WEST FARGO-Donny Schatz remains in good shape to win his ninth World of Outlaws championship, but his momentum was slowed a bit Saturday night at his home track-the Red River Valley Speedway.
Jason Johnson led from start to finish to capture the Outlaws' 30-lap feature. It was the first time the Outlaws have raced at RRVS in five years.
Schatz came into the night with two straight wins, one last week at the Knoxville Nationals and Friday night's win at River Cities Speedway.
Johnson started on the front row and finished one second ahead of Kerry Madsen, while Shane Stewart, who posted the fastest qualifying time of the night, finished third-1.34 seconds off the pace.
Stewart's time of 11.925 seconds (96.804 mph) set a track record and it was the first sub-12 second lap in track history.
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Johnson, however, did what he had to do after starting on the front row.
"It just took a lot of patience tonight and a fast race car," said Johnson. "When you get yourself in a position to start on the front row, everything just has to go your way. We thought we got a bad pill draw to start the night, but with the track conditions, it actually played in our favor. We picked up a heat race win and got lucky in the dash to start on the outside pole in the feature. I just had to take advantage of every opportunity I got."
Kraig Kinser, who started on the pole, finished fourth while Schatz ended in fifth.
Johnson spent the final 20-plus laps in heavy lapped traffic but managed to stay ahead of Stewart and Madsen.
The race was red flagged after four laps when Dominic Scelzi and Brent Marks were involved in a collision on the front straight away.
Three local drivers made the feature, Mark Dobmeier, Trent Stengl and Thomas Kennedy. Kennedy finished seventh, while Stengl was 20th and Dobmeier 21st.
The Outlaws will race tonight at the Nodak Speedway in Minot.
