The Knight Before the Kings Royal

Race Story

Daryn Pittman Tops in Knight Before the Kings Royal Victory

Donny Schatz and Rico Abreu repeat their previous night’s performance

ROSSBURG, Ohio — July 15, 2016 — Daryn Pittman dominated the Knight Before the Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway on Friday night, as he cruised to his sixth World of Outlaws Craftsman® Sprint Car Series victory of the season.

For Pittman, the win was his first at the historic half-mile oval in Rossburg, Ohio since May 4, 2013. Even with the victory, Saturday night’s $50,000-to-win Kings Royal, one of the most coveted wins in all of motorsports, was on Pittman’s mind.

“Hats off to this Great Clips team. We had a really great car,” Pittman said. “It doesn’t matter how good you are tonight. We can’t do exactly what we did, tomorrow night. Tomorrow night is a new race track. Try to go after my second Kings Royal. It was a pretty special win in 2008.”

The win did not come without a little adversity for the No. 9 Great Clips team though. Pittman, started on the outside front row and battled to the lead on the opening lap. As he put distance between he and second-place Joey Saldana, he bounced off the wall in turn four.

“I was out front and I was slow and I didn’t think I was getting through three and four fast enough and tried to pick up the pace a little bit,” Pittman said. “I didn’t think I was close to the fence, and I hit it and hit it hard. I ran about the next three laps thinking I was going to have a flat or did some damage but luckily the car held on.”

Donny Schatz was charging in his No. 15 Bad Boy Off Road/Chevrolet Performance/J&J. After dispensing with Shane Stewart, Schatz caught the No. 83 of Joey Saldana and looked for a line around. The two were side-by-side as they worked to complete lap 10 but Saldana held the spot. A lap later, Schatz got another run on Saldana and took over second as the two dove into turn three.
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As Pittman worked his way through traffic, Schatz closed the gap briefly but then Pittman began to pull away again.

“The (No. 9) car was awful good,” Schatz said. “I couldn’t even get through traffic… (We were gaining on Pittman) until the fuel load came off.”

Rico Abreu, who started ninth in his No. 24 Abreu Vineyards machine, worked his way through the field and by lap 16 was challenging Saldana for third. Three laps later, Abreu got around Saldana to take over the final podium position.

“I searched around and searched around and found the happy medium on my car,” Abreu said. “I moved the wing back a little sooner than some other cars and that’s how I gained those spots.”

Through the closing laps, Pittman adeptly worked his way through traffic and built a sizeable gap on Schatz, Abreu and the field.

When the checkered flag fell, Pittman scored his sixth win of the season. Schatz and Abreu matched their finishing positions from the night before at Eldora.

“It’s a dream come true to come drive for this team and I’m just doing my part to try to stay in it,” Pittman said of Kasey Kahne Racing with Mike Curb. “It was a great win for us.”

Schatz said his Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing team tried some things in the Dash that did not quite work out. He said that coupled with a slick racing surface made for a challenging night.

“You never know what tomorrow night will bring. We’ll look forward to a good day tomorrow,” Schatz said.

David Gravel, who won the inaugural Jokers Wild on Thursday night scored his third quick time award of the season on Friday after posting a qualifying lap of 13.600 seconds. Brad Sweet was the night’s KSE Racing Hard Charger, advancing eight positions to finish in fifth.

The World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series takes on the 33rd Annual Kings Royal on Saturday night. For more information and to learn how to purchase tickets, visit EldoraSpeedway.com

Follow the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series on Twitter at Twitter.com/WorldofOutlaws, like it on Facebook at Facebook.com/WorldofOutlaws, or check out the latest videos on YouTube at YouTube.com/WorldofOutlaws.

About Eldora Speedway:
Since being carved from a cornfield in the natural amphitheater that existed between the Eldora Ballroom and the Wabash River by bandleader Earl Baltes in 1954, Eldora Speedway has grown to be a frontrunner in motorsports growth and stability. Baltes chose to sell the legendary, high-banked clay oval in 2004 to motorsports entrepreneur and NASCAR, INDYCAR and USAC champion Tony Stewart. Celebrating its 63rd season in 2016, Eldora hosts the biggest events in short-track racing, including the 22nd annual Dirt Late Model Dream by Ferris Mowers, the 33rd annual Kings Royal weekend, the fourth annual Aspen Dental Eldora Dirt Derby and the 46th annual World 100. The complete schedule for Eldora’s 63rd consecutive season, including ticket and campsite information, is available at www.EldoraSpeedway.com and can be requested by phone at (937) 338-3815. Fans can get behind-the-scenes access of Eldora Speedway by following @EldoraSpeedway on Twitter, hitting “Like” at www.Facebook.com/EldoraSpeedway and on www.YouTube.com/EldoraSpeedwayInc.

Race Results

Event Box Score

Qualifying Flight #1 – 1. 5-David Gravel, 13.600; 2. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.736; 3. 17W-Bryan Clauson, 13.856; 4. 83-Joey Saldana, 13.885; 5. 1A-Jacob Allen, 13.928; 6. 1B-Dale Blaney, 13.935; 7. 14-Christopher Bell, 13.958; 8. 49-Brad Sweet, 14.002; 9. 71-Jamie Veal, 14.041; 10. 18-Ian Madsen, 14.045; 11. 33-Danny Lasoski, 14.066; 12. 1-Sammy Swindell, 14.083; 13. 24-Rico Abreu, 14.094; 14. 41-Jason Johnson, 14.153; 15. 19M-Brent Marks, 14.205; 16. 11N-Randy Hannagan, 14.208; 17. 6M-Jac Haudenschild, 14.395; 18. 17-Josh Baughman, 14.479; 19. 12-Daniel Harding, 14.578; 20. 2M-Dustin Daggett, 14.616; 21. OO-Dane Lorenc, 14.978; 22. 22D-Josh Davis, 15.676; 23. 40-Caleb Helms, 40.000; 24. 29-Kerry Madsen, 50.000;

Qualiflying Flight #2 – 1. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 14.312; 2. 21-Brian Brown, 14.442; 3. 23-Trey Starks, 14.451; 4. 2-Shane Stewart, 14.473; 5. 9-Daryn Pittman, 14.482; 6. 3-James McFadden, 14.528; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 14.555; 8. 49X-Tim Shaffer, 14.570; 9. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 14.613; 10. 70-Danny Holtgraver, 14.623; 11. 7-Paul McMahan, 14.628; 12. 7S-Jason Sides, 14.654; 13. 5T-Travis Philo, 14.712; 14. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 14.797; 15. 41X-Dominic Scelzi, 14.918; 16. W20-Greg Wilson, 14.937; 17. 21C-Cap Henry, 15.049; 18. 71M-Dave Blaney, 15.196; 19. 94-Ryan Smith, 15.251; 20. 13-Clyde Knipp, 15.550; 21. 8M-T.J. Michael, 15.551; 22. 7W-Tasker Phillips, 15.592; 23. 57X-Andrew Palker, 15.771; 24. 83X-Adam Cruea, 16.399; 25. 38-D.J. Foos, nt

Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 83-Joey Saldana [2]; 2. 5-David Gravel [1]; 3. 14-Christopher Bell [3]; 4. 71-Jamie Veal [4]; 5. 1-Sammy Swindell [5]; 6. 19M-Brent Marks [6]; 7. 17-Josh Baughman [7]; 8. OO-Dane Lorenc [8]

Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 15-Donny Schatz [1]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu [5]; 3. 18-Ian Madsen [4]; 4. 11N-Randy Hannagan [6]; 5. 1A-Jacob Allen [2]; 6. 12-Daniel Harding [7]; 7. 22D-Josh Davis [8]; 8. 29-Kerry Madsen [3]

Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 1B-Dale Blaney [2]; 2. 17W-Bryan Clauson [1]; 3. 6M-Jac Haudenschild [6]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [3]; 5. 41-Jason Johnson [5]; 6. 2M-Dustin Daggett [7]; 7. 33-Danny Lasoski [4]; 8. 40-Caleb Helms [8]

Heat 4 – (8 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 11K-Kraig Kinser [1]; 2. 2-Shane Stewart [2]; 3. 70-Danny Holtgraver [4]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart [3]; 5. W20-Greg Wilson [6]; 6. 5T-Travis Philo [5]; 7. 94-Ryan Smith [7]; 8. 7W-Tasker Phillips [8]; 9. 38-D.J. Foos [9]

Heat 5 – (8 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 9-Daryn Pittman [2]; 2. 49X-Tim Shaffer [3]; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah [5]; 4. 7-Paul McMahan [4]; 5. 21C-Cap Henry [6]; 6. 57X-Andrew Palker [8]; 7. 13-Clyde Knipp [7]; 8. 21-Brian Brown [1]

Heat 6 – (8 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 3-James McFadden [2]; 2. 23-Trey Starks [1]; 3. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [3]; 4. 7S-Jason Sides [4]; 5. 41X-Dominic Scelzi [5]; 6. 8M-T.J. Michael [7]; 7. 83X-Adam Cruea [8]; 8. 71M-Dave Blaney [6]

Dash #1 – (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature) – 1. 83-Joey Saldana [1]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [2]; 3. 5-David Gravel [4]; 4. 17W-Bryan Clauson [6]; 5. 24-Rico Abreu [5]; 6. 1B-Dale Blaney [3]

Dash #2 – (6 Laps – Top finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 9-Daryn Pittman [2]; 2. 2-Shane Stewart [4]; 3. 23-Trey Starks [6]; 4. 3-James McFadden [3]; 5. 11K-Kraig Kinser [1]; 6. 49X-Tim Shaffer [5]

D-Main – (8 Laps – Top 2 finishers transfer to the C-Main) – 1. 7W-Tasker Phillips [4] []; 2. 8M-T.J. Michael [2] []; 3. 22D-Josh Davis [3] [$125]; 4. OO-Dane Lorenc [1] [$125]; 5. 83X-Adam Cruea [7] [$125]; 6. 40-Caleb Helms [5] [$125]; 7. 57X-Andrew Palker [6] [$125]; 8. 38-D.J. Foos [8] [$125]; 9. 29-Kerry Madsen [9] [$125]

C-Main – (10 Laps – Top 2 finishers transfer to the Last Chance Showdown) – 1. 19M-Brent Marks [1] [-]; 2. W20-Greg Wilson [2] [-]; 3. 94-Ryan Smith [8] [$150]; 4. 17-Josh Baughman [5] [$150]; 5. 11N-Randy Hannagan [3] [$150]; 6. 21C-Cap Henry [4] [$125]; 7. 12-Daniel Harding [7] [$125]; 8. 7W-Tasker Phillips [11] [$125]; 9. 8M-T.J. Michael [12] [$125]; 10. 2M-Dustin Daggett [9] [$125]; 11. 71M-Dave Blaney [6] [$125]; 12. 13-Clyde Knipp [10] [$125]

Last Chance Showdown – (12 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart [4] [-]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet [3] [-]; 3. 1A-Jacob Allen [1] [-]; 4. 7S-Jason Sides [8] [-]; 5. 1-Sammy Swindell [9] [-]; 6. 19M-Brent Marks [13] [-]; 7. 71-Jamie Veal [5] [$300]; 8. W20-Greg Wilson [14] [$250]; 9. 5T-Travis Philo [10] [$225]; 10. 7-Paul McMahan [6] [$200]; 11. 41-Jason Johnson [11] [$200]; 12. 41X-Dominic Scelzi [12] [$200]; 13. 21-Brian Brown [2] [$200]; 14. 33-Danny Lasoski [7] [$200]

A-Main – (30 Laps) – 1. 9-Daryn Pittman [2] [$12,000]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [3] [$5,700]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [9] [$3,500]; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser [10] [$3,000]; 5. 5-David Gravel [5] [$2,600]; 6. 83-Joey Saldana [1] [$2,400]; 7. 1B-Dale Blaney [11] [$2,300]; 8. 2-Shane Stewart [4] [$2,200]; 9. 10H-Chad Kemenah [16] [$2,150]; 10. 49X-Tim Shaffer [12] [$2,100]; 11. 23-Trey Starks [6] [$1,600]; 12. 49-Brad Sweet [20] [$1,350]; 13. 17W-Bryan Clauson [7] [$1,300]; 14. 14-Christopher Bell [13] [$1,200]; 15. 1-Sammy Swindell [23] [$1,100]; 16. 1S-Logan Schuchart [19] [$1,000]; 17. 3-James McFadden [8] [$900]; 18. 1A-Jacob Allen [21] [$850]; 19. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [18] [$800]; 20. 7S-Jason Sides [22] [$800]; 21. 18-Ian Madsen [15] [$800]; 22. 19M-Brent Marks [24] [$800]; 23. 70-Danny Holtgraver [14] [$800]; 24. 6M-Jac Haudenschild

Photos