Donny Lia Wins Pole, Finishes Fourth At North-South Shootout

Most drivers would have been pretty mad leaving Concord Motorsport Park on Saturday night if they were in Donny Lia’s shoes. He had just finished fourth in the third-annual North-South Shootout at the tricky half-mile tri-oval. But Lia shouldn’t have finished fourth. He shouldn’t have been third, or even second for that matter. Donny Lia walked out of Concord knowing he should have won his second-straight North-South Shootout trophy. An early-race penalty cost the youngster a shot at defending his win of a year ago.

However, Lia showed how much he’s been able to mature during the 2005 season by walking out of Concord with his head held high with satisfaction from his fourth-place run against some of the very best in the Modified world from the North and the South.

“I thought we had a car that could win the race,” said Lia. “What are you going to do? That’s just the way it goes sometimes; it’s all just part of racing I guess.”

Lia’s weekend started out on a high note by winning the pole for the event on Friday night. On Saturday, Lia jumped out to an early lead and paced the field for the first 30-plus laps until a caution came out. During that caution, Lia and a couple of the other lead cars came down pit road before the pits were open. Race officials penalized Lia and the rest of the

violators, by sending them to the tail of the field for the restart.

Therefore, instead of holding onto the lead, Lia had to fight for the remainder of the 100-lap race just to get back to the front. He was able to do so, but only made it to fourth by the time the checkers flew.

“It was just a miscommunication. One of my guys said they thought they heard the pits were open on the scanner. The wreck that brought out the yellow happened right at the entrance of pit road and there must’ve been a wrecker blocking the pit flagman because I don’t remember even seeing one. I figured maybe because I didn’t see the flagman and since this isn’t a NASCAR race, there must not be one. When I was told pits were open, I came down, but turns out it wasn’t open. It was just plain old miscommunication. I had to go to the back and I was just playing catch up from then on.

“Once we went back to racing it was better than the first part of the race, but I just kind of used it up making my way back through. When you’re in lapped traffic at this place, especially with that dogleg on the backstretch, you’re running such a fine line. When you have to maneuver up and down through the lapped cars, sometimes you just have to break the car free or turn it sideways to make it through. I just beat the car up. By the time we got to the front, I really had nothing left.”

Despite not getting the win, Lia was happy with his weekend.

“I have to hand it to my guys; it might have been a

miscommunication, but it was probably a mess up on my end not seeing the flagman,” added Lia. “My guys do an awesome job for me. They are just awesome and give me a great car every time we go to the racetrack and they make it easy to go fast.

“I’m relieved we were able to get the pole too because it was ours to lose. We were the fastest car all day Thursday and Friday. It wouldn’t have been the end of the world if we didn’t get it, but you like to do it. It pumps the guys up and it pumps you up. It’s a good feeling.”

The racing season isn’t quite over for Lia just yet. He’ll he competing in the annual Turkey Derby at Wall Township Speedway on November 26th.

For more information on Donny and the team, please contact Matthew Dillner at (704) 231-7613 and be sure to visit DonnyLia.com.