SCHATZ FINISHES 11TH AT LAWRENCEBURG
LAWRENCEBURG, IN (May 28, 2012) – Donny Schatz was hoping to make it two straight wins at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway on Monday night. He won the Outlaws last stop on the 3/8-mile high banks back in the summer of 2009 and was coming off an impressive run in Charlotte. Unfortunately, things didn’t get started well and Schatz did his best to close the night with an 11th-place finish.
Qualifying 19th in the field of 34 cars was not the way the four-time WoO champion wanted to begin the evening. During the third heat, he blew a right-front tire on the Tony Stewart Racing No. 15 STP/Armor All/Chevrolet J&J. His STP crew replaced the tire and he stormed back from eighth to finish third. One more caution may have changed the entire evening, but the yellow never waived and he transferred him into the 35-lap A-Feature.
In the A-feature, he found himself searching all over the track for a place to move forward. The low line in one and two worked for a while. He made the top work in three and four for a few laps. He found the middle lane following a few restarts. He had a tremendous restart midway through the race, but it was called back for another driver jumping. Two restarts later, Schatz was called for jumping. In the end he finished 11th.
The Fargo, N.D., racer remains in second in the 2012 WoO championship standings. He trails Steve Kinser by 26 points heading into this weekend’s races at Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park Friday and I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Mich. Saturday.