Donny Schatz wins second All Star feature in three starts during visit to East Bay
TAMPA, Florida (February 2, 2021) – For the second time in three starts, Fargo, North Dakota’s Donny Schatz is an All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 main event winner, this time doing so during Sugarlands Shine Southern Tour presented by Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts competition at East Bay Raceway Park near Tampa, Florida. The ten-time World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion earned his return to All Star victory lane from the second row, taking command for the first time on lap 15 before fending off a late surge by Ian Madsen and a hard-charging Kerry Madsen. The East Bay win, awarding $6,000, bumped Schatz’ career All Star win total to 20.
“I haven’t been to East Bay since 1993 or 1994. This track is really neat, but it’s also very tricky. You have to respect the place,” Donny Schatz said, driver of the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing/Carquest/Ford Performance/Curb Records/No. 15 sprint car. “The surface can have some slick spots, as well as some wet sports. The dynamic of the track changes so much. I went wherever I had to go. We’re going to enjoy this one.”
Rudeen Racing’s Cory Eliason led the first eight circuits at East Bay before getting involved in a tangle with a lapped car. Eliason’s misfortune allowed Monrovia, Illinois’ Justin Peck to inherit the top spot. Peck, driver of the Tom Buch-owned No. 13, started fourth on the Tuesday night grid and had actually worked by Schatz for second one lap prior to the aforementioned caution.
Despite Peck’s attempt to outrun Schatz during the ensuing restart, and once more during another single file restart on lap 12, Schatz would eventually prevail, ultimately slipping by Peck with a move on the bottom of turns three and four on lap 15.
Ian Madsen followed Schatz by Peck to take control of the runner-up spot the following circuit. Madsen did his best to catch the 299-time World of Outlaws winner, but Schatz’ ability to split a pair of lappers on lap 28 sealed the deal. Madsen held on to finish second, followed by his brother Kerry Madsen, who climbed 14 positions to earn the final spot on the podium.
“We have some friends here tonight from Absolute Automation and Security. They are from right up the road,” Donny Schatz continued. “It’s pretty cool to come here and win in front of their hometown crowd.”
The All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 will continue the Sugarlands Shine Southern Tour presented by Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts on Wednesday and Thursday, February 4-5, with back-to-back nights of DIRTcar Nationals action at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Florida.
For those who can not make the journey to Volusia for the two-day All Star showcase, FloRacing, the official media partner and live broadcast provider of the All Star Circuit of Champions, has you covered. Each and every event on the 2021 All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 schedule will be broadcast live exclusively at www.floracing.com.
Contingency Awards/Results: East Bay Raceway Park – February 2, 2021:
Event: Sugarlands Shine Southern Tour presented by Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts
Entries: 36
C&R Racing Warm-Ups: Tony Stewart | 13.455
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Ian Madsen | 12.680
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: Steve Buckwalter
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Tyler Courtney
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Tim Shaffer
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Donny Schatz
Kear’s Speed Shop Dash #1 Winner: Ian Madsen
Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Dash #2 Winner: Cory Eliason
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting & Embroidery B-Main Winner: Terry McCarl
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Bradley Howard
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Donny Schatz
Hercules Tire A-Main Hard Charger: Kerry Madsen (+14)
Sugarlands Shine Lap 21 Leader: Donny Schatz
Qualifying
Group (A)
1. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 13.017; 2. 25-Chris Myers, 13.294; 3. 18J-RJ Jacobs, 13.299; 4. 17B-Steve Buckwalter, 13.365; 5. 75-Tyler Ross, 13.379; 6. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.397; 7. O8-Brandon Conkel, 13.955; 8. 15B-Zach Hampton, 13.961; 9. 4b-Billy Boyd Jr., 14.711
Group (B)
1. 14-Tony Stewart, 12.836; 2. 13-Justin Peck, 13.003; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 13.131; 4. 18-Gio Scelzi, 13.456; 5. 19-Chris Windom, 13.463; 6. 21-Carson Short, 13.573; 7. 88N-Frank Neill, 13.891; 8. 10-Paulie Colagiovanni, 13.904; 9. 27c-Craig Pellegrini, 14.468
Group (C)
1. 11-Ian Madsen, 12.680; 2. 24-Terry McCarl, 12.882; 3. 72-Tim Shaffer, 12.929; 4. 39M-Anthony Macri, 13.007; 5. 5-Brent Marks, 13.066; 6. 3C-Cale Conley, 13.069; 7. 101-Kerry Madsen, 13.222; 8. 14R-Sean Rayhall, 13.626; 9. 40i-Mark Imler, 14.124
Group (D)
1. 26-Cory Eliason, 12.959; 2. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.034; 3. 1-Jamie Myers, 13.159; 4. 27-Carson McCarl, 13.315; 5. 73-Scotty Thiel, 13.330; 6. 22C-Cole Duncan, 13.545; 7. 49H-Bradley Howard, 13.556; 8. 3A-AJ Maddox, 13.647; 9. 4x-Danny Smith, 14.184
Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 17B-Steve Buckwalter [1]; 2. 18J-RJ Jacobs [2]; 3. 75-Tyler Ross [5]; 4. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [4]; 5. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [6]; 6. 25-Chris Myers [3]; 7. O8-Brandon Conkel [7]; 8. 4B-Billy Boyd Jr. [9]; 9. 15B-Zach Hampton [8]
Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 7bc-Tyler Courtney [2]; 2. 18-Gio Scelzi [1]; 3. 13-Justin Peck [3]; 4. 14-Tony Stewart [4]; 5. 19-Chris Windom [5]; 6. 21-Carson Short [6]; 7. 10-Paulie Colagiovanni [8]; 8. 27c-Craig Pellegrini [9]; 9. 88n-Frank Neill [7]
Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 72-Tim Shaffer [2]; 2. 39M-Anthony Macri [1]; 3. 11-Ian Madsen [4]; 4. 5-Brent Marks [5]; 5. 101-Kerry Madsen [7]; 6. 3C-Cale Conley [6]; 7. 24-Terry McCarl [3]; 8. 40I-Mark Imler [9]; 9. 14R-Sean Rayhall [8]
Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 15-Donny Schatz [3]; 2. 1-Jamie Myers [2]; 3. 22C-Cole Duncan [6]; 4. 26-Cory Eliason [4]; 5. 73-Scotty Thiel [5]; 6. 49H-Bradley Howard [7]; 7. 3A-AJ Maddox [8]; 8. 27-Carson McCarl [1]; 9. 4X-Danny Smith [9]
Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 11-Ian Madsen [2]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [3]; 3. 14-Tony Stewart [1]; 4. 17B-Steve Buckwalter [4]; 5. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [5]
Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 26-Cory Eliason [2]; 2. 13-Justin Peck [1]; 3. 39M-Anthony Macri [3]; 4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [5]; 5. 72-Tim Shaffer [4]
B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 24-Terry McCarl [1]; 2. 3C-Cale Conley [2]; 3. 25-Chris Myers [3]; 4. 21-Carson Short [5]; 5. 49H-Bradley Howard [4]; 6. 10-Paulie Colagiovanni [7]; 7. 15B-Zach Hampton [15]; 8. 40I-Mark Imler [10]; 9. O8-Brandon Conkel [8]; 10. 4B-Billy Boyd Jr. [12]; 11. 27C-Craig Pellegrini [11]; 12. 14R-Sean Rayhall [13]; 13. 3a-AJ Maddox [6]; 14. 27-Carson McCarl [9]; 15. 88n-Frank Neill [14]; 16. 4x-Danny Smith [16]
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 15-Donny Schatz [3]; 2. 11-Ian Madsen [1]; 3. 101-Kerry Madsen [17]; 4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [8]; 5. 18-Gio Scelzi [13]; 6. 72-Tim Shaffer [10]; 7. 13-Justin Peck [4]; 8. 14-Tony Stewart [5]; 9. 5-Brent Marks [16]; 10. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [19]; 11. 26-Cory Eliason [2]; 12. 39M-Anthony Macri [6]; 13. 17B-Steve Buckwalter [7]; 14. 21-Carson Short [24]; 15. 73-Scotty Thiel [18]; 16. 24-Terry McCarl [21]; 17. 75-Tyler Ross [14]; 18. 18J-RJ Jacobs [12]; 19. 3C-Cale Conley [22]; 20. 25-Chris Myers [23]; 21. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [9]; 22. 1-Jamie Myers [11]; 23. 22C-Cole Duncan [15]; 24. 19-Chris Windom [20] Lap Leaders: Cory Eliason (1-8), Justin Peck (9-14), Donny Schatz (15-30)
2021 All Star Circuit of Champions Winners:
1. Screven Motor Speedway, Georgia (January 29, 2021): Donny Schatz
2. Screven Motor Speedway, Georgia (January 30, 2021): Aaron Reutzel
3. East Bay Raceway Park, Florida (February 2, 2021): Donny Schatz (2)
2021 All Star Circuit of Champions Standings:
**Southern Tour events do not accumulate points.
About the All Star Circuit of Champions:
All Star Enterprises, LLC, wholly owned by Tony Stewart, d/b/a the All Star Circuit of Champions, is a winged sprint car series. The All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series is one of the oldest traveling 410 sprint car organizations and is a staple of grassroots, open-wheel racing. Formed in 1970 by Bud Miller, the series has largely been considered the first ‘outlaw’ Sprint Car organization of the modern era. Motorsports entrepreneur Tony Stewart agreed to terms with Guy Webb to become the sole owner of the original winged sprint car tour in January of 2015.
About Mobil 1:
The world’s leading synthetic motor oil brand, Mobil 1™ features anti-wear technology that provides performance beyond our conventional motor oils. This technology allows Mobil 1 to meet or exceed the toughest standards of car builders and to provide exceptional protection against engine wear, under normal or even some of the most extreme conditions. Mobil 1 flows quickly in extreme temperatures to protect critical engine parts and is designed to maximize engine performance and help extend engine life.
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Founded in 2006, FloSports is a venture-backed subscription video streaming service dedicated to sports, offering live and on-demand access to hundreds of thousands of competition events across 25+ vertical sport categories in the US and abroad. FloSports’ mission is to give underserved sports the love they deserve. With a growing library of more than 300,000 hours of premium content including news, expert commentary, films, documentaries and more, FloSports has established itself as an innovator and leader in sports streaming. Finally, your sport has a home. For more information, please visit: flosports.tv.
About Sugarlands Distilling Company:
Sugarlands Distilling Company, located in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, is a craft-distillery producing award-winning moonshine, rum, cream liqueurs and rye whiskey. Nearly 1 million people visit Sugarlands’ downtown Gatlinburg distillery annually, and over 25,000 visitors have rated the distillery a five-star experience on Trip Advisor ranking it as the ‘#1 Thing to do in Gatlinburg’ as well as the ‘World’s Top-Rated Distillery Experience.’
Sugarlands distributes their award-winning line of spirits in 32 states nationwide, and their spirits are available for home delivery via Reserve Bar. Sugarlands hand-crafted cocktails can be sipped on in restaurants, bars and festivals across the country as well as on the Back Porch located at the downtown Gatlinburg, Tenn., distillery.
Since 2018, Sugarlands has entered partnerships with country music superstar Cole Swindell, the Atlanta Braves, baseball Hall-of-Famer and former Braves player, Chipper Jones, and Bristol Motor Speedway. In October 2018, Sugarlands announced its historic partnership with NASCAR as the official moonshine of NASCAR. Sugarlands Shine is also the official moonshine of Talladega Superspeedway, where they are the title partner of the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Trucks Series fall race, the Sugarlands Shine 250.
Sugarlands Distilling Co. believes giving back to the community is of the utmost importance. Since 2014, Sugarlands Distilling Company has donated over $675,000 to nonprofits across the country through their giveback program, MoonShare. Each month, Sugarlands sheds light on a different nonprofit organization and helps these organizations positively influence their communities through grants, fundraisers and donations. For more information, please visit www.sugarlands.com
About Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts:
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts is an authorized inTech Trailer, United, Featherlite, ATC, Legend, Alumitech, Haulmark, and EZ Go dealership serving the greater Warsaw, Indiana-area. We are proud to carry a large selection of new and pre-owned inventory. When you are ready to invest in a new trailer, our friendly and knowledgeable sales, financing, service, and parts departments are prepared to make sure your experience is outstanding. To learn more, visit Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts online at www.elliottscustomtrailers.com, or call 800-766-1886.
Sources: Tyler Altmeyer/All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 PR
Photo: Chad Warner