EDMONTON, Alberta – Aug. 24, 2013 Donny Schatz parked the STP TSR/ArmourAll/Maxim for win 17!.

17 wins in 2013 foe Donny Schatz

The unstoppable Schatz started the night at Castrol Raceway in the most spectacular fashion when he wrecked his main race car during hot laps. Schatz seems to hit a rut as he charged out of the last corner and crashed into the fence head on. The race car was a wreck forcing the team to prepare the backup car.

Schatz managed to get the 12^th quick time during qualifying . Schatz recovered as only he can by winning his heat then running second to last start winner Kerry Madsen in the 8 lap dash.

Schatz would have been relieved to be starting alongside Aussie Kerry Madsen as the 30 lap a main roll out onto the Castrol Raceway.

Outlaws salute the crowd at Castrol Raceway

Madsen fresh from his earlier win at Castrol looked for while like he might pull off back to back wins in the Oil Cup. Madsen was polished as he ran the race lead for the first 24 laps but Schatz had unfinished business as he hammered the tail of Madsen’s Keneric car until forcing the pass.

Madsen and Schatz ran wheel to wheel offering the big crowd plenty to cheers about. Both Schatz and Madsen would have been surprised when Brad Sweet  arrived , first passing Madsen then the Kasey kahne driver passed Schatz .to lead on lap 27 .

By lap 28 Schatz had again grabbed the race lead and this time although Sweet continued to challenge aggressively Schatz was untroubled in maintain his lead over the final two laps and completing  win 17 for 2013 and his 141st  WoO career victory.

Schatz’s win was remarkable, there appears to be no stopping the defending Champion as he steamrolls his way to win after win in such a devastating manner.

Just how Kasey Kahne will get Daryn Pittman back into the winners circle or at worst to finish ahead of Schatz is difficult to imagine

Pittman’s lead is now only 24 points and  his recovery must start at Skagit Speedway on August 31. The next 10 day the Outlaws will race nine time  and every race counts if Pittman is to recover ground .

The final podium at Castrol Raceway was Schatz, Sweet, and Madsen.

Joey Saldana after a good start finished in fourth and must be getting anxious as he looks for his initial win on the tour for 2013.

 Qualifying: 1. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.786; 2. 9-Daryn Pittman, 13.809; 3. 4-Cody Darren, 13.882; 4.

Brad Sweet and Daryn Pittman

Heat 1 – (10 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature): 1. 7S-Jason Sides [3]; 2. 39C-Travis Rilat [1]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet [4]; 4. 1-Sammy Swindell [5]; 5. 11K-Kraig Kinser [2]; 6. 6-Bill Rose [6]; 7. 38-Trevor Turnbull [7]; 8. 44-Kelly Miller [8].

Heat 2 – (10 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature): 1. 29-Kerry Madsen [1]; 2. 11-Steve Kinser [5]; 3. 63-Chad Kemenah [2]; 4. 9-Daryn Pittman [4]; 5. 71M-Joey Saldana [3]; 6. 11EH-Marc Duperron [6]; 7. 5R-Steve Reeves [7]; 8. 3-Dennis MacEachern [8].

Heat 3 – (10 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature): 1. 15-Donny Schatz [1]; 2. 7-Craig Dollansky [5]; 3. 51-Paul McMahan [3]; 4. 4-Cody Darrah [4]; 5. 12-Casey Adams [2]; 6. 16-David Miller [7]; 7. 7D-Jesse Dakus [6].

Dash – (8 Laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature): 1. 29-Kerry Madsen [2]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [1]; 3. 71M-Joey Saldana [4]; 4. 7S-Jason Sides [5]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet [8]; 6. 4-Cody Darrah [6]; 7. 39C-Travis Rilat [3]; 8. 9-Daryn Pittman [7]; 9. 7-Craig Dollansky [10]; 10. 11-Steve Kinser [9].

Driver quotes

Donny Schatz  “We had something break in hot laps and killed a car, and it was kind of our baby car,” said Schatz, of Fargo, N.D. “It happens and we’ll keep working on it and make it better. I’m glad we got the win and it was a fun race. The race track worked where there was a top groove a bottom groove and guys running everywhere. Just to get the inversion with nearly no laps in the car it was great. We’re glad to get the win and now we’ve got the work to do.”

Brad Sweet “At the end of the race we really got the top working well and gave Donny a run for his money,” said Sweet, a native of Grass Valley, Calif. “It’s a shame because they’re so hard to win right now because Donny is so fast. I think we had the superior car, but just a driver mistake getting into one and bouncing it off the wall and that was all she wrote.”

 Kerry Madsen “We lost something there at the end, we don’t know what yet,” said Madsen of St. Marys, N.S.W. “Either a tire sealed up or the driver. It was a great weekend and we think we have a great baseline going into next week. Somehow Donny got around me while we were in lapped traffic, but I just kept my line in three and four and got back around him.”

A-Main – (30 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz [2] [$10,000]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet [5] [$5,000]; 3. 29-Kerry Madsen [1] [$3,000]; 4. 71M-Joey Saldana [3] [$2,700]; 5. 9-Daryn Pittman [8] [$2,500]; 6. 7-Craig Dollansky [9] [$2,200]; 7. 51-Paul McMahan [11] [$2,000]; 8. 7S-Jason Sides [4] [$1,800]; 9. 63-Chad Kemenah [13] [$1,600]; 10. 1-Sammy Swindell [15] [$1,450]; 11. 11K-Kraig Kinser [12] [$1,300]; 12. 6-Bill Rose [16] [$1,200]; 13. 4-Cody Darrah [6] [$1,100]; 14. 44-Kelly Miller [22] [$1,000]; 15. 16-David Miller [21] [$950]; 16. 7D-Jesse Dakus [18] [$900]; 17. 39C-Travis Rilat [7] [$850]; 18. 5R-Steve Reeves [20] [$750]; 19. 38-Trevor Turnbull [19] [$725]; 20. 12-Casey Adams [14] [$700]; 21. 11-Steve Kinser [10] [$700]; 22. 11EH-Marc Duperron [17] [$700]; 23. 3-Dennis MacEachern [23] [$200]. Lap Leaders: Kerry Madsen 1-23; Donny Schatz 24-27, 29-30; Brad Sweet 28. KSE Hard Charger Award: 44-Kelly Miller [+8].

World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series Championship Standings

 The series returns to action at Skagit Speedway on Aug. 30^–31 for the Monster Meltdown in Alger Wash., beginning a stretch of nine races in 10 days that will no doubt have a major impact on the championship battle.