DONNY KEEPS CALLING THE SCHATZ

Three in a row down under
(BUNBURY, WA, Saturday Nov 27 1999) .. A third successive A-Feature win for American star Donny Schatz was a huge reward for car-owner Shane Krikke at his home track, Bunbury City & Regional Raceway, tonight. The 1997 Pennzoil World of Outlaws 'Rookie of the Year' was forced to work hard for his win, however having drawn a full six inversion of the Dash after convincingly being the highest qualifier, setting quickest time trial and creating a new eight-lap track record in preliminary heat racing.

Adelaide's Trevor Green jumped into the lead of the 30-lap feature event in his former Mark Kinser Maxim only for a caution to occur on the second lap when 19-year old local Jamie Maiolo stalled his LJM Produce Maxim in Turn Two. Schatz quickly disposed of Max Dumesny to issue a challenge to the Adrad Radiators car from the restart but only a further four laps elapsed before another stoppage happened when Ryan Farrell hit the wall after component failure.

On the tenth lap the seemingly inevitable happened when Green was passed for the lead at the same time that defending champion Skip Jackson withdrew with engine trouble whilst running third. The Pennzoil/Skilled Engineering team had a miserable return for hard work having been up most of the night and morning putting together a JohnBoy chassis to replace the frame damaged at Claremont the previous evening.

For the remainder of the race Schatz consolidated an ever-increasing lead while Green had to withstand a late-race charge from Dumesny's Valvoline Maxim to maintain second. Local favorite Ron 'The Bunbury Bullet' Krikke ran fourth ahead of Drew Kruck who again impressed by coming from 10th starting position to run fifth in his Titan Garages Eagle. Adelaide's ChasCalandro (Castrol Maxim) and Pino Priolo (Yale Maxim) were the only other drivers left on the lead lap, ahead of Queenslanders Darren Jensen (Serco/Wiseco Maxim) and Andrew Scheuerle (Lucas Oils Maxim), the latter having to perform a rapid motor exchange after his primary unit overheated in his final heat race.

Youthful Sydneysiders Joel Knott (19 years of age) and Kelly Linigen (21) ran well in 10th and 11th respectively, the fast femme qualifying an excellent seventh for the feature. Kelly remarked, "This western swing really is all about survival. I'm thankful for Pino for lending me his (spare) Gambler but I'll be glad to get back to my own Trucksmart Stealth and on a track I know next week."

Schatz meanwhile was in a class of his own, Green summing up the situation by saying, "It doesn't matter for a 'scrubber' like me, we can bust our arse trying, but we were beaten tonight by a professional driver. He (Donny) is a pro who races 100 times a year, so I'm happy with second. If ever there is a chance that I can beat him, it will be at our home track in Adelaide next Saturday." Dumesny too was pleased to leave the west with second overall in the standings, remarking, "At one stage I thought Ron was going to get past me so I was glad the track came to our car more in the later stages and I could catch up to Trevor."

Another happy camper was Kruck who, barely 12 months ago, failed to qualify for any of the A-Features in the west in his rookie season. A year's improvement saw him depart WA sixth on points and racing amidst the best although he conceded, "It takes a lot to 'nut' this place out." Jensen too was relieved to register his best result of the three rounds, saying, "You always enjoy a race when you can go forward."

The final word though belongs to Schatz who was delighted to extend his winning streak, more particularly because, "We wanted to win this one for the team and the people of Bunbury who have gone to a lot of time and effort to put this attack on WSS together." As the Series heads back east to Adelaide's Speedway City next Saturday (Dec 4), the question on everyone's mind is who will stop the Schatz streak?

1999/2000 WORLD SERIES SPRINTCARS CHAMPIONSHIP - ROUND 3
Bunbury City & Regional Raceway, Bunbury WA - Saturday, Nov 27, 1999

TIME TRIALS : 1. Donny Schatz (WA #2) 14.157 sec, 2. Skip Jackson (NSW #71) 14.263, 3. Trevor Green (SA #4) 14.671, 4. Drew Kruck (QLD #36) 14.855, 5. Darren Jensen (QLD #75) 14.960, 6. Ron Krikke (WA #95) 15.096, 7. Max Dumesny (VIC #5) 15.123, 8. Ryan Farrell (WA #24) 15.179, 9. Pino Priolo (WA #8) 15.204, 10. Jamie Maiolo (WA #99) 15.261, 11. Chas Calandro (SA #33) 15.387, 12. Andrew Scheuerle (QLD #95) 15.351, 13. Peter Smith (SA #8) 15.393, 14. Kelly Linigen (NSW #25) 15.452, 15. Joel Knott (NSW #44) 15.564, 16. Brad Heywood (NSW #46) 15.954, 17. Mick Goode (WA #19) 16.272, 18. Jamie Moon (WA #71) No Time

QUALIFYING HEAT RACES (8 laps) :

HEAT 1 : 1. Jamie Maiolo, 2. Max Dumesny, 3. Donny Schatz, 4. Brad Heywood, 5. Drew Kruck

HEAT 2 : 1. Kelly Linigen, 2. Chas Calandro, 3. Darren Jensen, 4. Skip Jackson, 5. Ryan Farrell, 6. Mick Goode

HEAT 3 : 1. Andrew Scheuerle, 2. Joel Knott, 3. Pino Priolo, 4. Trevor Green, 5. Ron Krikke

HEAT 4 : 1. Brad Heywood, 2. Kelly Linigen, 3. Ryan Farrell, 4. Jamie Maiolo, 5. Skip Jackson, 6. Drew Kruck

HEAT 5 : 1. Donny Schatz, 2. Joel Knott, 3. Max Dumesny, 4. Trevor Green, 5. Pino Priolo

HEAT 6 : 1. Ron Krikke, 2. Chas Calandro, 3. Andrew Scheuerle, 4. Darren Jensen, 5. Mick Goode

GOODYEAR EAGLE TROPHY DASH (6 laps) : 1. Trevor Green, 2. Max Dumesny, 3. Donny Schatz, 4. Skip Jackson, 5. Chas Calandro, 6. Ron Krikke

A-FEATURE (30 laps) : 1. Donny Schatz, 2. Trevor Green, 3. Max Dumesny, 4. Ron Krikke, 5. Drew Kruck, 6. Chas Calandro, 7. Pino Priolo, 8. Darren Jensen, 9. Andrew Scheuerle, 10. Joel Knott, 11. Kelly Linigen, 12. Jamie Maiolo, 13. Peter Smith, 14. Mick Goode, 15. Brad Heywood, 16. Skip Jackson, 17. Ryan Farrell

LAP LEADER/S : Green (laps 1-9), Schatz (laps 10-30)

SERIES STANDINGS AFTER 3 (OF 17) ROUNDS

POINT STANDINGS : 1. Donny Schatz (3000), 2. Max Dumesny (1780), 3. Trevor Green (1740), 4. Ron Krikke (1650), 5. Brooke Tatnell (1380), 6. Drew Kruck (1240), 7. Skip Jackson (960), 8. Pino Priolo (850), 9. Chas Calandro (710), 10. Andrew Scheuerle (665), 11. Darren Jensen (640), 12. Jamie Maiolo (560), 13. Brad Heywood (550), 14. Peter Smith (530), 15. Peter Murphy (480), 16. Joel Knott (465), 17. Ryan Farrell (460), 18. Kelly Linigen (435), 19. Marty Perovich (310), 20. Mick Goode (270), etc.

(John Hughes/SprintCarWorld.com)