Donny Schatz continued his assault for the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series championship over the weekend despite some bad luck.  Schatz took to Castrol Raceway in Canada for hot laps on Saturday night when he lost the right front torsion stop which sent his car straight into the wall.  His machine violently flips and comes to a stop on its side in the straightaway.  Safety workers rushed to his mangled sprint car as Schatz later emerged under his own power and without injury.  

Donny Schatz celebrates his hard earned victory (Photo Source: Perry Nelson Photo)

His Tony Stewart Racing team is forced to get the backup car off the trailer which Schatz is able to qualify in the 12th position.  His qualifying effort put him on the front row of the third heat race where he would cruise to victory.  Schatz would catch the dash inversion and later start on the front row of the feature with Friday night’s winner Kerry Madsen.  At the drop of the green flag for the 30-lap feature event to determine the champion of the Oil City Cup finale it was Madsen who darted to the lead with Schatz right behind him.  Schatz would hound Madsen for the lead until taking the spot on lap 24.  Then on lap 28 Brad Sweet would get around Schatz to take the top spot.  Sweet’s lead was short-lived as Schatz would power around him on lap 29 and lead the final two laps to take the victory.

The win was his 17th of the season, 141st win of his career, and continued his streak of 14 consecutive podium finishes.  Schatz spoke about the crash and big win in victory lane, “We had something break in hot laps and killed a car, and it was kind of our baby car. It happens and we’ll keep working on it and make it better. I’m glad we got the win and it was a fun race. The race track worked where there was a top groove a bottom groove and guys running everywhere. Just to get the inversion with nearly no laps in the car it was great. We’re glad to get the win and now we’ve got the work to do.”  Sweet would have to settle for the runner-up spot with Madsen in third, Joey Saldana in fourth, and points leader Daryn Pittman rounded out the top-five.  Pittman’s points lead now stands at only 24 points over Schatz as the series heads to the west coast for the Monster Meltdown at Skagit Speedway on August 30-31.