Donny Schatz Rolls to Victory in Finale of Outlaws Down Under II Granville, NSW, Australia - January 16, 2005 - By WoO Sprint PR ...It seems as if Donny Schatz can do no wrong on the World of Outlaws Sprint Series tour. He hoped the momentum from his 2004 season-ending victory at Las Vegas would carry into this year, but after overhauling his car before the finale of Outlaws Down Under II Schatz had no idea how good he would be. With light rain falling before and during the A-main feature at Parramatta City Raceway, Schatz dove to the low side on lap 5 to slip past Danny Lasoski and into the lead in Turn 4. Schatz never gave it back as he navigated traffic, cautions and even a red flag to win the 40-lap race by 12 car lengths. Lasoski was able to hold onto second, followed by Aussie native Kerry Madsen, Outlaws star Daryn Pittman, and Pennsylvania Posse legend Fred Rahmer. Steve Kinser, who used a win in this event last year to propel himself to his 19th Outlaws championship, finished eighth.
"I chased this racecar up and down the pit area all night long," said Schatz, of Fargo, N.D. "I changed just about everything on this car before the start of the A-main, and I wasn't sure we were doing the right thing, but it obviously paid off. I just have to thank Garry [Rush's] crew and my guys from back home, Brian Brookfield and John Pate, who deserve this win as much as I do. The money's really irrelevant, we just want to get victories. We wanted to win the Outlaw race here last year, and came up short. I just hope to God we can go home and keep the momentum up and go to Florida strong. I'll definitely be back here. I just want to thank all these people for coming out here on a Sunday night. This is definitely the best track in the country."
The stars of the first two nights, Madsen and Lasoski, raced side-by-side on the first lap before Madsen moved in front in Turn 4. A lap later, Lasoski made the same move to go in front before a caution flew for Jason Sides and Mark Wells, who spun in Turn 4. Schatz, who started third, slid past Madsen on the outside in Turns 1 and 2 before locking in on Lasoski and going to the front on lap 5. As Schatz was driving away from the field, a battle emerged for the other top-five positions. First Tim Shaffer drove past Steve Kinser into fourth, but Kinser reclaimed the position on lap 19. A red flag came out on lap 21 when Trevor Green flipped in Turn 2. He was uninjured and was actually able to rejoin the field after making repairs. When the race resumed, Kinser and Madsen exchanged third as Schatz drove out to a huge advantage. As the race wound down, Kinser began to fade as first Pittman went by him on the low side in Turn 2 and then Rahmer with a similar move.
"We just got beat by a better car tonight," said Lasoski, the 2001 Outlaws champion from Dover, Mo. "I learned a lot of things about this track tonight, and if they'll have me back I'll be able to use it the next time. My hat is off to Donny and his crew, they did a great job all weekend. My guys Mike [Kuemper] and Todd Splain came here for the first time and did great for me. You've got some great race fans and a great facility here, and you saw side-by-side racing all weekend long. From what I've seen, this is definitely the best facility in the country. I've watched Schatz since his first race with the World of Outlaws, and he's continued to grow and mature. He's going to be a force to be reckoned with for a long time to come."
A driver who would like a chance to be force on the World of Outlaws circuit is Madsen. An Aussie native who moved to Knoxville, Iowa, to improve his skills, Madsen's solid showing in Outlaws Down Under II - a win, a second and a third in the three night event - made it clear he has the talent to run with the world's greatest sprint car racers. "We had great expectations this weekend," Madsen said. "I'm just glad we made it through and didn't tear anything up for a change. Donny was just too good tonight. I went up to the top for a lap and nearly spun. I just wish it was 10 more laps. I just hope it was a good show for everyone. I wish I could take this team on the road with me, but I can't."
Outlaws legend Sammy Swindell was having an impressive run during the event, but engine trouble while he was running second in the first heat race knocked him out for the finale. Craig Dollansky, Erin Crocker and Peter Murphy used provisionals to start the A-main, and Paul McMahan, another Outlaws star who was having a good showing, needed a second push before the A-main and had to start at the back of the field.
The World of Outlaws Sprint Series returns to the United States to kick off its usual grueling schedule by making its first appearance at Volusia Speedway Park on February 11 and 13.
World of Outlaws Down Under II, Final Night Statistical Report, Parramatta City Raceway, January 16, 2005 Qualifying points (Accumulated during first two nights of competition. Top four locked into first four starting positions of Dash) 1) Danny Lasoski, Stewart 20, 1074 2) Kerry Madsen, Madsen N29, 1044 3) Steve Kinser, Kinser 11, 1033 4) Donny Schatz, Schatz 15, 1026 5) Paul McMahan, Helm 11H, 1017 6) Shane Stewart, Rudeen 26, 974 7) Tim Shaffer, Parsons 6, 967 8) Jason Sides, Sides Motorsports 7S, 960 9) Sammy Swindell, Graham 1, 948 10) Bruce White, White N96, 934 11) Trevor Green, Green S4, 917 12) Brooke Tatnell, Tatnell 8, 905 13) Skip Jackson , Bowen N7, 903 14) Tim Kaeding, Roth 83, 903 15) Daryn Pittman, Kruk 21, 989 16) Kevin Swindell, Graham 41, 882 17) Joey Saldana, Woodward 2, 861 18) Erin Crocker, Woodring 16, 821 19) Max Dumesny, Dumesny V5, 818 20) Mark Wells, Krikke W2, 808 21) Marty Perovich, Perovich N17, 779 22) Kraig Kinser, Kinser 11K, 778 23) Peter Murphy, Wright 35, 775 24) Brian Paulus, Pender 28, 768 25) Fred Rahmer, Attard 88H, 761 26) Jason Meyers, Elite Racing Team 14, 738 27) Brandon Wimmer, Wimmer-Luck Motorsports 7TW, 737 28) Paul Sides, BC Motorsports 13, 737 29) Ken Sartori, Sartori W47, 725 30) Mark Richards, Richards N51, 724 31) Ian Louden, Louden N18, 711 32) Jason Statler, Rudeen 26R, 709 33) Wayne Skipper, Skipper N24, 695 34) Jason Johnson, Disbury S5, 686 35) Grant Tunks, Tunks N54, 641 36) Troy Little, Little N20, 588 37) Dennis Moore, Jr., Williams 0, 586 38) Craig Dollansky, Karavan 7, 558 39) Luch Monte, Monte Motorsports W17, 548 40) Randy Hannagan, Motorguard 1X, 531 41) Mark Blyton, Blyton N4, 518 42) Kelly Linigen, Linigen N25, 516 43) Brett Loadsman, Loadsman N33, 516 44) Robert Farr, Kruk Q36, 494 45) Rod Bright, Bright N66, 451 46) Rod Maxwell, Maxwell N99, 433 47) Clayton Hart, Hart N67, 416 48) Andrew Wright, Wright N78, 403 49) Craig Brady, Brady N11, 351 50) Nathan Smee, Laneyrie N88, 334 51) Gary Rooke, Rooke N42, 333 52) Todd McKittrick, McKittrick N71, 319 53) Adrian Maher, Louden N10, 293 54) Ian Madsen, Madsen N35, 282 55) Martin Lawes, Lawes N50, 260 56) Peter Attard, Attard N53, 257 57) Trevor Wishart, Wishart NZ63, 240 58) Mitchell Dumesny, Dumesny N77, 236 59) James Thompson, Thompson N22, 230 60) Brodie Tulloch, Tulloch Q74, 220 61) John Shore, Shore N6, 216 62) Jeff Lawler, Lawler N73, 206 63) Adam Wray, Wray N26, 196 64) Matthew Vella, Vella N16, 188 65) Joseph Tulloch, Tulloch Q11, 184 66) Peter Blake, Blake N48, 182 67) Matthew Thomas, Thomas N45, 178 68) Kim Becker, Attard N17H, 172 69) Richard Thompson, Loadsman N93, 168 70) Dean Thomas, Thomas N15, 158
D-main (8 laps, top 2 finishers transferred to C-main) - 1) Martin Lawes 2) Ian Madsen 3) Mitchell Dumesny 4) James Thompson 5) Trevor Wishart 6) Adam Wray 7) Jeff Lawler 8) Peter Blake 9) Richard Thompson 10) Dean Thomas.
First Heat Race (8 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature) - 1) Paul McMahan 2) Joey Saldana 3) Skip Jackson 4) Fred Rahmer 5) Marty Perovich 6) Dennis Moore, Jr. 7) Ken Sartori 8) Mark Blyton 9) Wayne Skipper 10) Craig Brady 11) Rod Bright 12) Sammy Swindell.
Second Heat Race (8 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature) - 1) Shane Stewart 2) Tim Kaeding 3) Kraig Kinser 4) Jason Meyers 5) Bruce White 6) Craig Dollansky 7) Erin Crocker 8) Jason Johnson 9) Mark Richards 10) Kelly Linigen 11) Nathan Smee 12) Rod Maxwell.
Third Heat Race (8 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature) - 1) Tim Shaffer 2) Trevor Green 3) Max Dumesny 4) Daryn Pittman 5) Brandon Wimmer 6) Peter Murphy 7) Grant Tunks 8) Brett Loadsman 9) Ian Louden 10) Luch Monte 11) Clayton Hart 12) Gary Rooke.
Fourth Heat Race (8 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature) - 1) Brooke Tatnell 2) Jason Sides 3) Jason Statler 4) Kevin Swindell 5) Robert Farr 6) Mark Wells 7) Randy Hannagan 8) Troy Little 9) Brian Paulus 10) Paul Sides 11) Andrew Wright 12) Todd McKittrick.
C-main (10 laps, top 2 finishers transferred to B-main) - 1) Craig Dollansky 2) Randy Hannagan 3) Luch Monte 4) Brett Loadsman 5) Martin Lawes 6) Nathan Smee 7) Ian Madsen 8) Andrew Wright 9) Kelly Linigen 10) Rod Bright 11) Clayton Hart 12) Todd McKittrick 13) Robert Farr 14) Mark Blyton 15) Rod Maxwell 16) Gary Rooke 17) Craig Brady.
Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature) - 1) Kerry Madsen 2) Danny Lasoski 3) Donny Schatz 4) Steve Kinser 5) Paul McMahan 6) Shane Stewart.
B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature) - 1) Bruce White 2) Brian Paulus 3) Mark Wells 4) Brandon Wimmer 5) Erin Crocker 6) Craig Dollansky 7) Ken Sartori 8) Randy Hannagan 9) Jason Johnson 10) Marty Perovich 11) Peter Murphy 12) Wayne Skipper 13) Dennis Moore, Jr. 14) Grant Tunks 15) Paul Sides 16) Ian Louden 17) Troy Little 18) Mark Richards.
A-main (40 laps) - 1) Donny Schatz 2) Danny Lasoski 3) Kerry Madsen 4) Daryn Pittman 5) Fred Rahmer 6) Kevin Swindell 7) Tim Shaffer 8) Steve Kinser 9) Jason Meyers 10) Shane Stewart 11) Tim Kaeding 12) Kraig Kinser 13) Bruce White 14) Jason Sides 15) Max Dumesny 16) Skip Jackson 17) Erin Crocker 18) Brandon Wimmer 19) Brian Paulus 20) Mark Wells 21) Jason Statler 22) Trevor Green 23) Brooke Tatnell 24) Craig Dollansky 25) Joey Saldana 26) Peter Murphy.
Lap leaders: Kerry Madsen 1, Danny Lasoski 2-4, Donny Schatz 5-40.
