BRISBANE, Queensland — The World Series Sprint Cars rolled into Archerfield Speedway on Saturday night, Jan. 4, bringing the best Sprint Car drivers Australia has to offer. However, by night’s end, Archerfield Speedway’s most dominant driver stood atop the podium again.
Fargo driver Donny Schatz raced to his fourth consecutive feature win at Archerfield in what was a thrilling finish with 20-year-old Rusty Hickman.
“Oh, man. He’s only 20? I’m kind of speechless, really,” Schatz said, in victory lane. “I just did the opposite of what he was doing. If he went to the top, I went to the bottom, and if he went to the bottom, I went to the top. He made some really good moves. It was a great race — three and four wide … that’s the kind of thing you live for.”
Schatz started seventh on the grid for the 30-lap feature. The 10-time World of Outlaws champion moved up to second by lap 10, but had trouble closing in on Hickman.
Schatz moved into the lead with 11 laps to go, but his stint in the lead was short-lived as Hickman regained the spot two laps later. Schatz mounted one final charge in the closing laps and made another pass for the lead, using the high side of the speedway coming to the white flag. Once out front, Schatz pulled away from Hickman as he cruised to his 28th career World Series Sprint Car victory.
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Schatz will return to action on January 10-11 at Archerfield Speedway to close out his swing Down Under.
