ACACIA RIDGE, Australia – He might not have won the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series championship, but Donny Schatz hasn’t forgotten the way to victory lane.
The 2019 Outlaws runner-up proved that full well on Thursday at Ausdeck Archerfield Speedway, piloting a No. 15 sprint car to the win in a 35-lap feature for the East Coast Logistics Sprint Car Series.
Schatz took the lead from first-half dominator Luke Oldfield on lap 18 and went from the crossed flags to the victory from there.
He pulled away to a 1.84-second margin over Oldfield, with Andrew Scheuerle, Callum Walker and Cody Maroske completing the top five.
“When we started the race, I didn’t really feel all that great, but when you put that much fuel on, it’s tough to try and get the car good all night,” Schatz noted. “These guys did a phenomenal job. We knew it was going to be a little tricky for the first 10 or 12 laps, and it was, but we got ourselves into lap traffic and were able to capitalize on a mistake by Luke to get a victory.
“The car felt good at the end of the race; that’s key. It felt stuck the way I needed it, but we still need to work a little bit on the beginning and we’ll be really happy then.”
Schatz was the only American in the 19-car starting field for Thursday’s Archerfield event.
The finish:
Donny Schatz, Luke Oldfield, Andrew Schuerele, Callum Walker, Cody Maroske, Kevin Titman, Brent Kratzmann, Tim Farrell, Bryan Mann, Kristy Bonsey, Dan Murray, Ryan McNamara, Mick Sauer, Andrew Baumber, Jai Stephenson, Mitchell Gee, Allan Woods, Mitch Gowland, Andrew Corbet.