Woodward Racing Volunteer summary

Tatnell Runs Seventh at Volunteer Speedway

BULLS GAP, TN (March 24) -- Brooke Tatnell maintained sixth place in the World of Outlaws point standings Saturday when he drove Woodward Racing's #2 Volcano Joe's Coffee Schnee into seventh place in the "A" Feature at Volunteer Speedway.

Tatnell closed to within eight points of Terry McCarl, who finished 25th, and 11 points of Craig Dollansky, who ran 10th, while finishing in the top 12 for the ninth time in the World of Outlaws' first 10 "A" Features of the season.

The three-time defending Australian Sprintcar champion was the fifth-fastest qualifier in the 35-car field with an 11.849-second, 121.529-MPH lap around the high-banked, 4/10-mile oval, despite hitting the outside retaining wall on his first lap.

"We screwed up our first lap of qualifying something terrible," Tatnell said laughing, "but we were able to make amends for it in the heat race. We had a faulty set of gears that we had to change. We put in a new set, but they weren't the ratio we wanted. That may have hurt us a little bit, but we had a good run."

A fourth-place run in the First Heat Race and Tim Kaeding's crash in the Third Heat Race gave Tatnell the 10th starting position in the Dash Race. His seventh-place run in the dash put the "Black Deuce" outside the fourth row for the start of the 35-lap main event.

"We were running in the fifth and sixth spot pretty much the whole race," Tatnell said. "We weren't content to sit there, so we started looking around trying to make something happen. From third to 10th, I think everybody was about the same, so I thought we could make something happen. While we were trying to make something happen, we lost two spots (to Daryn Pittman and Kaeding) toward the end. The yellow came out (on lap 25) before we got into lapped traffic, which probably hurt us more than anything. I think we were definitely maneuverable and we were able to find things on the racetrack, while the other guys were pretty consistent where they were running. We were moving around more than anybody else."

When asked what he thought of racing at Volunteer Speedway for the first time, Tatnell said, "It wasn't too bad. It was good because the banking allowed you to run the top, but it also slowed it down because it was so far around the top and there wasn't much to hold you coming out of turn four. That's where most people hit the wall, including us. That's what makes it a fun racetrack. When it's so far around the top and the bottom's so short, it's actually really racy. It was a lot racier than we thought it was going to be. My hat's off to them (the Volunteer Speedway staff). It was a pretty good night all the way around. It was a little disappointing having to wait for everyone to get across from Bristol (Motor Speedway in nearby Bristol, TN) when the Busch race ran late. That put our program a little behind. The organizers did everything they could do accommodate everyone, but it made for a late night."

-credit: wr