ParkerStore team finishes 2nd both nights at the Knoxville Raceway

KNOXVILLE, IOWA ~ APRIL 27, 2003 ~ After capturing his first quick time award of the season in his familiar ParkerStore #15 J & J, Donny Schatz went on to finish second in both his heat race and the first dash in Friday night's Knoxville Raceway World of Outlaws preliminary program. As a result of the strong showing, Schatz started the 25 lap A-main from the inside of the second row.

At the drop of the green, pole sitter Kerry Madsen burst into the lead only to have Danny Lasoski take the inside line past Madsen between the first and second corners the next time around. Schatz, who won Preliminary Features during the Knoxville Nationals the last two years, used a similar move to pass Madsen for second place early in lap three and set his sites on running down Lasoski. Pulling within six car lengths, the pair started the weaving process in and out of lapped traffic. Schatz kept the current WoO points leader in his sites but had to settle for second at the drop of the checkered flag. Steve Kinser came home third followed by Tim Shaffer.

"I honestly think I had the best car tonight that I have ever had for a Knoxville race," said Schatz. "Qualifying is not always my strong suit but when a car is as fast and as comfortable as mine was tonight, it is easy to hang it out for two laps. We gave it all we had to catch Lasoski tonight, but he is just got this place down to a science and had the right path on the lapped traffic. I could see him but just not quite get to him as the laps ran down. This is a good run for us. We will just come back tomorrow night and take a run at the win again."

Locked into the A-main finale on Saturday night, Schatz and the other three top finishers from Friday night's preliminary, spent the early part of the night watching their WoO competitors race for their starting position in the A-main and trying to guess what track conditions would be for the dash then again for the A-main. A brief hotlap session for the four cars following the heat races and the C-main, gave them a brief glimpse of track conditions. But as is so often the case in dirt track racing, the key is the ability to analyze how it going to play out during a 30-lap feature.

The finishing order of the dash to determine the top-eight starting positions for the main event was identical to the Friday night feature with Lasoski taking the win followed by Schatz, Kinser and Shaffer. The finish secured the outside front row starting position for the North Dakota native in the A-main.

As the 24-car field took the green, Lasoski was the rabbit that sprinted off at the start and was two seconds ahead Schatz when they entered lapped traffic seven laps into the race. In the meantime, Schatz was defending his second place in the running order to repeated charges by Kinser. The two exchanged the runner-up spot during laps nine and 14. Schatz was able to pull the #15 Parker Stores J&J within 1.2 seconds of Lasoski in dense lapped traffic during the race's middle stages.

When the race's final caution flew, there were five lapped cars between Lasoski and Schatz. Schatz made a valiant charge past the cars but the laps wound down to the checkered once he had cleared them all to mount a charge on Lasoski.

"I don't think I have ever asked as much of a racecar as I did tonight," said Schatz. "We gave it all we had, just came up a little short. Steve (Kinser) made a hard run at us a couple of times but we got back by him. We had a fast, fast car, Lasoski was just faster. Still, it feels good to have two solid nights of racing and be a solid contender as we should be every weekend. It feels good to have the kind of confidence in a car as I had tonight. Tyler (Swank, crew chief) really put together a great combination for me this weekend. It helps the confidence of the whole team and helps us keep improving.

"I think the time I have been spending in the ParkerStore Silver Crown car is benefiting us as well. With the laps I am getting on pavement, I am developing a better understanding of the handling of the car which give me the ability to give better feedback on what we need to do to improve the car. We just keep applying the new information and our performance will continue to improve."

The next event for the ParkerStore World of Outlaw team is May 2-3 at Nebraska Raceway Park for the Omaha Dodge Dealers Great Plains Shootout.