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A Triumphant Return: Pittman Wins Opening Night of Summer Nationals at Williams Grove Pittman was running third with just five laps remaining and charged past Chad Kemenah, before using a late restart to his advantage to overtake Schatz in dramatic fashion, as he boldly put a slide job on the leader in the second turn to inch his ahead. Pittman would hold off Schatz over the last two laps to pick up his second win in the last three races. “My hat is off to my crew,” said Pittman, who won the Summer Nationals in 2006. “They did a great job. Maxim built us a new race car and got me in a seat that I feel more comfortable in and more confident in because I know it’s safer. The car felt awesome from the time we unloaded it. We’ve been good for about three years now here and came here in the spring and struggled and missed the show. It feels good to come in here and rebound. It was a great effort by the whole team.” Pittman lined up sixth in the Titan Garages Maxim and gained two spots on the opening laps, powering his way past 20-time series champion Steve Kinser and also Brian Leppo who won with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series at Williams Grove last season. He then patiently worked on Jeff Shepard, taking the third spot from him on the 11th lap. He then was able to reel in Chad Kemenah and used the late restart to make a bid for the win. After sliding Schatz in the second turn, the pair drifted up to the wall, with Schatz getting on the brakes for a split second and then doing his best to fight back. “I knew it was my only shot,” commented Pittman when asked about the slide job. “You know that Donny (Schatz) doesn’t make mistakes, especially when he is out front. I saw that he went to the top on the prior restart when I was running third. I thought if he opened the door, my only shot would be to get a good run on him off four and be even with him at the (restart) cone and put a slider on him. We were both fast in (turns) three and four and both running the same line. When you run that line, it’s hard to pass. We’re just going for wins now and if we mess up going for wins, that’s just the way it is.” The race took four starts to get a single lap in the books, as there were two yellow flag periods, followed by a red flag. Jeff Shepard led from the pole on two of the starts, with Kemenah leading on the other two. Kemenah led the most important start, which was the fourth one and would pace the field for the first 18 laps. Pittman stayed focused on each of the starts on a very hot and muggy night.
“I kept getting such good starts and I was afraid that the one that finally went green was not going to be a good one for me,” explained Pittman, who is a native of Owasso , Oklahoma . “We started sixth and I think I could get to fourth by turn one almost every time. I really figured someone was going to try to block me and keep me from what I was doing. When it finally went green, we were in the spot we thought we could get to and we just worked out way up from there.”
The win for Pittman was his 27th with the World of Outlaws in his career, which placed him in a tie with Craig Dollansky for 14th on the all-time win list. While he is closing in on the Top-10 in the championship standings, he and his team are focused on winning as many races as they can in the second half of the season.
“It us such tough company out here and wins are hard to come by,” Pittman said. “We proved that with how long it took us to get our first one. We have the confidence that we can win and have to stay on top of our game to get wins. I’m lot more optimistic about the rest of the season after the last few weeks than I was about two or three weeks ago.”
Schatz took the lead from Kemenah on the low side as the pair approached traffic on the 19th lap as they exited the second turn. Kemenah instantly fought back, though Schatz was able to quickly pull away. With three laps remaining, Schatz had a comfortable lead as Pittman and Kemenah battled for the second spot, with the final caution flag of the night flying on the 22nd lap.
“We were decent tonight, but we obviously didn’t have the car to win the race,” said Schatz. “I just wasn’t getting the forward drive that I needed. Tomorrow is a new day and we learned some things tonight that worked and we tried some things that hurt us. It is what it is and tomorrow is a fresh night and I know that we’ll be all right tomorrow.”
Kemenah led the first 18 laps of the event and picked up his third third-place finish of the season as he continues to close in on his first win of the season aboard the Kantor Oil Company Maxim. For Kemenah, it was the first Top-Five finish of his career at the storied half-mile.
“I am tickled to death,” said Kemenah. “I wanted to win, but we led some laps and ran strong. I think we had too soft of a tire on there, because it is pretty bald. I am standing here on the front straightaway at Williams Grove and that is pretty hard to believe. We had a really good race car and we are learning about racing here.”
Steve Kinser finished fourth aboard the Q Oil Maxim, after having some trouble in time trials. He lined up eighth in the fourth heat and was able to race his way to a second-place finish to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash where he was fifth, which lined him up in the third row for the 25-lap A-Feature.
Jason Meyers lined up 14th for the A-Feature, though actually came from the 16th spot, after being called for jumping the initial start to finish fifth in the GLR Investments KPC.
Jeff Shepard who started on the pole finished sixth aboard the Zemco Speed Equipment Maxim, with Brian Leppo in the Swope Salvage & Recycling JEI behind him. Craig Dollansky powered his way from the 20th starting spot to finish eighth in the Auto Value Parts Stores Maxim, with Alan Krimes in the Conestoga Valley Garage Maxim in ninth and Keith Kauffman in the Middleswarth Chips J&J was 10th.
After Pittman got around Schatz, he charged back on the next lap in the second turn on the high side of the track, bouncing off the wall and allowing Pittman to pull away down the back straightaway. On the last lap, he powered his way into the fourth turn upstairs looking to get a run on Pittman heading down the front stretch and came up just 0.203 second short.
“I definitely ran into it,” Schatz said of his encounter with the turn two wall. “There was not much cushion left and I definitely wanted to get the win. I pushed it for everything it had and it wasn’t quite enough.”
Schatz will look to defend his Summer Nationals title on Saturday night in the 30-lap finale which will see the winner pocket $20,000. Driving the Armor All J&J for Tony Stewart Racing, Schatz is excited to have five more laps on Saturday night to make something happen.
“The race track got pretty slick in the feature tonight,” noted the North Dakota native. “I didn’t expect it to go away that much. I was probably a little too cautious. Tomorrow you know it will get slick, because it will be hotter out and we raced on it tonight. We have a deal for it and we just have to get it in there.”
Kemenah had a very fast car in open race track, as he turned the fastest lap of the 25-lap contest on the opening circuit. While in open track he opened a number of comfortable leads on Schatz, though each time the pair approached traffic that gave the runner-up a chance to close in on him.
“I didn’t want to see the restarts,” Kemenah noted. “I needed it to go green with how bad my tires were. We wanted to win, and we led a lot of laps and we showed everyone that we can go around Williams Grove Speedway.”
For Kemenah, who is in his first full season driving for the Hard 8 Racing team, the podium finish was his 19th Top-10 finish of the season as he closes in on the seventh spot in championship standings. He also finished third on Sunday night in the Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway and has 10 Top-10 finishes in the last 11 World of Outlaws events.
“My hat is off to my crew again tonight,” said the native of Findlay , Ohio . “Adam (Brough) came out here about a month ago, after it was just me and my nephew (A.J. Havens) out here. We seem to really be hitting our stride. I have never really been that good here and we tried a lot of different things. We all sat down along with my father-in-law (Bob Hampshire) and put our heads together and came up with some stuff between us.”
The Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series returns to action on Saturday night with the finale of the Cleveland Brothers Summer Nationals at Williams Grove Speedway, which will see the winner take home $20,000.
CLEVELAND BROTHERS SUMMER NATIONAL NIGHT #1 NOTEBOOK
• BACK AT THE TRACK: Lucas Wolfe, the leading contender for the Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award before he suffered a back injury last month returned to the track for the first time on Friday night, to observe the action. The native of Mechanicsburg , Pennsylvania hopes to return to action with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series at some point next month.
• FAST QUALIFIER: Lance Dewease paced the 44 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the semi-banked half-mile oval at 17.229 seconds at 104.475 mph. For his qualifying effort, Dewease earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Keith Kauffman (4), Doug Esh (3), Terry McCarl (2), and Chad Layton (1).
• QUALIFYING WINNERS: Donny Schatz, Brian Leppo, Jeff Shepard and Alan Krimes won heat races…Jeff Shepard won the Crane Cams Dash…Sam Hafertepe Jr. won the B-Main. • FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 32 Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature events held in 2008. The winners include: Donny Schatz (Knoxville Raceway-twice, Attica Raceway Park, Eldora Speedway, Tri-City Speedway, Sedalia’s State Fair Speedway, Dodge City Raceway Park, River Cities Speedway, Cedar Lake Speedway and Riverside International Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Volusia Speedway Park, Eldora Speedway, Huset’s Speedway-twice, Eagle Raceway and Tri-State Speedway.), Jason Meyers (Volusia Speedway Park, Manzanita Speedway, I-55 Raceway, Lernerville Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway and Limaland Motorsports Park), Steve Kinser (Williams Grove Speedway, Rolling Wheels Raceway Park and Lernerville Speedway), Daryn Pittman (Eldora Speedway and Williams Grove Speedway), Joey Saldana (Dodge City Raceway Park and Eldora Speedway), Lance Dewease (The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway), Danny Lasoski (Volusia Speedway Park) and Shane Stewart (Knoxville Raceway).
• HALF-MILE WINNERS: Williams Grove Speedway is a semi-banked half-mile oval. The Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series have raced 15 times this season on a track that size. The winners include: Donny Schatz (Knoxville Raceway-twice, Eldora Speedway and Sedalia’s State Fair Speedway), Jason Meyers (Volusia Speedway Park, Manzanita Speedway and Virginia Motor Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Volusia Speedway Park and Eldora Speedway), Daryn Pittman (Eldora Speedway and Williams Grove Speedway), Steve Kinser (Williams Grove Speedway), Danny Lasoski (Volusia Speedway Park), Joey Saldana (Eldora Speedway) and Shane Stewart (Knoxville Raceway).
• ON THE WEB: The Official Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Web site is at http://www.worldofoutlaws.com/sprint. Among the features are updated driver biographies with individual statistics and pictures, race-by-race statistics, detailed track information and race coverage, series news and team press releases. Also, links to the 2008 Official Rulebook can be found at the bottom of the home page. • LISTEN ONLINE: If fans can’t get to a track to see the series, they can experience the excitement of the World of Outlaws live on DIRTVision.com through the DIRT Radio Network. To listen to the audio broadcasts, log on to www.DIRTVision.com and click on the DIRT Radio Network logo. Listeners will need Windows Media Player 9 or higher to listen to the DIRT Radio Network. For technical support or questions, e-mail webmaster@DIRTVision.com. • UP NEXT: The finale of the Cleveland Brothers Summer Nationals at Williams Grove Speedway on Saturday, July 19.
• UPCOMING EVENTS: The second East Coast swing of the season wrap up at Lebanon Valley Speedway in New York on July 20 and at Ohsweken Speedway in Canada on July 22 and July 23. Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Williams Grove Summer Nationals Night #1; Mechanicsburg, PA; July 18, 2008
Qualifying 1) 30C-Lance Dewease 17.229 2) 7K-Keith Kauffman 17.302 3) 30-Doug Esh 17.315 4) 24-Terry McCarl 17.323 5) 25-Chad Layton 17.369 6) 14-Jason Meyers 17.380 7) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 17.405 8) 88-Todd Shaffer 17.424 9) 35-Alan Cole 17.428 10) 83-Shane Stewart 17.434 11) 21-Daryn Pittman 17.444 12) 6N-Sean Michael 17.465 13) 15-Donny Schatz 17.475 14) 71-Brian Leppo 17.477 15) 1-Jeff Shepard 17.498 16) 87-Alan Krimes 17.500 17) 55-Kerry Madsen 17.514 18) 8K-Chad Kemenah 17.515 19) 22-Greg Hodnett 17.535 20) R19-Jac Haudenschild 17.554 21) 7M-Mark Smith 17.630 22) 7S-Jason Sides 17.634 23) 2-Craig Dollansky 17.634 24) 19-Stevie Smith 17.655 25) 5C-Chad Hillier 17.669 26) 9-Joey Saldana 17.669 27) 10N-Niki Young 17.672 28) 17B-Steve Buckwalter 17.686 29) 51-Fred Rahmer 17.696 30) 6-Paul McMahan 17.765 31) 21P-Brian Montieth 17.765 32) 11-Steve Kinser 17.789 33) 3W-John Westbrook 17.836 34) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. 17.844 35) 11T-T J Winegardner 17.892 36) 69K-Donald Kreitz Jr. 17.913 37) 59-Jim Siegel 17.977 38) 3H-Pat Cannon 18.037 39) 89-Cody Darrah 18.062 40) 13-Billy Brian Jr 18.212 41) 20-Kraig Kinser 18.238 42) 11E-Mike Erdley 18.271 43) 3-Bob Bennett 18.301 44) 8M-Chris Meleason 18.894
Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature) 1) 15-Donny Schatz 2) 35-Alan Cole 3) 30C-Lance Dewease 4) 51-Fred Rahmer 5) 25-Chad Layton 6) 7M-Mark Smith 7) 55-Kerry Madsen 8) 3W-John Westbrook 9) 20-Kraig Kinser 10) 5C-Chad Hillier 11) 59-Jim Siegel
Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature) 1) 71-Brian Leppo 2) 8K-Chad Kemenah 3) 14-Jason Meyers 4) 83-Shane Stewart 5) 7K-Keith Kauffman 6) 9-Joey Saldana 7) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. 8) 7S-Jason Sides 9) 6-Paul McMahan 10) 11E-Mike Erdley
Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature) 1) 1-Jeff Shepard 2) 21-Daryn Pittman 3) 30-Doug Esh 4) 2-Craig Dollansky 5) 10N-Niki Young 6) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 7) 22-Greg Hodnett 8) 21P-Brian Montieth 9) 89-Cody Darrah 10) 11T-T J Winegardner 11) 3-Bob Bennett
Heat 4 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature) 1) 87-Alan Krimes 2) 11-Steve Kinser 3) 88-Todd Shaffer 4) R19-Jac Haudenschild 5) 69K-Donald Kreitz Jr. 6) 24-Terry McCarl 7) 17B-Steve Buckwalter 8) 13-Billy Brian Jr. 9) 6N-Sean Michael 10) 19-Stevie Smith
Crane Cams Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) 1) 1-Jeff Shepard 2) 8K-Chad Kemenah 3) 71-Brian Leppo 4) 15-Donny Schatz 5) 11-Steve Kinser 6) 21-Daryn Pittman 7) 87-Alan Krimes 8) 30C-Lance Dewease 9) 7K-Keith Kauffman 10) 35-Alan Cole
B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature) 1) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 2) 55-Kerry Madsen 3) 9-Joey Saldana 4) 24-Terry McCarl 5) 22-Greg Hodnett [$200] 6) 5C-Chad Hillier [$180] 7) 21P-Brian Montieth [$175] 8) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. [$160] 9) 7S-Jason Sides [$150] 10) 89-Cody Darrah [$150] 11) 17B-Steve Buckwalter [$150] 12) 20-Kraig Kinser [$150] 13) 11T-T J Winegardner [$150] 14) 13-Billy Brian Jr [$150] 15) 3W-John Westbrook [$150] 16) 3-Bob Bennett [$150] 17) 59-Jim Siegel [$150] 18) 11E-Mike Erdley [$150] 19) 6N-Sean Michael [$150] 20) 7M-Mark Smith [$150] 21) 19-Stevie Smith [$150] 22) 6-Paul McMahan [$150] 23) 3H-Pat Cannon [$150] 24) 8M-Chris Meleason [$150]
A-main (25 laps) - Starting Position [#] 1) 21-Daryn Pittman[6] [$8,000] 2) 15-Donny Schatz[4] [$4,000] 3) 8K-Chad Kemenah[2] [$2,500] 4) 11-Steve Kinser[5] [$2,200] 5) 14-Jason Meyers[14] [$2,100] 6) 1-Jeff Shepard[1] [$2,000] 7) 71-Brian Leppo[3] [$1,800] 8) 2-Craig Dollansky[20] [$1,600] 9) 87-Alan Krimes[7] [$1,500] 10) 7K-Keith Kauffman[9] [$1,300] 11) 10N-Niki Young[22] [$1,200] 12) 89-Cody Darrah[26] [$500] 13) 88-Todd Shaffer[16] [$1,000] 14) 51-Fred Rahmer[23] [$700] 15) 69K-Donald Kreitz Jr.[24] [$600] 16) 30-Doug Esh[11] [$600] 17) 25-Chad Layton [13] [$600] 18) 35-Alan Cole[10] [$600] 19) 24-Terry McCarl[12] [$600] 20) 83-Shane Stewart[17] [$600] 21) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.[25] [$0] 22) 55-Kerry Madsen[18] [$600] 23) 5C-Chad Hillier[27] [$0] 24) 30C-Lance Dewease[8] [$600] 25) R19-Jac Haudenschild[19] [$600] 26) 9-Joey Saldana[21] [$600] 27) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[15] [$600]
Note- Tony Bruce Jr. and Chad Hillier used Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series provisionals to start the A-Feature. Cody Darrah used a Williams Grove Speedway track proivisional to start the A-Feature.
Lap Leaders: Chad Kemenah 1-18, Donny Schatz 19-22, Daryn Pittman 23-25 Chicken Hawk Hot Lap Award: Chad Kemenah Penske Power Position Award: Chad Kemenah SuperClean Start of the Night Award: Alan Krimes KSE Hard Charger Award: Cody Darrah Schatz Sizzles at Summer Nationals: Picks up $25,000 for Win • FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 33 Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature events held in 2008. The winners include: Donny Schatz (Knoxville Raceway-twice, Attica Raceway Park, Eldora Speedway, Tri-City Speedway, Sedalia’s State Fair Speedway, Dodge City Raceway Park, River Cities Speedway, Cedar Lake Speedway, Riverside International Speedway and Williams Grove Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Volusia Speedway Park, Eldora Speedway, Huset’s Speedway-twice, Eagle Raceway and Tri-State Speedway.), Jason Meyers (Volusia Speedway Park, Manzanita Speedway, I-55 Raceway, Lernerville Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway and Limaland Motorsports Park), Steve Kinser (Williams Grove Speedway, Rolling Wheels Raceway Park and Lernerville Speedway), Daryn Pittman (Eldora Speedway and Williams Grove Speedway), Joey Saldana (Dodge City Raceway Park and Eldora Speedway), Lance Dewease (The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway), Danny Lasoski (Volusia Speedway Park) and Shane Stewart (Knoxville Raceway). • LISTEN ONLINE: If fans can’t get to a track to see the series, they can experience the excitement of the World of Outlaws live on DIRTVision.com through the DIRT Radio Network. To listen to the audio broadcasts, log on to www.DIRTVision.com and click on the DIRT Radio Network logo. Listeners will need Windows Media Player 9 or higher to listen to the DIRT Radio Network. For technical support or questions, e-mail webmaster@DIRTVision.com. • UP NEXT: The series annual stop at Lebanon Valley Speedway in New York on Sunday, July 20. Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Williams Grove Summer Nationals Night #2; Mechanicsburg, PA; July 19, 2008
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