American sprint car legend Donny Schatz showed all his class to win the World Sprint Car Classic title on night three of this season's Western Springs Speedway at the weekend.
In his first heat - his first look at the track - Schatz took victory after a battle with RodneyWood. Other heat wins went to Ricky Logan, Jonathan Allard and Kiwi Jamie McDonald.
Also lucky in the heats was Carl Wilson, who walked away from a 140km/h wreck of his sprint car after he rode over another car's rear wheel and slammed into the new catch fencing, which cushioned his blow.
McDonald set the local crowd alight when he first headed off US-based Australian Peter Murphy, then Schatz, to send himself to pole position for the 30-lap feature race.
Starting alongside McDonald, Schatz made the best of the start and jumped out to the early lead while McDonald, Sammy Swindell, Murphy, Wood, Logan and Allard scrapped over the minor money.
Wood retired when he slammed his car into the fence, as did Logan, although both were able to get off the track without bringing on a caution period.
Around mid-distance, Murphy got past McDonald and started to close in on Schatz, while Swindell also got around McDonald only to himself kiss the concrete wall, slowing him and allowing Allard up into third.
A caution period with six laps to go spiced up racing and, on the restart, Schatz again showed all the skill that has won him four World of Outlaw championships and took the win. Allard, the current New Zealand champion, ran Schatz close to the flag, while Murphy took the final podium spot.
The Baker brothers, Scott and Ryan, dominated the TQ racing. Scott took advantage of Ryan's mistake to take victory, while Ryan followed him home in second, with Shane Phillips taking the final podium spot.
In the midgets, Michael Pickens produced the drive of the night. While leading, Pickens hit a rut in the track with 14 laps to go and spun, forcing him to restart from the rear of the field and handing the lead to Carl Worboys.
Worboys led until an engine failure sidelined him, handing the lead to Chris McCutcheon ahead of Scott Buckley.
In a do-or-die effort, Pickens worked his way from the back of the 20-car field to claim third place.
