World of Outlaws

Red River: Donny Schatz race report

Schatz thrills hometown crowd with run in duel in the Dakotas - ...

Published: Jun 16, 2003, 9:44 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Schatz thrills hometown crowd with run in duel in the Dakotas - #15 Parkerstores/Subway driver finishes second by just inches.

FARGO, ND - JUNE 14, 2003 - Clearly the favorite of the Red River Valley Speedway capacity crowd, Fargo, ND resident Donny Schatz gave them something to cheer about as he overcame an almost straight away deficit to catch race leader Danny Lasoski with three laps remaining in the World of Outlaws 30-lap Duel in the Dakotas A-main event. Schatz, the defending event champion, worked lapped traffic masterfully to get right on Lasoski's fuel tank on the white flag lap dropping to the low groove as the pair worked through turns three and four and charged to the checkered flag. As the crossed flags waved, Lasoski held the lead by less than a car length to take with victory.

"I gave it everything I had," said Schatz. "The car was as close to perfect as you can get one of these things. We had a good weekend here at home getting the win on Friday night but came up just a little short tonight.

"Tyler (Swank), Keith (Giles) and Chad (Lambert), my crew, along with Ron Shaver, our engine builder, and Jack Elam, our chassis builder, worked their tails off to give me the best car a driver could ask for in any form of racing. But in WoO, you race against the best in the business so you know their crews are doing the same thing and you better have your game together. If Steve (Kinser) hadn't been in that early crash, he was going to be tough for both Danny and I to catch much less pass. None of us come to finish second; we are here to win. Second is second and just not the same as a win.

"I want to thank my family and all the people who worked so hard to put together all the fan events this week so I could see friends I don't get to spend much time with traveling on the road and meet all the North Dakota fans. It was awesome for Subway to come back on board with us for this race. Thanks to ParkerStores and my other sponsors for their continued support. There is always next year to get another win here." Schatz started the feature from the inside of the second row by virtue of his finish in the dash that determined the first six starting positions. At the drop of the green, pole sitter Kinser jumped in the lead followed by fellow front row sitter Lasoski, Tim Shaffer and Schatz.

On lap six, Kinser was involved in a three-car crash in turn three ending up on his side and damaging his car beyond repair. Lasoski assumed the point on the restart and got a good jump on Shaffer and Schatz. Just before the halfway point in the race, Schatz got by Shaffer and set his sights on Lasoski.

Working lapped traffic with finesse, Schatz maneuvered through the field using both the high and low grooves during his charge to the front as the remainder of the race ran caution flag free. Shaffer, Mark Kinser and Kraig Kinser rounded out the top five.

The next event for the #15 ParkerStores team is Wednesday, June 18 at Huset's Speedway, Brandon, South Dakota.

-jkdracer-

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Michigan: Greg Sarff race notes

Next article Columbus: Final round-by-round results

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Why Oscar Piastri has struggled to show his best with this year's McLaren MCL40

Formula 1

Why Oscar Piastri has struggled to show his best with this year's McLaren MCL40

FIA ratifies key 2027 WRC sporting regulations

WRC

WRC WRC 25 min

FIA ratifies key 2027 WRC sporting regulations

Toprak Razgatlioglu to miss the rest MotoGP season due to shoulder injury

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Australian GP

1 h

Toprak Razgatlioglu to miss the rest MotoGP season due to shoulder injury

MotoGP teams told Qatar Grand Prix expected to go ahead

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

1 h

MotoGP teams told Qatar Grand Prix expected to go ahead

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts