HammerDownUSA.com
Tatnell
Tames I-55 : Picks up Third Win of Season
Once in a
while a good luck charm is needed to turn the fortunes around for a driver or
team. Brooke Tatnell had already won two races this season, but knew he easily
could have had a half dozen or more victories if luck was on their side.
Always
looking to get a step up on the competition, and to stand out in a crowd, the
crew of the Race Outfitters/Castrol Eagle, led by Troy Renfro, brought out
their “retro” car for the second time this season on Saturday night at I-55
Raceway, looking for a spark. The white car with the distinctive red stripes
down the middle of the top and front-wings, turned many heads in the pit area,
then showed on the track that it was not only sharp looking, but ultra fast.
Tatnell
certainly showed he was the class of the field, leading 33 of the 40 laps in
the A-Feature to make his third trip of the season to
The fan
favorite earned the pole position after winning the dash, and jumped out to the
initial lead when the green flag flew. Tatnell was setting a blistering pace early,
as he began to encounter lapped traffic on only the sixth lap of the race on
the high-banked 1/3-mile. Joey Saldana in the Mopar-powered Dodge/Curb Records
JEI, stayed right on Tatnell’s bumper as the pair weaved their way in and out
of traffic for the first ten circuits around the track co-owned by NASCAR star
Ken Schrader.
Tatnell
then pulled away again until he got into more lapped traffic, and that is when
he had a torrid battle with current point leader Donny Schatz in the
ParkerStores J & J , as well as Daryn Pittman in the Titan Garages/
Hop-n-Sack Convenience Stores Maxim. Pittman used a late surge to roll into the
second spot.
Tatnell and
Schatz swapped the lead countless times, but at the line, it was Tatnell
leading the bulk of those laps, three separate times, while Schatz was credited
with leading twice. The native of San Souci, NSW,
“I’m pretty
happy and proud of this team right now,” said Tatnell.
Being a
veteran, he knows that races are often won and lost not at the track, but in
the days preparing for the event at the shop and on the road. With one of the
hardest working crew in the pit area, Tatnell knows he will have a fast car
most nights of the week
“The guys
did an awesome job tonight,” Tatnell said. “We made the decision to change the
car after the dash, even though we were good in the dash. We win together as a
team and we lose together as a team. We all made the decision.”
One thing
that Tatnell knew would come into play during the A-Feature was tires. He that
his team put the right rubber on the car, and that allowed him to keep the
hammer down all night long.
“I felt
pretty comfortable,” Tatnell said. “I always look around and see what everyone
else puts on before we go out. I knew Pittman was close to us at the end and
had the same tires as us. He usually runs a little harder tire than we do. Once
we got around Donny the last time, I felt pretty comfortable. We freed the car
up under yellow and it was really good.”
Tatnell is
always confident when he arrives at a track, whether it is a short track or a
bigger faster and wider oval. He has shown that this season by winning on the
tight 3/8-mile track at Huset’s
“We knew we
would be good tonight,” said Tatnell. “It’s good for the whole morale of the
team. We are looking forward to the ‘Month of Money’ coming up and stepping up
the pace. It’s good to be running out front right now.”
During his
battle with Schatz, it appeared a couple times that the duo, made a little
contact. Being in the drivers seat, Tatnell was in the best position to know
that for sure, and he said there was not. Schatz finished fourth on the
night.
“I enjoy
racing with Donny,” said Tatnell. “There’s a mutual respect there. I think in
all the years we have been racing, we have banged wheels maybe twice. I love
racing with guys that you can race hard and not have to worry about getting
tore up. He’s probably disappointed right now, but it was a great race. I am
glad the fans got to enjoy it.”
Pittman ran
solidly in the top-five for most of the race and came home second after getting
close to Tatnell a couple of times as the laps wound down. The native of
Owasso, Ok., was fast all night long, after qualifying in the third spot, and
running fifth in the dash.
“All in
all, it was a good run for us.” Pittman said. “We needed it. We feel like we
have been in as bad of a slump as we have been all year. A top-five is not a
win, but it gains us some points and hopefully it gets us back on track over
the next few weeks.”
Like
Tatnell, Pittman felt that his team is turning the corner and has some luck on
their side now to go along with the countless hours of hard work that the team
is putting in. He moved his car around the track all night long looking for a
little more grip and speed, as he kept the leader in his sight.
“The first
half of the race was great,” said Pittman. “I though we had a chance to win
about halfway through as I was closing. I just didn’t catch rubber quick enough
in turns three and four and Schatz got by both of us.”
The
runner-up finish was his 13th top-five finish of the year as he
looks for his second A-Feature win of the season. Pittman swept the Eagle
Nationals at Eagle Raceway last month. With one more race left on the Bullring
Swing, then a trip back to Eldora, he believes the team is well prepared as the
series hits the traditional month of big purse races.
“I’m
looking forward to both races next week, especially Eldora,” said Pittman. “We
have been so bad there before, and I don’t dread it anymore, I am excited for
it. I’m really looking forward to the Kings Royal and all the big money races
coming up, especially Lernerville. That is one of my favorite race tracks and
we have not won a race there yet, so hopefully we can pick one up.”
Greg Wilson
aboard the All Star Plumbing and Heating Maxim was the highest finishing driver
from the All Stars in the third spot. He started in the fourth spot on the
night, and fell back to fifth early on, before patiently working his way up a
couple of spots. He was nothing but smiles after the race.
“It was an
awesome night for us,”
Being a
native of
“It’s
pretty exciting for us,” said
Schatz
continued his streak of strong finishes, coming home fifth after leading a
couple of times. He had the crowd on their feet midway through the race as he
and Tatnell ran side-by-side and used traffic to stage a thrilling battle. He
did all of this while battling an ill handling car for the second night in a
row. He still has finished no worse than seventh since May 24.
“I think I
had the right tires on,” said Schatz, of
Craig
Dollansky in the Karavan Trailers Maxim rounded out the top-five. He was fast
from the instant his car hit the track, as he turned in the second quickest
qualifying effort before a very large crowd on hand.
“A top-five
is good, said Dollansky, of
Dollansky
lined up for the feature in the sixth spot, and worked his way into fifth on
the second lap of the race. Like many of the other drivers, he moved around the
track and searched high and low for that little bit of extra speed.
“I wanted
to see it go green a bit longer, and get into more lapped traffic,” said
Dollansky. “That was working into our favor. We could have been a little bit
better, but we’ll take what we got.”
On the
season, Dollansky has 14 top-five finishes, which have him solidly in the third
position in points. He also has two wins to go along with that, one of those
coming at Eldora, the sight of the famed Kings Royal next weekend.
“It’s
always good to have diversity in the schedule,” said Dollansky. “That’s
The rest of
the top-ten was Joey Saldana in the Dodge/Mopar-powered Curb Records JEI in
sixth. He ran among the leaders for the first half of the race, battling
numerous times with Tatnell.
Terry
McCarl in the Big Game
The
I-55
RACEWAY NOTEBOOK
• FAST QUALIFIER: Randy Hannagan paced the 38 cars in time trials with an AMB
i.t.-timed lapped around the 1/3-mile high-banked oval at 10.681 seconds at
94.970 mph. For his qualifying effort, Hannagan earned five
bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points,
including Craig Dollansky (4), Daryn Pittman (3), Donny Schatz (2), and
• QUALIFYING EVENT WINNERS: Heat race winners included Mean 15 drivers,
Brooke Tatnell, Chad Kemenah, Terry McCarl, and Donny Schatz. … Justin
Henderson won the B-Main… Brooke Tatnell picked up the win in the dash.
• FEATURE WINNERS: Brooke Tatnell’s win on
Saturday night at I-55 Raceway was his third
• PRELIMINARY FEATURE WINNERS: There have been four
preliminary features run this season by the
• 1/3-MILE WINNERS: I-55 Raceway is a high-banked 1/3-mile oval. The
• ON TELEVISION: The Outdoor Channel will air at
• ON THE WEB: The Official
• LISTEN ONLINE: If fans can’t get to a track to see the series, they
can experience the excitement of the
• UP NEXT: The Bullring Swing wraps up on Wednesday with the 18th
Annual
• SPONSOR SUPPORT: The
Qualifying
1) Randy
Hannagan, TH Racing 1X, 10.681
2) Craig
Dollansky, Karavan 7, 10.731
3) Daryn
Pittman, Titan Racing
4) Donny
Schatz, Schatz 15, 10.961
5)
6) Greg
Wilson, Warnimont 20W, 10.999
7) Jim
Moughan, Moughan 1M, 11.004
8) Joey
Saldana, Kahne-Curb 9, 11.041
9) Brooke
Tatnell, Rush Racing 8, 11.041
10)
11) Becca
Anderson, Woodring 19, 11.118
12) Jac
Haudenschild, Wright 35, 11.121
13) Brock
Mayes, Mayes 11B, 11.138
14) Terry
McCarl, McCarl 24, 11.176
15) Dion
Hindi, Hindi 11D, 11.188
16) Brandon
Wimmer, Barton 7TW, 11.246
17) Danny
Smith, Smith 4, 11.275
18)
19) Paul
May, May 71M, 11.343
20) James
Mosher, Mosher 12M, 11.361
21) A.J.
Bruns, Bruns 44, 11.368
22) Jeremy
Campbell, Campbell 10C, 11.395
23)
24) Tommy
Worley, Jr., Worley 97, 11.471
25) Justin
Henderson, Oswalt D1, 11.488
26) Joey
Moughan, Moughan 2M, 11.534
27) Jon
Agan, Sloan D12, 11.545
28) Brandon
Martin, Martin 11, 11.570
29) Bill
Rose, Rose 6, 11.593
30) Tom
Busch, Busch 4B, 11.640
31) Barry
Ruble, Ruble 63, 11.657
32) Jason
Martin, Martin 36, 11.666
33) Kelly
Kinser, Kinser 4K, 11.678
34) Tom
Dickerman, Dickerman 57D, 11.708
35) Steve
Short, Short 8S, 12.011
36) Tiffany
Wyzard, Wyzard 5W, 12.065
37) Adam
Jones, Jones 1A, 12.138
38) Jay
Landolt, Clayborn 4C, 12.489
First Heat
Race (10 laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Brooke
Tatnell
2) Danny
Smith
3) Joey
Saldana
4) Randy
Hannagan
5) Brandon
Wimmer
6) Justin
Henderson
7) Tommy
Worley, Jr.
8) Kelly
Kinser
9) Adam
Jones
10) Bill
Rose (DNS)
Second Heat
Race (10 laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1)
2)
3) Troy
Little
4) Craig
Dollansky
5) Joey
Moughan
6) Jim
Moughan
7) Tom
Busch
8) Tom
Dickerman
9) Jay
Landolt
10) Dion
Hindi
Third Heat
Race (10 laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Terry
McCarl
2) Paul May
3) Greg
Wilson
4) Jeremy
Campbell
5) Daryn
Pittman
6) Becca
Anderson
7) Steve
Short
8) Jon Agan
9) Barry
Ruble
Fourth Heat
Race (10 laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Donny
Schatz
2) Jac
Haudenschild
3) Jason
Martin
4) A.J.
Bruns
5) Brandon
Martin
6) Brock
Mayes
7)
8) James
Mosher
9) Tiffany
Wyzard (DNS)
Dash (8
laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) Brooke
Tatnell
2)
3) Joey
Saldana
4) Greg
Wilson
5) Daryn
Pittman
6) Craig
Dollansky
7) Donny
Schatz
8) Jac
Haudenschild
9) Randy
Hannagan
10) Terry
McCarl
B-main (12
laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Justin
Henderson
2)
3) Jim
Moughan
4) Tommy
Worley, Jr.
5) Kelly
Kinser [$200]
6) Bill
Rose [$180]
7) Brock
Mayes [$175]
8) Tom
Busch [$160]
9) Dion
Hindi [$150]
10) Tom
Dickerman [$150]
11) Jay
Landolt [$150]
12) James
Mosher [$150]
13) Steve
Short [$150]
14) Adam
Jones [$150]
15) Becca
Anderson [$150]
16) Jon
Agan [$150]
17) Barry
Ruble [$150]
18) Tiffany
Wyzard (DNS) [$150]
A-main (40
laps)
1) Brooke
Tatnell [$10,000]
2) Daryn
Pittman [$5,500]
3) Greg
Wilson [$3,200]
4) Donny
Schatz [$2,800]
5) Craig
Dollansky [$2,500]
6) Joey
Saldana [$2,300]
7) Terry
McCarl [$2,200]
8)
9) Brandon
Wimmer [$2,050]
10) Jeremy
Campbell [$2,000]
11) Danny
Smith [$1,500]
12) Jason
Martin [$1,200]
13) Joey
Moughan [$1,100]
14) Randy
Hannagan [$1,050]
15)
16) Paul
May [$900]
17) Jac
Haudenschild [$800]
18) Justin
Henderson [$800]
19)
20) Brandon
Martin [$800]
21) Troy
Little [$800]
22) A.J.
Bruns [$800]
23) Jim
Moughan [$800]
24) Tommy
Worley, Jr. [$800]
Lap
leaders: Brooke Tatnell 1-16, 20-28, 33-40; Donny Schatz 17-19, 29-32
Rank
/ Driver / Driver points / Team points
/ Earnings / Back / Wins / Top
5 / Top 10
1
/ Donny Schatz / 4400 / 4400 /
$158,800 / 0 / 7 / 21 / 25
2
/ Joey Saldana / 4211 / 4211 /
$115,300 / -189 / 4 / 15 / 25
3
/ Craig Dollansky / 4128 / 4128 /
$98,060 / -272 / 2 / 14 / 24
4
/ Jac Haudenschild / 4093 / 4093 /
$101,100 / -307 / 4 / 14 / 23
5
/ Brooke Tatnell / 4045 / 4045 /
$101,800 / -355 / 3 / 14 / 20
6
/ Daryn Pittman / 4045 / 4045 /
$88,600 / -355 / 1 / 13 / 20
7
/ Chad Kemenah / 3892 / 3892 /
$65,550 / -508 / 1 / 5 / 15
8
/ Jeremy Campbell / 3708 / 3708 /
$49,300 / -692 / 0 / 2 / 11
9
/ Justin Henderson / 3578 / 3578 /
$41,180 / -822 / 0 / 1 / 9
10
/ Randy Hannagan / 3360 / 3719 /
$48,660 / -681 / 0 / 5 / 11
11
/ Terry McCarl / 3261 / 4085 /
$92,350 / -315 / 2 / 15 / 21
12
/ Dion Hindi / 3154 / 3154 /
$28,700 / -1246 / 0 / 0 / 5
13
/
14
/ Becca Anderson / 2896 / 2896 /
$19,520 / -1504 / 0 / 0 / 2
15
/ Bill Rose / 2878 / 2878 /
$17,465 / -1522 / 0 / 0 / 0
16
/ Jason Martin / 2690 / 3393 /
$32,830 / -1007 / 0 / 2 / 4
17
/ Greg Wilson / 1909 / 1909 /
$21,030 / -2491 / 0 / 1 / 5
18
/ Jason Solwold / 1793 / 1793 /
$35,100 / -2607 / 0 / 5 / 9
19
/ Danny Lasoski / 1745 / 1745 /
$40,750 / -2655 / 1 / 6 / 9
20
/ Paul McMahan / 1639 / 1639 /
$28,800 / -2761 / 1 / 2 / 7