Schatz claims ninth Australian Sprintcar Open win

Donny Schatz has won the Australian Sprintcar Open for the ninth time after overcoming Logan Schuchart at Archerfield Speedway.

The 10-time World of Outlaws Champion delivered when it mattered to take victory in the A-Main by 1.6s over Schuchart after a late stoppage, with Kerry Madsen finishing third.

Schatz provisionally qualified on pole when he drove from the fifth row to win his final heat in just 10 laps, but was bested by Schuchart in the Gold Shootout.

Schuchart converted his pole position into an early lead before ceding that to Schatz on Lap 21 of 50.

A lapped car accounted for preliminary main winner Rusty Hickman, who was running fourth when he made contact with backmarker Jack Lee and took both into the wall with three laps remaining.

Schatz, however, safely negotiated the challenge of traffic and the late stoppage to take victory.

“This trophy will look fantastic in the trophy room at home,” said Schatz.

“The Australian Open is always a tough race to win and you appreciate it when you do.

“I’m just so fortunate to get to do this with great people and experience so many highlights in my career, and I’m looking forward to Wednesday when we get to do it again.”

Steven Lines finished fourth and Jamie Veal fifth, while Lockie McHugh rose all the way from 16th to sixth.

Lines continues to lead the QSS World Series Sprintcars series, which continues with Round 7 back at Archerfield on Wednesday night (January 9) when Schatz will make his final appearance in Australia this season.

Standings: After Round 6

Pos	Num	Driver	Pts
1	Q83	Steven Lines	1712
2	W2	Kerry Madsen	1653
3	W17	James McFadden	1606
4	V35	Jamie Veal	1337
5	V40	Rusty Hickman	1324
6	S19	Brad Keller	1230
7	V42	Jye O’Keeffe	1091
8	W26	Cory Eliason	1087
9	W97	Mitchell Wormall	1062
10	V37	Grant Anderson	1026
11	V25	Jack Lee	1004
12	V88	Dave Murcott	968
13	Q23	Lockie McHugh	932
14	Q77	Jayden Peacock	922
15	S81	Luke Dillon	809
16	W14	Jason Pryde	779
17	T22	Jock Goodyer	777
18	V52	Darren Mollenoyux	772
19	S13	Brock Hallett	766
19	S20	Glen Sutherland	766
21	NT9	Danny Porter	759
22	S72	Chad Ely	745
23	W80	James Inglis	743
24	Q54	Randy Morgan	732
25	V55	Brooke Tatnell	708
26	V90	Corey McCullagh	661
27	S15	Aidan Hall	636
28	V98	Peter Doukas	629
29	S27	Daniel Pestka	602
30	S14	Brendan Quinn	599
31	S78	Keke Falland	539
32	V60	Jordyn Charge	515
33	S63	Ryan Jones	499
34	V92	Matthew Reed	496
35	T7	Tim Hutchins	488
36	V17	Dennis Jones	477
37	V72	Jacob Smith	466
38	S10	Steven Caruso	453
38	USA15	Donny Schatz	453
40	S97	Matt Egel	448
41	S41	Adrian Cottrell	446
42	V45	Michael Van Bremen	414
43	USA1	Logan Schuchart	408
44	V70	John Vogels	392
45	V2	Domain Ramsay	372
46	N53	Jesse Attard	333
47	N99	Carson Macedo	320
48	Q17	Luke Oldfield	305
49	S4	Lisa Walker	285
50	Q5	Peter Lack	282
51	S5	Tregan Gates	266
52	Q25	Andrew Scheuerle	261
53	NQ42	Brent Aprile	248
54	N56	Mick Saller	221
55	Q78	Andrew Corbett	215
56	Q59	Kevin Titman	210
57	Q88	Ryan McNamara	202
58	NQ5	Danny Reidy	196
59	NQ8	Tony Wynne	194
60	Q75	Darren Jensen	190
61	S3	Ben Morris	179
62	V67	Luke Walker	177
62	V68	Brett Milburn	177
64	Q4	David Whell	175
65	Q32	Mitch Gowland	164
66	Q56	Sean Rose	148
67	Q36	Mitchell Gee	138
68	T62	Tate Frost	128
69	V50	Darren Clarke	127
70	V81	Robbie Paton	126
71	Q2	Brent Kratzmann	120
72	S57	Rory Button	116
73	V93	Travis Millar	110
74	Q3	Clem Hoffmans	107
75	NQ10	Tim Farrell	106
75	N65	Brendan Rallings	106
77	V89	Jamie Heyen	102
78	S24	Ricky Maiolo	98
79	V3	Jacob Dickson	88
80	S54	Nick Rachwal	84
81	VA88	Grant Stansfield	77
82	D22	Leigh Mungavin	72