SARVER, Pa. — After having a couple of days to celebrate his first Kings Royal triumph that occurred last Saturday, Donny Schatz was back in action at Lernerville Speedway in the Cleveland Brothers Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup. After the event was postponed by rain on July 17, Schatz picked up right where he left off in the Kings Royal, as he earned his 11th victory of the season the following night and second-consecutive victory in the Silver Cup, which was worth $30,000.
It was the second-straight “SuperClean Summer of Money” victory for the reigning World of Outlaws champion.
“It was a great race,” said Schatz. “We had a great night. We went start to finish, and you can’t ask for anything more than that as a driver. We’re glad to get another Silver Cup.”
The race began with polesitter Craig Dollansky taking the opening lead, with Schatz looking low in the first turn. Dollansky ran the high side of the track for the first few laps and held a four-car-length advantage, with Schatz running the low side.
As the pair was just about to enter lapped traffic, Schatz dove low off the fourth turn on the eighth lap to take the lead from Dollansky.
From there, Schatz began to pull away and encountered plenty of lapped traffic in the 40-lap event that went green to checkers in just under 10 and a half minutes.
“It was a little surprising to go non-stop, but this is a good group of cars,” said Schatz. “The race track was really good. It got a little slick and slowed down a couple of seconds. That’s what you really need to have a good race. When you get to race lapped traffic like that is when it’s most fun for a driver, especially when you are leading.”
Dollansky made a late charge to regain the second spot after falling to third on the 12th lap.
“Second is not what we are looking for, but considering the last few months that we have had, at least we are getting in the game right now and working towards winning a race,” said Dollansky. “It’s been a difficult couple of months for us, but we are definitely making some progress.”
Daryn Pittman finished third, with Steve Kinser and Tim Shaffer rounding out the top five.