Schatz Too Good Again Although 25 drivers signed in for round six of the 2014/2015 World Series Sprintcar Championship at Ausdeck Patios Archerfield Speedway on Sunday night (January 4), 24 of them were merely extras in the Donny Schatz show as the World of Outlaws champion stormed to victory once again. Whilst the depth of talent chasing the WSS crown is strong and should have presented – on paper at least - Schatz with his toughest challenge to date on this tour, the reality is that he encountered little resistance on his way to a fourth consecutive feature race win. Having qualified his SJR Crimsafe #15 on pole position, Schatz led every lap of the 30-lap feature race in another emphatic display. David Murcott confirmed his credentials once again as Australian Champion, advancing from position nine to finish in second spot, with Brooke Tatnell annexing third ahead of Brent Aprile, who advanced from deep in the field to record his best result of the series thus far. Andrew Scheuerle, who was particularly strong during the early stages of the race in pursuit of Schatz, faded late to finish fifth. Daniel Harding, Kyle Hirst, Brent Kratzmann, Darren Jensen and Danny Holtgraver rounded out the top ten but ultimately, with the exception of Scheuerle’s heroics in the early laps, nobody came close to upstaging Schatz. In fact, it was only when the likes of Murcott, Tatnell and Hirst opted to emulate Schatz’s use of the high groove that the series contenders started to make forward progress. Whilst Murcott used it to particularly good effect in advancing from position nine into the runner-up spot, he was never really in a position to challenge Schatz for the win. It was the battles back in the pack that provided plenty of interest and action; the likes of Bryan Mann, Brent Kaeding and Luke Oldfield – who started alongside Schatz on the front row – were engaged in a spirited scrap that ended unceremoniously on lap 14 with Kaeding upside down and all three drivers out of the event. Their demise promoted Tatnell and Aprile into the top five, with both drivers also moving ahead of Scheuerle late in the race. The last five laps also proved costly for Jensen, dropping spots to Harding, Kratzmann and Hirst - who charged from position 16 after transferring from the B Main. Holtgraver was next ahead of David Whell and Davey Heskin, with Kevin Titman, Andrew Liebke, Paul Morris and Lee Nash completing the finishers. The only other driver who failed to go the distance was Matt Egel, taking the W53 to the infield on lap 10. There was a sense of inevitability from the outset when Schatz clocked the fastest lap in qualifying, stopping the clock at 11.828 seconds. Tatnell (11.992) and Oldfield (11.999) were the only others to go under 13 seconds. Murcott, Davey Heskin and Daniel Harding were next best, with Scheuerle, Kratzmann, Mann and Hirst completing the top ten. The opening heat saw Schatz charge through the field from the back to finish runner-up behind Kevin Titman, with Brent Kaeding in third spot. Andrew Wright blitzed the field in heat two, finishing more than five seconds clear of West Aussie Lee Nash and third-placed Paul Morris. Oldfield emulated Schatz’s effort in heat three when he also advanced from position eight to into second spot behind Aprile, with David Whell in third. Darren Jensen was impressive in winning heat four over Wright and Titman, with Kaeding downing Scheuerle and Egel in heat five. Desperate to make amends for a poor qualifying effort, Aprile scored his second heat win when he outpaced Holtgraver and Mann in the final preliminary. Schatz was untroubled in taking out the Gold Dash to secure pole position for the main event. Oldfield earned a spot alongside Schatz on the front row, while Scheuerle and Keading completed the top four. Eliminated in the Bronze and Silver Dashes were Mann, Jensen, Tatnell and Kratzmann. Egel was victorious in the B Main over Hirst, Titman, Whell and Liebke, with Nash clinching the final transfer position ahead of teammate Darryl Clayden. In the opening round of the National Super Sedan Series, defending and four-time series champion Darren Kane scored a narrow win ahead of Matt Pascoe, with Dave Gartner finishing third. Despite the multi-groove racetrack at their disposal, the field remained locked in single-file formation on the bottom, with only Pascoe making any effort to explore other options. Subsequently, when an error from Pascoe saw him snookered behind Gartner throughout the middle stages of the event, Kane skipped clear of the pack. In a race plagued by several restarts, Kane was faultless at the front of the field to secure a perfect start to his championship defence. Once clear of Gartner, Pascoe chased down Kane but couldn’t force an error and had to settle for second, with Gartner clinging to third spot despite plenty of attention from Wayne Randall, Mark Pagel and young South Australian Ryan Alexander, who bounced back from several heat race incidents to finish the night strongly. Lachlan Onley, Steve Jordan and Grant Shaw were next in line, with Sprintcar racer Mick Sauer completing the top ten in his Super Sedan debut. Australian champ Kodee Brown could do no better than 11th overall, followed home by Sam Roza, Jason Campbell, Tony Barklimore and Kaleb Perrett. Unfortunately, the opening round of heats was littered with incidents, the most serious of which saw Sean Black finish upside down after the chequer in heat two. Black subsequently joined Peter Nicola and Tania Smith as early casualties in what was a less than ideal start to the championship. It was Gartner who scored maximum points in time trials, stopping the clock at 14.503 seconds to outpace Brown, Michael Nicola and Alexander. Next best were Barklimore and Peter Nicola - who subsequently discovered an engine problem - with Shaw, Randall and Matt Williams the best of the rest. Languishing in 14th place after time trials, Pascoe made amends with two heat wins to climb into the field for the Super Sevens. Other heat winners were Mark Pagel, Gary Pagel, Jordan and Dale Christensen, whose feature race challenge ended when he was unable to avoid a spun Michael Nicola and made hard contact that put both cars on the grass. The Super Sevens is a unique series of 2-lap sprints to determine the starting order for the first seven spots on the feature race grid. Mark Pagel and Williams were the first to be eliminated, with Brown and Randall following suit in the next round. The final round saw Kane down Pascoe and Gartner to secure pole position for the main event. The next event at Ausdeck Patios Archerfield Speedway is the Crimsafe Australian Sprintcar Open over two nights of competition this weekend on Friday/Saturday January 9 and 10. Donny Schatz again heads the list of nominations, which includes the local stars, all the World Series contenders plus Americans Brent Kaeding and Davey Heskin, along with the likes of Robbie Farr and Steven Lines, all of whom are chasing the $20 000 first prize. Can Schatz be beaten? Be at Ausdeck Patios Archerfield Speedway this weekend to find out.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 04:13:19 +0000
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