Donny Schatz earned his first win of 2023 at Attica
Donny Schatz is certainly no stranger to victory lane but there have been some dry spells recently. But the 10-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series champion made a move coming to the white flag to take the lead then drove on to capture the winner’s trophy on Friday night in the first of a two-race weekend for the series.
The driver from Fargo, North Dakota driver scored the win on the track located in Attica, Ohio in a race shown live by DirtVision.com.
A total of 38 cars were signed in for competition
Qualifying Results:
Group A Results- 1. Rico Abreu(12.513), 2. Carson Macedo, 3. Cap Henry, 4. Chris Andrews, 5. Giovanni Scelzi, 6. Stuart Brubaker, 7. Byron Reed, 8. Brad Sweet
Group B Results- 1. Spencer Bayston(12.768), 2. Sheldon Haudenschild, 3. Donny Schatz, 4. James McFadden, 5. David Gravel, 6. Brandon Spithaler, 7. Craig Mintz, 8. Brock Zearfoss
Heat 1 Results: 1. Rico Abreu, 2. Cap Henry, 3. Giovanni Scelzi, 4. Byron Reed, 5. Jacob Allen
Heat 2 Results: 1. Carson Macedo, 2. Stuart Brubaker, 3. Chris Andrews, 4. Nate Dussel, 5. Brad Sweet
Heat 3 Results: 1. Donny Schatz, 2. David Gravel, 3. Spencer Bayston, 4. Logan Schuchart, 5. Craig Mintz
Heat 4 Results: 1. Sheldon Haudenschild, 2. James McFadden, 3. Tyler Gunn, 4. Brandon Spithaler, 5. Brock Zearfoss
Last Chance Showdown Finish: 1. Cole Macedo, 2. Bryce Lucius, 3. Trey Jacobs, 4. Ricky Peterson
WoO Dash Finish: 1. Carson Macedo, 2. Rico Abreu, 3. Stuart Brubaker, 4. Donny Schatz, 5. Sheldon Haudenschild, 6. David Gravel, 7. Cap Henry, 8. James McFadden
Feature Re-cap: The 35-lap feature began with a mishap involving Bayston, McFadden and Mintz. Bayston and McFadden were able to continue but the Mintz car was retired for the night. Once the race went green, Abreu shot to the lead with Macedo, Schatz, Brubaker and Gravel trailing. On the second circuit, Gravel got by Brubaker for fourth.
Macedo closed in and began to offer a challenge to Abreu for the top spot but a lap 8 caution for Peterson would slow the action just as the leaders were about to encounter slower traffic.
On the lap 8 restart, Haudenschild jumped past Brubaker to grab fifth. At the same time, the top-3 of Abreu, Macedo and Schatz were fighting for the lead. Haudenschild moved in on Gravel as the race approached the halfway mark with those two exchanging the position on two occasions.
By lap 20, Abreu had bulit a lead of more than 1.5 seconds over Macedo and Schatz. On lap 23, Haudenschild took fourth from Gravel with Schuchart closing from sixth.
With Abreu in traffic, Macedo tightened the gap on Abreu with Schatz also in the mix with less than 10 laps remaining. Macedo ducked to the inside of Abreu to challenge for the lead. That, however, opened the door for Schatz to get by for second.
As the cars came to the white flag, Schatz moved inside to take the lead from Abreu with Macedo trying to also get by the early race leader but Abreu held the position. In the end, it was Schatz who would win the race to the checkered flag to claim the victory.
It was the fifth win at Attica for Schatz and his 308th career WoO Sprints win.
Feature Results: 1. Donny Schatz, 2. Rico Abreu, 3. Carson Macedo, 4. Sheldon Haudenschild, 5. David Gravel, 6. Cap Henry, 7. Logan Schuchart, 8. Stuart Brubaker, 9. Brad Sweet, 10. Spencer Bayston, 11. Giovanni Scelzi, 12. Byron Reed, 13. Brock Zearfoss, 14. Brandon Spithaler, 15. James McFadden, 16. Jacob Allen, 17. Trey Jacobs, 18. Tyler Gunn, 19. Cole Macedo, 20. Nate Dussel, 21. Chris Andrews, 22. Bryce Lucius, 23. Ricky Peterson, 24. Craig Mintz
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