HARD-CHARGING SCHATZ COMES HOME 8TH AT CLAY COUNTY

Donny Schatz charged forward at Clay County Fair Speedway. (AJ Lusk Photo)

SPENCER, IOWA (June 8) – For the first time, the World of Outlaws hit the Clay County Fair Speedway dirt in June. After five trips to the 3/8-mile oval in September each of the last five seasons, Donny Schatz and his Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) were looking to continue their recent success at the northwestern Iowa dirt oval.

The “55” qualifying pill proved to be the third to last car in the 29-car field and with extreme wind and heat, track conditions didn’t hold up throughout qualifying. Schatz turned the second-best lap in hot laps, but managed only the 25th-best when he was on the clock during time trails.

Schatz raced from ninth to sixth in the opening heat to secure a spot in the 30-lap A-Feature. He started on the outside of row 11 for the main event and quickly started working his way forward. When a caution flew midway through the race he had worked his way up to eighth. On the restart, he exchanged the seventh spot with Steve Kinser before “the King” ultimately grabbed the position. Schatz would be credited with an eighth-place finish.

The result maintained Schatz in second in the WoO 2012 championship standings. He trails Kinser by 30 markers heading into Saturday’s Mediacom Shootout at Knoxville Raceway.