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Thursday, May 22, 2003

By Chris Dolack, Special to the Post-Gazette

It was one day late, but Donny Schatz won the rain-delayed World of Outlaws Commonwealth Clash last night at Lernerville Speedway. It was his first victory at the dirt track in Sarver and his third win of the season.

Shatz started second and stayed up front to collect the $10,000 first-place prize. He was followed across the finish line by Lance Dewease, Tyler Walker, points-leader Danny Lasoski and Daryn Pittman.

Apollo's Ed Lynch Jr. was unsuccessful in his bid to beat the Outlaws for the second consecutive time at Lernerville. He finished 13th after starting fifth. Lynch held on to beat the Outlaws in the Silver Cup event in July, which marked his first career victory against the country's top sprint car drivers.

Aliquippa's Tim Shaffer, the 1993 Lernerville sprint champion, finished 22nd after bringing out two cautions in the feature. Shaffer entered last night 13th in points with two victories in the Outlaw Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway early in the season.

In qualifying, Steve Kinser posted the fastest time with a lap of 12.540 seconds around the 0.4-mile oval. It was well off Joey Saldana's record pace of 12.334 seconds.

Some of the most accomplished Outlaws racers in Lernerville history failed to crack the top five in the feature. Steve Kinser finished sixth with Mark Kinser seventh and Sammy Swindell 10th.

Heat race winners included Saldana, Outlaws rookie Jason Sides, Pennsylvania Posse veteran Fred Rahmer and Outlaws veteran Johnny Herrera. Greg Hodnett and Schatz were the dash winners. Paul McMahan won the "B" feature.

One driver who missed the action last night was Craig Dollansky, who won the inaugural Outlaws Gumout Series race in 2000 at Lernerville. Trailing only Lasoski and Steve Kinser in points last week, Dollansky was injured in a crash Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He was competing in the Indy Racing League's Infiniti Pro Series event when he hit the Turn 2 wall and has a compression fracture to a vertebra in his lower back. He is expected to remain at the hospital for the rest of the week and return to his native Minnesota to recover. Dollansky will be replaced by 2000 Gumout Series Rookie of the Year Jason Meyers, who finished 15th in the feature last night.

The Outlaws are back in the region May 30 at Dave Blaney's Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio.