; 13. 89-Cody Darrah [19] [$1,100]; 14. 83-Craig Dollansky [18] [$1,000]; 15. 5T-Travis Philo [14] [$950]; 16. 11K-Kraig Kinser [17] [$900]; 17. 59-Danny Holtgraver [23] [$850]; 18. 21-D.J. Foos [24] [$750]; 19. 1-Dale Blaney [3] [$725]; 20. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5] [$700]; 21. 99-Brady Bacon [16] [$700]; 22. 63-Kody Swanson [22] [$700]; 23. 7-David Gravel [13] [$700]; 24. W20-Greg Wilson [20] [$700].
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