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Gary Thomas
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Schatz leads flag to flag at Dave Helm Memorial
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA -
October 13, 2007...When the World of Outlaws Sprint Series last visited California,
defending champion Donny Schatz had seen his point lead evaporate to next
to nothing. After leaving the Golden State however, things changed as
Schatz turned up the heat and took command of the series to extend his lead
back up to 90 points before the series made their way back West for the
final time in 2007. The Fargo, ND resident continued his blazing hot pace Saturday night in the Dave
Helm Memorial at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway
and drove the Tom Johnson Camping Center, Parker Stores No. 15 to a flag to flag victory
en route to his series leading 19th win of the season.
It didn’t come easy for Schatz though as he had to hold off a hard charging
Ronnie Day of Salinas, CA during the early portions of the race and fought a very
challenging track that had remained hooked up all evening long. Schatz
earned the right to start on the pole of the 35 lap main event by way of
his win in the Crane Cams Dash. As the green flag waved in the feature he
jumped out into the lead as the 24 car field roared into
turn one. Most thought Schatz would walk away from the field but it
didn’t happen as Day stayed glued to the rear of the No. 15 machine. Day
came into the night on a winless drought of more than two years and early
on it looked like he might have something for the current Outlaw point
leader. The driver of the Ridgeline Framing No. 1 was all over Schatz in
traffic when the yellow flag flew on lap seven.
When the green lights came back on Schatz continued to lead, but Day wasn’t
letting him out of his sights and as traffic came into play once again, he
was right there waiting to pounce. The fast track made passing
opportunities limited, but it also allowed many of the front runners to
close in on each other and you could have thrown a blanket over the top
eight cars as the action intensified. The bottom groove was the preferred
route for most competitors and Day would relinquish the second spot to Bartlett, TN’s Jason Sides around lap 18. Day would lose another
position on lap 24 as San
Jose, CA’s Tim Kaeding
was on the charge from the seventh starting position aboard the Tom Rolfe Trucking No. 10.
Schatz spent the last 10 laps out in front with no worries however, as he
drove away to record his second career Thunderbowl
Raceway victory and third straight World of Outlaws win. "This wasn’t
an easy race for us tonight," Schatz said to George Hague in victory
lane. "This track is usually really good, but the rain yesterday made
it pretty fast and narrow and we were just lucky enough get on the pole for
the feature." Schatz appeared to driving very conservative and
careful not to bounce into any lap cars in traffic and it payed off as he kept his nose clean and brought home
his 19th WOO win of the season. "It felt like we might have
an issue with a shock during the main event because the car kept wanting to jump around just passed the
start/finish line. My team keeps giving me great cars though and we’re out
here trying to win as many races as we can before the season ends."
Sides brought home a well earned second place finish aboard the Sides
Motorsports No. 7s. The driver known as "Double Down" started
third and tried hard to get up to Schaz and
battle for the lead, but it didn’t happen and he settled for the runner up
position. "We’re happy with the result tonight because anytime you can
run second to Schatz and in front of Kaeding at Tulare, you know you’ve had a good
run."
Kaeding’s third place finish was his best with
the World of Outlaws since joining the Tom Rolfe
Trucking team and continued his recent string of success at the 1/3 mile
clay oval. "First off I’d like think Tom Rolfe
for the opportunity and the whole team for giving me a great car tonight.
We’ll now go on the next few weeks and have a little fun and try to get
some more good finishes. I want to say thank you to everyone who came out
to support us tonight and we’ll see you all at the Trophy Cup."
Day ended up finishing a very solid fourth after challenging for the lead
early on. The likable 48 year-old has had nothing but bad luck this year
and the top five finish is definitely a boost for
the whole Ridgeline Framing team. St. Mary’s NSW, Aus’s
Kerry Madsen drove the Selma Shell Racing No. 11h to a fifth place finish
on a night where his late car owner Dave Helm was honored. Madsen made a
nice recovery midway through the race after he nearly tipped over in turn
two. "The Mad Man" regrouped and did a nice job to get a top five
finish out of the night. Finishing sixth through tenth in the feature were
Tim Shaffer, Jason Meyers, Steve Kinser, Joey
Saldana and Craig Dollanksy.
20-time WOO champ Steve Kinser won the 12 lap
B-main with Paul McMahan, Jac Haudenschild
and Jeff Delte also transferring out. Schatz was
victorious in the dash and the four 10 lap heat races were picked off by Tim
Shaffer, Kerry Madsen, Sam Hafertepe Jr. and
Jason Sides. Single lap qualifying was held and Paul McMahan paced the 42
car field with a lap 13.633 around the 1/3 mile clay oval. Full results can
be found at http://www.worldofoutlaws.com
The Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway will now go dark
until the Trophy Cup which be held on November 16 & 17. Visit http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com for more
info
Ideas, suggestions, questions or comments can
be sent to: SprintCar PR.
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