In the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series action on The Dirt Track at
the Lowe's Motors Speedway on Friday night, title contender Jason Meyers
staved off the repeated challenges of point leader Donnie Schatz to win
the wreck-strewn 30-lap feature ace on a cool evening in the Carolinas.
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Donny Schatz, three-time World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion and current point leader, drove a specially schemed commemorative car with the colors and logos of Mario Andretti's 1969 Indianapolis winning STP machine. Photo by Joe Jennings.
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Taking the lead on the opening lap, Meyers led all but three laps around
the 0.4-mile dirt track en route to his ninth feature race of the
sprint-car season.
"As you can see here with this track, anything can happen at Lowe's,"
the winner said. "And when you are having restart after restart and
you've got a guy like Donny Schatz behind you, you know he's going to
challenge you."
The race marked the 65th event of the season, and the 2009 campaign
concludes Saturday night on the same track; host site of this year's
World Finals.
Going into the finale, Schatz holds a 25-point advantage over Meyers.
Three-time WoO champion Schatz, who bumped into Meyers once trying to
pass the leader, came home second followed by Danny Lasoski and Craig
Dollansky.
Pennsylvanian Freddie Rahmer garnered fifth place.
Sixth through 10th were Jason Sides, Brad Sweet, Lucas Wolfe, Kraig
Kinser and Brian Montieth.
Bone-jarring crashes stopped the race six times, but no injuries were
sustained and several cars were badly damaged.
Fifty-seven sprint cars were on hand.
In the Late Model Series action, Scott Bloomquist scored his sixth win
on the dirt at Lowe's.
"It's a fine art trying to figure out whether you want to really push
and take a chance at tearing something up," Bloomquist stated.
Eighty late models saw action.
Going into Saturday's season finale, Josh Richards has a four-point
advantage over Steve Francis.
For the season-concluding performances by both series, the action will
be telecast live by SPEED TV.
