Schatz again at Cottage Grove Speedway
He has been dancing on the wing 28 times in 2015
WoO – Pic
COTTAGE GROVE, Oregon. – Sept. 9, 2015 –Fresh from scoring his 200th WoO win Donny Schatz continued his dazzling form to close out win 28 for the season earlier tonight at the site of his very first Outlaw win 17 years ago
The night started out in the most positive way for Daryn Pittman .Fast time in qualifying , strong heat result and a win in the vital dash secured the all important pole position for the 35 lap A main .
With Schatz in such commanding form it is hard to imagine that the race nerves of Pittman would be anything but calm with the knowledge that Schatz will be a danger no matter how much your pole spot offers.
Pittman and Saldana shared the front row with Schatz and Stewart slotted in behind them .As expected Pittman raced to the early lead but soon after lap one Schatz had taken command.
Cottage Grove start
Pic credit-Daniel Williams
The Cottage Grove track was very racy and lapped traffic and a series of cautions should have been made to order for Pittman and Stewart but Schatz battled hard through the traffic to keep the chasers at bay.
Night after night, track after track and the hunger and determination of the Donny Schatz/Tony Stewart combination is there for l the teams to see. Finishing second to Schatz might be some consolation but there is no doubting the respect and admiration the Outlaws have for the Champion from Fargo North Dakota.Donny Schatz always has time for his young fans, true Champion!
Donny Schatz with a young fan at Cottage Grove Speedway
Pic credit Daniel Williams
Driver post race interviews
Donny Schatz “”Every one you win is incredible. You never know when it’s going to be your last so I’m just enjoying the hell out of it at the moment,” Schatz said. “This is the place I got my first win so it’s always had a special place in my heart and I’m glad to be able to win here again tonight.”You just have to get through there the best that you can,” said Schatz, who drives for Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing. “It forces you to change your line up a little bit. A lot of those guys want to be on the bottom so I had to try to run around the top. I just didn’t seem to have as much speed there… It was awful snug the whole race and just kept getting better and better and better. That’s what we strive for to make the thing better as the race goes on and be as good as we can at the end.”
Daryn Pittman “”For whatever reason, the first five laps, I was really struggling and just had no grip,” Pittman said. “The longer the race went I felt like my car got better. The race was really getting good there before that caution or red there in the middle. We were right there in heavy lap traffic and had a shot but (Donny) doesn’t make many mistakes.”Pittman said Cottage Grove has not historically been a good track for him, so he was happy to get the podium finish.”It was a lot of fun,” Pittman said. “You don’t want to run second but I haven’t had very many fun seconds this year.”
Shane Stewart “”Me and Brad had a pretty good race there in the middle of the race and I could see him a couple of times, I just needed to hit my marks around the bottom,” Stewart said.”Happy with a podium finish and we’ll carry this momentum into Gold Cup and hopefully we can get some wins there and Antioch and on into the East,” Stewart said.
A-Main – (35 Laps) – 1. 15-Donny Schatz [3] [$6,000]; 2. 9-Daryn Pittman [1] [$3,500]; 3. 2-Shane Stewart [4] [$2,000]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [8] [$1,800]; 5. 18-Jason Solwold [6] [$1,500]; 6. 29-Kerry Madsen [10] [$1,400]; 7. 71M-Joey Saldana [2] [$1,350]; 8. 7-David Gravel [11] [$1,300]; 9. 7N-Jared Peterson [18] [$1,250]; 10. 51-Paul McMahan [12] [$1,200]; 11. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5] [$900]; 12. 41-Jason Johnson [7] [$800]; 13. 2L-Logan Forler [19] [$700]; 14. 11K-Kraig Kinser [14] [$650]; 15. 99T-Skylar Gee [21] [$600]; 16. 4J-Allison Journey [23] [$550]; 17. 55-Trey Starks [15] [$500]; 18. 44W-Austen Wheatley [17] [$500]; 19. 1A-Jacob Allen [9] [$500]; 20. 9R-Reece Goetz [22] [$500]; 21. 21-Robbie Price [20] [$500]; 22. 7S-Jason Sides [16] [$500]; 23. 33V-Henry VanDam [13] [$500]. Lap Leaders: Daryn Pittman 1, Donny Schatz 2-35. KSE Hard Charger Award: 7N-Jared Peterson [+9
The next schedule show for the Outlaws will be September 12th at Silver Dollar Raceway for the Gold Cup Race of Champions.
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