Schatz, Ballou Win Day 1 Of Mother Of All Sprint Car Weekends
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ROSSBURG, Ohio (May 8, 2015) – Donny Schatz and Robert Ballou won day one of the ‘Mother of All Sprint Car Weekends’ at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
It was Schatz’s seventh World of Outlaws (WoO) Sprint Car victory of 2015 and Ballou’s fourth this year in the United States Auto Club (USAC) National Sprint Car Series. It’s the first time in history that these prolific sanctioning bodies showcased their national winged and non-winged sprint car tours on the same track on the same night.
Schatz started second in the 30 lap WoO race and chased down pole sitter Kerry Madsen, who took the early lead. The two traded slide jobs dicing their way through traffic with Schatz officially listed as the leader of lap 14 the while Shane Stewart and Rico Abreu joined the lead duo. It was Schatz’s first win at Eldora since the Kings Royal in July 2009.
“These guys on this race team do a phenomenal job,” Schatz said. “Every place we’ve struggled at in the past, they come and pick up their game. This place was on the list. These guys just kept working. I had a great racecar underneath me. Kerry (Madsen) is pretty good here, he must have faded at the end. It feels good to be in victory lane at Eldora. It’s been awhile.”
Stewart was second, while Abreu, Paul McMahan and Greg Wilson rounded out the top-five. Madsen finished sixth.
In the USAC National Sprint Car race, Ballou started second, but shot the lead on the first lap and rode the cushion to victory lane.
It was Ballou’s fourth win of 2015 and the 13th of his career.
“We’ve got a rebuild coming up this week,” Ballou said. “The motor we hot lapped with and qualified with and ran the heat race with just wasn’t cutting it. These guys busted their butt. The only other motor we had was in our other car and you can’t change cars. Everyone just busted their butts to get this thing back together. We guessed on the setup and I think we nailed it. This place has been good to me.”
The race was slowed by four cautions, but Ballou stayed in front. Jon Stanbrough, who started on the pole, finished second. C.J. Leary was third, while Thomas Meseraull and Tracy Hines rounded out the top five.
It was Ballou’s fifth win at Eldora, but his first since May of 2011.
Action continues Saturday. Gates open at 2 p.m. (EDT), with hot laps beginning at 6 p.m. and the racing starting at 7:30 p.m. Children aged 7-12 get in for just $6. Kids 6 and under are admitted free at the gate.
USAC National Sprint Cars
Qualifying – 1. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-15.587; 2. Thomas Meseraull, 18x, Keen-15.833; 3. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-15.885; 4. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-15.906; 5. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-15.936; 6. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-15.984; 7. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-16.078; 8. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-16.079; 9. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-16.086; 10. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-16.105; 11. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-16.110; 12. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-16.148; 13. Kevin Thomas Jr., 17RW, Dutcher-16.195; 14. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-16.198; 15. Chris Windom, 21x, Pollock-16.233; 16. Dallas Hewitt, 16, Hewitt-16.238; 17. Landon Simon, 24, Simon-16.363; 18. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-16.449; 19. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-16.598; 20. Kent Wolters, 12x, Wolters-16.630; 21. Brandon Whited, 15, Whited-16.636; 22. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-16.640; 23. Chad Boespflug, 5, Baldwin-16.698; 24. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-16.704; 25. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-16.713; 26. Daron Clayton, 66, Amati-16.734; 27. Jake Simmons, 3, Simmons-17.391; 28. Adam Cruea, 83, Cruea-17.604; 29. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-17.664; 30. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-NT.
Heat 1 – (8 laps) – 1. Stockon, 2. Cottle, 3. Simon, 4. Thomas, 5. Leary, 6. Smith, 7. Whited, 8. Bell. 2:10.24
Heat 2 – (8 laps) – 1. Darland, 2. Ballou, 3. Meseraull, 4. Hines, 5. Goodnight, 6. Clayton, 7. Andretti. NT
Heat 3 – (8 laps) – 1. Windom, 2. Boespflug, 3. Grant, 4. Stanbrough, 5. Simmons, 6. Jarrett, 7. Hery. 2:10.59
Heat 4 – (8 laps) – 1. Coons, 2. Farney, 3. Swanson, 4. Hewitt, 5. Cruea, 6. Wolters, 7. Bacon. 2:13.64
B-Feature – (12 laps) 1. Leary, 2. Bacon, 3. Goodnight, 4. Clayton, 5. Smith, 6. Simmons, 7. Wolters, 8. Whited, 9. Cruea, 10. Hery, 11. Bell. 3:20.69
A-Feature – (30 laps) – 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Jon Stanbrough, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Tracy Hines, 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 7. Dave Darland, 8. Shane Cottle, 9. Aaron Farney, 10. Chase Stockon, 11. Chris Windom, 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 13. Landon Simon, 14. Daron Clayton, 15. Matt Goodnight, 16. Brady Bacon, 17. Chad Boespflug, 18. Dallas Hewitt, 19. Jake Simmons, 20. Kody Swanson, 21. Justin Grant, 22. Dustin Smith. NT|
Lap Leaders: Ballou 1-30.
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World of Outlaws Sprint Cars
Qualifying – 1. 51-Paul McMahan, 12.913; 2. 2-Shane Stewart, 13.057; 3. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.080; 4. 24-Rico Abreu, 13.104; 5. 7S-Jason Sides, 13.130; 6. 9-Daryn Pittman, 13.135; 7. 7-David Gravel, 13.143; 8. 99-Brady Bacon, 13.143; 9. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.163; 10. 29-Kerry Madsen, 13.186; 11. 1ST-Gary Taylor, 13.237; 12. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.247; 13. 63-Kody Swanson, 13.273; 14. 1-Dale Blaney, 13.299; 15. 41-Jamie Veal, 13.300; 16. 11N-Randy Hannagan, 13.315; 17. 89-Cody Darrah, 13.318; 18. 67-Christopher Bell, 13.326; 19. 11-Steve Kinser, 13.327; 20. 1A-Jacob Allen, 13.361; 21. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 13.409; 22. 81-Lee Jacobs, 13.436; 23. 21-D.J. Foos, 13.450; 24. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.454; 25. 59-Danny Holtgraver, 13.466; 26. 5T-Travis Philo, 13.490; 27. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 13.530; 28. 19-Paige Polyak, 13.530; 29. 83-Craig Dollansky, 13.544; 30. 71M-Joey Saldana, 13.563; 31. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.579; 32. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.745; 33. 2M-Dustin Daggett, 13.747; 34. 9K-Kevin Thomas Jr, 13.753; 35. 55F-Taylor Ferns, 13.826; 36. 40-Caleb Helms, 13.863; 37. 71MX-Paul May, 13.893; 38. 35-Wes McGlumphy, 14.027; 39. 16-Ryan Ruhl, 14.362
Heat 1 – (8 Laps) – 1. 63-Kody Swanson [1]; 2. W20-Greg Wilson [2]; 3. 51-Paul McMahan [4]; 4. 7S-Jason Sides [3]; 5. 89-Cody Darrah [5]; 6. 11K-Kraig Kinser [6]; 7. 83-Craig Dollansky [8]; 8. 2M-Dustin Daggett [9]; 9. 59-Danny Holtgraver [7]; 10. 71MX-Paul May [10]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps) – 1. 29-Kerry Madsen [2]; 2. 2-Shane Stewart [4]; 3. 1-Dale Blaney [1]; 4. 71M-Joey Saldana [8]; 5. 9-Daryn Pittman [3]; 6. 67-Christopher Bell [5]; 7. 81-Lee Jacobs [6]; 8. 5T-Travis Philo [7]; 9. 9K-Kevin Thomas Jr [9]; 10. 35-Wes McGlumphy [10]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps) – 1. 1ST-Gary Taylor [2]; 2. 41-Jamie Veal [1]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz [4]; 4. 7-David Gravel [3]; 5. 21-D.J. Foos [6]; 6. 11-Steve Kinser [5]; 7. 10H-Chad Kemenah [7]; 8. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [8]; 9. 55F-Taylor Ferns [9]; 10. 16-Ryan Ruhl [10]
Heat 4 – (8 Laps) – 1. 24-Rico Abreu [4]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart [2]; 3. 11N-Randy Hannagan [1]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [6]; 5. 40-Caleb Helms [9]; 6. 99-Brady Bacon [3]; 7. 19-Paige Polyak [7]; 8. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg [8]; 9. 1A-Jacob Allen [5]
Dash – (6 Laps) – 1. 29-Kerry Madsen [1]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [4]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [3]; 4. 2-Shane Stewart [5]; 5. 51-Paul McMahan [6]; 6. 7S-Jason Sides [2]; 7. 1ST-Gary Taylor [7]; 8. 63-Kody Swanson [8]
B-Feature – (12 Laps) – 1. 67-Christopher Bell [2] [-]; 2. 11-Steve Kinser [3] [-]; 3. 99-Brady Bacon [1] [-]; 4. 10H-Chad Kemenah [9] [-]; 5. 11K-Kraig Kinser [5] [$300]; 6. 81-Lee Jacobs [6] [$250]; 7. 59-Danny Holtgraver [7] [$225]; 8. 19-Paige Polyak [10] [$200]; 9. 83-Craig Dollansky [11] [$200]; 10. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [12] [$200]; 11. 2M-Dustin Daggett [14] [$200]; 12. 5T-Travis Philo [8] [$200]; 13. 71MX-Paul May [17] [$200]; 14. 55F-Taylor Ferns [16] [$200]; 15. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg [13] [$200]; 16. 16-Ryan Ruhl [19] [$200]; 17. 9K-Kevin Thomas Jr [15] [$200]; 18. 35-Wes McGlumphy [18] [$200]; 19. 1A-Jacob Allen [4] [$200]
A-Feature – (30 Laps) – 1. 15-Donny Schatz [2] [$10,000]; 2. 2-Shane Stewart [4] [$5,000]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [3] [$3,000]; 4. 51-Paul McMahan [5] [$2,700]; 5. W20-Greg Wilson [12] [$2,500]; 6. 29-Kerry Madsen [1] [$2,200]; 7. 1-Dale Blaney [14] [$2,000]; 8. 9-Daryn Pittman [9] [$1,800]; 9. 7S-Jason Sides [6] [$1,600]; 10. 99-Brady Bacon [11] [$1,450]; 11. 7-David Gravel [10] [$1,300]; 12. 49-Brad Sweet [21] [$1,200]; 13. 1ST-Gary Taylor [7] [$1,100]; 14. 11-Steve Kinser [19] [$1,000]; 15. 10H-Chad Kemenah [22] [$950]; 16. 1S-Logan Schuchart [13] [$900]; 17. 89-Cody Darrah [17] [$850]; 18. 83-Craig Dollansky [25] [$50]; 19. 11K-Kraig Kinser [26] [$25]; 20. 21-D.J. Foos [20] [$700]; 21. 41-Jamie Veal [15] [$700]; 22. 11N-Randy Hannagan [16] [$700]; 23. 63-Kody Swanson [8] [$700]; 24. 71M-Joey Saldana [23] [$700]; 25. 67-Christopher Bell [18] [$700]; 26. 40-Caleb Helms [24] [$700].
Lap Leaders: Kerry Madsen 1-13, Donny Schatz 14-30.
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