Schatz prepares to defend Knoxville’s Nationals title with win in WoO June tilt
Saturday, June 7, 2008
By Bob Wilson
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (June 7) Defending Nationals champion Donny Schatz let it be known that he is the man to beat when the 48th annual Super Clean Knoxville Nationals roll around August 6-9 as he swept to a win in the 25-lap feature event at Knoxville Raceway Saturday night.
The feature event began with front row starter Joey Saldana beating pole sitter Terry McCarl to the first turn when the green was thrown. With the bottom of the big half-mile oval being nearly useless, the cushion was the fastest way around on this night and Saldana had it from the get go. Schatz tried the bottom at first but quickly moved to the top like Saldana and McCarl.
By lap five the front runners had hit lap traffic and two laps later Schatz took second from McCarl with a low run through turns one and two. On lap nine Schatz tried the same thing with Saldana but the front running car had the momentum on the cushion to fend off the bid. With 10 laps in the books a gap began to form between the top three cars and fourth running Danny Lasoski.
Just after the five-mile mark, Schatz again tried to slide Saldana in turns one and two. It did not work. Two laps later as the top two cars flew past the flagstand, Schatz nosed out Saldana. When he flew into turn one and two he had the lead but Saldana regained it as they edged into a group of backmarkers.
By lap 15 it had become a two-car race as McCarl had begun to slowly fade from the battle. Both Saldana and Schatz did masterful jobs at running the cushion on a track which had become hard and dry from there to the bottom. Schatz continued to look for advantages to get by the point car but either Saldana had the momentum, an open track or a lap car in his pocket.
Lap 20 of the non-stop affair saw Saldana with a 10 car-length lead. On the very next lap everything changed as Saldana came upon lap traffic running the cushion and Schatz made up the distance and very nearly got by him. The next circuit saw both drivers fly side by side down the front chute with Schatz on the inside. It was a test of wills when they hit turn one as Saldana tried his best to pinch off Schatz while Schatz did not give. In the end, Schatz threw dust from the inside berm as Saldana shot to the cushion to find some track.
With Schatz in the lead, it was now up to Saldana to find a way to regain the that spot. The battle to the end was not to be as lap traffic again hindered Saldana and he faded. For Schatz it was his ninth career win at this historic oval in the Tony Stewart J&J. McCarl took third place, Jason Meyers came from 12th to place fourth and Craig Dollansky charged hard in the latter half of the event to finish fifth. Completing the top ten where Lasoski, Chad Kemenah, Steve Kinser, Jac Haudenschild and Lucas Wolfe.
The 360 sprint feature was a blowout as Wayne Johnson set sail in the 15-lap event to win by over half a lap. Johnson was never contested as he was masterful in lap traffic as he ran away with the race on a track that was nearly worn out from the 28 360 entrants and 55 World of Outlaws 410 sprinters racing on it. Completing the top ten in the feature event were Matt Moro, Natalie Sather, Brett Mather, Gregg Bakker, Jesse Giannetto (from 12th), Josh Higday, Eric Vander Ploeg, John Kearney and Russ Hall.
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