Jan 8, 2012

Donny Schatz was just too damn good for his rivals tonight, claiming the win in the 50 lap $20,000 to win Australian Open (Round Nine of Hi-Tec Oils World Series Sprintcars) at Supercheap Autos Archerfield Speedway.

In doing so Schatz became the fourth different winner in nine rounds held so far.

The brilliant North Dakota World of Outlaws superstar conserved his tyres on the #17 Miracle Recreation Equipment / Monte Motorsport J&J to lead home Robbie Farr in second, James McFadden third, David Murcott fourth, Rico Abreu fifth, Tim Shaffer sixth, Shane Stewart seventh, Peter Lack eighth, Max Dumesny ninth, Steven Lines tenth, Kerry Madsen eleventh, Cameron Gessner twelfth and Grant Anderson claiming the final finishing position for thirteenth.

“I was good at looking after my tyres tonight,” said the happy winner, “you never know how hard you have to push and how close people are around you in these circumstances so I just concentrated on preparing for the corner early and keeping the car straight. We couldn’t do much with the lapped cars because we were pretty all locked down on the rubber. It’s great to get a win in front of a big crowd here tonight though. Thanks to everyone who has made my stay so much fun here in Queensland. My car owner Luch Monte is in Bali tonight probably at the Casino so I hope he’s betting on black.”

Robbie Farr would naturally have preferred to get the win, but was pleased none the less with the runner up spot in the East Coast Pipeline / Orrcon Steel Maxim after an almost race-long battle with Jason Johnson and James McFadden.

The war between Johnson, Farr and McFadden was remarkably similar to that of the first round battle for the lead at Archerfield back in November.

“We’ve had a really good week up here and we’ve managed to put ourselves back into second spot in the series points. That’s a great result for this team who have worked so hard to get us back in contention. I would have liked to have had a crack at Donny late in the race but he pretty well always had a lapped car between us. I can’t complain, he did a good job and that’s why he’s one of the best in the world,” explained Farr.

James McFadden started on the front row with Donny Schatz after the 22 year old WSS series leader had to come out of the scramble to break into the Vortex Wings Top Eight Shootout and then blitz through to pole.

Remarkably he spun the car with only a handful of laps to go in the 50 lapper but somehow managed to avoid being run over by the rest of the field and at the same time keep the car running.

Brooke Tatnell almost obligingly brought the yellows on at that exact moment when he blew the right rear tyre of the #1 Toyota Genuine Parts / Krikke Motorsport Cool chassis and ground to a halt - this allowed McFadden to reclaim his third position at the restart – instead of what would have been many spots further back while he gathered the car back up.

Jason Johnson too blew a tyre, this time the left rear on the Haynes Labour Hire Maxim after he spent most of the race running the cushion high above Robbie Farr and James McFadden in turn two. His luck ran out when he slammed the main straight wall.

Johnson looked lively all weekend and won the preliminary main event the night prior – his flat tyre DNF not a fair reflection on some wonderful wheel-to-wheel wizardry from the American.

David Murcott was solid in his fourth placing in the Horrell Motorsport / Mainline Dynolog Dynamometers #83 Eagle ending a turbulent weekend for the throttle stomping Victorian with some handy series points heading into Round Ten.

Max Dumesny powered back to a respectable ninth position from the rear of the field when he got tangled up and spun going into the first turn of the first lap of the A-Main.

Further back up the main straight Queensland racer Kevin Titman got caught up with Cameron Gessner and began a wild series of high altitude flips that saw his #59 John Titman Racing entry crash into Max Dumesny at the end of the straight.

The crowd favourite all weekend was undoubtedly pint sized gasman Californian Rico Abreu in the #89 Abreu Vineyards machine. The affable American won the hearts of the crowd with his plucky nature and his stand on the gas cornering technique that belied his short time in Sprintcars so far.

Tim Shaffer gave the Titan Racing Team good reason to smile with a come from position #15 drive that saw the Pennsylvanian net a top six result after winning the B-Main and showing plenty of car speed throughout the two nights.

“We had a few problems that we worked through tonight,” smiled the 2010 Knoxville Nationals winner, “including a fuel problem in our heat race where I basically had to go defensive and hold down our position. We got some speed in the B-Main but we had to work on the motor before the A. It was a busy night but we got a good result for the team and that’s pleasing.”

DNF’s in the A-Main included Danny Reidy (Desert Palms Resort J&J) Andrew Scheuerle with a blown tyre in the Ausdeck #25, Kevin Titman (rollover) David Muir (pulled infield) Darren Jensen (spun in turn three and hit the wall) Jason Johnson hit the wall and blew the left rear tyre, and Brooke Tatnell blew the right rear.

Heat wins tonight went to David Murcott, David Muir and Shane Stewart.

Tim Shaffer won the B-Main from Darren Jensen, Cameron Gessner, Grant Anderson, Kevin Titman and Danny Reidy.

Shane Stewart won the Mid-pack Scramble from James McFadden, Kerry Madsen, David Murcott, Peter Lack, Max Dumesny and David Muir.

James McFadden won the Vortex Wings Top 8 Shootout with a 13.156 from Donny Schatz with 13.205, Jason Johnson 13.255 and Rico Abreu with 13.387.

The next round of Hi-Tec Oils World Series Sprintcars Championship is Round 10 at Speedway City SA on Saturday night, January 14.

Visit www.worldseriessprintcars.com for more details.