It is not exactly "breaking news" when it comes to Donny Schatz having a dominate performance at the Knoxville Raceway and such was the case Saturday night as the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Cars wrapped up a two night visit to the World Capital of Sprint Car Racing. Brad Sweet had won the opener on Friday night with David Gravel second and Schatz in third and on Saturday those same three drivers found their way to the podium, but in different positions.
Sweet and Schatz would start the 25-lap headliner from the front row and they would keep the large crowd on the edge of their seats jousting for the lead over the first two laps. Officially Schatz would be shown as the leader, but the transponder had to confirm it as they passed by the flagstand side-by-side on laps one and two with Sweet leading at times within each trip around the fast half-mile. Schatz would establish himself as the true leader on lap three just before the caution waved for a stalled Dakota Hendrickson in turn four.
Sweet tried to challenge on the restart, but the action was again slowed on lap eight when Jason Sides spun in turn one. On this restart David Gravel would take second away from Sweet, but even he could not match the pace of the leader as Schatz steadily built an advantage. The race for second through traffic was now the focal point as Sweet was able to get back around Gravel for a couple of laps as Ian Madsen also joined the battle and at the checkers Schatz would enjoy a full straightaway lead in taking the win. Gravel would prevail for second over Sweet and Madsen while current track point leader Brian Brown made steady progress coming from tenth to fifth. Shane Stewart started in the eighth row and raced his way up to sixth, Logan Schuchart had a solid night in seventh, Daryn Pittman faded from third to eighth, Danny Lasoski was ninth and defending Knoxville Nationals champion Jason Johnson was tenth.
The 360's served as the appetizer on this night with twenty-four cars lined up for 18 laps of racing. Sawyer Phillips looked strong leading the way from the drop of the green until he started to work traffic on lap six. Unable to dispense of McKenna Haase right away, Phillips had Nate Van Haaften and Matt Moro closing on him fast on lap nine when Ben Woods went for a tumble down the back stretch. Haase and the leaders were just coming off of turn two when the red light came on and as Haase and Phillips slowed Van Haaften slid sideways colliding with the push bar of the leader while point leader Clint Garner had the misfortune of running over one of the wheels off of Woods' car.
The damage to Garner's ride was enough to end his night while Van Haaften would restart second with his right side nerf bar shoved to within an inch of his rear tire. There were no ill effects from that damage though as Van Haaften drove past Phillips on the restart and then drove away to victory, his first here since the Outlaw weekend in June here last year. Phillips was impressive in second, Matt Moro finished third, Jon Agan showed smoke over the final ten laps but he was able to nurse his ride to the checkers in fourth while Joe Beaver completed the top five.
With the Outlaws in town and a big crowd on hand to watch despite the hot temperatures the night already has me anticipating the 2017 Nationals, but there is still plenty of exciting weekly action to come here at Knoxville over the next six weeks before we get to that. Plan your next visit soon!
Tonight the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions close out their three night swing west at 34 Raceway in Burlington. Sprint Car fans will get an opportunity to see several drivers that do not make it in to Iowa often and some that have never raced out this way before. Plus, while it is not a guarantee that he will be in action tonight, series owner Tony Stewart has raced at both Lincoln on Friday and Macon on Saturday.
Hope to see you there!
No comments:
Post a Comment