Asian Motor Sports

The Tyrepower $50,000 To Win Sprintcar International was mind blowing - The crowd upon the edge of their seat as tension and excitement build - For forty gruelling laps Donny Schatz and Joey Saldana went at it like two heavy-weight bowers slugging it out, only for Joey Saldana to be king-hit at the final bell as Donny Schatz seized upon the $50,000 bounty.

Whatever the cliche used - ‘Best race ever’ - ‘Sensational’ - ‘Thriller’ - ‘Classic’ - The 2006 Tyrepower $50,000 To Win will go down as folklore.

Imagine two Sprintcar drivers going at it ten-tenths - Never giving an inch - Then multiply that by forty laps and add in twenty-two competing Sprintcars, and you have Donny Schatz and Joey Saldana throwing everything on the line for the $50,000.

The lead swapped five times over the forty laps.

With five laps remaining at the restart, Saldana with fresh air and clearly faster in the Volcano Joes Coffee Maxim, Saldana had one hand on the trophy.

Then came lapped traffic on the final lap, and the highline that Saldana had used all race dealt such a cruel blow when he was hung up to dry by lapped traffic, allowing Donny Schatz to sail on by in the Pick ‘n Payless J&J.

“My hats off to Joey Saldana, he did one hell of a job,” praised Donny Schatz as he collected his fifth $50,000 To Win trophy. “I think Brian Healey should pay fifty grand for first and second, he (Saldana) deserves it.”

Donny Schatz was blunt when Tyrepower PCR Commentator Stuart McCarthy posed the question, ‘Did you think with five laps to go, you could win?’

“I didn’t think I was going to get him, he was better than us,” replied Schatz. “For most of that race I was trying to run underneath the cushion and it just wasn’t working. Then he drove right around us on the cushion. Normally you can’t run for forty laps on a cushion that treacherous - but he proved me wrong. He went up there and did it, and obviously he made me get up there to try and keep pace with him.”

“We just got one hell of a run on that last lap and as I came into turns three and four, he was parked up on the top in the lapped traffic and we went right on by.”

Claiming the Champions crown, Donny Schatz paid huge respect to second-placed Saldana.

“It sucks that somebody has to come second. We drove side-by-side for forty laps and he drove so clean.”

“It was exciting from where I was sitting, so it had to be good for the folks on the hill,” quipped Schatz.

The race beyond first and second, where the main focus of attention laid, was that of giant-killing performance.

Garry Brazier behind the wheel of his father Steve’s ex-Kraig Kinser Castrol Maxim, complete with a 372 cubic inch power-plant; Brazier stormed home in the later half of the race, passing Travis Rilat, Shane Stewart, Daryn Pittman, Mark Blyton, Skip Jackson, Trevor Green, Brandon Wimmer, then Sammy Swindell to step upon the podium.

“I am very disappointed in myself for not getting up the top of the track fifteen laps earlier,” stated Garry Brazier with the attitude and angst of old. “I was too busy playing around down the bottom with everybody else.

“I tried my hardest up around the top once I finally got up there - but simply ran out of laps.”

Despite putting in a massive charge, Brazier body language told the story, feeling he may have let the team down.

“It was the best chance I have had to win this race and beat the Americans, and I didn’t get the job done. I have to dedicate this to my crew and I am so proud of my dad, he gave me the car to do the job.”

Garry went on to comment upon his own on again - off again racing schedule.

“Unfortunately we don’t race enough,” said Brazier, “I love this racetrack - Tyrepower PCR is definitely the best race track in Australia, I want to be back here and I just hope the crowd loved that race. I think I have finally figured out how to drive the race car again - so I should be able to give Schatz a run at the next race meeting.”

Sammy Swindell crossed for fourth in the Richard Petty Driving Experience Maxim, whilst Jason Meyers in the Elite Racing Maxim remained the last car on the lead lap in fifth.

Meyers was running third up until he ran over the back of the lapped Mark Blyton, turning the Harry Delamont owned car around, only to be collected by Skip Jackson who rolled, bringing on the reds and the restart with five laps remaining.

Sixth was Brandon Wimmer (TW Racing Maxim), seventh - Trevor Green (Adrad Cool), eighth - Ryan Farrell (Oamps Insurance Maxim), ninth - Daryn Pittman (Titan Garages and Carports Maxim), with Mark Blyton (Dyno Flow Exhausts Maxim) rounding out the top ten.

Kerry Madsen was an early casualty whilst running fifth, rolling his East Coast Pipeline & Welding Cool on lap eleven, after Danny Porter, Troy Little and Madsen in the middle all went for the same hole.

However, the most talked about subject by all in the attending in the crowd, was the very last corner that effectively cost Saldana the race. The race, in which he led the way by charging in over the top of the turn one and two cushion, to show everyone the way.

Saldana never attended the podium ceremony; he simply did not know what to say to the crowd at the time, immediately after the race.

“I don’t know what to say,” as Saldana paused to gather his thoughts in the pits sometime after the race. “It’s frustrating … because you felt like you had a good car, you felt like you did a good job … and you still got beat.”

“I have lost races before where I may have screwed up and it cost me the race - or somewhere in the race where I should have done this or that better. But in tonight’s race, I can honestly tell you, I gave a 110% and got beat. So that’s the most frustrating part about the whole thing,” he said.

“I did the best I could do - The team did the best they could do - and we got beat!

“Honestly, it’s not about the money,” Saldana affirmed, “It’s the prestige of winning this race. Like in my eyes, this is the second biggest race in Australia - so it aint about the money - it’s the prestige.

“America has Knoxville, the Kings Royal and the Big One - but I put this race right up there with them.”

Joey went on to express his thoughts on why the loss guttered him so much.

“This year at the Kings Royal, I ran second to Steve Kinser. I had the race in the bag, but I hit the wall and knocked the Jacobs Ladder off. But it was my fault, and I could accept that,” Saldana said.

“I had a motor blow during the Historical Big One when I had that won - those things happen.

“But this by far the hardest race I have ever loss! We had it won - I felt I did everything I could do to beat Donny Schatz and if you asked me to go back and say where in the race I went wrong - I couldn’t tell you. I drove the absolute best I could, and still didn’t get it done.”