Donny Schatz served notice on Friday night that he was the man to beat when he blew away the competition in the Speed Sport News World Challenge and he backed that up on Saturday night by laying claim to his sixth Knoxville Nationals championship. It was an impressive fifty laps for Schatz, but he definitely hadsome company at the end!
Starting fifth on the grid, Schatz moved to third at the drop of the green trailing Stevie Smith and Jonathan Allard. Smith was setting a torrid early pace and opened a sizable advantage as Schatz eased past Allard for second, and after that Smith's lead slowly wilted away. On lap fourteen Schatz would blow by Smith and then proceed to lead the field until the caution waved on lap twenty-six for the mid-race break where crews added fuel and made any other changes that they could complete within five minutes.
When the field went back to green Schatz quickly pulled away from both Craig Dollansky and Brian Brown and this one looked as though it was all but over, at least as far as who the winner would be. The racing back in the pack was entertaining though with drivers using the entire race track from bottom to top. The caution waved again on lap 34 when the Nationals Rookie-of-the-Year Kyle Larson had the left rear tire on his car let go and the field was brought back to Schatz with sixteen laps remaining.
On the restart Brown put the slider on Dollansky for second and the large crowd started to move to the edge of their seats as Brian was now able to at least keep pace with Schatz. The anticipation turned electric as Brown started to close the gap and with eight laps remaining he was within striking distance for the lead. But when the challenger hopped the cushion in turn two and fell back by over half a straightaway, you could hear the groan of the crowd over the roar of the motors. But wait! As Schatz went to put Cody Darrah a lap down he would get caught up behind the young driver from Pennsylvania and Brown, with new life, would close quickly. As the white flag waved, Brown was within six car lengths, but he lost some ground in turns one and two and it again looked like this one is all over. But as Schatz powered into turn three for one last time he had two cars using two different grooves in front of him and he drifted a bit in turn four alloweing Brian Brown to mount one last gasp effort. Everybody rose to their feet as Brown made his run and as the checkers waved he was up to the rear bumper of the leader only to come up one car-length short of his first Nationals win.
Take away that last turn and it was a pretty dominating performance for Schatz who collected his sixth Nationals title over the past seven years. An amazing stretch for the North Dakota native especially when you consider that he has finished either first or second in this event in eleven of the last thirteen years!
Brian Brown was elated with his second-place finish noting that catching Schatz is one thing, but then what to do with him after that is a whole other challenge! Craig Dollansky was a bit more subdued with his third-place finish, likely disappointed that he did not get out to an early lead after starting on the front row, but instead dropping back to fourth.
Kraig Kinser had a solid week and kept the family name in the limelight as he advanced from ninth to finish in the fourth spot while Jason Meyers made his brief return to the cockpit for the past two weeks memorable by winning Thursday's qualifier and then finishing fifth in the finale.
Shane Stewart had that come-from-the-back magic working early as he quickly raced his way from thirteenth to sixth, but after the break he could advance no further and early leader Stevie Smith would finish behind Stewart in seventh. Lance Dewease had a solid week that, outside of the Posse fans, may have went unnoticed as he came from the eighth row to finish eighth. Tim Kaeding may have been able to do better than ninth if not for a sour sounding motor during the second half of the race and local favorite Davey Heskin was the Hard Charger of the feature coming from 22nd to tenth.
Besides this being the sixth win for Schatz, the other big story from these Nationals will be the fact that the Championship A-Main did not include Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell and Danny Lasoski.
Lasoski had given up the tenth starting position in the Saturday night B-Main for the opportunity to qualify directly to the A in Friday's new format. But that gamble backfired when he suffered a flat tire in Friday's main event landing him on the pole position for Saturday's C-Main. Jamie Veal would lead that race early before Lasoski and Jac Haudenschild moved past the Aussie and the two veterans thrilled the crowd with a back and forth battle for the lead. Haudenschild would prevail with Lasoski in second, but in the B-Main Jac would drop out while Danny could only advance up to 17th at the finish.
Swindell started sixth in the B-Main needing a top four finish to advance to the finale. Front row starters Mark Dobmeier and Davey Heskin ran off and hid as expected leaving Swindell to battle with Brian Paulus, Greg Hodnett and Jason Johnson for the final two golden tickets to the big dance. Swindell looked good as he passed Paulus for third mid-race, but Brian came right back to punt Swindell back to fourth and leaving him vulnerable to a late race charge from Jason Sides. Now keep in mind that when Lasoski decided to throw his hat back into the ring and run on Friday night, it was Sides who then moved up a spot and accepted that tenth starting position in the B-Main and "Double Down" made the most of the opportunity by passing Swindell and holding on for the final transfer position to the A.
Steve Kinser has been in the A-Main at the Knoxville Nationals every year since 1978, thirty-four straight years a record that will likely never be eclipsed, but that streak ended this week as "The King" could not overcome the first thing that happened to him as he signed in on Wednesday night. It was then that he drew out the final position in the qualifying order on a night that would see a three hour rain delay that would lead to a fast and narrow racing surface. Kinser still posted a respectable 15th fastest time in qualifying, but he failed to transfer out of both his heat race and a stacked B-Main. He was tenth quick on Friday night, but again came up one spot short of a transfer out his heat race. A thrilling three-wide pass for the lead and a win in his Friday B-Main provided some hope, but he was a non-factor in the Friday feature landing him in the eighth row for Saturday's B-Main. As the entertaining battle for the final transfer positions waged on, Kinser was able to move up to tenth at the finish, but his focus would now be on his son Kraig's efforts in the main event. And hopefully, with his fourth-place finish Kraig was able to wash away some of his father's disappointment and replace it with pride.
The 2012 Knoxville Nationals are in the books and I would have to rank these as somewhere in the top ten overall that I have been able to attend since 1976. The new format for Friday's program definitely made this a four night "event" and hopefully we continue to see the stands get closer and closer to being full once again as they were not so long ago. A big "Thank You" to Brian Stickel, Toby Kruse and the entire Knoxville Raceway staff not only for the hospitality that they show all of us here at Positively Racing, but also for putting on one of the best events in racing in a very professional manner!
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