When you race with the World of Outlaws for more than a decade you learn a few tricks of the trade along the way and while Craig Dollanksy no longer races down the road with the Outlaws, that experience paid off Saturday night with one brilliant move on the final lap at the Knoxville Raceway.
Now a regular competitor at the legendary track's weekly show Dollansky started the night's twenty-lap feature on the pole position with Davey Heskin right beside him. It was Heskin though who would take the lead at the drop of the green as Dollansky and the rest of the talent-rich field tried to keep pace. Just as lapped traffic began to become a factor the caution waved for Brooke Tatnell who had stopped at the entrance to turn three. Nine laps remained and with an open track ahead of him Heskin had to be feeling pretty good about the situation, but Dollansky changed that quickly by driving under Heskin in turn three to on the first lap back to green to take the lead.
Heskin immediately fought back though to regain the lead on lap thirteen only to have Dollansky come right back to pass him again on the following lap. Heskin's spirit appeared to have been broken now as Justin Henderson shuffled him back to third with just five laps remaining and that is when the young driver from Minnesota found the low groove on both ends to his liking. Heskin was back to second with four laps to go and on the following lap he pulled even with the leader down the back stretch. Dollansky's high line was still faster in turns three and four though and he would retain the lead as lap eighteen went into the books. Once again Heskin was much faster down low in turns one and two and he took the lead down the back stretch and into turns turns three and four as the field raced toward the white flag.
Dollansky nursed every bit of speed that he could from the cushion in turn four and was able to get just far enough ahead of Heskin to then dive to to the bottom and slam the door on his challenger's preferred line. Heskin's momentum was broken by that one savvy move and Craig Dollansky would race away over the rest of that final lap to score the win in an extremely entertaining race. Heskin likely picked up a trick of trade himself that he can use to his advantage in the future as he settled for second. Justin Henderson was solid in the third spot. Danny Lasoski brought Mark Burch's #1M from ninth to fourth and Terry McCarl finished in the fifth spot. Brian Brown who was looking for his fourth straight feature win in the 410 class here at Knoxville finished in the sixth position while Ian Madsen, Dusty Zomer, Mark Dobmeier and Brad Loyet completed the top ten. It was impressive drive by Loyet who had started nineteenth after winning the B-Main.
The 360 main event got off to a rough start when tenth-starting Jonathan Cornell spun on the front stretch and collected both Kris Miller and Mike VanHaaften. Miller who was making the visit from Woodward, Oklahoma, tipped over on his side and both he and Cornell were not able to restart. On the next try at a green Russ Hall made a strong move to go from third to first past Randy Martin and Jason Johnson on the opening lap only to have the caution flag needed again when Mike Houseman Jr. slowed on the front stretch. On the restart Johnson powered past Hall to take the point and despite two cautions for spins by Sawyer Phillips, there would no catching "The Rajun Cajun" on this night as Johnson cruised to victory. Hall would chase him all the way in for second, Jon Agan nipped Jamie Ball for third on the final set of turns and Justin Henderson finished in the fifth position.
A first-time feature winner at Knoxville and the best finish ever by a female in a feature race highlighted the action in the 305 division. Kevin Hetrick started fourth, but split the front row of Mike Philben and McKenna Haase to take the lead exiting turn two on the opening lap and he would then ride the bottom line around the big half-mile to register his first career feature win at Knoxville. Haase, the seventeen-year-old from Carlisle, would chase Hetrick the entire distance to finish in second. Mitchell Alexander took third, while multi-time winners Matthew Stelzer and J Kinder were fourth and fifth.
The Lucas Oil Championship Cup Series continues at the Knoxville Raceway the next two Saturdays before the World of Outlaws come to town on June 14th.
Next up for me will be the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders tonight (Sunday) at 34 Raceway near Burlington. Hope to see you there!
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