Near the end of last season Billy Moyer announced that he would be racing a very limited schedule in 2016. Okay, so maybe he has skipped a show here and there, but the Hall of Fame driver who some consider to be the best dirt late model racer ever has still been very active this season and is currently ranked eighth in the Back Stretch's National Dirt Late Model Points. So this past week when I hear announcer James Essex say at Eldora that this will be Moyer's final appearance at the World 100 and then again last night when it was said that this will be Mr. Smooth's last weekend as a driver at Knoxville, forgive me if I am a bit skeptical. Especially when he still has the ability to go out and beat the best in the business in a convincing manner as he did during Thursday's opener of the Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals.
Sixty-nine names were on the draw sheet and there were sixty-eight cars in the pits, more on that later, and Knoxville officials along with those of us who also attended the Thursday night shows at both the 360 and 410 Sprint National here back in August had to be feeling a sense of deja vu in regard to the weather as just like those two evenings an ominous line of heavy thunderstorms had formed to the north and west and they were slowly inching toward Knoxville. During the two sprint car shows the track officials were able to run off the 360 Nationals opener by nine o'clock, beating the rain by about twenty minutes, and at the Thursday qualifier for the 410 Nationals the checkered flag waved right about 10:00 p.m. again beating the rain by less than a half hour. They were in "hurry up" mode again last night as the field was split into two qualifying groups and as soon the final car in Group B hit the track for qualifying the first heat race for Group A started to roll into staging pausing only for a strong rendition of our National Anthem by Jackie Schmillen. The three Group A heat races were followed by the three Group B heat races, something that Eldora should consider rather than staggering them, and the only "down time" of the night came as the lineups for the D, C, B and A Mains were finalized.
That's right folks, no "politically correct" three B-Mains here at Knoxville! If you finished tenth on back in your heat race you went to the D-Main where you would then have to qualify for the C and then hope to race your way into the top four to get to the B-Main where the top six would qualify for the Main event. It is tried and true the BEST method to get the BEST twenty-four cars of the night into the feature. Just something for other tracks and promoters to consider.....
With lightning flashing to the north the A-Main took to the track in such a hurry that B-Main winner Mike Marlar had to hustle onto the racing surface and then stop as the four-wide salute formed up to make sure that he had all of his safety equipment hooked up. Brandon Sheppard and Billy Moyer would bring the field to green for 25-laps and it would be Moyer who would not only take the lead at the onset, but he quickly pulled away from the stellar field. Sheppard had his hands full with challenges from Jimmy Mars and Shane Clanton early, but once he firmly established himself in second he started to close the gap on Moyer, trying to cut into a lead that had grown to a full straightaway in the first ten laps.
The margin had been chopped in half by lap fifteen and to about ten car-lengths with five laps remaining with lapped traffic now looming ahead for the leader. On lap twenty-one Moyer made a rare mistake when he stumbled on the cushion in turns three and four and suddenly Sheppard was within striking distance with just four laps remaining. That slight error seemed to motivate Moyer though as not only was he perfect over those closing laps, he sealed the deal by splitting two lapped cars in turn one after taking the white flag and the native Iowan scored his ninth win here at Knoxville and his 814th career feature win in convincing fashion. Sheppard would take the runner-up honors as Josh Richards came from sixth to third. Clanton finished fourth, Mars was fifth, Bobby Pierce was sixth followed by Chris Simpson, Don O'Neal, Jonathan Davenport and Tim McCreadie.
After finishing second in the B-Main, McCreadie's charge from 20th to 10th was by far the best of the night other than the three car advancements by both Richards and Davenport. And actually two of the three that Davenport passed came when he got a nice little jump on the start passing the row in front of him before getting to the flagstand. So no, there was not much passing going on during the non-stop feature, but the action in the six heat races definitely made up for it as only the top three finishers with an eight car invert would transfer to the main event.
Perhaps it was the result of already being in "hurry up" mode, but instead of starting fifth in the first heat race where he was scheduled for, Ryan Unzicker took the green flag from the ninth position and let's just say that this would set the tone for his night as he pretty much went unnoticed running seventh in the heat and later seventh in the C-Main. West Virginia's Jared Hawkins was enjoying his first ever visit to Knoxville, but after ten laps his engine threw in the towel big time going up in a huge cloud of white smoke. Front row starters Jimmy Owens and Rodney Sanders finished one-two as the drivers to watch were Don O'Neal and the Group A fastest qualifier Mike Marlar. They were originally to start together on row four, but with Unzicker feeling generous O'Neal moved up a row and then held off Marlar in the closing laps for the final transfer.
The second heat was the best race of the night with pole-sitter Brent Larson getting out to a big lead early, but as you will often see in an inverted heat race everybody converges on the front in the final laps and that was definitely the situation here. The top six including Larson, Steve Francis, Ricky Thornton Jr., Chad Simpson, Billy Moyer Jr. and Bobby Pierce were all in a tight pack and racing through turn two when Ryan Gustin's motor let go with just two laps remaining. The action picked right back up again following the restart and on the final lap when Simpson got too high off of turn two, and when Thornton jumped the cushion in turn three, they both dropped out of transfer spots as Francis passed Larson for the win coming to the checkers. Pierce would finish in the third spot with Simpson dropping to fifth behind Moyer Jr. and Thornton's miscue hurt him dearly as he faded to seventh dropping him to the C-Main.
I may have missed this before, but I finally noticed that third heat pole-sitter Ray Guss Jr. had changed his number from 58 back to 12 as he closes out his Hall of Fame career. Darrell Lanigan started outside of Guss and he would go flag-to-flag to win this one as Brandon Sheppard finished second and Jimmy Mars fought of persistent challenges from Dennis Erb Jr. to take third.
The fourth heat saw Modified star Jesse Sobbing lead the opening laps with national late model stars Billy Moyer, Shane Clanton, Jonathan Davenport and Tim McCreadie all chasing him. And, you know what? They weren't going to catch him either, but we will never know as on lap seven Sobbing slowed suddenly and pulled to the infield with mechanical issues that would end his night. Clanton threw a nasty slider on Davenport, even with some contact in turn four as they raced for second with two laps remaining as Moyer took the win.
Gregg Satterlee was getting plenty of traction tonight as he ran off and hid from the field in heat race number five. Yes, in case you were wondering, that was a subtle jab based upon one of the biggest story lines in dirt late model racing this season, although I'm not taking sides here, just being a smart*$$ as usual. Chris Simpson continued to give his Hawkeyes wrap a nice ride as he charged from eighth to second and he would go to the feature as the high point man. Young Tyler Erb was impressive in third. Sprint car ace Donny Schatz was making a one night only appearance that came to an early end as he slapped the guardrail of turn two on the final lap and spun as the checkers waved for Satterlee. Schatz was later a no-show for the D-Main.
Jason Rauen ran off to a big lead in the sixth and final heat race and then held off the top ranked driver in the country Josh Richards after a late restart to take the win. Dale McDowell was running in the top three before puffs of smoke started to show mid-race and as Richards was passing him for third with three laps remaining McDowell slowed and created that late caution. Jason Feger would take the final transfer.
Spencer Diercks would win the D-Main and in the C-Main a pair of Arizona natives Ricky Thornton Jr. and Jake O'Neill would swap the lead with O'Neill taking the win prompting announcer James Essex to make the comment to Knoxville's own Tony Bokhoven that perhaps the last Arizona driver to win at Knoxville was Ron Shuman. Only the top four moved up to the B-Main and Chad Holladay was running sixth and closing fast with two laps to go before he got too wide in turn four and smacked the guardrail hard. After the restart Morgan Bagley was able to drive by Rob Toland for that fourth and final transfer.
The B-Main would see the top six transfer to the feature and with the fastest qualifiers who did not advance through the heats starting up front the race went pretty true to form. Only one driver who started in the first three rows did not stay in the top six and that was Chad Simpson who faded from third to ninth at the checkers.
I picked up a draw sheet as I entered the grandstand and noticed that Scott Bloomquist was on the list. Team Zero was nowhere in sight though throughout the entire evening and other than race fan Jeff Terhune stating on the Iowastockcars forum that he saw the Bloomquist hauler parked behind the Back Stretch grandstand after the races I have not seen anything other than speculation as to why he did not race tonight. Under Knoxville's format a driver uses his "best" point night from Thursday and Friday to determine Saturday's lineup so it may not be a big deal if he goes out and runs well tonight. Plus, since this is a Lucas Oil Late Model Series event, if he does have bad luck tonight I do believe that there will be provisional starters at the back of the feature, but leave it to Bloomquist to be a bit of a mystery no-show at one of the sport's crown jewel events.
The final checkers waved at 10:01 p.m. and once again the Knoxville Raceway outraced a line of thunderstorms that soon after converged on the area. After some scattered showers today, the forecast for the final two nights looks perfect so "hurry up" mode will no longer be needed.
A social commitment for tonight will keep me away from the track and on Saturday night I will be at 34 Raceway near Burlington for the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders Season Championship. There are plenty of great races on the calendar this weekend so get on out and enjoy one near you!
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