Donny Schatz takes the win at Spencer

SPENCER, IA (Sept 12) -  WoO - 32 cars- Jason Solwold (26th car out to time) set a new track record on the newly configured 3/8 mile oval at 13.659 seconds. Jason Meyers (3rd car out) was second quick, followed by Wayne Johnson (4th), Tim Shaffer (22nd), Donny Schatz (19th), Randy Hannagan (11th), Terry McCarl (7th), Jason Sides (5th), Dusty Zomer (28th) and Joey Saldana (24th). The stands were a sell-out leaving everyone in the pits scrambling for a spot to see the track. All in all, considering the first race bugs, things went off well. A ribbon cutting ceremony featured Craig Dollansky's car doing the honors.


Heat one (started): 1. Steve Kinser 11 (1) 2. Schatz 15 (3) 3. Solwold R19 (4) 4. Zomer 1z (2) 5. Chad Kemenah 8K (5) / 6. Justin Henderson D1 (7) 7. Bill Boles 05 (8) 8. Matt Wasmund 4w (6)


Kinser led the 8 lap distance. Schatz rode around Zomer after a brief battle for the second a final transfer to the dash.


Heat two (started): 1. Saldana 9 (2) 2. Brooke Tatnell 5 (1) 3. Hannagan 1x (3) 4. Meyers 14 (4) 5. Danny Lasoski 83 (5) / 6. Scott Winters R9 (7) 7. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (6) 8. Wade Nygaard 9N (8)


Saldana left the rest behind, while Tatnell grabbed the other dash transfer in his first drive with Forbrook in '07. Hannagan and Meyers battled early for the third spot with the 1x pulling away.


Heat three (started): 1. Paul McMahan 20 (2) 2. McCarl 24 (3) 3. Johnson 14AJ (4) 4. Kerry Madsen 11H (6) 5. Chad Hillier 5c (5) / 6. Mark Dobmeier 2 (1) 7. Kaley Gharst 3 (7) 8. Gordy Vogelaar 33 (8)


Dobmeier was sent back a row for jumping on the first try at green. That gave McCarl the pole, but McMahan led after lap one and held on the rest of the way. Madsen and Dobmeier had a nice battle for third, before Dobmeier jumped the cushion and Hillier took over the final transfer on lap four.


Heat four (started): 1. Shaffer 6 (4) 2. Craig Dollansky 7 (1) 3. Sides 7s (3) 4. Jeremy Campbell 10c (2) 5. Daryn Pittman 21 (7) / 6. Jac Haudenschild 35 (6) 7. Tony Bruce Jr. 18T (5) 8. Robert Bell 71 (8)


Shaffer rode the rim around Dollansky and Campbell to lead lap one, and the rest of the way. The first caution of the night came on lap five for Haudenschild, who suffered a flat right rear while running fifth. The restart saw Shaffer leading Campbell, Dollansky, Sides and Pittman, who benefited from Haud's misfortune. Dollansky and Sides shot under Campbell after the green flew again, while Shaffer pulled away in impressive style.


Dash (started): 1. Saldana (2) 2. Shaffer (1) 3. McCarl (4) 4. Dollansky (8) 5. Kinser (3) 6. Schatz (7) 7. McMahan (5) 8. Solwold (9) 9. Meyers (10) 10. Tatnell (6)


Shaffer led early, but Saldana quickly put the pressure on and shot by him on the second go-around. The best battle was for fourth between Dollansky and Kinser. Dollansky did well moving up four spots in the 6 lapper.


B main (started): 1. Hafertepe (2) 2. Henderson (4) 3. Haudenschild (5) 4. Gharst (6) / 5. Dobmeier (1) 6. Winters (7) 7. Boles (9) 8. Nygaard (8) 9. Wasmund (3) 10. Vogelaar (11) 11. Bell (10) DNS – Bruce


Bruce could not get the car fired and surrendered his row one starting spot.Hafertepe grabbed the early lead in the 12 lapper. The best racing was for third and fourth between the triumvirate of Haud, Gharst and Dobmeier for the final two transfer spots. Dobmeier took a couple of trips over the berm and exchanged spots on a couple of occasions with Haud. On lap eight, Bell did a 360 spin, bringing caution. The restart saw Hafertepe leading Henderson, Haud, Gharst, Dobmeier and Winters. Gharst and Dobmeier raced feverishly, with Gharst holding onto the last transfer.


A main (started): 1. Schatz (6) 2. Saldana (1) 3. Dollansky (4) 4. Shaffer (2) 5. McMahan (7) 6. Hannagan (12) 7. McCarl (3) 8. Madsen (20) 9. Solwold (8) 10. Tatnell (10) 11. Sides (11) 12. Lasoski (17) 13. Johnson (13) 14. Meyers (9) 15. Kemenah (16) 16. Campbell (15) 17. Hafertepe (19) 18. Zomer (14) 19. Pittman (24) 20. Kinser (5) 21. Haudenschild (21) 22. Gharst (23) 23. Henderson (22) 24. Hillier (18)


Shaffer grabbed the early lead in the 30 lapper. On lap three, the only caution of the event flew for Kinser, who struck an infield tire in turn four and spun while running fifth. The restart saw Shaffer ahead of Saldana, Dollansky, Schatz and McCarl. Once the lead pack got into lapped traffic the action was intense. Saldana made a bid for the lead on lap ten, but Schatz seemingly came out of nowhere to catch both on the low side and make it three-wide in turn two. One lap later, he had the lead for good. He proved his dominance by pulling away steadily. Saldana, Shaffer and Dollansky battled back and forth for second through fourth the rest of the way. In looking at the command he had of the race, Schatz was able to lap Kinser with about ten laps to go, and he was the last to do so. Madsen was the hard-ch Hosr cruising past 12 cars.