Schatz Continues Streak of Success in New York
TSR Bad Boy Off Road /Chevrolet Performance Team
Races to 24th Outlaws Victory
Date: Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016
Series: World of Outlaws (WoO) Craftsman Sprint Car Series
Locations: Fulton (N.Y.) Speedway
Winner: Donny Schatz of Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing
TSR Results: Started 1st, Finished 1st/Running, completed 30 of 30 laps
TSR Points: Donny Schatz – (1st with 10,467 points)
Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing (TSR) driver Donny Schatz and the Bad Boy Off Road/Chevrolet Performance team continued their mastery of World of Outlaws (WoO) Craftsman® Sprint Car Series competition in the state of New York Saturday night. The seven-time and reigning WoO champion raced to victory at Fulton Speedway aboard the pink-schemed TSR No. 15 Bad Boy Off Road/Chevrolet Performance J&J to score his 24th victory of the season and sixth consecutive Outlaw triumph in New York.
“I can’t say enough about this race team that Tony (Stewart) put around me, and the color pink has been awesome,” Schatz said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to help with the fight against cancer. The racetrack was really fast and the top (groove) seemed like the best place to be. I did my best to get around up there. We had some really good cars behind us, and that’s a good thing to have behind you. Thank you fans for sticking with it. The camaraderie with the fans and also the track people was just great. Obviously, it was not the best of conditions, but it hardly ever is anymore. We just enjoyed it the best we could.”
Mother Nature played havoc on race officials early in the day Saturday, but the skies began to clear in the early afternoon. The track crew worked feverishly to get the track and pit area into race condition. Schatz was the fourth of 32 cars to make a qualifying lap around the 3/8-mile dirt oval. His lap of 12.969 seconds was eighth overall and put him in on the front row in heat four. The Fargo, North Dakota racer finished second to Jason Johnson and earned a coveted spot in the Craftsman Club Dash. When the eight pill was selected during the dash inversion draw, it put Schatz on the pole for the six-lap race that determined the top eight starting positions in the A-Feature. Schatz scored a flag-to-flag victory in the dash to earn his sixth pole position of the season.
In the 30-lap A-Feature, Schatz paced the field to the green, but it was outside-front-row starter Danny Dietrich that would lead the opening lap. Schatz battled Lucas Wolfe for second in the early going before taking the spot on lap seven. Schatz then reeled in Dietrich and took the top spot in turn four to lead lap eight. A pair of cautions on laps 13 and 15 provided Wolfe opportunities, but Schatz was too strong around the top of the track and pulled away. The final 15 laps went nonstop and Schatz won by 4.33 seconds for his 228th career WoO A-Feature victory and second at Fulton Speedway.
The win helped increase his advantage in the 2016 WoO championship standings to 292 points over Daryn Pittman. Through 75 races, Schatz leads all drivers in victories with 24, top-fives with 56 and top-10s with 71.
The week ahead includes the Outlaws’ final 2016 battle with the Pennsylvania Posse as the Outlaws return to Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg Friday for the rescheduled Champion Oils Morgan Hughes National Open. Schatz is the only driver in the race’s 53-year history to win the prestigious event five times. The team will close the weekend with Saturday’s return to Port Royal Speedway.
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