GRANVILLE, NSW – Reigning World of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz had a to wait an extra day to return to action, but it was worth the wait. Schatz continued his dominance of Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway behind the wheel of the Garry Rush Motorsport No. 2 Pick N Payless Shaver powered J&J on Sunday night and picked up the victory in the 30th Valvoline Australian Grand Prix.
“I’m glad to be back, Mother Nature didn’t co-operate last night and we here tonight, we got a great race in and glad to get the win,” admitted Schatz, following the victory. “This is a terrific track, one of the best I’ve raced on and Garry always makes us feel at home.”
Schatz opened the festivities by setting fast time in the field of 45 cars. He raced to a second place finish in the first heat race and the Aussie Forklift Repairs Dash race. He started the main sixth and battled Garry Brazier throughout the contest, but in the end Schatz was the man to beat.
Tony Stewart
“Tony is my boss 95% of the time and it’s pretty neat to see him out here,” continued Schatz. “He loves dirt track racing and loves these types of cars but I think tonight was a little bit trying for him.”
“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.”
Schatz’s fellow American Tim Shaffer raced his way to third place ahead of local trio Grant Tunks, James Thompson and Adrian Maher.
Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway will light up again in two days time (Tuesday December 29) for the Hogs Breath Sprintcar International.
Schatz will return to action on Wednesday night for another $10,000-to-win show at TPCR.
0 Comments on “Stewart Runs Seventh in Australian Sprint Opener”
Leave a Comment