Schatz picks up Outlaws' triumph
BUFFALO TWP — Donny Schatz continuing his hot streak in the World of Outlaws Sprint car series Saturday night at Lernerville Speedway.
Schatz started second in the 35-lap Commonwealth Clash, got past Paul McMahan on an 11th-lap restart and stayed in front the rest of the way to capture the feature win and $10,000.
Schatz was also the overall winner of the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup Twin 30's in July at Lernerville, though he didn't find victory lane in either rce that night.
The defending WoO champion scored his fifth win of the season in the series as Lernerville hosted its first fall WoO event since 2001.
Schatz now has 105 career Outlaw victories, two behind Doug Wolfgang for fourth on the series' all-time list.
With Schatz holding a huge lead on the 28th lap, the final caution flag of the night flew and he faced a double-file restart alongside McMahan. Schatz started on the low line and was able to build a comfortable lead again.
McMahan wound up second, Tim Shaffer third, Dale Blaney fourth and Craig Dollansky fifth.
Shaffer was the fastest qualifier of the night, turning a lap in 12.844 seconds, or 126.129 miles per hour. He qualified for the feature by winning the B-Main.
McMahan, Dollansky, Sam Hafertepe Jr. and Brad Sweet won heat races.
Danny Holtgraver of Pittsburgh, Lernerville's 2010 Sprint car points champion, had the best finish among local drivers. He was 20th. Sarver's Carl Bowser was 21st and Butler's Brian Ellenberger took 22nd.
Ed Lynch Jr. of Apollo blew a tire and finished 24th.
There were 34 cars in the pits.
