BARBERVILLE, FL (February 13) - Donny Schatz was working on his third consecutive World of Outlaws Sprint Series "A" Feature victory on Friday night driving the #15 ParkerStore J&J sprinter. Unfortunately for the Fargo, ND racer, an electrical problem took him out of the lead on lap 18 in the series' first race of 2005 on American soil and the rest of the weekend was an uphill climb.

Schatz ended the 2004 WoO season by winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and began 2005 by winning the Outlaws Down Under II Feature at Parramatta City Raceway near Sydney, Australia in January.

"We were going really well and then it all turned bad quickly," said Schatz. "We had a fast racecar on Friday night and if it wasn't for a fluke ignition wire malfunction, I think we would have had three in a row. It didn't work out and things didn't go our way on Sunday night either. We learned a few things down here that should help us out west in a couple of weeks."

Schatz started the two nights of racing by qualifying eighth out of 56 entries on the half-mile dirt oval. He raced to second in his heat race after starting fifth and charged from fourth to win the first Dash earning the pole position for Friday night's feature.

In the feature, Schatz followed Mark Smith for the opening two laps before powering by to take command. He had the ParkerStore sprinter on a rail during the early stages of the race pulling away from the field. When the race reached the halfway point, Schatz continued to look dominant until the familiar yellow and black #15 slowed coming out of turn four on lap 18. The Parkerstore crew tried to identify the problem, but were forced to take the car back to the pit area, and Schatz was credited with a 20th place finish.

On Sunday night, the team returned ready to start a new winning streak. With a loaded field of competitors, qualifying became even more important. Schatz didn't get the time he was hoping for and ended up 24th on the grid in time trials. He raced to victory in the first heat race from the front row and transferred into the 30-lap "A" Feature event. Schatz started the feature in the 22nd spot and couldn't make the kind of laps he hoped and ultimately came home 15th.

"We just couldn't get to the front," continued Schatz. "I tried as hard as I could, but didn't get to where we wanted tonight. We talked as a team before the season and agreed that we wouldn't let one bad night get us down. We had a good start on Friday night and just didn't get it done tonight. I'm looking forward to getting back on the track in a couple of weeks and get back to racing up front."

The team will return to Fargo for this week prior to heading to California where they will race on Friday (February 25) at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare and then on Saturday (February 26) at Bakersfield Speedway.