CALISTOGA, CA - Donny Schatz and his ParkerStore World of Outlaws Sprint series team waited a long time between victories during the 2004 season, but Saturday night's dominant performance in the second night of the Harvest Classic at Calistoga Speedway ended a long win drought for the ParkerStore team.

"Winning Saturday night was a good feeling," said Schatz following his second World of Outlaws victory of the season. "We've been consistency finishing in the top five, but the wins haven't been there. The team has worked hard and it all came together Saturday. The J&J car and Shaver engine worked really well and the Hoosier tires really stuck to the track. It was kind of surprising, because I’m not usually good at setting the tires when it gets to be a rubber down surface, but we might be on to something for abrasive tracks in the future.”

Schatz led all 25 laps of Saturday's feature event from his outside front row starting position and won by 20 car lengths.

"We set a pretty good pace and I just tried to hit my line every lap," continued Schatz, who ranks third in the WoO season standings. "I almost forgot what winning feels like it seems like it's been so long. This helps the entire team and hopefully, we'll be able to build on this and finish the western swing with a few more wins."

The team earned the victory after a tough opening night on Friday when a loose fuel line ignited during the heat race action forcing Schatz to run the B-Main and charge from the back of the field to a 13th place finish in the opening feature event. The Fargo, ND racer qualified sixth both nights and accumulated the sixth most points in the preliminary programs.

Schatz won the second heat race in Sunday' finale of the Harvest Classic and came home fifth in the dash event to earn the fifth starting position for the 30-lap finale. He finished fifth in the race, which continued his string of top five finishes following the Knoxville Nationals as he finished third at both Billings (MT) and Elma (WA).

The team will conclude the western swing in California this week when they return to the Silver Dollar Speedway on Thursday night in the opener of the Gold Cup of Champions in Chico, CA.

(Photo Courtesy of Doug Johnson)