It was a big weekend for the DDR team to start the month. The July spectacular at the Cedar Lake Speedway hosted the World of Outlaws and the DDR team wanted to be a part of the “Greatest Show on Dirt”!
Racing began Friday night for the DDR team with fresh (barely dry) paint on the new Maxim Chassis with Rider power with the Outlaws. Australian sprint car champion Brooke Tatnell took the call to drive the car as he has plenty of experience in a 410 at Cedar Lake and has been in Victory Lane with the Outlaws at the high banked 3/8-mile track.
The evening started with Brooke qualifying 14th and lining up 5thin his heat. The 34DD maintained that position in a stacked heat that included Donny Schatz, David Gravel and NASCAR superstar Kasey Kahne. Brooke Started 14th in the A main, the first DDR car to qualify for a WOO feature event! Brooke would climb up to 11th with a good shot at 10th when the car hopped a very large cushion in 3 and 4. Brooke saved it only to have fuel issues at the end of the 35-lap race. A great start to the weekend with a promising outlook for Saturday night.
Saturday saw 2 DDR 34DD cars in the pits. Night 2 of the World of Outlaws featured Brooke Tatnell driving the 900HP 410 and Brady Donnohue racing with the local UMSS winged Sprint Cars. It was a night of records in both classes. Brooke qualified for the feature on his 2nd consecutive night with the DDR 34DD showing more speed as the evening went on. A few well-timed cautions allowed Brooke to better Friday night’s performance and finish 13th. The highest finish so far for the DDR Outlaw team!
Brady Donnohue would start the night buried in his heat, but that didn’t slow him down as he was able to wheel the 34DD car to a 3rd place finish in his heat and by virtue of passing points, gain a spot in the redraw for the A feature. Brady drew the 6thstarting position for the UMSS A Main. It only took Brady a few laps to gain 4th position and just a few more to move into 2nd. By that time eventual winner Jack Berger had pulled out what proved to be an insurmountable lead. Brady was closing the gap when the checkers fell on the evening. This was Brady’s best finish so far in the UMSS class. He has shown steady improvement all year and that first win is just around a corner.
Next up on the schedule for DDR includes a stop at Eagle Valley Speedway July 22nd and then back to Cedar Lake on July 30th.