Four-time World of Outlaws Champion Donny Schatz continued his winning ways with victory in the Valvoline Australian Sprintcar Grand Prix at Sydneys Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway on Saturday. Driving the Garry Rush-owned PicknPayless entry, Schatz started the night off in flying fashion by setting the fastest time during qualifying before finishing second in his heat race. Schatzs team boss in the World of Outlaws Series, NASCAR Legend Tony Stewart, was coming to grips with a rain soaked heavy track during the early part of the evening before starting from the back row in the main event. Tony is my boss 95% of the time and it’s pretty neat to see him out here, he loves dirt track racing and loves these types of cars but I think tonight was a little bit trying for him. It was probably the hookiest and wettest track that he’d raced on in his life in a winged sprintcar and pretty trying for both of us to get him comfortable in the car. Tony came forward a long ways, learned a lot here tonight, had a lot of fun and got to see a lot of people out here. Stewart came to grips with the challenging track surface during the feature race to steadily move forward before finding his way to seventh place in at the finish in one his rare appearances behind the wheel of an 800-plus horsepower Sprintcar. “I think to finish seventh from the tail was ok, it was a good first night for me, obviously not as good as my team-mate who won the race but he runs 100 races a year and I get to run three, said Stewart. “I don’t know how many days it is until we run again but I can’t wait for it. I’m a little tired tonight, it is a set of muscles that I don’t use very much but I had a blast. The rain really hurt the racetrack, it was hard, with the rain that we got over the last couple of days it was bound to make the track a little messy but I think everybody did a pretty good job considering the conditions. Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway will light up again in two days time (Tuesday December 29) for the Hogs Breath Sprintcar International. More info at www.parramattacityraceway.com.au or BAM Media.(12-27-2009)
