On Sunday, May 22nd, Fargo, North Dakota’s Donny Schatz picked up his second Empire State Challenge win in as many seasons. Schatz dominated from the front row in his 2015 triumph, however, he would have to do a bit more work to pick up the victory in the 2016 edition of the event.
Joey Saldana set a new track record in qualifying, with a lap of 12.274 seconds and an average speed of 110mph around the 3/8th mile oval. Saldana, Greg Hodnett, and Logan Schuchart would win the three heat races, with Schuchart going on to win the Dash over Daryn Pittman.
After placing in the top two spots in the Dash, Logan Schuchart and Daryn Pittman brought the field to the green flag for the 35-lap feature, but the initial green flag was short lived, as Pittman and fourth-starting Greg Hodnett would make contact entering turn 1, sending both cars around. Pittman and Hodnett were able to refire after brief visits to the work area and rejoin the field at the tail.
Schuchart wasted no time off the drop of the green, bolting out to a solid lead over Shane Stewart and Joey Saldana in the early stages of the race, making his way into lapped traffic multiple times before cautions for Tim Schaffer, Jason Sides, Stewart Friesen, and others reset the field. While the Schuchart 1S frantically clicked off laps on the scoreboard in search of his first ever World of Outlaws win, Donny Schatz was marching towards the front.
After battling for third with David Gravel through the middle portions of the event, Schatz finally cleared the CJB #5 and began hunting down the Saldana machine for second. Schatz was able to sneak by Saldana on the bottom, and set his sights on Schuchart as he took the ten to go sign from flagger Dave Farney. With Schuchart occupying the cushion, Schatz was just where he wanted to be and began to work over the Shark 1S for the top spot on the scoreboard. Schatz was able to get under Schuchart exiting turn 4 on lap 30, and the pair drag raced down the frontstretch and into the newly reconfigured turn 1. Between turn 1 and the backstretch, Schatz was able to clear Schuchart and drive away.
Donny Schatz crossed under the checkered flag first for the seventh time this season, the most of any driver. A dejected Logan Schuchart crossed in second, followed by David Gravel, Joey Saldana, and Shane Stewart. Schatz earned $10,000 for his efforts, along with the KSE Hard Charger award.
The NAPA Sportsman Shootout Series opener, a 25-lap contest worth $1,000 to the winner was claimed by Ricky Newton, who led wire-to-wire for the first Sportsman win of the season at the track. The win was anything but easy for Newton, as he had to hold off a fast Tony Finch II and Rocky Warner, who started 17th on the field. Newton survived lapped traffic, numerous restarts, and challenges from a number of different competitors to steal the win. Warner, Finch II, Connor Cleveland, and Nick Nye chased Newton across the finish. The NAPA Sportsman Shootout Series returns to action on June 5th for a doubleheader, including a full program along with the holdover feature from the Last Call At The Port weekend in October 2015.
Results
World of Outlaws Craftsman® Sprint Car Series A-Main (35 Laps):
DONNY SCHATZ, Logan Schuchart, David Gravel, Joey Saldana, Shane Stewart, Brad Sweet, Paul McMahan, Greg Wilson, Jason Johnson, Jason Sides, Brent Marks, Daryn Pittman, Danny Dietrich, Lucas Wolfe, Jared Zimbardi, Tyler Ross, Shawn Donath, Justin Barger, Jacob Allen, Bryan Holland, Stewart Friesen, Greg Hodnett, Joe Trenca, Tim Shaffer
Napa Sportsman Shootout Series #1 Feature (25 Laps):
RICKY NEWTON, Rocky Warner, Tony Finch II, Connor Cleveland, Nick Nye, Rocco Leone, Ron Davis III, Kyle Inman, Dave Schilling, Casey Williams, Todd Root, Greg Martin, Alan Fink, Joe Kline, Zach Sabotka, Corey Barker, Ben Wheeler, Tyler Lamb, Troy Fleming, Andrew Buff, Kevin Root, Tyler Trump, Mike Taylor, Matt Farnham, Dave Marcuccilli, Tom Collins, Dylan Zacharias, Ray Bliss, Adam Hilton, Michael Stanton Jr.