Australian Sprint Car mid-season poll

'OUTLAWS DOWN UNDER' TITLIST DONNY SCHATZ RANKED NUMBER ONE IN MID-SEASON AUSTRALIAN SPRINTCAR POLL

KNOXVILLE, IOWA (January 22, 2007) - Donny Schatz, Saturday night's 'Outlaws Down Under' titlist at the Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway, is the top-ranked driver in Australia thus far in the 2006/07 season, as selected by the voting panel of the Australian Sprintcar Poll. The defending North American 410 Sprint Car Poll "Driver of the Year" from Fargo, North Dakota, gathered eight (8) of the fourteen (14) first place votes cast by the select panel of Australian manufacturers, media members, promoters and sanctioning officials. Schatz, who is also the defending World of Outlaws (WoO) champion and SuperClean Knoxville Nationals champion, is entered in this weekend's The Standard-sponsored Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic (GASC) at the Sungold Stadium at the Premier Speedway in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia. The GASC is an international qualifier for the World Challenge on Friday, August 10, during the SuperClean Knoxville Nationals.

The next two drivers on the mid-season podium are newly crowned World Series Sprintcars (WSS) titlist Max Dumesny and Aussie WoO star Brooke Tatnell, respectively. Victorian Dumesny and New South Welshman Tatnell each scored three (3) first place votes, but neither was in the same league as Schatz, who also took out the $50,000-to-win Bevelite Glass International Classic race at suburban Sydney's Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway. American Jason Johnson, the defending North American 360 Sprint Car Poll "Driver of the Year" from Louisiana, is ranked fourth, while Aussies Robbie Farr and David Murcott tied for fifth, respectively. Rounding out the top ten drivers at the mid-way point in the Down Under season are Australian Kerry Madsen of New South Wales, American Joey Saldana of Indiana, Australian Ryan Farrell of Western Australia, and Australian Troy Little of New South Wales, respectively.

The Standard-sponsored Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic at Premier Speedway's Sungold Stadium in Warrnambool, Victoria, will take place on Friday-Saturday, January 26-27. It will also feature seven Americans in competition as it is Australia's World Challenge qualifier for that international invitational to take place at the Knoxville Raceway in Iowa on Friday, August 10. Amongst the American entrants are Brian Brown of Missouri, Daryn Pittman of Oklahoma, Dean Jacobs of Ohio, Donny Schatz of North Dakota, Michael Carber of Pennsylvania, Paul McMahan of California, and Shane Stewart of Oklahoma.

The Australian Sprintcar Poll is an official awards program of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum Foundation of Knoxville, Iowa. The final 2006/07 Australian Sprintcar Poll post-season awards, which will be voted on in April, will be presented on Friday, August 10, during the 47th annual SuperClean Knoxville Nationals.

-credit: schof