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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
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