Schatz Captures Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup Title at Lernerville

Pittman wins second of two World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car A-mains

SARVER, Pa. – July 16, 2013. Lernerville Speedway 25 mile North of Pittsburg and the 22^nd running of the Don Martin memorial Silver Cup twin 30s , part of the Month of Money tempted the STP World of Outlaws and the Pennsylvania Posse and Lernerville specialist  to try their luck for the big money . Two 30 lap features on the one night with $10,000 to each A Main winner and a $5.000 bonus for the overall winner on the night.

They say the cream always rises to the top and that is what happened at lernerville. Donny Schatz picked up his 10^th win of the season and Daryn Pittman scored the win in the 2^nd 30 lap feature.

Donny Schatz won the overall points and took home the $5,000 bonus .

The unexpected started the night when last start lernerville winner Ed Lynch ,” the Apollo Rocket” set fast time in qualifying at 12.778 from Joey Saldana 12.893. Heat race wins went the way of Jac Haudenchild, Stevie Smith, Brent Marks .After setting the fourth quick time Greg Hodnett had terminal motor problems that ended his night.

The heats provide plenty of action on a wet and heavy track that was narrow and fast .Carl Bowser had a nasty crash. The B Main suffered a caution when Dave Blaney blew a right rear tyre at the start with the tyre landing into the crowd. Thankfully no reported injuries.

The action continued in the first of the twin features when Kyle Larson  stopped in turn four on lap 10 and he looked like was gone for the night , that was the feeling , the problem faulty ignition  .Stevie Smith took a wild ride and ended upside down. Jack Sodeman also lost a motor and was another casualty for the night

Schatz was the money and point’s winner in the first feature passing Jac Haudenchild with 10 laps to travel .Haudenchild tried hard to retake the lead but the track was difficult to pass on and settled for second ahead of Sam Hafertepe, Chad Kemenah and Joey Saldana.

A-Main 1 – (30 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz [3] [$10,000]; 2. 59-Jac Haudenschild [4] [$5,500]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr [1] [$3,200]; 4. 63-Chad Kemenah [2] [$2,800]; 5. 71M-Joey Saldana [6] [$2,500]; 6. 19M-Brent Marks [8] [$2,300]; 7. 45-Danny Holtgraver [14] [$2,200]; 8. 29-Kerry Madsen [17] [$2,100]; 9. 2L-Ed Lynch Jr [5] [$2,050]; 10. 2-Dale Blaney [10] [$2,000]; 11. 1-Sammy Swindell [7] [$1,500]; 12. 83X-Tim Shaffer [12] [$1,200]; 13. 83-Tim Kaeding [19] [$1,100]; 14. 9-Daryn Pittman [11] [$1,050]; 15. 51-Paul McMahan [21] [$1,000]; 16. 4-Cody Darrah [16] [$900]; 17. 7-Craig Dollansky [25] [$]; 18. 6-David Gravel [26] [$]; 19. 7S-Jason Sides [15] [$800]; 20. 11-Steve Kinser [24] [$800]; 21. 6R-Bill Rose [22] [$800]; 22. 27-Lance Dewease [20] [$800]; 23. 19-Stevie Smith [9] [$800]; 24. 49-Brad Sweet [13] [$800]; 25. 94-Jack Sodeman [18] [$800]; 26. 1K-Kyle Larson [23] [$800]. Lap Leaders: Chad Kemenah 1-10, Jac Haudenschild 11-20, Donny Schatz 21-30. KSE Hard Charger Award: 29-Kerry Madsen [+9].

The second of the twin features with $10,000 to the winner plus the bonus $5000 and the excitement grew with the news that Kyle Larson would be a starter from the rear of the field. There was a sense that something very special might be on the way.

 Sides and Gravel shared the front row and Jason Sides ran the point through to lap 3 before the charging Cody Darrah moved into the lead. Schatz and Larson were coming through the field but Larson was unreal as he took up the challenged of the narrow track

The Kasey Kahne Sure Points driver looked the winner despite the impressive charge by Larson but would suffer right rear tyre problems and good  luck would not playe a part of his race tonight . On the other hand luck was riding high with Larson bouncing off the cushion coming into contact with Dollansky and a favorable restart courtesy of the caution caused when Ed Lynch tumble off at turn 2 with 5 laps to race.

Darrah continued to nurse the air back into his ailing right rear but with one to go Pittman was able inherit the lead with Larson all over the series leader. Larson’s rear of field run ended with second but to describe the drive would be impossible and I think the quotes across the social media do the drive justice

Some quotes from social media

“Mommy, I wanna be like Kyle Larson when I grow up” -all little race fans

“Kyle Larsonator was 2nd after starting dead last! Freak of nature “

“Kyle Larson doesn’t disappoint. Would be scary if he qualifies as good as he races.”

“Kyle Larson  isn’t concerned about chassis set ups…he just gets in & gasses the hell out of it!!”

A-Main 2 – (31 Laps-due to green white checkered finish): 1. 9-Daryn Pittman [6]; 2. 1K-Kyle Larson [26]; 3. 1-Sammy Swindell [9]; 4. 7S-Jason Sides [1]; 5. 6-David Gravel [2]; 6. 51-Paul McMahan [5]; 7. 15-Donny Schatz [19]; 8. 59-Jac Haudenschild [18]; 9. 29-Kerry Madsen [12]; 10. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr [17]; 11. 83-Tim Kaeding [7]; 12. 7-Craig Dollansky [3]; 13. 71M-Joey Saldana [15]; 14. 19-Stevie Smith [23]; 15. 63-Chad Kemenah [16]; 16. 4-Cody Darrah [4]; 17. 45-Danny Holtgraver [13]; 18. 2L-Ed Lynch Jr [11]; 19. 6R-Bill Rose [21]; 20. 83X-Tim Shaffer [8]; 21. 2-Dale Blaney [10]; 22. 19M-Brent Marks [14]; 23. 11-Steve Kinser [20]; 24. 27-Lance Dewease [22]; 25. 94-Jack Sodeman [25]. Lap Leaders: Jason Sides 1-3, Cody Darrah 4-29, Daryn Pittman 30-31. KSE Hard Charger Award: 1K-Kyle Larson [+24].

 Driver quotes

Donny Schatz “It was a good run for us, the first feature was great and we got the win,” said Schatz, the five-time and defending series champion from Fargo, N.D., who now has a series-high 10 wins this season. “To come through the second one and we had to go a long ways, wish we could’ve gotten up a little further, but it is what it is, it’s over with and we won the Silver Cup again. We’ve been decent everywhere we go, and we’ve had a decent car that’s been competitive and that’s all you can ask for.”

Daryn Pittman “We struggled in the first one and the best part about twin feature is we were able to try some stuff and make some changes from the first one and get a lot better,” said Pittman, a native of Owasso, Okla. “It’s a pretty cool format to go out there and get two chances to go out on the same race track and Kale did a great job getting the car better. We’ll definitely go to Williams Grove with a little momentum.”

When asked about seeing Larson’s nose wing late in the race, and knowing he started last, Pittman replied, “He’s Kyle Larson, he’s always got a chance.”

Kyle Larson ” The first feature I thought I was blowing up,” said Larson, a native of Elk Grove, Calif., who competes regularly in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. “It was making funny noises and slowing down, I pulled off hoping we could change the motor for the second feature, but they didn’t find anything, just changed the spark plugs and ran great second feature. We started dead last and got moving pretty quick early in the race, but then we wasted a lot of time behind Tim [Kaeding]. Once I got by him we got our momentum going and I could get a car or two a lap. We came up just a lap short of the win, but it’s pretty nice getting all these podiums.”

World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series Top 20

Pos.	Driver	Total	Diff	Wins	T-5	T-10	QT
1	Daryn Pittman	6279	0	7	31	37	9
2	Paul McMahan	6138	-141	3	22	34	11
3	Donny Schatz	6135	-144	10	24	37	0
4	Craig Dollansky	5855	-424	5	13	25	1
5	Sammy Swindell	5851	-428	2	12	28	4
6	Joey Saldana	5809	-470	0	10	24	3
7	David Gravel	5663	-616	1	7	21	1
8	Cody Darrah	5650	-629	1	7	18	1
9	Steve Kinser	5562	-717	1	4	18	0
10	Kerry Madsen	5456	-823	2	6	20	1
11	Chad Kemenah	5449	-830	0	10	13	2
12	Kraig Kinser	5424	-855	1	7	22	0
13	Jason Sides	5388	-891	0	8	20	1
14	Tim Kaeding	4978	-1301	7	20	25	0
15	Sam Hafertepe Jr.	3023	-3256	0	1	6	1
16	Brian Brown	2935	-3344	0	4	11	0
17	Bill Rose	2861	-3418	0	0	1	0
18	Wayne Johnson	2430	-3849	0	0	2	0
19	Jac Haudenschild	2418	-3861	0	7	9	0
20	Greg Wilson	2358	-3921	0	1	2	0

 The World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series heads to Williams Grove Speedway for the two-night Summer Nationals on Friday and Saturday this weekend