The Knoxville Raceway used to have a rule that, except during the 360 Nationals, a driver could not compete in more than one division on a race night. Brian Brown is glad that rule is no longer enforced and on Saturday night he came up just short of sweeping the feature wins in both the 410's and the 360's at the famed oval.
The Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour had just run an event in Osborn, Missouri, on Friday night and with an open date on their schedule several of the drivers made the short trip north to make for a solid thirty-two car field in the 360 division. Jason Johnson, who was the ASCS National Tour point leader coming into the show at Osborn, started on the pole position of the 18-lap main event and when he immediately shot out to a big lead on the opening lap it looked as though this would be a race for second. However when Jamie Ball looped his car in turn two racing for second on the second lap the caution waved and brought the field back to the leader.
I had to wonder if Johnson was saying to himself "Nate Van Whooo....what?" as Nate Van Haaften blew by him on the inside of turns one and two on the restart. The young driver from the small town of Otley was a rocket as he drove away from Johnson and the race settled into some green flag action. Van Haaften maintained his advantage through lap ten before Johnson started to reel him back in and he was not the only one on the move. Brian Brown had started tenth and was working the low line of the multi-grooved surface to get up to third not far behind the lead duo. On lap fifteen Johnson powered back around Van Haaften for the lead and Brown pounced on the former leader as well to drop him back to third. There was no stopping Brown from there as he drove past Johnson in traffic a lap later and then executed the final two laps flawlessly to take the thrilling victory. Defending track champion Clint Garner was trying to keep pace with Brown and disposed of Johnson on the final lap to take second, Jeff Swindell came out of nowhere in those wild final laps to finish behind Johnson in fourth and Van Haaften would have to settle for the fifth position behind four very impressive drivers.
After some quick podium pictures in victory lane both Brown and Johnson climbed aboard their 410 rides and were ready for twenty more laps of action to wrap up the night. Two young drivers who are notoriously hard to catch if they start up front lined up in row one and it was Davey Heskin getting the jump on Bronson Maeschen to take the lead. Maeschen quickly dropped to fourth as the second row drivers Terry McCarl and Dusty Zomer entertained the crowd swapping the second position back and forth during the first six laps of the race. A hard crash involving Mike Moore in turn one put the race under red as the Safety Crew extinguished a fire under the hood and helped Moore scramble out of his used up race car uninjured.
On the restart Zomer locked down the second spot while Maeschen soon drove by McCarl for third and looked to return to the front of the field. As Heskin raced comfortably out front Maeschen challenged Zomer for second and much of the crowd was focused on the battle for fourth as Brian Brown went wheel-to-wheel with Terry McCarl. As Heskin charged under the white flag just a lap away from a dominating victory, Ryan Bunton slowed on the high side of turn two the victim of a flat right rear tire. The caution waved and the field was reset for a green-white-checkered finish with Heskin leading Masechen, Zomer, Brown and McCarl back to action.
It was evident who had the fastest car when the green flag waved as Brown drove by Zomer for third in turns one and two and then blew by Maeschen for second in turns three and four. Heskin was a sitting duck just waiting to be picked off on the final lap as Brown set him up in turns one and two and then had a big run on the leader heading down the back straightaway on the final lap. It was then that Heskin made the move of the night as he faked going low into turn three and then drove to the cushion where Brown had committed to make his move. It was either hit Heskin or hop the cushion and Brown chose the latter to preserve the runner-up position as Heskin earned his fourth career victory at Knoxville. Maeschen held down the third spot with Zomer and McCarl completing the top five.
Earlier in the night the 305 division started out the trio of main events with a 12-lap race that saw central Missouri driver J Kinder take the convincing win after taking the lead from Bob Hildreth on lap three. Omaha's Matthew Stelzer finished second, Larry Ball Jr. recovered from issues in his heat race to start ninth and finish third, the sprint car veteran Hildreth held on for fourth ahead of former IMCA Modified racer and now sprint car rookie Jake Strayer in fifth.
K-Ville Notes.......Other "visitors" in the 360 division besides Brown, Johnson and Swindell were Tony Bruce Jr. (7th), Logan Forler (13th), Zach Blurton (20th) and "Full Blown Chaos" Dustin Morgan (22nd). Brandon Hahn also made his Knoxville debut but did not qualify for the feature.....Jeff Mitrisin returned to sprint car racing tonight after a three-year absence that saw him racing an IMCA Late Model on the Deery Brothers Summer Series. Mitrisin drove the Wares Racing #10 to 18th tonight.....Young Tyler Groenendyk, another graduate of the IMCA Modified ranks, set quick time in the 360 division and then had to make a late pass of Russ Hall to get the final transfer spot out of the first heat. Groenendyk started eighth in the feature and finished ninth......Hall later won the B-Main, started 21st in the feature and raced his way up to tenth.....Last Saturday night's 360 feature winner Tony Shilling came up one position shy of transferring out of the B and was a spectator for tonight's feature.....California driver Cole Wood who appears to be a 360 regular at Knoxville this season suffered a flat tire and smacked the guardrail on a false start in the feature essentially ending his evening scored in 24th.....The 410 division had a couple of new faces as well with Pennsylvania native and current Lizton, Indiana, resident Jimmy Light as well as IRA competitor Brandon Thone of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Neither driver was able to take a qualifying lap though and both failed to transfer out of the B-Main......Mark Dobmeier qualified 23rd, but he and his crew then found some speed as he raced his way into the feature where he started 18th and finished in 8th......Attrition has a way of shrinking the 305 field and tonight was no different as sixteen of the twenty car field took the green flag for the feature. One of the division's top contenders Steve Breazeale struggled with mechanical woes all evening and Kevin Hetrick had the second heat race win in his grasp before his 305 motor scattered in turn one.....It was good to see Alan Zoutte in action now in a 305 that hopefully is a better fit for his racing budget. The second generation hometown driver finished seventh in the main event.
It was another spectacular night of racing at the Knoxville Raceway putting the cap on a long day as my father-in-law and I made our traditional trip to the Iowa High School Co-Ed State Track Meet in Des Moines during the day. Congratulations to the Mount Pleasant Panthers as for the second year in a row both the boys and the girls won the Class 3A Shuttle Hurdle Relay. Also a tip of the hat to the Knoxville Panthers as their boys team won the 4 x 400 Meter Relay in Class 3A.
A big week of racing lies ahead with special event action getting under way Tuesday night in Farley with the Deery Brothers Summer Series and short-track racing continues all the way through Memorial Day Monday. I am betting that defending Super Fan champion Kevin Babcock will take in seven straight nights of racing. How many will you attend? Hope to see you on the Back Stretch!
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