BACK ON THE PODIUM AT BEAVER DAM

BEAVER DAM, WI (July 7) – Maybe a couple of more laps would have made a difference or maybe not. After 40 laps, Donny Schatz was within a few car lengths of winning a World of Outlaws (WoO) A-Feature and that was a positive.

“We gave it everything we had,” said Schatz, following the race. “Kraig was setting a pretty good pace and once we got by Steve I had nothing to lose. The STP car was really good. It just kept getting better and better. Hopefully, we can build on this and keep it going at the Brad Doty Classic and the Kings Royal.”

Schatz qualified 10th in the field of 30 cars and dominated the first heat. He was able to advance one spot in the dash and start seventh. After an early yellow, he restarted sixth, but was held up by the fourth-place car and ended up back in seventh. The four-time WoO champion started picking cars off one at time and reached fifth. He drove around Craig Dollansky for third and began reeling in Steve Kinser, who led the first 24 laps before Kraig Kinser took the lead. With eight laps to go, he caught Steve and then worked on him for several laps before making the pass for second around the high side of turn four with four laps to go.

From there it was an all out charge to try and close the gap on Kraig. He closed the gap, but didn’t have a chance to make a move for the win.

The finish allowed him to stay close to Steve Kinser in the point standings. Schatz ranks second, just eight points behind Kinser for the top spot through 35 of 73 scheduled 2012 races. The finish was his 13th top-10 finish in the last 14 races.

He’ll head to Ohio Wednesday hoping to repeat at the Brad Doty Classic at Limaland Motorsports Park in Lima, Ohio. The race kicks off the Month of Money as the $50,000-to-win Kings Royal is up on Saturday night.