Car owner Mark Burch may have been concerned that his #1M was down on horsepower, but he needs to keep in mind who he hires to steer the car and work the pedals as the combination of Burch and Danny Lasoski dominated the opening night of the 25th Annual Arnold Motor Supply Knoxville 360 Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank Thursday night.
My colleague Barry Johnson relayed the story to me of the car owner's concerns as he watched the race prepare to go green from the infield in turns three and four, but once that green flag waved those concerns had to fade quickly. But first, let's remember that under the points system at the Knoxville Nationals being the fastest qualifier earns just as many points as does winning the feature so let's rewind back to the beginning of the night and take you on through with some notes on each event.
The current track point leader in the 360 division, Clint Garner would set quick time despite being the 17th car on the track for qualifying. History would show that the fastest qualifier at either the 360 or the 410 Nationals seldom comes from outside of the first ten cars to hit the track. Jamie Ball, the tenth car to log a qualifying lap was second quick, last week's Belleville Midget Nationals champion Bryan Clauson was third fastest in his first appearance at the 360 Nationals, Californian Willie Croft was fourth quick, Justin Henderson who seems to be the fastest qualifier in the 360's here every Saturday night was fifth fastest and Mach 1 chassis specialist Mark Smith was sixth quick. Lasoski timed in a disappointing 15th obviously leading to his car owners' nervousness for the rest of the night.
Six cars were inverted for each of the five heat races and this is where those "fast qualifiers" have to prove their mettle as only the top four finishers would advance to the night's A-Main.
Pole-sitter Matt Moro went the distance to win heat race number one as Garner slipped by ASCS National Tour regular Seth Bergman mid-race to pick up that fourth transfer position. Smith, who won the $10,000 top prize at the King of the 360's event at East Bay Raceway in Florida in February, struggled in his first actual race here at Knoxville as he started fifth and finished sixth sending him to the B-Main.
Joe Beaver rode the pole position in heat two to the win in the second heat while ASCS National Tour point leader Aaron Reutzel flexed his strength by coming from fourth to second. Carson McCarl, in what I believe to be his first competition in 2015, looked good wheeling his #5c car to the third spot while Casey Friedrichsen fought off Jon Agan to finish in fourth. Little did we know at the time that this defense of that final transfer position would land Casey on the pole for tonight's A-Main. Second quick qualifier Jamie Ball faded to seventh.
Alan Zoutte did not look comfortable in his front row outside starting spot and when he quickly faded toward the back at the drop of the green, Bryan Clauson got hung up behind him and could not recover as he finished sixth. Ryan Roberts started third and raced to the win despite being sprayed with power steering fluid on the final lap. Tony Bruce Jr., Scottie McDonald and last Saturday's feature winner here Calvin Landis also transferred.
Brandon Hanks and Jordyn Brazier ran off with the top two spots in the fourth heat where the driver to watch was Nate Van Haaften. From nearby Otley, Iowa, Van Haaften was running sixth mid-race before driving past Scott Bogucki, Jonathan Cornell and Bronson Maeschen as if they were standing still to finish in the third spot. The fifth-place finish continued a frustrating night for Cornell who had a fuel line issue cause a fire on his car during hot laps. Willie Croft struggled dropping to seventh at the finish.
With Lee Grosz leading the way down the back stretch on the opening lap of the fifth heat race Russ Hall, Danny Lasoski and Cody Ledger raced three-wide for second. Lasoski emerged from that pack and then quickly disposed of Grosz to score the convincing win. Ledger fought off a challenge from Justin Henderson for fourth and then found the speed to nip Hall at the line for third. Henderson and Sam Hafertepe Jr. were just two more big names headed for the B-Main.
Jordan Weaver had to give up her favored eighth spot in the qualifying order when a spark plug wire was off, but she came back to win the C-Main and then advanced ten positions in the B-Main to finish 11th.
Jamie Ball's crew worked hard after the poor showing in heat two and once again found the speed that they had in qualifying as the young driver drove away from the pack to win the B-Main. Justin Henderson and Bryan Clauson ran second and third while Jon Agan passed Willie Croft on lap four to earn the fourth and final transfer to the A-Main. The next six drivers in line who did not go to the A-Main were quite stout (Smith, Croft, Cornell, Hafertepe, Bergman and Justyn Cox) and all of them will be working the alphabet on Saturday night.
With the top eight in points following qualifying and the heat races inverted for the A-Main lineup that put Danny Lasoski on the outside of the front row and when the green flag waved he was GONE. Nate Van Haaften picked up where he left off in his heat race and had moved from sixth to third before his left rear wheel came off as he negotiated turn two on lap seven. The caution brought the field back to Lasoski, but when he smashed the gas to go back to green he already had ten car-lengths on the second running Aaron Reutzel as they passed the cone on the front stretch.
As the race hit the midway point Joe Beaver and Sawyer Phillips were racing for position mid-pack and when Phillips ran out of room midway down the front stretch he jerked sideways and then went for a terrifying high speed tumble all the way down to the entrance of turn one. There was not much left intact on the #3P, except for the roll cage that Sawyer crawled up out of under his own power and then hopped down to the ground apparently unfazed by the wild ride. In the old days this wreck would have sent pieces flying over the fence in turn one, but with the tethers now on the front axle it stayed with the mangled mess that was once the K&SP Farms sprinter rather than joing the party crowd over at the Dingus Lounge.
Crews scrambled during the lengthy red to try to find some more speed to stay with Lasoski, but when the green flag waved once again, Lasoski repeated his dominance leaving Reutzel in his wake on the restart and then cruising the final ten laps to victory. With the help of some lapped traffic Reutzel was able to at least keep the leader in sight as he finished second, but the third place car of Casey Friedrichsen was a half-lap behind, in just ten laps, when the winner took the checkers. Calvin Landis would continue his solid performance by finishing fourth while Clint Garner's fifth-place finish landed him at the top of the points list through the first night of qualifying. Fifth through tenth were Bronson Maeschen, Tony Bruce Jr., Billy Alley, Russ Hall and Ryan Roberts while Bryan Clauson was the Hard Charger coming from 23rd to 11th.
The fast moving show would have been completed before the clock hit ten if not for the Phillips flip and the checkers still waved at a comfortable 10:15 allowing me to actually drive all the way back home and be in bed by midnight! I have family commitments to tend to this evening so if the Friday show runs off as fast I will miss it all, or I might just make it in time for the feature, we will just have to wait and see as more than 55 cars are expected to run tonight. The full rundown of Thursday's points are below and I hope to see you in Knoxville!
Thursday Points
Pos Car Driver Points
1 40 Clint Garner 483
2 87 Aaron Reutzel 473
3 1M Danny Lasoski 472
4 10 Calvin Landis 471
5 18 Tony Bruce Jr. 461
6 17W Bryan Clauson 461
7 20 Casey Friedrichsen 455
8 4 Jon Agan 452
9 5J Jamie Ball 452
10 1 Justin Henderson 450
11 18R Ryan Roberts 448
12 96 Bronson Maeschen 445
13 3A Billy Alley 443
14 29 Russ Hall 437
15 3 Nate Van Haaften 432
16 3P Sawyer Phillips 430
17 2M Matt Moro 428
18 53 Joe Beaver 422
19 21AU Jordyn Brazier 419
20 5C Carson McCarl 418
21 M1 Mark Smith 417
22 29C Willie Croft 416
23 84 Brandon Hanks 408
24 4J Lee Grosz 407
25 67H Sam Hafertepe Jr. 403
26 88 Scottie McDonald 402
27 28 Jonathan Cornell 400
28 35L Cody Ledger 396
29 23 Seth Bergman 392
30 33 Alan Zoutte 350
31 9M Ricky Montgomery 348
32 1J Danny Jennings 348
33 31C Justyn Cox 345
34 84A Scott Bogucki 337
35 72 Phil Dietz 337
36 20Z Rick Ziehl 333
37 92 Jordan Weaver 326
38 5V Colby Copeland 324
39 1H Sean McClelland 321
40 14L Michael Lang 312
41 4S Danny Smith 305
42 23M Lance Moss 302
43 12 James Mosher 300
44 64 Rob Kubli 297
45 9Z Jared Goerges 296
46 81 Darren Smith 273
47 4X Adam Speckman 273
48 2 Tyler Brooks 267
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